Pick up Israel Regardie’s massive Golden Dawn tome, and you might think you’ve found the ultimate magic system, all wrapped up and ready to go. But here’s the catch—it’s not as complete as it seems. Sure, the Golden Dawn nailed some things, like its initiation structure, but plenty of areas were either half-baked, ignored, or just left dangling. If you’re waiting for it all to make sense in some higher grade, you’ll be in for a letdown.
That said, the Golden Dawn did an incredible job of pulling together different strands of esoteric knowledge. It linked Tarot with Hebrew letters, planets, geomantic figures, and more, creating a huge web of interconnected ideas. But just because you’ve got a pile of puzzle pieces doesn’t mean you have the full picture. Some parts are just missing.
What the Golden Dawn magic system left hanging
Here are some areas where the Golden Dawn either dropped the ball or never really finished the game.
1. Geomancy – A Missed Opportunity
Geomancy got shoved into the Golden Dawn magic system curriculum, but mostly as a divination tool based on Agrippa’s work. Mathers even threw in an unnecessary twist on how the figures were arranged. The problem was no one really cared, and its deeper magical potential was ignored. Whare Ra kept a tiny ember of it alive in their 7-4 degree, but actual teaching on geomantic magic was scarce. It’s a shame, because when you get into it, there’s so much more to explore. (Stars and Stones and Helios Unbound take a crack at fixing this and I am planning some more work in the future.)
2. Tarot – An Incomplete Deck
You would think that since most tarot decks show the Golden Dawn magic system’s influence, other than a few significant trumps for the outer order, the Golden Dawn lacked a complete Tarot deck. Members who wanted to do divination would use the Oswald Wirth, Papus, or other European decks.
Most of the substantial work on Tarot is the work of Waite and was carried out when he was not a member of the Order. It is claimed that there was an A.O. deck designed by either Samual or Mina Mathers (depending on who you talk to). However, a complete version of this has never appeared and the A.O. tarot expert Paul Case copied the Waite Deck (clearly indicating he had not seen anything from Mathers).
Whare Ra did have its own deck developed by Dr Felkin and probably Wynn Westcott. It shows Felkin’s Arthurian influence and was given to members to colour themselves. Interestingly, this deck could not be used for divination (it cannot be shuffled) and was designed for meditation. Also, its existence was unknown outside Whare Ra until the 1990s, so it did not influence the Golden Dawn renaissance. When I worked with Harry Wendrich on a new Golden Dawn deck, it was obvious that some gaps needed filling.
3. Tattvas – The Forgotten Import
Tattvahs were a part of Indian tantra which found its way into the Golden Dawn through the Theosophical Society. The Golden Dawn’s source was “Nature’s Finer Forces: The Science of Breath and the Philosophy of the Tattvas” by Rama Prasad, first published in 1890. However, the symbols were not Westernised and, in many ways, do not fit with the elemental system used by the Golden Dawn – particularly Enochian.
You’d think they’d be a great fit for the elemental grades, but nope, they just kind of faded away. Whare Ra made an interesting attempt with Tattvic tides (a method to track elemental shifts for rituals), but it never caught on outside New Zealand.
4. Kabbalah – A Filing Cabinet, Not a Spiritual Path
The Golden Dawn magic system’s Kabbalah is everywhere—you see its influence in the grade system, diagrams, and pathworkings. But it’s mostly intellectual. The system teaches you the names of angels, but not how to actually experience them. Kabbalah is supposed to be about spiritual connection, but in the Golden Dawn, it’s more like an elaborate correspondence chart. . For example, you might be shown a diagram of the Tree of Life with a sword going through each sphere downwards to Malkuth. You should be asking, “So what? How does this help?” You might be told an intellectual answer by your Golden Dawn teacher, but Kabbalah is all about spiritual experience, which the Golden Dawn did not provide. Modern magicians have had to build their own mystical techniques to fill in the blanks.
5. Enochian – Half-Finished and Full of Holes
People go nuts for Golden Dawn magic system’s Enochian magic, but the truth is, it never really got off the ground. While some papers were handed out to adepts, actual development of a working system was limited. Many serious practitioners, such as the Order of the Cubic Stone had to go back to John Dee’s original work to make sense of it. Enochian Chess is another area that was briefly experimented with and dropped outside New Zealand. Regardie (and Crowley) felt this was a terrible thing and it is part of the modern HOGD groups he inspired. It was also crucial at Whare Ra and is the subject of a definitive book by Christine Zalewski. Generally though it was introduced and dropped by the Golden Dawn as being too complex and obscure for practical or regular use; many members found it confusing or impractical.
6. Lost or Dropped Tools
Some Golden Dawn tools faded away, either because they were too tricky to make or just unnecessary. Take the Ring and Disk, a pendulum scrying technique. It survived at Whare Ra, but barely. Even finding solid information on how it worked is a challenge.
7. Alchemy – More Flash Than Substance
The Golden Dawn loved throwing alchemical symbolism around, but did they actually have a working system? Not really. The Z documents mention alchemical transformation, but when I tried them, the results weren’t much better from standard ritual magic. It seems like alchemy was more of a cool-sounding concept than a fully integrated practice.
The Golden Dawn: A Launchpad, Not a Destination
Rather than seeing the Golden Dawn magic system as a “complete system of magic,” it’s better to think of it as a solid starting point. The initiations open your senses to different spiritual energies, but the teachings are just the beginning. You’ll need to do your own research, fill in the missing pieces, and make the system work for you.
The Golden Dawn gives you the map—but you’re the one who has to make the journey.
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