Some interesting quotes on why Westcott resigned all his positions within the Order:
"It had somehow become known to the State officers that I was a prominent official of a society in which I had been foolishly posturing as one possessed of magical powers - and that if this became more public it would not do for a Coroner of the Crown to be made shame of in such a mad way."- W.W. Westcott
"Or, as Aleister Crowley more picturesquely put it, the authorities 'intimated to Dr Westcott that he was paid to sit on corpses, not to raise them; and that he must choose between his Coronership and his Adeptship'. Westcott thought that someone was talking, although he had no idea 'who it is that persecutes me'."- R.A. Gilbert, Revelations of the Golden Dawn
It seems to me, reading these accounts, and knowing how Mathers tried to oust Westcott with the revelations of the forgery of the Sprengel correspondence, and later paranoia about Westcott mobilising a rival group against him, that Mathers may have planted Westcott's Order documents where they were uncovered by public officials. It may have been yet another attempt to remove the only rival he had for Order leadership (Woodman being dead), which was successful in this case, since Westcott was forced to resign. It is not surprising then that Westcott told Yeats, some three years later, "you have a mad man for chief". Many people comment on the fine line between genius and madness, and many others talk of the magical genius of Mathers (which I am prepared to admit), but it does seem that, in many cases, I am forced to agree with Westcott's assessment.
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Whew, very pleased that in my spiritual tradition, it is acceptable to both sit on and raise corpses....lets me off the hook. Am interested in what you write here. In my naive days,I thought that spirituality and power politics didn't go together. Think it would make an interesting longer article or book, how folks with genuine magical ability can also want to remain in temporal power.
This is a suggestion that has been floated every now and then but I find no evidence at all for it. A little reflection on the importance of the Order to Mathers would indicate that such an action would be anathema to him. I suggest the more likely source lay within the Masonic fraternity which then, as indeed now, is often a battleground of petty squabbles and jealousies. Whether or not paranoid, Mathers was deeply upset Florence Farr had released his letter regarding the forgery. Moreover, it is not particularly clear that he was trying to oust Westcott so much as to elicit her support against his belief that Westcott was undermining him. Certainly Mathers was extremely unusual and an eccentric, but not noticeably more so than many of the other major figures in the GD.Given the fact that he wrote all the rituals (from a very skeletal basis in the Ciphers), produced the 5=6 sui generis, and a vast bulk of the instructional papers, I would have thought it a rather risky base on which to suggest he may be 'mad'. Risky, that is, if oneself professes to admire and follow the very same system he was largely reponsible for creating.
Fraternally
Tony
Something I wonder about sometimes: was Mathers always cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs or did he get corrupted by power from leading the Order?
I didn't know Mathers tried to kill Woodman. Where did you find this information?
Ave Hijinks,
Thank you for the comment. Yes, I believe it is a little naive to believe that spirituality and power politics don't go together. We tend to assume that the very human power struggles equate as lacking in true spiritual meaning or value, but all it really points to is a flaw in human relations and personalities. While the aim is to become "more than human", that does not mean the ego is destroyed or that we are free from imperfection, which is another misconception. Mathers was, let's face it, a born leader, and he did a good job of it for a long period, although poor character judgement and paranoia over his position ultimately led to his undoing as leader of a unified branch.
LVX,
Dean.
Ave Tony,
Thank you kindly for the comment and the information.
I have never seen this suggestion before, but I can see why it is given every now and then. It's one of those situations that makes you wonder, but you are right, there is no evidence for it. It is merely speculation, although I believe it is valid speculation.
The importance of the Order to Mathers doesn't seem to rule out this possibility to me, as the importance of the Order to Mathers didn't seem to come into it when he sent his letter to Farr regarding the forgery of the Sprengel correspondence. He knew well that it would damage Westcott's credibility, but I also find it hard to believe he lacked the foresight to see that it would damage the Order as a whole if the information became general knowledge. But he was a flawed man, and easily duped at times, so perhaps he got the better of himself and revealed the forgery before considering its full consequences. I think that is a likely possibility.
As for Mathers feelings regarding Farr's releasing of the letter, I have to side with Farr on this one. He did label it as "N.B. - Read this letter carefully before showing any part of it to anyone!", which, while a warning for caution and careful consideration, is certainly not a statement that it was a private letter. I can't remember off-hand if Mathers did this, but I recall that many members wrote "Private" on certain letters and documents, so I'm sure he was aware that he could do this if he wanted the information to be kept secret - or, indeed, he could have omitted the note, which implied that at least parts of the letter could be shared, once carefully considered.
I'm not sure if he wrote all the rituals from the Cipher MSS (see Westcott's claim that he it was he who did this, not Mathers, who was merely hired as translator and scribe).
There is always the possibility that he became "mad" (I dislike this term, personally, but it is a quotation from Westcott) after writing much of the material. Indeed, it seems he grew increasingly paranoid over time, and may not have been like this when it all began. So, I don't believe this discredits the system he helped to create, nor the value of the documents he wrote and the teachings he gave.
I will be making a new post on Mathers tomorrow to make further comment on this.
LVX,
Dean.
Ave T.G.C.,
I think Mathers was a born leader from day one, but had trouble stepping out of the limelight, as it were, much like Crowley. Replacements should have been sought for the Chief offices vacated by Woodman and Westcott, but there's no denying that Mathers loved the authority, even if much of it was rightly deserved. So, I don't think he was necessarily "corrupted by power", as this was latent within him, but he certainly seemed to have very real power/control issues.
LVX,
Dean.
Ave JJ,
Mathers never tried to kill Woodman. I think you must have misread the quotations. Woodman, the third Chief of the Order, died in 1987 (if I remember correctly), from natural causes. Westcott (who is sometimes confused with Woodman, given some similarity in their names) was a Coroner, in charge of examining dead bodies, etc., and thus the state disliked his involvement with the occult, forcing him to resign from the G.'.D.'.. My post questions whether or not Mathers was to blame for the state finding out about his occult involvement, but this is merely speculation at present.
LVX,
Dean.
Dear Dean,
Ellic Howe made the same assertion as you did, but it's pure speculaton as you are fully aware of. It's a difference to sending a letter primary to Farr about the Sprengle affair on one hand, and on the other "placing" order documents (i.e. breaching the obligation of secrecy) in a taxi to be found by anyone, not knowing were they will end up. It's a huge difference.
Where does Wescott claim authorship of the outer order rituals? In his "testament" to a S.R.I.A. brother (see: http://www.sria.org/gdletter-westcott.htm)he claims the rights to the cypher mss. not the fleshed out version that Mathers wrote, using Westcott's (or rather MacKenzie's) Cypher Mss. In his "testament" Westcott is clear and open about this:
"I paid Mathers to translate & write out the rituals from my original cypher drafts."
I should thank you Dean of bringing this matter up, as it motivated med to finally write an Apology of Mathers (which I have been planning for some time; you gave me the final incintament) on: http://gyllenegryningen.blogspot.com/2008/08/apology-of-mathers.html
S.R.
Ave S.R.,
Thanks for the information. I recently ordered some of Howe's work, so I'll be interested in seeing what he says about this speculation.
You are right, however. Revealing damning information about Westcott to the Head of the English Order (Farr) is not the same as planting documents for state officials to find. The gravity of the latter is 100 times more severe to that of the former, and one doesn't necessarily equate with the other.
In the letter to the SRIA, he claims more than the rights to the Cipher MSS: "Mathers helped me to write those up". I interpreted his letter as stating that he hired Mathers as interpretor and scribe, and not necessarily that Mathers, but it does seem that you are correct, that part of these duties was transforming the Cipher rituals into a workable system. Regardless, the skeleton of that system is still not of Mathers' creation (nor, indeed, of Westcott's), so I don't believe he should take credit beyond what he actually wrote.
I read your post yesterday and enjoyed it thoroughly. It, in turn, inspired me to write a response, which will be posted on my blog a little later today. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights, and especially for the letter from Westcott, as I am always intrigued by source texts, particularly the correspondence of the various Order members.
LVX,
Dean.
You're right Frater Dean. Neither Westcott nor Mathers can take any real credit for the Outer Order Rituals. They have an older Rosicrucian origin. MacKenzie was somehow involved in writing the Cypher MSS. but he probably wasn't the original source behind its contents. The Qabalistic content points to a Sabbathean origin, probably through either the Asiatc Brethren or members of that organization.
Regarding my Apology, I recommend a re-reading as I have "upgraded" it somewhat today.
Fraternally
S.R.
Thanks for mentioning that you updated your post. I wrote much of my response to your post yesterday, but have not posted it yet, so I'll need to revise it if certain parts of your update have been omitted or changed.
I noted that you added the word "otherwise" into your link to my blog ("this excellent blog" to "this otherwise excellent blog") which I think is humorous.
My fuller response to your post will be posted shortly. Thanks again for the comment :)
LVX,
Dean.
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