It is with great pleasure that I introduce my first guest of Season 7 to you although he probably doesn’t need a lot of introduction. Born in 1948 in Brisbane, Australia, Pat Zalewski is a well-known Golden Dawn initiate and author of several extraordinary books on the less obvious and readily available aspects of the Golden Dawn teachings.
Pat’s own magical path started out pretty early in his life although in a different way that would reveal itself only later. As a young man he got interested in Karate and soon used Yoga to loosen up his muscles when he discovered that both techniques were actually linked to each other by similar practices of meditation. Pat soon went on to study Tai Chi and through his journeys to the East he was able to meet Chinese masters in Hong Kong who made him aware of the internal energy systems that were connected to martial art practices in general.
After studying Tantric methods in India Pat returned to New Zealand in 1970 where he found ‘The Black Brick’, Israel Regardie’s (in)famous book ‘The Golden Dawn’.
It was also in New Zealand where Pat met Jack Taylor from the local Golden Dawn temple Whare Ra who would become his teacher within the system he was just exploring by that time.
In our conversation we talk a lot about the origins of the Golden Dawn center in New Zealand, why and how exactly it could establish itself the way it did and in what aspects it was different from other branches of the order. Rudolf Steiner and the question whether antroposophy had any influence upon the Golden Dawn and if so to what extent are further topics of this episode.
Pat opens up about his motivation to publish the Inner Order rituals of the Golden Dawn and why he included alchemy into the restructured teachings. We talk about how he met 75-year-old Israel Regardie in person back in 1994 in Wellington and about Regardie’s views on Jungian psychology and its relationship to magic. Furthermore, Pat offers his views on ranks, traditions, social structures all in connection with the Golden Dawn as well as what a proper teaching process should include. We also go into depth on how the Golden Dawn is rooted in our Western Christian civilisation and how Rosicrucian and Hermetic elements come into play with it.
In the end, important advice for the beginner in the occult is not to be missed as Pat recommends some excellent starting points along with good explanations for them.
