Zelator Lesson: Cipher Manuscript---Part One
Imagine that upon GH Frater A’s death, you were charge of dealing with his affairs, sorting his papers, and taking care of his unfinished business. Imagine that during the process of doing this, you discovered a manuscript written in a cipher. What would you make of it? What would you do with it?
[insert 6=5 page 1]
You know that GH Frater A was a member of several fraternal societies and esoteric Orders. In fact, you were a member of one of the same esoteric Orders. You know that he had contacts with higher Grade members of your own Order, being trained by GH Frater A.W., VH Frater T.S., and SH Frater O.Y., and communicating with several other important members. You know that he had access to the advanced teachings of a higher Grade than yours, and had even helped develop a new esoteric Order in the past with some of his friends.
[insert 6=5 page 2 here]
As you examine the enciphered pages, you realize that you recognize the cipher used. Furthermore, you realize that you know the source for several of the drawings used in the manuscript; in fact, your own personal library has a book that contains the cipher found in the manuscript, and several books with versions of the drawings found in the manuscript. Upon further examination, you realize that the manuscript pages outlines a set of rituals that you are unfamiliar with; rituals that you really want to work yourself.
[insert 6=5 page 3]
This is almost the exact same situation that William Wynn Westcott found himself in. Somehow a set of papers, written in an alphabetic substitution cipher, came into his possession in 1886. The source (author) of this cache of papers, referred to in Golden Dawn as the Cipher (Cypher) Manuscript, and well as how Westcott came to possess the pages has been a matter of some debate in both Masonic and occult history circles for many years.
The Cipher Manuscript is the seed from which the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn grew from. It consists of 54 pages (though some authorities consider a handful of other folios to be a part of it, bringing the total up to 60 pages).
One is hard pressed to determine the exact number of pages that Westcott obtained. Westcott added some pages to the Cipher Manuscript (incidentally, he made no effort to conceal this fact). There are also some pages that exist in copies that the originals are missing (are they copies of original pages, or are they copies of later additions to the manuscript?). There is also evidence of pages missing from the original manuscript.
The Cipher Manuscript is written in a monoalphabetic substation script. This particular cipher script can be found in Abbot Johann Trithemius’ Polygraphie et Universelle Escriture Cabalistique published in Paris, 1561. In addition to the cipher, Hebrew letters are used to denote [?indicate?] numbers; Greek and Hebrew letters are used to write words from those respective languages; and there are crude drawings to illustrate important diagrams and ritual gestures.
[insert cipher script key]
The Cipher Manuscript outlines a set of lodge rituals and knowledge lectures. The rituals start with the Neophyte (0=0) Grade and go up to the Philosophus (4=7) Grade.
Westcott (most likely) added pages showing the front of the Rose Cross Lamen “Adept’s Jewel”, an illustration of the Ankh and the three Adept wands, as well as a page of Portal material (including a drawing of the Tablet of Union). There is also a page in French of the Adept Minor (5=6) Opening.
[insert wand page]
{search for GD cipher font}
The manuscript is written mainly on paper measuring 7 ¾ inches by 6 ¼ inches, which has a 1809 watermark on some of the pages. The page written in French may be on paper manufactured between 1780 and 1790. The papers are unnumbered.
The Cipher Manuscript presents some difficulties during the deciphering process. The script is written right to left. There are many abbreviations used. The scribe, who enciphered the manuscript was not thoughly familiar with the cipher script, and many mistakes and omitted letters were made during the enciphering process. The scribe was apparently of a lower Grade than the creator of the clear text. Furthermore, the creator of the Cipher Manuscript assumes a certain level of knowledge of the existing occult publications (books) of the time, if not an earlier time period.
A half dozen Golden Dawn historians and experts, including Israel Regardie, struggled with making sense of the Cipher Manuscript. Most of our current knowledge of the contents of the Cipher Manuscript comes from two sources:
Darcy Kuntz. The Complete Golden Dawn Manuscript. Holmes Publishing Group (1996).
Carroll “Poke” Runyon, M.A. Secrets of the Golden Dawn Cypher Manuscript. Church of the Hermetic Sciences (2000).
Based on the difficulties encountered by modern experts who have dealt with the Cipher Manuscript, it is safe to say that if the document would have fallen in the hands of a lesser skilled and dedicated student than Westcott, that the lodge system contained in the manuscript may have been lost forever.
{The illustrations for this lesson are modern creations (copyright 2009 MDE), except for the illustration of the cipher key itself. They were designed to provide hands-on experience, and to illustrate specific techniques used in the Cipher Manuscript and other source material, for the members of BIOGD/BIORC.}
{The original Cipher Manuscript is housed in a private collection known only to a handful of scholars.}
{This book is the source of the BIORC’s numbering system for the Cipher Manuscript folios.}