DEGREE II: THE INNER ORDER (SECOND ORDER)
CITRINITAS: Fixed Star Magic
Grade 7=4: Adeptus Exemptus (Exempt Adept)
THE JUPITER GRADE — MERCY, EXPANSION, WISDOM
Sephirah: Chesed (Mercy)
Zodiac + Fixed Stars: Completion of zodiacal work, focus on fixed stars
Tarot Paths: 22 (Lamed/ל - Justice), 21 (Kaph/כ - Wheel), 20 (Yod/י - Hermit), 19 (Teth/ט - Strength), 18 (Cheth/ח - Chariot), 17 (Zayin/ז - Lovers), 16 (Vav/ו - Hierophant), 15 (Heh/ה - Emperor)
Archangel: Tzadkiel (Chesed), Jupiter
Duration: Minimum 1 year (typically 3-5 years)
Fourfold Path: Master Wizard (approaching Disciple)
Alchemical Stage: Citrinitas (completion) → Rubedo (beginning)
Season: Summer → Autumn
Body: Mercurial → Solar (Golden)
Magical Level: Mental + Spiritual
Ordo: R.R. et A.C. (completing Second Order)
Overview
This is the Jupiter Grade — Chesed, Mercy, Expansion, Wisdom
The Adeptus Exemptus has completed the zodiacal work and now ascends to the Fixed Stars — the realm beyond the wandering planets, the celestial sphere, the realm of eternal archetypes.
This grade is called "Exempt" because the adept is exempt from certain laws — having mastered the elemental, planetary, and zodiacal realms, they are no longer bound by them in the same way. The Adeptus Exemptus operates from a place of profound freedom.
The primary work is Fixed Star magic, creating one's own magical synthesis, and preparing to cross the Abyss — the Second Great Veil.
This is the completion of Citrinitas (yellowing, solar consciousness) and the beginning of Rubedo (reddening, the final stage).
The Tarot Paths
The Adeptus Exemptus works intensively with many paths as they ascend toward Binah and Chokmah:
Path 22 (Lamed/ל) - Justice
Continued from Adeptus Major
Path 21 (Kaph/כ) - Wheel of Fortune
Continued from Adeptus Major
Path 20 (Yod/י) - The Hermit
Continued from Adeptus Major
Deepening: The Hermit withdraws to the heights, holding the lamp of wisdom, preparing to cross the Abyss in solitude
Path 19 (Teth/ט) - Strength
The Second Major Initiation — integrated in previous grade, now embodied
Path 18 (Cheth/ח) - The Chariot
Connection: Binah → Geburah
Experience: Mastering the self through discipline, steering through battles, victorious return
Work: Willpower, direction, spiritual warriorship, the charioteer controlling the sphinxes (opposing forces)
Path 17 (Zayin/ז) - The Lovers
Connection: Binah → Tiphareth
Experience: Choosing between paths, harmonizing duality, aligning with heart's truth
Work: Sacred choice, union of opposites, the soul choosing God over world
Path 16 (Vav/ו) - The Hierophant
Connection: Chokmah → Chesed
Experience: Receiving the Law, integration of spiritual inheritance, understanding tradition
Work: Becoming a link in the golden chain of transmission, initiation, teaching
Path 15 (Heh/ה) - The Emperor
Connection: Chokmah → Tiphareth
Experience: Becoming aligned with higher authority, establishing dominion over self, sovereignty
Work: Structure, order, sacred masculine sovereignty, the king upon the throne
Core Practices
Daily Practice
- All rituals mastered and performed adeptly
- Work is largely spontaneous now — ritual becomes life, life becomes ritual
- Fixed Star invocations
- ACIM: Embodied (you are living as Christ)
- Hebrew mastery (fluent in sacred Hebrew)
Magical Curriculum
PRIMARY WORK: Fixed Star Magic
Having mastered the seven planets and twelve zodiac signs, the Adeptus Exemptus now works with the Fixed Stars — the realm beyond the wandering planets.
The 15 Behenian Stars:
These are the 15 primary fixed stars used in traditional magic:
- Algol (Caput Medusae) — β Perseus
- Pleiades (Seven Sisters) — Taurus
- Aldebaran (Eye of the Bull) — α Taurus
- Capella (The Goat Star) — α Auriga
- Sirius (The Dog Star) — α Canis Major
- Procyon — α Canis Minor
- Regulus (Heart of the Lion) — α Leo
- Alkaid (Tail of the Bear) — η Ursa Major
- Gienah (Wing of the Crow) — γ Corvus
- Spica (Wheat Sheaf) — α Virgo
- Arcturus (Bear Watcher) — α Boötes
- Alphecca (Crown) — α Corona Borealis
- Antares (Heart of the Scorpion) — α Scorpio
- Vega (Falling Eagle) — α Lyra
- Deneb Algedi (Tail of the Goat) — δ Capricorn
The 4 Royal Stars:
The four "Watchers" or "Guardians of Heaven":
- Aldebaran (Watcher of the East) — Archangel Michael
- Regulus (Watcher of the North) — Archangel Raphael
- Antares (Watcher of the West) — Archangel Uriel
- Fomalhaut (Watcher of the South) — Archangel Gabriel
Fixed Star Work:
- Invoking each star at appropriate times (when it rises, culminates, etc.)
- Creating fixed star talismans
- Understanding star lore, mythology, influences
- Working with stellar energies (higher octaves of planetary forces)
Orphic Hymns to the Stars and Cosmos
Advanced cosmic hymns from the Orphic collection:
- Hymn to the Stars
- Hymn to the Cosmos
- Hymn to Ouranos (Heaven)
These invoke the highest celestial forces.
Enochian Magic (Optional)
Some Adepti Exempti are drawn to Enochian magic (the angelic system received by John Dee):
- The Enochian alphabet and language
- The Watchtowers (elemental tablets)
- The 30 Aethyrs (celestial realms)
- Invocations of Enochian angels
This is not required — only pursue if drawn to it.
Creating Own Magical System/Synthesis
By this grade, the Adeptus Exemptus has mastered:
- Elemental magic
- Planetary magic
- Zodiacal magic
- Fixed star magic
- Solomonic magic (angels and demons)
- Rosicrucian alchemy
- Qabalistic pathworking
Now: The adept creates their own synthesis — their unique articulation of the Royal Art, their personal grimoire, their teaching.
Templar Training
Grandmaster Consciousness
Leading others on the path, teaching and initiating junior knights, embodying the mysteries.
Teaching
The Adeptus Exemptus begins to teach — whether formally (taking students) or informally (through writing, example, presence).
Embodying the Threefold Vow Perfectly
- Poverty — total detachment
- Chastity — purity of heart, perfect continence or perfect sacred sexuality
- Obedience — complete surrender to divine will
Masonic Symbolism
York Rite Completion (Symbolic Understanding)
- All York Rite degrees understood symbolically
- Knights Templar, Knights of Malta fully integrated
Preparing to Become a Master of the Lodge
Ready to lead, to initiate, to transmit the mysteries.
Rosicrucian Work
Rose-Cross Adept
Fully embodying the Rosicrucian mysteries.
Chemical Wedding Preparation
Deep study of The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz in preparation for the Red Wedding (the Third Wedding, after crossing the Abyss).
The Chemical Wedding is a seven-day alchemical process:
- Day 1: The Invitation
- Day 2: The Journey
- Day 3: The Testing
- Day 4: The Scales
- Day 5: The Beheading
- Day 6: The Alchemical Work
- Day 7: The Wedding
Understanding this as interior process.
The Bride & Bridegroom
Inner masculine and feminine preparing to unite (Red King and White Queen, Sol and Luna, Sulfur and Mercury).
Study of Advanced Rosicrucian Texts
- Atalanta Fugiens by Michael Maier (alchemical emblems)
- Splendor Solis (alchemical manuscript)
- Other hermetic and alchemical texts
Physical Practices
Physical practice becomes effortless, spontaneous. The body is a perfected vessel.
- May continue chosen discipline
- Or may transcend need for formal practice
- Body as temple is fully realized
Laboratory Alchemy
Completing the Red Stone
The goal of this grade is to create the RED STONE (the Philosopher's Stone proper).
Alchemical Operations:
- Projection (transmuting base metals to gold)
- Creating the Elixir of Life (the Universal Medicine)
- Coagulation (the final fixing, the Stone is born)
- Multiplication (increasing the Stone's power exponentially)
The Red Stone:
- Can transmute base metals to gold
- Can heal all disease (the Universal Medicine)
- Grants long life (the Elixir)
- Represents the perfected, solar consciousness
Inner Alchemy:
- Even if not working in a physical laboratory, the inner work completes the Stone
- The Stone is solar consciousness, the perfected Self, the Christ within
Alchemy Level
Mental + Spiritual — approaching union with Source, working at causal level and beyond
The Seven Liberal Arts
All Seven Completed
By this grade:
- Trivium (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric) — mastered
- Quadrivium (Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Astronomy) — mastered
Hebrew Fluency
- Reading Zohar
- Writing prayers and invocations in Hebrew
- Full understanding of Gematria, Notarikon, Temurah
- Fluent in the language of creation
Study Focus
Qabalah
- Chesed (Mercy) — the fourth Sephirah, Jupiterian sphere, loving-kindness, expansion, divine abundance
- Understanding mercy as the complement to severity
- The benevolent king, the spiritual father
Fixed Stars
- Star lore, mythology, astrological influences
- Understanding stars as eternal archetypes
- The stellar realm as closer to Source than planetary realm
Cosmic Consciousness
Beginning to touch universal consciousness, moving beyond individual identity.
ACIM
No longer studying — being. The Course is lived, breathed, embodied.
The Third Dark Night: Dark Night of the Spirit (Deepening)
This Dark Night intensifies in the Adeptus Exemptus grade.
Symptom: Approaching total annihilation, "I do not exist," complete dissolution of self-sense
Work: Surrendering even the sense of being a spiritual seeker, letting go of all attainment
ACIM: "I am not a body, I am not a person, I am not anything" — moving toward "I am as God created me"
This culminates at the Abyss.
Approaching the Abyss (Preparation)
The Adeptus Exemptus is preparing to cross the Abyss — the Second Great Veil, the gulf between human and divine.
What is the Abyss:
- Da'ath (Knowledge) — the non-sephirah, the void
- The annihilation of the personal self
- Total ego death (not symbolic, but ontological)
- Encounter with Choronzon (the demon of dispersion, the dweller in the abyss)
Preparation:
- Understanding that you will cease to exist (as you know yourself)
- Practicing total surrender
- Letting go of all attainments, all identity, all hope
- The Red Wedding will come after crossing
Red Wedding Preparation
The Third Wedding (Red Wedding, Resurrection) occurs after crossing the Abyss, when entering Magister Templi grade.
The Adeptus Exemptus prepares for this:
- Studying resurrection mysteries
- Understanding death and rebirth at the deepest level
- Meditating on the Phoenix (burns to ash, rises reborn)
Advancement Requirement
- Fixed Stars worked (all major stars invoked, especially Behenian and Royal stars)
- Red Stone completed (inner or outer alchemy)
- Own magical system articulated and documented (grimoire, teachings, synthesis)
- Seven Liberal Arts completed
- Hebrew fluency
- Ready to cross the Abyss (total surrender achieved)
- Ready for Third Wedding (Resurrection mystery understood)
- Oath taken as Master Wizard
The next step is the ABYSS.
Recommended Reading
- The Cosmic Doctrine by Dion Fortune
- Enochian Vision Magick by Lon Milo DuQuette (if working Enochian)
- The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (deep study)
- Atalanta Fugiens by Michael Maier
- Advanced texts may no longer be needed; direct gnosis is primary
- Writing your own text/grimoire at this stage