Golden Dawn: (Aurora Aurea)

Fu Manchu, Dracula, the Tarot & Nobel Prizes

The Devil (XV) from the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith

Secret writings about the Golden Dawn were published by Israel Regardie as The golden dawn: an account of the teachings, rites and ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Dawn. (Now available on Amazon).¹

For this he was cursed.²

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae) flourished 1888-1903. It was the pivotal esoteric order in fin-de-siècle Britain. Many of its members were Irish. Despite its lapse into disorder and schism, The Golden Dawn managed to create a social platform for the study and practice of ritual magic, operating four temples in England and one in Paris.³

Many influential people belonged or were associated with the Golden Dawn, including:

• Charles Henry Allan Bennett (brought Buddhism to England); ⁴

• Maud Gonne, Irish revolutionary⁵ and mother of Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Seán MacBride⁶

• William Butler Yeats, poet, Nobel Prize for Literature⁷

• Aleister Crowley,  occultist, ceremonial magician, poet.⁸

• Sax Rohmer (Arthur Henry "Sarsfield" Ward) writer of the Fu Manchu series.⁹

• Bram (Abraham) Stoker, author of Dracula. ¹⁰

• Algernon Henry Blackwood, ghost story writer and broadcaster.¹¹

• Pamela Colman Smith, illustrator of the Rider-Waite tarot deck.¹²

• Moina Mathers¹³ (sister of philosopher and Nobel laureate Henri Bergson¹⁴).

• Israel Regardie, occultist, ceremonial magician, writer who wrote fifteen books on the subject of occultism.¹⁵

The golden dawn: an account of the teachings, rites and ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Dawn. was first published in 1937. It is the most influential modern handbook of magical theory and practice. It includes occult symbolism and Qabalistic philosophy, training methods for developing magical and clairvoyant powers, rituals that summon and banish spiritual potencies, and secrets of making and consecrating magical tools.

1. Regardie, Israel. 1982. The golden dawn: an account of the teachings, rites and ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Dawn. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications. (First published in 1937, Regardie's The Golden Dawn has become the most influential modern handbook of magical theory and practice. In the 1982 edition, John Michael Greer took the account back to its original, authentic form with added illustrations, a twenty-page color insert, additional original material, and refreshed design and typography. On Amazon.

2. Suster, Gerald. 1989. Crowley's apprentice: the life and ideas of Israel Regardie. London [etc.]: Rider (p.75).

3. Asprem, Egil. “The Golden Dawn and the O.T.O.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism, 272–83. Cambridge University Press, 2016. (O.T.O. is Ordo Templi Orientis).

4. Harris, Elizabeth. “Convert to Compassion: Allan Bennett.” In Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter, 162–74. Routledge, 2006. 

5. Ward, Margaret. Maud Gonne : Ireland’s Joan of Arc . London ;: Pandora Press, 1990.

6. Seán MacBride. Nobel Peace Prize, 1974. “Prize motivation: "for his efforts to secure and develop human rights throughout the world."

7. William Butler Yeats. Nobel Prize for Literature, 1923.

8. Roberts, Susan. The Magician of the Golden Dawn : the Story of Aleister Crowley . Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1978.

9. Van Ash, Cay., Elizabeth Sax Rohmer, and Elizabeth Sax. Rohmer. Master of Villainy : a Biography of Sax Rohmer . Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1972.

10. Murray, Paul. From the Shadow of Dracula : a Life of Bram Stoker . Dublin, Ireland: Fitzpress, 2016.

11. Ashley, Michael. Algernon Blackwood : an Extraordinary Life. 1st Carroll & Graf ed. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2001.

12. Kaplan, Stuart R., Mary K. Greer, Elizabeth Foley O'Connor, Melinda Boyd Parsons, and Pamela Colman Smith. 2018. Pamela Colman Smith: the untold story. Stamford, CT, USA : U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

13. Greer, Mary K. 1996. Women of the Golden Dawn: rebels and priestesses. Rochester, Vt. : Park Street Press, [1996] ©1995.

14. Henri Bergson. Nobel Prize for Literature, 1927.

15. Suster, Gerald. 1989. Crowley's apprentice: the life and ideas of Israel Regardie. London [etc.]: Rider.