The latest Hermetic Virtues magazine is out, chock full of magical goodness and well worth the asking price. Don’t believe me? Have a look at this…
John Michael Greer opens the issue with an article on the Hidden Church within the Golden Dawn, drawing parallels between the GD grade system and the traditional Christian system of minor and major Orders. Methinks he relies a mite too much on Leadbeater’s work, but a wonderful article nonetheless. His suggestion at the end about a GD Order using an Osirian based Eucharist as a semi-public or public ritual has already been taken up by at least one Order – our GDSWA in Perth 
The Hierophant by Harry Wendrich is a unique and lovely expression of the traditional Trump from the Golden Dawn Temple Tarot deck, complete with detailed exposition.
Chic Cicero condenses much of his magical implement wisdom in the article, Tools of Light, explaining the major RR et AC tools in a nutshell. Very cool.
New Way of Looking at Golden Dawn Rituals is a book review by Samuel Scarborough, in fact of our very own By Names and Images: bringing the Golden Dawn to Life. Samuel presents a very good review with fair critiques and misgivings, but nicely concluding “Peregrin Wildoak has presented an immediate modern classic on the subject of magical work.” If you want to skip the middle man and grab yourself a copy, purchase options here: http://www.bynamesandimages.com
Nick Farrell shows his usual deft weaving of historical research and magical experience in a great article, Traditional Golden Dawn and the Missing Landmarks. Here he explores something pondered by many folk – what makes an Order a GD Order, and when does it stop being one? Logical and sensible with a magician’s sensitivity, Nick’s exploration is not to be missed.
Another book review follows, this time King Over the Water, by Frater YshY. Not simply a few lines, Frater YshY gives it a good going over, letting the reader know a great deal about the book. Great review!
Two Thrones for the Golden Dawn by Aaron Leitch is another brilliant article. In Aaron’s own words, it is an “apologia” for the maintenance of traditional GD practice of the Osiris Godform at the East of the Hall of Neophytes. A very good apologia it is too Technical in a way, but never dry, deep but easily read, the article fairly hums along.
Next the gentleman’s occult publisher, Darcy Kuntz presents a Golden Dawn Summer Solstice Ritual based on the rituals of Waite and traditional GD material. It reads very, very well. Would love to hear from any group that has performed it
Practical GD magic is next in the form of Change Your Motto, Change Your Destiny by Eric V. Sisco. For someone is reputed not to exist, Mr Sisco does very well. The title of the ritual says it all – a skilfully crafted example of GD/RR et AC magic to change one’s motto and all the subsequent transformation that involves.
Consciousness and the Tree of Life by Jane Gibson is another very good article, and much hides behind this simple title. Not only does it explore consciousness without the facile “this corresponds to that”, the article also explains some core magical dynamics and principles. Excellent stuff.
And … we’re back to practical magic. An Invocation of Chokmah by Samuel Scarborough is simple and direct and looks very effective. Well written and to the point, it seems like a worthwhile addition to the repertoire. I will be trying it out later in the month
Enochian Magic in the Golden Dawn Tradition by Dean Wilson is also very good. Since Dean is the author of the five star Enochian Magic in Theory, could we expect any less?
Finally, The Origins of the Rosicrucian Society in England by Ian Cowburn is just glorious. Well… for folk like me who like to trace the strands of magic across the evidence of history. Poking holes in a few assumptions and providing solid meat for the intellectual meal, this article is a great finish to a great issue
So… let’s hear it for the Hermetic Virtues team! The only worrying thing about the whole affair is the dating… it is of course the WINTER Solstice Northern bias be gone!
THANKS HV!
"We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured." ~
“A religion without a goddess is halfway to atheism” ~
How does my spiritual practice and daily life serve the earth?
How does my spiritual practice and daily life affect the poorest third of humanity?
How will my spiritual practice and daily life affect the generations to come in the future?
"It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity."
“For most of us, however, we only think seriously of food or sex or money when it becomes a problem, which is to say when we feel we are not getting our share. When we find ourselves in that situation then I regret to say that meditational visualisations are really not the best way to remedy the lack. … We are here in a physical condition in a physical world and while in that state we have to abide by the laws appropriate to it.”
"The biblical texts have been strained out through a Greek/Latin mindset, which is very surface and static. I sometimes think it would have actually have been better if Western culture had based so called "Western religion" on Greek philosophy, rather than middle-eastern, because then at least you'd have all one thing. It would be eternally consistent. But what we have now is sort of half of each. And you're left with a basically schizophrenic tradition." 
"Can a horse tell you what it means to be human? How can a horse get beyond the boundaries of being a horse and say what it means to be human? Why do we think a human being can say what it means to be God? And yet we’ve done that; we’ve done that and we said that we’ve got it so right that if you don’t believe it we’ll burn you at the stake. That’s a very strange idea." ~
Well, thanks so much for the compliment, I’m glad there are some few other Benedictines out there, forever poring over musty tomes
[...] There are also essays and reviews by such big names as Chic Cicero (HOGD), John Michael Greer (DOGD), Nick Farrell (MOAA), Sam Scarborough (OSM), Jayne Gibson (HOGD) and many more. If you want to see a great review of the entire magazine, check out Peregrin Wildoak’s blog. [...]
Thank you very much for the positive words, Peregrin. First time published…there’s no going back now! Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum!
Thanks for the kind words.
As for my “Invocation of Chokmah”, it is part of a series of Sephirothic invocations that I wrote up to be used in Hermetic Virtues. They all are within the “Golden Dawn reservatiion”, as it were, but should give anyone who uses them better insight and familiarity with the forces associated with each Sepira.
For bom reviews, I wouldn’t be able to write anything without contributions from people that have something important to say in regards to magical work and the Golden Dawn in particular. Thank you for writing “By Name and Images”, it really is a great addition to the ever expanding corpus of the Golden Dawn Tradition.
In LVX,
Samuel
Looks like a worthy issue. Very interesting to see Greer contribute, is it for the first time? His blog The archdruid report is extremely popular, which is uncommon since he combines deep-green ideology with magic and pagan themes. A very interesting combination I might add. Didn’t know he had an interest in the GD, but there you go.
Hi Suecae,
yes i think it was JMG’s first contribution. I do not know him personally, but from published material, he was writing about lodge magic and the GD before the Druid material. He became a Druid later, I think. The combination of deep-gree, deep ecology and magic is great, though not confined to JMG. As Gareth Knight says, the Society of the Inner Light was talking this way back in the 60s. While much of deep ecoology, through folk like Joanna Macy, is couched in and linked to Buddhist principles, it applies and works equally well with pagan and hermetic. Thanks