Lao Tzu once said, “Those who say don’t know, and those who know don’t say.” This concept is especially fitting when discussing secret societies. While it certainly refers to the importance of safeguarding secrets, it can also imply that some secrets cannot be fully explained through words. For example, try describing the color blue to a person who has been blind since birth. This philosophy is particularly relevant to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, though perhaps for the wrong reasons.
The Golden Dawn represented an evolution of the theurgical orders that had spread through Europe since the 1600s, with one key distinction: it allowed women to be full, equal members. Much like Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophy movement, which was founded a few years earlier, the Golden Dawn sought to create a more inclusive and modern interpretation of established esoteric schools.
At the core of their doctrine were the Cipher Manuscripts—mysterious encoded documents outlining the order’s rituals and teachings. These manuscripts were first discovered by Masonic scholar Kenneth R.H. MacKenzie. He passed them to Rev. Woodford, who then shared them with Freemason William Wynn Wescott. In 1886, Wescott successfully decoded the manuscripts and shared them with another Freemason, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Together with another associate, William Robert Woodman, they began reworking the material into a format suitable for lodge use.
One of the most contentious aspects of Golden Dawn lore was the story of the “Secret Chiefs.” In October 1887, Wescott claimed to have contacted a German Countess and high-ranking Rosicrucian named Anna Sprengel, whose address was allegedly encoded in the manuscripts. Sprengel reportedly said she was in contact with a group of supernatural entities known as the Secret Chiefs, who oversaw the activities of magical and esoteric orders. Through Sprengel, Wescott, Mathers, and Woodman were granted permission to form an order based on the Cipher Manuscripts’ system. The first temple, Isis-Urania, was founded in London in 1888, and many others followed. The Golden Dawn soon gained popularity, attracting numerous intellectuals, writers, and celebrities, including W.B. Yeats, Arthur Machen, and a young Aleister Crowley.
In 1890, Wescott’s correspondence with Sprengel abruptly ended with her alleged death. The other members of her order disapproved of the Golden Dawn, severing all contact. However, in 1892, Mathers claimed he had learned how to communicate with the Secret Chiefs and reestablished their guidance. In my opinion, this is where the Golden Dawn went wrong.
The fracturing of the Golden Dawn is a complex and fascinating story—fascinating in how so many “intellectuals” could be manipulated and led astray, and complicated due to the interpersonal drama among the leadership. Two key factors contributed to the split: Mathers’ gatekeeping of the Secret Chiefs, and his friendship with Aleister Crowley. Many described Crowley’s presence in the Golden Dawn as toxic, particularly because of his rapid rise through the ranks without following the proper initiation process. Ultimately, these tensions led to Mathers’ expulsion from the order in January 1900.
Crowley
At this point, it’s crucial to examine Mathers’ relationship with the Secret Chiefs, as it represents a theme that would recur throughout 20th-century occultism. First, we must ask: Do the Secret Chiefs really exist? And, if they do, did Mathers truly communicate with them? The situation mirrors religious contexts, where a priest or prophet claims exclusive access to a higher power and conveys their messages to the followers. It’s a familiar tale of power and control. Whether or not the Secret Chiefs exist, the outcome is the same—it’s been the rise and fall of many orders.
After Mathers’ expulsion, the Golden Dawn splintered into several new groups. Mathers founded the Alpha et Omega, leading it until his mysterious death in 1918, after which his wife, Moina Mathers, took control. The Isis-Urania Temple continued under A.E. Waite and others, spawning new groups like Stella Matutina and the Hermetic Society of the Morgenrothe. Crowley went his own way and, in 1904, claimed to have contacted the Secret Chiefs in Egypt, eventually founding his own order of Thelema.
Moina Mathers
Others followed this path, founding their own groups and often claiming the Secret Chiefs as their source of authority. Dion Fortune is one notable example. Even Helena Blavatsky claimed contact with the Secret Chiefs, receiving much of her knowledge from an entity named Morya. Objectively, I have my doubts, but it certainly makes for compelling fiction, as readers of my Dead Wind Trilogy will recognize.
Figures like Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune, and Helena Blavatsky helped forge new paths by reinterpreting the esoteric knowledge once guarded by the Golden Dawn, spinning it into the foundation of modern New Age philosophy, distorting and repackaging what was once profound into something profitable. Yet, in the process, these distortions have obscured the very knowledge they claim to uphold, as the once hidden truths become muddled and unrecognizable, waiting for a new secret society to come along and disseminate them all over again.
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Jason Roberts is a Seattle-based author noted for his acclaimed western horror series The Dead Wind Trilogy as well as other works of cosmic horror infused with historical fiction. His web-based series, Dark Distractions examines paranormal mysteries, unexplained phenomena, and all things strange.
