The Golden Dawn is a secret society that is dedicated to the practice of ritual magic and the study of occult science. It was founded by a group of Freemasons in London in the 19th century.

Thus in 1888, the Isis-Urania Temple of the Golden Dawn came into existence.1 

In our society today we are in the midst of an occult explosion of unprecedented proportions with Witchcraft, Satanism, and New Age practices permeating every facet of our society. Of course, Satan and his witches and Satanists are very pleased with the way things are advancing and they are more than willing to give credit where credit is due for the present state of affairs. World class witches Janet and Stewart Farrar rightly give credit for the current occult explosion to the Freemasons that started the Golden Dawn in the 19th century.

It is generally agreed that the biggest single influence in the modern expansion of ritual magic, and the occult explosion in general, in the Western world, was the Golden Dawn. This magical fraternity, founded by Freemasons at the end of the 19th century, developed a complex ritual system with ten degrees of initiation relating to the Cabalistic Sephiroth. 2 

When Anton LaVey wrote the Satanic Bible, he had to return to this great fountain of evil that gushed forth from these Masons to write his supremely Satanic book. The Enochian Keys, which LaVey calls, "the Satanic paeans of faith"3 , are powerful praises and invocations to Satan and his demons. Anton LaVey and the Satanists as well as the witches must give praise and credit to the Freemasons of the Golden Dawn for laying the groundwork for their Satanic revelings. In the Satanic Bible, LaVey states:

I have presented my translation of the following calls with an archaic but Satanically correct unvarnishing of the translation employed by the Order of the Golden Dawn in the late Nineteenth century.4

The illustrations on the next few pages are from the book, The Golden Dawn, by Israel Regardie5 , which gives an account of the teaching, rites and ceremonies of the order by a renown occultist. The robes, swords, pentagrams, and other items shown in these illustrations were used in the actual Golden Dawn rituals. One cannot help but see the similarity between these items and those that are employed by modern Satanists. Concerning the ritual of the Pentagram on page 280 of the same book it states:

Yet, if there may arise an absolute necessity for working or conversing with a Spirit of evil nature, and that to retain him before thee without tormenting him, thou hast to employ the symbol of the Pentagram reversed -6 (PICTURES OMITTED)

It can be shown that the organization of the Golden Dawn, that is credited with the modern occult explosion, was indeed founded by Freemasons; but the actual rituals that employed the articles that we have just pictured were actually conducted in the Lodge Hall. The Golden Dawn Companion by R.A. Gilbert states:

From the beginning, the ceremonies of Isis-Urania were conducted at Mark Masons’ Hall in Great Queen Street (now demolished) but members were careful not to embarrass the Masonic authorities, being told that they ‘must not enter Mark Masons’ Hall by the front door, but go under archway and down passage, entering by a door on the right’.7 

While being careful not to publicly associate itself too closely with the secret order of the Golden Dawn, the helping hand of the Mother Lodge helped to guarantee the success of this evil enterprise; the Golden Dawn that was to spawn the current occult explosion. The impact of this group of Freemasons on the occult world and its correlation to Freemasonry can only begin to be appreciated as we look at the Freemasons who formed this group and begin to catalogue a few of their achievements. We will begin with the three original founders of the Golden Dawn: William Wynn Westcott, S.L. MacGregor Mathers, and Dr. William Robert Woodman.

Dr. William Robert Woodman was referred to as "an eminent Freemason".

M.E.V. was the motto chosen by Dr. William Robert Woodman, an eminent Freemason of the last century.8 

S. L. MacGregor Mathers (Mason) translator of two widely used books of magical spells, The Key of Sololmon The King, and The Book of The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Magi. The following quote is from the Mathers Manifesto:

...he must further pledge himself to obey in everything the commands of the aforesaid Secret Chiefs ‘perinde ac cadaver’, body and soul, without question and without argument whether their commands related to magical action in the external world, military action in the external world, or to psychic action in other worlds and planes, whether angelic, spiritual or demonic, - or to the Inner administration of the Order to which so tremendous a knowledge was to be communicated.9 

Mathers spread much occultism through his personal teachings and the two magical spell-books that he translated, and he also had the Satanic honor of teaching ritual magic to the man that would go on to lay the groundwork for modern Satanism, the most evil perverted genius of all time, Aleister Crowley. This fact is confirmed in the book, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, which reads as follows:

Jones introduced him to MacGregor Mathers, the head of the Golden Dawn and at the turn of the century the most talented magician in the West. He was the Master Crowley was looking for... Crowley therefore took from Mathers everything, except a following, necessary for a successful career as a magician.10 

While Crowley used Mather’s translation of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin The Magi, Crowley became possessed with his life long demonic inspiration, his spirit guide, "Aiwass".

In 1904, the Abra-Melin Operation flowered and Crowley’s Holy Guardian Angel, Aiwass, appeared - not, however, to enter into conversation with him, but to dictate, The Book of the Law.11 

The basis of magic, whether it be called ‘black’ or ‘white’, is the summoning of demons to do the bidding of the Master. The deception of white magic is that the person summoning the spirits supposedly thinks that the spirits that are invoked are good spirits and that the spells will result in good being done. The practice of magic and invoking of spirits is forbidden in no uncertain terms in the word of God.

10. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

11. or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizzard, or a necromancer.

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 (KJV)

The great potential evil of these books that Mathers translated can be seen by the sad example of Crowley. A couple of very brief quotes from these evil books will suffice to show the great danger that lies therein.

The Fourth Pentacle of Saturn - This Pentacle serveth principally for executing all the experiments and operations of ruin, destruction, and death.12 

Chapter XXII. (This Chapter is only for Evil, for with the Symbols herein we can cast Spells, and work every kind of Evil; we should not avail ourselves hereof.)

All these Symbols are to be either buried in the ground, or placed under doors, steps, or buried under paths and other places by which people do pass, or whereon they lean; in this latter case it is sufficient merely to touch (such places) with the Symbol... Use then this Knowledge as a Sword against your Enemies, but never against your neighbor, which would be without any result but that of bringing hurt to yourself.13 

Crowley and Mathers certainly did use these spells for evil. In a struggle for power, a clash of their Satanic egos resulted in a bizarre war of black magic between master and pupil; with the Freemason Crowley rising up to battle the Freemason Mathers in a war of Black Magic. Crowley describes this eerie conflict in these words:

We had resumed Magical work, in a desultory way, on finding that Mathers was attacking us. He succeeded in killing most of the dogs. (At this time I kept a pack of bloodhounds and went man-hunting over the moors.) The servants too were constantly being made ill, one in one way, and one in another. We therefore employed the appropriate talismans from The Book of the Sacred Magick of Abra-Melin against him, evoking Beelzebub and his forty-nine servitors.14 

Many would scoff at the very suggestion that such a war of black magic could take place, but the Bible does not deny the existence of this evil power and on the contrary, it tells us that it does exist and forbids us to use and practice it.

11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

12. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

Exodus 7:11-12 (KJV)

The Bible tells us of those who have for thousands of years "hunted the souls" of God’s people and worked their spells of evil against them.

18. And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?

19. And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?

Ezekiel 13:18-19 (KJV)

The only sure fire defense against the army of Satan is the blood of Jesus Christ and the full armor of God. For only after we have joined in the Spiritual battle can we rest safe in the arms and blood of Jesus Christ and declare:

Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

Numbers 23:23 (KJV)

Could there possibly be a connection between ritual magic and the actual Masonic rituals? The answer to that question is contained in this section with the conclusion on Mr. Mathers with quotes from Masonic authors, J. D. Buck and Albert Pike.

There is a Grand Science known as Magic, and every real Master is a Magician. Feared by the ignorant, and ridiculed by the "learned" the Divine Science and its Masters have, nevertheless, existed in all ages, and exist to-day. Masonry in its deeper meaning and recondite mysteries constitutes and possesses this Science, and all genuine initiation consists in an orderly unfolding of the natural powers of the neophyte, so that he shall become the very thing he desires to possess. In seeking Magic, he finally becomes the Majus.15 

The occult Science of the Ancient Magi was concealed under the shadows of the Ancient Mysteries: it was imperfectly revealed or rather disfigured by the Gnostics: it is guessed at under the obscurities that cover the pretended crimes of the Templars; and it is found enveloped in enigmas that seem impenetrable, in the Rites of the Highest Masonry.16 

In some respects Westcott’s Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a by-product of his connection with a Masonic ‘Rosicrucian’ fraternity called the Rosicrucian Society of England, also known as the Societas Rosicruciana in Angelia, or more familiarly as the Soc. Ros. Membership was confined to Master Masons.17 

The list of secret societies and Masonic groups that this Golden Dawn founder belonged to was indeed an impressive one.

....Wm. Wynn Westcott, an English Mason, appointed Junior Grand Deacon to the Grand Lodge of England in 1902 and the head of the "Societies Rosicruciana in Angelia" and "Golden Dawn", was also the Secretary of the Rite of Swedenborg, Knight Kadosh in Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rites, Grand Standard Bearer, Royal Arch, Grand Lodge of England, and Regent of the Illuminati and on intimate terms with one of its founders, the German, Theodore Reuss 33rd, 90th, 96th degrees.18 

The occupation of Mr. Westcott will also be of great interest in light of other events that also took place in London in 1888 which we will discuss shortly. The following description of Mr. Westcott was given by Ellic Howe:

...Dr. William Wynn Westcott, a London coroner whose private interests were occultism and Freemasonry,..19 

R. A. Gilbert writes of Westcott:

William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925) was a London coroner with a penchant for the occult sciences; he was also a Freemason...20 

When knowledge of Westcott’s occult activities became known, he was forced to stop his occult involvement, at least publicly, or lose his job. Wescott’s resignation from the Golden Dawn did not come until 1897.

Since Westcott was by profession an East London coroner, the medical authorities strangely objected that one in an official capacity should, no matter how remotely, be connected with anything that savored occult. It was suggested to him therefore that he must withdraw from the Order or else resign his post as coroner, since the two were considered in those days incompatables. He chose to resign the Order.21 

We have found out so far that the Golden Dawn was started in London in 1888 by three Freemasons; Dr. William Robert Woodman, S. L. MacGregor Mathers, and William Wynn Westcott. The connection of the Golden Dawn and Freemasonry went much deeper than the fact that it was started by Masons, we have already documented in this chapter the fact that the occult rituals of the Golden Dawn were actually performed in the Masonic Lodge halls.

Although never admitted by Westcott, Mathers or their successors to be the case, the officers of a Temple of the Order of the Golden Dawn were based on the officers of a Masonic Lodge, the parallels being quite striking.22 

The following is a excerpt from a letter by a member of the Golden Dawn that left the organization because of its Masonic ties, Maud Gonne.

Usually the G. D. held their ceremonies in the drawing-room of some member of the Order, but on one occasion I was summoned to an initiation ceremony of the Order in the Mark Mason’s Hall in Euston Road. It set me thinking. If they met in a Free-Mason Hall, perhaps the G. D. was an esoteric side of Masonry.23 

The direct connection between the Masonic Lodge and the Golden Dawn is clear to see and the Golden Dawn has rightly been described as:

..a branch of Occult Masonry,24 

In the light of what we have discovered so for about the origin of this organization in London in 1888, some other very interesting events need to be mentioned that took place in London that same year. Between August 31, 1888 and November 9, 1888, five prostitutes from the East End of London were murdered and their bodies horribly mutilated in what has come to be known as the ‘Jack the Ripper Murders’. There is one glaring similarity that all of the ‘Jack the Ripper’ victims have in common:

In each of the Ripper murders the victim was killed by the throat being cut from left to right.25 

Dr. Bagster Phillips report on the corpse of Elizabeth Stride:

I affirm that she was seized by the shoulders, placed on the ground and that the perpetrator of the deed was on her right side when he inflicted the cut. I am of opinion that the cut was made from the left to the right of the deceased.26 

In the lowest degree, that of the Entered Apprentice, part of the penalty for revealing Masonic secrets is to have the throat cut from left to right. The ‘penal sign’ of the Entered Apprentice has thus become a left-to-right movement of the hand across the throat.27 

The discription for the illustration reads:

The Master then draws his right hand across his throat, the hand open, with the thumb nest to his throat, and drops it down by his side. This is called the penal sign of an Entered Apprentice Mason, (many call it sign) and alludes to the penalty of the obligation.28 

Dr. Ralph Llewellyn examined the body of Mary Ann Nichols, the first victim of ‘Jack the Ripper’. In a statement that is on file in Scotland Yard, Dr. Llewellyn states:

...her throat had been cut after the mutilations to the abdomen.29 

The obvious conclusion from this Doctor’s statement: the cutting of Mary Ann Nichols throat was not for the purpose of killing her, but was in keeping with a prescribed ritual.

On November 9th, 1888, Mary Jane Kelly, the last of the ‘Ripper’s’ victims, was found with her heart torn out. The oath of the second degree of Freemasonry, The Fellow Craft, reads as follows:

;binding myself under no less penalty than to have my left breast torn open and my heart and vitals taken from thence and thrown over my left shoulder..30 

A description of the corpse of ‘Ripper’ victim, Annie Chapman:

The intestines, severed form their mesenteric attachments, had been lifted out of the body and placed on the shoulder of the corpse.31 

The details of the body mutilations in the ‘Ripper’ murders show them plainly to be Masonic ritual murders. Such as a portion of Catherine Eddowes apron being cut off, ‘the apron’ being one on the most important Masonic symbols. A triangular flap of skin was also cut from each of her cheeks.

These two triangles have precise Masonic relevance. The sacred sign of Masonry is two triangles, which represent the altar top of the holy Royal Arch.32 

The courageous work of Stephen Knight showed the ‘Ripper’ murders not only to be Masonic ritual murders, but also that they were covered up and concealed by Freemasons. There is also widespread belief that Stephen Knight’s death in 1985, was murder. The following is a quote form Knight’s book , The Brotherhood, the book that many people believe cost him his life, concerning the Masonic cover-up of the ‘Ripper’ murders:

The importance of the Ripper murders was not so much in the individual tragedies of the five women who died at the hands of a demented Freemason and his two toadies, although those were disturbing enough, but in the national tragedy of what followed: an official cover-up of immense proportions that confirmed that Freemasonry really was the unseen power behind the throne and government alike.

The man actively responsible for concealing the truth behind the Ripper murders was Sir Charles Warren, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and one of the country’s most eminent Freemasons. Warren impeded the investigation of the murders at every turn, caused endless confusion and delays, and personally destroyed the only clue the Ripper ever left. This was a scrawled chalk message on a wall inside a tenement block near the site of the fourth murder. Beneath the message was a blood-soaked piece of cloth which Jack the Ripper had recently cut from the apron of his latest victim.

The message itself, according to a careful copy made by a conscientious P.C. who was at the scene early - which had been concealed in the Scotland yard files on the case for nearly ninety years before I gained access to them - read :

The Juwes are

The men that

will not

be blamed

for nothing

The moment he was told of this, Warren, who had not previously ventured near the East End, rushed to the place before the message could be photographed and washed it away. This has never been explained. the Truth was that Warren, who had been exalted to the Royal Arch in 1861, had realized that the writing on the wall was a Masonic message.

Much of Masonic ritual centers on murder. At the 3rd Degree, the victim is Hiram Abiff, mythical architect in charge of the building of Solomon’s temple. The ceremony involves the mimed murder of hiram by three Apprentice Masons, and his subsequent resurrection. The three apprentices are named Jubela, Jubelo and Juwes. In Masonic lore, the Juwes are hunted down and executed, ‘by the breast being torn open and the heart and vitals taken out and thrown over the left shoulder’, which closely parallels the details of Jack the Ripper’s modus operandi.

Warren, a founder of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Masonic Research and by the time of the Ripper murders a Past Grand Sojourner of the Supreme Grand Chapter, knew only too well that the writing on the wall was telling the world, ‘The Freemasons are the men that will not be blamed for nothing.’33 

Perhaps it is only a coincidence that these murders of the five prostitutes from the East end of London took place the same year that the Golden Dawn was founded by East London coroner Wynn Westcott!!

Another Mason that was involved in the cover-up of the events surrounding the ‘Rippper’ murders, was Lord Euston.

And despite the fact that he was known to be a frequenter of the homosexual brothel, his Masonic career flourished in the wake of the scandal. The moral virtue which Freemasons profess to hold sacred was clearly of little importance when Lord Euston was made Grand Master of the Mark Masons.34 

We have already documented earlier, that the Golden Dawn held their rituals in the Mark Masons Hall and that the Golden Dawn rituals were held in the Mark Mason’s Hall in Euston Road.. That is perhaps another coincidence ??

One thing is for certain. We owe a great debt to the work of Stephen Knight for his courageous work in exposing the Masonic Lodge. As recently as June 1991, the Scottish Rite Journal ran an article to downplay and offset the work of Stephen Knight, which had a tremendous effect in England and caused Christians there to rise up in revolt against the Lodge. The article in the June 1991 issue of the Scottish Rite Journal stated:

His charge became the first volley in the current assault by some British churches on Freemasonry. An acquaintance with the book is necessary to understand the unexpected strength of the attack on Masonry.35 

At the Old Bailey in 1901 two Golden Dawn associates, Mr. and Mrs. Horos (not Horus!), were tried for rape. They were jailed for fifteen and seven years respectively, but only after it was revealed that they had used the Golden Dawn initiation ceremony to beguile their juvenile victims. The Solicitor-General read out huge chunks of Mathers’ revised ritual including being ‘slain or paralyzed without visible weapon, as if blasted by the lightning flash’.

He branded the entire ritual ‘most blasphemous ‘ but did not point out that large passages had been lifted from Craft Freemasonry.36 

We have been researching the three original founders of the Golden Dawn and now we will learn about another prominent Freemason and Golden Dawn member that has made a significant contribution to our current occult explosion.

Waite was initiated into the Golden Dawn at Mathers home. This was the same S. L. McGregor Mathers that introduced Aleister Crowley to the practice of magic. A tribute is paid to A. E. Waite in one of the classic books on Freemasonry by one of its most eminent and respected scholars. A portion of this tribute to Waite by Joseph Fort Newton in his book, The Builders reads as follows:

Perhaps the greatest student in this field of esoteric teaching and method, certainly the greatest now living, is Arthur Edward Waite, to whom it is a pleasure to pay tribute.37 

On page 94 of the September 1991 Macoy Catalogue, The Builders, by Joseph Fort Newton is listed in the "Basic Group No. 1" of the Macoy Library Collection.

Not everyone however has the same high opinion of Waite that Newton does. Christian author William Schnoebelen has the following to say about Golden Dawn member and Freemason, A. E. Waite:

Waite himself was a sorcerer and taught people through his books how to conjure up demons and sell their souls to the devil!

Though he kept pretending to be a "white-light" Christian magician (??), he wrote books with titles like The Book of Black Magic and Pacts. How gulible do they think we can be? One can no more be a Christian magician than a Christian crack peddler!38 

After examining first hand the writing of A. E. Waite, I am compelled to agree with Mr. Schnoenbelen. Waite’s occult writings and personal advice helped to foster the demonic growth of another fellow Mason and Golden Dawn member, Aleister Crowley, who would later go on to pursue and propigate evil to unparalelled proportions. Occult Author Francis king writes about Waite’s influence on Crowley:

Born in 1875 of Plymouth Brethren stock, Aleister Crowley had read, while still an undergraduate at Cambridge, a book by A. E. Waite and, inspired by some dark hints given in the introduction to this book, had written to Waite asking if there was a ‘Secret Sanctuary" to which he could gain admittance. Waite had sent a kindly, if a little unhelpful, reply, urging the young aspirant to read Madame de Steiger’s translation of an eighteenth-century mystical work The Cloud on the Sanctuary. Crowley did this and also burried himself in the study of obscure qabalistic texts.39 

As we begin to understand how the magical rituals of the Golden Dawn, the occult writings and the personal advice of such men as Mathers and Waite, created the soil that spawned the evil genious of Crowley, we can understand why prominent witches can call the Golden Dawn the biggest single influence in the occult explosion. Men like A. E. Waite deserve no praise, but our most hearty rebuke and renunciation. As we trace our current woes that we are experiencing from the occult explosion of the New Age Movement, Witchcraft, and Satanism, it would do us well to see clearly the common denominator that all of these men shared that we have researched. (Woodman, Westcott, Mathers, Waite, and Crowley) They were all members of the Golden Dawn and they were all Freemasons!

[This is the end of the excerpt from THE GOLDEN DAWN.]

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