Questions About Ritual Magick: "Where Should I Begin?"

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

I recently received the below letter from John Miller in the comments section of the Golden Dawn Blog. It is so important I decided to answer it here instead. If anyone else would like Ritual Magic advice, I would be happy to answer your questions here too.

Mr. Griffin,
Please excuse me if the salutation is in poor taste, but I must admit I am not well learned in the "great work". I have spent much time reading books like your Ritual Magic Manual, several books by Israel Regardie, Aliester Crowley, A.E. White, Pat Zalewski and so on and so forth... but I just dont get it... the information is... well.... overwhelming... I dont know where to begin. I fear trying any of the rituals, for my sanity as well as my well being.. I want nothing more then to go to a Temple and receive initiation and education properly. However before I make arrangements to go there (No close temples) I would like to be able to be a little educated on how to begin my studies. I know your goal is to help make magicians, and that is what I truly aspire to be, I dont want to be some armchair theorist. Please any information would greatly help, I feel buried maybe you could help me with just where to begin.
Thank you!

Dear John,

Thanks for taking the time to write. Hearing your story warms my heart and makes all of my effort to teach the benefits of Ritual Magick feel worth it.

I hear your concern, but I really don't think you need to worry about your sanity because of magical practice.

If you choose a solitary path, I would suggest you work through the Basic Rituals section in the Ritual Magic Manual.

In any case, I would suggest you begin by practicing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and the Rite of the Middle Pillar on a daily basis. The former begins to purify you energetically and the latter begins to charge your energetic body.

Your desire for formal initiation and working within an order structure are admirable. After all, why try to reinvent the wheel?

There are many fine Golden Dawn orders out there for you to choose from. Each one has a slightly different focus. Since you express a desire to learn Ritual Magick, it sounds like the Alpha Omega may be a good fit for you.

In our order, you will find a step-by-step curriculum that you can follow at home while you prepare to travel for formal initiation in one of our fully chartered and licensed, physical Golden Dawn temples.

I hear you that the vast amount of material out there about the Golden Dawn can be a bit intimidating. We are doing our best to meet the needs of people like you.

Together with a university professor with many years of experience in the field, we are working hard to continuously improve our curriculum and make it even more user friendly so that people do not feel so overwhelmed by the material.

I am including a link below to where you can find our more about our training program. Please feel free to post any additional questions that you may have here!