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Amagical organization ormagical order is an organization orsecret society created for the practice ofinitiation intoceremonial or other forms ofoccult magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. Magical organizations can includeHermetic orders,esoteric societies, arcane colleges, and other groups which may use different terminology and similar though diverse practices.
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TheOrder of the Golden and Rosy Cross (German:Orden des Gold- und Rosenkreutz) was a GermanRosicrucian organization founded in the 1750s byFreemason andalchemistHermann Fictuld.[1] Candidates were expected to beMaster Masons in good standing.Alchemy was to be a central study for members.[2]
TheOrder of Knight-Masons Elect Priests of the Universe (French:Ordre des Chevaliers Maçons Élus Coëns de l’Univers) or simply Élus Coëns (Hebrew for "Elect Priests"), was atheurgical organization founded byMartinez de Pasqually in 1767. It spread in France in the latter part of the 18th century and is the first branch of theMartinist tradition.[3]
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (Rosicrucian Society of England), or SRIA, is aRosicrucianesoteric Christian order formed byRobert Wentworth Little in 1865.[4] Members are confirmed from the ranks of subscribingMaster Masons[4] of aGrand Lodge in amity withUnited Grand Lodge of England. The structure and grades of this order were derived from the 18th-century Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross. It later became the grade system used in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.[5]
TheHermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was aninitiaticoccult organization that first became public in late 1894, although according to an official document of the order it began its work in 1870.[6] The Order's teachings drew heavily from the magico-sexual theories ofPaschal Beverly Randolph, who influenced later groups such as Ordo Templi Orientis, although it is not clear whether or not Randolph himself was actually a member of the Order.[7]
TheHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has been credited with a vast revival of occult literature and practices and was founded in 1887 or 1888 byWilliam Wynn Westcott,Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers andWilliam Robert Woodman. The teachings of the Order includeceremonial magic,Enochian magic,Christian mysticism,Qabalah,Hermeticism, thepaganism ofancient Egypt,theurgy, andalchemy.[a]
The Brotherhood of Myriam (Fratellanza di Myriam) is an Italian esoteric organization founded byGiuliano Kremmerz in 1899, blendingHermeticism with therapeutic practices and mystical traditions, rooted inWestern esotericism. Its philosophy emphasizes spiritual healing, the study of ancient texts, and magical science.[8][9]
Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) was founded byCarl Kellner in 1895, and is said to have been "reorganized and reconstituted" from theHermetic Brotherhood of Light.[10]
Alpha et Omega was a continuation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Following a rebellion ofadepts inLondon and an ensuing public scandal which brought the name of the Order into disrepute,[11] Mathers renamed the branch of the Golden Dawn remaining loyal to his leadership to "Alpha et Omega" sometime between 1903 and 1913.[12] Another faction, led byRobert Felkin, became theStella Matutina.[13]
A∴A∴ was created in 1907 byAleister Crowley andGeorge Cecil Jones. It teachesmagick andThelema, which is a religion shared by several occult organizations. The main text of Thelema isThe Book of the Law.[14]
Ordo Templi Orientis was reworked by Aleister Crowley after he took control of the Order in the early 1920s.Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica functions as the ecclesiastical arm of Ordo Templi Orientis.[15]
Builders of the Adytum (or B.O.T.A.) was created in 1922 byPaul Foster Case and was extended by Dr.Ann Davies. It teachesHermetic Qabalah,astrology and occulttarot.[16]
Also in 1922, after a falling-out withMoina Mathers[17] and with Moina's consent,Dion Fortune left theAlpha et Omega to form an offshoot organization.[18][19] This indirectly brought new members to the Alpha et Omega.[20] In 1924, Fortune's group became known as theFraternity of the Inner Light.
Fraternitas Saturni ('Brotherhood of Saturn') is a German magical order, founded in 1926 byEugen Grosche (also known as Gregor A. Gregorius) and four others. It is one of the oldest continuously running magical groups in Germany.[21] The lodge is, as Gregorius states, "concerned with the study of esotericism, mysticism, and magic in the cosmic sense".[22]
TheUR Group was an Italianesotericist association, founded around 1927 by intellectuals includingJulius Evola,Arturo Reghini and Giovanni Colazza for the study ofTraditionalism andMagic.[23]
In 1954,Kenneth Grant began the work of founding theNew Isis Lodge, which became operational in 1955. This became the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis (TOTO), which was eventually renamed toTyphonian Order.[24]
TheChurch of Satan, areligious organization dedicated toSatanism as codified inThe Satanic Bible, was established in 1966, byAnton LaVey, who was the Church'sHigh Priest until his death in 1997.[25] Church members may also participate in a system of magic which LaVey defined asgreater and lesser magic.[citation needed] In 1975, Michael Aquino broke off from the Church of Satan and founded theTemple of Set.[26]
Thesatanic andneo-naziOrder of Nine Angles (O9A or ONA) was founded in theUnited Kingdom during the 1970s.[27]Hope not Hate have lobbied to have O9A designated aterrorist organization.[28]
In 1973 John Gibbs-Bailey and John Yeowell founded theCommittee for the Restoration of the Odinic Rite orOdinist Committee inEngland.[29] Yeowell had been a member of theBritish Union of Fascists in his youth and bodyguard to leaderOswald Mosley.[30] In 1980 the organization changed its name toOdinic Rite. It is awhite supremicist organization.[31]
In 1976,James Lees founded the magical orderO∴A∴A∴ in order to assist others in the pursuit of their own spiritual paths. The work of this order is based inEnglish Qaballa.[32]
In 1977,The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Inc. was founded by Chic Cicero inColumbus, Georgia. This Order is notable for having the only working Golden Dawn temple in the United States at the end of the 1970s, making it the oldest continuously operating Golden Dawn offshoot in the U.S.[33]
TheSangreal Sodality is a spiritual brotherhood founded by British writerWilliam G. Gray and Jacobus G. Swart in 1980.[34]
During the last two decades of the 20th century, several organizations practicingchaos magic were founded. These includeIlluminates of Thanateros, andThee Temple ov Psychick Youth. These groups rely on the use ofsigils. Their main texts includeLiber Null (1978) andPsychonaut (1982), now published as a single book.[35]
On the Vernal Equinox of 1990,Christopher Hyatt andDavid Cherubim founded the Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn in Los Angeles.[36][b]
TheOpen Source Order of the Golden Dawn (OSOGD) was an esoteric community of magical practitioners, many of whom came frompagan backgrounds, founded bySam Webster in 2002 and based on the principles of theopen-source software movement.[37] It was an initiatory teaching Order that drew upon the knowledge, experience, practices and spirit of the system of magical training and attainment developed by the originalHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The OSOGD ceased operating in September 2019.[38]
TheGrey School of Wizardry is an online school with a focus on secular esoteric education. Founded in 2004 by former headmasterOberon Zell-Ravenheart, it operates primarily online and as a non-profit educational institution in California.[39]
Arcanorium College is an online school of magic founded by chaos magician Peter J. Carroll.[40]
Among the groups inspired by the Italian esoteric legacy is the Brotherhood of Myriam, which is linked to the Kremmerzian tradition.
La Fratellanza di Myriam è tra i gruppi che conservano la tradizione iniziatica kremmerziana, con un'enfasi sulle pratiche terapeutiche e teurgiche proprie dell'esoterismo italiano.
Under the style and title: ANCIENT ORDER OF ORIENTAL TEMPLARS, an organization, formerly known as: "The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light", has been reorganized and reconstituted. This reconstituted association is an international organization, and is hereinafter referred to as the O.T.O.