THE GOLDEN DAWN SCRAPBOOK by R. A. Gilbert
The Rise and Fall of a Magical Order
$15.95
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn -- the last and greatest flowering of the Victorian Occult Revival -- embodied the quintessence of the Western Hermetic Tradition and gave it a unique, practical expression. Its rituals have been publicly available for some 60 years, while its history has been clinically dissected as an academic exercise. But now its time to bring some humanity back into the history of the Golden Dawn, which R. A. Gilbert accomplishes brilliantly with The Golden Dawn Scrapbook. This is a story of fallible men and women who aspired to a new vision of reality. It is their very humanity -- their weaknesses as well as their strengths -- that gives their Order a nobility, grandeur, and purpose.
Gilbert includes photos and personal letters, published here for the first time, and describes the rituals, structure, and personalities involved with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, from its creation in the late 1800s to the dissolution of its hierarchy in the early 1900s. Gilbert leads readers from the initial birth of the movement by founding members William W. Westcott, William R. Woodman, and Samuel L. MacGregor Mathers, through the sensationalistic press the Order received during the trial of the Horos, to its eventual breakup as each personality split the Order further apart. Gilbert offers an intimate and cohesive history of this much-maligned, and often misunderstood group.
R. A. Gilbert is exceptionally qualified for his task. Not only is he the leading authority on the history of the Golden Dawn, but he also has unique, unrestricted access to every major Golden Dawn archive throughout the world. In addition to his many esoteric interests, he lectures frequently in the United States about the Golden Dawn and Masonry. Gilbert is an antiquarian bookseller of international fame and lives in Bristol, England with his wife, Pat, many children, and even more dogs and cats.