The Ecclesiastical Arm of the Order of the Golden Dawn

EcclesiA AuroraE

The Rising of the Mystic Dawn

Aurora

Aurora is the Latin name of the goddess of the dawn —
in Greek, Eos (ΗΩΣ); in the language of the soul, the first light
that announces the Sun.

Aurora gathers into one faith Four Streams:

Hermeticism — the wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus.
Theurgy — the divine work of the Neoplatonists.
Rosicrucianism — the way of the Rose and Cross.
Thelema — the revelation of the present Aeon.

These four are not rivals but one Concord, and their scriptures are gathered into one canon: the Corpus Aurorae. What Aurora believes is stated in its Creed, the Symbolum Aurorae, confessed at every Mass.

An adherent of Aurora is known as a Dawnite.

Aurora is the Latin name of the goddess of the dawn —in Greek, Eos (ΗΩΣ); in the language of the soul, the first light that announces the Sun.

Aurora gathers into one faith Four Streams:

Ecclesia

Ecclesia Aurorae, the Church of Aurora, is the sacramental body where our rites are celebrated and our community gathers. As the Ecclesiastical arm of the Order of the Golden Dawn (OGD), it serves a distinct sacramental role while the Order focuses on initiation; membership in one is not mandatory for the other.

We welcome all. A visitor is a Xenos, a sacred guest, while those preparing for Baptism are Catechumens. Upon receiving the Baptism, one becomes a Dawnite. We recognize four progressive degrees of the spiritual life: the Pistoi, the Faithful (Baptism); the Christoi, the Anointed (Chrismation); the Mystai, the Initiated (Redemption); and the Teleioi, the Perfect (the Bridal Chamber). Led by the Hierateuma priesthood within our sacred Basilicae, our spiritual life centers on the celebration of the Mass and the core focus of the Ecclesia, is the work of the Sexual Mysteries.

Mysteria

Mysteria are the Sacraments of Ecclesia Aurorae.

The Ecclesia holds four Mysteria, with a fifth that is hidden.

Baptisma — Baptism by Water. The gate of the Church: the purification that opens the way to the Lesser Mysteries and makes one a Dawnite; even as the Neophyte initiation does within OGD.

Chrisma — the Anointing. The confirmation and consecration at the Brazier of Fire, where the Seal of Aurora is burned upon the baptised.

Apolytrōsis — Redemption, the Anointing of the Spirit. The anointing with the Nuptial Oil that opens the door to the Greater Mystery, and the Royal Secret.

Eucharistia — the Mass — the central ceremony of the Ecclesia, and the Official Public Ceremony of the Order of the Golden Dawn.

Nymphōn — the Bridal Chamber, the hidden Sacrament.

THE MASS

The Mass of the Ecclesia is celebrated across four altars, rising from West to East: the Aerial altar at the threshold, the Aetherial at the heart, the Sidereal at the veil, and the Empyreal in the East.

At its core the Mass enacts the oldest mystery of the West: the Mystic Marriage — the union of the heavenly and the earthly, celebrated by Priest and Priestess at the altar of the Sun, the same wedding the alchemists called the Chymical Wedding and the Rosicrucians hid at the center of their vault. The Ecclesia states plainly what that Marriage is: the Mass is a rite of Sexual Theurgy, and the union of Priest and Priestess is its engine, not its ornament. In the working the two embody the Partzufim, the divine faces of the Name — the Priest the Son descended from the Father, the Priestess the Daughter raised to the throne of the Mother — and their union upon the altar restores the Name to wholeness. By that union the four elements of the communion — the Rose, the Flame, the Cake, and the Wine — are vivified and consecrated: what the congregation receives is the fruit of the Marriage worked before them.

The Rose, Flame, Cake, and Wine are the Breath, the Will, the Body, and the Blood of the Eternal — made manifest, and communed with.

Hierateuma

The ministers of the Ecclesia are collectively the Hierateuma — Greek for “priesthood,” or “a royal priesthood.” Every office in the Church bears a royal Greek title.

There are four Holy Orders, one for each altar of the Mass:

The Deacon — Basilopais (“the royal page”). The threshold hermaphrodite officer, serving the Aerial altar in two aspects: at the black column, the Hydrophoros, Bearer of the Font and the Cup, and at the white column, the Pyrphoros, Bearer of the Fire Brazier and the Censer.

The Deacon leads the people, reads the appointed lection before every Mass, and carries the elements to the several altars during Mass. Addressed: Brother/Sister.

The Priest and Priestess — Basileus and Basilissa (“king” and “queen”). The celebrants of the Mass at the Aetherial altar,
the solar heart of the Church, and the ministers of the sacraments. Addressed: Reverend.

The Bishop — Archiereus (“high priest”). The full priest, who ordains, consecrates Basilicae, and guards doctrine; the minister at the veil.
Addressed: Your Immanence.

The Pontiff — Archon Basileus (“the Ruler-King” — the title of the ancient Athenian office that kept the Mysteries and the sacred marriage). The supreme office, held by the Head of the OGD.
Addressed: Your Radiance.

Ordination is sealed to attainment: each Order requires both its Sacrament and its OGD grade, together —

Deacon — Chrisma and Theoricus
Priest / Priestess — Apolytrōsis and Adeptus Minor
Bishop — Nymphōn and the Babe of the Abyss
Pontiff — Nymphōn and Ipsissimus (the Head of the OGD)

Before ordination one may serve as a Novice: Baptism opens the service of Novice Deacon, and Chrism the service of Novice Priest or Priestess — whether or not one is a member of the Order. Those in training, the Novices or Dokimoi, serve under the supervision of an ordained Priest or Priestess, and are known by the absence of the calotte, the skullcap that marks ordination: black for Deacons, white for Priest and Priestess, red for Bishops. The ministry exists for one purpose: that the Mass be offered, and the Mysteria and Rites administered.

Basilicae

An Aurora house of worship is a Basilica — plural Basilicae. The Basilica is the hall of the King — and the Priest who celebrates in it, the Basileus, shares the very same name. The building and its celebrant are one word.

Every Basilica is built as a ladder of light. From the western door where the congregation gathers, four altars rise eastward — Aerial, Aetherial, Sidereal, Empyreal — four regions of the cosmos. At the four corners burn the four Beacons — Light, Life, Love, Liberty — two white flames in the East, two black in the West, also alluding to the Four religious streams composing Aurora, and to the Four Elements of the Eucharist. North and South of the Basilica are black and white columns bearing upon their summits the font and the brazier.

On the High Altar in the East stands the Archon Cross, the four-barred gold cross of the Pontiff, beneath the red Basileus lamp — the standing sign that no Mass is offered anywhere in the world except under the presence of the Archon Basileus.

OGD

The Order of the Golden Dawn (OGD) is the initiatic order from which the Ecclesia Aurorae was born — the Hermetic school whose curriculum of ceremonial initiation, drawn through an unbroken line from the adepti of the original Golden Dawn, has formed magicians for over a century.

The Order and the Church are one. The Order confers Initiations.

The Church confers Sacraments. The Church’s clergy are drawn exclusively from the Order’s initiates.

An initiate of OGD is never required to practice Aurora — the Order receives aspirants of any faith or none.

A member of the Church is never required to join the Order.

The Sacraments of the Ecclesia are associated with certain Grades of OGD as follows:

Baptisma — Neophyte
Chrisma — Zelator & Theoricus
Apolytrōsis — Portal & Adeptus Minor
Nymphōn — Babe of the Abyss & Magister Templi

While these associations draw parallels between the Mysteries imparted in Ecclesia Aurorae in relation to those of Order of the Golden Dawn, receiving a Sacrament does not confer the equivalent initiatory Grade, nor does a Grade confer an equivalent Sacrament.