ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

Lineage is a complex matter in initiatory Orders, and the criteria by which it is judged differ considerably from one body to another. It is not unusual for members of the same Order to hold differing views as to what lineage consists of and what it requires.

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Full Golden Dawn lineage, strictly defined, would require a Chief Adept who:
 

1. has been installed by another Chief Adept holding the same, in unbroken succession back to the original Chief Adept, Deo Duce Comite Ferro;

2. has passed every examination and received every Initiation Ceremony from Neophyte to Adeptus Exemptus, conferred within fully Warranted Temples and Chartered Vaults standing in unbroken succession to that same source;

3. holds both a Second Order Charter and a First Order Warrant, permitting the operation of a Vault and a Temple, together with the authority to issue such Charters and Warrants to others; and

4. has received the complete written corpus and oral tradition of the Order, from Neophyte to Adeptus Exemptus.
    

Measured against this standard, Golden Dawn lineage in the strictest sense no longer exists anywhere in the world. What modern manifestations of the Tradition may reasonably aspire to is to fulfil these requirements as closely as present circumstances allow.

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The Claim of the Order of the Golden Dawn
 

The Order of the Golden Dawn (OGD) rests its legitimacy upon its founder, Martin Thibeault (Chaos Confusum), on the following grounds.
 

1. As founder, he is recognised as Head of the Order by the Ipsissimus Pat Zalewski, one of the very few Adepts living today to have been initiated and instructed by Adepts of the original Order.

2. The Head of the Order (Archon Basileus) has personally passed all examinations and received all initiations from 0°=0° to 10°=1° within duly constituted Temples and Vaults. None was taken by self-initiation.

3. He is the only person in the world to have received the full Transmission of the Etheric Link from Pat Zalewski, who received it from Jack Taylor, and he in turn from another, in unbroken succession from Rudolf Steiner. This Transmission confers the right and the legitimacy to initiate in all Grades and to issue Charters for Vaults of the R.R. et A.C. The Etheric Link is thus held within the Order of the Golden Dawn.

4. He was further appointed sole successor to Pat Zalewski’s entire corpus — his published works together with his complete written and oral tradition from Neophyte 0°=0° to Ipsissimus 10°=1° — including the original papers and correspondence which Pat Zalewski donated to him and to the Order.
    

In Summary
 

The Order of the Golden Dawn:
 

• operates through an unbroken line of initiation descending from the original Order of 1888;

• carries the full Transmission of the Etheric Link of the Stella Matutina;

• possesses a body of Oral Tradition from past Adepts unequalled anywhere in the world; and

• perpetuates in full the curriculum, teachings, and innovations of Pat Zalewski.
   

As stated above, Golden Dawn lineage in the strictest sense no longer exists. What the Order of the Golden Dawn holds is all that it is now possible to hold. Beyond this, what remains is the work itself — what an Order stands for in the world, and the culture that it nurtures.