Women of the Golden Dawn
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93 All,
I'm halfway through a book called "Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses," by Mary Greer. I am finding this book to be deeply inspiring and hope that I can convince others to read it as well (if you haven't already) and comment on it in this thread.
Ms. Greer describes the lives of four key women of the Golden Dawn in great detail. The women are: Florence Farr, Annie Horniman, Maud Gonne, and Mina Begson (Moina Mathers). Each of these women had very different personalities, and grew into a very different role in the order.
This book is very readable and brings these women and their environment and times to life. There are interesting descriptions of some of the workings done at the time, as well as astrological interpretations of events. The women deal with all the same things we do: relationships, money, family, children, aspiration, heartbreak, arguments, and division within their group. In a very deep way, it is empowering to read the stories of our spiritual grandmothers.
When I had gotten a couple of chapters into this book, I started thinking how wonderful it would be to have a "book club", in which Thelemic women could read this book together and discuss it and their thoughts. However, we'll all pretty spread out over the country, and have busy schedules. So perhaps this thread on the forum can be an online "book club".
You can find the book at Amazon.com here: www.amazon.com/Women-Golden-Dawn-Priestesses-Horniman/dp/0892816074/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-0824723-3673448?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187880265&sr=1-1
Over the next several days, I'll be posting small excerpts from the book on this thread as "teasers," in an effort to entice people to read it!
93 93/93
Anna -
It's a great book.
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Yeah, I recommend it highly! I knew Mary briefly and had the chance to see her when the book first came out - it's solid, important research presented in a very readable form.
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Cool, sounds like something I'd liek to read. I'll check it out if I ever get paid.
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93 All,
Well, not as if you need any further encouragement after the above endorsements, but I have typed out one fairly long quote from the book. Please forgive its length, but for me so far it neatly sums up what is so special and moving about this book (and perhaps the author felt this way as well, since she placed it in the Introduction). Here it is (if it all fits in one post):
From: Women of the Golden Dawn, Introduction, page 4:
"Magical Mottos, Inner Myths
Each of these Golden Dawn women chose a motto to define her personal search for meaning and her link to the Divine. The motto became her magical name, because in so naming herself after the image of a central principle, each woman strove to make herself over in that image. Yeats said, “There is some one myth for every man, which if we but knew it, would make us understand all that he did and thought.” Through their mottos we can glimpse the inner myths through which these women gave life to their souls. As you read their stories and discover how their mottos weave through their decisions and actions, you might think about the magical motto you would choose for yourself to express your own inner myth. What is the central principle or image by and for which you would wish to live? Wisdom, Light, Peace, Joy, Justice, Bliss, Strength, Truth, Unity… to quest, to love, to learn, to dare, to persevere. Is it symbolized by a Heart, Fire, Stars, a Sun, a Divinity? All of these appear in the mottos of members of the Golden Dawn, and always they tell something about the character of the person so named and about the central principle or image that motivates them. Through their mottos we will find the character, motivation, and aims to which the women of the Golden Dawn aspired, which can be seen through the related concepts of principle, quest, and task.
Florence Farr’s magical personality was Sapientia Sapienti Dono Data, literally translated as “Wisdom is given as a gift to the Wise.” The Latin word for wisdom has an additional meaning relating to the senses so that the expression can also be understood thus: “Taste is given to those who have the ability to savor it.” The motto clearly places wisdom as Florence’s dominating principle; her quest was to perceive its presence, and therefore her task was to hone spiritual knowledge.
Annie Horniman’s magical motto was Fortiter et Recte, literally, “Bravely and Justly,” but perhaps best translated as “With Fortitude and Rectitude.” Annie’s focal principle was moral uprightness: to be straight and strong. Her quest was to find a standard straight enough to warrant her task of upholding it with spiritual courage.
Moina Bergson Mathers was known magically as Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum, meaning “I leave no traces behind” – literally, “No tracks (footprints) turn back” – and, in fact, she left almost no physical evidence of herself. Moina’s dominating principle was selflessness. The clue lies in “not turning back,” for to not retrace the circle of incarnation she must annihilate (make null) her individual personality. We might therefore say that her task was to escape the spiral of karma and rebirth (and perhaps her own heritage), and her quest was toward spiritual evolution.
Finally, Maud Gonne’s motto was Per Ignum Ad Lucem, “Through the Fire to the Light.” Maud lived by the principle of pure single-minded focus to which everything else must be sacrificed. Her task was to burn away whatever was unnecessary to her purpose, sensing that the way to Spirit was through the strength of her Desire. This implied that only if she proved her worth through the most intense, even painful, experiences could she achieve her quest for spiritual strength.
As Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar discovered when editing The Madwoman in the Attic, about nineteenth-century women writers: “Women will starve in silence until new stories are created which confer on them the power of naming themselves.” The women of the Golden Dawn demonstrate what is possible when we name ourselves. We will discover how together they sought, never looking back, to apply the gift of their wisdom to courageously evolve along the straightest path to the Divine within.
Yet their real stories lie not just in how they succeeded, but in how they failed, for biography is the story of a person in conflict with herself and her environment."