English Author, Antiquarian, Freemason & expert on Waite, FRC, HOGD, SRIA and Victorian art and writing spoke at the October 4th, 2008 conference of the Rose Circle Research Foundation where he was awarded the status of FELLOW in the Society.
A friend of mine who writes at Herbis Orbis visited Dublin last year, and went to a W.B. Yeats exhibit at the National Library and shared these pictures she took of his Golden Dawn Journal.
She told me that "In addition to original manuscripts of his poems, plays and other writings, they had much of his Golden Dawn collection -- notebooks, hand-made tools, tarot, sketches, etc. Near the entrance was a facsimile of one of his earlier G.D. notebooks."
The detail is wonderful if you look at the full resolution images(click "All sizes: above the individual images). View the entire set
The detail and pure aesthetic of the journal warms my librarian's heart. I am so glad this has been preserved and was made available in this manner.
For more reading about Yeat's magical pursuits I recommend "Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses" which is a very well written book by Mary K. Greer, whose Tarot blog is linked to in my blogroll to your right. Another book, which I have not yet read, but appears worthwhile, is "Yeats's Ghosts" by Brenda Maddox. The grammarian in me wishes she had used the less cumbersome Yeats' in her title.
This is old news from 2007, but it is likely that you missed it. I think it is interesting to note that the Egyptian magicians drew on the Canaanite magicians' expertise to perfect their funerary protection spells. But, we all knew that there were shared elements in the Mysteries at that time.
Ancient Semitic Snake Spells Deciphered in Egyptian Pyramid: "The ancient Egyptians believed themselves superior to their neighboring nations in almost every aspect.
But newly interpreted symbols—the oldest Semitic passages ever deciphered—reveal that the Egyptians turned to outside help for magic.
The passages, inscribed on the subterranean walls of the pyramid of King Unas at Saqqara, reveal that the Egyptians enlisted the magical assistance of Semitic Canaanites from the ancient city of Byblos, located in what is now Lebanon."
"Ex Orient Lux" - I do see the irony in having a blog named "The Light from the East" that covers the Western Mystery tradition. In the WMT we understand that, in the literal and mystical sense, our light and understanding is tied to the rising sun, the Golden Dawn of realization and initiation. It just so happens that the path I choose for approaching that Light from the East is through the esoteric methods and philosophies that have come to be known as the Western Mystery Tradition.
I have been long in need of an outlet for my speculation on the esoteric life, and have been sad to find that so few Golden Dawn magicians are writing about their journey. I understand that it is inherent in our obligations to remain silent on matters concerning our orders, but feel that there needs to be authoritative and critical sources of personal information shared about the path of the initiate. The web is flooded with Thelemites and Chaos magicians muddying the waters, and I fear that the Right-hand Path has little illumination when it comes to personal content being shared online.
This is not to say that it is not there, but only that I believe there is less of it than there should be. Our detractors and critics are quick to point to 'Crowleyainity' as the standard for the occult. Not that they would recognize a Golden Dawn initiate in any less of a negative manner, but we have an obligation uphold the standard for those seekers who stumble onto the path via the internet.
I should point out that the content of this blog will not reflect the views of my Order or Temple, but are merely the result of my own studies and the connections and conclusions I draw.
With that being said, let us salute the Gate of the East and begin this journey.
Senebty,
Frater R.T.
