THE ORDER STELLA MATUTINA

&

HERMETIC SANCTUARY OF MA'AT

Care Fratres et Sorores,

In the year 2002, a group of spiritual seekers- mainly Hermeticists, Alchemists and Magicians- came together to form a Magical Working Group in cyberspace. They gathered in an on-line forum established for the purpose (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/magical_working_group), and there began an international exchange of ideas. It was here the first seeds were planted for what would become the Ordo Stella Matutina.

In 2003, the Hermetic Sanctuary of Ma'at (http://www.self-initiation.com/) was organized as an on-line sanctuary- or "cyber-Temple"- so that all members of the Ordo Stella Matutina might have access to student resources, regardless of physical location or distance from a physical Temple. It is the primary "classroom" of our Outer Order, where students meet with teachers and take their tests from anywhere on the globe. Furthermore, the Sanctuary's "doors" (and resources) were opened to all seekers. Solitary students who choose to follow a path of Self-Initiation were welcomed, as were members of independent Temples or Orders following paths similar to our own. The Hermetic Sanctuary of Ma'at quickly evolved into one of the largest and well-respected on-line schools of the Golden Dawn Tradition.

At last, in 2005, the Ordo Stella Matutina was officially constituted, and its first physical Temple established. The O.S.M is a physical initiatory Order, dedicated to the dissemination of the traditional teachings of the historical Golden Dawn's Hermetic Society, through the process of instruction and initiation. Our esoteric Order is a gateway into the Western Mystery Tradition, which includes, but is not limited to, the study and practice of Qabalah, Hermeticism, Theurgy, Alchemy, Tarot, Geomancy, Astrology and Ritual Magic.

We are a fully established Hermetic Order working within the original Golden Dawn and Rosicrucian Tradition. Our teachings, training exercises, and ritual methods primarily adhere to the original Golden Dawn and Stella Matutina, as taught by its primary founders; Dr. William W. Westcott, Dr. Woodman, and S.L. MacGregor Mathers, and later through Dr. Felkin, W. B. Yeats, Florence Farr, Brode-Innes, Dr. Israel Regardie and Chic and Tabatha Cicero.

We are self-starters, claiming no descent or linage, directly or indirectly, from the English Golden Dawn of Mathers and Westcott. We do, however, teach and share with students, their original magical curriculum and ideas along with their magical framework. Israel Regardie's account of the Golden Dawn is the cornerstone on which our Order is built, along with the expanded Outer Order knowledge lectures of the Cicero's. The majority of our Inner Order curriculum comes from both published and unpublished original Golden Dawn documents, and some of the modern day Inner Order Course of Pat Zalewski and our own Order.

We are an independent Order, not directly affiliated with any modern day Orders of the Golden Dawn, but are sympathetic with their aims.

Aims and Purpose of the Order

For the aims of our Order I can quote a portion from the Fraternity of the Rose Cross Monitor, with some minor changes which we have incorporated:

"The aim of the Order is to provide aid and encouragement in working out the great problems of Life, and in searching out the secrets of Nature; to facilitate the study of the system of Philosophy founded upon the Kabalah and the doctrines of Hermes Trismegistus,... and to investigate the meaning and symbolism of all that now remains of the wisdom, art and literature of the ancient world." (page 5)

Therefore, our main study consists of the material we call Kabalah and Hermetics. It is the foundational studies of the philosophy "inculcated by the original Fratres Rosae Crucis."

Purpose

Our primary purpose is to provide an open door to all who genuinely seek Initiation into the Magical Tradition of the Golden Dawn. We also encourage the development of the Solitary Magician and Magical Groups who are unable to attend a physical temple by helping them tap into that current of energy which has empowered the Magician since ancient times, while fostering the fraternal consciousness of Love and Harmony as set forth in the principles of the Ageless Wisdom Tradition.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Order, as a diversified magical community of lifelong learners and magicians', is to commit ourselves and others to challenge students to their full learning potentials; to develop each individual's mind, body, and soul; and to inspire students to become productive members of our global society, through an integrated magical exoteric and esoteric instructional program.

Goals

Our goals are to help the student to develop a deeper reflection and inner connection to the Light of Truth. It is at this point that the student becomes aware of subtle laws and principles that govern the entire Universe. It is through initiation and the Golden Dawn Tradition of study that the student becomes the Magician, and Adept, which begins to awaken our latent powers. This leads to not only spiritual success, but to victory and success in every aspect of life.

Vision

The Order is a respected Golden Dawn magical learning organization known for its distinctive strengths in providing superior and relevant distance learning to its students. In pursuing this vision, the Order's System:

· Creates interactive, effective learning environments for all members.

· Serves its members' diverse personal and magical development needs.

· Expands access to membership for the less fortunate and underserved learners.

Service; Leadership; Relevance in a global society.

These values define our mission at Hermetic Sanctuary of Ma'at System. They guide how we educate and support distance learners. They shape the growth of our two institutions, Hermetic Sanctuary of Ma'at and Ordo Stella Matutina. They are a roadmap for how we prepare you for success as a magician.

Above all, we exist to serve you. Our students quickly discover a tight-knit community of proctors, staff and fellow students. You'll engage in one-on-one discussions with proctors. You may work on a project with other students who live in your town or join online chats to discuss coursework with classmates who live across an ocean.

We continuously strive to keep the learning environment creative, demanding and relevant to what's happening in the world today.

In fact, we commit ourselves to providing the best in the magical career-relevant programs, and an impressive curriculum.

The proctors teaching these programs are truly "real-world" magicians who incorporate knowledge they learn from the curriculum.

Core Values

The Order's System is guided in fulfilling its mission by these shared principles and core values:

Learning: The Order's System fosters an environment that promotes a life of learning for its students and uses feedback from its participants and supporters to improve the quality of its teaching, learning, and support.

Quality: The Order's System holds a strong commitment to high standards in all aspects of its magical educational activities, learning outcomes, and support services. It seeks to continuously strengthen the overall effectiveness of its operations.

Integrity: The Order's System conducts its operations and makes its public representations in an ethical manner. It assesses its operations in an open and collaborative manner and practices fairness, honesty, and objectivity in dealing with its students.

Accountability: The Order's System is accountable to its students and the public for fulfilling its mission in an appropriate manner by openly assessing its operations and by inviting external evaluations by other Orders.

Access to Underserved: The Order's System seeks to broaden access to its magical curriculum by underserved individuals and groups who wish to engage the organization in their learning goals.

Adaptive and Responsive: The Order's System anticipates and adapts to its changing environment and responds to the needs of the organization and its students in manners both appropriate and timely.

Innovation: The Order's System seeks imaginative and effective solutions to its challenges and innovative ways to fulfill its mission.

Collaboration: The Order's System seeks and nurtures partnerships with its students and the magical communities it serves in creating effective learning environments for its learners.

Freedom of Inquiry and Expression: The Order's System supports the rights of its members to freely inquire and express their opinions. It engages and encourages an open exchange of ideas and seeks input from all who wish to participate in its learning curriculum.

Diversity: The Order's System embraces and promotes diversity in its policies and practices to prepare its magical learners to live and work successfully in an increasingly diverse society. It strives to create diverse learning environments by welcoming students, staff and proctors who bring diverse ideas, values, backgrounds, and beliefs to the learning and Order's egregore and magical environment.

Western Mystery Tradition and Magic

1. The Stella Matutina is not a religion, we do not preach dogma or ask students to obey empty words of man, but rather we seek inner transformation through the study and application of the Body of Knowledge as taught in the esoteric and arcane Western Mystery Tradition.

2. This transformation encompasses the whole of the students being. It is a system that not only targets spiritual maturation, but also the psychological, social, mental, and emotional growth.

3. We provide a safe course of study that is well backed by the time-honored system of the Golden Dawn Tradition of magic, with access and communication between a qualified Adept and the awakening student.

4. We offer membership, and a means to enter into the Golden Dawn Current, which has several advantages. Each member is assigned a personal Proctor from our tutorials and examinations division who oversees them, step by step, through a systematic, disciplined study and practice of ritual magic. Once a member has completed the magical work and intellectual study required for a grade, and has passed the relevant examinations, he or she then receives a 'certificate of dispensation,' demonstrating their eligibility for legitimate, physical initiation into the corresponding grade at one of our temples. Another option is if one is unable to attend a physical initiation, you can as a second option perform the Self-Initiation Rituals as outlined in the study book. Our Group is designed to take you step-by-step from where you are now to the door of Adepthood, but the work is dependent on you and you alone, for no one can ever tell you your True Will except you! In this, we are different and unique from many other groups proclaiming to offer the esoteric teachings of the Golden Dawn and the Western Mysteries.

Regardless if you are already affiliated with the Golden Dawn, or other systems of magic, or even just working by yourselves, we invite you to join our online-study-group endeavor an add your magical impetus to an ever growing base of serious students that are unable to drive 100s of miles to attend an organized temple or lodge.

There are three ways of working with the grades of the Order

1. Membership into the Ordo Stella Matutina through Temple Initiation.

Members who join the Ordo Stella Matutina through initiation in one of our local temples can access their grade curriculum and the related files, participate in our scheduled online classes and grade discussion forums, check their mastery of the grade curriculum through our online quizzes, and take the knowledge portion of their advancement examinations through the on-line Hermetic Sanctuary Of Ma'at (HsoM).

2. Distance Members and Solitary Practitioners

Solitary practitioners, Triangle Groups and members at a distance who cannot travel to one of our local temples to receive physical initiations can access their grade curriculum and related files, participate in our scheduled online classes and grade discussion forums, check their mastery of the grade curriculum through our online quizzes, and take their advancement examinations in the HsoM and perform the Self-Initiation rituals.

3. Associate Temple Members

The Ordo Stella Matutina has partnered with several Associate Temples and Orders worldwide to use our online curriculum and testing system for their own membership. We have no control over these orders and have no desire to control their activities. We provide this as a gesture of goodwill to the greater occult community.

The key differences between the different membership paths are as follows:

· Solitary practitioners start their path at the Probationary grade. This grade prepares the candidate of Self-Initiation by providing instruction on the techniques needed to perform the solitary initiation rituals.

· Solitary practitioners must perform the Self-Initiation rituals as described in the Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition book by Sandra Tabatha and Chic Cicero.

· Solitary practitioners receive an Official Certificate of Completion for successful completion of the grade requirements and advancement examinations through the Hermetic Sanctuary Of Ma'at which is governed by the Ordo Stella Matutina.

· Ordo Stella Matutina members receive an Official Grade Certificate which signifies that they have completed the grade advancement requirements and received the physical temple initiation for the grade.

· Because there is absolutely no possibility that one can initiate oneself into the Inner Order, solitary practitioners must visit one of our local temples to receive all of their physical initiations from 0=0 to Portal before becoming eligible to submit their advancement requirements into the grade of Adeptus Minor (5=6).

· Additional examinations may be required from the solitary member by an OSM temple to ensure that the student has mastered the outer order grades before they can be considered for advancement into the Inner Order.

· Under normal circumstances there is no grade reciprocity between the Ordo Stella Matutina and the Associate Temples that use our curriculum but students from other associate temples may join as a regular member through additional testing and going through the necessary temple initiations. We will need a letter of recommendation from the associate temple before we will consider any kind of grade reciprocity.

How You Benefit

"Through the powers of initiation and knowledge blossom all inner talents and powers that are thereafter awakened and re-awakened". One develops a higher, selfless purpose in life. Spiritual Wisdom is the only lantern amidst the darkness of ignorance . In essence, perfect peace and happiness can only come when all the aspects of one's life are integrated together in harmony and cooperation. These aspects are expressed through the four elements of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth working under the direction of Inner Light and Spirit.

Our Order offers an opportunity to interact with other Aspirants and Adepts who share the same interests while establishing a valuable Aquarian adjunct to independent study and through Self-Initiation.

Membership

We are a small Order of initiates and students, who prefer to concentrate on quality instead of quantity. Like the original Order of the Golden Dawn, membership is not based on sex, race, age, religion, sexual preference or nationality.

Membership is based on the applicant's perseverance and interpersonal chemistry, which results from his or her inclusion in the group. We are a 'family' organization, having little interest in simply filling our roster with names of initiates we no longer know.

There are meetings held at various places throughout the world, which are free and open to anyone who wishes to attend. These meetings follow a study group format including such things as group rituals, meditations and practical application methods. There is a nominal annual donation of $36.00 and physical temples set their own fees (usually, $5.00-10.00 per month, with no additional Initiation fees.

In order to be considered for Neophyte initiation a prospective member must fulfill the following requirements:

1. Active association with the group over a period of 3 months.

2. Show an interest in learning of such magical subjects as the Elements, Planets, Kabbalah, Astrolgy, Tarot.

3. A general feeling among all involved parties that the time is right.

We welcome new members and eagerly await them, but we do not recruit membership. The magical path is not for everyone, and our group in particular is not for everyone. For those who come to us seeking instant certification, power, or participation in wild sex orgies, we have nothing to offer. We also frown upon the selling of one's magical abilities or knowledge, or misusing it to attempt to oppress or exploit others.

We stand well in the occult subculture, and have good relations with its factions, particularly the hermetic and alchemy community.

Study of the magical arts is a long, drawn out affair. It takes time, perseverance, and sometimes support from others. We can offer you these.

The Future

The period of Transition is a period between the passing out of the Piscean Age, with its emphasis upon authority and belief, and the coming in of the Aquarian Age, with its emphasis upon individual understanding and direct knowledge. Our world needs people who are not at war with themselves, people filled with inner power and peace. It was these people throughout history who have brought just enough Light into the world to attract others who were tired of the blindness. We hope you will join with us in seeking to continue this noble ideal.

If you feel that the Hermetic Sanctuary of Ma'at might be what you're seeking,

write us a message at: info@ritual-magic.com

and visit us at www.ritual-magic.com

In LVX,

The Chiefs of the Ordo Stella Matutina /

Hermetic Sanctuary of Ma'at