The Golden Dawn Scrapbook: The Rise and Fall of a Magical Order

by R.A. Gilbert

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was the last and greatest flowering of the Victorian occult revival. Historian R.A. Gilbert uses photos and personal letters never before seen or published to provide an intimate and cohesive history of this controversial group--from its creation in the late 1800s to its fractured dissolution in the early 1900s. Over 80 illustrations color insert.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Occult, Esoterica, History, Magic

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Durgadas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dishy must-read for any occultist who isn't attached to the GD mythos as factual. Probably very triggering for one who is.

Three stars because, and the author doesn't seem to make any bones about this, this work favors scandal and sensation over any attempt at "journalism," which it doesn't claim. But an unbalanced portrayal is still an unbalanced portrayal.

[Tom Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this reading this book. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded by two individuals which the author shows were not always honest in their dealings. The claim of having received instruction from unseen masters including a possibly invented "Anna Sprengel" was challenged by Alistair Crowley. He eventually took the reins of the Golden Dawn, though the order didn't last for much longer under that name, and he began his own order. I have another book on my shelf called Kabalah Unveiled. This book is credited to one of the two founders of the Golden Dawn, Samuel Liddell "MacGregor" Mathers. It is an extremely obscure book, and I have long maintained that anyone who claims to understand the Kabalah will likely also claim to understand quantum physics, the latter of which is well known to be an extremely rare feat. Mathers did not write the Kabalah, he merely published the work of Rosenroth, but this information was not included in the preface of Kabalah Unveiled. That bit of information I gleaned from the Golden Dawn Scrapbook. Had I not noticed this I might have dismissed the Kabalah as the work of a feverish imagination. Mathers began adding "MacGregor" to his name after moving to Paris, and then started claiming to be a "Count". His resume included a number of embellishments and outright fictitious employment positions. Though not everyone who joined the order was batty. One of the more well known members of the Order of The Golden Dawn was William Butler Yeats. Magic was essential to his world view. In 1901 Yeats delineated his idea of the principles of magic as: 1. The borders of our mind are ever shifting. 2. The borders of our memories are ever shifting. 3. Nature itself has a Great Memory which can be evoked by symbols. Something which was not mentioned in The Golden Dawn Scrapbook is that Yeats made this statement 11 years before Carl Jung published Psychology of the Unconscious which proposed the idea of the collective unconscious. I am very glad I found The Golden Dawn Scrapbook ( second-hand, at Savers) because it demystifies this ominous sounding secret order and again confirms that inspiring unquestioning faith of adherents will result in the suspension of reason (or disbelief). There are a number of reincarnations of the Order Of The Golden Dawn whose followers continue to believe in the unseen "Masters".

[xenia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm fifty pages in and I still don't know what the Golden Dawn is. Random characters just appear for a paragraph or two then disappear again. I don't know who they are or how they're connected to anyone else. I feel like I'm trapped in an endless k-hole, beside a drunk wandering the halls of his own absent mind, too turned inwards to situate anything he shows me, an alluring and boring nightmare.

Would recommend Triumph of the Moon instead. It clearly and concisely traces a genealogy of the occult through paganism, romanticism, the masons, theosophy, the golden dawn, and modern wicca.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great history of the Order of the Golden Dawn. One of the few must haves if one is keen on the history such groups.

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always want to learn about GD and its teachings. This was my second book on this, and it didn't disappoint. I like the way it is written and has a lot of info for researchers like me.
This is the book I would recommend to people who wants to learn about GD without getting to much into the ritual work and practices of the order.
Easy to read, also.

[Constantinos Nterziotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

History of the Golden Dawn Order's events through their personalities. A lot of letters and excerpts are written in the book, providing a valuabe read for those who want to take an idea from the sources. Though it is a little boring, it couldn't be different.

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilbert is *the* man for Golden Dawn history. Gives a fair account of the founding of the order and its demise. Meant even more after I had the chance to meet him and hear his personal insights and beliefs.