Sam Scarborough has died

The head of the Ordo Stella Matutina (OSM) and long-term cheerleader for an authentic modern Golden Dawn tradition, Sam Scarborough, has died of a heart attack. He was 57.

From the Internet’s early days, Sam was well known within the different social media groups for the support and advice he provided.

Sam was a strict traditionalist and researcher who collected authentic material that he could find to try and unlock more pieces of the Golden Dawn puzzle.

He tread a fine line between revealing information and providing help to those working within the tradition. He managed to keep his life incredibly private without revealing much about himself. Sam lived the motto, Scire, Velle, Audere, Tacere (To Know, To Will, To Dare, To Keep Silent).

He had an extensive collection of GD material, which he made available to researchers. Some of my books relied on material supplied by Sam.

At the same time, he must have felt exasperated by some of the Golden Dawn questions he fielded based on the poorly researched antics of others.

Golden Dawn Wars

He was a veteran and survivor of the Golden Dawn wars and came under repeated attacks from those who were less informed in the tradition but out to make a quick buck.

I had known Sam since the early days of the Golden Dawn wars when we had each other’s backs in a magical support network that lasted well after the last shots had been fired.

One area we agreed on was that the modern Golden Dawn needed to work together in harmony, even if we disagreed on different points. We had both seen the hard work of those who had rebuilt the Golden Dawn in the 1970s and 1980s to see it unravel because two people wanted to be the grand pooh-bah of it all.

Sam went on record as saying: “ Do the Work. Be diligent, be discriminating in your choices and actions, and take responsibility for your words and actions, but be fraternal to those whom are doing the Work in another Order within the Golden Dawn Tradition as well as those that are in your own Temple and Order, after all we are all doing similar grade work and striving towards the same goal in the Magnum Opus.”

Sam was involved in many writing projects which were designed to forge these fraternal bonds by having different groups writing together.

Debater

Our online debates were always informative for both sides, even if we approached Golden Dawn from a different angle.

We spoke less as my interest in the Golden Dawn declined, and there was a communication breakdown over one of my books. However, before his death, that was patched up.

A few months ago, he travelled to the UK to inspect the Westcott collection in the United Grand Lodge library. For someone like Sam, that would have been a pilgrimage, touching holy objects and seeing something that had been a significant part of his life.

Missed

The Golden Dawn community will miss Sam. His death removes yet another element of intellectual stability from the modern tradition, which it cannot afford to lose. As a teacher and mentor for members of the contemporary Golden Dawn, his life has had a tremendous impact, and as his friend, I am sad that his story is over so soon.