3945 – Sketch of the Vault of the Adepts by Steffi Grant
- Physical description:
- Sketch of Vault of the Adepts by Steffi Grant, two heptagrams, one white and one black
- Museum classification:
- Ritual Magic
- Size:
- 30cm x 40cm
- Information:
This sketch shows the ceiling and the floor of the Vault. The sketch is comprised of two heptagrams with a triangle in the middle - one black on a white background, one white on a black background. There are Hebrew inscriptions on the sketch, as well as the author's markings which read "ceiling of vault ('brilliant white')" and "floor of vault [illegible, possibly 'Hebrew Letters'] as in Equinox I [illegible] ???". Inside the triangle of the heptagram with the white background there is, what appears to be, the Rosicrucian rosebud with Hebrew letters on each petal, and in the triangle of the other heptagram there is the Rose Cross (see objects 1994, 1162) surrounded by a red circular snake with seven heads.
The floor appeared on the cover of Kenneth Grant's "The Magical Revival" (1972), pictured below, along with its symbolism.
The Vault of the Adepts was the place in which The Ritual of the Adept took place, led by the Chief Adept (a member of the Second Order - see the Order's grading at the bottom of this page). The symbolism and use of the vault and the proceedings of the ritual are explained below, in extracts from 'The Equinox' by Aleister Crowley.
During the ritual, the Chief Adept uses the Chief Adepts wand (see object 1411 for the symbolism and use details of this wand, and see objects 3941, 386, 945, and 1412 for other wands and their uses).
There is further mention of the Vault of the Adepts in Kenneth and Steffi Grant's 'Hidden Lore: Hermetic Glyphs' book, pictured below.
Below is a photograph of the Vault as it would have looked like in real-life. This vault is of the Whare Ra Temple in New Zealand, which operated throughout the 20th century and closed in 1978. One source describes it as "Whare Ra is the name of the building which housed the New Zealand branch of the magical order the Stella Matutina (initiatory magical order dedicated to the dissemination of the traditional teachings of the earlier Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn). It was designed and the construction overseen by one of New Zealand’s most famous architects, and a senior member of the Order, James Walter Chapman-Taylor. Whare Ra was one of the last surviving Temples that could trace its lineage back to the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It was the only Temple to operate in a permanent, purpose-built building."
One sources mentions the locations of "modern-day" vaults (dates my be unreliable) to be in London - the Isis Urania Temple, the first temple, founded in 1888, one possibly in Paris at Ahathoor, and one in Georgia in 1977 (source).
Further mention of the vault can be found in Israel Regardie's 'The Golden Dawn' below.
The structure of the Golden Dawn:
First Order
Introduction—Neophyte 0=0
Zelator 1=10
Theoricus 2=9
Practicus 3=8
Philosophus 4=7
Intermediate—Portal GradeSecond Order
Adeptus Minor 5=6
Adeptus Major 6=5
Adeptus Exemptus 7=4Third Order
Magister Templi 8=3
Magus 9=2
Ipsissimus 10=1Other objects featured in the above description:
Elemental tablets - 3912, 3902, and 3897.
Rose Cross - 1994, 1162, and 1163.
Crux Ansata - 3927.
Sepiroth, the Tree of Life, and the Serpent - 3910, and 3906.
Other sketches by Steffi Grant can be found under the Steffi Grant tag.
A brief history of the Steffi Grant Collection
A set of original sketches and diagrams for a Museum display, reproductions of those diagrams in a larger scale and a double cubic altar.
Similar to the images Steffi Grant created for the Carfax Monographs (1959-1962) but created in 1951. See Kenneth and Steffi Grant’s Hidden Lore: Hermetic Glyphs (Fulgur Press) in the Museum library for more details.
Object numbers: 3941-3950 (inclusive),1163 and possibly 3956. Also double cubic altar (941) and angelic scrying tablets (1160).
Cecil Williamson’s notes and old interpretation cards from the Museum suggest that he had a profound respect for, and deep interest in, Aleister Crowley. See documents 8282 and 8277 and the interview with Cecil in Talking Stick magazine about Crowley (in the Museum library) for more on his attitude to him.
One letter sent to Gerald Yorke in 1952 (transcribed by Dave Evans from an original in the Warburg Institute) even suggests that the Museum may have been somehow inspired by Crowley. See documents 887 and 888.
The Museum used to have a lot of objects which were either inspired by Crowley or owned by him (according to Cecil) including a seven headed demon stick, Baphomet ring and paintings. There is also reference to a handwritten copy of the Book of the Law and a copy of Crowley’s funeral service (one wonders how this was obtained by Cecil – by purchase, gift from someone who was there or is it possible that Cecil attended the funeral?) See documents 9013, 10129 or search Crowley in documents to see the complete list).
One document (8267) mentions a range of magical drawings, made by a student while under the instruction of Aleister Crowley. In it, Cecil says that no excuse is made for their condition. It is highly likely that this card refers to the drawings created by Steffi Grant in 1951 for the Museum when it was at the Witches’s Mill on the Isle of Man (objects 3941-3950).
There are several documents in the Museum archive that relate to this display (for a look at the display itself see object 941, double cubic altar).
There are around 20 letters from Gerald Yorke. From these, we can infer that Cecil approached him asking for help establishing a temple room in the Mill. Gerald seems to have contacted Kenneth and Steffi Grant and liased with them about the display and it developed into a Temple which is mainly based on Crowley’s Book 4, Part 2. Gerald Yorke wrote a guidebook for it which includes substantial quotes from Book 4, Part 2. See document 692 for the complete text. Gerald Yorke also mentions John Symonds (Crowley’s literary executor and first biographer) in one letter and visiting the Mill with Lady Frieda Harris (who created the Thoth Tarot with Crowley) in another letter.
The designs were completed by Steffi and sent to Cecil with instructions. There are numerous letters from Kenneth and Steffi Grant which deal with this display (see 93, 96, 97, X98, 99, 100, 101).
Cecil does not seem to have paid Steffi for this work and Kenneth suggests in a letter that Cecil could pay for the British OTO manifesto to be printed in recompense for Steffi’s work on the display. Several letters mention this manifesto and the dye that was to be used in making it.
Cecil obviously held on to many of these objects and drawings when he moved the Museum from the Isle of Man. He must also have written to Kenneth Anger (probably in 1955) as document number 271 is a letter from Anger while at Cefalu. It seems that Cecil was trying to acquire Crowley objects from the Abbey and that he and Kenneth Anger were going to create some sort of reconstruction of it at the Museum while it was in Windsor.
It is possible that one more object was created by Steffi Grant, this is object number 3956 (Witch’s Cradle painting). A photograph of this object was shown to Steffi in 2018 by Professor Henrik Bogdan and she does not remember creating it. However it is similar to the style of her work (see front cover of Kenneth Grant’s book ‘Snakewand’).
Cecil seemed to admire the Grants long after their collaboration had ended. He purchased and heavily annotated a first edition of Kenneth Grant’s “Magical Revival” (now in the Museum library). A letter in the Museum archive (document 180) was written by Cecil in 1982 and talks warmly of the Grants as being knowledgeable occultists and lovely people.
- Resource:
- Object
- Materials:
- Paper, ink, card
- Copyright ownership:
- MWM
This sketch shows the ceiling and the floor of the Vault. The sketch is comprised of two heptagrams with a triangle in the middle - one black on a white background, one white on a black background. There are Hebrew inscriptions on the sketch, as well as the author's markings which read "ceiling of vault ('brilliant white')" and "floor of vault [illegible, possibly 'Hebrew Letters'] as in Equinox I [illegible] ???". Inside the triangle of the heptagram with the white background there is, what appears to be, the Rosicrucian rosebud with Hebrew letters on each petal, and in the triangle of the other heptagram there is the Rose Cross (see objects 1994, 1162) surrounded by a red circular snake with seven heads.
The floor appeared on the cover of Kenneth Grant's "The Magical Revival" (1972), pictured below, along with its symbolism.
The Vault of the Adepts was the place in which The Ritual of the Adept took place, led by the Chief Adept (a member of the Second Order - see the Order's grading at the bottom of this page). The symbolism and use of the vault and the proceedings of the ritual are explained below, in extracts from 'The Equinox' by Aleister Crowley.
During the ritual, the Chief Adept uses the Chief Adepts wand (see object 1411 for the symbolism and use details of this wand, and see objects 3941, 386, 945, and 1412 for other wands and their uses).
There is further mention of the Vault of the Adepts in Kenneth and Steffi Grant's 'Hidden Lore: Hermetic Glyphs' book, pictured below.
Below is a photograph of the Vault as it would have looked like in real-life. This vault is of the Whare Ra Temple in New Zealand, which operated throughout the 20th century and closed in 1978. One source describes it as "Whare Ra is the name of the building which housed the New Zealand branch of the magical order the Stella Matutina (initiatory magical order dedicated to the dissemination of the traditional teachings of the earlier Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn). It was designed and the construction overseen by one of New Zealand’s most famous architects, and a senior member of the Order, James Walter Chapman-Taylor. Whare Ra was one of the last surviving Temples that could trace its lineage back to the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It was the only Temple to operate in a permanent, purpose-built building."
One sources mentions the locations of "modern-day" vaults (dates my be unreliable) to be in London - the Isis Urania Temple, the first temple, founded in 1888, one possibly in Paris at Ahathoor, and one in Georgia in 1977 (source).
Further mention of the vault can be found in Israel Regardie's 'The Golden Dawn' below.
The structure of the Golden Dawn:
First Order
Introduction—Neophyte 0=0
Zelator 1=10
Theoricus 2=9
Practicus 3=8
Philosophus 4=7
Intermediate—Portal Grade
Second Order
Adeptus Minor 5=6
Adeptus Major 6=5
Adeptus Exemptus 7=4
Third Order
Magister Templi 8=3
Magus 9=2
Ipsissimus 10=1
Other objects featured in the above description:
Elemental tablets - 3912, 3902, and 3897.
Rose Cross - 1994, 1162, and 1163.
Crux Ansata - 3927.
Sepiroth, the Tree of Life, and the Serpent - 3910, and 3906.
Other sketches by Steffi Grant can be found under the Steffi Grant tag.
A brief history of the Steffi Grant Collection
A set of original sketches and diagrams for a Museum display, reproductions of those diagrams in a larger scale and a double cubic altar.
Similar to the images Steffi Grant created for the Carfax Monographs (1959-1962) but created in 1951. See Kenneth and Steffi Grant’s Hidden Lore: Hermetic Glyphs (Fulgur Press) in the Museum library for more details.
Object numbers: 3941-3950 (inclusive),1163 and possibly 3956. Also double cubic altar (941) and angelic scrying tablets (1160).
Cecil Williamson’s notes and old interpretation cards from the Museum suggest that he had a profound respect for, and deep interest in, Aleister Crowley. See documents 8282 and 8277 and the interview with Cecil in Talking Stick magazine about Crowley (in the Museum library) for more on his attitude to him.
One letter sent to Gerald Yorke in 1952 (transcribed by Dave Evans from an original in the Warburg Institute) even suggests that the Museum may have been somehow inspired by Crowley. See documents 887 and 888.
The Museum used to have a lot of objects which were either inspired by Crowley or owned by him (according to Cecil) including a seven headed demon stick, Baphomet ring and paintings. There is also reference to a handwritten copy of the Book of the Law and a copy of Crowley’s funeral service (one wonders how this was obtained by Cecil – by purchase, gift from someone who was there or is it possible that Cecil attended the funeral?) See documents 9013, 10129 or search Crowley in documents to see the complete list).
One document (8267) mentions a range of magical drawings, made by a student while under the instruction of Aleister Crowley. In it, Cecil says that no excuse is made for their condition. It is highly likely that this card refers to the drawings created by Steffi Grant in 1951 for the Museum when it was at the Witches’s Mill on the Isle of Man (objects 3941-3950).
There are several documents in the Museum archive that relate to this display (for a look at the display itself see object 941, double cubic altar).
There are around 20 letters from Gerald Yorke. From these, we can infer that Cecil approached him asking for help establishing a temple room in the Mill. Gerald seems to have contacted Kenneth and Steffi Grant and liased with them about the display and it developed into a Temple which is mainly based on Crowley’s Book 4, Part 2. Gerald Yorke wrote a guidebook for it which includes substantial quotes from Book 4, Part 2. See document 692 for the complete text. Gerald Yorke also mentions John Symonds (Crowley’s literary executor and first biographer) in one letter and visiting the Mill with Lady Frieda Harris (who created the Thoth Tarot with Crowley) in another letter.
The designs were completed by Steffi and sent to Cecil with instructions. There are numerous letters from Kenneth and Steffi Grant which deal with this display (see 93, 96, 97, X98, 99, 100, 101).
Cecil does not seem to have paid Steffi for this work and Kenneth suggests in a letter that Cecil could pay for the British OTO manifesto to be printed in recompense for Steffi’s work on the display. Several letters mention this manifesto and the dye that was to be used in making it.
Cecil obviously held on to many of these objects and drawings when he moved the Museum from the Isle of Man. He must also have written to Kenneth Anger (probably in 1955) as document number 271 is a letter from Anger while at Cefalu. It seems that Cecil was trying to acquire Crowley objects from the Abbey and that he and Kenneth Anger were going to create some sort of reconstruction of it at the Museum while it was in Windsor.
It is possible that one more object was created by Steffi Grant, this is object number 3956 (Witch’s Cradle painting). A photograph of this object was shown to Steffi in 2018 by Professor Henrik Bogdan and she does not remember creating it. However it is similar to the style of her work (see front cover of Kenneth Grant’s book ‘Snakewand’).
Cecil seemed to admire the Grants long after their collaboration had ended. He purchased and heavily annotated a first edition of Kenneth Grant’s “Magical Revival” (now in the Museum library). A letter in the Museum archive (document 180) was written by Cecil in 1982 and talks warmly of the Grants as being knowledgeable occultists and lovely people.