A magical organization or magical order is an organization or secret society created for the practice of initiation into ceremonial or other forms of occult magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. Magical organizations can include Hermetic orders, esoteric societies, arcane colleges, and other groups which may use different terminology and similar though diverse practices.
The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor was an initiaticoccult organisation 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 of Paschal 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]
Alpha et Omega was a continuation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Following a rebellion of adepts in London and an ensuing public scandal which brought the name of the Order into disrepute,[9] Mathers renamed the branch of the Golden Dawn remaining loyal to his leadership to "Alpha et Omega" sometime between 1903 and 1913.[10] Another faction, led by Robert Felkin, became the Stella Matutina.[11]
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.[13]
Fraternitas Saturni ('Brotherhood of Saturn') is a German magical order, founded in 1926 by Eugen Grosche (also known as Gregor A. Gregorius) and four others. It is one of the oldest continuously running magical groups in Germany.[19] The lodge is, as Gregorius states, "concerned with the study of esotericism, mysticism, and magic in the cosmic sense".[20]
In 1954, Kenneth Grant began the work of founding the New Isis Lodge, which became operational in 1955. This became the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis (TOTO), which was eventually renamed to Typhonian Order.[21]
In 1973 John Gibbs-Bailey and John Yeowell founded the Committee for the Restoration of the Odinic Rite or Odinist Committee in England.[26] Yeowell had been a member of the British Union of Fascists in his youth and bodyguard to leader Oswald Mosley.[27] In 1980 the organisation changed its name to Odinic Rite. It is a white supremicist organization.[28]
In 1976, James Lees founded the magical order O∴A∴A∴ in order to assist others in the pursuit of their own spiritual paths. The work of this order is based in English Qaballa.[29]
In 1977, The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Inc. was founded by Chic Cicero in Columbus, 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.[30]
The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn (OSOGD) was an esoteric community of magical practitioners, many of whom came from pagan backgrounds, founded by Sam Webster in 2002 and based on the principles of the open-source software movement.[34] 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 original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The OSOGD ceased operating in September 2019.[35]
The Grey School of Wizardry is an online school with a focus on secular esoteric education. Founded in 2004 by former headmaster Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, it operates primarily online and as a non-profit educational institution in California.[36]
Arcanorium College is an online school of magic founded by chaos magician Peter J. Carroll.[37]
^Smoley & Kinney (2006), pp. 102–103: "Founded in 1888, the Golden Dawn lasted a mere twelve years before it was shattered by personal conflicts. At its height it probably had no more than a hundred members. Yet its influence on magic and esoteric thought in the English-speaking world would be hard to overestimate."
^Greer (2003), p. 205: "Several of these new Golden Dawn orders were created by friends and students of Regardie in the United States. [...] [A]nother emerged in Arizona under the leadership of Christopher Hyatt."
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Flowers, Stephen E. (1994). Fire & Ice: The History, Structure and Rituals of Germany's Most Influential Modern Magical Order: The Brotherhood of Saturn. St Paul, MN: Llewellyn.
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Reuss, Theodor (1917). "O.T.O. Constitution, Article 1, Section 1" (Document). Ordo Templi Orientis. 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.
Richardson, Alan (1991). The Magical Life of Dion Fortune. Aquarian Press. ISBN1-85538-051-X.
von Schnurbein, S. (2016). "Creating a Religion: The Emergence and Development of Late Twentieth-Century Asatru". Norse Revival: Transformations of Germanic Neopaganism. Brill. pp. 54–87. JSTOR10.1163/j.ctt1w76v8x.10.
Wicker, Christine (2005). Not In Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America. Harper San Francisco. ISBN0-06-072678-4.