A∴A∴ O.T.O.

Historical background

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its Second Order, the R.R. et A.C. hold lineage in both the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions. Although the three founders of the Isis-Urania temple no. 3 of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1888, Dr. William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, were all three Freemasons, there exists no formal connection between the G.D. and Freemasonry. Although the three founders were also all members of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, there exists no formal connection between the G.D. and the S.R.I.A.

At the end of 1888 the Temple of Isis-Urania in London was erected and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was officially founded , initially with thirty-two members and in command of Westcott's companions: MacGregor Mathers and Dr. William Robert Woodman, an outstanding cabalist, who contributed immensely in the didactics of order. Its development was very rapid: in the same year another two temples were erected, the Temple of Osiris and the Temple of Horus, and it attracted several prominent people in English society as politicians, poets and writers. Soon after the foundation of the order, Westcott announces the death of Anna Sprengel. The structure of the order at the beginning was summarized in collective studies, passwords and secret signs, and degrees based on the Tree of Life .

In December of 1891 Woodman dies and the genius of MacGregor Mathers happens to stand out. He introduces a Second Order in the Golden Dawn: the "Order of the Rose of Ruby and the Golden Cross" or simply "R.R. et A.C." in 1892, through a beautiful first-degree circle ritual, that of Adeptus Minor (5=6) based on the legend of Christian Rosenkreutz. From then on the order starts to really contribute towards the magical evolution, passing from theory to practices. Mathers claimed to maintain constant contact with the Secret Chiefs who instructed him on mystical matters and three of them confirmed him as leader of the order during a meeting in Bois de Boulogne.

In the same year, Mathers moved to Paris and founded the Temple of Ahathoor, leaving Westcott to lead the English temples. Until 1893 the Temple of Amem-Ra was founded in Scotland, in 1895 the Temple of Osiris, and in America the Temples of Thme were founded in Boston, Themis in Philadelphia and Thoth-Hermes in Chicago. In 1900 the last temple, that of Horus in England.

Unfortunately, as in all group orders, the problems began to appear: Mathers fell out with Annie Horniman, who helped him and his family to support themselves in France, where they left the order a bit aside to become involved in politics. Mathers, although an excellent magician, was a very authoritarian person and ended up breaking the friendship of years with Horniman that was expelled from the order, displeasing many. In 1897 Westcott leaves the command of the order in England, delegating like substitute the actress Florence Farr, that did not know to guide the English branch. In 1900, things began to fall apart, Farr and Mathers disagreed and he thought she was making a ruse to put Westcott as the world leader of the Golden Dawn, reveals that Sprengel's letters were forged by Westcott, who in turn did not defend himself against the charges.

To make matters worse, Edward Alexander (Aleister) Crowley (1875-1947) joined the Isis-Urania Temple of the G.D. in November of 1898, introduced by George Cecil Jones. He was quickly befriended by Mathers and quickly advanced to the grade of Adeptus Minor by January of 1900, although admission to the Second Order was by invitation only and a complex examination was passed, where few people succeeded.

Since Aleister Crowley was initiated in the Second Order with only one year as a member of the Order, this caused an uprising in the existing Order. Mathers sent Crowley to take possession of the second-order ritual belongings. As a result William Yeats expelled both of them from the Order and proclaimed himself "Emperor of the Golden Dawn". Horniman was re-elected but another split occurred with the formation of a group by Farr called "Sphere", dedicated to astral trips and contacts with the Secret Chiefs.

In 1901, Mathers was also deceived (?) by a pair of charlatans, Mr and Mrs. Horos, who somehow convinced him that she was Annie Sprengel and stole rituals of initiation of the order. A very common mistake that many Crowley biographers made was, that he had "killed" the Golden Dawn magically by publishing the Golden Dawn rituals in the Equinox. As a matter of fact they were published well before by the Horos couple in the London newspapers.

The Golden Dawn then dissolved into various orders, such as Stella Matutina, Alpha et Omega, Cromlech's Temple, Fraternity of the Inner Light, and A∴A∴

Aleister Crowley

Crowley grew distasteful of the pretentious dealings between many of the members, and of the fact that many were initiated for no other reason than their “worldly prosperity.”

His “history lection” (with the line numbers removed for readability) from Liber LXI vel Causae A∴A∴ tells his side of the story:

”In 1900 one P., a brother, [Crowley, “Perdurabo”] instituted a rigorous test of S.R.M.D. [Mathers] on the one side and the Order on the other. He discovered that S.R.M.D., though a scholar of some ability and a magician of remarkable powers, had never attained complete initiation: and further had fallen from his original place, he having imprudently attracted to himself forces of evil too great and terrible for him to withstand. The claim of the Order that the true adepts were in charge of it was definitely disproved. In the Order, with two certain exceptions and two doubtful ones, he found no persons prepared for initiation of any sort. He thereupon by his subtle wisdom destroyed both the Order and its chief.”

While the last statements certainly are not literally true (both the G.D. and Mathers long surviving Crowley's defection), it certainly sheds light on the “birth” of the Golden Dawn's first “pseudo-messiah,” as Gerald Yorke termed Crowley.

Crowley's subsequent magical work, too lengthy to describe completely here, was a unique and singular accomplishment. His reception of Liber AL vel Legis in Cairo in 1904 marked the beginning of a “new aeon” of the world, and of the religion/philosophy of Thelema. Many of the details of ritual and magical doctrine that Crowley continued to propagate, however, were intimately connected with his beginnings in the Golden Dawn.

The A∴A∴ and the O.T.O.

The two primary esoteric Orders which Aleister Crowley created after leaving the Golden Dawn in 1907 and placed his unique imprint upon are the A∴A∴ and the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis).

» A COMPENDIUM OF THE A∴A∴ «

The A∴A∴, which some claim stands for “Astron Argon” or “Aster Argos” or “Argentum Astrum” (Greek and Latin for “Silver Star”), was Crowley's idea of the ideal and individualized initiatory regimen. Most lineages (which usually are passed down on a one-on-one basis) follow a similar grade system to the Golden Dawn system of magic and a magical-mystical “curriculum” set down in Crowley's “One Star in Sight”, which was first published in Magick in Theory and Practice. 

» A COMPENDIUM OF THE ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS (O.T.O.) «

The O.T.O. was founded in 1895 by Karl Kellner as a concretization of various Masonic rites, and also as a vehicle for the teaching of tantric-based based sexual magic. In 1922, Crowley took over as Outer Head of the Order (OHO), and modified its focus to conform to his “new aeon” thelemic revelations. Although still an initiatory organization, the O.T.O. is concerned mainly with the social, economic, and interactive aspects of Magick and Thelema, rather than on presenting an individualized system of spirituality.

Israel Regardie’s publication of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn initiation rituals and skeletal aspects of the R.R. et A.C. magical system has been exploited by a number of newly created magickal groups, however their techniques have nothing to do with the traditional practices of the H.O.G.D., which are those of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions, the “Trivium Hermeticum” of alchemy, theurgy (magic), and astrology. The initiatory structure and practices of the A∴A∴ and the O.T.O. have little in common with the rituals and practices of the Golden Dawn.