During Saturday, September 23rd, this year 2023 the autumnal equinox occurred and now follows a time of increasing darkness and stillness…
It is surprisingly easy to sink into the digital world. Social media, google, blogs, podcasts have become a natural part of most people’s lives. A universe of information and virtual interaction is available just a click away. Retrieving information has never been easier. Likewise, it has never been easier to mistake, or prefer, this ”universe” for reality, real life.
Of course it can be nice to sink into another world for a while, but to confuse it with real life is a big mistake, all to easy to commit. You forget to live, to experience things for real, or IRL to use a modern expression, and in this way you get no real experiences, no lasting impressions that involves all of our senses.
In our day and age, especially online and social media, there is a lot of misinformation. Anyone can post (with a few exceptions) anything without this information being reviewed. You can even publish your own book on any subject without any major problems, and it doesn’t have to be based on any facts or long experience.
If we direct our gaze towards the occult arena, one notices very quickly and is struck by how much incorrect knowledge is being spread. People have taken some weekend course, or followed some blog and then try to create their own courses, books or podcasts. The worst thing is that they have no idea how ignorant they are, how much they have misinterpreted. They teach wrongly, create their own systems for lack of a deeper understanding of the tradition from which they drew ”inspiration” and think they know better than their predecessors.
The Golden Dawn tradition is no exception! Self-proclaimed ”masters” appear every now and then who, at best, have a couple of years of self-study behind them. These often have a ”own version” that they proclaim to be a new and improved wisdom.
If you want to make an occult analogy of or equivalent to the digital world, you have to turn to the Astral World. The astral world is not called the Treasury of Illusions by chance. This is because most of what you usually come into contact with are precisely illusions. Illusions about knowledge, beings, the divine and about oneself. Maybe especially about oneself. It requires guidance from something higher than the ego in order to succeed in finding the little gold nuggets that are in the astral mire.
As a comparison, it takes just as much discernment to find quality information on the internet and social media.
Nothing that has been written so far in this post has anything to do with the Autumnal Equinox itself. It has only served to be a long introduction to a short and seemingly simple encouragement:
If you happen to follow a tradition like the Golden Dawn (whether you are lucky enough to be initiated by a temple or if you try your best to learn on your own) and if you are honest with yourself in your desire to grow as human, magician and spiritual being. Take a break from all the blogs, podcasts, social media and self-proclaimed ”teachers” who try, with conflicting arguments, to tell you how to practice your art. What you should do instead is follow what your particular tradition (and temple) is trying to convey to you. Temporarily see this knowledge as the only one for you and for God’s sake practice this knowledge and quietly contemplate what ”gifts” this gives you.
So learn from the stillness of the season, the waning of the sun, and give yourself the gift of digital darkness for a while. Take care, ponder and practice your tradition untainted by the thousands of different opinions of the virtual world and you shall see that this darkness will show you a glimpse of the light!
Hermetiska Orden av Den Gryende Morgonrodnaden 