The origin story of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn reads a lot like a Hollywood script. It includes a mysterious cypher manuscript, secret organizations, astral communication, occultists, and a very convincing con woman– all set in Victorian Era London. The only thing the story is missing is an appearance by Jack the Ripper or Sherlock Holmes.

In this episode we talk about The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society developed for the study of the occult, theurgy, Hermetic Qabalah and spiritual development in the late 19th Century.

We discuss where it comes from, who were some of the Freemasons involved in its founding, how a con woman fits into the story and where the group fits into the Western Esoteric Tradition.