- Joined
- Aug 9, 2026
- Messages
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- 5
I've been lurking here for a little bit, but wanted to say 'hey' before I actually started participating.
I'm Forest, a 40ish solitary wizard with a mostly Rosicrucian background. Earlier this year ('26) I got started in the Golden Dawn system, so far based on Regardie and the Cicero's works. It feels like the most significant work I've done in my spiritual work maybe ever, and I'm feeling more inspired to work than ever before.
Before the GD, I was mostly engaging with modern "mystery schools," starting with, of course, AMORC and TMO, before branching out to CR+C and BOTA (all of which were/are via correspondence. No temples/groups near me). While I have enjoyed the monographs in CR+C (the one I maintained the most activity in over the years), I was really yearning for practice, specifically in the form of ritual and magic.
Growing up as an agnostic non-practicing Christian (in the way many Americans are), I longed for a spiritual connection and explored everything I could find on the early internet. I settled into eclectic Wicca, finding my footing through the late great SpiritOnline. Wicca connected me to tarot as well as the idea that there is more here than meets the eye.
Over the years, the experimentation and searching continued, taking me through really wild places like Mormonism, Spiritualism, and the strange world of Reiki Entrepreneurs, before I eventually discovered AMORC, and found a language that was more aligned with my own. I became disillusioned in AMORC in the early 6th degree and discovered CR+C (along with all the political drama) by way of it. I liked those monographs a lot more, but similarly felt like something was missing.
BOTA built on the foundation I'd created with AMORC/CR+C (TMO didn't do much for me) and a series of Dark Nights of the Soul led me to "My Rosicrucian Adventure" by Israel Regardie. I fell in love with his writing immediately, and have been devouring his work ever since (at the moment I'm very slowly and carefully reading his half of Roll Away the Stone). It was at this point that I looked into the Golden Dawn system in a serious way and, wouldn't you know it? what appeared unfathomably complex in past reviews now made tons of sense.
In the spring of this year I started practicing a Neophyte Formula (constructed from the Cicero's Self Initiation, Regardie's The Golden Dawn, and Christopher's Kabbalah, Magic, and the Great Work of Self Transformation), allowing it to find its own structure and flow. I'm now in a place where I'm practicing lots of ritual daily, along with the Cicero's God Form Meditation plan, and starting to read more Crowley (Regardie changed every single preconceived notion I had about the guy).
My goal is working toward initiating into the Neophyte (0=0) grade by way of the Cicero's Self Initiation, but I don't have a strict timeline on that. I'm working and growing and taking my time. (Conversely, correspondence courses like via AMORC etc led to me feeling constantly behind and rushing to keep up)
Anyway, my North-East mid-size city has, as far as I can tell, no groups of people talking about any of the varieties of Western Esotericism I'm interested in, and thus, I've gone searching for friends and comrades. I'm glad to have found this lovely forum, and I look forward to interacting and performing the Great Work with you all
I'm Forest, a 40ish solitary wizard with a mostly Rosicrucian background. Earlier this year ('26) I got started in the Golden Dawn system, so far based on Regardie and the Cicero's works. It feels like the most significant work I've done in my spiritual work maybe ever, and I'm feeling more inspired to work than ever before.
Before the GD, I was mostly engaging with modern "mystery schools," starting with, of course, AMORC and TMO, before branching out to CR+C and BOTA (all of which were/are via correspondence. No temples/groups near me). While I have enjoyed the monographs in CR+C (the one I maintained the most activity in over the years), I was really yearning for practice, specifically in the form of ritual and magic.
Growing up as an agnostic non-practicing Christian (in the way many Americans are), I longed for a spiritual connection and explored everything I could find on the early internet. I settled into eclectic Wicca, finding my footing through the late great SpiritOnline. Wicca connected me to tarot as well as the idea that there is more here than meets the eye.
Over the years, the experimentation and searching continued, taking me through really wild places like Mormonism, Spiritualism, and the strange world of Reiki Entrepreneurs, before I eventually discovered AMORC, and found a language that was more aligned with my own. I became disillusioned in AMORC in the early 6th degree and discovered CR+C (along with all the political drama) by way of it. I liked those monographs a lot more, but similarly felt like something was missing.
BOTA built on the foundation I'd created with AMORC/CR+C (TMO didn't do much for me) and a series of Dark Nights of the Soul led me to "My Rosicrucian Adventure" by Israel Regardie. I fell in love with his writing immediately, and have been devouring his work ever since (at the moment I'm very slowly and carefully reading his half of Roll Away the Stone). It was at this point that I looked into the Golden Dawn system in a serious way and, wouldn't you know it? what appeared unfathomably complex in past reviews now made tons of sense.
In the spring of this year I started practicing a Neophyte Formula (constructed from the Cicero's Self Initiation, Regardie's The Golden Dawn, and Christopher's Kabbalah, Magic, and the Great Work of Self Transformation), allowing it to find its own structure and flow. I'm now in a place where I'm practicing lots of ritual daily, along with the Cicero's God Form Meditation plan, and starting to read more Crowley (Regardie changed every single preconceived notion I had about the guy).
My goal is working toward initiating into the Neophyte (0=0) grade by way of the Cicero's Self Initiation, but I don't have a strict timeline on that. I'm working and growing and taking my time. (Conversely, correspondence courses like via AMORC etc led to me feeling constantly behind and rushing to keep up)
Anyway, my North-East mid-size city has, as far as I can tell, no groups of people talking about any of the varieties of Western Esotericism I'm interested in, and thus, I've gone searching for friends and comrades. I'm glad to have found this lovely forum, and I look forward to interacting and performing the Great Work with you all
