He left Australia at age 18 for Rabaul, New Guinea and travelled up the Sepik and Fly rivers and lived briefly in Bougainville. He learnt to dive under experienced Rabaul wreck diver George Tyers and was one of the first to dive on the mine sweeper known as "George's wreck" in the mid 1960's.

Zalewski obtained his brown belt in karate in 1965 under Tamio Tsuji, who later became the first Australian karate coach in 1968. He also had some brief martial arts training in Tai Chi and Chi Gung in both Hong Kong and Macau in 1968, and lived briefly in Thailand. There he met photo journalist Sean Flynn (in the Kings Hotel) and it was Flynn who persuaded him to do a bout of Thai boxing for a bet. "I jumped into the ring and a few minutes later got carried out and spent four days recovering. It was the fastest and hardest $200 I ever made." In 1969 he went to Ceylon then India, studying Tantric yoga under master Vivandatta and then travelled to Nepal.

Returning to Australia in 1969 to Cairns where he obtained his black belt in karate under then 4th dan karate Instructor Hiro Tanaka, a former student of Gichin Funakoshi. In 1970 he went to live in New Zealand and continued his study of karate. He founded three clubs in Wellington and formed the New Zealand Seikukan Karate Association. By 1975 he was chosen to compete as a New Zealand team member in the IAKF World Karate Championships in Los Angeles.

It was during the 1970s that he was introduced to the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied as a solo practitioner before running his own Golden Dawn Temple and initiating members from 0°=0° to 5°=6° for a number of years. In 1979, he was introduced to Jack Taylor, 7°=4°, Whare Ra, whom became a Chief along with Pat and his wife in a fully functioning Golden Dawn Order. Jack Taylor and other Whare Ra Adepts rigorously trained Pat in the First Order Rituals as well as in the higher grades of the Order and Pat was consequently initiated into the 6°=5° and 7°=4° grades by Jack with his oaths reworded so that he could freely give what he received without any restriction of any kind.

During a period of intensive training with Jack Taylor and other Whare Ra Adepts, Pat took copious notes writing down for the first time the Oral Tradition of Whare Ra. Ritual was the area in which Whare Ra particularly excelled and it is very fortunate for all of us in the Golden Dawn community that Pat was there at the right place and right time with the appropriate background that enabled him to capture much of the unwritten Ritual instruction of Whare Ra.

In 1983, after an 18-month correspondence, he met Israel Regardie who travelled to New Zealand to meet him. It was through the influence of Regardie that he started writing on the Golden Dawn, travelling a number of times to the United States to give Golden Dawn seminars.

Professor Robert Ellwood came to New Zealand in the late 1980s and, after extensive investigation, including meeting with ex members of the Whare Ra on a trip to Havelock North, included the history of both the Whare Ra Temple and the Thoth Hermes Temple in his book Islands of the Dawn. In this book Elwood also quotes Zalewski and refers to material which he apparently obtained from interviews with Zalewski. He also relies on Zalewski's book Secret Inner Order Rituals of the Golden Dawn for some material.

By 1995 Zalewski had moved from Wellington to Hastings and the Thoth Hermes temple was closed, having initiated three people into the 7=4 level.

Zalewski received his 5th dan in karate in 1997. In 2000 at which time he was inducted into the New Zealand Martial Arts Hall of Fame and awarded the title of New Zealand Martial Arts Historian of the year for a series of articles for Insight in Martial Arts Magazine.

Pat's 'Magnun Opus', Golden Dawn Rituals and Commentaries, which contains much of the Oral Tradition of Whare Ra and is the most comprehensive Golden Dawn Ritual book ever including many never before seen diagrams, has recently been published by the Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn, and can be purchased on Amazon.com and though bookstores everywhere.

Australia

Leaving New Zealand in 1999 Zalewski returned to Australia and started a temple in Cairns, Thoth Hermes 2, with himself and Sam Robinson acting as co-chiefs. By 2003 this temple had put six people through to the Inner Order level.

By 2002 when Zalewski returned to New Zealand for an awards ceremony he was awarded a 6th dan in karate and a 5th dan in Kobudo, along with the World Karate Union title of Karate Historian of the Year and the Australasian title of Martial Arts Historian for the same year.

In 2004 he started an Inner Order Correspondence Course and established an Internet forum. He has a BA with Honours in history. At present he is doing a PhD.

2006 marked his return to Golden Dawn Seminar work in Montreal, Canada, where he gave a seminar at the Horus Temple No.2 which received an official warrant from Zalewski himself. Martin Thibeault is administrator of The Horus Temple in Montreal.