The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active in Great Britain and focused its practices on theurgy and spiritual development. Many present-day concepts of ritual and magic that are at the centre of contemporary traditions, such as Wicca and Thelema, were inspired by the Golden Dawn, which became one of the largest single influences on 20th century Western occultism.
A magical organization or magical order is an organization created for the practice of magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. "Magic" in this case refers to occult, metaphysical and paranormal activities, not to the performance of stage magic. Magical organizations can include hermetic orders, Wiccan covens or Wiccan circles, esoteric societies, arcane colleges, witches' covens, and other groups which may use different terminology and similar though diverse practices.
Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts that purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its knowledge attractive to many. The mysterious doctrine of the order is "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe, and the spiritual realm." The manifestos do not elaborate extensively on the matter, but clearly combine references to Kabbalah, Hermeticism, alchemy, and Christian mysticism.
The Societas Rosicruciana is a Rosicrucian order which limits its membership to Christian Master Masons. The order was founded in Scotland, but now exists in England, Scotland, Canada, Portugal, and the United States. While a prospective member must be a Trinitarian Christian Master Mason in good standing with a Grand Lodge that is recognized by the Grand Lodge of the jurisdiction in which the Society meets, the various Societies have no other Masonic links, ties, or official recognition. Additionally, in some jurisdictions, membership is by invitation only. As the Society offers assistance to all its members in working out the great problems of nature and science, it functions in some respects as a research society.
William Wynn Westcott was a coroner, ceremonial magician, theosophist and Freemason born in Leamington, Warwickshire, England. He was a Supreme Magus (chief) of the S.R.I.A and went on to co-found the Golden Dawn.
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, born Samuel Liddell Mathers, was a British occultist. He is primarily known as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a ceremonial magic order of which offshoots still exist today. He became so synonymous with the order, that Golden Dawn scholar, Israel Regardie, would in retrospect observe: "the Golden Dawn was MacGregor Mathers."
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is a Rosicrucian esoteric Christian order formed by Robert Wentworth Little in 1865, although some sources acknowledge the date to be 1866-67. Members are confirmed from the ranks of subscribing Master Masons of a Grand Lodge in amity with United Grand Lodge of England.
Paul Foster Case was an American occultist of the early 20th century and author of numerous books on occult tarot and Qabalah. Perhaps his greatest contributions to the field of occultism were the lessons he wrote for associate members of Builders of the Adytum or B.O.T.A. The knowledge lectures given to initiated members of the chapters of the B.O.T.A. were equally profound, although the limited distribution has made them less well known.
The Cipher Manuscripts are a collection of 60 folios containing the structural outline of a series of magical initiation rituals corresponding to the spiritual elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire. The "occult" materials in the Manuscripts are a compendium of the classical magical theory and symbolism known in the Western world up until the middle of the 19th century, combined to create an encompassing model of the Western mystery tradition, and arranged into a syllabus of a graded course of instruction in magical symbolism. It was used as the structure for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Enochian chess is a four-player chess variant, similar to Chaturaji, associated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The name comes from the Enochian system of magic of Dr. John Dee, which was later adapted by Victorian members of the Golden Dawn into "a complete system of training and initiation."
The Stella Matutina was an initiatory magical order dedicated to the dissemination of the traditional teachings of the earlier Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Originally, the outer order of the Stella Matutina was known as Mystic Rose or Order of the M.R. in the Outer. When occult author Israel Regardie released documents of the Golden Dawn to the public it was the teachings of the Stella Matutina that he revealed, not those of the original order. The Stella Matutina was one of several daughter organisations into which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn fragmented, including the Alpha et Omega led by John William Brodie-Innes and Macgregor Mathers, the Isis-Urania Temple led by A.E. Waite, and others.
The Alpha et Omega was an occult order, initially named the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, co-founded in London, England by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers in 1888. The Alpha et Omega was one of four daughter organisations into which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn fragmented, the others being the Stella Matutina; the Isis-Urania Temple led by A.E. Waite and others; and Aleister Crowley's A∴A∴.Following a rebellion of adepts in London and an ensuing public scandal which brought the name of the Golden Dawn into disrepute, Mathers renamed the branch of the Golden Dawn remaining loyal to his leadership to "Alpha et Omega" sometime between 1903 and 1913. "The title was usually abbreviated as A.O." and according to some sources its full name was "Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega". All of the temples of the order appear to have gone out of existence by the Second World War.
Florence Beatrice Emery was a British West End leading actress, composer and director. She was also a women's rights activist, journalist, educator, singer, novelist, and leader of the occult order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. She was a friend and collaborator of Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats, poet Ezra Pound, playwright Oscar Wilde, artists Aubrey Beardsley and Pamela Colman Smith, Masonic scholar Arthur Edward Waite, theatrical producer Annie Horniman, and many other literati of London's Fin de siècle era, and even by their standards she was "the bohemian's bohemian". Though not as well known as some of her contemporaries and successors, Farr was a "First Wave" Feminist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; she publicly advocated for suffrage, workplace equality, and equal protection under the law for women, writing a book and many articles in intellectual journals on the rights of "the modern woman".
Dr. William Robert Woodman, one of three co-founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
The Isis-Urania Temple was initially the first temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The three founders, Dr. William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, were Freemasons and members of Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.). It continued as one of four daughter organisations into which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn fragmented, the others being the Alpha et Omega, the Stella Matutina and Aleister Crowley's A∴A∴.
William Alexander Ayton was a British Anglican clergyman with an interest in alchemy. He was Vicar of Chacombe from 1873-1894. In 1894 he retired on a small pension, and he died at Saffron Walden in 1909. He translated from Latin the life of John Dee written by Thomas Smith.
Dr Robert William Felkin FRSE LRCSE LRCP was a medical missionary and explorer, a ceremonial magician and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a prolific author on Uganda and Central Africa, and early anthropologist, with an interest in ethno-medicine and tropical diseases.
Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards purportedly to gain insight into the past, present or future. They formulate a question, then draw cards and claim to interpret them for this end. A regular tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which can be split into two groups, the major arcana and minor arcana.
Kenneth Robert Henderson Mackenzie was an English linguist, orientalist and autodidact.
Sigismund Bacstrom (c.1750-1805) was a doctor, a surgeon, and a notable artist of the early Maritime Fur Trade. His drawings of the people and places he encountered on his voyages show the meticulous precision of a surgeon and scientist rather than the hand of a trained artist. He was also a prominent author and translator of documents on Alchemy and Rosicrucianism, many of which are still in print.
