[Edit 2012: I should point out that further research, contemplation, and discussion has led me to believe my prior views on sashes held by officers was wrong. The documents themselves make it clear that they were worn by officers in the original ritual, and many of my other points can be easily argued against. I leave the post intact for the sake of the debate, but I recommend any group wishing to follow the traditional Golden Dawn system keep the sashes for officers.]
In a recent discussion with Nick Farrell on his blog the topic of officers wearing grade sashes in ritual came up. Both he and I are of the opinion that these should not be worn when holding an office, for a number of reasons:
In a recent discussion with Nick Farrell on his blog the topic of officers wearing grade sashes in ritual came up. Both he and I are of the opinion that these should not be worn when holding an office, for a number of reasons:
- They can be impractical. An officer has enough to wear with a robe, tabard/cloak, collar and lamen, and so forth. Adding a sash to the mix only makes things more cumbersome.
- The Initiate may be, for practical reasons, of a lower grade than the office requires. For example, there may not be a 4=7 to take the role of Hiereus, and thus a 2=9 may have to hold this office. In this circumstance wearing the 2=9 sash would clash with the role and teachings behind the role.
- When the Initiate enters the Temple they are "Frater Bob", a 2=9, for example, but when they take on an office they are no longer "Frater Bob", but "Frater Hiereus" (and the godform behind the office). Therefore they should be wearing the badge of Hiereus and not the badge of Theoricus (or other grades).
- When a Candidate in 0=0 is being led around the Temple and gets his or her brief sights of the regalia, etc. of each officer, he or she should see the regalia of that officer, not their sash. It not only serves to distract from the real symbolism present within the regalia, but may confuse grades and energies, for a 0=0 should not be constantly seeing the sashes of higher grades in the officers initiating him/her.
- Ultimately it could be seen as feeding the ego, especially in light of the above magical reasons not to use it. Sashes and grades are notorious for inflating the ego, and to wear them while holding an office could prove disastrous as the energies of the individual and the role (and godform) they are playing are confused and muddled.
Posts
2 comments:
I concur. Sashes are a very old piece of formal wear, as old if not older than the bow or other forms of necktie. They prob came into GD through FM, and specifically RAM. In RAM, the sentiment behind point 4 is usually in the bylaws of a Chapter.
However, in smaller groups, they may find it helpful to wear them, otherwise the candidate won't have an opportunity to learn about the symbols or even see a sash during even a 0 = 0 ritual, because in some groups the only members there are officers!
Something to think about.
We wear them at Thuban, but we have lately been talking about taking them off if in Office, because we got a little bigger and there is a few members attending that arnt officers.
YShY
Heh, on this one we will have to agree to disagree Pat. :-)
I actually don't like sashes and never have. They remind me of the scout badges and blankets which I used to have as a kid. About the only thing I like about them is the presentation of them during the initiation. There were better and more elegant ways of doing the same thing which are more effective to the candidate. By the time a person has reached Portal they have two of the buggers and they always fall off. Pat, you have broader shoulders than most people but the number of times I have seen the slipping off when ever any one moves is legion. I thought about sticking Velcro on the shoulders as a way to stop this but in the end decided it was something I had to live with.
The problem is exacerbated when you come to the officers. We have tabards and you think this would hold them in place.... er no. In fact they fall off AND are harder to put back up because of the tablard. Plus the fact that there is the strange thing that you stick a tabard over something so you cant see it anyway. When sashs are worn militarity they are usually under epaulettes to stop this sort of thing from happening.
Now I am big on symbolic presentation in rituals. In an ideal world the temple would be minimalist so that each presentation of a symbol has a psychological effect on the candidate. One thing I remember about my initiation in Hawkes Bay was the first things I saw of the officers when the blind fold came off was the Lamin of my initiator. So the presentation of symbols (and also the non-presentation of symbols) to a candidate is important. So if officers are wearing sashes it means that they are presenting something to the candidate which is an important part of the initiation. This is particularly true in the case of the Dad and the Stol and the Kerux. If they are both portal their sashes will totally over- power the lamins they are wearing. There is also the additional symbolic question “why is it so important that the Dad and Stol and Kerux reveal their grades to the candidate when the Hiero, Heirus and Hegemon do not (or if they do it is because their grade sash has fallen off or the candidate has seen the two tails of the cross piece underneath the cloak or the tabard). If there is no symbolic purpose, or they get in the way of a greater symbolic purpose, they should not be there.
Finally they are PERSONAL symbols and not officers symbols. They tell people about the person's history in the order. I do not believe that in an initiation this is something you NEED to be telling the candidate about any more than you need to be showing them snaps of your own initiations before they enter the hall. In fact while in the initiation they are important because they seal in the symbols of the order into the candidate's sphere of sensation, afterwards they become a badge of STATUS and rank. These are sops for the lower self. While it is acceptable amongst the great unwashed sitting around the temple representing the assembly of adepts, it is NOT appropriate for a person who is trying symbolise a godform.
The last straw for me was when I saw a Dad who was a portal negotiating with a censor while both of these bloody sashes were falling off and his arms becoming pinned and him nearly tripping over. I consulted the ritual and it was not mentioned that the officers wore sashes so I thought that resolved all the problems by saying that the officers should not wear sashes.
I KNOW that Whare Ra officers used sashes and so I am going against that tradition however I don't really see the point of the damn things for officers. If someone can show me a point why it is so important than I will listen to it. So far no one has given me a reason to change my mind.
Nick Farrell
Post a Comment