Etamin Study Group

Etamin is the Gamma star in the constellation of Draco. An orange giant, Gamma Draconis is also known by the traditional name Eltanin, and despite its gamma designation, it is actually the brightest star in the constellation today.

Etamin Study Group is a new branch of the Order located in Surrey, B.C. which is of course a part of Greater Vancouver. Not an initiatory body, but an educational one, Etamin is affiliated with Thuban Temple and thus services the educational needs of the temple's distance or Associate Members on the mainland of British Columbia. Etamin is guided by Frater I.'. who is himself a Past Cancellarius or Chief of Thuban Temple and an accomplished Solomonic Magician.

Known anciently as Rastaban, a title now exclusively used for Beta Draconis. Because of the ancient confusion between the two stars, we must consider the magical history of both bodies here. The classical name Rastaban, or less frequently Rastaben, is from the proper Arabic phrase ra's ath-thu'ban or "head of the serpent". Rastaban and Etamin are two terms that share the same Arabic root for serpent or dragon, and thus bears the same symbolism as the rest of the constellation. Etamin is the zenith star above London, i.e. it is the point directly overhead of that city.

Etamin itself, probably due to its brightness, is known as the right eye of the Dragon. According to Elsbeth Ebertin in Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation (1928), Gamma Draco has a Saturnine and Jupiterian nature, also with some Martial influence. The predominance of Saturn gives a preference for solitude. The influence of this star yields mental concentration, but also the possibility of dishonor, downfall and the loss of prestige. However, it is also positive for esoteric and philosophical studies.

Beta Draconis is a binary star that is located 360 light years away from our sun, making it the third brightest star in Draco. This super-giant's dwarf companion orbits around once every four millennia. Beta Draconis is also known as Asuia and Alwaid. Alwaid means "who is to be destroyed". Some find an alternate origin by tracing it to the Arabic al'awwad or "the lute player". Alwaid is a part of the asterism known to the Arabs as the Mother Camels or "al'awa'id".

The annihilation or 'destruction' attribution of Alwaid, is equivalent to the house of Beta or Beth of the transparent intelligence between Kether and Binah, which is the supernal path between the absolute intelligence and the intelligence of faith, whereby faith is truly the final destruction of the intellect of the ruach.

As Gamma is the third letter of the Greek Alphabet, the camel of Gimmel in Hebrew mysticism is also indicated, and thus the triune symbolism of the neshamah. This beast of transport and burden has a special place in the Cabala of the R.R. et A.C., inasmuch as it treads the onerous mercantile and hermetic path through the sandy desert of Daath, connecting Tiphareth with Kether in a supernal union at the crown that sits above 'the head'. This experience is said to be both illuminating, and of such magnitude that it 'destroys' all of the Cabalistic preconceptions of what such an event might entail. It is literally the mode of consciousness which has been described by one ancient fragment of a magical text as a communion with 'he who has no head'.

Etamin is moving closer to the earth, and as it does, its brightness increases. Positing that its current magnitude does not change, in 1.5 million years it will actually be the brightest star in the night sky, matching or shining even brighter than Sirius. This progression has been taken as a metaphor by the Chiefs of Thuban Temple, alluding to the growing light of the new study group, which is slowly building towards a full temple status. We wish them all the best.