Self-Initiation Into the Golden Dawn Tradition: A Complete Curriculum of Study for Both the Solitary Magician and the Working Magical Group

This book is really heavy. Good guidebook for becoming a mage.

I'm very picky about the books I purchase about western occultism. After purchasing this book, I was happy with the content. It wasn't on the same level as David Griffin, but it gave me what I needed in a supplemental Golden Dawn resource.I've read many reviews on "Self-Initiation...". I respect the differing opinions presented therein. They appear to fall into a few categories:Those that are members and like it as a supplemental resourceThose that are members and don't respect the concept of self-initiation, or learn magick from a book without mentorshipThose that are beginners to magick; or atleast to ceremonial magick and are frightened by the depth of curriculumI belong to the first group. I have been initiated by two ceremonial groups and one Wiccan group. I have over 20 years experience with different paths. I chose to study the Golden Dawn system, though I am reluctant to join the Golden Dawn, because I have an affinity to other Gods than typically used for the group. However, with my experience, it isn't that difficult to utilize corresponding archetypes. As far as utilizing planetary, zodiac, and various other concepts that scare the beginner; I think that before taking on such a task, some formal training and mentorship is essential. With this training in place, it is very practical to use this book.I agree that if you want to be officially recognized within a particular grade, then-by all means-join the Golden Dawn. If however, you simply want the training, this is not a bad resource.

Like a lot of magical literature, this one has a few errors. Specifically, some alchemical terms are misapplied or poorly explained. I recommend Julius Evola's The Hermetic Tradition, which was praised by Carl Jung as the most important work on Alchemy in recent time. Evola's exactness is refreshing and will clear up any confusion regarding alchemical symbolism, he is a trustworthy author.I don't know if these are really "errors" or blinds. If it's the latter, then shame on the author. The spiritual situation in the present age is too dire to warrant obscurity. If the former, then shame on the author, he ought to have done his research properly.Otherwise this seems like a solid book, just read it with caution, as one should do with any magical literature.

I have been struggling to understand the official text from a ceremonial view as it’s not very descriptive on HOW to perform the rituals, just an outline of the rubrics assuming you know others who can teach you. This is my beginning into practice and I couldn’t be happier! The pros of this book vastly outweigh the few cons, and make sure to get a highlighter and post-it notes as you will be doing a lot of cross referencing! Thank you, Chic and Tabatha for helping me finally cross over and begin the Great Work for myself!

This book is awesome if you’re new to the Kabbalah alchemy Egyptology and you want to learn more then this is the book for you it’s all encompassing practically it has everything from astrology to in depth meaning to every sphere in the tree of life the qabalistic cross lesser banishing rituals planetary squares the Hebrew alphabet quizzes for each chapter this book goes extremely in depth and can help any beginner interested in learning magick from the ground up basicallyit’s honestly just too much to even write about this book I love it

It has a learning curve and I can recommend HIGH MAJICK by Damien Echols.These are a great way to get started and build a foundation for complete life control.If you lack or ,”want for anything,” quit wasting time and see how amazing life can be.I am forever a better person.

The rituals in this book are very daunting. You are asked to visualize like 40 characters and interact with them during ritual. This is because in a Golden Dawn ritual in a real temple, all these people would be there. If you are already self-initiating, it seems illogical to pretend you are there, recieving a real initiation; you are not. I haven't decided if I will follow the ceremonies as written or drop the characters and make the ceremonies between me and the Universe.There is also strong debate as to if one can truly be self-initiated into the Golden Dawn. The book will hold value to your personal spirituality and practice of magic but a lodge will not recognize you as initiated. I go back and forth on what I believe about this.It is important to note that this kind of magic deals with evoking spirits, dealing with forces and energies and tinkering with nature. Magic is like chemistry, a self taught chemist might burn himself or burn his house down. The more I study about this type of stuff, the more I realize that without proper training from a sorcerer or magician, you will dabble in a muddy mix of spirits and energies and risk bad things happening to you. I am willing to practice this magic to an extent, but to truly deal with the spirits one should be trained.I invite others to leave their own understanding as comments to help me out.

This book is super great.I’ve read the bad reviews. Those people just have no idea that things aren’t instant.You need to commit all the information to memory. If you aren’t wanting to go about that... this path truly is not for you. You have to commit the knowledge lectures to memory. You need to go about things correctly. Go join a temple... you’ll see that nothing is instant and that you will be tested on the knowledge lectures in which are taught in a spoken manner and not typed out for you. This book is a few years of training...not instant success.

This book could be viewed as a master key to self initiation in the magickal stream of the Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn. If you have the long-term goal of getting on the ladder of spiritual alchemy and are prepared to commit to many weeks, months and even years of work without instant overnight results, you'll find it very worthwhile. It may cost more than your average book, but really it's an investment in your future and compared with online study groups and a thousand new age organizations who'll take you round in circles forever, this book is actually priceless!

not much to add to the above. probably if you are considering, you already know about the excellent Ciceros and the Golden Dawn. my only quibble was this is not available in hardback, would have loved to get an HB for better durability. however, the pages are relatively thick, the print is very good and the cover seems robust for a paper back. am more than happy, a classic of occultism.

This book is very comprehensive and cover many things from Golden Dawn rituals to tarot reading, astrology and geomancy. Worth a look even if you don't have the patience and discipline to follow the course of study.

excellent delivery and quality. as expected

didnt know what to expect. it will take me ages to finish the book.