Golden Dawn Rituals and Commentaries Paperback – June 21, 2010

Zalewski's Rituals and Commentaries is a lifetime achievement -- a great work in its own right that will rank with the very small number of "must haves" about the Golden Dawn.It covers vast territory, from the outer order of the Stella Matutina / Whare Ra temple of the Golden Dawn and its written, social and oral traditions, through the first grade stages of the inner order. It's at the same time a "how to do it" book and a "why it works" explanation of genuine magic.The author's writing style is direct and clear which makes his analytical insights easy to comprehend and assess.Zalewski, as both a scholar and practicing adept, has a finely developed point of view. Where he is biased, he admits as much, and also lays out the roots of his preferences with intellectual honesty (but without disrespect for differing views). This is refreshing.Students will find this work to be practically useful and extremely thought-provoking. Newcomers will find it approachable and rewarding. Adepts, well, adepts already know of its publication and most likely it sits on their bookshelves, stuffed with bookmarks, in advance of these reviews.I am especially impressed with Zalewski's synthesis of ancient underpinnings and modern scientific knowledge and theory which open up new fields for study and experience in this immensely powerful system.Rituals and Commentaries is destined to become one of the heirloom texts of the Golden Dawn tradition.Buy multiple copies, therefore; one for your own use and study, and others to pass on.

The short review for Pat Zalewski's Golden Dawn Rituals & Commentaries is that it's the most important Golden Dawn book since Regardie's Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic. As a self initiate I tend to judge the material I use on the depth of content. What I mean by this is if you're working the system you can read a book and get a lot out of it, but then a few years down the line after you've done more work, a really good piece of occult writing will read like you've never read it before. This is the kind of depth Zalewski brings to the Golden Dawn rituals, there are layers and layers and layers to the system that come to light if you're working hard. Practiced occultists know these books, for instance Dion Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah or Regardie's The Middle Pillar, I feel I need to reread these every time I make a significant advancement.The history of the Whare Ra temple and the Golden Dawn tradition are in this book, and the various lineages are made crystal clear. It's of my (hopefully humble and earnest) opinion that this lineage was probably the most well realized of all the Golden Dawn organizations and it's the stories and anecdotes provided throughout the ritual commentaries that really make this book shine. There is far more explanatory text about the rituals in this book than in the Regardie books, breaking down just about everything you could imagine, from the symbols to ritual tools. There are lots of explanatory pictures as well and the tarot cards are straight out of Richard Dudschus' incredible deck. It makes randomly flipping through the book difficult as you want to stop and read everywhere.Zalewski's language always seems designed to get you to look under the hood a bit more on your own. I've always felt the rituals were works of genius, but it's an opinion that feels fairly small when someone who has been working them for decades starts to expound on the mysteries. As I read this, more and more did I have those "aha!" moments as a turn of phrase or connection made something previously fuzzy clearer. And I can imagine a decade or two down the line the full wealth that has been revealed here will be even more obvious.In the end one wonders what a Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic would look like if all the material came out of Whare Ra. I hope I live to see that day!

Ok you've bought " The Golden Dawn" by Isreal Regardie and your trying to work through the lessions, your reading the small commentaries on the rituals but it's just not clicking for you. There seems to be a lot of missing puzzle pieces and your ready to throw the book into the fire place and just walk away..Well don't.What you need to help you understand the rituals of The Golden Dawn Magick System is this book right here!I have been struggling for what seems forever with the understanding of the teachings of The Golden Dawn as a solitary practitioner, Found myself amassing a huge library just trying to understand it, trying to wrap my head all around it and with this book I have found the key to it all!You learn to empower and balance your higher spiritual self with the teachings of Regardies golden dawn through the LBRP, the Middle Piller Exercise The Greater Pentagram Rituals, hexagram rituals knowledge lectures ect.. but when it comes to the actual study of the Grade Rituals and their actual working in extream detail that is needed to perform them correctly, im sorry fans, but its just lacking.But not here with Pat Zalewskies version of the rituals. Its all here. Theres no knowledge lectures for the grades just pure indepth explanations of the rituals, every inch of every detail and esoteric theory behind them. It has everything you'll ever need to understand how they work and what you need to know and have to make them work, the right way. maybe even better.At least it has for me. I bought this book on a whim not knowing what to expect. I guess MAAT was leading me the way to the tool I needed to balance it all out. So don't get frustrated yet keep The Golden Dawn but buy this book to and maybe for you like it did for me, will help you put it all together.And please people dont pay attechion to the jeloues nay sayers this man has laid out the true workings of the Greatest Occult System of Magick ever assembled. Yeah its a hell of a lot of work to be Golden Dawn, but magick isn't given, it's earned.GREAT BOOK!

Un po debole la rilegatura ma per un grande classico si può sopportare, per il contenuto del libro, beh, se apri la mente e la nutri bene i commentari sono di grande aiuto...

Very useful book, well worth getting