First Knowledge Lecture - Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

six Planets were known besides the Sun, which they classed with the Planets. they also assigned certain planetary values to the North and South Nodes of the Moon--that is, the point where her orbit touches that of the Ecliptic.

Since the discovery of two more distant Planets, Neptune and Uranus or Herschel, these two terms have been partially replaced by them.

4. The Hebrew Alphabet

PLATE I.- TABLE OF HEBREW AND CHALDEE LETTERS

No.

Hebrew and Chaldee Letters

Name

Significance

of Name

Sound or Power

Roman Letters Used

Numerical Value

Aleph

Beth

Gimel

Daleth

Vau

Zayin

Cheth

Teth

Yod

Caph

Lamed

Mem

Nun

Samekh

Ayin

Tzaddi

Qoph

Resh

Shin

Tau

House

Camel

Door

Window

Peg, Nail

Weapon, sword

Enclosure, fence

Serpent

Hand

Palm of the Hand

Ox-goad

Water

Fish

Prop, support

Eye

Mouth

Fishing-hook

Back of the head

Head

Tooth

Sign of the Cross

a (soft breathing)

b, bh (v)

g (hard), gh

d, dh (flat th)

h (rough breathing)

v,u, o

z, dz

ch, h (guttural)

t (strong)

i, y (as in yes)

k, kh

o, aa, ng (guttural)

p, ph (f)

ts, tz, j

q, qh (guttural)

sh, s

th, t

1 (Thousands are

2 denoted by a

3 larger letter; Thus

4 an Aleph larger

5 than the rest of

6 the letters

7 among which it is,

8 signifies not 1,

9 but 1000).

20 final = 500

40 final = 600

50 final = 700

80 final = 800

90 final = 900

100 (The finals are not

200 always considered as

300 bearing an increased

400 numerical value)

have a different shape when written at the end of a word and also have a different number.

Mem (final) Of these finals, Mem is distinguished as being the only oblong letter.

The other four - Kaph, Nun, Pe, Tzaddi, have tails which should descend below the line as shown.

The Hebrew Qabalists referred the highest and most abstract ideas to the Emanations of Deity or Sephiroth They made them ten in number. Each one is a Sephira, and when arranged in a certain manner they form the Tree of Life.

MEDITATION No. 1

Begin by finding a position, balanced, but sufficiently comfortable. Breather rhythmically until the body is still and the mind quiet. Keep this state for a few minutes at first--and for longer as you get used to preventing the mind from wandering. Think now of the subject for meditation in a general way--then choose out one thought or image and follow it to its conclusion.

This should be practiced, counting slowly or quickly till you obtain a rhythm that suits you--one that is comfortable and stilling.

Having attained this, count the breath thus for two or three minutes, till you feel quiet, the proceed with the meditation.

THE LESSER RITUAL OF THE PENTAGRAM

Make in the air towards the East the invoking Pentagram as shown and, bringing the dagger point to the center of the Pentagram, vibrate the Deity Name Yod-He-Vau-He imagining that your voice carries forward to the East of the Universe.

Holding the dagger out before you, proceed to the South, make the Pentagram, and vibrate the diety name 'Adonai'

Return to the East and complete your Circle by bringing the dagger point to the center of the first pentagram.

For Banishing use the same Ritual, but reversing the direction of the lines of the Pentagram.

THE USES OF THE PENTAGRAM RITUAL

1. As a form of prayer the invoking ritual should be used in the morning and the banishing in the evening. (To banish begin at the lower left point, then up to the top, continue). The names should be pronounced inwardly in the breath vibrating it as much as possible and feeling that the whole body throbs with the sound and sends out a wave of vibration directed at the ends of the quarter.

2. As a protection against impure magnetism, the Banishing Ritual can be used to get rid of obsessing or disturbing thoughts. Give a mental image to your obsession and imagine it formulated before you. Project it out of your aura with the Saluting Sign of a Neophyte, and when it is away about three feet prevent its return with the Sign of Silence.

Now imagine the form in the East before you and do the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram to disintegrate it, seeing it, in your mind's eye, dissolving on the further side of your ring of flame.

3. It can be used as an exercise in concentration. Seated in meditation or lying down, formulate yourself standing in robes and holding a dagger. Put your consciousness in this form and go to the East. Make yourself 'feel' there by touching the wall, opening your eyes, stomping on the floor, etc. Begin the ritual and mentally go around the room vibrating the words and trying to feel them coming from the form. Finish in the East and try to see your results in the Astral Light, then walk back and stand behind the head of your body and let yourself be reabsorbed.

THE PILLARS

In the explanation of the Symbols of the Grade of Neophyte, your attention has been directed to the general mystic meaning of the two pillars called in the Ritual the 'Pillars of Hermes' of 'Seth' and of 'Solomon' . In the ninth chapter of the Ritual of the Dead they are referred to as the 'Pillars of Shu' , the 'Pillars of the Gods of the Dawning Light' and also as the 'North and South Columns of the Gate of the Hall of Truth'. In the 125th Chapter they are represented by the sacred gateway, the door to which the aspirant is brought when he has completed the Negative Confession. The archaic pictures on the one Pillar are painted in black upon a white background, and those on the other in white upon a black background in order to express the interchange and reconciliation of opposing forces and the eternal balance of light and darkness which gives force to visible nature.

The black cubical bases represent darkness and matter wherein the Spirit, the Ruach Elohim , begins to formulate the ineffable NAME, that name which the ancient rabbis have said 'rushes through the universe' , that name before which the darkness rushes back at the birth of time.

The flaming red triangular capitals which crown t he summit of the Pillars represent the triune manifestation of the Spirit of Life, the Three Mothers of the Sefer Yetzirah, the Three Alchemical Principals of Nature, the Sulfer, the Mercury and the Salt.

Each Pillar is surmounted by its own light-bearer veiled from the material world.

At the base of both Pillars rise the lotus flowers, symbols of regeneration and metempsychosis. The archaic illustrations are taken from vignettes of the 17th and 125th chapters of the Ritual of the Dead, the Egyptian 'Per-em-Hrw' or the 'Book of Coming Forth Into the Day' , the oldest book in the world as yet discovered. The Recension of the Priests of ON is to be found in the walls of the Pyramids of the Kings of the 5th and 6th dynasties at Sakarah, the recension of the 11th and 12th dynasties on the sarcophagi of the period, and the Theban recension of the 18th dynasty and onward is found on papyri, both plain and illuminated. No satisfactory translation of these books is available, none having been yet attempted by a scholar having the qualifications of mystic as well as Egyptologist.

The Ritual of the Dead, generally speaking, is a collection of hymns and prayers in the form of a series of ceremonial Rituals to enable the man to unite himself with Osiris the Redeemer. After this union he is no longer called the man, but Osiris with whom he is now symbolically identified. 'That they may also be One of us' , said the Christ of the New Testament. 'I am Osiris' , said the purified and justified man, his soul luminous and washed from sin in the immortal and uncreated light, united to Osiris and thereby justified, and the Son of God; purified by suffering, strengthened by opposition, regenerate through self-sacrifice. Such is the subject of the great Egyptian Ritual.

The 17th Chapter of the Theban recension consists of a very ancient text with several commentaries, also extremely old, and some prayers, none of which come into the scheme of the original text. It has, together with the 12th Chapter, been very carefully translated for the purpose of this lecture by the V.H. Frater M.W.T. and the V.H. Soror S.S.D.D. has made many valuable suggestions with regard to the interpretation. The title and preface to the 17th Chapter reads:

"Concerning the exaltation of the glorified ones, of coming and going forth in the divine domain, of the genies of the beautiful land of Amentet. Of coming forth in the light of day in any form desired, of hearing the voices of nature by being enshrined as a living Ba."

"The united with Osiris shall recite it when he has entered the Harbour. May glorious things be done thereby upon the Earth. May all the words of the Adept be fulfilled."

Owing to the complex use of symbols, the ritual translation of the chapter can only be understood by perpetual reference to the ancient Egyptian commentaries, and therefore the following paraphrase has been put together to convey to modern minds as nearly as possible the ideas conveyed by the ancient Egyptians in this glorious triumphal song of the Soul of Man made One with Osiris, the Redeemer.

"I have become NU. I am RA in his rising ruling by right of his Power. I am the Great God self-begotten, even NU, who pronounced his Names, and thus the Circle of the Gods was created."

"I am Yesterday and know Tomorrow. I can never more be overcome. I know the secret of Osiris, whose being is perpetually revered of RA. I have finished the work which was planned at the Beginning, I am the Spirit made manifest, and armed with two vast eagle's plumes. Isis and Nephthys are their names, made One with Osiris."

"I claim my inheritance. My sins have been uprooted and my passions overcome. I am Pure White. I dwell in Time. I live through Eternity, when initiates make offerings to the Everlasting Gods. I have passed along the Pathway. I know the Northern and Southern Pillars, the two Columns at the Gateway of the Hall of Truth."

"Stretch unto me your hands, O ye dwellers in the center. For I am transformed to a God in your midst. Made One with Osiris I have filled the eye-socket in the day of the morning when Good and Evil fought together."

"I have lifted up the cloud-veil in the Sky of the Storm. Till I saw RA born again from out the Great Waters. His strength is my strength and my strength is His strength. Honour to you, Lords of Truth, Chiefs who Osiris rules. Granting release from Sin, Followers of Ma where rest is glorious. Whose throne Anubis built in the day when Osiris said:

"Lo! A man wins his way to Amentet. I come before you to drive away my faults. As ye did to the Seven Glorious Ones who follow their lord Osiris. I am that Spirit of Earth and the Sun."

"Between the Two Pillars of Flame. I am RA when he fought beneath the Ashad Tree, destroying the enemies of the Ancient of Days. I am the Dweller in the Egg. I am he who turns in the Disc. I shine forth from the Horizon as the gold from the mine. I float through the Pillars of SHU in the ether. Without a peer among the Gods. The Breath of my mouth is as a flame. I light upon the Earth in my glory. Eyes cannot gaze upon my daring beams , as they reach through the Heavens and lick up the Nile with tongues of flame. I am strong upon the Earth with the strength of RA. I have come into Harbour as Osiris made perfect. Let priestly offerings be made to me as one in the train of the Ancient of Days. I brood as the Divine Spirit. I move in the Firmness of my strength. I undulate as the Waves that vibrate through Eternity. Osiris has been claimed with acclamation, and ordained to rule among the Gods. Enthroned in their Domain of Horus where the Spirit and the Body are united in the presence of the Ancient of Days. Blotted out are the sins of his body in passion. He has passed the Eternal Gate and has received the New Years Feast with Incense, at the marriage of Earth with Heaven."

"TUM has built his Bridal Chamber. RURURET has founded his Shrine. The Procession is completed. HORUS has purified, SET has consecrated, SHU made One with Osiris has entered his heritage."

"As TUM he has entered the Kingdom to complete union with the Invisible. Thy Bride, O Osiris, is Isis, who mourned Thee when she found Thee slain. In Isis thou art born again. From Nephthys is thy nourishment. They cleansed thee in thy Heavenly Birth. Youth waits upon thee, ardour is ready at thy hand. And their arms shall uphold thee for millions of years. Initiates surround Thee and Thy enemies are cast down. The Powers of Darkness a re Destroyed. The Champions of Thy Joys are with Thee. Thy Victories in the Battle await their reward in the Pillar. The Forces of Nature obey Thee. Thy power is exceeding great. The Gods curse him that curseth Thee. Thine Aspirations are fulfilled. Thou art the Mistress of Splendour. They are destroyed who barred Thy way."

The 125th Chapter is concerned with the entry of an initiate into the Hall of the Two Columns of Justice and commenced with a most beautiful and symbolic description of Death. as a journey from the barren wilderness of Earth to the Glorious Land which lies beyond. The literal translation of the opening lines is as follows:

"I have come from afar to look upon thy beauties. My hands salute thy Name of Justice. I have come from afar, where the Acacia Tree grew not. Where the tree thick with leaves is not born. Where there come not beams from herb or grass. I have entered the Place of Mystery. I have communed with Set. Sleep came upon me, I was wrapped therein, bowing down before the hidden things. I was ushered into the House of Osiris, I saw the marvels that were there. The Princes of the Gates in their Glory"

The illustrations in this Chapter represent the Hall of Truth as seen through the open leaves of its door. The hall is presided over by a God who holds his right hand over the cage of a hawk and his left over the food of Eternity. On each side of the God is a cornice crowned by a row of alternate feathers and Uraei symbolising justice and firey power. The door leaf which completes the right hand of a stall is called 'Possessor of Truth controlling the Feet' , while that on the left is 'Possessor of strength binding the male and female animals' . The 42 judges of the dead are represented as seated in a long row, and each of them has to be named, and the Sin over which he presides has been denied.

This chapter describes the introduction of an initiate into the Hall of Truth by ANUBIS, who, having questioned the aspirant, receives from him an account of his initiation. and is satisfied by his right to enter. He states that he has been taken into the ante-chamber of the Temple and there stripped and blindfolded, he had to grope for the entrance to the Hall, and having found it he was reclothed and annointed in the presence of the Initiated. He is then asked for the Pass-words and demands that his Soul should be weighed in the Great Balance of the Hall of Truth, whereupon ANUBIS again interrogates him concerning the symbolism of the door of the Hall, and his answers being found correct, ANUBIS says, "Pass on, thou knowest it".

Among other things the initiates states that he has been purified four times, the same number of times that the Neophyte is purified and consecrated in the ceremony of the Neophyte. He then makes the long Negative Confession, stating to each judge in turn that he is innocent of that form of Sin over which he judges. Then he invokes the Judges to do him justice, and afterwards describes how he had washed in the washing place of the South, and rested in the North, in the place called 'Son of the Deliverers' and he becomes the Dweller under the Olive Tree of Peace, and how he was given a tall flame of fire and a scepter of cloud which he preserved in the salting tank in which mummies are swathed. And he found there another scepter called 'Giver of Breath' and with that he extinguished the flame and shattered the scepter of cloud, and made a lake of it. The initiate is then brought to the actual Pillars and has to name them and their parts under the symbol of the Scales of a Balance . He also has to name the Guardian of the Gateway, who prevents his passage, and when all these are propitiated the plea of the Hall cries out against his steps, saying, "Because I am silent, because I am pure." and it must know that his aspirations are pure enough and high enough for him to be allowed to tread upon it. He is then allowed to announce to Thoth that he is clean from all evil and has overcome the influence of the Planets, and THOTH says to him, "Who is He whose Pylons are of Flame, whose walls of Living Uraei, and the flames of whose House are streams of Water?" and the Initiate replies, "Osiris!"

And it is immediately proclaimed: "Thy meat shall be from the Infinite and thy drink from the Infinite. Thou art able to go forth to the sepulchural feasts on earth, for thou hast overcome."

Thus, these two chapters, which are represented by their illustrations on the Two Pillars, represent the advance and purification of the Soul and its union with Osiris the Redeemer, in the Golden Dawn of the Infinite Light, in which the Soul is transfigured, knows all, and can do all, for it is made One with the Eternal God.

1.	Aries,	The Ram
2.	Taurus,	The Bull
3.	Gemini,	The Twins
4.	Cancer,	The Crab
5.	Leo,	The lion
6.	Virgo,	The Virgin
7.	Libra,	The Sclales
8.	Scorpio,	The Scorpion
9.	Sagitarius,	The Archer
10.	Capricorn,	The goat
11.	Aquarius,	The Water- Bearer
12.	Pisces,	The Fishes

Thus to Fire belong Aries, Leo and Sagittarius	, ,
Thus to Earth belong Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn	, ,
Thus to Air belong Gemini, Libra and Aquarius	, ,
Thus to Water belong Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces	, ,

	Moon
	Mercury
	Venus
	Sun
	Mars
	Jupiter
	Saturn

1.	KETHER	K - Th- R	The Crown
2.	CHOKMAH	Ch - K - M - H	Wisdom
3.	BINAH	B - İ - N - H	Understanding
4.	CHESED	Ch - S – D	Mercy
5.	GEBURAH	G - B - U - R - H	Severity
6.	TIPHARETH	Th - P - A - R - Th	Beauty
7.	NETSACH	N - TZ - Ch	Victory
8.	HOD	H - O - D	Glory
9.	YESOD	Y - S - O - D	The Foundation
10.	MALKUTH	M - L - K - U – Th	The Kingdom

1. The Four Elements of the Ancients are duplicated conditions of:

2. The Signs of the Zodiac are twelve:

3. To the Ancients,

4. The Hebrew Alphabet

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

MEDITATION No. 1

THE LESSER RITUAL OF THE PENTAGRAM

THE USES OF THE PENTAGRAM RITUAL

THE PILLARS