(Note: This was written to accompany a display of magic-related books at the Peterborough Museum as part of a Harry Potter weekend over August Bank Holiday 2002, and therefore marked the end of the Half Decayed events).

       When the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded in London, in the first months of 1888 it saw itself as part of a long tradition of secret magical societies. The three founding members, William Westcott (1848-1925), Dr. Woodman and S.L. MacGregor Mathers (1854-1918), were all Freemasons (claiming links to medieval guilds) and members of an English Rosicrusian Society, (the S.R.I.A., founded 1865) which were based upon the Rosicrusian fables of Reformation Europe. The founding of the Golden Dawn also drew inspiration from the Theosophical Society (founded 1875 in New York) which took its cue from Eastern philosophies.

       Westcott claimed to have received a manuscript, which lead him to contact the German head of the Golden Dawn, Anna Sprengel. Unfortunately no one else ever heard from her and it is generally believed that she only existed in Westcott's imagination.

       The Golden Dawn established Temples in London, Weston-Super-Mare and Bradford during 1888. Early members included Oscar Wilde's wife Constance and the Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). In September 1889, Mr. L. S. de Jastrybwski of Halifax joined the Bradford Temple though he later moved to Lincoln Road in Peterborough. While in the Outer Order the members of the Golden Dawn were expected to study Astrology, Tarot, Qabalah (a form of Numerology) amongst other forms of divination.

       In 1891, MacGregor Mathers went to Paris to translate a number of medieval magical manuscripts for use in the Inner Order. While in Paris he came into contact with the French magical society the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix which was also inspired by the Rosicrusian fables.

       In France, the interest in magic in the 19th century started with Eliphas Levi (1810-1875, born Alphonse-Louis Constant) who published his work Transcendental Magic in two parts in 1854 and 1856. The Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix was founded in 1888 by Stanislas de Guaita (1861-18970 and Josephin Peladan (1856-1918 though he adopted the name La Sar Merodack). The Order split in 1890 with Peladan starting the new Order of the Rose-Croix of the Temple of the Grail. However, before the split, the Order had become involved in a feud with the Church of Carmel, (founded in the 1840's by Vintras after, he claimed, he met the Archangel Michael), in Lyons. A Mr. Boullan who had previously in 1859 started the Society for the Reparation of Souls then headed the Church. Associated with the Church of Carmel was the author J-K Huysmans (1848-1907). When Boullan died in 1893 de Guaita was accused of killing him by magical means. De Guaita, angered by these charges, challenged Huysmans and a Jules Bois to duels which were then fought using swords and pistols.

       Meanwhile, the Golden Dawn opened new Temples, first in Edinburgh and then Paris to which MacGregor Mathers had moved. Other members who joined around this time include the horror authors Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) and Arthur Machen (1863-1947, he mentioned Peterborough Cathedral in his short-story N) who both worked what they learned into their fiction. In 1895 a Bernard Watson, also of Lincoln Road, Peterborough joined the London Temple. De Jastrybwski graduated to the Inner Order in 1897 and Watson was also promoted in 1898.

       Also in 1898, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947, born Edward Alexander Crowley but changed his name for numerological reasons, he also mentioned Peterborough Cathedral in a short story, Testament of Magdalan Blair), joined the Golden Dawn. By 1900 a split was growing in the Order with MacGregor Mathers and Crowley on one side and W. B. Yeats on the other. However, in 1901 a couple, Theo. Horos and his wife, (though their real names were Jackson0, were brought to trial for various crimes committed while claiming to be members of the Golden Dawn. This was the death knell for the Order, which dissolved by 1903.

       In 1903. A. E. Waite (1857-1940) formed his own society, the Independent and Rectified Rite which was less magical but more mystical. This included Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood and Bernard Watson amongst its' founder members. In 1908, Basil Lester, a Cleric of Thorpe Road, Peterborough, applied to join.

       Meanwhile, W. B. Yeats and a Dr. Felkin founded the more magical society, Stella Matutina also in 1903. Later members of this included Israel Regardie (1907-?) and Dion Fortune (1891-1946, real name Violet Firth, who founded her own Society of Inner Light in 1924).

       Not to be left out Aleister Crowley started his own Order of the Silver Star in 1907, inspired by a series of messages his wife gave him from a (supposedly) ancient spirit called Aiwass whilst on honeymoon in Egypt in 1904. In 1912, he was contacted by the German magical society, the Order of Oriental Templars, who accused him of stealing their rituals.

       Karl Kellner who claimed to have received his knowledge from three Middle Eastern/Indian magicians in 1896 had started this Order. Theodor Reuss had succeeded him in 1905 who instead of feuding with Crowley over the supposedly stolen rituals instead made him head of the British wing of the Order. In 1922 Reuss handed over the running of the entire Order to Crowley. This allowed him to become one of the influential occultists of the Twentieth Century.