THE NEOPHYTE
Ir was on November 18, 1898, that through the introduction
of Fra. V. N., and under his guidance P. entered the Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn, and became a Neophyte in the
Grade of O°=O° in the Outer.
It may be of some interest to the reader, and also it may
in some ways help to elucidate the present chapter, if a short
account of the origin of this order is first entered upon. But
it will be understood that the following historical sketch, as
well as the accounts we are about to give of the rituals them-
selves, are very much abbreviated and summarised, when we
state that, the actual MSS. in our possession relating to the
G.°.D.*.occupy some twelve hundred pages and contain
over a quarter of a million words.
The official account of the G.*.D.°. (probably fiction)
known as “The Historical Lecture,” written and first
delivered by Fra. Q. S. N., runs as follows :
“ The order of the G.*. D .-. in the Outer is an Hermetic
Society which teaches Occult Science or the Magic of Hermes.
About 1850 several French and English chiefs died and
Temple work was interrupted. Such chiefs were Eliphas
Levi, Ragon, Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, and Fred Hockley.
These had received their power from even greater predecessors,
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