Background and Complications to Understanding the Grade System of Golden Dawn

What the Grades of Golden Dawn mean, and what qualifies a member (or student of the Tradition) to hold a Grade, has been a matter of no small confusion inside the esoteric community. Much nonsense has been written about the subject by those who are outside the system, and even more by those who are inside the system.

The only reason that the subject is of any importance whatsoever is that inside a secret society, an Order with secrets, one's rank, one's Grade, determines what information one has access to. Furthermore inside Golden Dawn, and its Inner (Second) Order, the RR et AC (Ordo Roseae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis: the Order of the Rose of Ruby and the Cross of Gold), one's Grade determines what offices one can hold.

There are three types of Grades: self-initiation, Temple Grades and Administrative Grades. These three Grade types are not interchangeable; a self-initiative Grade does not equal a Temple Grade nor does a Temple Grade necessarily function as an Administrative Grade.

A self-initiation Grade is a Grade bestowed upon oneself, usually because one can not find a suitable lodge (Temple) to join. Often it involves doing a ritual based upon the Temple rituals of Golden Dawn, though some people have been rumored to have claimed a Grade without conducting any ritual or doing any work at all.

A Temple Grade is a Grade given to a person physically inside a lodge. Unlike self-initiation, this makes a person a member of a specific lodge and Order, complete with obligations (including payment of dues) and privileges. Temple Grades are always given though the context of a ritual which includes certain information that allows a member to verify the membership of a stranger claiming that Grade.

In addition, some Orders practice a modified type of initiation for their long-distance members: astral initiation. It is claimed by these groups that the officers in another location can produce the same energetic effects in an initiate as a regular Temple initiation does; those groups that use the system of astral initiation treat those who they have bestowed astral initiations on as being the same Grade as if they had actually undergone the rituals in Temple. Due to the possibility of fraudulent conduct, astral initiations are frowned upon by many Temple initiates; plus, the physical layer of the ritual is the only layer that is guaranteed to be experienced by a new initiate; astral initiations robs the seeker of even that guarantee (in this regard, self-initiation trumps astral initiation).

In addition to aforementioned types of Grades, there is also the Administrative Grade which is given to select members, so that they can serve in the most necessary offices of the system.

The difference between an Administrative Grade and a Temple Grade is that its bearer has not completed all the work necessary to qualify for the corresponding Temple Grade; they have been exposed to the oath of the Grade and the essential core pieces of information (teachings) contained in the Grade, and are fully expected by the group that issued the Administrative Grade to complete the necessary work and become an actual Temple initiate of that Grade.

As mentioned earlier, none of these Grade types are interchangeable, or at least not completely interchangeable. In general, every Golden Dawn based group (all of which will claim to be truly Golden Dawn, even if they are not) favors one type of Grade over the other types. Typically, it is the Temple Grade that is favored, but not always.

Furthermore, most groups will only recognize the Grades that they have given a person; Grades obtained outside a given group are generally ignored. There are actually good reasons for this behavior, such as ensuring that a member has actually done the work leading up to that Grade. Unfortunately, it is rumored that some groups that do not honor Grades obtained elsewhere are doing it for dubious purposes.

Ironically, most students of Golden Dawn, outside of their respected groups, ignore the secrecy that is traditionally associated with the Grades; they are less concerned with Grades claimed and more with the work one has done; they care about the information that one actually knows, and the experiences that one actually had. Outside of the lodge, most students rate a person on how well they can convey what they know and their magical skill; someone claiming a high Grade (or office) or who can't state information clearly are generally presumed to be a low Actual Grade by those experienced in the system; the same holds true for those who seem to be vice-ridden.

It is the concept of "Actual Grade" that muddies the waters the most when it comes to understanding the Grades. Beyond the issue that most groups of the tradition only recognize Grades obtained though themselves (or specific lodges and Orders of particular lineages of descent from the original Hermetic Golden Dawn), the recognition of a person's Grade is complicated by the belief of many that the Grades correspond with certain spiritual virtues, experiences and magical powers. If you do not display these virtues and powers, then it is presumed by many that you are of a low Actual Grade. Basically, Actual Grade is your ability to affect the energetic planes of the universe (aka magic) and your place in the spiritual hierarchy of the universe.

To understand why this is a problem, one must put the concept of the Grades back into its original context. When the Orders and secret societies first appeared upon the scene, one's rank (called a degree in Masonic circles) was merely a measure of one's status inside their respective Order or Society, along with the extent that one was aware of the knowledge and rituals of the group. But as early as the forming of modern-day Freemasonry as a Fraternal Order, the possibility for confusion was introduced (this ignores the mythological history of the esoteric Orders and their connections with the esoteric traditions of ancient civilizations; this version of history may or may not be true). Inside the mushrooming Orders that came out of the lodge system, the idea that degree and virtue might be the same became established. And with the Theosophical movement, the idea was gospel.

By the time, Golden Dawn was formed in 1888, the idea that one's rank in the hierarchy was a measure of one's spiritual virtue and magical power (skill) was part and parcel of the esoteric Orders. And the founders of Golden Dawn did nothing to dispel this notion; they believed in the myth (or at least, their writings seem to indicate to indicate a belief in this concept).

At the top of the Golden Dawn hierarchy was a group of beings that is today referred to as the Secret Chiefs or Third Order. They sponsored and supported the Second (Inner) Order (or so it was said) which in turn oversaw the First (Outer) Order. Whether the Secret Chiefs were considered flesh and blood human beings or purely spiritual beings is unclear.

What is known for sure is that Samuel L. (MacGregor) Mathers, the creator of the Second Order's Adept Minor (5=6) ritual claimed not only to be in contact with the Secret Chiefs, but also to have the right of absolute obedience to his commands by virtue of said contact. This led to him abusing the power of his office; in 1900, as a result of this abuse, the majority of Golden Dawn's Adepts (members of the Inner Order) decided to expel him and his wife, Moina Mathers (maiden name: Mina Bergson) from the Order. To this day, there is debate about whether the members had the right to expel their own Chief and whether he was mentally fit to continue to rule the Order.

It is with the expelling of Mathers that historians mark the end of Golden Dawn; the members of the system split into competing Orders. But this parting of ways did not end claims of contact with the Secret Chiefs; many later leaders of the tradition and its offshoots (including Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune) claimed contact with the Secret Chiefs. In fact, such contact is still claimed today by some; whether it is truly happening is a matter of some debate. The problem with claiming said contact is that traditionally it is said that the contact is limited to just one person at a time; no one else is allowed to have proof of said contact; this leaves open the possibility of deception or mental illness on the part of those claiming such contact. And the dubious abuses of power that have came with several of these claims have conditioned many members of the Golden Dawn tradition to automatically assume that anyone making such a claim to be up to no good.

And all this misunderstanding and abuse has complicated how people understand the Grades of Golden Dawn and what they symbolize.

To be continued in Part Two which covers the symbolism of the Golden Dawn Grades.