Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

FELKIN, R W (died 1926)

A prominent occultist and magician, he was one of the three chiefs of Golden Dawn who were elected, in May 1902, on a year's tenure, after the sacking of MacGregor Mathers. The others included J W Brodie-Innes and Percy Bullock.

Anna Sprengel conferred on Westcott, first the status of Adeptus Exemptus (7 = 4), the grade representing one of the higher Adepts. The motto 7 = 4 is interpreted as a balancing of spiritual and material substance. As the spiritual ladder is climbed from 0 to 7 (or higher in some magical orders), so the material ladder is descended. 7 = 4 is generally the highest mortal level beyond which the individual on which it is conferred is regarded as divine.

Felkin's magical name was Frater Finem Respice 7 = 4.

It was claimed that, for a period of time, he became the exclusive head of Stella Matutina but this is contested. In 1903, at the time of the fragmentation of the original Golden Dawn, he established a new Amoun Temple in London and attempted to carry on the Traditions of Golden Dawn under the name of Stella Matutina, against the more radical and mystically inclined Arthur Edward Waite, who headed the Isis-Urania Temple.

Felkin believed fervently in the magical brief of Golden Dawn and in the existence of the Secret Chiefs of the so-called Third Order whose higher intelligence he regarded as essential to call upon.

Allegedly he received communications from them concerning new rituals and confirming the authenticity of the original cipher manuals which had effectively provided Golden Dawn with its charter. In an effort to track down these masters, he apparently tried to locate Anna Sprengel in Germany between 1906 and 1910 but succeeded only in making contact with a namesake of hers and with other German Rosicrusians.

In 1912 he was initiated into the German Rosicrucian Fraternity and returned to England equipped with details of several new Stella Matutina grades. At about this time he also came under the influence of an astral entity named Ara Ben Shemesh who claimed to come 'from the desert'. The same year he visited New Zealand where he founded a Stella Matutina temple.

In 1912 he was obliged to return briefly to England, but took up permanent residence in New Zealand in 1916, founding several more Stella Matutina temples, one of which survived until 1972.

The original Temple in London was dissolved in 1919.

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc