"Fallen" should not be understood to mean the "Fall of Adam" or the "Fallen Angels"; rather it refers to the path, those people once have chosen and sworn to protect, it is this the path, that rises to the top of the sacred mountain of Initiation. So by "Fallen" we do not wish to imply that they are evil, but rather that they have left our benevolent and august Order. While most simply make a change in direction and path in a friendly and loving way, some choose to harbor ill feelings of anger and vengeance toward the Order and/or individuals within it.

From the outset of the Reformation, Martin Luther claimed that the Pope was the Anti-Christ mentioned in the Apocalypse. While few people believe this today, the validity of Martin Luther's claim was not relevant to his purposes. Simply making the claim won him support. Whether or not the Pope was the Anti-Christ made little difference to Luther or his supporters, there is no historical evidence that anyone attempted to verify Luther's claim. There are those in the world who love to believe the worst about people; they are ready to hate others and they need very little prompting. People who hate seem to hate in earnest that which they once loved.

While it may appear to be a recent phenomenon, the fact of the Adeptus Minor leaving this or any Order is not new; virtually every Second Order Adept in the past century who had fallen or been expelled, actually claimed that their former Order was evil or that persons within that Order were under evil influences. These fallen or expelled Adepti have created in their own minds justification for "breaking their sacred oath" that they made before the Lord of the Universe, while they euphemistically claim an interest in saving the world from so-called "evil ones." It is widely known that Aleister Crowley broke his oath from the classical Golden Dawn; he became convinced that MacGregor Mathers (the Chief of the Second Order) was evil and self-seeking. He plagiarized private Order material in the infamous series of books called The Equinox; Crowely seems to have believed that he was chosen by God to lead mankind into some new Aeon, and that this somehow justified his behavior and lack of commitment to his oath. Crowley's spiritual demise is unfortunately a recurring pattern expressed in our fallen members today; his writings echo the bitter sentiment towards the Order in modern times.

Israel Regardie has been demonized by some and sanctified by others for publishing the complete Golden Dawn System of Magic. He did however violate his personal oath to his Temple and left with the words that these people are "Not Adepti, but Inepti." Was he justified? Did the light of Tiphereth expand his ego to believe that the workings and mysteries of the Order would die, should he not publish his books? This is a question we cannot answer, but it needs further meditation. In the 1930's a past Imperator from the largest Stella Matutina Temple in New Zealand suddenly resigned from the Order. She was not a mere past Hierophant, she was the visible leader of the Temple. She became convinced that the Order was evil, the chiefs were evil and the Third Order was evil, she quickly left the Order and wrote an entire book on the evils of the Order. The book was called "Light-Bearers of Darkness." She wrote under a pet name called "Inquire within." The Order she loved, the people within it were all suddenly evil in her mind. Many have fallen throughout the years, people such as A.E. Waite and William Buttler Yeats, left the Order, feeling completely justified in leaving because the Chief Adept, MacGregor Mathers, had somehow become evil in their opinion; one of the reasons they reputedly had for this was that Mathers regularly attended the Catholic Mass.

As the initiate climbs the Holy Tree of Life, the forces of each sephira presents certain challenges; each sephira contains within it positive healing powers of personal development, which by its very nature can create internal struggle. Each sephira can infuse within the initiates' sphere of sensation great powers for compassion, love and wisdom or it can produce unbalance and unleash its counterforce. The ruach or human personality contains the seed of both good and evil; it is up to the initiate to battle the contrary forces and direct them under the leadership of the Divine. As the initiate ascends to Tiphereth the center of the Holy Tree of Life, great illumination takes place; Tiphereth means, "beauty" in Hebrew and the initiate is taught to search out the beauty of the Lord in all things. The Sun is the force of Tiphereth, and the Sun brings forth life, vitality and growth on its positive side, while on the downside, the Sun can activate a great avarice for personal power; it can magnify the ego, and greatly inflate one's sense of self-importance. In many cases, the result for the initiate is a condition of megalomania, which often leads to seeing the leadership of the Order as evil and the self as the savior!

In the Neophyte ritual, the Hierophant warns: "The magical virtues can indeed awaken into momentary life in the wicked and foolish hearts, they cannot reign in any heart that has not the natural virtues to be their throne." (The Hierophant, 0=0) Those of us who wish to invoke these powerful forces bear the responsibility of containing these energies within ourselves; the key to this is the total surrender unto our higher genius. The mistake that "wicked and foolish hearts" often make is demonstrating an unwillingness to be guided by their higher will. We must surrender our old ways and allow our higher genius to transform us into worthy vessels; that is to say: vessels that are able to contain and direct these forces. "Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." (Matthew 9:17) If the Outer Order grade work does not transform us into "new bottles" so to speak and at the moment of truth we are unwilling or unable to surrender unto our higher will, then "the bottles (we) break, and the wine (Ruach Elohim) runneth out, and the bottles perish (our connection with our higher genius)" When that happens the "magical virtues" cannot reign in our "wicked and foolish heart" and we inflate and become a mere broken vessel "that has not the natural virtues to be their throne." These wicked and foolish hearts then take the wisdom and teachings that we tried to impart unto them and they " . . . trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend (their Order brethren)." (Matthew 7:6) That is why Adepts leave the Order and why they turn against the Order they once loved; when the "wine" runs out, they inflate with pride and hate; they can no longer ascend up the Tree, they therefore, descend into the qliphoth and attack those they once loved.

Let us finally point out that many initiates who have fallen from the Order appeared to have been completely convinced that they were doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. Logic however, dictates that our higher genius, our spark of the divine, would not lead us onto a path and into a sacred oath, only to have us break our sacred oath and abandon our path. "When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee." (Deuteronomy 23:21) The key is this, initiates on the pathway of love and light are on a difficult path of self-sacrifice, indeed: ". . straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:14) We have our problems, but we work out our differences in private and at times, we agree to disagree on certain issues and quickly move on in a friendly and loving manner. But when the bottle breaks and the wine rushes out and there be not the natural virtues to provide a throne for the light of Tiphereth, the qliphoth claims its victim. Thus, the descent into pride, hate and megalomania, and rather than serving their higher genius, the fallen Adept can only seek self promotion and tear others down with lies, slander, incessant bickering and internet flame wars become the game of the day. The mountain is steep, the path is narrow, and the obstacles are many, including human personalities and conflicts. The initiate must overcome this hate even when he/she believes in their righteousness, for to not do so is to be consumed. The mystical path is not for everyone and for some it is not a path of peace as it should be, but rather for some it becomes a path of vengeance and anger.