Society of the Guardians

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The Society of the Guardians of Grace, Blessings and Sustenance, more commonly known as The Society of the Guardians, or just The Guardians is a magical and Qabalistic order currently operating in Australia.

A small group, it is limited to 22 members, who are described as "technical mystics".^[1] Although small, it has conducted classes and correspondence courses for members of the public.

The traditional history of the order states that it originated in a small 12th century community of weavers and scriveners interested in Kabbalah, who left southern France to settle in Spain at the same time that Jews were expelled from France. According to the story, in 1282 members of the group, disguised as Franciscans, rescued the Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia from prison and subsequently studied on more advanced levels with him. They formed an order which continued to operate until, during the occult revival of the mid- to late-nineteenth century, the order grew to its maximum of 22 members and split into separate German and British orders. Apparently in the 1930s the German order perished under Nazism, while the English order's Senior Guardian, Freedman Burford, decided to emigrate to Australia with a few other members to preserve it from the war. In Australia the elderly Guardians all died, and only one new member, Michael Tyne-Corbold (1927-1996), joined; he was invested as Senior Guardian a week before Freedman Burford died, and assumed the traditional Guardian name "Freedman", becoming Michael Freedman.^[1]

That history is unverifiable; however in 1970 Michael Freedman and his wife moved to New Zealand, where he worked as a psychologist. He opened a temple in a house on Horoeka St, on the slopes of Mt Eden and built a flourishing order.^[1]

Ritual and astrology are key elements of the order's work. They describe their rites as "Mithraist in a very broad sense", and these are observed according to solar and lunar cycles. At the Mt Eden temple a Mass of the Holy Archangels was held each Saturday evening to mark the beginning of the new week, and solstices and equinoxes were observed. The order's rites involve dancing and offerings of bread, salt, honey, wine and incense as libations to Mother Earth, and contain words from both Jesus and the Buddha.^[1]

In 1978 the order began offering a free meditation course by correspondence, one they claimed was free of any dogma or "mystical mumbo-jumbo", and was just as beneficial as the very expensive courses available in Transcendental Meditation.

The Guardians published New Zealand's leading esoteric and occult periodical for a number of years, initially called Magic Pentacle, and later, after Michael Freedman's death in 1996, New Pentacle. Freedman wrote many articles in the magazine, and was also working on a number of translations of Latin, Greek and Hebrew texts into English, including a translation of a version of the Sefer Yetzirah.

Following Freedman's death, the order went into disarray for several years. During c.e.2000 Leonard Stevens (aka Jean de Cabalis) secured a 'Guardian' charter at 6th degree level from Dermot Cooke (the appointed successor Senior Guardian by Michael Freedman). This warrant further entitled Leonard Stevens to continue the Guardians of Grace Blessing and Sustenance work and lineage. Leonard Stevens appointed Frater Carfax as the Imperator of the Guardians, where it has recently begun operating again in Australia. ^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Ellwood, Robert S. (1993). Islands of the Dawn: The Story of Alternative Sprituality in New Zealand. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1487-8. 
2. ^ Website of the Et Custosi Tutelae (Guardians of Grace, Blessing and Sustenance). Retrieved 2007-02-09.

Guardian Documents: there is a collection of Guardian materials at: http://etoile.topcities.com/ECT/