It would be quicker to list the similarities! Both are initiatory societies, with degrees (or grades), secret modes of recognition, passwords, and based around a sort of lodge system. This was mainly due to the fact that at the time the Golden Dawn was founded, it was the fashion to model any secret society on a lodge-system, whether it had anything to do with Freemasonry or not. It also helped that the founders of the Golden Dawn were themselves Freemasons, so they would have gone with what they were familiar with.
That being said, the main differences between Freemasonry and the Golden Dawn can be stated thus:
Firstly, Freemasonry (obviously) deals with the established Degrees of Freemasonry, but the Golden Dawn does not. This is important to remember, because Masonic Grand Lodges are critical of bodies which purport to be imitative of Freemasonry, and penalise people who belong to such bodies. The Golden Dawn gets round this by not attempting to imitate Freemasonry at all. Hence a Freemason could join the Golden Dawn without breaking any obligations, because the latter has got nothing to do with the former.
Secondly, although both Masonry and the Golden Dawn have a theme about searching for Light, they go about it in a completely different manner: the underlying narrative of the Golden Dawn in no way coincides with the Masonic âstory.â
Thirdly, the Golden Dawn claims its rituals are Magical, and are performed in a magical manner: no such claim is made by Freemasonry in general. There is such a thing as esoteric Freemasonry where its practitioners claim that the degrees of Freemasonry are or can be magical, although they appear to be in the minority in relation to mainstream Freemasonry.
Fourthly, the Golden Dawn has a curriculum it obliges its members to study: and requires a member to pass examinations (written and, in the higher grades, practical) before advancing to a new grade. The Golden Dawn specifically focusses on the Qabalah, Ceremonial Magick, clairvoyance, astrology, tarot, geomancy, alchemy and hermeticism.
In Freemasonry this is not the case: to progress through Craft Freemasonry requires only the memorisation of a short piece of ritual. In Continental Freemasonry it is different, as candidates are required to write papers for each degree, although this is still unlike the examination system of the Golden Dawn. Moreover, Freemasonry hardly mentions anything like the Qabalah, although, again, esoteric Freemasons claim that the symbolism is right there though not recognised by mainstream Masonry.
Fifthly, the Golden Dawn was founded as a society for both men and women right from the outset. Mainstream Masonry tends to be male-only, although there is nowadays such a thing as Co-Masonry, which is viewed as outside the pale by purportedly âregularâ Masonry.
I have not even begun to talk about all the cosmetic differences, such as different regalia, different rituals, different grade system, different temple lay-out, different officers, etc etc etc. Suffice to say that if one were in a Golden Dawn temple, there is no chance that one would mistake it for just another masonic ritual.
(4) Alex Sumner’s answer to What is the difference between Freemasonry and The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Golden Dawn)? – Quora
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What is the difference between Freemasonry and The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn? – Quora
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What spell do I use to summon demons that show up whenever they want? – Quora
(a2a) Summoning demons to show up whenever they want is an incredibly bad idea.
Instead, a real magician aspires to summon demons whenever the magician wants.
Really itâs just a case of Setting Boundaries in a relationship. If youâre the boss of a company, you want your employees to turn up when theyâre supposed to, and do they job that theyâre paid to do. You donât want them to be bad timekeepers, or make unreasonable demands of your time or your good nature, or stalk you at your home.
Same with demons: you are meant to be their boss and they are your employees. A lot of people with superiority complexes feel bad about commanding demons, but if a Manager can give an instruction to his / her team-member and still be respectful to them, itâs really not that different.
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Is there a reputable way, a spell or ritual perhaps, to travel through time to a certain point in the past using magic? – Quora
(a2a) The magic words you are looking for are âAkashic Recordsâ – google this phrase to research more info. The basic principle is that every thought that has ever existed has left its imprint on the Akasha, which is like Universal Mind-Substance (also known in old books of occultism as âEtherâ or just âSpirit.â) Hence it ought to be possible to psychically attune yourself to the Akashic Records and examine the past through a kind of clairvoyance.
The important point to remember is that although you would see and observe the past, you would not be able to interact and interfere with it. Still, great for historical research or for doing things like recovering past-life memories.
In ceremonial magic, the Archangel Tzaphqiel (whose name means âKnowledge of Godâ) is thought to be the keeper of the Akashic Records, so if you were to go down this route you should think of trying to invoke this being.
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Alex Sumner’s answer to What does the astrological chart predict for 2021? – Quora
Mundane astrology, i.e. the astrology of world events, is usually done by taking a chart for the moment of the Spring Equinox. As a resident of the UK I have thus analysed a chart for Saturday 20th March 2021, 0937 (the exact moment of the Equinox), London UK. You will appreciate therefore that most of what I will say comes from a British point of view.
A horoscope for the moment of the Spring (March) Equinox – Saturday 20th March 2020, 0937, London UK
The good news is that the COVID-19 crisis will end. The bad news is that the Aftermath of COVID-19 will begin.
Moon is in Gemini in the 12th House, conjunct North node and Mars, trine to Saturn and Jupiter. The general population will react positively to the end of the COVID-19 crisis, but there will be a great upheaval in people’s lives, caused by a great awareness of having to look after the sick and elderly. A major theme will be that a lot of people will be complaining that they didn’t realise just how much the aftermath of COVID-19 would affect them. Workers will demand – even to the extent of going on strike – the right to take (more) leave from work in order to care for sick relatives, and there will almost certainly be major public protests about this.
On the plus side, however, the Sun is in the 11th House, the House of Friendship, analogous to Aquarius, the sign of humanistic ideals and service to others. It is conjunct Venus, which in mundane charts represents Women. We may thus expect Women rise to prominence in public life, achieving great things in government and politics. 2021 will be a good year for Feminism – women’s issues will figure heavily in the business of Parliament.
Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to What does the astrological chart predict for 2021? – Quora
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Alex Sumner’s answer to Hi! When I was about 16 yrs old, I was napping and was slightly woken up by this bright figure. Could this have been an angel or something? Also, I don’t see spirits anymore like I used but oftentimes I see glimmering orbs. What would this mean? – Quora
Hi! When I was about 16 yrs old, I was napping and was slightly woken up by this bright figure. Could this have been an angel or something?
I once had a vision in which I saw an Angel. At the same time as I saw it, I felt a tremendous ecstatic feeling which I can only describe as like the way in which books on yoga philosophy describe spiritual enlightenment (samadhi). From that point on, I became convinced that they way to tell whether a being is an authentic angel or not is whether its presence causes samadhi. With maturing years, I have come to believe that in a certain sense, the samadhi is the Angel.
So to answer your question directly – was what you saw an Angel? Well, think carefully about how you felt at the exact time it happened. Did you feel excited, exhilarated, surprised, astounded, or anything else that could be described as noumenal? Or did it just pass you by like something fairly unremarkable? Ultimately you will know yourself whether your experience was genuine.
Also, I don’t see spirits anymore like I used but oftentimes I see glimmering orbs. What would this mean?
If you can see them floating in the actual air in front of you, they might be manifestations of some kind of spirit. There are different kinds of spirit that could appear in such a way, for example it could be an elemental or nature spirit. I tend not to believe that the spirits of dead people appear in this way, as if they made a successful transition to the other side, they would not be hanging around the physical plane in this manner. The exception to this was if there were something wrong, in which case it could indicate that the spirit needed help in making a successful transition.
If, however, the orb just appears as a spot on a photograph, I would strongly advise against reading too much into it – apart from a peculiarity in the way that the camera has captured light reflecting off a dust particle.
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Alex Sumner’s answer to How and where could I start to practice Magick? (14 years old) – Quora
I am now an experienced Ceremonial Magician. However, when I was fourteen years old myself, I got turned on to the occult not through reading occult books per se, but through Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, and the fiction of H P Lovecraft.
This is not so crazy as it may sound, since because Call of Cthulhu is based in a fictionalised version of the real world, the creators actually included a lot of historical data of real-life occult organisations and personalities such as Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune, Israel Regardie, the Golden Dawn, etc. Because this piqued my interest, I remembered them when I came to researching the occult seriously when I was older.
Indeed, several serious occultists I know claimed that they were first inspired to take up the dark arts after reading Dennis Wheatley novels. Dennis Wheatley actually met Aleister Crowley, although he was a bit of a hypocrite in that he told his readers not to get into the occult real-life, as it was a sure path to be enmeshed by the powers of darkness, etc.
So yeah, if you do your research, you will probably find that a lot of fiction is inspired by genuine occultism. A lot however is not. The one thing I would advise against doing is watching The Irregulars. This is probably one of the worst programmes out there when it comes to historical accuracy about occultism. Or about the Sherlock Holmes universe. Or indeed about life in Victorian England generally.
(NB: if you are on Netflix and you want to watch something decent about the occult, try The Midnight Gospel instead).
The Irregulars. Not as authentic as The Midnight Gospel
Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to How and where could I start to practice Magick? (14 years old) – Quora
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