Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!newspump.sol.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news0.bytes.net!ernie.cybernw.com!usenet From: duo@cybernw.com (Gratuitous Pseudonym) Newsgroups: alt.magick Subject: Re: The Golden Dawn: Who Started It? Who Cares? Date: Sat, 07 Sep 1996 18:14:14 GMT Organization: CyberNet NorthWest Lines: 28 Message-ID: <50se0d$3s2@ernie.cybernw.com> References: <50o52u$9td@newsbf02.news.aol.com> <50pdd6$ld6@newsbf02.news.aol.com> <32305328.1B1E@toad.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: snuffyppp13.cybernw.com X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 Tim Maroney wrote: >Is there no Golden Dawn group whose members have the ability to rise above the >noxious argument about spiritual credentials and to remain focused on >spiritual, philosophical and historical issues? >For some time now, a conviction has been growing in me that Western >occultism can devolve into an empty quest for spiritual intensity, which >while personally rewarding does not represent any kind of authentic >spiritual progress. Actually, Tim, I think that the vast majority of Western occultism is an empty quest for thrills, be they spiritual or mundane. On rare occasions it can rise above that, but it takes persistent focus and extraordinary Will to keep from descending into the morass again. I think that the founders of the original Golden Dawn had a few moments of clarity and accomplished all the admirable things that we remember them for, but, like so many others, they lost focus and the organization disintegrated into bickering factions, exactly as we see them doing today. Magick is not found in organizations. It is a manifestation of individual consciousness.