Macgregor Mathers

Today is the birthday of Samuel Liddel Macgregor Mathers, the driving force behind the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the influential magical group that revived Western esoteric traditions and influenced much of modern magical practice. Mathers introduced the kabbalah to Victorian society, and translated numerous works of kabbalah and ritual magick into english. Mather's students included Aleister Crowley and WB Yeats. The Golden Dawn magical and initiatory systems are used by dozens of modern magical organizations. (The Golden Dawn was so influential that faiths as diverse as Wicca, Thelema, and Scientology would not exist today without its contributions) By strange coincidence, today is also the anniversary of the death of Mather's initiate Dion Fortune

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