Any Golden Dawn students around here?

I definitely understand that. For me, Golden Dawn has always been a school. For religion and fun, I default to either to Norse or Egyptian paganism depending upon my mood. And if my back is against the wall, I definitely use the Norse; my father knew some rune lore, so you could say that it is a family thing. :) Not too many people in the pagan community (or at least in the circles I travel in) know the extent that Golden Dawn affected modern paganism. A lot of people find it strange that a pagan/wicca can be a member of Golden Dawn; a lot of Golden Dawn groups find it strange also--go figure.

hehe, surely a Wiccan (proper one, as opposed to one misusing the term) should be able to see that heritage. very few Wiccans these days still maintain that the tradition existed at all pre-Gardner. have you been to the museum at Boscastle? mostly trad craft, but a lot of really interesting ceremonial Magic artefacts too. I've got Norsies in my family. I always find the Norse lot to be among the most honourable and decent people I know.

ooh, and another one that tickles me. people saying they are Wiccans, then going on about how terrible Crowley was. hehe.

There are so many groups that claim to be Golden Dawn, it is confusing occasionally. And a lot of them seem to be fighting one another constantly in a futile attempt to become the sole Golden Dawn group left standing. The Neo-Nazi page unfortunately is the result of such fighting. It is badmouthing a guy that has spent most of his time sending lawyers after other groups using the Golden Dawn name (he trademarked it). Outside of the fact that the name of the person in the picture is the same as his, I am not sure of any real connection between the picture and his Order. For the record, I wouldn't recommend them, but that is for curriclum and organizational reasons. That I don't like the tactics he is using. I am a believer in "offer a good product and you don't have to sue people to get new members." In theory, all Golden Dawn groups are Rosicrucian. Some are more so than others. I have never been to the AMORC Temple. A friend of mine has, and she enjoyed her visit to it. I plan on going there someday when I get a chance.

Sure! And this Tarot background is very interesting. Now I have a silly question: how would you define the Golden Down?

Based on the discussions you start, I would say that you are a student of the tradition. A lot of people are students of the tradition without knowing it. For instance, a lot of books on the Tarot are actually rooted in Golden Dawn. In fact, the creators of the Rider/Waite Tarot deck, A.E.Waite (writer) and Pamela "Pixie" Smith were members of the Golden Dawn--a certain amount of the lore is hidden in that deck, which became a baseline for the design of Tarot decks following it.

That is something I have kicked around quite a lot; I think that I am going to end up doing a blog on it sometime. As a writer and public representive of the little lodge I belong to, I have used a couple of different definitions. Quite often I compare it to the Freemasons. A few months ago, while I was writing an article over at Helium (originally entitled "What is Golden Dawn?") and AC (retitled "A brief history of Golden Dawn"), I refered to it as a "lodge-based system of spiritual development." Honestly, I find that one of the hardest question about the system to answer.