Israel Regardie French: [ʁəgaʁdi], born
Francis Israel Regudy French: [ʁəgudi] (November 17, 1907 – March 10, 1985), was an
occultist, writer, and
Aleister Crowley's personal secretary and transcriptionist, widely known for his books and commentaries on the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Early life[edit]
Israel Regardie was born Israel Regudy in
London to Barnet Regudy, a cigarette maker, and his wife, Phoebe Perry, poor
orthodox Jewish immigrants from
Zhitomir,
Russia. His family changed their
surname to "Regardie" after a clerical mixup resulted in Israel's brother being enrolled in the
British Army under that name.
[1] Regardie emigrated with his parents to the
United States in August 1921 and settled in
Washington, DC. He studied art in Washington, DC and
Philadelphia, PA. With a
Hebrew tutor he gained a linguistic knowledge which would prove invaluable in his later studies of
Hermetic Qabalah.
[2] With easy access to the
Library of Congress, he read widely and became interested in
Theosophy,
Hindu philosophy and
yoga. He also joined the
Societas Rosicruciana in America at around this time.
[3]
After reading Part I of
Magick (Book 4) by the
occultist Aleister Crowley, Regardie initiated a correspondence which led to his return at 21 to the U.K. at Crowley's 1928 invitation to become his secretary. When the two parted company four years later, in 1932, Regardie distanced himself from Crowley personally, but still retained a great deal of respect for his writings.
[4] Shortly after this period he published
The Tree of Life, a guide to magick, largely derived from Crowley's work, and
A Garden of Pomegranates, a primer on
Qabalah based on notes he had taken while working for Crowley. Regardie would later write a biography of Crowley,
The Eye in the Triangle, and continue to edit and republish Crowley's works up until the 1970s.
In 1934 Regardie joined
Stella Matutina, a successor organization of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
[1] When the group disbanded, Regardie acquired the bulk of the Order's documents and compiled the book,
The Golden Dawn, which earned him the enmity of many of the other former members and the reputation of being an oath-breaker because of the information it revealed. However, the book transformed the work of the Order into an entirely new branch of the Western Occult Tradition. As Regardie observed in his work
A Garden of Pomegranates, "...it is essential that the whole system should be publicly exhibited so that it may not be lost to mankind. For it is the heritage of every man and woman – their spiritual birthright."
[5] The various occult organizations claiming descent from the original Golden Dawn, and the systems of magic practiced by them, owe their continuing existence and popularity to Regardie's work.
In 1937, at the age of 30, Regardie returned to the U.S., entering
Chiropractic College in
New York City. In addition, he studied psychoanalysis with Dr. E. Clegg and Dr. J. L. Bendit, and psychotherapy with
Dr. Nandor Fodor. He opened a chiropractic office and taught psychiatry –
Reichian,
Freudian, and
Jungian – retiring in 1981 at the age of 74, when he moved to
Sedona, Arizona.
[6]
Regardie died from a
heart attack in the presence of close friends during a dinner at a restaurant in
Sedona, Arizona on March 10, 1985 at the age of 77.
[7]
Regardie is a principal reliable source for much of what is known about the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. His writings and the students he taught or influenced provide much of the foundation for modern Western occultism. In addition to preserving the knowledge, Regardie also preserved a valid branch of the initiatory lineage of the Golden Dawn in America:
The second significant task carried out by Regardie was, as an Adept, to bring a valid branch of the initiatory lineage of the Golden Dawn to America the alchemical melting pot where the New Age was incubating. Such tasks are not always easy. A. M. A. G. waited here four decades until the threads of the pattern came together. Then, in one of those graceful synchronicities which often play midwife to significant magical events, a couple in Georgia were inspired—at that time scarcely aware of what they were undertaking — to build a Rosicrucian Vault, the powerful ritual chamber required to pass on the Adept Initiation, at precisely the time when two magicians (one on the east coast of the United States and one on the west coast), unknown to each other or to the Georgia couple, came to be ready to receive that Initiation. And A.M.A.G., with the right to confer the Initiation in such a Vault, was the connecting link among them. And so, in one remarkable weekend, Regardie presided over two Initiations into the Inner Order, the first and the last which he ever performed; and the Lamp of the Keryx was passed into American hands. — Forrest, Adam P. in Cicero (1995), p. 541
Note: In the above paragraph, A.M.A.G. refers to Regardie. Participants in the Order took on a pseudonym or
magical motto. In Regardie's case, his pseudonym was
Ad Majorem Adonai Gloriam which means "To the Greater Glory of
Adonai".
Partial bibliography[edit]
- A Garden of Pomegranates
- The Tree of Life
- My Rosicrucian Adventure
- The Art of True Healing
- The Middle Pillar
- The Philosopher's Stone
- The Romance of Metaphysics
- The Art and Meaning of Magic
- Be Yourself, the Art of Relaxation
- New Wings for Daedalus
- Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment
- The Eye in the Triangle
- Roll Away the Stone
- The Legend of Aleister Crowley (with P.R. Stephenson)
External links[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
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(Pic Source Israel Regardie Foundation)
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