DEGREE I: THE OUTER ORDER (FIRST ORDER)
NIGREDO: Elemental Magic
Grade 4=7: Philosophus
Element: Fire
Sephirah: Netzach (Victory)
Planet: Venus
Season Emphasis: Summer-Autumn
Tarot Paths: 28 (Tzaddi/צ - The Star), 27 (Peh/פ - The Tower)
Archangel: Michael (Fire), Haniel (Netzach)
Platonic Solid: Tetrahedron
Duration: Minimum 3 months, ideally 1 full summer
Fourfold Path: Knight → preparing for Apprentice Wizard
Alchemical Stage: Nigredo (completion)
Body: Lead Body (prepared for transformation)
Magical Level: Astral
Overview
The Philosophus rises to Fire, the element of transformation, will, passion, and spiritual power. This is the culminating grade of the First Order, where all four elements are integrated and the initiate prepares to cross the First Veil.
Fire is the alchemical agent of calcination, burning away impurities. Netzach is Victory — the triumph of the spiritual will over base nature. This grade emphasizes laboratory alchemy, warrior training, and the cultivation of holy passion.
The Tarot Paths
Path 28 (Tzaddi/צ) - The Star
Continued from Practicus
Connection: Netzach → Yesod
Path 27 (Peh/פ) - The Tower
Connection: Netzach → Hod
THE FIRST MAJOR INITIATION
Experience: Complete collapse of the false personality structure, lightning-struck tower, sudden demolition, liberation through destruction
Work: Everything you thought you were SHATTERS — the ego-structure crumbles, you see it was built on sand
Result: First taste of ego death, rending of the veil
This path is fully walked in the Portal Grade, but glimpsed here
Core Practices
Daily Practice
- All four Elemental Pentagrams mastered (Earth, Air, Water, Fire)
- Middle Pillar
- Fire practices (inner heat, kundalini preparation, passion cultivation)
- ACIM Workbook (if in Summer: lessons 182-210; otherwise follow seasonal placement)
Fire Work
- Candle meditation, flame gazing
- Cultivating will and directed intention
- Understanding fire as purification and transformation
- Sun practices (safe sun gazing, solar exercises)
Magical Curriculum
Primary Work
- Invoking Pentagram of Fire mastery
- Working with Salamanders (Fire elementals)
- Fire scrying (flame gazing, pyromancy)
- Introduction to practical laboratory alchemy (intensive)
- Study: Netzach, Victory, Venus, Beauty, Art, Love, passion
Fire Element Work
- Understanding Fire as will, transformation, passion, spiritual power
- The Salamanders (fire elementals): their fierce, pure nature
- Fire correspondences: South, noon, summer, red, wand, ash
- The will as fire temple
Venusian Work
- Understanding Venus as love, beauty, art, desire
- The divine feminine as creative power
- Haniel as Venusian archangel of Netzach
- The Rose (beauty, love, the heart opening)
Templar Training
The Vow of Obedience
- To God, to HGA, to the Work (not to human authority)
- Surrender of personal will to divine will
- "Not my will but Thine be done"
- Understanding true obedience as freedom
Warrior Training
- Holy war is INNER war — fighting ego and shadow
- The spiritual warrior: fierce compassion
- Courage, strength, endurance
- Protecting the Sangreal (the Holy Blood — spiritual lineage, not genetic)
Cultivating Righteous Fire
- Holy passion for God, for truth, for the Work
- Zeal tempered by wisdom
- Understanding wrath as purifying force (not petty anger)
Masonic Symbolism
Master Mason Degree (Preparation)
- Hiram Abiff's death and raising (the central mystery)
- The murdered master builder
- The lost word (the name of God, lost and to be recovered)
- Understanding transformation through symbolic death
- Rough Ashlar → Polished Ashlar (Prima Materia → Philosopher's Stone)
- The five points of fellowship
Rosicrucian Introduction
The Rose-Cross Symbol
- Rose of passion on cross of matter
- The heart (rose) blooming at the center of the cross (the four elements)
- Introduction to Christian Rosenkreutz legend (the archetypal Rosicrucian adept)
- Understanding the mystical rose as the soul, as beauty, as the heart of the Work
Physical Practices
Choose one or more:
- Martial Arts: Intensive training in a chosen art (Karate, Kung Fu, Krav Maga for fire)
- Yoga: Power yoga, Ashtanga, Kundalini yoga for fire element
- Strength Training: High-intensity training, building power and will
- Running: Sprint work, intense cardio, cultivating inner fire
- Sun practices: Sun gazing (safely), solar exercises, outdoor training
Laboratory Alchemy (Intensive)
The Philosophus begins serious practical alchemy. This is the grade where laboratory work intensifies.
Alchemical Operations
- Calcination with fire (burning substances to white ash)
- Creating philosophical sulfur (the fixed principle)
- Metallic operations (beginning transmutation work with metals)
- Working with the three principles (Salt, Sulfur, Mercury) in depth
Spagyrics (Plant Alchemy)
- Creating planetary tinctures (7 plants for 7 planets)
- Advanced extraction techniques
- Cohobation (reuniting spirit, soul, body)
- Fermentation work
Alchemy Level
Astral — working with desire, passion, transmutation of base impulses into spiritual gold
The Seven Liberal Arts
Quadrivium: Arithmetic (Beginning)
- Number theory
- Sacred numerology
- Pythagorean mathematics
- Gematria (Hebrew numerology)
- The Tetractys (1+2+3+4=10)
- Understanding 10 as completion (ten Sephiroth)
Hebrew Language (Continuing)
- Letter meanings and correspondences
- Tarot connections (22 letters, 22 paths)
- Basic grammar and sentence structure
Study Focus
Qabalah
- Netzach (Victory) — the seventh Sephirah, Venusian sphere, passion and beauty
- The Rose
- Understanding victory as overcoming the lower nature
Alchemy
- Introduction to alchemical texts and symbolism
- Understanding the Great Work
- The Philosopher's Stone (introduction)
- Real Alchemy by Robert Allen Bartlett (practical spagyrics)
ACIM
- Workbook lessons (continuing daily practice)
- Text study (miracle principles, time, the holy instant)
The Dark Night of the Mind (Culmination)
The Philosophus experiences the culmination of the Dark Night of the Mind — the final burning away of false mental constructs, intellectual pride, and ego-based certainty.
Fire burns away illusion. The Philosophus must be willing to let everything burn.
ACIM Lessons (if in Summer): Advancing toward "I will there be light," "Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all"
Crisis: The ego's final defense — "If I lose my mind, who will I be?"
Resolution: Surrender. "I need do nothing." Preparation for the Portal.
Advancement Requirement
- All four elements balanced and integrated (Earth, Air, Water, Fire)
- Demonstrate alchemical understanding (theory + practice)
- At least one successful laboratory operation completed
- Pass comprehensive First Order examination (covering all four elemental grades)
- Evidence of will, passion, directed purpose
- Physical discipline established in chosen practice
- Ready to enter Portal Grade and cross the First Veil
Recommended Reading
- The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune (Netzach chapter)
- Initiation Into Hermetics by Franz Bardon (Step 4)
- Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Agrippa (Book I - Natural Magic)
- Real Alchemy by Robert Allen Bartlett (practical spagyrics)
- A Course in Miracles (Workbook, continuing)