Open ArcanaARCANA APERTA

DISC-0010 / ITEM-0003

Grade initiation rituals (Neophyte 0=0 to Adeptus Minor 5=6)

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn · United Kingdom

Disclosure date
1937
Date precision
Year
Disclosure method
Defector testimony
Extent
Full
Record review
Unreviewed

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Restricted material and access

Ceremonial initiations for the Outer and Inner Order grades.

Material type
Initiatory rite
Restricted to
Initiates of each grade
Restriction mechanism
oath, grade_requirement
Stated reason
Protecting candidates and the efficacy of the ritual
Tradition origins
1888

Recorded practice status

Modified

Provisional: no dated status evidence is linked.

Status as of
Not recorded
Status claims
Not recorded

Disclosure dates, source publication dates, tradition origins and dates of practice are separate.

What this disclosure covers

Rituals of the Outer Order grades (Neophyte to Philosophus) and the Portal, including steps, signs, grips, words and passwords

Rituals are in Volume Two (1938). Regardie had been a member of the Stella Matutina.

The source

The Golden Dawn (4 vols.) ↗ (SRC-0008; authenticity: Unassessed)

Author
Israel Regardie
Original publication
1937–1940
Linked edition
Not recorded
Format
Book
Provenance
defector_account
Rights of source work
Copyrighted
Identifiers
ol:OL1989588W;ia:IsraelRegardie-thegoldenDawn-vol1-1937;ia:IsraelRegardie-TheGoldenDawn-Vol2-1938;ia:IsraelRegardie-TheGoldenDawn-Vol3-1939;ia:IsraelRegardie-TheGoldenDawn-Vol4-1940
Source content hash
Not recorded

Aries Press, Chicago. Based on Stella Matutina papers. Linked copy is Volume Two (1938): Rituals of the First Order and the Portal.

Claims about this item

These claims may cite other sources for the same restricted item. Supporting and contradicting evidence remain separate.

CLM-0021 · Content

In the Neophyte obligation the candidate pledges to keep secret the Order, its name, its members' names and its proceedings, and to study the occult sciences, under a penalty of submitting to a deadly current of will set in motion by the chiefs that would strike him dead or paralysed as if by lightning; the Hiereus touches him with a sword as the penalty is spoken.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1909 (as published); Golden Dawn practice of the 1890s
Locators
No. II, 'The Temple of Solomon the King', pp. 253–254
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

  • The Equinox (Vol. I) (SRC-0007; authenticity: Unassessed)

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against a scan of The Equinox I(2) on 2026-11-04. Regardie's publication (SRC-0008), drawn from Stella Matutina papers rather than from Crowley, could corroborate it independently. A footnote says a later version, issued after the Horos scandal, softened the penalty wording.

  • SRC-0007: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0007: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0003: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0022 · Content

The hoodwinked candidate, bound with a rope, is led round the temple, barred by the Kerux, purified with water and consecrated with fire, and challenged by the Hiereus, before the hoodwink is removed and the three chief officers receive him with the words 'Khabs Am Pekht'; the Hiereus then entrusts the signs, grip, grand word and current password, which this account does not print.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1909 (as published)
Locators
SRC-0007: No. II, pp. 254–257; SRC-0008: vol. 2, pp. 19–29
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against a scan of The Equinox I(2) and the Internet Archive text of Regardie's Volume Two (1938) on 2026-11-04. The accounts describe related Golden Dawn and Stella Matutina ritual papers with a shared upstream tradition. Agreement between these versions is retained, but independent provenance of the relevant wording has not been established; counted conservatively as single_source. Regardie's version names the Stella Matutina at the reception.

  • SRC-0007: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0007: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • SRC-0008: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0008: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0003: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0023 · Content

After the admission the penalty is illustrated by a liquid that turns the colour of blood, and the ceremony closes with the words 'Khabs Am Pekht', 'Konx Om Pax' and 'Light in Extension'.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1909 (as published)
Locators
SRC-0007: No. II, pp. 259–260; SRC-0008: vol. 2, pp. 38, 43
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against a scan of The Equinox I(2) and the Internet Archive text of Regardie's Volume Two (1938) on 2026-11-04. The accounts describe related Golden Dawn and Stella Matutina ritual papers with a shared upstream tradition. Agreement between these versions is retained, but independent provenance of the relevant wording has not been established; counted conservatively as single_source. Regardie's version names the Stella Matutina at the reception.

  • SRC-0007: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0007: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • SRC-0008: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0008: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0003: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0031 · Content

In the Neophyte grade the step is a short advance of the left foot; the signs are the Saluting Sign (leaning forward with both arms outstretched, as if groping for light), answered by the Sign of Silence (left forefinger on the lips); the grip is made foot to foot, the hands failing once to meet and then touching only the fingers; and the grand word Har-Par-Krat is whispered mouth to ear in syllables.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1938 (as published); Stella Matutina practice
Locators
vol. 2, Neophyte Ritual, pp. 29–30
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text of Volume Two (1938) on 2026-11-04. The ritual says the password changes every equinox, so that members who have left do not know it, and leaves it blank.

  • SRC-0008: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0008: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0003: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0032 · Content

The grand words and passwords of the Outer Order grades are: Zelator, Adonai ha-Aretz and Nun Heh (mystic number 55); Theoricus, Shaddai El Chai and Mem Heh (45); Practicus, Elohim Tzabaoth and Eloah (36). The password of the Portal grade is Paroketh, the veil of the Tabernacle, exchanged letter by letter.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1938 (as published); Stella Matutina practice
Locators
vol. 2, pp. 55, 86, 115, 188
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the page images of Volume Two (1938) on 2026-11-04. Regardie spells the Practicus word ELOHIM TSABAOTH where it is explained and TZABAOTH in the ritual.

  • SRC-0008: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0008: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0003: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0033 · Change

The penalty in the Neophyte obligation was changed: the version printed in 1909 calls down a deadly current of will from the chiefs of the Order that would strike the oath-breaker dead or paralysed, while the Stella Matutina version printed in 1938 sets expulsion for perjury and submission, by the candidate's own consent, to a stream of power set in motion by the Order's Divine Guardians.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1890s–1930s
Locators
SRC-0007: No. II, pp. 253–254; SRC-0008: vol. 2, pp. 22–24
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text of Volume Two (1938) on 2026-11-04. Also checked against The Equinox I(2). Each source attests one wording; the change itself is shown by comparing them, and the 1909 text's footnote also mentions a softened later wording.

  • SRC-0007: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0007: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • SRC-0008: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0008: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0003: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

CLM-0034 · Content

The Neophyte obligation also binds the candidate not to copy any manuscript without the Second Order's permission, to keep every ritual or lecture under the Order's label, not to let himself be put into a passive state in which an uninitiated person or power could take control of his words or actions, and not to use his knowledge for evil magic.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
1938 (as published); Stella Matutina practice
Locators
vol. 2, Neophyte Ritual, pp. 22–23
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text of Volume Two (1938) on 2026-11-04.

  • SRC-0008: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0008: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
  • ITEM-0003: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.

Evidence qualifications

Reviewed means checked against a source. It does not establish source authenticity, independent corroboration or present-day practice.