Public Lecture: 19 April, 2006

The Spiritual Alchemy Of The Golden Dawn

Charles (‘Chic’) Cicero has been a practicing ceremonial magician for the past thirty years, and has maintained an equally keen interest in other aspects of the Western Esoteric Tradition. He was a close personal friend and student of the late Dr Israel Regardie, the central figure in the opening of practical occultism to the world at large. Having established a Golden Dawn temple in 1977, Chic Cicero was one of the key people who helped Regardie resurrect a legitimate branch of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the early 1980s. Working with his wife, Sandra Tabatha Cicero, he has co-authored a series of books on the esoteric traditions of the Golden Dawn, including Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple and Experiencing the Kabbalah. They have also edited and annotated new editions of The Middle Pillar, A Garden of Pomegranates, The Tree of Life and other classic texts of Israel Regardie. Chic has also published Masonic and Rosicrucian papers in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum and in the Transactions of the Metropolitan College of the SRIA.

Carl Jung famously equated the science of alchemy with that of modern psychology, but Israel Regardie went one step further in asserting that ritual initiatory magic, particularly the theurgic (“god-working”) magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, was itself a sub-division of psychology. Regardie argued that the goal of both high ceremonial magic and psychotherapy is the well-being and growth of the individual, on every level: physical, mental, and psycho-spiritual. He felt, however, that secular psychology had neglected the spiritual well-being of the individual, and that this missing element - the spiritual essence of humanity and the divine nature of life — could be found in the theurgic magic of the Golden Dawn. In his lecture Chic Cicero will explore the basic tenets of spiritual alchemy, with particular emphasis on the alchemical metaphors and symbolism, and how this symbolism is used to represent the psychological process of self-realization in the rituals of the Golden Dawn.

Public Lectures

are held from 7-9 pm and include refreshments

The programme of public lectures is generally concerned with subjects directly linked to institutions
and individuals currently involved with Freemasonry and traditions linked to it.

Presented by leading experts and scholars primarily concerned with issues relating
to Freemasonry and mystical and esoteric traditions worldwide.

Admission £7

CMRC
Canonbury Academy
6 Canonbury Place
N1 2NQ