We are a teaching Hermetic Order. As our domain is strictly esoteric, that means we are not a religion. Our concern is with special knowledge, whether of the cosmological or metaphysical order, and the means of acquiring it. Our methods include ritual, meditation and for those qualified, an extremely dynamic, creative form of non-dual yoga.
From all this we learn that we can re-shape our minds according to our natural will to peace, tranquility, beauty and truth and thereby defeat the demons that have controlled us throughout our lives through adoption of an unrealised passive attitude to our environment.
The modern world seems to have much to offer but so much of it falls into the emptiness of enthralment with devices and machines that pretend freedom while increasingly exerting control over every aspect of our lives. Prevailing ideologies subversively narrow our perspective and flatten all spiritual traditions into a homogenous collection of New Age brands that have stripped away all elements of ritual and the supernatural. We have been programmed since birth by education and environment, corporations and governments, to objectify our selves so we are as far away as we possibly could be from our real Self. Spiritual knowledge and realisation means we have an opportunity to seize hold of our own destinies and reshape our experience of this existence here and now. We do not have to wait until tomorrow to get some remote notion of enlightenment, or pass on to another life to get certain knowledge.
The Pyramid of Initiation
- IIIº Svatantrya (Shiva)
- Threshold (Veil of Perceptible Phenomena)
- IIº Companion
- Iº Neophyte
- Threshold (Material Illusion)
- 0º Apprentice
- Student
Hermetic Order: two ways or courses
- Our oldest or ‘original’ course is within what is loosely termed the Western Mystery Tradition. This was largely originated by Eliphas Lévi who worked within the Judaeo Christian tradition and was then developed by occultists, particularly the aspects concerning practical magick based on the Tree of Life model. Most well known in Britain and America is the Golden Dawn and its multitudinous offshoots that proliferated throughout the twentieth century. As has always been the case, this path involves practical Qabalah. It involves ritual and meditation practice, and the keeping of a diary record. The course textbook is Hermetic Qabalah Foundation—Complete Course. The work is done under supervision. Work is handed in once a month for assessment by the preceptor.
- We are committed to teaching and practicing adaptations of the traditional Yoga-Sutras. The purpose of viveka discrimination practice, essential to Ashtanga meditation, is to know at all times the true from the fictitious on the individual, cosmic and even absolute level—for without the supreme principle nothing else really makes sense. For those who are able to take yoga meditation to the ultimate, we are able to teach a special adaptation made within the Gurukula tradition that involves shakta yoga. This is better known as an aspect of Kashmir Shaivism, or Trika Yoga.
Visit our Contact page for more on membership options.
Study and practical assistance (books and podcasts).
Podcasts on metaphysics by Oliver St. John.