One such example is the entity GOTOS, created by the adepts of the Fraternitas Saturni. Stephen E. Flowers, in "Fire & Ice" (Llewellyn Publications, 1994) describes the function of GOTOS as:
"Through the experience of the GOTOS the Saturnian Brother or Sister is able to feel directly the qualities of personality that he or she is expected to develop as an initiate of the FS: compassionless love, willpower, resolution, severity (with him- or herself and others). These are developed in order to create the conditions for higher spiritual development through mastery of oneself and the environment. In other words, these are the characteristics of the Saturnian magician."
Flowers goes on to relate how certain initiates within the FS were able to gain 'astral visions' of the humanoid appearance of the GOTOS, and that it's image was subsequently cast in bronze. According to Flowers, all members of the FS at one time possessed a bust of the GOTOS in their private sanctuaries. From what Flowers relates concerning the relationship between the FS and the GOTOS, it appears to have been utilised as a source of 'psychic power' - tapped into through both lodge and individual work as a source of fortitude and resolve, and a guide in the collective developmental aspirations of the FS.
Flowers notes the similarity between the concept of the GOTOS and the Golden Dawn's use of "Secret Chiefs". However, there are some major differences which help define the nature of an egregore. In esoteric movements such as the Golden Dawn or the Theosophical Society, the Secret Chiefs or Inner-Plane Adepts were remote figures, accessible only to the leaders of the organisations, who's 'ability' to make contact with them became a source of legitimisation for their mundane authority in those bodies. From what Flowers tells us, access to the GOTOS in the FS appears not to have been restricted. Further, whilst the Secret Chiefs/Inner Plane Adepts appear to have only been vaguely defined (by those who claimed contact with them), the persona of the GOTOS of the FS appears to be very clearly defined.
Another aspect of the egregore is the notion of direct communication nowadays known as 'channelling', and much-practised by the white-light magical orders and so-called Spiritualists. With a few notable exceptions, the quality of the majority of channelled communications from supposedly 'higher beings' is low in the extreme. ...read more>>>...
"Through the experience of the GOTOS the Saturnian Brother or Sister is able to feel directly the qualities of personality that he or she is expected to develop as an initiate of the FS: compassionless love, willpower, resolution, severity (with him- or herself and others). These are developed in order to create the conditions for higher spiritual development through mastery of oneself and the environment. In other words, these are the characteristics of the Saturnian magician."
Flowers goes on to relate how certain initiates within the FS were able to gain 'astral visions' of the humanoid appearance of the GOTOS, and that it's image was subsequently cast in bronze. According to Flowers, all members of the FS at one time possessed a bust of the GOTOS in their private sanctuaries. From what Flowers relates concerning the relationship between the FS and the GOTOS, it appears to have been utilised as a source of 'psychic power' - tapped into through both lodge and individual work as a source of fortitude and resolve, and a guide in the collective developmental aspirations of the FS.
Flowers notes the similarity between the concept of the GOTOS and the Golden Dawn's use of "Secret Chiefs". However, there are some major differences which help define the nature of an egregore. In esoteric movements such as the Golden Dawn or the Theosophical Society, the Secret Chiefs or Inner-Plane Adepts were remote figures, accessible only to the leaders of the organisations, who's 'ability' to make contact with them became a source of legitimisation for their mundane authority in those bodies. From what Flowers tells us, access to the GOTOS in the FS appears not to have been restricted. Further, whilst the Secret Chiefs/Inner Plane Adepts appear to have only been vaguely defined (by those who claimed contact with them), the persona of the GOTOS of the FS appears to be very clearly defined.
Another aspect of the egregore is the notion of direct communication nowadays known as 'channelling', and much-practised by the white-light magical orders and so-called Spiritualists. With a few notable exceptions, the quality of the majority of channelled communications from supposedly 'higher beings' is low in the extreme. ...read more>>>...