“In darkness we can find fear. Through confronting darkness we are confronting fear and we can be free from it. If we escape the darkness our fear will grow for what is in the darkness. In Dragon Rouge a balance between dark and light, the creative and the destructive is the goal.”
Dragon Rouge, ‘Philosophy’. The last two of the aphorisms have been added sometime in the late 2000s cited in (Granholm, 2014, p.78)
Welcome back, dear seekers of academic knowledge! In today’s episode, we embark on a mesmerising journey into the world of Dragon Rouge, a magical order that has captured the imagination of countless individuals across the globe. We’ll explore the life of its enigmatic founder, Thomas Karlsson, and trace the order’s fascinating evolution, over time. With its rich blend of diverse magical practices, Dragon Rouge offers a unique path for those who dare to walk the Left-Hand Path. So, prepare yourself for an enthralling adventure into the realm of the Red Dragon, where chaos, cosmos, and self-deification converge.
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Let the Symposium begin…
Hello symposiast, I’m Dr Angela Puca – Religious Studies PhD and this is your online resource for the academic study of magic, esotericism, Paganism, shamanism and all things occult.
In this episode, we will delve into the history of the magical order known as Dragon Rouge, or Ordo Draconis, and to do that, we shall start with its founder first.
Thomas Karlsson, born in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden, was raised in a middle-class family with a religious mother and an atheist father. He was drawn to myth, religion, and occult symbols from a young age, influenced by the operas of Richard Wagner and the surrealist art of Salvador Dalí.
Karlsson began experimenting with the occult alongside a friend, using grimoires, and Ouija boards, and visiting cemeteries and pre-Christian cult sites. Disillusioned with local spiritualist associations, he encountered a man known as ‘Varg.’ This person was ten years older than Karlsson and well-travelled in international occult circles. ‘Varg’ came across Karlsson while the latter was eyeing through Anton LaVey’s The Satanic Bible, and struck up a conversation. He claimed to have visited LaVey recently and that he was in an apprenticeship with a North American Left-Hand Path magician. Karlsson together with ‘Varg’ and some schoolmates started an informal group to explore magic and the occult.
As Karlsson immersed himself in the esoteric world of late 1980s Stockholm, he worked at esoteric workshops, attended shamanic and witches meetings, practised yoga, and engaged with heavy metal Satanists and New Age consultants. He eventually connected with a Gothenburg-based group practising Yezidic and Typhonian magic. This group and an older magician influenced Karlsson’s ideas, provided him with important texts and artefacts, and encouraged him to start a magic order featuring the red dragon as its main symbol.
The turning point for founding Dragon Rouge came during a trip to Morocco in 1989. In Marrakech, a Sufi mystic approached Karlsson and prophesied the rise of a new temple for the Red Dragon. Karlsson saw this as a sign, as he had recently dreamt of the destruction of an Atlantean temple, with a young boy saving the temple fire. Upon returning to Sweden, Karlsson shared his experiences with his magic-exploring peers and founded Dragon Rouge, focusing on an unprejudiced search for a darker spiritual ideology and the Left Hand Path.
Kennet Granholm points out that the narrative of prophetic declaration serves as an appeal to legitimacy through lineage, a common trope in occultist discourse. It highlights that this account is not solely a conscious attempt to provide legitimacy for Dragon Rouge, but also demonstrates the influence of earlier narratives.
In 1990, Dragon Rouge officially opened for general membership during a ceremony at the home of a key figure in the order’s early development, ‘Varg’. The order initially held meetings in cemeteries, forests, and natural environments, focusing on practical magic rather than just theory. Organizations like the Typhonian OTO and the Temple of Set inspired the early days of Dragon Rouge, but it eventually developed along its own unique path.
In the mid-1990s, a sensationalist article in a Swedish tabloid labelled Dragon Rouge as a dangerous satanic organisation, which led to a rapid increase in membership. The sudden growth caused organisational challenges, prompting the order to undergo significant structural and administrative changes, such as dividing the workload among core members and modernising the membership register.
In the 21st century, Dragon Rouge opened a permanent temple on the island of Gotland, which now functions as the symbolic centre of the order. Annual meetings and week-long magical camps are held at this location, with spaces often reserved months in advance. Thomas Karlsson has also ventured into academia, earning a doctorate in the History of Religions at Stockholm University. While he keeps his esoteric practice separate from his academic work, his scholarly background has fostered an atmosphere of inquiry and scholarly rigour within the order.
The principle of the Dragon/Chaos is found in various mythologies. For example, in the Babylonian creation saga, Tiamat and Apsu represent primordial Chaos, and Marduk brings order. The manifest universe, or Cosmos, is created out of Tiamat’s body – which is Chaos. This perspective applies to other primordial beasts, such as the Biblical Leviathan, serpent, and Satan, all seen as representations of the Dragon. These dragons embody immense power and potential, which magicians can harness. The Dragon leads the magician towards self-deification and personifies both inner and outer power.
The outer form of the Dragon represents primordial Chaos external to the practitioner, while its inner form manifests as the kundalini force, providing personal power for creation. A magician’s task is to realize the essential unity of external and internal forces, with the life force flowing through everything as the Dragon’s breath.
The Dragon is also associated with darkness, which Dragon Rouge magicians balance with light. Their magic focuses on exploring the unknown in the psyche and the universe. Rather than adhering to a pre-existing order, the dark magician of Dragon Rouge aims to tear down structures and create new ones, becoming a god and creator themselves.
Magic in Dragon Rouge is based on three principles: Vision, Power, and Action. Vision refers to the deeper perception of reality and the ability to visualize desired changes. Power is required to realise the vision and is gained by using the inner Dragon’s power to access the unlimited power of the outer Dragon. Action expresses magic and makes the magician’s visions real.
Control is crucial for dark magicians, who seek to become creators of the future instead of creations of the past. While Dragon Rouge magicians may appear elitist, they emphasize that magic power is an individual’s power, not to be used for collective political goals.
Dragon Rouge, being an eclectic esoteric order, weaves elements from a myriad of cultures, religions, and philosophies into its teachings. The ‘four pillars’ framework, expressed in the formula g.o.t.a, forms the backbone of the order, providing practitioners with diverse themes to explore. These pillars consist of Goetic Kabbalah, Odinic Runosophy, Vāmācāra Tantra, and Typhonian Alchemy, hence the acronym GOTA.
The second pillar, Odinic Runosophy, delves into the Nordic and Gothic traditions of initiation. Odin is portrayed as a dark and demonic god, embodying an exemplar of self-deification. While the order explores Old Norse themes and runic mysteries, it avoids heathenism labels, striving for a universal and timeless approach. Dragon Rouge’s runic interests are connected to the Old Norse goddess Hel, with death symbolizing secrets and mysteries. Influential runosophical systems within the order include Johannes Bureus‘ Gothic Kabbalah and Sigurd Agrell‘s Uthark theory.
Vāmācāra Tantra, the third pillar, is viewed as a primordial tradition, closely aligned with the Western Left-Hand Path. Practices such as kundalini meditation and the exploration of chakras, energy nodes within the human body, are central to Dragon Rouge’s Tantra. The order downplays, albeit it doesn’t eliminate, the sexual aspect often associated with Western interpretations of Tantra, aiming for a more traditional and authentic approach. Influences on this pillar include Kenneth Grant, who extensively discussed Tantra in his writings, and Julius Evola, a Traditionalist who is explicitly mentioned on the order’s webpage.
Typhonian Alchemy, the fourth pillar, serves more as a philosophical framework rather than a direct basis for practice. It represents the dark magician’s path to self-deification, culminating in the purification of the higher self, symbolized by the “Black Diamond.” Ancient Egypt considered the birthplace of alchemy, plays a prominent role in this pillar, with deities such as Set and Khem deemed particularly important. The Temple of Set and other esoteric figures, such as Ronald K. Barrett, have influenced this pillar, as have the ideas of Kenneth Grant and his Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis.
Overall, Dragon Rouge’s philosophy encourages individual exploration and responsibility, allowing practitioners to immerse themselves in the themes that resonate with them. The order’s teachings, rich in influence and nuance, present a unique blend of magical practices and worldviews for its adherents.
The organisation of the order is structured in three layers: outer, inner, and the Dragon Order, with the administration managed by an inner circle. Dragon Rouge has local chapters divided into ritual groups, temple groups, and lodges. The order’s membership and influence extend beyond its official membership, affecting a larger number of people.
The Dragon Rouge, being a Left-Hand Path magical order, employs the kliphoth as the foundation for its initiatory structure, similar to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’s use of the sephiroth. However, Dragon Rouge has eleven degrees, with the eleventh degree representing the total separation from the godhead, in contrast to the Golden Dawn’s ten degrees. The initiatory system is further developed into five stages, illustrated in the Dragon Rouge alchemical symbol, which resembles divisions in the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis structures.
To advance through the initiation process, members must purchase correspondence courses in magic and perform the exercises they contain. The courses, from introductory 0.0 to degree 3.0, have different durations and requirements. After completing each course, initiates must write essays detailing their experiences, sensations, and personal perspectives on the Dragon Rouge magic system.
While the first-degree initiation can be performed individually, higher degrees necessitate the presence and assistance of at least two members initiated at the same or higher level. The requirements become progressively more demanding as initiates advance in degrees. Access to the third correspondence course is restricted to those initiated into the second degree.
After initiation into degree 3.0 and the Dragon Order, the magical development of the initiate becomes more closely intertwined with the activities of other higher-degree members and the order’s overall development. There are no correspondence courses for degrees beyond 3.0, as the order believes that initiates at this stage require more individualised and personalised approaches to their magical development.
So this is it for today’s video. What do you think about Dragon Rouge and its left-hand path tradition? Do you resonate with any of its tenants and its idea of magick? Let me know everything in the comments. You know that I love reading your thoughts. Also, Angela’s Symposium is a crowdfunded project, so if you have the means and want to keep this project going please consider supporting my work with a one-off PayPal donation, by joining memberships, my growing Inner Symposium on Patreon, super thanking me in the comments or buying my merch. Any type of help is deeply appreciated and that includes you sharing my videos around, sharing the word about the Symposium and of course, don’t forget to SMASH the like button – if you have liked this video, which I hope you did. Let me know in the comments what you think. Subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already and harass your friends to do the same. Turn on the notification Bell so that you will be always notified when I’m live or when I upload a new video. And thank you so much for being here, you are truly amazing and I’m so happy that you are here and that you have watched this episode up until this point. Leave me a book emoji if you have watched the video up until this point. Thank you all so much for being here and stay tuned for all the Academic Fun.
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REFERENCES
Granholm, K. 2014. Dark Enlightenment: The Historical, Sociological, and Discursive Contexts of Contemporary Esoteric Magic. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
Granholm, K. 2005. Embracing the Dark. The Magic Order of Dragon Rouge, its Practice in Dark Magic and Meaning Making. Åbo: Åbo Akademi University Press.
First uploaded 28 Apr 2023