> To quote directly from Colquhoun regarding the GD Nuada Temple, working
> the rites of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and possessing 7 =
> 4 authorities derived directly from
> Westcott and Mathers, and ultimately going to Bourke:
>
> "Nuada of the Silver Hand is a deity of the Gaelic pantheon, possibly a
> Moon-god whose
> equivalents are the Cymric Nudd, a Death-god or deity of the
> underworld, and the Roman
> Nodens. He is not to be identified with Ludd, the equivalent of Lugh
> Lamfada and Llew
> Llaw Giffes, gods of the day-time sky. I feel the influence of Mathers
> strongly here - - -
> the adoption of the surname MacGregor, the Gaelic title assumed by the
> Druidic Order, the
> choice of a Gaelic temple-dedication. The Temple operated in Clapham,
> S.W.4 and a
> photograph of its interior exists (or until recently existed) showing
> the Hierophant's
> Throne, the Altar and the Two Pillars. Ariovistus told me that the
> Sanctuary, which I
> gathered was another structure within the Temple, was then in the
> possession of
> a Unitarian minister unwilling to surrender it. This Sanctuary was the
> Vault of
> the Adepts on the orthodox GD model, for the use of Nuada's Second
> Order
> initiates. In the library of Nuada was a copy of Ethel Archer's poems,
> Whirlpools,
> given to Ariovistus by Meredith Starr. An inscription on the
> title-page mentions
> 'the little World of White' referred to in the Druid Order rituals."
>
> Thus, Colquhoun actually viewed a photograph of the Nuada Temple set up
> for G.D. rites
> and she was notified of the existence of its Vault of the Adepti ! ! !
> It appears that in her
> documentation of the Nuada G.D. she possessed all except a video of
> Mathers himself
> seated in the East of Nuada exclaiming "Khabs Am Pekht" as he
> consecrated the
> Temple of the Golden Dawn.
>
> SAR
>
>
>
>
>
> Sar Draconis wrote:

>> Sar Draconis wrote:

>>> The Nuada was a Druidic group and documented in Colquhoun's Sword of
>>> Wisdom as practicing GD rites and directly descended from Isis-Urania.
>>> Its founder was in contact with Westcott / Mathers and received the
>>> lineal succession of 7 = 4 from them, later transmitted directly to
>>> Bourke. During the schism, they were neutral.
>>>
>>> The website http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/obscure2/druid.html
>>> provides additional
>>> supporting documentation on the Nuada group, in agreement with
>>> Colquhoun.
>>>
>>> SAR
>>>
>>>

>>
>>
>> It is a relatively little know fact that one of Britain's most
>> celebrated, though far from uncontroversial, statesmen, Winston
>> Churchill, was a Druid. In the first decade of the twentieth century
>> the still relatively obscure Churchill dabbled with a number of
>> esoteric organisations most notably the Freemasons and his initiation
>> into Druidic rites appears to have been an outgrowth of this.
>>
>> A photograph in Stuart Piggot's book The Druids shows a young
>> Churchill flanked by a number of men, some wearing druid robes and
>> others in ordinary suits. According to the inscription this photograph
>> shows Churchill's initiation into the Albion Lodge of the Ancient
>> Order of Druids in August 1908 at Blenheim, his family home.
>> Elsewhere in The Druid Tradition, Phillip Carr-Gomm describes the same
>> photograph while stating it was Churchill's initiation into the
>> Ancient and Archaeological Order of Druids.
>> Given the tendency for Druid groups to have overlapping memberships and
>> joint ceremonies, it is possible that Churchill was a member of both
>> these Druid orders. As we shall see, as a Freemason he was certainly
>> qualified for both.
>>
>> In 1866 Little founded the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, a project
>> not dissimilar to the Ancient and Archaeological Order of Druids. SRiA
>> members were also required to be Master Masons first and just as
>> Little's druid order studied Freemasonry and druidry so the S.R.i.A.
>> also concerned itself with research.
>> It was three members of the S.R.i.A. William Wynn Westcott, Samuel
>> Liddle McGregor Mathers and Dr. W. Woodman who founded the Hermetic
>> Order of the Golden Dawn, an order which has gained a notorious
>> reputation largely by introducing Aleister Crowley to the occult.
>> Little's Druid and Rosicrucian interests seem to have been brought
>> full circle in 1916 when Nuada, a Duid society and off-shoot of the
>> Golden Dawn tradition was founded. Nuada was based in Clapham, London
>> and was led by G.W. MacGregor Reid. McGregor Reid was a personal friend
>> of Crowley and was also a Chosen Chief of the Universal Druid Bond from
>> 1909-1946 after which he was succeeded by his son Robert (Chosen Chief
>> 1946-1964).
>>
>> http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/obscure2/druid.html
>>
>> SAR
>>
>>
>>

>>>
>>> --- In golden-dawn-group@yahoogroups.com, "bscaro" wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> Some of this stuff is interesting. If it comes from a reading of
>>> Ithell Colquhoun then you have to be wary of it.
>>>
>>> But what's this 'Nuada' druidic group that Griffin and Co are
>>> alleging practised both GD and druidry side by side ?
>>>
>>> Is there any basis for that one ?
>>>
>>> Desmond was a 9th degree in SRIA. He was a Martinist too. And a
>>> number of other things. I believe he passed on charters to the Waite
>>> FRC and many other things and had a hand in passing on an 'OTO'
>>> allegedly coming from Reuss to Vyvyan Deacon to his daughter Vivienne
>>> Browning to Dr. Greg Tillett. That had Desmond Bourke's fingers all
>>> over it. I'm fairly sure it's bogus.
>>>
>>> Here in Sydney no one has heard of it.
>>>
>>> Ben
>>>
>>>

>>>>
>>>> Does the "Bourk connection" refere to one Desmond Bourke?
>>>>
>>>> This name has come up peripherally in connection with various
>>>> organisations, many Masonic, (e.g. Societas Rosicrucian in Anglia,
>>>> Archeological Order of Druids, OM&S, Hermetic Martinist Order, and
>>>> other similar groups), but I have never found any details as to who

>>> he

>>>> is (or was, or what part he played.
>>>>
>>>> Anyone know?
>>>>
>>>> LVX
>>>>
>>>> Michael Robartes
>>>>

>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sar Draconis wrote:

>>>> Sar Draconis wrote:

>>>>> Sar Draconis wrote:

>>>>>> Sar Draconis wrote:

>>>>>>> Colquhoun interviewed MacGregor Reid directly regarding the Golden
>>>>>>> Dawn: she briefly recounts the meeting in her book, "The Sword of
>>>>>>> Wisdom":
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "Mystified by certain resemblances in structure and wording between the
>>>>>>> Druid-rituals and those of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, I
>>>>>>> once asked Dr. Robert A. F. MacGregor Reid, lat Chosen Chief of An
>>>>>>> Uileach Druidh Braithreachas (= The Druid Universal Bond) what
>>>>>>> connection there was between the two fraternities. He replied:
>>>>>>> 'Doesn't it occur to you that the Druid Order is the survivor of the
>>>>>>> Golden Dawn?' Later he passed on to me his account of a more
>>>>>>> intribuing survival, that of 'a very strict GD Lodge in the Regent's
>>>>>>> Park area . . ."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> SAR

>>>>>>
>>>>>> The fact that certain of the high Chief Druids of the British Isles,
>>>>>> such as MacGregor Reid and Desmond Bourke, possessed also lineal de
>>>>>> jure 7=4 authorities over the rites of the Golden Dawn, has been more
>>>>>> or less of an open secret within the British occult underground for
>>>>>> decades. Bourke's GD authority extended so far as to give him the
>>>>>> right to transmit an independant authority over the GD to active GD
>>>>>> groups, such as the Ancient Magickal Order of the Golden Dawn, which
>>>>>> maintained an active Golden Dawn Temple in the greater London area for
>>>>>> more than two decades. This is why those Chiefs possessed a de jure
>>>>>> 7=4 authority over their rituals.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I expect to dig out more quotes from Colquhoun dealing with the Druids
>>>>>> and the Golden Dawn in subsequent posts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> SAR

>>>>>

>>>>>>> Sar Draconis wrote:

>>>>>>>> Sar Draconis wrote:

>>>>>>>>> Sar Draconis wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>>>> Bourke knew and worked with Montalban for a period of time, but this by
>>>>>>>>>>>> no
>>>>>>>>>>>> means indicates that his occult involvements, neither his GD
>>>>>>>>>>>> involvements,
>>>>>>>>>>>> stemmed from her alone. Indeed, as previously pointed out, certain of
>>>>>>>>>>>> his
>>>>>>>>>>>> Druid associates carried a Golden Dawn lineage to him within the
>>>>>>>>>>>> context
>>>>>>>>>>>> of a Druid Order which was simultaneously Druid and Golden Dawn (i.e.,
>>>>>>>>>>>> the same group working both genres of Rites.

>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> See, for example, http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/obscure2/druid.html,
>>>>>>>>>>> which refers to Desmond Bourke ! ! !
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> The Ancient and Archaological Order of Druids was merged in 1966 with
>>>>>>>>>>> the Literary and Archaological Order of Druids to form the Universal
>>>>>>>>>>> Druidic Order, the new organisation being based in Blackheath, London.
>>>>>>>>>>> This merger ocurred under the guiding hand of Desmond Bourke the head
>>>>>>>>>>> of the Ancient and Archeaological Order and subsequently the Universal
>>>>>>>>>>> Druidic Order.

>>>>>
>>>>> Interestingly, Colquhoun alludes to this Druid Order of which Desmond
>>>>> Bourke was the
>>>>> head as being connected with the founder of the SRIA:
>>>>>
>>>>> " In 1874, Bro. Little had also founded the Ancient and Archaeological
>>>>> Order
>>>>> of Druids which was open to Masons only; some of its regalia, with
>>>>> designs
>>>>> reminiscent of the eighteenth-century Druidic revival, can be seen in
>>>>> the Museum of Grand Lodge. This was the Order into Winston Churchill
>>>>> was inducted at Blenheim on August 15, 1908."
>>>>>
>>>>> Thus also, Winston Churchill was intiated into the very same Druid
>>>>> Order
>>>>> of which Bourke ultimately became the head, and which he merged
>>>>> with the "Literary and Archaological Order of Druids" to form the
>>>>> Universal Druid Organisation, centering it in Blackheath, London, where
>>>>> he resided.
>>>>>
>>>>> SAR
>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Bourke was something of a lynchpin in British druidry, in addition to
>>>>>>>>>>> the above orders, he is also head of the Ancient Order of Druids
>>>>>>>>>>> Hermeticists which, decades before, had gained attention by holding
>>>>>>>>>>> annual Summer Solstice celebrations at Stonehence between 1901 and
>>>>>>>>>>> 1914. Bourke is also a Freemason and a member or leader of sevaral
>>>>>>>>>>> other quasi-Masonic initiatic orders thus continuing the traditional
>>>>>>>>>>> association between Masonry and Druidry.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> The Ancient Order of Druids is still going strong continuing to hold
>>>>>>>>>>> ceremonies but functioning largely social and charitable organisation.
>>>>>>>>>>> The Masonic character is still present, the Order is still organised
>>>>>>>>>>> into lodges (most Druid orders organise themselves into groves) and
>>>>>>>>>>> most of these are exclusively male. Women members are allowed but their
>>>>>>>>>>> lodges are separate.

>>>>
>>>> Colquhoun discusses further certain cultural influences of the Druids.
>>>> Interestingly,
>>>> she states that W. B. Yeats prepared an edition of the Collected Works
>>>> of
>>>> William Blake, in the preface of which he states that Blake was ' a
>>>> member
>>>> of the Golden Dawn." Colquhoun speculates that the Blake connection
>>>> was through a Druidic association, but which she considers linked in
>>>> some
>>>> way with the Golden Dawn:
>>>>
>>>> "If one assumes that there was something equivalent to a Golden Dawn
>>>> temple operative in the nineteenth century, it might explain the
>>>> otherwise mystifying statement in the preface to the edition
>>>> of 'The Collected Works of William Blake' by W. B. Yeats and
>>>> Edwin Ellis, to the effect that Blake was a member of the Golden
>>>> Dawn. Surpriing enough on the surface - since the GD as
>>>> Yeats knew it had then been in existence only about five years! -
>>>> it hints at a relationship between Druidry and the Order."
>>>>
>>>> Colquhoun's speculation is interesting, given the relationship between
>>>> certain Druidic traditions and GD practices (which will be familiar to
>>>> those who are initiates of both Orders). Colquhoun goes ahead
>>>> and describes the antiquity of the Druid Order, and its reconstitution
>>>> in London circa 1717:
>>>>
>>>> "The 'Ancient Druid Order' furhter recounts that the Mother-grove
>>>> of An Uileach Druidh Braithreachas, named An Tighe
>>>> Gairdeachas (= the Gate-House) was inaugurated on
>>>> Primrose Hill at the Autumn Equinox of 1717 with John Aubrey
>>>> and John Toland as moving sprits. The meeting drew delegates
>>>> from previously-existent but scattered Druidic and Bardic circles
>>>> in London, Oxford, York, Cornwell, Wales, Anglesey, the Isle of Man,
>>>> Scotland, Ireland and Brittany. (There is nothing improbable in this:
>>>> small Bardic circles, usually based on a family-group, are still
>>>> indigenous to Wales.) They chose Toland as the first Chief of a
>>>> reconstituted Druid Order. At that time John Aubrey headed
>>>> the Grove of Mount Haemus at Oxfore, which had either persisted
>>>> since 1245 or been revived under the original name . . ."
>>>>
>>>> Later in the 18th century, the Ancient Order of Druids would be
>>>> suppressed
>>>> by an act of Parliament, and forced to go underground.
>>>> A successor Order, the United Ancient
>>>> Order of Druids, would be brought to the Americas within the first two
>>>> decades of the Twentieth Century. Within the world of Druidism,
>>>> mutual recognition and inter-fraternal communication would prove
>>>> common, and thus assisting in Bouke's access to the GD
>>>> traditions and authorities preservied by MacGregor Reid.
>>>>
>>>>

>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> It was three members of the S.R.i.A. William Wynn Westcott, Samuel
>>>>>>>>>> Liddle McGregor Mathers and Dr. W. Woodman who founded the Hermetic
>>>>>>>>>> Order of the Golden Dawn, an order which has gained a notorious
>>>>>>>>>> reputation largely by introducing Aleister Crowley to the occult.
>>>>>>>>>> Little's Druid and Rosicrucian interests seem to have been brought
>>>>>>>>>> full circle in 1916 when Nuada, a Duid society and off-shoot of the
>>>>>>>>>> Golden Dawn tradition was founded. Nuada was based in Clapham, London
>>>>>>>>>> and was led by G.W. MacGregor Reid. McGregor Reid was a personal friend
>>>>>>>>>> of Crowley and was also a Chosen Chief of the Universal Druid Bond from
>>>>>>>>>> 1909-1946 after which he was succeeded by his son Robert (Chosen Chief
>>>>>>>>>> 1946-1964).
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> SAR

>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> That Bourke as "something of a lynchpin in British druidry" received
>>>>>>>>> the 7=4 authorities for the Golden Dawn through Druid Orders cannot be
>>>>>>>>> surprising. Indeed, the association of G.W. MacGregor Reid as the Head
>>>>>>>>> of an Order which was simultaneously Druid and Golden Dawn is well
>>>>>>>>> documented in Colquhoun's book "Sword of Wisdom." Therein, Colquhoun
>>>>>>>>> documents the fact that Mathers and Westcott were members of a Druid
>>>>>>>>> organization connected with Reid, and also, that certain GD
>>>>>>>>> tradititions derived from the Druids, not the other way around. Druid
>>>>>>>>> traditions in U.K. go back many hundreds of years, and develop a
>>>>>>>>> particularly Celtic focus of the Mysteries. That S.L. MacGregor
>>>>>>>>> Mathers was a member of a society connected with MacGregor Reid's, and
>>>>>>>>> indeed transmitted the authorities of the 7=4 to him in order to
>>>>>>>>> continue the G.D. traditions under Druid auspices, cannot be
>>>>>>>>> surprising, given his high interest in and attachment to Celtic
>>>>>>>>> traditions. That Bourke subsequently received this G.D. 7=4 lineage
>>>>>>>>> through his Druid involvements is also hardly surprising, given his
>>>>>>>>> position as "a lynchpin in British druidry", which entailed also, of
>>>>>>>>> course, the status of Arch Druid with full authority over the Druid
>>>>>>>>> traditions. Hence also, it is not surprising to learn that Bourke
>>>>>>>>> transmitted the full authorities not only of the G.D., but also of the
>>>>>>>>> Druid traditions as well, to the (two) Chiefs of Serapis Temple, (the
>>>>>>>>> identity of one of which, however, is still unknown to Maria writing as
>>>>>>>>> Teletourgos, showing that her claims of contact with Serapis are
>>>>>>>>> false.)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I hope to follow up with some quotations from Colquhoun's book dealing
>>>>>>>>> with the subject of Druidism and the Golden Dawn, in subsequent posts
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> SAR

>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> Colquhoun commences Chapter 11 of her book with an allusion to the
>>>>>>>> Golden Dawn found in a Druid ceremony of the Summer Solstice performed
>>>>>>>> at Stonehenge - - - indeed, a ceremony which appears to be ancient in
>>>>>>>> origin, and even to have connections with the ancient mystery rites of
>>>>>>>> Egypt (which maintained "diplomatic relations" with the Druids.)
>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> "For to us this is the Day when the Sun has climbed to its zenith, as
>>>>>>>> the Greatest Manifestation of Light that we can know in the mundane
>>>>>>>> sense, and hence the Druid Tradition of "the Golden Dawn."

>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> SAR