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On this episode of The 99th Meridian, we're going to examine the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an English occult school founded in 1888 by William Wynn Westcott, S.L. MacGregor Mathers, and William Robert Woodman, built on Rosicrucian, Hermetic, Masonic, and Kabbalistic ideas and a step-by-step system of grades, rituals, and secret study. Its roots can be traced to the 1614–1616 Rosicrucian manifestos, details of disputed origins tied to the Cipher Manuscripts and likely forged “Anna Sprengel” letters; it explains its structure from Neophyte through elemental grades to the Inner Order (Adeptus Minor), including practices like tarot, astrology, alchemy, Enochian and ceremonial magic. The episode covers its rapid growth, internal conflicts, the 1900 collapse, splinter groups, and lasting influence on modern Western occultism, including Aleister Crowley’s Thelema, then evaluates the system through a Christian spiritual warfare lens as a counterfeit “light” opposed to salvation in Christ.

Sources and full show notes: the99thmeridian.substack.com

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