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Subject: TASKS OF THE ZELATOR OF THE THELEMIC GOLDEN DAWN

        First Degree
        (Magician)

        Issued by
        the Order of the
        Thelemic Golden Dawn
        (Novus Ordo Aurora Aurea)
        Copyright (c) 1991 e.v.

        By David Cherubim
        (Frater Superior Chief)

        Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

        The principal business of the Zelator of the Thelemic Order of the Gold
en Dawn is to do his/her True Will, or to realize his/her True Self in action.
 Zelator is the title of the assistant of an Alkhemist who must keep the fire b
urning in the Athanor or Alkhemical Furnace.  The Alkhemist of the Operation is
 the Holy Guardian Angel, the Athanor is the human body, the Fire is the Sacred
 Flame of the True Will, and the Zelator is the self or personality of the Ange
l.  As a Zelator you are to keep the Fire of your True Will burning in your bod
y and brain, by constant dedication of yourslef to the Great Work of doing your
 True Will, that you may fulfil the Law of Thelema.

        The word Zelator is derived from the ancient Egyptian word Zaruator, si
gnifying "Searcher for Hathoor."  Hathoor is otherwise called Het-Heru, that is
, the House of Horus.  This House of Horus is Nature Herself, the Temple of the
 Four Elements of which you are a zealous student.

        In the Zelator grade there is concentrated the Mysteries of the Four El
ements, so that the fully initiated Zelator is also called a Theoricus, Practic
us, and Philosophus.  In the Zelator grade you will complete the preliminary co
urse of elemental initiation as represented by the four Sephiroth called Malkut
h, Yesod, Hod and Netzach, which are the Elemental Sephiroth on the Qabalistic
Tree of Life.  Study well, O Zelator, all Qabalistic Mysteries connected with t
hese four Sephiroth to attain an adequate comprehension regarding the Four Elem
ents of Light, Life, Love and Liberty, and so shall you advance in your Knowled
ge of Nature.

        To Know, to Dare, to Will and to Keep Silent.  These are the true Myste
ries of the grade of the Zelator.  The fruit of their performance is the Suprem
e Power to Go.  To Go is the function of a God; it is the act of doing one's Tr
ue Will.  To Know, to Dare, to Will, and to Keep Silent are the magical means t
o control the Four Elements, to direct them according to the dynamic course of
your True Will unto the ultimate attainment of the supreme realization of your
True Self.

        To exercise the Four Powers of the Sphinx is to invoke the highest in y
ourself and to act as a Lord on earth.  In the Book of the Law it is said, "The
 lords of the earth are our kinsfolk" and "the highest are of us."  It is furth
er said that "success is your proof."  As a Zelator you are obligated to aspire
 to be the Lord that you are, which is the highest in you, by way of doing your
 True Will; and the only proof of your power is the measure of your success, wh
ich is the fruit of your dedication.

        The Zelator of the Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn is further entitle
d a "Magician."  That is, the Zelator is one who exercises the four Magical Pow
ers of the Sphinx to accomplish his/her True Will and to realize his/her True S
elf in action.  A Magician is one who studies and controls the Elements of his/
her own nature, and applies those Elements to the practical scheme of fulfillin
g his/her own True Will.  The Magician is a maker of him/herself; s/he determin
es his/her own course of action in the Universe; s/he creates his/her own world
 in accordance with his/her own true nature.  S/he lives and breathes as a god,
 as a self-created Lord of dynamic power and creativity.  S/he understands the
hermetic saying, "As above so below, and as below so above", and s/he acts in a
ccordance with that wisdom, achieving success on earth below as in heaven above
, and this as a sign of his/her illumination and progress.  The outer is the sy
mbol of the interior: the True Will of the Magician is a symbol of the True Sel
f, and that by way of action.   The key words of the grade of the Zelator are "
DO IT."

        The Thelemic Ceremony of the Zelator of the New Order of the Golden Daw
n can directly inspire the Magician to do his/her True Will, to express the dyn
amic current of his/her own True Self.  The Zelator is bound by Oath to do his/
her True Will, and this very act of limitation is his/her magical means to abso
lute freedom, to be and to express his/her True Self.  The force of limitation
is Saturn; but this force is also the source of freedom when we are able to use
 limitation instead of being used by it.  To take an Oath is a binding of the W
ill to a self-determined course of action; it is a limiting of one's concentrat
ion so that one may attain the object of one's Magick Oath.  The Zelator binds
him/herself to a single course of action, that is, the course of the True Will,
 to realize the True Self, since a Magician is a follower of the Path of the Un
iverse, conforming with Her laws on all planes; and the True Will of the Magici
an is the Universal Will, and the True Self of the Magician is the Universe its
elf.

        In the Ceremony of the Zelator the Magician takes an Oath to exercise t
he Four Powers of the Sphinx, that is, to Know, to Dare, to Will and to Keep Si
lent, so that s/he may attain the lofty power to Go, to do his/her True Will an
d to realize his/her True Self.  All else contributes to this kinetic course of
 action, cultivating Light, Life, Love and Liberty.  The Oath is the Word and t
he Will; it is our vehicle of creative power and our magick link to freedom.
        The Zelator of the Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn should seek to mas
ter the Ritual of the Sphinx, the Ritual of the Proclamation of the Law of Thel
ema, the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram to invoke and banish the Four Elements,
 and the Ritual of the Tattwas to obtain elemental visions and accurate knowled
ge regarding the nature of the Elements.

        The Zelator may also find it advantageous to learn the following Thelem
ic rituals by Aleister Crowley:  The Mass of the Phoenix (Liber XLIV), A.'. A.'
. Publication in Class D, being a short ritual giving a simple magical Eucharis
t for daily use; and also Liber V vel Reguli, A.'. A.'. Publication in Class D,
 being the Ritual of the Mark of the Beast:  an incantation proper to invoke th
e Energies of the Aeon of Horus, adapted for the daily use of the Magician.  Bo
th of these rituals can be found in Aleister Crowley's "The Equinox" or in "Mag
ick in Theory and Practice."

        The Zelator should meditate on a straight line.  S/he should take a rul
er or a pencil and by moving it a distance equal to its length, outline a squar
e.  Having done this, and after quieting his/her mind with the Fourfold Breath
technique, s/he should mentally formulate and discover the occult significance
of a Cube.

        The Zelator should seek to master an Asana, or one of the Yoga postures
, and s/he should seek to attain proficiency in one of the Pranayama techniques
.  You may consult Aleister Crowley's A.'. A.'. Publication in Class B, Liber E
 Vel Exercitiorum, Parts III and IV, for instructions on Asana and Pranayama.
Also consult Aleister Crowleys "Book IV", Part I, Chapters I and II and his "Ei
ght Lectures on Yoga".  Or you may consult any one of the many other informativ
e books on Yoga which are available today to find and experiment with other pre
scribed forms of Asana and Pranayama.  I do, however, suggest that you obtain a
 copy and make a thorough study of the book "Raja-Yoga", by Swami Vivekananda.

        The Zelator should construct or have constructed for him/herself the fo
ur elemental tools of Magick, called the Wand, the Cup, the Dagger and the Pant
acle.  In either case, these four tools should be consecrated by the Zelator hi
mself, and this in accordance with the elemental arrangement on the Tree of Lif
e.  Thus the first tool to consecrate is the Pantacle (Malkuth/Earth), then the
 Dagger (Yesod/Air), then the Cup (Hod/Water), and lastly the Wand (Netzach/Fir
e).  When you advance to the grade of Dominus Liminis, you will then construct
the fifth elemental tool which corresponds to the so-called element of Spirit.
 You may consult Aleister Crowley's A.'. A.'. Publication in Class D, Liber A V
el Armorum, Sub figura CCCCXII, for instructions with regard to the constructio
n of the four elemental tools of Magick.  Also consult Aleister Crowley's "Book
 IV", Part II, Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and IX for information concerning the oc
cult meanings and proper usage of the elemental tools of Magick.  Or you may co
nsult any of the various informative Golden Dawn books on the market today whic
h give instructions for the construction of the traditional Golden Dawn element
al tools.

        The Zelator Grade refers to Malkuth, the tenth Sephira on the Qabalisti
c Tree of Life.  Its corresponding Yoga Chakra is Muladhara, the Lotus of Four
Petals.  Its corresponding Astrological Planet is Saturn, and its Alchemical Me
tal is Lead.  It is the stage of Birth in the Novus Ordo Aurora Aurea.

        Love is the law, love under will.

EOF