by John Michael Greer
For centuries, magical lodges have been one of the most important and least understood parts of the Western esoteric tradition. Lodge organizations like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Ordo Templi Orientis, the Servants of the Light, and many more have all played central roles in the history of Western magic, and their fictional counterparts still fill the pages of plenty of occult novels. The traditional secrecy of lodge organizations, though, has made it next to impossible for modern students of magic to learn what lodges really do, and how their powerful and effective traditions of ritual, symbolism and organization can be put to work. Except for those few people who are fortunate enough to belong to a working lodge, this major realm of Western magical tradition has remained locked away behind lodge doors.
Until now
Inside a Magical Lodge is the first book of its kind—a
comprehensive guide to the design, organization and operation of a
magical lodge written by a practicing magician with years of experience
in lodge settings. Today, most currently active magical lodges have
been formed by people with no experience of the traditional lodge
system. At the same time, the modern magical revival has been plagued
from its beginning by major problems with group process. The
traditional lodge system offers a set of organizational and ritual
skills that have been tested and polished over centuries of practice,
providing a tool kit of proven approaches that can be put to work in
almost any type of magical group.
Reviews
"Inside a Magical Lodge is a brilliant book that is long overdue. Quite simply, there is no
other book like this. Instead of focusing upon the rituals or teachings
of any one specific lodge system, Greer exposes the framework of
symbolism and ritual that serves as the foundation—the standard kit—of
the traditional lodge system. Inside a Magical Lodge presents
the modern magical group with a living system and offers them the tools
to create new lodges of their own, using whatever symbolism they may
desire. This is the only book to offer practical advice on how to form
new magical lodges that are every bit as traditional in structure and
power as their 18th- and 19th-century counterparts, if not more so. We
both personally believe that this book will become a valued treasure in
the libraries of occultists, magically inclined masons, and ceremonial
magicians everywhere."
Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, authors of Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition.
"Inside a Magical Lodge marks the beginning of a new era! John Michael Greer explains the
purpose, structure and workings of the magical lodge in a remarkabley
clear and down-to-earth manner. He also presents the pros and cons of
lodge membership, something which has not adequately been done to date."
Amber Jayanti, author of Living the Tarot
Inside a Magical Lodge
by John Michael Greer
St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications,
1998
ISBN 1-56718-314-X
Available from Llewellyn Publications
