The new edition of Mathers’ Last Secret is now out. The new edition started out as an attempt to correct some of the typos which found their way into the first edition. However it started to grow making the book a lot bigger. This version is more of a scholars edition with improved footnotes and some of the more obscure material made clearer. Some of my commentary has been clarified.
Mathers’ Last Secret is important to those who are not members of the AO because it contains the only complete version of the Golden Dawn rituals available. So far most of what has been printed have either been the cut down Stella Matutina rites which were printed by Israel Regardie or the later Whare Ra rituals. This book is the only one to contain the real Golden Dawn Portal ritual. So far the only Portal ritual to be published has been that of the Stella Matutina. Indeed seems that for many years the AO continued to use the Golden Dawn rituals, with some tweaks to the 0=0 rite.
As such it contains instructions, diagrams and even Tarot cards which will be vital for those who are trying to use the Golden Dawn System of Magic.
The first book was controversial because it lifted the lid on the AO as run by Mathers. For many years people, usually claiming to be the incarnation of Mathers have used the name of the AO to sell their system as different from other members of the Golden Dawn community. They have been able to do this because few had access to original AO material. Little of it survived and much of that was in the United States. That was until a cache of documents appeared in an unlikely place and permission was given for publication.
Mathers’ Last Secret proved that not only was the AO exactly like the Golden Dawn of 1894 it had reverted back to its Masonic roots and played down the magical techniques which made the order famous.
The revised edition of Mathers’ Last Secret is a tribute to the Golden Dawn community. There are those who would have you believe that the Golden Dawn community is at each others’ throats, this book is a tribute to the way the real Golden Dawn community works together. Many Golden Dawn leaders and members from different Orders and temples helped me out on this project, some asking to remain anonymous. As a result I had access to information which I did not have and was able to make this edition more useful for those who want to study the Golden Dawn tradition.
There are still a few copies of the old edition in the market. If you want to buy the new edition you should use this link and make sure that the cover has “revised” written on it.
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