Saturn-Gnosis
The gnosis of the FS is a complex set of magical doctrines. These include a special path of initiation as well as a complete astral or planetary cosmosophy and a Luciferian element. In many regards the Saturn- Gnosis is in accordance with what is known of the Ophite and Barbelo Gnostic sects of antiquity. [5] Gnosis is a form of knowledge concerning the cosmos to which the individual feels called, or "elected," and which is based not on the belief in certain dogmas but rather on deep personal experience. The teachings, practices and rituals of the FS are intended to provide just such an initiatory experience.
Although in ancient times Gnosticism existed in a myriad of often mutually incompatible sects, there were certain doctrines common to most of them. First, they held that there existed a godhead beyond all categories as well as a three- fold god subsisting in the fullness of being (pleroma), or light. This divine realm of fullness of being transcends the place in the world where matter exists; these two realms are separated by a great barrier (horos). How these realms became separate is a matter of diverse speculation, however, what is certain among the Gnostics is that our world was not created by the god of light, but rather by an entity that resulted from a deficiency in the pleroma. This deficiency came about either through progressive degeneration as the outflow of being got further and further from its source, or through a conscious withdrawal of divine will (thelema) from the outer reaches. By whatever process, lesser independent entities arose in the graduated levels (called aeons) of the new cosmos. These entities were called archons. One of these archons is the entity—or demiurge—that created our world of matter. This entity is identified by some Gnostics with Jehova (YHVH), the god of the Old Testament. Finally, it was held that man, as a mixed entity consisting of elements with origins in both the world of light (of God) and the world of darkness (of the demiurge), could only be redeemed by knowledge (gnosis). This knowledge was a direct experience of being, not something acquired by learning or even by conclusions reached by logical methods. The demiurge Jehovah demanded faith (pistis); the "Good God" could only be reached through gnosis. [6]
The Saturnian Archetype
From the perspective of FS teachings, the essences of the planets are complex entities. The central focus of the Brotherhood is the Saturnian complex, which we will refer to here as an "archetype." From an aeonic perspective, the planetary complex surrounding Uranus is also important in FS teachings.
A review of any modern astrological text will show what the common views of Saturnian characteristics are: practical, cautious, constructive, responsible, patient, ambitious, thrifty, reliable and self-disciplined. Negative characteristics might include: mean, narrowminded, severe, aloof, dogmatic, heartless, and cruel. Some of the older characteristics of Saturn were taken over by Uranus. Again, a review of standard texts will show certain Uranian characteristics: humanitarian, friendly, kind, independent, original, inventive, strongwilled, versatile, loathing restriction. Negative characteristics might be: eccentric, perverse, rebellious. [7]
A synthesis of all these characteristics will basically give the entire picture of the Saturno-Uranian complex as it is projected in the ideology of the FS.
In the Saturn-Gnosis the planet and archetype of Saturnus is the focal point for the manifestation of the Demiurge. This Demiurge is identified with Lucifer— the Bearer of Light—as the higher octave of Saturn. In this capacity it is the "Guardian of the Threshold" to higher initiation and being. [8]
According to secret FS teachings, Saturnus is the Great Judge that manifests justice; he also brings reason and intelligence, and governs all standards of weights, measurements, and number. He is the Lord of the Seven Dwellings (= planetary genii of the outer realm), and governor of the revealed world and lord over life and death, and over the light and darkness. Saturnus is seen as the breaker of cosmic order and unity—thus he instituted death, causing regeneration and change to come into being. One of the ways in which he broke the cosmic order was in the revelation of divine secrets to mankind. [9] For this he was punished. Thus in many ways Saturnus is identical with Prometheus of Greek tradition, and is certainly to be identified as well with the Serpent of Paradise.
This Demiurge Saturnus is identified with the number 666. He is the Beast 666, manifest in the Man (or Men) 666, and in the Living Center of the Sun—Sorath 666. [10]
Further Luciferian aspects of the Demiurge Saturnus will be explored below when we discuss the specifically Luciferian/Satanic [11] facets of the Saturn- Gnosis. What is important to realize at this juncture is that Saturn is seen not in an exoteric sense—relevant primarily to the non-elect of Saturn—but rather in an esoteric sense relevant to his chosen ones. Here Saturn is seen as the tester and judge, and ultimately as the initiator into higher knowledge and power. This capacity is further amplified by the underlying Uranian influence.
Besides these general teachings on the nature of the Demiurge Saturnus, the FS has a special doctrine, particular to it, concerning an entity attached to the planet Saturn and active on the Earth, called the GOTOS. This is the specific egregore or daimonion of the Brotherhood, of which the Grand Master 33° is the personal representative. The GOTOS functions in a way similar to the way the Secret Chiefs worked in the Golden Dawn system. The belief of this system of lodges having hidden, praeterhuman intelligences at their esoteric heads is commonly held in the FS. Members would, for example, say that Baphomet was the lodge daimonion of the Knights Templar.
The name GOTOS is actually a formula made up of the initial letters in the official name of the 33°: Gradus Ordinis Templi Orientis Saturni. [12] The daimonion GOTOS is understood as a preexisting entity, but it is also used as the egregore of the lodge. An egregore is a sort of "group spirit" or thought-form magically created by a community of people from its collective ideals. The egregore can be seen as a collective hypnotic suggestion which can be experienced directly, if subjectively, by the participants in rituals wherein the egregore is invoked. This tends to take on objective reality as the experience of the egregore becomes an experience that is shared within lodges. [13]
GOTOS guides the initiate toward divinity. It has a dark and light aspect and stands beyond all notions of good and evil. This is related to the +/-Absolutum. The initiate who has been informed by the GOTOS will combine the Apollonian and Dionysian within him—he will put the Apollonian in the center of his world-view, but will joyously observe the sacramental daemonic liturgy of life and death. The magical synthesis of this duality is thought to make it easy for the initiate to "change raiments" (i.e., to die), as he passes from one plane of being to another. [14]
Jananda, writing as Aythos, defines the GOTOS in the following terms: "The GOTOS, as a magnetic accumulator in the Saturn-sphere, stores . . . projected magical powers in the causal sphere through the Chain of Brotherhood." [15]
Here it is clear that the egregore is intended to work in a particular magical way. It is a kind of "battery" which can be charged with the psychic energy of the lodge. This "battery" is given a particular form, which acts as an access-key to its power. When members of the lodge have need of the accumulated and stored magical energy, they can "tap into" it if they have the proper ritual keys. In the ritual practice of the FS, the GOTOS is especially charged during the Easter Lodge when, through the formation of the magical Chain of Brotherhood, energy is circulated to the GOTOS. In trance states certain initiates of the FS could actually gain "astral" visions of the humanoid appearance of the GOTOS. This image was at some point cast in a sculpture by Sorella Gabriele and set up in the Lodge Temple in Berlin. At one time all members of the FS were to have one of these busts of the "Master Gothos" in their private sanctuaries (see page 72).
Through the experience of the GOTOS the Saturnian Brother or Sister is able to feel directly the qualities of personality that he or she is expected to develop as an initiate of the FS: compassionless love, willpower, resolution, severity (with him- or herself and others). These are developed in order to create the conditions for higher spiritual development through mastery of one's own self and the environment. In other words these are the characteristics of the Saturnian magician. Gregorius himself, in a poem published in Saturn-Gnosis 1 (1928), described the GOTOS as a leader on the path into the solitude of Saturnian-Uranian knowledge (a knowledge into which each must go alone). He portrays the "love" of Saturn as "severity," but declares that whoever can withstand the tests will ultimately be greeted as a friend and brother. [16]
Aim of the FS—The Lodge Concept
The Brotherhood of Saturn characterizes itself as a "just, enlightened, perfect, secret, magical, ritual lodge." Each of these terms further defines and clarifies the nature of the FS. [17]
It is "just" or "righteous" in that all initiates are ethically trained in order to become balanced, productive and most importantly conscious members of the lodge and of society as a whole. In Masonic terms, the new initiate is compared to a rough-hewn stone which is to be finished by the mason.
By "enlightened" it is meant that the FS is of Gnostic origin, i.e., it is involved with the effort to gain direct experience and vision of the divinity. True to Gnostic doctrine, the FS holds that this understanding must come from outside the limitations of normal deductive or inductive logic. Magical work is made up of experience and only the elect may ever truly understand it.
The FS is a "secret" lodge in that the public identities of the members are supposed to be unknown to the other members. Each new initiate is given a lodge-name which he or she is to be known by in lodge-related affairs. During the ritual lodge work which takes place when a new initiate is received, his public name along with his lodge name are burned together in the brazier to bind them together "astrally."
"Ritualistic" means that the lodge celebrates certain ritual ceremonies at appointed times as an integral part of its overall work. The most sacred night is that of "Good Saturday"—when in the lore of the Christians it is said that Christ was in the Underworld preaching to the "good pagans."
The word "magical" here denotes the idea that the lodge works with invocations and evocations of entities from beyond the mundane realm.
It is a "Brotherhood" in that the bonds made within it are intended to continue beyond death on the "mental plane." In the concept of Brotherhood both men and women are included.
Quite often Brothers and Sisters place three points This is an exhortation "to work in the triplicity: harmony-justice- fraternity." [18] This three-fold motto either before or before and after their lodge names. can also be taken as an indication of the value system within the lodge.
Among the highest aims of the FS is the spiritual perfection of its initiates. But this is not really seen as an end in itself, but rather as a means to the elevation of the consciousness of the lodge as a whole, which in turn leads to a sympathetic raising of consciousness in the world outside the lodge. An esoteric aim of the lodge especially pursued by the High Grade Masters (30°—33°) is the binding of the so-called "outer lodge," i.e. the FS as it is known in the world, to the "inner lodge" which exists on the "mental plane." It is from this inner lodge that the High Grade initiates are to receive instructions for magical work to be disseminated within the order. Through this interaction, the two lodges, the inner and outer, begin to reach higher and higher levels of harmony. Additionally, the FS, as a Thelemic order, is concerned with activating the Law of Thelema on this planet. In the higher grades it is taught that the higher sense of the Law of Thelema involves the binding of humanity closer to the Saturnian influence. [19]
The Way of Saturn
The path of Saturnian initiation is one often wrapped in darkness in which the initiate finds the light. It is one of solitude (as the FS has come to recognize the existential problem of modern humanity), which it has incorporated into its program. As an order the FS provides a definite initiatory path and curriculum which is particular unto itself. Despite the recognition of the initiate's lonely path, the FS tries to provide a magical environment in which the individual can most clearly find his or her way to the Guardian of the Threshold—and beyond.
The cultivation of solitude is a primary task of the Saturnian brother or sister. As the initiate has chosen a pathway to higher knowledge through the Saturnian sphere, he has naturally isolated himself from the mass of humanity. By so doing he has also liberated himself from a vast number of the influences of the masses, influences that are detrimental to his initiatory progress. The initiate's need for this spiritually undifferentiated humanity becomes less and less as his progress accelerates. So despite his solitude (and more to the point, because of it) he is happy as a self-contained individual. Because he stands more and more outside the standards of common human measurements and evaluations, the Saturnian brother has progressively less spiritual need of common human society. The solitude is a joyous one, mainly because the initiate is always conscious of, and focused on, his initiatory aims. [20]
This cultivation of magical and initiatory solitude, when applied to the FS as a body, manifests as an elitist philosophy. As a link in the self-contained Chain of Brotherhood, the initiate is not only able to overcome in perfect serenity all difficulties that might arise in life, but also to put behind him all the doctrines and dogmas of the outmoded religions of the masses—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc. He knows that the gnosis of the Absolutum (= "divinity as an immaterial spectrum") is an unattainable goal for the mass of humanity given its present state of evolution. [21] Knowing this, the FS does not reject humanity, but merely takes a more realistic view of it, and attempts to accelerate the evolution of mankind by means of the magical/initiatory tools at its disposal.
A New World Order: Exposing the Luciferian Agenda
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