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Revision as of 07:57, 12 September 2010
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. Following a rebellion of Adepts in London and an ensuing public scandal which had 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 one source its full name was "Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega".
Origin
In 1900, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was rocked by disagreements between Dr. Edward Berridge and Annie Horniman, culminating in a rebellion of the Adepts of the Isis-Urania Temple No. 3. This was quickly followed, in 1901, by a scandal involving impostors using Golden Dawn materials for unseemly ends, culminating in the name of the Golden Dawn being dragged through the mud in the courts and in the press, and provoking further schism within the Order. In 1906, therefore, S.L. MacGregor Mathers summarily closed the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and founded the Alpha et Omega.
Two temples in Great Britain remained loyal to Mathers and joined the Alpha et Omega, one in London and the other in Edinburgh. Two or three former Golden Dawn temples in the United States, including Thoth-Hermes in Chicago, remained loyal to Mathers during the schism and became part of the Alpha et Omega as well.
Elsa Barker, a poet and author who traveled frequently between Europe and the USA, became Mathers’ emissary to the American temples of the A.O. For example, the minutes book of the Ahathoor temple mentions that, on July 3, 1911, just prior to Elsa Barker’s return to the USA, Mathers had received applications from 9 members to form a new temple, Neith Temple No. 10.
By 1913, Mathers was presiding over at least five Temples of the Alpha et Omega; the original Isis-Urania Temple No. 3 (with 23 Inner Order members by 1913), presided over by Dr. Berridge, the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in Paris led by Mathers himself, the Amen-Ra Temple No. 6 in Edinburgh, presided over by John William Brodie-Innes, the Thme Temple No 8 in Chicago, The Thoth Hermes Temple No 9 in New York, presided over by Michael Whitty, and the Neith Temple No. 10 in New York. When Mathers died in 1918, he was succeeded by his wife, Moina Mathers in cooperation with J. W. Brodie-Innes.
Challenges
Two famous members of the Alpha et Omega during this period were Dion Fortune (pen name of Violet Firth) and Paul Foster Case. Dion Fortune was initiated into the Alpha et Omega in 1919 and eventually reached the grade of Portal. With the approval of Moina Mathers, Fortune created an outer court for the A+O, for the purpose of attracting prospective initiates, initially called the Christian Mystic Lodge of the Theosophical Society, as a "guise", and then later known by its formal title, the Fraternity of Inner Light. In 1922, Dion Fortune published the Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage. Moina Mathers considered this to be an unauthorized expose of secret teachings of the Alpha et Omega, and also become concerned about Dion Fortune's increasing skill with astral travel and reception of "trance messages from Masters of the Western Tradition" (as King explains), which Mathers saw as competition for leadership and eventually resulted in Dion Fortune’s expulsion from the Alpha et Omega. Fortune later joined the Stella Matutina and was directly admitted into the Portal Grade. She later went on to found her own occult school, known as the Society of the Inner Light.
In 1918, Paul Foster Case was initiated into the Thoth-Hermes Temple of the Alpha et Omega under the direction of Michael Whitty. On May 16, 1920, Case was initiated into the Alpha et Omega's Second Order, and was made a Minor Adept on June 6, 1920. Upon Michael Whitty’s death, Paul Foster Case became the Praemonstrator of Thoth Hermes Temple. Shortly thereafter, Moina Mathers wrote to Case criticizing him for discussing teachings concerning esoteric sexuality in the presence of outer order members which provoked Case’s resignation as Praemonstrator. When Case began to question certain fundamental teachings of the order, including the system of Enochian magic, Case encountered increasing friction with the Chiefs of Thoth-Hermes temple. In December, 1921, Case therefore wrote to Moina Mathers asking for permission to demit from Thoth-Hermes temple, but was expelled by Mathers instead in January, 1922. Case went on to found his own esoteric school, known as the Builders of the Adytum, initially known as the School of Ageless Wisdom. Case's new school moved away from some of the Golden Dawn and A.O. teachings, adopting for example Arthur Edward Waite's modified design of the Tarot deck.
Three other American temples of the Alpha et Omega were founded after the First World War: Ptah No. 10 in Philadelphia in 1919, Atoum No. 20 in Los Angeles in 1920, and Themis No. 30 in San Francisco in 1921.
E.J. Langford-Garstin and Mrs. Tranchell-Hayes took control after the death of Moina Mathers. They were particularly annoyed with the publication of Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn in 1934, a set of four large volumes detailing, according to King, "the majority of the Golden Dawn manuscripts". The first volume of the set contained the knowledge lectures of the Outer Order and had a shattering effect on the Alpha et Omega as well as on the Stella Matutina. The A.O. members buried their Temple banners along with the magical implements of some of the members, in a cliff-top coastal garden. In 1966 the box of magical tools was found on the beach after the cliff gave way dropping them into the sea; a photograph was published in the Daily Telegraph with a notation that they had belonged to a witch.
See also
Notes
- King, 1971a, p.43
- ^ Golden Dawn Time Line, Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, Llewellyn Encyclopedia
- Greer, 1995, pp. 160-63, 244, 263-264, 350
- King, 1971a, p. 110-111
- "The Golden Dawn ceased to exist by that name after October, 1901, replaced by Mathers' Alpha et Omega and the London group’s Order of the Morgan Rothe. No longer associated with the SRIA after 1902, Mathers continued to oversee a few temples until his death, when his wife, Moina, assumed supervision." Samuel Liddel MacGregor Mathers biography, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, February 26, 2001
- King, 1971a, p. 111
- King, 1971b, p. 195
- Greer, 1995, pp. 160-63, 244, 263-64, 350
- King, 1971a, p 111
- King, 1989, pg. 141
- King, 1971a, p 143
- King, 1971a, p.143
- Greer, 1995, pp. 355-57
- King, 1989, pg. 143
- ^ Greer, page 88
- Greer, 1995, p. 352-53
- Greer, 1995, pp. 350-5
- King, 1971a, pp 141-142
- King, 1989, page153-154
- King, 1989, page 154
- King, 1989, pages 155
- King, 1971a, pp154-155
References
- Gilbert, Robert (1983). The Golden Dawn, Twighlight of the Magicians. ISBN 0-85030 278-1.
- Greer, Mary K. (1985). Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses. ISBN 0-89281-607-4.
- King, Francis X. (1989). Modern Ritual Magic: The Rise of Western Occultism. ISBN 1-85327-032-6.
- King, Francis X. (1971). The Rites of Modern Occult Magic. ISBN 1-85327-032-6.
- King, Francis X. (1971). Ritual Magic of the Golden Dawn. ISBN 978-089281-617-0.
- Greer, John Michael. The new encyclopedia of the occult.