Apotheosis

Esoteric Orders: A Survival Guide
          Section I: How To Find An Esoteric Order

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You’ve always known you’re a little different.  Going to school was always mentally tough, not because of the coursework, but because you never really fit in.  You always knew when your best friend was having a rough day, because you could feel it in your gut.  You could see things other people couldn’t see, and you couldn’t say anything, because people would laugh and call you crazy.  So you kept it all inside, alone and afraid to tell anyone.  What people called anxiety, you called survival.

Your parents made you go to church every Sunday, but you felt like you didn’t fit in there, either.  Your pastor said that the pentagram is evil and Satanic, but there was always something about it you liked.  There were other things your priest said at church that just didn’t jibe with what you read in the Bible.  You looked up the word “occult” once in the dictionary, because you were taught in Sunday School that the occult was "a tool of the Anti-Christ", but you found out the word comes from the Latin “occultus”, meaning nothing more than “hidden”.  Unlike the masses, you still have your critical thinking skills turned on.

Mythology had always intrigued you, especially the Greek and Egyptian.  There was always something about the tales of Apollo that resonated with you.  You also couldn’t help but notice some parallels with the religion you were brought up with, too.  You’ve wondered what the early church was like.  It couldn’t have been as political and screwed up as it is now, or in the Middle Ages, for that matter.  Besides, you’ve always thought of yourself as more spiritual than religious.  You’ve always felt there was a “Higher Power” out there, whatever he, she or it is.  You never felt or found that connection, however, in church.

So one day, the moment hit you.  You were tired of feeling alone and seeking by yourself, so you decided to look for a group of people who shared the same curiosity, mindset and beliefs that you had.  You weren’t exactly sure what you were looking for, but you were going to look for it anyways.  You talked to a couple of friends, the ones that weren’t muggles, and they had heard whisperings about a group or coven nearby, but nothing that really piqued your interest.  The only other connection you had was the one in the wall that led to the Internet.

There’s a reason why the Web is called World Wide.  You can find anything you want there (and a whole lot more of what you don’t want).  You signed up to a few Yahoo groups, joined a few on Facebook, stumbled upon alt.magick and ran away almost screaming.  You asked a few newbie questions, got chided a bit from the old guard, but also got a referral to a website that apparently is everything you’re looking for.

So you type in the web address, and the browser pulls up a very well-designed, good-looking site.  Obviously, these people know what they’re talking about.  They profess a long-standing history, and are offering to share age-old secrets that will transform your life.  You could be part of a world-wide society of like-minded people for the first time in your life.   They even have training courses through their "online cyber-circle".  All you need to do is click on “Sign Me Up”, send your money through PayPal and you’re in!

And maybe that worked out for you!  There are plenty of esoteric organizations out there with rock-solid teachings, taught by smart, knowledgeable mentors, run by compassionate and wise leaders.  However, there are also plenty of organizations whose members are sycophants, teachers who are charlatans, and leaders who are charismatic poseurs.  Some of these groups suck so much time, energy and money out of their members, and demand such tight control of their lives, that they could be easily classified as cults.  Others are more insidious; they have bright, nurturing teachers, but unwittingly, they are psychological enablers for a horribly toxic chief.  You’ll never see that stuff, though, from the “ooh, shiny” website.

But how does someone, completely new to the scene, who doesn’t know anyone in the esoteric community, know who to trust and who to avoid?  It’s not like you can drop a couple hundred dollars and have an online service do an “occult background check” on someone.  Querying the community just seems to go around in circles.  Ask a dozen people about an Order and you’ll get two dozen opinions, along with a whole lot more confusion than when you started.  In exasperation, you go back to your gut, and that “Sign Me Up” button sure would feel good right about now.

Not so fast.  The Quest for the Great Work is one that lasts a lifetime, no matter when you start.  A lapse in judgment now, regardless of whether it is based in a lack of information or lack of wisdom, can send you on a detour of several years.  Then, when you leave that Order with a pretty website and an easy sign-up button, you will find yourself essentially right back where you started, more battered and bruised, psychologically or otherwise, than you originally were.  At that point, you might even walk away, feeling jaded and tarring the entire community with the same tainted brush.  (And who could blame you, really?)

We, the writers, have taken those detours and suffered those lumps.  We write now so that you don’t fall into the same organizational pits that we did.  We cannot tell you which Order, coven or mentor is right for you, but with this guide, we hope to clue you in on which types of Orders, covens or mentors are wrong for any seeker of the Light.

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Next Chapter:  Orders in the Age of the Internet

I was horrified and saddened to hear of the mass shooting at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on Sunday.  The shooter (whom I refuse to name, as he deserves no fame nor remembrance) apparently led a white supremacist band and had many white power tattoos inked all over his body.  Presumably, he targeted these people because they were Muslim...the cherry of ignorance on top of this hate cake.

There just happens to be a Sikh temple about 15 minutes away from me.  I hope to be able to visit soon and offer my condolences, on behalf of myself and behalf of my Lodge.  Anyone wishing to help can support the Milwaukee shooting victims here.

Several weeks ago, I listed sixteen qualities of a Rosicrucian.  A number of them, such as kindness and patience, would certainly imply a tolerant spirit.  But is tolerance a true quality of a Rosicrucian?

Cloistered as a young boy, presumably in a Catholic monastery in Germany, Christian Rosenkreutz set out as a young man in search of knowledge.  In the Middle Ages, if you wanted education, you had to go where the enlightened minds were, the Arab world.  He traveled to Cyprus (where his companion died) and then to Damascus, where "by his skill in Physick he obtained much favour with the Turks".  From there, he travelled to Damcar, where they received him "not as a stranger, but as one whom they had long expected".  Clearly, there was no religious nor racial enmity in these relationships...rather quite the contrary.  The most judgmental suggestion made in the Fama Fraternitatis was that CRC found that in Fez "their Cabala was defiled with their Religion", but then the manuscript says "he knew how to make good use of the same, and found still more better grounds of his Faith..." and continues to espouse a sense of tolerance for the Muslim faith.

In fact, the place where CRC was most ill received was back in Christian lands, when he returned with his great knowledge, as "it was to them a laughing matter; and being a new thing unto them, they feared that their great Name should be lessened, if they should now again begin to learn and acknowledge their many years Errors".  The seed of intolerance can only grow in the darkness of a closed, fixed mind.

Yet the Confessio Fraternitatis practically opens with a strong admonishment towards Catholicism and Islam.  "We do condemn the East and the West (meaning the Pope and Mahomet) blasphemers against our Lord Jesus Christ..."  Even the Fama says "we also steadfastly believe, that if our Brethren and Fathers had lived in this our present and clear light, they would more roughly have handled the Pope [and] Mahomet..."  But there is no evidence of their founding father ever espousing those feelings or actions.  I think it's rather clear that Frater CRC was a lot more tolerant than even the writers of the R+C manuscripts.  Then again, look at Jesus Christ and compare his beliefs and actions to most of today's fundamentalist Christians, and the chasm of intolerance between them is striking.

As suggested earlier, the Rosicrucian movement was obviously Protestant, and that sentiment persisted into a number of modern Rosicrucian Orders.  Take for example the historical Order of the Golden Dawn and its Inner Order, the Roseae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis.  The last sentence on the second page of the Cipher Manuscripts advise the Order to "avoid Roman Catholics, but with pity."  Yet the Golden Dawn was one of the most progressively minded spiritual organizations of its day.  Men and women were admitted on an equal basis, and only a belief in a supreme being was required.  Catholics, Muslims, and even Sikhs and Pagans would have been welcome.  Today, there are even some GD orders which admit agnostics and atheists as well.  Furthermore, in the lecture On The General Guidance and Purification of the Soul, it declares:

"In true religion there is no sect. Therefore take heed that thou blas­pheme not the name by which another knoweth his God for if thou doest this thing in Jupiter, thou wilt blaspheme YHVH; and in Osiris YEHESHUAH." 

Tolerance abounds in the Golden Dawn.

Also take into consideration the Masonic Societas Rosicruciana (SRIA, SRICF, SRIC, SRIS, etc.)  Although membership requires one to be a Trinitarian Christian man, there is clear instruction and direction towards religious tolerance in their Philosophus degree: 

"Worthy Frater Practicus, I feel assured of the good intentions which animate you, but I warn you that the sub­jects of our studies are more abstruse and elevated than those in which you have already become proficient. As a Frater of this Society of the Rose and Cross you are familiar with the Christian Faith, and have learned to know of a Divine Creator and of Jesus Who is the Christ. You have now to study and compare the various con­ceptions of Divinity which have been held by the great nations of the Ancient World, and the tenets of the most famous philosophers, for in all their systems great moral lessons are to be found. By a serious contemplation of these systems we believe you will come to a more just appreciation of the beauties of the Christian Faith, and be well able to show to the world without that our Rosi­crucian Fraternity not only confers knowledge upon its members, but also Wisdom."

So make no mistake, Rosicrucianism is a peaceful, tolerant spiritual path.  Naturally, there will be some who call themselves Rosicrucians, or belong to Rosicrucian organizations, which may not live up to its doctrines and practices of tolerance.  Blame not the faith for its wayward followers, whether it be Rosicrucianism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism or Sikhism.  Our similarities are so much greater than our differences.