13th century BCE
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Zarathushtra founds Zoroastrianism, the religion of the Magi.
Moses founds Judaism.

10th century BCE
Solomon, son of David, flourishes as King of Israel.

ca. 5,000 BC - ca. 2,000 BCE
Sumer - Sumer becomes the cradle of civilization in the West. The Sumerians develop writing and are among the first astronomers, mapping the stars into sets of constellations, many of which constellations survive in the zodiac and in the constellations known to the ancient Greeks. The five planets that are visible to the naked eye also have Sumerian names. The Sumerians develop the first systems of celestial omens, which later develop into systems of astrological magic and alchemy in Chaldea and Egypt.

ca. 4200 BCE - 30 BCE
Egypt - Astrology has a very ancient history in Egypt, with star charts found there going back to 4,200 BC. The pyramids of Egypt reflect the importance given to astrology, as they are oriented towards the North pole of the sky and have a dual role as burial place for the pharaohs and as astrological calculators. Some zodiac signs are said to be Egyptian in origin, and the Egyptians are credited with fixing the positions of the cardinal signs Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn.
Certain cults within Egyptian religion play a particular role in the roots of the Hermetic tradition. Sekhmet, for example, embodying the sexual aspect of Hathor, is the patroness of alchemy. In the cult of Sekhmet, alchemy come to full flower in dynastic Egypt.
The Leiden and Stockholm papyri (ca. third century A.D.) would appear to be part of the same practical tradition. Here, among some three hundred recipes, will be found directions for the imitation of the noble metals. A method for the doubling of asem (the gold-silver alloy, electrum) indicates the future direction of alchemical literature.
After the occupation by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, Egypt comes under Greek rule and influence. In 'Alexandrian Egypt,' Horoscopic astrology is born through the fusion of Babylonian astrology with the Egyptian astrological Decans. This new system is labeled as "horoscopic astrology" because it employs the use of the ascendant ('horoskopos' in Greek) and the twelve derivative celestial houses. Alexandrian Egypt gives birth to the Hermetic tradition, with astrology, alchemy, and theurgy as its primary disciplines.

ca. 2,000 BC - ca. 1,600 BC
Babylonia/Chaldea - Chaldea is a Hellenistic designation for a part of Babylonia, mainly around Sumerian Ur. All Babylonians are called Chaldeans by the Greeks and Romans, however, and Chaldea is so identified with astrology that "Chaldaean wisdom" becomes synonymous with divination through the planets and stars. Chaldea, the area around Ur, plays an essential role in the transmission of astral spirituality from Sumeria. In Babylonia, astrology takes its place in the official cult as a direct offshoot of Sumerian culture. The spread of astrology is concomitant with the rise of a scientific astronomy in Babylonia. The Chaldeans are also the first to set out the twelve houses of the horoscope. This system later spreads through the Babylonians to other areas such as India, China and Greece where it merges with preexisting indigenous forms of astrology. Astrological magic and proto-alchemy develop in Chaldea before finding their way into Egypt. The recent study of two Babylonian tablets (Oppenheim, 1966) dating from the thirteenth century B.C. but copied from still earlier originals describes the production of "silver" from a copper/bronze mixture. These early recipes already contain elements of ritual and the processes themselves call for secrecy. Both were to become common themes in later alchemical literature.

1800 BCE - 500 CE
Eleusis = The Eleusinian Mysteries arose in Eleusis (12 miles from Athens) before spreading to all of Greece and beyond. The mysteries were based on the myths of Demeter, the goddesses of fertility, and her daughter, Persephone. The initiations were presented in three stages, what are known as the minor expression, the major expression, and the highest of the three -- the epopteia. These Mysteries were so important that during antiquity, the whole Greek world held a 55 day truce from all fighting to permit travel to and from Eleusis. The progressive concept of initiation and its effect on the individual is continued in Rosicrucian Initiation.

1700 BCE - 391CE
Delphic Mysteries - Delphi served as the spiritual center of Greece for over 2,000 years. The Pythia played a fundamental role in the oracles of Delphi. She was said to have the power to commune with the invisible world and speak on behalf of Apollo. The temple of Delphi exerted a tremendous influence in antiquity not only because of the oracles, but also because it housed a prestigious mystery school.

Mid-6th century - 492 BCE
Pythagorean School - The Pythagorean School was founded in Crotona, Italy and was therefore called the Italic school. Pythagoras taught that Unity was the first great law of the universe, and that from this Unity arose numbers, from numbers points, from points lines, from lines planes, from planes solids, and from solids the four principles (fire, air, water, and earth) of which the world is composed. This mystical understanding of the universe has far outlived the actual school of Crotona, including many Greek philosophers following Pythagoras, and has influenced much of western thought in one form or another. Rosicrucian philosophy embodies many of these concepts. Until 1847, vegetarians were known in English as "Pythagoreans."

ca. 6th century BCE - 391 CE
Orphic Mysteries - The first of the known mystery schools in ancient Greece, the Orphic mysteries were associated with the life of the mythical figure of Orpheus. Some mystical texts describe him as being an initiate who truly existed. According to these texts, he spent twenty years in Egypt and was a member of the mystery school associated with Memphis.

4th Century BCE - 6th century CE
Isis Mysteries - As the Hellenized Egyptian mysteries of Isis spread throughout the Mediterranean world, from the Middle East to Britain, they soon became one the most widespread exports of Egyptian spirituality. Many suggest that the Isis-Horus pair continues in images of the Virgin and Child. These Mysteries addressed the desire for personal transcendence and salvation, and a powerful image of the protective, nurturing and victorious Divine Feminine.

2nd Century BCE - 100 CE
Essenes - The Essenes were mystics who came together in spiritual communities throughout Egypt and Israel; one of these centers was most probably Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Jesus is believed by many to have been a member of the Essene community. Many of their practices paralleled those of the Pythagoreans. Among the different groups of Essenes were the Theraputae near Alexandria, specializing in healing, as described by Philo. Health of body, soul and spirit always figures prominently in the Rosicrucian tradition and its antecedents.

2nd century BCE - 5th century CE
Mithraic Mysteries - An initiatic mystery school in which students were gradually introduced to astronomical truths through symbol, and how the knowledge of these could lead the seeker to union with the power behind all existence. This combination of scientific study, symbolic initiation and cosmic union is a feature of Rosicrucian work.

4 BCE - 33 CE
Jesus founds Christianity.

ca. 01 - 200 CE
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The "Testament of Solomon" is an Old Testament Pseudepigraphic catalog of demons summoned by King Solomon, and how they can be countered by invoking angels and other magical techniques. It is one of the oldest magical grimoires attributed to King Solomon.

46 CE
Legendary Foundation of the Rosicrucian Order - According to a legend of the 18th century Golden and Rosy Cross order in Germany, the Rosicrucian order was created when an Alexandrian Gnostic sage named Ormus and his six followers were converted by Mark, one of Jesus' disciples. From this conversion, Rosicrucianism was supposedly born, fusing early Christianity with Egyptian mysteries.

1st Century BCE - present
Hermetic Tradition - The Hermetic tradition is a set of philosophical and spiritual beliefs and disciplines, based primarily on writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, wise sage and Egyptian priest commonly seen as synonymous with the Egyptian god Thoth. The name Trismegistus means the "Thrice Great" or "Thrice Greatest" because, as he claims in The Emerald Tablet, Hermes Trismegistus knows the three parts of the wisdom of the whole universe, being the operations of the Sun, the Moon, and of the Stars. These three operations refer to the 'Trivium Hermeticum;' the triad of Hermetic alchemy, theurgy, and astrology.
Alchemy - The Operation of the Sun - For Hermeticism, Alchemy is not the changing of physical lead into physical gold. Hermetic initiates derided those 'alchemists' trying to manufacture gold as mere 'puffers,' unable to understand the subtle allegories of Hermetic alchemical texts. The true goal of the Opus Magnum (Great Work) is the transmutation of the Prima Materia (First Matter), which is the physical body (symbolized by lead = Saturn, Chronos, ruled by time) into a 'body of light' (symbolized by gold = Sun, a solar body), with the goal of achieving conscious immortality in a single incarnation.
Theurgy - The Operation of the Moon - There are two different types of magic, according to Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Apology, completely opposite of one another. The first is Goëtia, black magic reliant upon an alliance with evil spirits (i.e. demons). The second is Theurgy, divine magic reliant upon an alliance with divine spirits (i.e. angels, archangels, Gods). Theurgy translates to "The Science or art of Divine Works" and works in tandem with the Hermetic art of alchemy. Indeed, alchemy is seen as the "key" to theurgy, the ultimate goal of which is to become united with higher counterparts, leading to the attainment of Divine Consciousness. Ritual magic and all modern magical traditions ultimately derive from Hermetic theurgy.
Astrology - The Operation of the Stars - the three disciplines of the Trivium Hermeticum; alchemy, theurgy, and astrology are completely interdependent on one another. Hermetic astrology is not a mere passive tool for fortune telling as astrology is understood in modern times, but rather actively employs stellar influences for spiritual development using alchemy and theurgy. Hermetic alchemy and theurgy are likewise dependent on astrological cycles. Thus Hermetic theurgy can be understood as a sort of astrological magic.
Astrological and other scientific texts began to circulate in Alexandria and the Mediterranean during the 1st century BCE, and Alchemical texts somewhat later. Philosophical/spiritual texts appeared from the 1st century CE. The Hermetic tradition was honored by practitioners of Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Jewish, Christian and later Islamic religion, and many believe it represents a continuity with the teachings in the Egyptian Temples and Mystery schools. Hermetism inspired many Renaissance mystics and scholars, and modern evolutions of this tradition are often referred to as Hermeticism. Hermetism emphasizes the organic connection of the Divine with the earthly ("As above, so below") and points the way to return to the source of being. Authentic Rosicrucianism is heir to the Hermetic tradition, and employs the triad of Hermetic alchemy, theurgy, and astrology.

1st century CE - 14th century CE
Gnosticism - One of the early varieties of the Judeo-Christian spiritual tradition, the various groups we call "Gnostics" today emphasized the individual coming to personal and interior experiential knowledge (Gnosis) of the transcendent Divine One which is within the innermost being. This Gnosis then allows the person to enter into union with the source of all existence. Persecuted in the Mediterranean in the 4th-5th centuries CE, Gnostics continued their spiritual practice, moving to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Northern Italy and finally Southern France, where they were driven underground in the 14th century CE. The interior center of knowledge is a familiar theme that manifests in Rosicrucian studies and practice.

100 - 300 CE
Composition of Corpus Hermeticum, a collection of several Greek texts from the second and third centuries, survivors from a more extensive literature, known as Hermetica.

1st century CE
Apollonius of Tyana flourished.

1st - 3rd Century CE
Testament of Solomon, an early magical grimoire composed.

204 - 270 CE
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Plotinus, Neo-Platonism philosopher and mystic is born in Egypt. Plotinus was a major philosopher in the ancient world and is widely considered the father of Neo-Platonism. Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads. His metaphysical writings have inspired centuries of Pagan, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics.

250 - 325
Iambics, Neo-Platonism philosopher, was born in Chalices, Cole-Syria.

3rd - 6th centuries CE, influential - present.
Neo-Platonism - The last flowering of the Classical Greek philosophical tradition, the Neo-Platonists synthesized the approaches of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras and others, addressing the individual yearning for salvation from a philosophical viewpoint. This philosophical school provided ways that the individual could ascend the ladder of being through theories, contemplation of the Divine. Neo-Platonic approaches have continued to be of tremendous importance in Jewish, Eastern & Western Christian and Islamic Mysticism, as well as the esoteric schools, including Rosicrucian thought.

From the beginning of Judaism - the present day
Qabalah - The Qabalah is traditionally the knowledge handed down by Jewish mystics since the beginning of Judaism. At the beginning it was taught only by word of mouth and in the greatest secrecy. There are strong connections to Neo-Platonism, the Sophia tradition in Gnosticism. Qabalistic magic has become an important element in Hermetic and Rosicrucian theurgy.

500 (circa)
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite flourished, probably a native of Syria. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, also known as pseudo-Denys, is the anonymous theologian and philosopher of the 5th century whose Corpus Areopagiticum (body of works by the Areopagite) was pseudonymously ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite of Acts 17:34. The author was historically believed to be the Areopagite because he claimed acquaintance with biblical characters. His surviving works include the Divine Names, Celestial Hierarchy, Mystical Theology, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and various epistles. Some other works are no longer extant, such as Theological Outlines.

6th century CE
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The "Sefer Yetzirah," an important Qabalistic text, is edited. It is the earliest extant book on Jewish esotericism. The Sefer Yetzirah is devoted to speculations concerning God's creation of the world. The ascription of its authorship to the biblical patriarch Abraham shows the high esteem which it enjoyed for centuries. It may even be said that this work had a greater influence on the development of the Jewish mind than almost any other book after the completion of the Talmud. It later has a large influence on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

ca. 776
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Geber, the Arabian alchemist whose real name has been variously stated as Dschabir Ben Hayyan or Abou Moussah Djafar al Sofi, is active. According to the tenth-century Kitab-al-Fihrist, Geber was born at Tarsus and lived at Damascus and Kufa. Very little is known of his early life. He undertook wide experiments in metallurgy and chemistry with the object of discovering the constituent elements of metals, in the course of which he stumbled upon nitric acid and red oxide of mercury. It is upon such actual discoveries that his reputation is based, not upon the many spurious treatises that have been attributed to him and embrace the entire gamut of eighth-century science. His alleged extant works, which are in Latin, are regarded with suspicion, especially since several other medieval writers adopted his name. It is believed, however, that the library at Leyden and the Imperial Library at Paris contain Arabic manuscripts that might have been written by him. His books "Sum of Perfection" and "Investigation into the Perfection of Metals" are his most important works.

ca. 1004
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The Sword of Moses is the title of an early magical grimoire edited by Moses Gaster in 1896 from a 13th or 14th century manuscript. Gaster assumed that the text predates the 11th century, based on a letter by Haya Gaon (d. 1037) which mentions the book alongside the Sefer ha-Yashar, and that it may even date to as early as the first four centuries AD. Besides the medieval manuscript used by Gaster, only a short fragment of the text survives in Cod. Oxford 1531.

1054
Rome splits from orthodox church, forms Catholic church.

1099
Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon take Jerusalem back from the Turks. Bernard of Clairvaux shortly after this date initiates the founding of the Knights Templar.

1118
King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, grants the Knights Templar a place to live within the sacred enclosure of the Temple on Mount Moriah, on the site where King Solomon had once built his Great Temple. Hugh de Payens is chosen by the knights as the first Grand Master. According to legend, the Knights Templar in Jerusalem came to possess and guard the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, the True Cross, the Shroud of Turin, and the secret bloodline of a certain French dynasty.

1139
A Papal Bull is issued by Pope Innocent II stating that the Knights Templar shall owe allegiance to none other than the Pope.

1146
The Knights Templar order adopt the splayed red cross as their emblem. Soon the Order, first called the "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon" acquire a vast network of property and wealth. Many of the Kings of Europe come to owe the Order money, some even, their lives.
The Knights Templar had secrets. They were the only religious military Order with a secret initiation ritual. They maintained an esoteric symbolic system, and were exposed to much of the mystical philosophies of the Sufis, Albigenses, Waldensians, Gnostics, Druse, and Ishmaelites. These Poor Knights of the Temple would fight the 'enemies' of the Church ferociously in battle, but during peacetime, they studied them almost as earnestly.
According to legend, the interaction of the Knights Templar and Hasan I Sabah's, Assassins in the Holy Land transformed the Templars from the Pope's private army into an occult society that sowed the seeds of the Renaissance, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry.

ca. 1150
About the period of the first Crusades, alchemy shifts its center to Spain, where it had been introduced by the Arabian Moors. In the twelfth Century Artephius writes "The Art of Prolonging Human Life" and is reported to have lived throughout a period of one thousand years.
The "Turba philosophorum" is translated from Arabic. The "Turba Philosophorum" or assembly of the alchemical philosophers, introduces many of the key themes of the alchemical tradition and will often be quoted in later writings.

13th century CE
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The Picatrix ("The Goal of the Sage [in sorcery]") is a grimoire of uncertain origins, isprobably written circa 1200 AD. Offering talismanic and astrological guidance, the text clearly comes from a non-European ethos. It has been attributed to al-Majriti (an Andalusian mathematician), but this attribution is doubtful, and the author is sometimes listed as "Pseudo-Majriti". Originally written in Arabic, a Latin translation appeared in 1256 from the court of Alphonso X of Castile.
The book has a major influence on West European magical thinking from Marsilio Ficino in the 1400s, to Thomas Campanella in the 1600s, to Ivan Chtcheglov in the 20th century. The edition in the British Library passes through several hands: Simon Forman, Richard Napier, Elias Ashmole and William Lilly.

13th century CE
Sefer Raziel HaMalakh "Book of Raziel the Angel"), is medieval Qabalistic grimoire, primarily written in Hebrew and Aramaic, but surviving also in Latin translation, as Liber Razielis Archangeli, in a 13th century manuscript produced under Alfonso X.

13th century CE
The Sworn Book of Honorius, or Liber Juratus (also liber sacer, sacratus or consecratus, Sworn Book of Honorius) is a medieval grimoire. Its date of composition is uncertain, but it is mentioned as liber sacer in the 13th century, apparently asserting a high medieval date. Johannes Hartlieb (1456) mentions it as one of the books used in nigromancy. The oldest preserved manuscript dates to the 14th century, Sloane MS 3854 (fol 117-144). Sloane MS 313, dating to the late 14th or early 15th c. had been in the possession of John Dee. The book is one of the oldest existing medieval grimoires as well as one of the most influential. It is supposedly the product of a conference of magicians who decided to condense all their knowledge into one volume. In 93 chapters, it covers a large variety of topics, from how to save your soul from purgatory to catch thieves or find treasures. It has many instructions on how to conjure and command demons, to work other magical operations, and knowledge of what lies in Heaven among other highly sought information. Like many grimoires, it has lengthy dissertations for proper operation and seals to be used. The book can be classified as a "Solomonic Grimoire" due to its heavy use of angelic powers and seals like those found in The Greater Key of Solomon.

1206
Albertus Magnus - alchemist , scholar, philosopher, and scientist is born. No fewer than 21 alchemical folio volumes are attributed to him, though it is highly improbable that all of them are really his. The alchemist Michael Maier (author of Museum Chimicum), declared that Albertus had succeeded in evolving the philosophers' stone and passed it to his pupil Thomas Aquinas, who subsequently destroyed it, believing it to be diabolical. The alleged discoverer himself says nothing on this subject, but, in his De Rebus Metallicis et Mineralibus, he tells how he had personally tested some gold that had been manufactured by an alchemist, and it resisted many searching fusions.

1214
Roger Bacon, alchemist, occultist and Franciscan friar, is born. Bacon, also known as Doctor Mirabilis (Latin: "wonderful teacher"), eventually places considerable emphasis on empiricism and becomes one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method.

ca. 1225
Michael Scot writes "Liber introductorius" and "Liber particularis." Scot's writings on astrology, alchemy and the occult sciences form a trilogy, Liber introductorius, Liber particularis and Physionomia (De secretis nature). "Liber introductorius" is a compendium of astrological, scientific and general knowledge, for 'beginners.' "Liber particularis" is a more advanced treatment of the same topics, using Aristotle and Isidore of Seville extensively. Physionomia (De secretis nature)- is detailed treatise on human anatomy, physiology and reproduction, along with some zoology.

1230
Bartholomew Anglicus writes De rerum proprietatibus, and encyclopedic work including alchemy that becomes wildly popular.

1231
First mention of alchemy in French literature - Roman de la Rose. William de Loris writes Le Roman de Rose, assisted by Jean de Meung, who also wrote The Remonstrance of Nature to the Wandering Alchemist and The Reply of the Alchemist to Nature.
Albertus Magnus is born. The authority of Albertus Magnus (1234-1314) is undoubtedly to be respected, since he renounced all material advantages to devote the greater part of a long life to the study of alchemical philosophy in the seclusion of a cloister.

1232
Abraham Abulafia, Sicilian Qabalist, founder of ecstatic Kabbala, is born in Saragosa. Raymond Lull, an alchemist believed to possess titanic physical and mental energy, who threw himself heart and soul into everything he did, is born. Writings attributed to Lull include a number of works on alchemy, most notably "Alchimia Magic Naturalis," "De Aquis Super Accurtationes," "De Secretis Medicina Magna" and "De Conservatione Vitoe."

1235
Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, discusses transmutation of metals in "De artibus liberalibus" and "De generatione stellarum."

ca. 1235
Pope Honorius III, to whom a series of magical grimoires are attributed, passes.
Arnald of Villanova writes a number of important treatises on alchemy "Quaestiones tam esseentiales quam accidentales," "Epistola supe alchemia ad regem Neapolitanum," "De secretis naturae," "Exempla de arte philosophorum." Arnald of Villanova argues that alchemy must play an important role in the much needed reform of medicine. In this way new remedies and the elixir of life might be found. Like his friend, Peter d'Apona, Arnald of Villanova was accused of obtaining his knowledge from the devil and was charged by many different people with magical practices. Although he did not himself fall into the hands of the Inquisition, his books were condemned to be burnt in Tarragona by that body on account of their heretical content.

1240
The Dominican Thomas of Cantimpre mentions alchemy in his Liber de natura rerum.

1248
Joseph Gikatilla, Spanish Sephardic Qabalist, is born.

1250
"Liber Juratus," an early magical grimoire also called the Sworn Book of Honorius, is compiled by Honorius of Thebes, son of Euclid.
Vincent de Beauvais writes "Speculum Maius" (this encyclopaedia mentions alchemy in many places).

1256
King Alfonso the Wise of Castile orders translation of alchemical texts from Arabic. He is supposed to have written "Tesoro" a treatise on the Philosophers' stone.

1257
Franciscan friar Bonadventura d'Iseo's 'Liber Compostella' provides some alchemical recipes.

1259
Peter de Abano [Pietro d'Abano], Italian physician and philosopher to whom the magical grimoire, the "Heptameron," is attributed, is born. Professor of medicine in Padua.

ca. 1264
Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Regensburg, writes "De mineralibus."

1266
Roger Bacon writes "Opus maius."

1267
Roger Bacon writes "Opus tertium," in which he comments that although many physicians use chemical processes to prepare their medicines, very few of them know how to make metals and fewer still knew how to perform those works which led to the prolongation of life.

ca. 1270
Thomas Aquinas is sympathetic to the idea of alchemical transmutation in his Summa theologia. In his Thesaurus Alchimae, Aquinus speaks openly of the successes of Albertus and himself in the art of transmutation.

1272
Provincal Chapter at Narbonne forbids the Franciscans to practice alchemy.

1273
Dominican order at Pest warns friars not to study or teach alchemy.

1275
Ramon Lull writes "Ars Magna."

1280
Albertus Magnus passes.

ca. 1280
"Sefer Ha-Zohar," an essential Qabalistic text, is written by Moses de León but attributed to Simon ben Yohai.

1292
Abraham Abulafia passes.

1294
Roger Bacon passes.

1307
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King Philip IV of France (1268-1314), already heavily in debt to the Knights Templar requests a further loan. The request is refused and King Philip orders the arrest of all Knight Templars in France.
11 October - Templar ships leave La Rochelle, heading to Scotland with much of their wealth. On Friday the 13th, in October, Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and 60 of his senior knights are arrested in Paris and charged with heresy. Many confess under torture. Pope Clement V initiates enquiries into the order and thousands of Knights Templar are arrested across Europe.

ca. 1310
Dante begins work on his Divine Comedy.

ca. 1311
Arnald of Villanova passes.

1312
The Knights Templar become extinct when the order is dissolved by the Council of Vienne. All the property owned by the Templars is transferred to the Knights of St. John ( The Hospitallers).

1313
Friars Minors' Constitution generales antique forbids the friars to practice alchemy.

1314
March 18 - Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake. According to legend, upon the execution of Jacques de Molay, Peter d'Aumont, the Provincial Grand Master of Auvergne, with two Commanders and five Knights, flee for safety and direct their course toward Scotland, concealing themselves during their journey under the disguise of Operative Masons. Upon landing on the Scottish Island of Mull they there meet the Grand Commander George Harris and several other brethren, with whom they resolve to continue the Order. d'Aumont is elected Grand Master. To protect themselves from all chance of discovery and persecution they adopt symbols taken from architecture and assume the title of Freemasons. In 1361 the Grand Master of the Temple transfers the seat of the Order to the old city of Aberdeen, and from that time it spreads, under the guise of Freemasonry, through Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, and other places. Albertus Magnus passes.

1316
Peter de Abano passes.

1317
Pope John XXII's Papal Bull, "Spondet quas non exhibent," is issued against those who practice alchemy.
The Cistercians ban alchemy.

1318
The monk Adolf Meutha is driven from the Cistercian Monastery at Walkenried for practicing alchemy.

1320
John Dastin, an English alchemist of the fourteenth century, corresponds with Pope John XXII, in defense of alchemical practice. Work attributed to Dastin is included in the 1625 "Harmoniae imperscrutabilis Chymico-Philosophicae of Hermannus Condeesyanus," the 1629 "Fasciculus Chemicus of Arthur Dee," and the 1652 "Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum" of Elias Ashmole.

1323
Dominicans in France prohibit the teaching of alchemy at the University of Paris, and demand the burning of alchemical writings. Joseph Gikatilla passes.

1329
King Edward III requests Thomas Cary to find two alchemists who have escaped, and to find the secret of their art.

1330
Nicolas Flamel is born. Flamel becomes a successful writer, manuscript-seller, and alchemist. Flamel is attributed as the author of the "Livre des Figures Hiéroglypiques," an alchemical book published in Paris in 1612 then in London in 1624 as 'Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures.' Flamel is reputed to have succeeded in the two goals of Hermetic alchemy - to have made the Philosopher's Stone which turns lead into gold, and to have achieved immortality in a single incarnation, together his wife Perenelle.
Pope John XXII gives funds to his physician to set up a laboratory for a "certain secret work."

1335
Petrus Bonus of Ferrara writes "Pretiosa margarita novella," an alchemical text that reflects the influence of scholasticism in its tripartite structure. Arguments in favor of alchemical transmutation follow are followed by initial refutations, and these in turn are followed by positive answers to the objections. Bonus' supposed "Introductio In Divinam Chemicae Artem" will not be printed much until 1572.
Raymond Lull passes.

1339
Pope Benedict XII orders an investigation into the alchemical activities of some clerics and monks.

ca. 1352
The alchemical text "Liber de secretis naturae seu de quinta essentia" appears and is traditionally ascribed to Lull. John of Rupescissa is the actual author, however.

1356
Pope Innocent VI imprisons the Catalan alchemist John of Rupescissa, who insists that the only real purpose of alchemy is to benefit mankind. Rupescissa's works abound with medicinal preparations derived from metals and minerals and he emphasizes distillation processes which seemingly separate pure quintessences from the gross matter of natural substances.

1357
Hortulanus' commentary on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes appears.

ca. 1358
Francesco Petrarch discusses alchemy in "De remediis utriusque fortunae."

1370
William Langland's "Piers Plowman" criticizes alchemists as deceivers.

1374
John of Livania, Canon in Trier, writes three books on the vanity of alchemy.

1376
The "Dominican Directorium inquisitorum," the textbook for inquisitors, places alchemists among magicians and wizards.

1378
According to the Confessio Fraternitatis "our Christian Father", also known as Frater C.R.C. and Christian Rosenkreutz, the founder of the Rosicrucian tradition, is born.

1380
King Charles V the Wise issues a decree forbidding alchemical experiments.

1388
Geoffrey Chaucer Canterbury Tales discuss alchemy in the Canon's Yeoman's Tale.

1394
Christian Rosenkreuz begins his pilgrimage at the age of sixteen. This leads him to Arabia, Egypt and Morocco, where he comes into contact with sages of the East, who reveal to him the "universal harmonic science". After learning Arabic philosophy in Jerusalem, he was led to Damyar in Yemen. Then he stops briefly in Egypt, soon afterwards he embarking to Fes, a center of philosophical and occult studies, such as the alchemy of Abu-Abdallah, Gabir ben Hayan, and Imam Jafar al Sadiq, the astrology and magic of Ali-ash-Shabramallishi, and the esoteric science of Abdarrahman ben Abdallah al Iskari.

15th century CE
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The "Munich Manual of Demonic Magic" (CLM 849 of the Bavarian State Library, Munich) fifteenth century grimoire manuscript. The text is largely concerned with Demonology and Necromancy.

1403
King Henry IV of England issues a prohibition of alchemy.

1415
An early arly German manuscript appears, "Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit," paralleling the Christ and the Philosophers' stone.

1417
Nicolas Flamel passes.

1433
Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher is born. Under the patronage of the de'Medicis, Ficino translates many Greek classics including the "Corpus Hermeticum."

1144
Earliest dated Western alchemical treatise, "De compositione alchemiae," is written by Robert of Chester.

ca. 1450
Printing technology is developed. Cosimo de Medici asks Marsilio Ficino to set up the Platonic academy in Florence.

1450s
The grimoire known as the Book of Abramelin is framed as a sort of epistolary novel or autobiography in which Abraham of Worms describes his journey from Germany to Egypt and reveals Abramelin's magical and Qabalistic secrets to his son Lamech. Internally the text dates itself to the year 1458. The Book of Abramelin tells the story of an Egyptian mage named Abramelin, or Abra-Melin, who teaches a system of magic to Abraham of Worms, a German Jew presumed to have lived from c.1362 - c.1458. The magic described in the book was to find new life in the 19th and 20th centuries thanks to S.L. MacGregor Mathers' translation, "The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage," its import within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and later within the mystical system of Thelema (established in 1904 by Aleister Crowley). Unfortunately, Mathers used the least-reliable manuscript copy as the basis for his translation and his translation contains many errors and omissions. The later English translation by Georg Dehn and Steven Guth, based on the earliest and most complete sources, is more scholarly and comprehensive. Dehn attributed authorship of The Book of Abramelin to Rabbi Yaakov Moelin (ca. 1365-1427), a German Jewish Talmudist.

1453
The fall of Constantinople to the Turks causes the dispersal and spread of Greek manuscripts and scholarship.

1455
Johannes Reuchlin, German humanist and lawyer, is born. Reuchlin writes on Qabalah for Christians.

1456
Twelve men petition Henry VI of England for a license to practice alchemy.

1462
Johannes Trithemius is born at Trittenheim on the Moselle. Trithemius becomes a famous scholar, magician, alchemist, and Benedictine abbot.

1463
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian Rennaissance philosopher and scholar is born.

1466
Francesco Giorgi, Venetian philosopher and early Christian Qabalist, is born. Author of De Harmonia Mundi (Venits, 1525).

1470
"Der Antichrist und die funfzehn Zeichnen" (the book of the antichrist) associates alchemists with demons and Satan.

1471
Ficino's translation of the Corpus Hermeticum is published. This text was of great influence in the revival of Natural Magic, Astrology, and Alchemy.
Sir George Ripley, a famous 15th century English alchemist, second only to Roger Bacon, writes "The Compound of Alchymy; or, the Twelve Gates leading to the Discovery of the Philosopher's Stone", dedicated to King Edward IV and highly appreciated by him. Ripley studied for twenty years in Italy where he became a great favorite of Pope Innocent VIII. . His twenty-five volume work upon Alchemy, of which the "Liber Duodecem Portarum" was the most important, brought him considerable fame.

1474
Ferdinand and Isabella ascend to the throne in Spain and Austria.

ca. 1474
Christopher of Paris writes the alchemical text, "Elucidarius."

ca. 1475
The Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, 'the most precious gift of God', is an important early alchemical work, with a famous series of 12 illustrations. There exist well over 60 manuscripts of the Donum Dei, the earliest dating from the 15th century.

1476
George Ripley writes "Medulla alchemiae."

1477
Thomas Norton writes "Ordinall of Alchimy," which illustrates an increasing use of allegorical and mystical themes typifying alchemical texts of the late fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries.

1483
Martin Luther is born Eisleben, Saxony, Germany. Luther eventually becomes the Father of Protestantism in Christianity.

1484
Christian Rosenkreutz, Frater C.R.C., the founder of the Rosicrucian tradition, passes according to the "Confessio Fraternitatis." Avicenna writes "De anima."

1485
"Summa perfectionis," attributed to Geber, is published. In this important alchemical text, the sulphur-mercury theory forms the theoretical basis for an understanding of the metals, and the alchemist is informed that he must arrange these substances in perfect proportions for the consummation of the Great Work. Geber describes in considerable detail the laboratory processes and equipment of the alchemist.

1486
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, an important magical author, is born in Cologne Germany. The 'Malleus Maleficarum' is published and becomes a major instrument of witch hunters. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, at the age of twenty-three, proposes to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy and magic against all comers, for which he writes the famous Oration on the Dignity of Man which has been called the "Manifesto of the Renaissance" and a key text of Renaissance humanism.

1488
The figure of Hermes Trismegistus is put into the mosaic pavement in Sienna Cathedral.

1489
Ficino's "Libri de Vita" is published.

1492
Ferdinand and Isabella expel Jews from Spain, the center of Qabalistic activity passes, causing the dispersal and spread of Jewish and Qabalistic manuscripts and scholarship. Columbus discovers the New World.

1493
Paracelsus, alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist, is born. Born Phillip von Hohenheim, he later takes up the name Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, and still later takes the title, Paracelsus, meaning "equal to or greater than Celsus." Celsus was a Roman encyclopedist from the first century known for his tract on medicine. Paracelsus is tutored by Trithemius, according to his own account. Paracelsus expresses an interest in transmutation, but is primarily concerned with the medical applications of alchemy. Paracelsus regularly used the Aristotelian elements, but he also introduced the tria prima-the principles of Salt. Sulphur, and Mercury.
The latter were a modification of the older sulphur-mercury theory of the metals, but they differed from the older concept in that they were to apply to all things rather than being limited to the metals alone.

1494
Reuchlin's "De Verbo Mirifico" is published.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola passes.
Sebastian Brandt's "The ship of fools" derisively discusses methods used by "cheating alchemists."

1497
"Tractatus contra alchymistas" written by a Dominican questions the genuineness of alchemical gold.

1499
Marsilio Ficino passes.

16th century CE
The Greater Key of Solomon, Clavis Salomonis, or Clavicula Salomonis is a medieval book on magic falsely attributed to King Solomon. Most manuscripts date to the 16th or 17th century, but a prototype in Greek still survives from the 15th century. It is sometimes used as a grimoire. It is possible that the Key of Solomon inspired later works such as the Lemegeton, also called The Lesser Key of Solomon, although there are many differences between the books. What may have inspired the Lemegeton are the conjurations and rituals of purification, and in a less important way, the clothing and magic symbols.
Judging by its style of writing, the book was written in the Middle Ages. Many books attributed to King Solomon were written in this period, which was underscored by the Crusades and the influence that the contact with Jewish qabalists and Arab alchemists had on European magicians and demonologists. Unlike other similar books, the Key of Solomon does not mention any of the seventy-two spirits constrained by King Solomon in a bronze vessel as the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (16th century) and the 17th century Lemegeton seal of the demons do. What the Key of Solomon describes is not the appearance or work of any demon but only the necessary drawings to prepare each experiment. The book contains several paragraphs and terms inspired by Talmudic texts and the Jewish Qabalah teaching.

16th century CE
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The grimoire, "Pseudomonarchia Daemonum," (Hierarchy of Demons) first appears as an Appendix to Johann Weyer's De praestigiis daemonum. The title of the book translates roughly to "false monarchy of demons". A grimoire similar in nature to the Ars Goetia, the first book of The Lesser Key of Solomon, it contains a list of demons, and the appropriate hours and rituals to conjure them. The book was written before known copies of The Lesser Key of Solomon, and has some differences. There are sixty-eight demons listed (instead of seventy-two), and the order of the spirits varies, as well as some of their characteristics. The demons Vassago, Seere, Dantalion and Andromalius are not listed in this book. Pseudomonarchia Daemonum does not attribute seals to the demons, as The Lesser Key of Solomon does. Weyer referred to his source manuscript as Liber officiorum spirituum, seu Liber dictus Empto. Salomonis, de principibus et regibus daemoniorum. (Book of the offices of spirits, or the book of saying of Empto. Solomon concerning the princes and kings of demons).

1500
Hieronymus from Braunschweig in Germany was born in 1450 and died around 1512. His great contribution to human knowledge was his "Liber de arte distillandi. Das buch der rechten kunst zu distillieren. It was so popular that it was issued in many editions in German, Latin and English throughout the 16th century. The first part of the work dealt with the methods and apparatus for the distillation of plant or animal products. The second part, is a compendium of the traditional herbal texts, and the third part provides a list plant remedies made by distillation grouped under the conditions they are to treat.

1505
"Bergbuchlein" provides the first published information on traditions of mining.

1510
Agrippa's "De Occulta Philosophia" finished. Guillaume Postel, French mathematician, Qabalist, and mystic is born.

1516
Johannes Trithemius passes.

1517
Reuchlin's "De Arte Cabalistica" is published; Martin Luther posts his theses marking the beginning of Christian Protestantism.

1522
Johannes Reuchlin passes.

1525
Giorgi's "De Harmonia Mundi" is published.

1527
John Dee, noted Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, occultist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I, is born in London. Dee also devotes much of his life to alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. Dee straddles the worlds of science and magic just as they are becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his time, Dee lectures to crowded halls at the University of Paris when still in his early twenties. He becomes a student of Nicholas Flamel. Dee becomes an ardent promoter of mathematics, a respected astronomer and a leading expert in navigation, training many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery (he coins the term "British Empire"). At the same time, he immerses himself deeply in magic and Hermetic philosophy, devoting the last third of his life almost exclusively to these pursuits. For Dee, as with many of his contemporaries, these activities are not contradictory, but particular aspects of a consistent world-view.
Maximillian II is born.

1530
More than eighty years before the publication of the Rosicrucian manifestos, the association of cross and rose already exists in Portugal in the Convent of the Order of Christ, home of the Knights Templar, later renamed Order of Christ. Three bocetes are already on the ab—boda of the initiation room. The rose can clearly be seen at the center of the cross. At the same time, a minor writing by Paracelsus called "Prognosticatio Eximii Doctoris Paracelsi" (1530) contains a reference to, and image of, a double cross over an open rose. In 1886, the occultist Stanislas de Guaita, "Au seuil du Myst�ère" uses this, Paracelsus' writing, and other examples, to argue that the "Fraternity of the Rose Cross" existed far earlier than 1614.
Georgius Agricola Bermannus', book on mining and extraction of ores is published.

1531
"Libri tres de occulta philosophia" (Three Books about Occult Philosophy) is Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's study of occult philosophy, acknowledged as a significant contribution to the Renaissance philosophical discussion concerning the powers of ritual magic and its relationship with religion. The three books deal with Elemental, Celestial and Intellectual magic. The books outline the four elements, astrology, qabalah, numbers, angels, gods names, the virtues and relationships with each other as well as methods of utilizing these relationships and laws in medicine, scrying, alchemy, ceremonies, origins of what are from the Hebrew, Greek, and Chaldean context.
These arguments were common amongst other hermetic philosophers at the time and before. In fact, Agrippa's interpretation of magic is similar to the authors Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Johann Reuchlin's synthesis of magic and religion. Unlike many grimoires of the time, before and past, these books are more scholarly and intellectual than mysterious and foreboding. These books are often read as authoritative by those interested in the occult even today.

1532
The earliest version of the Splendor Solis, one of the most beautiful of illuminated alchemical manuscripts. The work consists of a sequence of 22 elaborate images, set in ornamental borders and niches. The symbolic process shows the classical alchemical death and rebirth of the king, and incorporates a series of seven flasks, each associated with one of the planets. Within the flasks a process is shown involving the transformation of bird and animal symbols into the Queen and King, the white and the red tincture. This echoes the Pretiosissimum Donum Dei sequence which is probably earlier, dating from the 15th century. Although the style of the Splendor Solis illuminations suggest an earlier date, they are quite clearly of the 16th century.
The Splendor Solis was associated with the legendary Salomon Trismosin, allegedly the teacher of Paracelsus. The Trismosin writings were later published with woodcut illustrations, in the Aureum Vellus, oder Guldin Schatz und Kunst-kammer, 1598, which was reprinted a number of times. A French translation, entitled La Toyson d'or, ou la fleur des thresors was issued in Paris in 1612 with a number of very fine engravings, some copies of which were hand-coloured.

1533
Agrippa's "De Occulta Philosopha" is published.
Isaak Luria, Jewish Qabalist, is born in Jerusalem.
September 7 - Queen Elizabeth I is born at Greenwich palace in London.

1535
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa passes.
Giambattista della Porta, Author of "Magia naturalis" (Natural Magic) (1585, 1589), is born in Naples.

1538
Reginald Scot, Author of "Discoverie of Witchcraft" (1584), is born.

1540
Julius Sperber, also known under the pseudonym, Julianus de Campis, is born. Alchemist, Qabalist, and mystical writer, Sperber becomes one of the co-founders of the Rosicrucian order. His most important work, "das Echo der von Gott hocherleuchteten Fraternitet des Lobl. Ordens R.C." (1615 and 1620) (The Echo from the divinely enlightened Fraternity R+C), counts as one of the most important early Rosicrucian texts. Sperber writes that the Rosicrucian order is not newly founded, but is the inheritor of ancient wisdom descending from the Chaldeans and Egyptians. Sperber practices astrology, alchemy, and theurgy, which he calls "Divine Magic," and is one of the earliest to write of a Rosicrucian fraternity.
Francesco Giorgi passes.
Faust passes according to legend.
"De la pirotechnia," an important manual on metalworking by Italian metallurgist, Vannoccio Biringuccio, is published. Biringuccio is considered by some as the father of the foundry industry as De la pirotechnia is the first written account of proper foundry practice.

1541
Paracelsus passes.
"In hoc volumine alchemia," the first alchemical compendium, is published.

1542
The Inquisition is established in Rome.

1546
Martin Luther passes.
Petrus Bonus' Pretiosa margarita novella of 1335 printed.

1548
Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher is born in Nola Italy.

1550
The Rosarium philosophorum, attributed to Attributed to Arnoldo di Villanova (1235-1315), is first published, although it had circulated in manuscript form for centuries. It is published in Frankfurt, as the 2nd volume of a work known as 'De Alchimia Opuscula Complura Veterum Philosophorum'. The Rosarium philosophorum contains 20 woodcut illustrations depicting one of the important themes in alchemy, the role played by the sexual union of man and woman in the rectification and multiplication of the philosopher's stone. In the true "Opus Magnum," the secret fire of sexuality is one of the subtle fires used to cook the true "Prima Materia," the physical body, with the goal of the spiritualization of matter in order to cultivate the energetic bodies, such as the "astral" or "lunar" body.

1552
Emperor Rudolph II is born. Astronomy and alchemy become mainstream science in Renaissance Prague and Rudolf was a firm devotee of both. His lifelong quest is to find the Philosophers Stone and Rudolf spares no expense in bringing Europe's best alchemists to court, such as Edward Kelley and John Dee. Rudolf even performs his own experiments in a private alchemical laboratory. While Rudolf is still a prince, Nostradamus prepares a horoscope dedicated to him as 'Prince and King'. Rudolf gives Prague a mystical reputation that persists in part to this day, with Alchemists' Alley on the grounds of Prague Castle becoming a popular visiting place.
Guillaume Postel publishes a Latin translation of "Sefer Yetzirah," an important Qabalistic work, which later influences the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Francesco Giorgi passes.
Faust passes according to legend.

1554
Society of Jesus (Jesuits) founded.

1555
Edward Kelley, an important Renaissance magician and alchemist, is born. First edition of Alessio Piemontese "Secreti." The most famous sixteenth-century book of secrets is a work attributed to Alessio Piemontese, I Secreti del reverendo donno Alessio Piemontese (1555; The secrets of Alessio). "Books of secrets" become one of the most popular genres in early modern science publishing, the collections of recipes known as began to stream from the presses in the mid-sixteenth century and were printed continuously down to the eighteenth century.

1556
"De Re Metallica," Georgius Agricola's (1494-1555) best known work, is published as a systematic examination of mining and metallurgy as practiced in the sixteenth-century mining center of Joachimsthal in Czechoslovakia. Agricola was a medical doctor there and observed at first hand the mining operations commonly used as well as the ill effects on miners. Agricola described all mining operations in great detail including prospecting, administration, the use of water power and the transport of ores. He described for the first time the preparation of nitric acid and saltpeter. Illustrated with 292 large woodcut illustrations, De Re Metallica exerted great influence on geology, chemistry, mining technology and metallurgy. It was frequently reprinted and remained a standard work for more than 100 years.

1657
The "Ars Notoria" is a grimoire of magical invocations and prayers attributed to Solomon and therefore related to the celebrated Key of Solomon the King, one of the most famous grimoires. Ars Notoria is known in the English translation of Robert Turner (Sloane Manuscript 3648, British Library, London), published by him in 1657.

1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
. Giambattista della Porta's "Magia Naturalis" is published.
The Zohar, and essential Qabalistic text, is printed.
Giambattista della Porta publishes is first work, "Magiae naturalis"- "Natural Magic" in "four" books (written, according to the author, "Porta, " when he was fifteen years old. It will later be expanded to twenty books compended into one volume in 1584. In this form the book has a great vogue, being translated from the original Latin into the principal European languages, and republished in the Latin edition in many places for a hundred years. "Magiae naturalis" is a work on popular science, cosmology, geology, optics, plant products, medicines, poisons, cooking etc. Included are books on transmutation of the metals, distillation, etc.

1560
Heinrich Khunrath is born in Leipzig. It is evident that the first Rosicrucian manifesto, the "Fama Fraternitatis," is influenced by the work of this respected Hermetic philosopher and author of "Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae" (1609), a work on the mystical aspects of alchemy, which contains the oft-seen engraving entitled "The First Stage of the Great Work," better-known as the "Alchemist's Laboratory."

ca. 1560
Adam von Bodenstein begins his work of editing various writings of Paracelsus.

1561
Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, and essayist best known as a philosophical advocate and defender of the scientific revolution, is born. His works established and popularized an inductive methodology for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method or simply, the scientific method. In the context of his time such methods were connected with the occult trends of hermeticism and alchemy. For Bacon, alchemy was a major field of experimental science and he explicitly stated that one of its goals was the search for a lengthened life span. Certain modern, nominally Rosicrucian groups claim that Christian Rosenkreuz is a pseudonym for Francis Bacon.
Peter Perna prints "Verae alchemiae artisque metallicae," a compendium of 53 alchemical treatises.

1564
"Monas Hieroglyphica" (The Hieroglyphic Monad), although published by John Dee at age 37, is considered valuable by him throughout his life. The Monas, Dee's enigmatic treatise on symbolic language, is a highly esoteric work that Dee wrote in thirteen days. The essay explains his discovery of the monad (unity) underlying the universe as expressed in a hieroglyph or symbol. Dee calls this "Hieroglyphic Monad," a "magical parable" based on the Doctrine of Correspondences, which lies at the heart of alchemy. Through careful meditation and study of the glyph, Dee promises, its secrets may be slowly revealed. He claims it will revolutionize astronomy, alchemy, and mathematics. This work has a profound influence on the respected Hermetic philosopher, Heinrich Kunrath, who in turn has a profound influence on the first Rosicrucian manifesto.
"Il metamorfosi metallico et humano" is published by Giovanni Battista Nazari. There is an interesting series of woodcuts in the important allegorical work by Nazari. The first two images were in the first edition, however, a further four illustrations were added to the second and third editions, which were retitled Della tramutatione metallica sogni tre..., and issued in 1572 and 1599. The illustrations are reminiscent of woodcuts in the famous Hypnerotomachia Poliphilio, 1499.

1566
Michael Maier, Rosicrucian alchemist, and philosopher, physician to Emperor Rudolph II, is born. Meier becomes one of the most prominent defenders of the Rosicrucians, clearly transmitting details about the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" in his writings. Maier makes the firm statement that the Brothers of R.C. exist to advance and inspire arts and sciences, including alchemy. Maier's never claims to have produced gold, nor does Heinrich Khunrath nor any of the other Rosicrucians alchemists. Their writings rather view Alchemy as a Path of Initiation, a "Hermetic Inner Alchemy" that produces spiritual development through the development of subtle and energetic bodies.

1572
Isaak Luria passes.
Peter Perna prints the compendium of alchemical treatises, "Alchemiae quam vocant."

1574
Robert Fludd, English physician, philosopher, and mystic, is born. Flood becomes an English Paracelsian doctor with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Hermetic tradition who defends the Rosicrucians against their detractors between 1616 and 1633. Robert Fludd defended the chemically oriented views of the Rosicrucians and he described his mystical alchemical interpretation of nature and supernature in a series of folio volumes on the macrocosm and the microcosm. Here he placed considerable emphasis on an alchemical interpretation of the Creation and he utilized mechanical examples to support his views. His work gave support to the alchemical plea for a new science and it was viewed with alarm by Johannes Kepler, Marin Mersenne, and Pierre Gassendi.
Peter Perna prints the collected works of Paracelsus in Latin.

1575
The "Arbatel Of Magic," an important magical grimoire, first appears. The text is in Latin and appears to have been influenced by Paracelsus. It is of Christian, not Jewish, origin. Only one of its nine volumes still exists: dealing with the institutions of magic, the work is entitled Isagoge, which means "essential or necessary instruction." The book introduces the ritual of the Olympic spirits who dwell in the air and among the stars and who govern the world.
Jakob Böhme, German Christian mystic, is born. Böhme's writing shows the influence of Neo platonist and alchemical writers such as Paracelsus, while remaining firmly within a Christian tradition. He has in turn greatly influenced many anti-authoritarian and mystical movements, including the Rosicrucian tradition. Böhme was also an important source of German Romantic philosophy, influencing Schelling in particular.

1576
Maximillian II passes.

1577
Jan Baptista van Helmont is born. There are three short mentions of Jan Baptista van Helmont's [1577-1644] experiences with transmutation contained in his collected writings edited by his son Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont [1618-1699] under the title Oriatrike or, Physick Refined... London 1662. Jean Baptiste van Helmont describes in detail his transmutation of mercury to gold by means of a small sample of the philosopher's stone. Van Helmont sought a chemical understanding of man through medicine but, in contrast to Fludd and most Paracelsians, he rejected the macrocosm-microcosm analogy. Van Helmont thus was less interested in macrocosmic and geocosmic phenomena than Fludd and he concentrated more on practical and theoretical medical questions.

1580
Rabbi Judah Loew the Maharal of Prague, a 16th century rabbi. He is reported to have created this year a golem to defend the Prague ghetto of Josefov from Anti-Semitic attacks. The story of the Golem first appeared in print in 1847 in a collection of Jewish tales entitled Galerie der Sippurim, published by Wolf Pascheles of Prague. In Jewish folklore, a golem (????, sometimes, as in Yiddish, pronounced goilem) is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter.

1581
John Dee and Edward Kelley begin their Enochian "mystical experiments."
Guillaume Postel passes.

1582
Hieronymus Reusner's Pandora contains a series of 18 woodcuts. This series of emblems is based on one of the earliest German alchemical manuscripts "Der buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit," made 170 years earlier.
Edward Kelley embarks on his public alchemical transmutations in Prague.

1584
Bruno's "Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast" is published.

1586
Johann Valentin Andreae is born. Andreae eventually claims authorship of the anonymously published Chymische Hochzeit ("Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz").
Andreae becomes a practicing alchemist and a member of a secret alchemical society known as "Die Unzertrennlichen." Most modern scholars attribute the authorship of the Rosicrucian manifestos to the circle of individuals around Andreae in Tubingen, Germany.

1595
"Alchymia" is written by Andreas Libavius (1540 - 1616)
German Andreas Libau German is chemist, physician, and alchemist who made important chemical discoveries but is most noted as the author of the first modern chemistry textbook. Of his numerous works, all of which were noted for clear, unambiguous writing, Alchymia (1606; "Alchemy") is the most important. Although he was a firm believer in the transmutation of base metals into gold, Libavius was renowned for his vitriolic attacks against the mysticism and secretiveness of his fellow alchemists.
John Dee's "Hieroglyphic Monad" is reprinted.
Edward Kelley passes.

1599
Reginald Scot passes.
1599
First appearance of a work of Basil Valentine, the German adept and Benedictine monk, in alchemical philosophy is commonly supposed to have been born at Mayence toward the close of the fourteenth century. His works will eventually include the "Triumphant Chariot of Antimony," "Apocalypsis Chymica," "De Microcosmo degue Magno Mundi Mysterio et Medecina Hominis" and "Practica un cum duodecim Clavibus et Appendice."
The Book of Lambspring is included in Barnaud's Triga Chemica. The Book of Lambspring is a short work with an introductory section in verse and an emblem showing a threefold furnace. Following the tradition of emblem books of the period its series of fifteen emblems each bears a motto or title with a verse on the facing page.

17th century CE
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The "Lesser Key of Solomon" (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis) (the Clavicula Salomonis, or Key of Solomon is an earlier book on the subject), is an anonymous 17th century grimoire, and one of the most popular books of demonology. It has also long been widely known as the Lemegeton, although that name is considered incorrect because it depends on faulty Latin. It appeared in the 17th century, but much was taken from texts of the 16th century, including the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, by Johann Weyer, and late-medieval grimoires. It is likely that books by Jewish qabalists and Muslim mystics were also inspirations. Some of the material in the first section, concerning the summoning of demons, dates to the 14th century or earlier. The book claims that it was originally written by King Solomon, although this is certainly incorrect. The titles of nobility assigned to the demons were unknown in his time, as were the prayers to Jesus and the Christian Trinity included in the text. The Lesser Key of Solomon contains detailed descriptions of spirits and the conjurations needed to invoke and oblige them to do the will of the conjurer (referred to as the "exorcist"). It details the protective signs and rituals to be performed, the actions necessary to prevent the spirits from gaining control, the preparations prior to the invocations, and instructions on how to make the necessary instruments for the execution of these rituals. The several original copies extant vary considerably in detail and in the spellings of the spirits' names. Contemporary editions are widely available in print and on the Internet. The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King (Clavicula Salomonis Regis) is a 1904 translation of the text by Samuel Mathers and Aleister Crowley. It is essentially a manual that gives instructions for summoning 72 different spirits and is derived from one book of the Lemegaton.

1600
Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake in Rome.

1602
Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit scholar who eventually publishes around 40 works, is born. Kircher writes in the fields of oriental studies, geology, and medicine and made an early study of Egyptian hieroglyphs. He has been compared to Leonardo da Vinci for his inventiveness and the breadth and depth of his work. A scientific star in his day, towards the end of his life he is eclipsed by the rationalism of René Descartes and others. In the late 20th century, however, the aesthetic qualities of his work again began to be appreciated. One scholar, Edward W. Schmidt, has calls Kircher "the last Renaissance man".
William Lilly, astrologer and translator of Trithemius, is born in Diseworth, county Leicester, England.
Publication of the first volumes (I-IV) of the substantial compendium of alchemical texts known as the Theatrum Chemicum. (Theatrum chemicum, præcipuos selectorum auctorum tractatus de chemiæ et lapidis philosophici antiquitate, veritate, iure, præstantia et operationibus, continens...) by Zetzner in Ursel.

1603
Adrian von Mynsicht, an important German alchemist, is born. Writing under the pseudonym, Henricus Madathanus, von Mynsicht is best known for the allegorical work "Aureum Saeculum Redivivum" (1621).
Queen Elizabeth I passes;
James I accends to the throne.

1604
The tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz, later known as the Vault of the Adepti, is opened according to the Confessio Fraternitatis, which leads to the rebirth of the Rosicrucian tradition at the time of the publication of the Rosicrucian manifestos.
Simon Studion's "Naometria" (Naometria ms. Novum lumen chemicum) is published in Tubingen, Germany. The "Naometria" is seen as primary source material for the "Fama Fraternitatis," embodying ideas for spiritual reformation and the transformation of society. Studion employs the images of the rose and cross in this groundbreaking work and mentions a society called the Militia Crucifera Evangelica. Many scholars see this society as a precursor of the Rosicrucian brotherhood.
A manuscript of the first Rosicrucian manifesto, the "Fama Fraternitatis," is alleged to begin circulation in Tubingen among the circle around Johan Valentiine Andreae. Andrae is a student in Tubingen since 1601. The authorship of the Fama Fraternitatis is doubtlessly influenced by, Christoph Besold, a university professor who himself is influenced by Studion's "Naometria."
Basil Valentine's "The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony" is first published as "Triumph-Wagen Antimonii... An Tag geben durch Johann Thölden. Mit einer Vorrede, Doctoris Joachimi Tanckii., Leipsig, 1604." In this work, much commented upon in 17th and 18th century alchemical works, Valentine extols antimony as an excellent medicine. The volume also embodies a lengthy metrical treatise on the philosophers' stone.

1605
Heinrich Kunrath passes.

1606
Trithemius' "Stenagraphia" is published.

1608
John Dee passes.

1609
The "Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae," written by Heinrich Kunrath is published. It is a work on the mystical aspects of alchemy, which contains the oft-seen engraving entitled "The First Stage of the Great Work," better-known as the "Alchemist's Laboratory."
Oswald Croll publishes the "Basilica chemica." Oswald Croll was professor of medicine at the University of Marburg and was one of the great propagandists for the chemical approach to medicine. Many consider him responsible for gaining official recognition for the medicinal value of many of the chemicals advocated by the followers of Paracelsus. Croll's Latin treatise Basilica chymica (or 'Royal Chemistry') was published in Frankfurt in the year of his death, 1609, and it became immensely popular and the standard introduction to chemical medicine (often termed iatrochemistry). It set out the methods of preparation of the chemicals as well as the contents of compound remedies in far greater detail and organization than could be found in the vague and abstruse writings of Paracelsus himself or of many of his subsequent enthusiasts.

1610
Jean Beguin publishes the "Tyrocinium chymicum," a published set of chemistry lecture notes started in Paris, France. It has been suggested that it was the first chemistry text book (as opposed to alchemy). Many of the preparations were pharmaceutical in nature.
The Alchemist, written by Ben Jonson (1573-1637), presents a satirical window through which we can see one way in which alchemy was perceived in the opening decade of the 17th century. Jonson was one of the foremost of the Jacobean dramatists. He displays considerable understanding of alchemy and makes many jokes based on its symbolism (and in two places even refers to Dee and Kelly).

1612
Emperor Rudolph II passes.
The "Livre des figures hiéroglypiques" attributed to Nicholas Flamel is published for the first time. In its publisher's introduction Flamel's search for the Philosopher's Stone is described. According to it, Flamel made it his life's work to understand the text of the mysterious 21-page book he had purchased, and that around 1378, he traveled to Spain for assistance with translation. On the way back, he reported that he met a sage, who identified Flamel's book as being a copy of the original Book of Abraham also known as the Codex. With this knowledge, over the next few years Flamel and his wife allegedly decoded enough of the book to successfully replicate its recipe for the Philosopher's Stone, producing first silver in 1382, then gold, and ultimately achieving immortality.
The Lexicon alchemiae (Dictionary of Alchemy) is published by Martin Ruland, a physician at Regensburg during the 1590s and later at Prague. Ruland the younger was one of Emperor Rudolf II's retinue at the Habsburg court which during Rudolf's reign promoted the study of alchemy and astrology.
Jacob Böhme's first treatise, "Aurora" (Aurora, or Die Morgenroete im Aufgang), written by Böhme following a vision he had in 1610, is circulated in manuscript form until a copy falls into the hands of Gregorious Richter, the chief pastor of Görlitz, who considers it heretical and threatens BÖhme with exile if he does not stop writing.

1614
The "Fama Fraternitas," the first Rosicrucian manifesto is published. The Rosicrucian manifestos, "Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis" (1614), "Confessio Fraternitatis" (1615), and "Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz" (1616) cause immense excitement throughout Europe. These works declare the existence of a secret brotherhood of alchemists and sages who prepare to transform the arts, sciences, religion, political, and intellectual landscape of Europe while wars of politics and religion ravage the continent. Not only will these works be re-issued several times, but they are followed by numerous pamphlets, favorable and otherwise, whose authors generally know little of the real aims of the original authors and often amuse themselves at the public's expense.
Isaac Casaubon publishes certain Hermetic texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.

1615
The "Confessio Fraternitatis" (Confessio oder Bekenntnis der Societät und Bruderschaft Rosenkreuz) is published. This second anonymous manifesto of a trio of Rosicrucian pamphlets, declares the existence of a secret brotherhood of alchemists and sages who were interpreted, by the society of those times, and are preparing to transform the political and intellectual landscape of Europe. The Confessio is a breviary about "the true Philosophy", it completes, complements, and justifies the earlier manifesto (Fama Fraternitatis, 1614), defending it from the voices and accusations already being launched against the mysterious Brothers of the "Fraternity of the Rose Cross."
According to the Confessio, a fundamental requisite to achieve this knowledge is "that we be earnest to attain to the understanding and knowledge of philosophy" and the Rosicrucian Brothers describe themselves as Christian ("What think you, loving people, and how seem you affected, seeing that you now understand and know, that we acknowledge ourselves truly and sincerely to profess Christ") but not in the exoteric, popular Christianity sense ("condemn the Pope,") but in the sense of esoteric Christianity: "addict ourselves to the true Philosophy, lead a Christian life."
Julianus de Campis (Julius Sperber) publishes "das Echo der von Gott hocherleuchteten Fraternitet des Lobl. Ordens R.C." (1615 and 1620) (The Echo from the divinely enlightened Fraternity R+C).
Giambattista della Porta passes.
Steffan Michelspacher publishes "Cabala, Spiegel der Kunst und Natur."

1616
The "Chymische Hochzeit" (Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz) is published as the third of the original manifestos of the mysterious "Fraternity of the Rose Cross" (Rosicrucians). The "Chymical Wedding is an allegorical romance novel divided into Seven Days, or Seven Journeys, like Genesis, and tells us about the way that Christian Rosenkreuz is invited to go to a wonderful castle full of miracles in order to assist the Chymical Wedding of the king and the queen, that is, the husband and the bride.
This manifesto has been a source of inspiration for countless poets, alchemists, and dreamers, through the force of its initiation ritual with processions of tests, purifications, death, resurrection, and ascension, as by its symbolism found since the beginning with the invitation to Rosenkreutz to assist with the Royal Wedding.
Julius Sperber passes.

1617
Elias Ashmole, celebrated English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, student of astrology and alchemy, and early speculative Freemason, is born in England. During the 1650s, Ashmole devotes a great deal of energy to the study of alchemy. In 1650 he publishes "Fasciculus Chemicus" under the anagrammatic pseudonym James Hasholle. In 1652, he publishes his most important alchemical work, "Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum. In 1653, Ashmole is given the secret of the Philosopher's Stone by his Alchemical Master, William Backhouse. Ashmole publishes his final alchemical work, "The Way to Bliss," in 1658.
Fludd's "Utriusque Cosmi Historia" is published.
Maier's "Atlanta Fugiens," an important Rosicrucian alchemical text, is published in Latin. It is a most amazing book as it incorporates 50 emblems with epigrams and a discourse, but extends the concept of an emblem book by incorporating 50 pieces of music the 'fugues' or canons. In this sense it was an early example of multimedia.
Robert Fludd publishes the first volume of Utriusque Cosmi, Maioris scilicet et Minoris, metaphysica, physica, atque technica Historia (The metaphysical, physical, and technical history of the two worlds, namely the greater and the lesser, published in Germany between 1617 and 1621) in which he lays out his philosophy.

1618
In his manifesto, "Pia et Utilissima Admonitio de Fratribus Rosae Crucis," Henrichus Neuhusius states that the Rosicrucians have left for the East due to the political instability in Europe at the time (the forthcoming Thirty Years' War.
The "Speculum sophicum rhodo-stauroticum." (The Mirror of the Wisdom of the Rosicrucians) is published by Daniel Mogling under the pseudonym of Theophilus Schweighardt. This text contains three important engravings and contributes heavily to the emergence of the Rosicrucian tradition.

1619
The "Waterstone of the Wise" (Wasserstein der Weysen, das ist, ein chymisch Tractätlein, darin der Weg gezeiget, die Materia genennet, und der Process beschrieben wird, zu dem hohen geheymnuss der Universal Tinctur zukommen, vor diesem niemalen gesehen...) is published by Johann Ambrosius Siebmacher. This important and influential text parallels the Philosophers' Stone with Christ, the Corner Stone. It had a long publishing history.

1620
Robert Turner 'of Holshot', translator of magical texts, is born.

1621
"Aureum Saeculum Redivivum," an alchemical work of primary importance to Rosicrucian alchemists, is published by Henricus Madathanus, (Adrian von Mynsicht).
Thomas Vaughan, English alchemist, is born. Vaughan is unusual among alchemists of the time in that, like Flamel, he works closely with, values and even sees as essential his alchemical work with his wife, Rebecca Vaughan. Vaughan later becomes involved with a plan of Dr. Robert Child to form a chemical club, with a laboratory and library, the main aim being to translate and collect chemical works. In the course of litigation with one Edward Bolnest, Vaughan is accused of spending 'most of his tyme in the studdy of Natuall Philosophy and Chimicall Phisick'. He is reported as having confessed that he had 'long sought and long missed ... the philosopher's stone'. Thomas Vaughan is the author of tracts published under the pseudonym "Eugenius Philalethes. Eugenius Philalethes has often been confused with Eirenaeus Philalethes (or Philaletha), another alchemist.

1622
Michael Maier passes.

1623
"The Hermetic Arcanum" is published in Paris by Jean d'Espagnet as "Enchiridion physicae restitutae..." This is a key work of 17th century alchemy. A number of editions are issued over the next decades and it is included in a number of alchemical compendia. An English translation, translated by Elias Ashmole is later printed in 1650, in Arthur Dee's 'Fasciculus chemicus: or chymical collections'.

1624
Jakob Boehme passes.
Viridarium chymicum, and import book of alchemical emblems, is published by Daniel Stolz von Stolzenberg (Daniel Stolcius) (1600-1660), a Bohemian physician and writer on alchemy, a pupil of Michael Maier in Prague.

1625
The Musaeum Hermeticum, an important compendium of alchemical texts is first published by Lukas Jennis. Most noteworthy, this compendium includes "The Book of Lambspring," a short work with an introductory section in verse and an emblem showing a threefold furnace. Following the tradition of emblem books of the period its series of fifteen emblems each bears a motto or title with a verse on the facing page.

1626
Francis Bacon passes.

1629
The "Summum bonum" is published by Robert Fludd. The rose symbol from the title page has become well known as a Rosicrucian symbol. It has a sevenfold symmetry, seven layers of petals and its stem is formed in the shape of a cross.

1631
The "Fasciculus chemicus," a collection of writings upon alchemy, is published by Arthur Dee (1579 - 1651), the eldest son of Dr John Dee, and educated at Westminster School. Arthur accompanied his father in his peregrinations across Bohemia. He became a physician to Michael I of Russia, the founder of the Romanov Dynasty and resided in Moscow for fourteen years while he wrote his Fasciculus Chemicus.

1636
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth, German alchemist and mystic who edited Qabalistic works under the title Kabbala Denudata, is born.

1637
Robert Fludd passes.

1638
Adrian von Mynsicht (Henricus Madathanus) passes.
John Georg Gichtel, a German theosophical mystic in the tradition of Jakob Boehme, and highly esteemed by the Golden and Rosy Cross order, is born at Ratisbon, Germany, on March 14, 1638. He attributes his leaving a legal career to a meeting with Baron Justinianus von Weltz, who presents a vision for the union of Christianity. As a result Gichtel becomes the head of a small society, the Christerbauliche Jesusgesellschaft. It is not long before the church authorities express their disapproval, and Gichtel moves to Holland, the most religiously tolerant country on the Continent at the time. There he discovers Boehme's mystical writings and became an ardent disciple. He sees to the publication of the writings in 1682 and organizes a Boehmist society called the Brethren of the Angels. Gichtel's own major literary contribution lay primarily in a number of letters he wrote that were gathered and published by one of his followers as Theosophia practica (1701).

1640
"The Art of Metals, In which is declared the manner of their Generation, and the concomitants of them. In Two Books." Is written in Spanish by Albaro Alonso Barba.

1644
J.B. van Helmont passes.

1646
Elias Ashmole records in his diaries being made a Freemason, and notes attending several Freemasonic meetings. This is the earliest reliable recorded evidence for the origin of Freemasonry, despite legends of Freemasonry having begun with the construction of King Solomon's temple, or its having been created by the Knights' Templar or the Rosicrucians.

1650
"Fasciculus Chemicus or Chymical Collections" is translated from Latin into English by Elias Ashmole under the anagrammatic pseudonym of "James Hasholle" (by substitution of the letter J for I). However, Dee is displeased with Ashmole's translation.
Coelum Terrae is originally published under Thomas Vaughan's pseudonym 'Eugenius Philalethes' as "Magia Adamica: or the antiquitie of magic, and the descent thereof from Adam downwards, proved. Whereunto is added a... full discoverie of the true coelum terræ..."

1651
"The Art of Distillation," a work on spagery, is published by John French.

1652
Georg von Welling, a Bavarian alchemical and theosophical writer, is born. Von Welling is known for his 1719 work "Opus Mago-Cabalisticum et Theosophicum."
The "Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, an important anthology of alchemical treatises, is compiled in English English by Elias Ashmole.
The "Fama Fraternitiats" and the "Confessio Fraternitas" are published in English translation by Thomas Vaughan.
Kircher's "Oedipus Aegyptiacus" is published.
Thomas Vaughan publishes English translation (not his own) of the Rosicrucian Fama and Confessio.
Elias Ashmole publishes his most important alchemical work, the "Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum," an extensively annotated compilation of alchemical poems in English. This work preserves and makes available many works that had previously existed only in privately held manuscripts. It will be avidly studied by other alchemists.

1653
Elias Ashmole is given the secret of the Philosopher's Stone by his Alchemical Master, William Backhouse of Swallowfield (who has made Ashmole his alchemical "son") when the Backhouse believes himself to be close to death. Ashmole is reputed to pass the secret on to Robert Plot, the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum.

1654
Johann Valentin Andreae passes.
"Bibliotheca chimica" is published by Pierre Borel (Petrus Borellius, 1620 - 1689), a French alchemist, savant, chemist, physician, and botanist. The work includes a list of ancient texts, that can mostly be found in the larger libraries of Europe.

1656
The "Themis Aurea. The Laws of the Fraternity of the Rosie Crosse" is written in Latin by Michael Maier, "And now in English for the Information of those who seek after the knowledge of that Honourable and mysterious Society of wise and renowned Philosophers." This is an extremely important Rosicrucian text and gives a good deal of information about the rules of the fraternity at the time.

1658
Elias Ashmole publishes his final alchemical work, "The Way to Bliss."

ca. 1660
Eirenaeus Philalethes - The life of this alchemist is wrapped in mystery although a considerable mass of writing stands to his credit. The name, a pseudonym, is similar to the one used by Thomas Vaughan, who wrote as Eugenius Philalethes. It is to prefaces by Philalethes that we must chiefly look for any information about him. In the thirteenth chapter of his "Introitus Apertus ad Occlusum Regis Palatium" (Amsterdam, 1667) he also made a few autobiographical statements which illuminate his character and career.
"For we are like Cain, driven from the pleasant society we formerly had," he wrote, which suggests that he was persecuted. Elsewhere he heaped scorn on most of the hermetic philosophers of his day. Elsewhere, again, he criticized the popular worship of money. "I disdain, loathe, and detest the idolizing of silver and gold, by which the pomps and vanities of the world are celebrated. Ah! filthy, evil, ah! vain nothingness."
Lenglet du Fresnoy, in his Histoire de la Philosophie Hermétique (1742), refers to numerous unpublished manuscripts by Eirenaeus Philalethes, but nothing is known of these today.

1666
Thomas Vaughan passes.
Joannes Fridericus Helvetius (Johann Friedrich Schweitzer), a physician of the Hague, Holland, publishes a work concerning a strange adventure in which he claims to have taken part in a veritable act of metallic transmutation by alchemy. The book was translated into English and published in London in 1670 under the title The Golden Cult Which the World Adores and Desires: In Which is Handled the Most Rare and Incomparable Wonder of Nature, in Transmuting Metals. It is one of the few exact descriptions of such an experiment.
The alchemical text "Lux obnubilata" is published by Crassellame.

1667
"Introitus apertus ad occlusum regis palatium" (an open entrance to the shut-palace of the king) is the key work of Eirenaeus Philalethes. It is first published Amsterdam, 1667 and a few years later issued in an English edition and frequently republished thereafter.

1670
Montfaucon de Villars satirises secret knowledge in his Comte de Gabalis.

1672
The alchemical treatise, "Biblioth�que des Philosophes Chimiques," is published by Jean Mangin de Richebourg.

1673
William Cooper begins to publish works on alchemy especially those of Eirenaeus Philalethes.

1677
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth publishes the first volume of Kabbala Denudata. This work includes three fragments from the book Zohar with extensive commentary, as well as treatises by Isaac Luria, founder of a Qabalistic sect in the sixteenth century, and the Treatise on the Soul, by Moses Cordovero. Rosenroth translated these Hebrew works into Latin and thus made them available to non-Jewish readers. An English translation of Kabbala Denudata was published by S. L. MacGregor Mathers in 1887. Additionally included is the alchemical, "Aesch-Mezareph." According to Raphael Patai and Gershom Scholem, the Aesch-Mezareph dates from the 16th or early 17th centuries. The original Hebrew text, if there was one, does not appear to have survived. A translation into English was issued in W. Wynn Wescott's 'Collectanea Hermetica' series at the end of the 19th century.
The "Mutus Liber" (Wordless Book), an essential tract of alchemical images, is published in France. It professes to outline a method of manufacturing the Philosopher's Stone.

1680
Athanasius Kircher passes.

1681
William Lilly, astrologer and translator of Trithemius, passes.

1682
J.G. Gichtel publishes an edition of the collected works of Jacob Böhme and organizes a Böhmist society called the Brethren of the Angels.

1684
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth publishes the second volume of "Kabbala Denudata."

1687
"153 Chymical Aphorisms" was published, together with 157 alchemical canons, by Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont, the son of the famous iatrochemist Jan Baptista van Helmont. F.M. von Helmont is remembered through his friendships with a wide circle of European intellectuals that included Gottfried Leibniz, the English Platonists Anne Conway and Henry More, and Christian Knorr von Rosenroth. He edited and published his father's works, preserved and published the work of Anne Conway, and collaborated with von Rosenroth on the publication of the famous Kabbala Denudata, a large compilation of Qabalistic texts (including sections of the Zohar) that were translated into Latin and formed a primary resource for subsequent generations of Christian and Hermetic Qabalists in Europe.

1688
Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish scientist, philosopher, Christian mystic, and theologian, is born. Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. At the age of fifty-six he entered into a spiritual phase, in which he experienced dreams and visions. This culminated in a spiritual awakening, where he claimed he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that from then on he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, demons, and other spirits. For the remaining 28 years of his life, he wrote and published 18 theological works, of which the best known was Heaven and Hell (1758), and several unpublished theological works.

1689
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth passes.
"A Short Book of Dialogues, or,(Certain Colloquies) of some Studious Searchers After the Hermetick Medicine and Universal Tincture." Is published by German apothecary and alchemist, Johann Rudolph Glauber (ca. 1604-1670). Although historians often portray Glauber as a proto-scientific chemist (he is credited with the identification of Glauber's Salt now known as Sodium Sulphate), Glauber worked extensively with alchemical ideas as well as developing laboratory techniques for distillation and control of furnaces. He was a firm believer in the philosophers' stone and the elixir of life. "Le triomphe hermetique, ou La pierre philosophale victorieuse. Traitté plus complet & plus intelligible, qu'il en ait eu jusques ici, touchant le magist�re hermetique." (The Hermetical Triumph: or, The Victorious Philosophical Stone). "A Treatise more complete and more intelligible than any yet extant, concerning the Hermetical Magistery to which is added, The Ancient War of the Knights: Being an Alchemistical Dialogue between our Stone, Gold and Mercury: of the True Matter of which those who have traced Nature do prepare the Philosopher's Stone."

1690
The "Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz" is published in English translation.
"Aphorismi Urbigerani, Or Certain Rules, Clearly demonstrating the Three Infallible Ways of Preparing the Grand Elixir or Circulatum majus of the Philosophers..London" is published.

1591
John Dee's "Hieroglyphic Monad" is reprinted.

1692
Elias Ashmole passes.
Salem witchcraft panic breaks out.

18th century
-index-
The "Black Pullet" is a grimoire that proposes to teach the "science of magical talismans and rings", including the art of necromancy and Qabalah. It is believed to have been written in the late 18th century, and according to the text, written by an anonymous French officer who served in Napoleon's army. According to the text (which is written as a narrative), the story centers around this French officer during Napoleon's (Napoleon is referred to here as the "genius") Egyptian expedition when his unit are suddenly attacked by Arab soldiers (Bedouins). The French officer manages to survive the attack, being the sole survivor. When an old Turkish man who appears suddenly from the pyramids takes the French officer into a secret apartment within one of the pyramids and nurses him back to health whilst sharing with him the magical teachings from ancient manuscripts that escaped the "burning of Ptolemy's library".
The book itself contains information regarding the creation of certain magical properties, such as talismanic rings, amulets and the Black Pullet itself. The book also teaches the reader how to master the extraordinary powers from these magical properties. Perhaps the most interesting magical property is the power to produce the Black Pullet, otherwise known as the Hen that lays Golden Eggs. The person who understands and attains the power to instruct the Black Pullet will gain unlimited wealth. The notion of such a lucrative possession has been reflected throughout history in fables, fairy tales and folklore.
This text has often been associated to two other texts, known as the Red Dragon (or The Grand Grimoire) and the Black Screech Owl (also known as The Black Pullet or Treasure of the Old Man of the Pyramids). Each of the above are examples of grimoires that claim to possess the science of ancient magic.

1701
J.G. Gichtel's "Theosophia practica," is published, containing a collection of letters written by Gichtel, gathered and published by one of his disciples.

1702
Manget Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa, an important alchemical compendium, is published by Jean-Jacques Manget. This book claims to reveal the secrets of the physical work of the philosophers stone, however, though it stays close to its theme it uses metaphorical and philosophical allusions to the process, rather than approaching it directly in physical terms. The author indicates in the preface the reason for the title of his book "We therefore... do raise this knowledge, buried and obscured under the pretext of the Tomb of the most wise Semiramis, formerly Queen of Babylon..."

1707
Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Hebrew poet and Qabalistic mystic, is born Padua.

1710
J.G. Gichtel passes.
"The True and Complete Preparation of the Philosopher's stone of the Fraternity of the Golden and Rosy Cross" is published in Breslau by Samuel Richter under the pseudonym, Sincerus Renatus. This is the first published mention of the Gold und Rosenkreutz (Golden and Rosy Cross) fraternity. Richter was a Lutheran pastor who had studied theology in Halle apparently used the name Sicerus Renatus (sincerely reborn) as a motto in a lodge of the "Unzertrennlichen" called "Sincera Confoederatio." He was also a follower of Jacob Boeme (1575-1624). This important work describes not only a number of alchemical processes, but as well explains the constitution and 52 rules of the Golden and Rosy Cross fraternity, which in part Richter took directly from the "Unzertrennlichen" order. Richter is seen by many as the founder of the Golden and Rosy Cross, which at the time of Richter apparently consisted of a loose-knit group of alchemists sharing their work with one another. The fraternity appears to be have been widely spread and working in secret. Considering that Johan Valentine Andreae was also a member of the "Unzertrennlichen," it appears that this order had an enormous influence on the emergence of Rosicrucianism, and that perhaps the Golden and Rosy Cross order in Germany was an even outer emanation of the former.

1717
The United Grand Lodge of England of Freemasonry is formed. From this point on, there is substantial documentary evidence for the existence of Freemasonry.

1719
Georg von Welling's "Opus Mago-Cabalisticum et Theosophicum" is published. This is an important and influential esoteric work, which influences numerous subsequent authors, including Goethe, who perused it during his alchemical studies. The title suggests a great deal about the contents, which have as much to do with magic as theosophy, as much to do with Agrippa, elemental spirits, alchemy, and arcane diagrams as with Böhmean cosmology. This work stongly influences the emerging German, Golden and Rosy Cross order.

1723
The 'Golden Chain of Homer', written or edited by Anton Josef Kirchweger, is first issued at Frankfurt and Leipzig in four German editions in 1723, 1728, 1738 and 1757. A Latin version is issued at Frankfurt in 1762, and further German editions follow. This work has an enormous influence on Rosicrucan alchemy and on the Golden and Rosy Cross order. In the late eighteenth century Sigismund Bacstrom will make a rather poor translation of the work into English. Part of the work is eventually published in the Theosophical Society Journal 'Lucifer' in 1891.

1727
Georg von Welling passes.

1728
"Deutsches theatrum chemicum," an important alchemical compendium, is published by Friedrich Roth-Scholtz.

1735
The 18th century book Abraham Eleazar, Uraltes chymisches Werck, Erfurt, 1735, contains a work entitled Donum Dei by Simon Baruch, which has a series of engravings related to the Eleazar series.

1747
Moses Hayyim Luzzatto passes.

1749
Swedenborg's "Arcana Coelestia" is published.
Hermann Fictuld's (Baron Johann Friedrich von Meinstorff) alchemical tract, "Aureum Vellus oder Goldenes Vliess," is published.

ca. 1750
Dr. Sigismond Bacstrom, physician who was also an alchemist and a Rosicrucian, is born. Believed to be of Scandinavian origin, he spent some time as a ship's surgeon. While visiting the island of Mauritius, he met the mysterious occultist and alchemist Comte Louis de Chazel, who initiated him into a Societas Rosae Crucis. De Chazel owned an extensive library of occult and mystical works and a well-equipped laboratory for astronomical observations and alchemical experiments. He informed Bacstrom that he had succeeded in making the philosophers' stone and demonstrated the transmutation of quicksilver into gold. Subsequently Bacstrom lived in London and had discussions with other individuals interested in hermetic subjects. He translated a number of treatises on alchemy from German, French, and Latin into English, adding his own commentaries. His manuscript Essay on Alchemy was published in a limited edition under the title Bacstrom's Alchemical Anthology, edited by J. W. Hamilton-Jones (1960).

1752
The alchemical tract, "Hermaphroditisches Sonn und Monds Kind" (The Hermaphrodite Child of the Sun and Moon) is published. This tract analyzes the natural and supernatural birth, destruction, and regeneration of the symbolical child and introduces the theory and practice of how to quest for and manufacture the Philosopher's Stone. The tract includes applications and explanations of verses by the famous Swedish Adept Norton, from an ancient manuscript and includes the qabalistic signs of Solomon, "explained by a master-student of nature." Most importantly, the tract includes 12 emblematical figures with corresponding explanatory paragraphs.

1758
The "Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique" is published by Dom Pernety. This dictionary is useful in attempting to understand the mythic and Hermetic allegories contained in alchemical texts and images.

1766
The Golden and Rosy Cross order holds a general reformation of the order, presided over by Hermann Fictuld (Baron Johann Friedrich von Meinstorff). The Rosicrucian tradition moves into a Freemasonic phase, as henceforth the Golden and Rosy Cross order admits only Master Masons.

1772
Emanuel Swedenborg passes.

1776
Adam Weishaupt forms the Order of Illuminati of Bavaria.

1777
The Golden and Rosy Cross order holds another General Reformation, this time presided over by reigning Imperator, "Phoebron" (Dr. Bernhard Joseph Schleiss von Löwenfeld).

1779
Der Compass der Weisen is published. In this work that has been described as the `Bible' of the German, Golden and Rosy Cross Order, we find an extensive survey of alchemical and Rosicrucian writings, compiled by a frater Roseae et Aureae Crucis with the partial aim of making them comprehensible within the context of Freemasonry. The author names a number of early modern writers as authorities, including Michael Maier, Heinrich Khunrath, Robert Fludd, Thomas Vaughan, Gerhard Dorn, Basil Valentine and Adrian von Mynsicht. The introduction deals with the occult knowledge of the Egyptians.

1780
The order of the Asiatic Brethren (Fratres Lucis) is founded by Hans Heinrich von Ecker und Eckhoffen as a schismatic order from the Golden and Rosy Cross. The Asiatic Brethren admits Jews and the Order's theosophic doctrines and ceremonial regulations are based upon the Qabalah of the movement of Sabbatai Zevi, the Jewish rabbi and Qabalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. Sabbataen Qabalistic teachings incorporated into the order make the an important connection, with a later Frankfurt Jewish Masonic Lodge, "Loge zur aufgehenden Morgenrothe," to which numerous high ranking members of the Asiatic Brethren belonged. The Sabbatean Qabalah found in both of these orders is found again in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

1781
"Der Rosenkreutzer in seiner Bloesse" (The Rosicrucian Unveiled) is published by Magister Pianco (Hans Heinrich von Ecker und Eckhoffen), leader of the schismatic, Asiatic Brethren order. This work attacks the Golden and Rosy Cross order, to which von Ecker und Eckhoffen formerly belonged, and reveals numerous secret details about the Golden and Rosy Cross order, including its system of Grades (later found again in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn).
8. August - The Golden and Rosy Cross order comes to political power as the Prussian King becomes Grand Master, assuming the order name, "Ormesus Magnus." High ranking members of the Golden and Rosy Cross order quickly become part of the Prussian court. Johann Rudolf von Bischoffwerder (1741-1803) becomes Prime Minister and Johann Christoph von Wöllner (1732-1800) becomes Justice Minister.

1782
"Der im Lichte der Wahrheit strahlende Rosenkreuzer allen lieben Mitmenschen auch dem Magister Pianco zum Nutzen hingestellt" (The Rosicrucian Shining in the Light of Truth) is published by Phoebron, leader of the Golden and Rosy Cross order (Dr. Bernhard Joseph Schleiss von Löwenfeld), as an answer to the attack on the G+RC published by Magister Pianco, the leader of the schismatic, Asiatic Brethren (Hans Heinrich von Ecker und Eckhoffen).

1783
James Price commits suicide after performing some alchemical experiments.

1785
The "Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians," an extremely important text of Rosicrucian alchemical symbolism, is first published in Altona as "Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer, aus dem 16ten und 17ten Jahrhundert. Erstes Heft. Aus emem alten Mscpt. zum erstenmal ans Licht gestelit." This 18th century compendium draws on 17th century alchemical sources such as Adrian von Mynsich, with mystical pieces from Valentin Weigel, and Abraham von Franckenberg's works on Jacob Boehme. It is an important and influential source of Rosicrucian ideas, albeit filtered through an 18th century perspective.

1791
Dr Sigismund Bacstrom is initiated into a Rosicrucian society by the Comte de Chazal on the Island of Mauritius. The Count, then a venerable old man of some 96 years, seems to have seen in Bacstrom his greatness as an hermetic student and offered to take him on as a pupil and teach him the great work. During this period, Bacstrom was allowed to perform a transmutation under Chazal's guidance and using his substances. The Comte de Chazal was connected with the French stream of Rosicrucianism probably linking back to the Comte de St Germain.

19th century CE, allegedly 1522
The "Grand Grimoire" is a black magic grimoire that claims to date back to 1522. It is widely suspected that it was written some time in the 19th century. It was ostensibly published in Cairo by a person known as Alibek the Egyptian. Also known as "The Red Dragon", this book contains instructions purported to summon Lucifer or Lucifuge Rofocale for the purpose of forming a pact. Sections of it are found in Waite's Book of Ceremonial Magic and in Hyatt and Black's Pacts with the Devil. The book is called "Le Veritable Dragon Rouge" ("The Red Dragon") in Haiti, where it is revered among many practitioners of Vodou and Santeria.

1800
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Chemische Versuche, an alchemical tract, is published by German Catholic mystic, Karl von Eckartshausen (1752 - 1803) Karl von Eckartshausen is also the author of The Cloud upon the Sanctuary. This Christian mystical work which is later taken up by occultists. It is given a high status in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, particularly by Arthur Edward Waite.

1805
Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom passes.

1807
The Freemasonic "Loge St. John de L'aurore Naissante" is chartered in Frankfurt by the Grand Orient of France while Frankfurt is occupied by the Grande Armee of Napoleon. L'aurore Naissante admits both Jews and Gentiles. The name is later changed to "Loge zur aufgehenden Morgenrothe, "Chabrath Zereh Boqer Aour" in Hebrew, which may be rendered in English as Order of the Golden Dawn. Indeed, the same Hebrew name later appears on the "Cypher Manuscripts" with which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is founded in 1888. Among the members of this Frankfurt lodge, many high ranking members of the Asiatic Brethren are eventually to be found, as is its Sabbatean Qabalah, also later found as well in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in England.

1809
British occultist, Frederick Hockley, who was a member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, is born. Hockley collects some important occult texts, including a Rosicrucian manuscript belonging to Sigismond Bacstrom, who was initiated into an occult society in Mauritius in 1794. This text has a great influence on British occultism. Hockley has a gifted of crystal gazer and was a close friend of Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie and other British Rosicrucians and occultists of his period. He was a pupil of Francis Barrett, author of The Magus (1801). Hockley died November 10, 1885.

1810
Eliphas Levi, (Constant, Alphonse Louis), French occultist, is born in Paris, France. He is said to be largely responsible for the revival of magic in the 19th century.

1816
William Alexander Ayton, modern alchemist and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, is born. He becomes a clergyman of the Church of England in 1843. Ayton was a Freemason and Theosophist as well as a member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia before becoming one of the early members of the Golden Dawn in July 1888 at the age of 72, together with his wife. He took the magical motto Virtute Orta Occident Rarius (Those that rise by virtue rarely fall), his wife, Anne, took Soror Quam Potero Adjutabo (I will help as much as I can). With his wife, he had been a secret practitioner of alchemy for many years and claimed to have rediscovered the elixir of life.

1824
Frederick Hockley experiments with crystal gazing, begins career in esotericism. He eventually becomes a member of MacKenzie's Golden Dawn precursor, the "Society of Eight" (Fratres Lucis).

1828
Francis George Irwin, imminent freemason, friend and correspondent to A.E. Waite, Wynn Westcott, Kenneth Mackenzie and William Woodman, is born.
British physician William Robert Woodman is born. Woodman becomes a member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and one of the founders (with W. W. Westcott and S. L. M. Mathers) of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Woodman is a student of Qabalah, Egyptian antiquities, Gnosticism, and Platonism. In 1867 he becomes secretary of the S.R.I.A. and in 1878 becomes supreme magus. His magical motto in the Golden Dawn was "Vincit Omnia Veritas" (Truth rules all).

1831
Helena Petrovna Blavatski (Helena Petrovna von Hahn), cofounder of the Theosophical Society, is born of German parents in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine). Blavatsky becomes one of the most influential occult thinkers of the nineteenth century, Madame Blavatsky left behind conflicting images of adventuress, author, mystic, guru, occultist, and charlatan. With the aid of Col. Henry Olcott and William Q. Judge, she founded the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875.

1832
Henry Steel Olcott, cofounder of the Theosophical Society, is born. Joint founder with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and William Q. Judge of the Theosophical Society. Olcott was born August 2, 1832, in Orange, New Jersey, where his father had a farm. At the age of twenty-six, Olcott was associate agricultural editor of the New York Tribune and traveled abroad to study European farming methods. Olcott served in the Civil War and afterward became a special commissioner with the rank of colonel. In 1868, he was admitted to the New York bar. In 1878, he was commissioned by the president to report on trade relations between the U.S. and India.

1833
Kenneth MacKenzie, Freemasonic Scholar and Rosicrucian, is born in London. MacKenzie eventually receives a Rosicrucian initiation from Count Apponyi, as well as the material for the Cypher Manuscripts with which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is eventually founded.
In 1844 his family moves to Vienna. Kenneth Robert Henderson Mackenzie became a prominent British occultist, an honorary magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, and a member of the Hermetic Society of the Golden Dawn. As a young man he had an impressive knowledge of German, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and had a precocious talent for antiquarian studies. He was author of the Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia (1877) In 1861 Mackenzie visited the famous French occultist Éliphas Lévi (Alphonse Louis Constant) in Paris and published vivid personal recollections of the man and his outlook in the Rosicrucian, the journal of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. He also studied occultism with Frederick Hockley (1808-1885).
As the first phase of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, MacKenzie founded a group known as the "Society of Eight" (Fratres Lucis) with his own temple as Number one, followed by the Bristol temple of F.G. Irwin as Number two. Isis-Urania Temple became Number three when the Golden Dawn was founded in 1888.

1842
Lord Bulwer-Lytton publishes Zanoni.

1843
Edward Berridge, British homeopathic physician who plays an important role in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is born. Berridge is believed to have qualified as a medical doctor in London and as a homoeopathist in the United States. Berridge joined the Golden Dawn in May 1889, taking the magical name "Respiro" and the motto "Resurgam" (I shall rise again). He is influenced by the writings of Thomas Lake Harris, and his psychosexual theories and practices in relation to the occult. He is given training in Hermetic Inner Alchemy and its related sexual practices by S.L. MacGregor Mathers. His indiscretion causes a conflict with prudish, Annie Horniman, and Mathers is eventually drawn into the conflict. During all rebellions and schisms, Berridge remains loyal to Mathers.

1846
Anna Kingsford (Annie Bonus) is born. Founder of Esoteric Christianity, which combined insights from Gnosticism, the Sufis, and proponents of spiritual alchemy. She was born Anna Bonus at Stratford, Essex, England, September 16, 1846. Even as a child, she displayed unusual psychic gifts and claimed kinship with fairies, who were said to visit her during sleep. She told fortunes at school and seems to have been something of a seeress. In 1883, Kingsford became president of the Theosopical Society, and in 1884 Kingsford and Maitland founded the Hermetic Society in Britain for the study of mystical Christianity. Both S.L. MacGregor Mathers and W.Wynn Wescott, two founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, lectured there.

1847
Annie Besant (née Wood), a prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator, is born.

1848
William Wynn Westcott, a British esotericist, coroner, ceremonial magician, and Freemason, is born. A doctor of medicine by profession, he becomes active in Freemasonry in 1871. He eventually became the Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He obtains the Cypher Manuscripts from Kenneth MacKenzie's widow, yet attributes them to a certain, Anna Sprengel. Wescott later claims that MacKenzie founded the S.R.I.A. and even falsifies the roll book, in an attempt to appropriate the MacKenzie Rosicrucian affiliation for the S.R.I.A. that was intended for the Golden Dawn.

1850
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Kenneth Mackenzie receives a Rosicrucian initiation in Austria while living with Hungarian Count Apponyi as an English tutor. More importantly, Count Apponyi, who is a member of the Continental secret alchemical society, known publicly only as the "Secret Chiefs" (Geheime Oberen) also initiates MacKenzie is initiated into Hermetic Alchemy. Apponyi transmits to MacKenzie a Rosicrucian affiliation and esoteric transmissions with which to found what will eventually become the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in England. MacKenzie encrypts certain of these documents using a code from Trithemius' Polygraphiae. This is the origin of the so-called, "Cipher Manuscripts," with which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is later founded.
It should be noted that at the time of MacKenzie's initiation, both the Gold und Rosenkreutz (Golden and Rosy Cross) order and the order of the Asiatic brethren were active in Austria and that the grade structure of the Gold und Rosenkreutz order found its way directly into the Golden Dawn. Moreover, the name that MacKenzie chose for the first phase of the Golden Dawn, Fratres Lucis, was actually a common name for the Asiatic Brethren. Further, the very name of the order, derives directly from the Frankfurt Jewish Masonic Lodge, "Loge zur aufgehenden Morgenrothe, "Chabrath Zereh Boqer Aour" in Hebrew, which may be rendered in English as Order of the Golden Dawn. Finally, it should additionally be noted that among the senior members of this lodge, were some of the most prominent figures of the Asiatic Brethren to be found.
Lord Bulwer Lytton is supposed to have been admitted to a Lodge at Frankfurt-an-Main.

1851
Kenneth MacKenzie returns to London.

1853
Robert William Felkin is born; medical missionary and explorer, a ceremonial magician and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Robert and Mary joined the Theosophical Society in Edinburgh in 1886, but found it lacking in terms of ritual, and eventually joining Brodie-Innes' Amen-Ra Temple of the Golden Dawn on 12 March 1894. Following the rebellion and press scandal, Felkin founds in 1903 the "Stella Matutina," a schismatic order deriving from the Golden Dawn. Felkin's main temple in London was called Amoun. He moves to New Zealand in 1912 and takes the leadership of the Stella Matutina with him. The order is later called the Smaragdum Thalasses.

1854
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers is born in London.
Leading British occultist who is one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and later founds the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. His grandfather fought with great gallantry at the siege of Pondicherry, with Lally Tollendal, and received from Louis XIV the title of Count MacGregor de Glenstrae, afterwards confirmed by James II, a French title that naturally was not used in England. Mathers becomes a Freemason on October 4, 1877, and a Master Mason on January 30, 1878, soon after his 24th birthday. His mystical interests lead him to become a member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (Rosicrucian Society of England), where he is an associate of William Wynn Westcott, William Robert Woodman, and Kenneth Mackenzie. Together with Westcott and Woodman, Mathers founds the Golden Dawn in 1888. Meanwhile he lives in poverty after the death of his mother in 1885 and spends much time researching occultism at the British Museum Library, London. Following his marriage with Mina Bergson, Mathers moves to Paris, where he remains in contact with his "Secret Chiefs." Following a rebellion of adepts and a press scandal, Mathers closes the HOGD in 1903 and reopens the order as the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega (also known as the Alpha et Omega or AO). Eliphas Levi visits London.

1856
Levi's masterpiece Le Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie is published.

1857
Arthur Edward Waite, British scholar and historian of occultism and mysticism, is born. Arthur Edward Waite is born in Brooklyn and moves to London, England. Waite's personal friends eventually include Arthur Machen and Ralph Shirley. He also met William Butler Yeats, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Rudolf Steiner, Wynn Westcott, Algernon Blackwood, and Aleister Crowley. He becomes also a Freemason and authority on Masonic writings. In 1891 Waite joins the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and ides with the schismatic adepts and in the wake of the collapse of the Golden Dawn in 1915, he founds the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. Waite remains best known for his work with Pamela Coleman-Smith in the production of a deck of tarot cards (the Waite deck) and his commentary on the tarot, The Key to the Tarot (1910).
Frederick Leigh Gardner, British occultist and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn occult society is born.
Gardner's private papers and correspondence have helped to throw light on some aspects of the Golden Dawn and its members, such as W. W. Westcott, S. L. M. Mathers, and W. A. Ayton.

1860
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Florence Farr, actress, author, and leading member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is born. Farr is initiated into the Golden Dawn in 1890. She progresses quickly and two years later is named Praemonstratrix. She demonstrates her accomplishments in her first books, A Short Enquiry into the Hermetic Art (1894) and Egyptian Magic (1896). In 1896 she begins the Sphere group, a magical working group that includes Inner Order adepts. The following year S.L. MacGregor Mathers, the international leader of the order, names her the order's "Chief in Anglia." However, her leadership also means that she will be in the center of the storm that hits the order in 1900 when many of the British members protest the autocratic authority that Mathers is attempting to exercise from his office in Paris. The controversy leads to an attempted expulsion of Mathers from his own order by misguided "Adepts." Farr tires of the constant bickering and in 1902 resigns from the HOGD and continues her involvement in occult matters through the Theosophical Society.
Annie Horniman, a British dramatist and student of magic, is born. Her grandfather, a wealthy Quaker tea merchant, invented the tea bag, and she herself is quite wealthy. She met Mina Bergson (Moina Mathers in 1882 at art school, which leads her to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. She is initiated in 1890 and takes the magical motto "Fortiter et Recte." She progresses rapidly, and the following year is the first initiate in the more advanced, Second Order. In 1893 she becomes sub-Praemonstratrix of the Isis Urania Temple. She also becomes a major financial backer of Mathers as he continues to develop the Golden Dawn.
In 1896 Horniman emerges as the opponent within the Golden Dawn of Dr. Edward Berridge, who advocates occult sexual theories. Prudish Horniman is scandalized. Unbeknownst to Horniman, Mathers has discretely confided certain "Third Order" techniques to Berridge of "Hermetic Inner Alchemy" that involve sexuality. When Mathers sides with Berridge, she resigns as sub-Praemonstratrix of Isis Urania. She continues as scribe for several years, but in 1903 has a final break with Mathers. Before the end of the year, she is expelled from the order. In the following years she throws herself into theater work and in the 1930s will be honored for her contributions to the British stage. After many years away from the occult, in 1921 Horniman joined the Quest Society formed by theosophist George R. S. Mead.

1861
Rudolph Steiner is born.
Eliphas Levi again visits London.
Kenneth MacKenzie visits Eliphas Levi in Paris.

1864
Frederick Hockley joins British Masonic Lodge No. 8.

1865
Famous Irish poet, playwright, and mystic., William Butler Yeats is born. The occult and mystical side of his life and work receives less publicity than his literary work, yet he believes that his poetry owes much to his occult studies. While in London at the end of 1888, he joins the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society. In 1890, he joins the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, taking the magical motto "Demon Est Deus Inversus," (DEDI) and continues to be associated with the Golden Dawn over some thirty years. In April 1900, he clashes with Aleister Crowley, also an order member, in a leadership crisis.
Papus (i.e. G.A.V. Encausse), French occultist and author is born.
Moina Mathers is born as Mina Bergson, the daughter of Jewish parents and the sister of noted philosopher Henri Bergson. She becomes a leading member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and is largely responsible for the rituals of this ground-breaking magical organization. In 1887, at the British Museum, she meets Samuel L. MacGregor Mathers. He is, at the time, doing the initial research that would lead to the founding of the H.O.G.D. The Isis-Urania Temple, the first center of the HOGD, opens in 1888 and Mina becomes the first initiate, taking the magical name Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum. The couple is married in 1890, at which time Mina changes her name to Moina. In 1891, Mathers makes contact with the "Secret Chiefs," from whom he would receives the material to construct the higher grades of the order. As Mathers increases his magical activity, Moina serves as his priestess. In 1892, the Mathers settle in Paris, where Samuel has access to the large number of manuscripts in the Parisian libraries. In 1903, following a rebellion of Adepts and scandal in the press, S.L. MacGregor Mathers summarily closes the HOGD and reopens it as the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. The loyal Adepts flock to him. Following Mathers' death in 1918, Moina moves back to London from where she presides over the Alpha et Omega until her death.

1867
S.R.I.A. - Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.) - a nominally Rosicrucian Freemasonic research society is founded by Robert Wentworth Little (1840-78).

1869
Elsa Barker, prominent member of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, American novelist and poet, is born. Barker becomes the personal emissary of S.L. MacGregor Mathers to the Alpha et Omega temples in America. Her rose+cross has been passed down over generations and has belonged to several prominent occultists including Israel Regardie and Cris Monnastre. It is presently owned by David Griffin.

1870
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Kenneth MacKenzie joins a conventional English Masonic Lodge, Oak Lodge, No. 190.

1872
Kenneth MacKenzie is made an Honorary member of S.R.I.A.
Allan Bennett, British occultist, at one time the teacher of Aleister Crowley, whom he met when they were both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Iehi Aour), is born. Bennett's inclination was primarily toward mysticism rather than the occult. He became increasingly fascinated by Buddhism, and at the age of 28 decided to travel abroad to study Buddhism and to seek relief for his asthma. He founded the Buddhasasana Samagama, or International Buddhist Society, in 1903, and became a major exponent of Buddhism in the West.

1873
24 April - Eliphas Levi is made an honorary member of S.R.I.A.

1874
Kenneth MacKenzie is made Assistant Secretary of the S.R.I.A.

1875
Eliphas Levi, (Constant, Alphonse Louis) passes.
Madame Helena P. Blatavsky and Colonel H. S. Olcott form Theosophical Society in New York.
Frederick Holland is elected to the Metropolitan College of the S.R.I.A. and Kenneth MacKenzie resigns from the S.R.I.A.
Aleister Crowley, the most renowned magic practitioner and theoretician of the twentieth century, is born. In 1898 he is initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, introduced by George Cecil Jones. He is befriended by Mathers, whom he eventually betrays, nearly destroying the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega by publishing its secret rituals and teachings. In 1903 Crowley marries Rose Kelly, and in 1904 they travel to Egypt, where he and his wife channel his "Book of the Law." Having left the Golden Dawn, in 1907 Crowley founds the Argentum Astrum (AA; Silver Star). He went on to become the head of the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.).

1877
Blatavsky publishes Isis Unveiled.

1878
Robert Wentworth Little dies. Dr. W. R. Woodman succeeds him as Supreme Magus of the S.R.I.A.

1880
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Dr. William Wynn Westcott joins the S.R.I.A.

1883
Kenneth MacKenzie founds an elite esoteric organization as the first phase of what later is to become the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This organization, called Fratres Lucis, becomes publicly known as The Society of Eight. Notables such as Francis George Irwin and Frederick Holland were members. It is unclear whether Hockley was a member. In a note to F.G. Irwin, MacKenzie says that Stainton Moses (a noted Spiritist) and William Wynn Westcott are not to be admitted.
Two temples of this precursor society to the Golden Dawn are founded in England, MacKenzie's temple being No. 1, with Temple No. 2 in Bristol under F.G. Irwin. MacKenzie never transmits the rituals for this new order, but merely preserves them as "Cypher Manuscripts."
Anna Kingsford becomes president of London Lodge of the Theosophical Society - at this time a very small and insignificant organization.

1884
Anna Kingsford resigns, forms Hermetic Society. Westcott and Mathers both lecture there.
Paul Foster Case, American occultist of the early 20th Century and author of numerous books on Tarot and Qabalah, is born.
In 1918, Case meets Michael Whitty, the Cancellarius of Thoth-Hermes Temple of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. The Alpha et Omega was founded by S. L. MacGregor Mathers' following a rebellion of misguided H.O.G.D. Adepts. Whitty invites Case to join the outer order of the Alpha et Omega, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Case is initiated and chooses Perserverantia (perseverance) as his motto. In 1920, Case is initiated into A.O's Second Order, the R.R+A.C. The same year, Case becomes Sub-Praemonstrator (Assistant Chief-Instructor) at the Thoth-Hermes Temple. When Michael Whitty dies, Case became Praemonstrator. In 1921, Moina Mathers wrote to Case about concerns that had been voiced to her about his inappropriately teaching about esoteric sexuality in the First or Outer order. The teachings regarding Hermetic Inner Alchemy, which involves sexuality, were reserved for the highest grades of the Alpha et Omega. Case resigns as Praemonstrator. In 1922, Case requests permission to demit from the Thoth-Hermes temple, but is expelled by Moina Mathers instead. In June, 1922, Case meets with a representative of the "Secret Chiefs," the same Continental secret alchemical society that had given the material to found the Golden Dawn to Kenneth MacKenzie and to found its Second Order, the R.R.+A.C., to Mathers. This representative, who introduces himself to Case in the Hotel Astor in New York as "Master R," provides Case with the materials with which Case founds the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.).

1885
Frederick Hockley passes.

1886
Kenneth MacKenzie passes. W. Wynn Westcott becomes Grand Secretary of the Swedenborgian Rite after Kenneth MacKenzie's death in 1886. Wescott obtains numerous of MacKenzie's documents for his widow. Among these documents, Wescott finds the "Cipher Manuscripts" for the new order from which MacKenzie had wished Wescott excluded. Wescott invents a story of an imaginary origin of the Cypher Manuscripts as coming from a Fraulein Anna Sprengel, thus diverting attention from Kenneth MacKenzie as the source.

1887
23 December - A.F.A. Woodford dies.

1888
Anna Kingsford (Annie Bonus) passes.
Papus' Traité Elémentaire de Science Occulte is published.
Golden Dawn:
1 March - The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is founded in London using the Cypher Manuscripts obtained from Kenneth MacKenzie. Isis-Urania Temple No. 3. (The first two were MacKenzie's and Irwin's temples of the Society of Eight) The first initiate is Mina Bergson (Vestigia nulla retrorsum - "Vestigia") . She later becomes Moina Mathers.
12 February - Dr. William Wynn Westcott (Sapere Aude - S.A. - originally Non Omnis Moriar), Dr. William Robert Woodman (Magna es Veritas - M.V.), and Samuel Liddell Mathers ('S Rioghail Mo Dhream - S.R.M.D.) sign the Order of H.O.G.D. pledge.
October - Helena P. Blavatsky launches the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society. Membership in other Hermetic organizations is forbidden. Rev. William Alexander Ayton (Virtue orta, occidunt rarius - V.O.O.R.) initially writes to some of his Yorkshire colleagues, and they launch a protest over Blavatsky's refusal to allow membership in other organizations. The requirement is dropped, though approval must be had from Annie Besant.
Isabelle de Steiger (Alta Pero - A.P.) enters the H.O.G.D.
8 October - H.O.G.D. Temple No. 4 Osiris at Weston Super-Mare is founded by Benjamin Cox (Crux dat salutem - C.D.S.), a freemason, and associate of Westcott's from the days when he was a pharmacist. The Osiris temple never has more than 12 members, then goes into decline within two years, and ceases to exist in 1895 after Benjamin Cox dies.
11 October - Westcott (S.A.) makes a reference to the H.O.G.D. at a meeting of the Metropolitan College of the S.R.I.A. in which he refers to Woodford as a member.
19 October - H.O.G.D. Temple No. 5, Horus, at Bradford, chartered by T.H. Pattinson ( Vota vita mea - V.V.M.) a watchmaker at Baildon in Yorkshire.

1889
Mathers' edition of Key of Solomon is published.
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:
February - 60 members join Temple No. 3, Isis-Urania before this date. Isis-Urania meets at Mark Masons' Hall
9 February - First public reference to the H.O.G.D. appears in Notes and Queries, in the Theosophical Society Periodical Lucifer. The reference is in response to a letter asking about a "School of Qabalah" - It can be assumed that the letter was written by Westcott (S.A.), probably in response to a query he placed himself.
May - Dr. Edward Berridge (Resurgam) joins the H.O.G.D.
10 September - Moina Mathers (Vestigia) is listed as 5=6, a full year before any regular Second Order initiations will be performed.

1890
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Dion Fortune (Pseudonym of Violet M. Firth), the prominent British occultist and author, is born. She manifested some mediumistic abilities in her teens. She later became interested in psychoanalysis and studied the work of Freud, but came to prefer C. G. Jung's perspective. About 1919 she joined Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, and was initiated into its outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, by J. W. Brodie-Innes. He instructed her in various magic practices. Firth's pseudonym, "Dion Fortune," was derived from her period as a member of the Alpha et Omega. She took the motto Deo Non Fortuna (By God, not luck), and this was condensed to "Dion Fortune" when she began to write. In 1924 she founded the Community (later Fraternity) of the Inner Light and became a prolific occult writer.
In France, the Martinist Order organizes a Supreme Council of 12 members with Papus (Gerard Encausse) as President and Grand Master. Stanislas de Gua•ta and Joseph Peledan are also Council members. Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:
January - Annie Horniman (Fortiter et Rectitude - F.E.R.) joins the H.O.G.D.
7 March - William Butler Yeats (Daemon Est Deus Inversus - Demon) joins the H.O.G.D.
July - Florence Emery (later Florence Farr, after she divorced Edward Emery) (Sapientia Sapienti Dono Data - S.S.D.D.) joins the H.O.G.D.
August - J.W. Brodie-Innes (Sub Spe) joins the H.O.G.D. in London.
September - Percy Bullock (Levavi Oculos - L.O.) joins the H.O.G.D.

1891
Helena Petrovna Blavatski (Helena Petrovna von Hahn), cofounder of the Theosophical Society, passes.
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:
William Robert Woodman passes.
January - Arthur Edward Waite "Sacrementum Regis - S.R." joins the H.O.G.D.
March - Mrs. Helen Rand (Vigilate) joins the H.O.G.D.
30 July - S.L. MacGregor Mathers visits Paris where he meets with a representative of the Contintental European secret alchemical society that had initiated Kenneth MacKenzie, who introduces himself as Frater Lux E Tenebris. In a letter, Mathers states "I have been in much communication with Frater Lux E Tenebris (L.E.T.)." From these "Secret Chiefs" Mathers receives the esoteric corpus and skeletal initiation rituals with which to create the Rosicrucian "Second Order" of the Golden Dawn, to be called the Order of the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (R.R. et A.C.).
2 August - Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) is initiated into the 5=6 (Adeptus Minor) Grade.
17 December - first Second Order Initiation for Annie Horniman (Fortiter et Recte - F.E.R). Horniman is going abroad, so her initiation is rushed. At this time, a distinction has to be made between those of "Nominal 5=6" grade who had completed the examinations and those who have formally entered the Second Order. The Second order vault was built at Thavies Inn, off Holborn Circus in rooms owned by the Sanitary Wood Wool Company, in which Westcott (S.A.) had an interest.

1892
Francis George Irwin passes.
W. Wynn Wescott becomes Supreme Magus of the S.R.I.A. A story is circulated alleging that: "MacKenzie had early in his life been the tutor of Count Apponyi in Austria, where he was initiated into the Gold und Rosenkreutz Order (FA+RC) and given the IX degree. He was further given the authority to establish a Rosicrucian society in England, which he then communicated to Little." MacKenzie is listed as a Past Magus of the SRIA on a leaflet stating the aims of the society in 1892, signed by then Secretary General W.J. Ferguson. The attempt to posthumously frame MacKenzie as the founder of the society, and thus claim for the SRIA an affiliation deriving from the Fraternitas Aureae et Rosae Crucis in Germany, reaches new depths of depravity when even the original Society register is altered. MacKenzie's name originally stood as number 114. This is altered to 0. All of this occurs once Wescott becomes Supreme Magus of S.R.I.A. It appears that Wescott wishes to appropriate the Rosicrucian affiliation that MacKenzie had received from the Secret Chiefs and intended for the Golden Dawn, for the S.R.I.A. instead. This explains why Wescott attempts to cover up the true origins of the Cypher Manuscripts by attributing them to Fraulein Anna Sprengel rather than to Kenneth MacKenzie. Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:
In introducing the Second Order, which he controlled, Mathers (S.R.M.D) effectively takes over the organization from Westcott (S.A.). Mathers becomes sole Chief within the Second Order, with Westcott remaining simply as Chief Adept in Anglia. During 1892 there are seven Adept Assemblies and one Adept Council.
Immediately following his introduction of the Golden Dawn's Rosicrucian Second Order, S.L. MacGregor Mathers moves to Paris together with his wife, Mina, in order to be in closer contact with his Rosicrucian teachers, the "Secret Chiefs."
During 1892, Miss Theresa Jane O'Connell (Cial agus neart - C.A.N.) is expelled. She had fallen out with Mina Mathers (Vestigia)
18 March - Westcott (S.A.) is unable to get a second room on the premises at Thavies Inn - the vault is too small, and in August the Second order moves to Clipstone Street.
22 March - Miss Pamela Carden (later Mrs. Pamela Bullock) (Shemebar) joins the H.O.G.D.
June - First Corpus Christi Ceremony. The most important Adept Assembly is the annual one held early in June, as near as possible to Corpus Christi. The Consecration Ceremony of the Vault of the Adepts, the Corpus Christi ceremony, is to be used for any new Vault and for each day of Corpus Christi. "The Chief Adept, clothed in a black robe of mourning and with the "chain of humility" hung round his neck, is bound to the Cross of Suffering and pledges himself 'for the due performance and fulfillment of the respective clauses of the Oath taken by each member on the Cross of Suffering at his admission to the Grade of Adeptus Minor.'" Howe says that Mathers (S.R.M.D.) found the consequences of taking this oath so unpleasant that he tried to foist it on to Westcott (S.A.), who did it for one year and said he would never do it again. Peck did it at Edinburgh.
12 July - Helen Rand (Vigilate) 5=6
August - Factionalism at Horus in Bradford, between Rosicrucians and Theosophists. Annie Horniman (F.E.R.) is sent as an "envoy" to check out the situation. According to Horniman, Oliver Firth (Volo) and F.D. Harrison (Quanti est Sapere - Q.E.S.), both Theosophists, are making trouble by acting disrespectfully about and during the rituals.
10 August - Decision made to move the Second Order Vault to Clipstone Street. 24-25 Clipstone St. is a dingy little thoroughfare running east from the middle of Great Portland St. "dirty, noisy, smelly and immoral, and many objected to it." 10s. weekly for two rooms. According to historian Ellic Howe, the Second Order's neighbors were "a hairdresser, dairyman, confectioner, two sculptors, cabinet-makers, French polishers a piano tuner, and the offices of the German Waiters' Society." The vault is illuminated by a battery powered electric lamp. There is a log in the Second Order Vault, in which anyone coming or going writes down the date, time, and their business.
14 August (Sunday) - Percy Bullock (Levavi Oculos - L.O.) is busy organizing the move from Thavies Inn during the week of the 14th-21st.
6 September - Mathers (S.R.M.D.) and Moina (Vestigia) are back in London on 6 September, remaining until 20 October. This is at least partially for the Equinox Ceremony.
20 September - W.A. Ayton (V.O.O.R.) is inducted into the Second Order. His wife, a nominal 5=6 is allowed to observe. This is the only known instance of a nominal 5=6 being allowed to observe.
October - Westcott (S.A.) visits two months later, and temporarily takes control as Imperator of the Horus Temple, after the Imperator temporarily resigns, to allow him to fix the problems there.
November - Dr. Henry Pullen Burry (Anima Pura Sit - A.P.S.) join the H.O.G.D.
14 December - Apparently, the ladies of the Second Order are using the Vault (or rather the Clipstone street rooms) as a social place in the afternoon. Westcott (S.A.) promgulates a rule which limited "lady students" access, and Florence Farr (Sapentia Sapienti dono data - S.S.D.D.) complains about it. Apparently the new rule is ignored.

1893
26 July - F. G. Irwin, of the S.R.I.A. and of the Society of Eight, dies.
19 October - the Ananda Lodge of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society is formed. Westcott (S.A.) was President, Percy Bullock (L.O.) the honorary secretary and F.L. Gardner - not yet a Golden Dawn member, was also an officer. Gardner may have met Westcott at this time.
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:
In this year, the Portal grade is first used - this is a "transition" ritual between nominal 5=6 and the Second Order Initiation. Everyone who becomes a full 5=6 in 1893 goes through the portal grade first, but there is not yet a rule that 9 months must pass, and the portal grade is usually followed by the 5=6 within a week or so.
During 1893 There are eight Adept Assemblies and four Adept Council meetings.
January - Yeats (Demon) takes 5=6
February - Mrs. J.W. Brodie-Innes (Sub Hoc Signo Vinces - S.H.S.V.) joins the H.O.G.D.
March - Mathers (S.R.M.D.) makes a trip to try and fix problems with Horus Temple in Bradford. The Bradfordians are still talking to Oliver Firth (Volo), and F.D. Harrison (Q.E.S.) Harrison later rises to a significant position within Annie Besant's Universal Co-Masonry, after the collapse of the Theosophy Society.
6 April - J.W. Brodie-Innes (Sub spe) is initiated 5=6.
20 June - Pamela Carden (later Pamela Bullock) (Shemebar) is initiated 5=6.
26 September, (Tuesday) - This was the last 5=6 admission until March 1894. At this point there were 36 full 5=6 members of the Second Order.
Autumn - By this time the 5=6 Adeptus Minor grade in the Second Order was divided into two sub-grades Zelator Adeptus Minor (Z.A.M) and Theoricus Adeptus Minor (Th.A.M.) There was discussion and some work on a 5=6 Practicus Adeptus Minor, but this was probably never worked before the Examination system beginning to founder in 1897. H.O.G.D. Second Order members begin to take various parts of the series of eight examinations for the senior 5=6 Grade of Th.A.M in autumn of 1893. There are no regular grades beyond 5=6, though Mathers (S.R.M.D.) and Moina (Vestigia) as well as Westcott represent themselves as 7=4 at various times.

1894
Annie Horniman secretly provides money that enables Florence Farr to lease the Avenue Theatre, where she stages Yeats' one act play, The Land of Heart's Desire, as a curtain raiser for Dr. John Todhunter's The Comedy of Sighs. The latter was soon withdrawn and was replaced by G.B. Shaw's Arms and the Man.
By 1894, an H.O.G.D. rule enforces a delay in allowing Theosophical Society Esoteric Section members to join the H.O.G.D., because Annie Besant must first approve them, then the "Master" (a nonhuman entity) of the Esoteric Section would tell them to resign. This appears to have been a politically correct way for the Esoteric Section to interfere with the H.O.G.D. without forcing Besant to take direct responsibility.
During 1894 the Amoun-Ra Temple No. 6 is chartered at Edinburgh, under the leadership of J.W. Brodie-Innes (Sub spe). William Peck later incinerates the papers of the Temple in a panic in 1901, and many of the records are lost.
January 6 - Mathers founds the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 at 1 Avenue Duquesne in Paris. Mathers grants Annie Horniman (F.E.R.) the honor of serving as consecrating Adept at the inauguration of the new temple.
February - Allan Benett - (Iehi Aour) joins the H.O.G.D.
May 5 - Charles Rosher (Aequo Animo - A.A.) enters the H.O.G.D.
Horus Temple in Bradford petitions for direct control by Mathers to keep any "petticoat government" by Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) from affecting them. This is a direct result of Gardner showing them the letter Florence Farr had sent him. "Common Sense and good fellowship" is held to be more important at Horus than H.O.G.D. Grades.
Dr. Robert W. Felkin (Finem Respice - Respice) joins the H.O.G.D.
14 March - Henry Pullen Burry (A.P.S.) takes 5=6.
20 March - Grederick Leigh Gardner (De Profundis Ad Lucem - D.P.A.L.) joins the H.O.G.D.
September - A. E. Waite (who is not yet a H.O.G.D. member) publishes an esoteric periodical called The Unknown World. In an article in September Dr. Edmund William Berridge (Resurgam) makes his infamous "Death of a Syncope" comment, in which he implies that betrayal of the Second Order of the H.O.G.D. might result in death, with a coroner's verdict of death of heart failure. Because Westcott is widely known to be a coroner, this can be read to suggest masonic complicity in murder, as well as the "irresistable current of hostile will" promised in the Neophyte Initation.
December - Mrs. J.W. Brodie-Innes (S.H.S.V.) is initiated into 5=6.

1895
22 March - Allan Benett (Iehi Aour) in initiated onto 5=6.
23 March - Gerard Encausse - the French mystic "Papus" - is given an honorary initiation into Ahathoor Temple in Paris. He later resigns to head the Martinist Order in France.
12 July- George Cecil Jones (Volo Noscere - Volo) joins H.O.G.D.
October - Frederick Leigh Gardner (De Profundis ad Lucem - D.P.A.L.) (not to be confused with Gerald Gardner, the 20th century esotericist who founds Gardnerian Wicca) visits Mathers (S.R.M.D) in Paris Mrs. Helen Mary Rand (Vigilate) is staying there at the time.
November - Ananda Lodge of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society is closed down.
December - Benjamin Cox (C.D.S.), Imperator of Osiris Temple at Weston-Super-Mare dies. The Temple is defunct. Cox was working on a 7=4 ritual when he died.

1896
By 1896, the Golden Dawn has about 300 members. Of these, about 100 are in the Second Circle, and about 60 are active. 7=4 degrees are conferred on the Mathers' (S.R.M.D. and Vestigia) by representatives of the "Secret Chiefs" in Paris. The Secret Chiefs transmit to Mathers esoteric teachings of an erotic nature intended for the projected "Third Order" of the Golden Dawn, including teachings regarding Hermetic Inner Alchmey and Alchemical Theurgy (Magic).
All other Second Order members are 5=6. There are a growing number are Theoricus Adeptus Minor (Th.A.M.), and in 1896 "the Theorici" form the basis for a near rebellion against Mathers' rule of the Second Order.
January - Mathers (S.R.M.D) writes a stern letter reproving Annie Horniman (F.E.R.). It is unclear precisely what prompted this, however it is clear that in late December Horniman wrote a critical letter to Mathers. The issues are Dr. Berridge's (Resurgam) interest in the teachings of Thomas Lake Harris, which include sexual techniques and polyfidelity, as well as statements allegedly made by made by or attributed to Mathers (S.R.M.D.). about sexual activity on the elemental plane. The sexual values of Victorian England are clearly not ready for esoteric teachings regarding sacred sexuality. Mathers, having entrusted certain information from the Secret Chiefs to Berridge, although the latter was only a 5=6 provoke this crisis due to Berridge' indescretion.
January - Florence Farr (Sapienta Sapienti dono data - S.S.D.D.) reports that she has been contacted by the "Egyptian Adept," an ancient Egyptian Priest or Priestess who has made contact through a fragment of a mummy case. Through correspondence with Mathers' (S.R.M.D.) Farr establishes to his and her satisfaction that this adept is in fact a genuine 8=3. She is allowed to begin a small "work group" to contact and work with the Adept. This is the core of what will later become her "Sphere group."
2 January - Draft of a letter from Mrs. Helen Rand (Vigilate) and Westcott (S.R.M.D.) to Mathers, defending the action of some Senior Theorici who had opposed Dr. Berridge (Resurgam). The bone of contention seems to have been his sexual theories, and improper conduct toward Mrs. Rand.
8 January - Mathers (S.R.M.D.) writes to Annie Horniman (F.E.R.), in a letter that can be described as "somewhat condescending." Mathers mentions Mrs. A. J. Carden, (Amore), for whom for whatever reason he "recommended to elemental marriage" because of the "extreme danger of invoking an incubus instead of a fay, through want of self control." The details are unclear, however this letter makes it clear that Mathers expounded certain esoteric teachings regarding sexuality.
14 January - By this time the crisis is over temporarily, and Horniman (F.E.R.) seems to have accepted a rebuke from Mathers and a hurt chastening by Moina.
March - Annie Horniman (F.E.R) complains that Mathers had no time for the arrears of work at 62 Oakley Square, which is described as the "headquarters of the Second Order." Westcott was doing most of the work on grading examinations at this point, as well as most of the other paperwork in the organization. It is unclear what was located at the Oakley Square site - possibly a business office used by Westcott.
10 March (Wednesday) - The Mathers (S.R.M.D. and Vestigia) are back in London on a visit by this time, probably for the equinox ceremony. They are staying with Ada Waters (Recta Pete), and return to Paris on the 13th.
May - Isabelle de Steiger (A.P) 5=6
13 May (Wednesday) - The group assembled by Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) to contact her "Egyptian Adept" makes its initial attempt. Farr, Allan Benett (Iehi Aour), Charles Rosher (Aequo Animo - A.A.), and F.L. Gardner (D.P.A.L.) invoke Mercury - Taphthartharath - the ritual is written by Benett.
June 4 - Mathers (S.R.M.D.) misses Corpus Christi because of politics, probably involvement with fringe Jacobite activities in Paris. Annie Hornimann (F.E.R.) takes this and Mathers' political involvement as an insult to herself and the order, and shortly thereafter cuts off the Mathers' allowance, which had been their principal income in the past three years.
July - A letter is sent to Mrs. Florence E. S. Kennedy (Volo), containing 13 charges against the Theorici - 11 were particular to Annie Horniman (F.E.R.)
22 August - M. Eugene Jacob (Ely Star) joins Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in Paris.
September - Annie Horniman (F.E.R.) resigns as Sub-Praemonstrator (instructor) of Isis-Urania, but plans to stay active within the Second Order. There is a general perception that by this time the Theorici are getting restless and threatening Mathers authority.
29 October - "Manifesto" issued. In this document, Mathers (S.R.M.D.) chastens the rebellious Theorici, and commands them to "submit" to his rule, swearing an "oath of allegiance" to the Second Order and to himself as Chief. Mathers repports that he is under terrible strain from receiving rituals of the Second Order from Secret Chiefs. He also cites constant strife with opposing Demonic forces which has caused terrible nervous prostration, and blood loss through his nose, mouth, ears, etc.
22 November - Annie Horniman (F.E.R.) submits to the Chief. She is in Florence, Italy, until the beginning of 1897
28 November - Mme Jenny Jacob (Gnothi Seauton) joins the H.O.G.D.
December - In November or December, Mathers negotiates unsuccessfully with George Redway's esoteric publishing house for advances and more money on his publication of a translation of The Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage, a manuscript from the French Libraire D'Arsenal. By December, Mathers has returned his advances from Redway, and stricken a new deal with H.O.G.D. member F. L. Gardner (D.P.A.L.) who offered financial backing for publication of the Abra-Melin book. The enterprise is not philanthropic - Gardner means to make a profit - but it alleviates Mathers' short term financial problems in the wake of Horniman's withdrawal of his allowance.
1 December, 1896 - Dr. Felkin (Respice) takes 5=6
3 December - The conflict between the prudishness of Annie Horniman and the sexual openness of Berridge sharpens. Mathers (S.R.M.D.), understanding the sexual nature of certain esoteric teachings of the Golden Dawn's projected "Third Order" expells Horniman from the H.O.G.D.
Shortly after this, Dr. Pullen Burry (Anima pura sit - A.P.S.) goes to Paris to see Mathers. Mathers defends his expulsion of the contentious Hornimann and his support of Berridge (Resurgam). He also mentions that he is annoyed at Westcott (S.A.), whom Mathers felt was usurping his authority.
19 December - Gardner (D.P.A.L.). is a sexually repressed individual who mistakenly believes that sexuality has no place in Western esotericism. Gardner is allied with Horniman against Berridge, who has secretly received instructions regarding esoteric sexuality from Mathers. Mathers (S.R.M.D.) defends his expulsion of Horniman (F.E.R.) to Gardner (D.P.A.L.). Over the next day or two, Gardner organizes a fairly humble petition to ask Mathers to reinstate Horniman. He receives 39 replies - 29 affirmative, 9 negative (including Allan Benett (Iehi Aour), Ada Waters (Recta Pete), and J.W. Brodie-Innes (Sub spe). R. W. Felkin (Finem respice) declines to make a decision one way or the other. The petition is never sent to Mathers, however, possibly because Gardner learned that Mathers would not accept it.
25 December - Annie Horniman (F.E.R.) writes William Peck (Veritas et Lux), a prestigious member of the Amoun-Ra Temple in Edinburg, and discloses information on her many loans to the Mathers over several years. This information is quickly made public within the Second Order.

1897
Levi's Le Clef des Grandes Myst�res is published.
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:
1897 sees the fallout of the first Rebellion within the Golden Dawn. Mathers (S.R.M.D.) retains a grip on control of the organization, but becomes increasingly paranoid and jealous of his prerogatives regarding his role within the order. By October of 1897, things look bleak for the order. One member comments that "my faith in the Chief is completely shaken" and said that "it seems hardly likely that the Order can go on much longer in the present unsatisfactory state of affairs." Nevertheless, under the leadership of Florence Farr, the order recovers, and remains fairly stable for nearly two years.
11 January - G. C. Jones (Volo) becomes a 5=6
18 January - Elain Simpson (Donorum Dei Dispensatio Fidelis - Fidelis) joins H.O.G.D.
January - The Mathers (S.R.M.D. and Vestigia) visit London at the end of the month in order to calm the Theorici. Westcott, who has up to this point only been Registrar, is made Vice-Imperator, giving him for the first time direct authority in the Second Order. His replacement of Percy Bullock (L.O.) seems to have been amicable.
17 March - Westcott (S.A.) has to resign as Vice-Imperator because some occult manuscripts carrying his address are left in a cab, and causing Wescott to receive official notice that a Coroner of the Crown could not be involved in magical activities. Apparently, something similar happened in 1889 which caused him to stop lecturing for the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society. Aleister Crowley (Perdurabo) later alleged that Mathers (S.R.M.D.) left the documents and this was rumored or suspected at the time. The truth of the matter remains unknown.
It seems almost certain that the removal of Westcott (S.A.) caused the collapse of the examination system. Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) did not care to enforce Second Order examinations, and Mathers (S.R.M.D.) was far too far away and busy with other matters. Annie Horniman (F.E.R.) was also gone at this point. Westcott suggests in a letter to Gardner that Charles Rosher (A.A.) and Miss Ada Waters (Recta Pete) pick up the work he had been doing, but it is clear that no-one else had the time to devote to the order's minutiae that Westcott had taken.
1 April - Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) is appointed Vice-Imperator of Isis-Urania, and made Chief Adept in Anglia. At the same time, the formation of secret groups is advised and legalized by Mathers (S.R.M.D.)
5 April - Mathers' (S.R.M.D.) loses the Abra Melin manuscripts in a railway carriage in France. He does not inform Gardner until May.
At this point, Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) collects money for the Mathers. Ada Waters (Recta Pete) returns back from Paris with news of the Mathers extreme financial difficulties. Amoun-Ra sends Mathers all its extra funds.
1 May - Mathers (S.R.M.D.) travels to Scotland to deal with problems in Amoun-Ra. Mathers apparently briefly makes himself Imperator, in the same way that Westcott (S.A.) had briefly been Imperator of Horus during its difficulties. Mathers displaces Brodie-Innes (Sub Spe) to Praemonstrator, and Peck (V.E.L.) to Vice-Imperator. By late 1897, Peck was Imperator.
May 1897 - A Pamphlet on the teachings of Thomas Lake Harris is issued by "Respire" - generally understood to be Dr. Berridge (Resurgam). At one point the author describes how he worked magic against an opponent. There is every evidence to indicate that this was documentation of a magical attempt by Berridge to injure Annie Horniman (F.E.R.) and a version of the pamphlet with a derisive bit of doggerel which made the matter more clear was sent to a member.
9 May - Gardner (D.P.A.L.) finds out about Mathers' (S.R.M.D.) troubles, and makes an offer of money and lodging until Mathers completes his work. The terms require, however, a cessation of all political and reinstatement of Annie Horniman (F.E.R.). The offer is genuinely rude in nature. Mathers refuses indignantly, yet remains fairly kind to Gardner.
May - Subsequently, Gardner (D.P.A.L.) complains again to Mathers (S.R.M.D.) about Berridge (Resurgam), and writes to the latter saying that Berridge will likely hear from Horniman's lawyers. By this time the fight between Berridge and Horniman has become very bitter indeed. Based on the poem, Mathers suspends Berridge for six months.
2 July - Mathers (S.R.M.D.) finally dispatches the Abra-melon Manuscript to Gardner (D.P.A.L.).
July - At some point during this period, Mathers (S.R.M.D.) mentions fear of assassination, which Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) privately derides.
August - Westcott (S.A.) has an "astral visitor," "known to him" who advises Wescott he should not work with Annie Horniman (F.E.R.) or any other sorores. From this point on Westcott no longer works with any of the women of the order in private. Wescott was already out of all public involvement.
15 August - With Berridge's (Resurgam) suspension almost up, Gardner (D.P.A.L.) writes him a strongly worded, possibly threatening letter.
17 August - Mathers (S.R.M.D.) criticizes Gardner (D.P.A.L.) for his rebuke of Berridge (Resurgam), and even Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) thinks Gardner was out of line. Gardner's behavior seems be becoming more and more erratic, which Mathers attributes to his possession of the Abra-Melin manuscripts.
22 August - Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) writes a humiliating letter to Gardner (D.P.A.L.), in which she says she can not recommend him for further official position in Isis-Urania.
August - Early in August Gardner (D.P.A.L.) writes an angry letter to the member whose function was to circulate notices of meetings, because she had failed to invite him to the August 7 ceremony. She takes exception to his tone and complains to Florence Farr (S.S.D.D).
8 September - Gardner (D.P.A.L.) resigns from Isis-Urania and sends a notice for Dr. Pullen-Burry (A.P.S.) to read at the equinox ceremony. Gardner complains bitterly and wrote a condemning letter to Pullen-Burry because the latter fails to read Gardner's letter before the assembly.
9 September - The Second order moves to new premises at 36 Blythe Road, off Hammersmith Road. Gardner had presented a book case, and agrees to leave it until after the ceremony, though he refuses to let the order buy it from him.
November - Despite factionalization, Amoun-Ra was still in business at this point, and was building its own Second Order vault. Isabelle De Steiger (Alta Peto) painted the Vault at Edinburgh.

1898
Julius Evola is born.
Aleister Crowley joins the Golden Dawn.
Mathers publishes "The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage."
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:
We know comparatively little of 1898. A survey of available information would seem to indicate that the year was "slow." On the other hand, there is also a lack of documentation. The extensive knowledge of the order in 1896-97 is partially because of correspondence from Annie Horniman and F. L. Gardner, both of whom moved away from the organization (Annie suspended, and Gardner a corresponding member of Horus Temple feuding with Florence Farr). On the whole, 1898 seems to have been a milder year for the order. Letters indicate that Florence Farr was an effective "cushion" between the Theorici, and Mathers' high-handedness, and that the Chief himself was deeply enmeshed in the Isis Movement he hoped to inaugurate in Paris. When Mathers' attention was focused on the order, it was on the feuding Amoun-Ra Temple in Edinburgh, which by late 1899 seems to have almost entirely collapsed. The storm that would destroy the order in Jan-May of 1900 broke rather suddenly, after a time of seeming peace. Without doubt, however, there were deep tensions within the order. February - Horus Temple Bradford petitions for direct control by Mathers to keep any "petticoat government" by Florence Farr (S.S.D.D.) from affecting them. This was a direct result of Gardner showing them the letter Florence Farr had sent him. "Common Sense and good fellowship" was held to be more important at Horus than H.O.G.D. Grades.
February - Eugene Jacob (Ely Star) takes 5=6 at Ahathoor
29 July - Westcott (S.A.) went to Edinburgh 29 July 1898. By this point, Amoun-Ra Temple is apparently in complete collapse. The Temple is divided between followers of Brodie-Innes (Sub Spe), and followers of Peck (L.E.R.), who support Mathers (S.R.M.D.) - a total of about fifteen on each side. In a private letter, Westcott suggests that "All the scotch have reckoned him (Mathers) up correctly but a few seniors are doing like one in London (probably meant to be Florence Farr) tolerating a master in hope of further profit." Mathers was apparently quite unpopular, and Brodie-Innes section of the Amoun-Ra Temple can be viewed as being in more or less open rebellion at this point. Westcott says that Peck's faction already has some defections and resignations.
22 September - Camille Videgrain (Sursum Corda - S.C.) joins Ahathoor in Paris.
18 November - Aleister Crowley (Perdurabo) is initiated.

1899
C.G. Leland publishes "Aradia, the Gospel of the Witches."
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:
March - The Mathers' "Rite of Isis" presented at Bodiniere Theatre in the Rue Saint-Lazare in March 1899. This was part of an ongoing esoteric project of the Mathers' which did not directly relate to the Golden Dawn. Though couched as a historical project, the idea was to expose the public to the old Graeco-Roman mystery cult of Isis, and revive Isis worship in Paris. This would lead to Mathers' crowning public achievement, the presentation of a reconstructed Isis Temple at the 1900 Paris World's Fair.
3 March - A. E. Waite (S.R.) takes 5=6
18 March - Elaine Simpson (Fidelis) takes 5=6
May - Crowley (Perdurabo) becomes 4=7. He completes examination, and is qualified as a nominal 5=6, but is refused initiation into the Second Order.
August - Crowley goes into a "magical retreat" at Boleskine in Scotland, to attempt to work Mathers' Abra-Melin process.
November - Dawning homosexual scandal. There appears to have been police investigation of some homosexual conduct at Cambridge, and Crowley's name was proposed in reference to it, along with some of his H.O.G.D. associates, including Allan Bennett. No charges are filed, and no H.O.G.D. members are actively questioned by the police, though some of them may have been watched. This is overshadowed by further rumors; of a sexual affair with Elaine Simpson (Fidelis), the daughter of Mrs. Alice Simpson (Perseverantia et Cura Quies - Preserverantia).

1900
-index-
January 16 - Crowley goes to Paris and is initiated into the Second Order by Mathers. Upon his return to the London temple, he requested the grade papers to which he was now entitled from Miss Cracknell, the acting secretary. To the London Adepts, this was the last straw. The London Adepts refuse to acknowledge Crowley's initiation.
January - Florence Farr, already of the opinion that the London temple should be closed, wrote to Mathers expressing her wish to resign as his representative, though she was willing to carry on until a successor was found.
February 16 - Mathers replies to this on February 16th, accusing Farr or attempting to bring back Wescott as the head of the order. Consequently, Mathers reveals to Farr that the letters from Fraulein Sprengel had been forged by Westcott. This bombshell shakes the trust of the London members. The crisis is exasperated by Westcott's refusal to give any explanation or even defend himself against Mathers's accusations.
March 3 - The Adepts in London elect a committee of seven and request a full investigation of the matter.
March 23 - Mathers replies, declining to provide proof, refusing even to acknowledge the committee, and dismissing Farr as his representative.
March 29 - A general meeting is called in London. The committee of rogue Adepts remove Mathers as chief and expels him from the Order. It also expells Mina Mathers and Crowley.
April - Mathers annuls the Second Order committee and sends Crowley to London as his emissary in order to take possession of Second Order's private rooms and implements. This plan was foiled by the diligence of W.B. Yeats and certain other rogue Adepts.
In the ensuing confusion, Yeats takes control, becoming Imperator of Isis-Urania Temple. The committee attempts to restructure the Order along more democratic lines, resulting in even greater confusion. Annie Horniman is reinstated into the Order. Horniman, however, begins to argue with nearly everyone in the Order.

1901
Yeats tries to maintain peace for a while, but finally resigns from office in February.
Two con-artists calling themselves Mr. and Mrs. Horos somehow manage to convince MacGregor Mathers that Madame is actually the real Anna Sprengel. Mathers is fooled for awhile, but when he begins to get suspicious, the couple steal copies of Golden Dawn's rituals and flee to London. Once in London the Horos couple set up their own personal Order-The Order of Theocractic Unity which-unknown to its members-features fraud, extortion, and sex. Mr. Horos is eventually arrested for rape. When charged by the authorities, the Horos couple claim to be the leaders of the Golden Dawn. The result was that many of the most arcane secrets of the Order were made public. Excerpts from initiation rituals of the Golden Dawn are printed in London newspapers. The resulting scandal causes further deep division in the order.

1902
The original Order further to splits apart. The Golden Dawn changes its name to the Hermetic Society of the Morgenrothe and Florence Farr resigns from the Order.
Horus Temple at Bradford gradually pulls away from H.O.G.D. teachings. Eventually turns from H.O.G.D. to S.R.I.A. ideals, and accepts only Master Masons.

1903
The remnants of the original Order are ravaged by further schism among the rogue Adepts. Some among them feel that the Golden Dawn should no longer be magically oriented. This faction, including Blackden, Rev. Ayton, and the more mystically-inclined members, forms Independent and Rectified Rite of the Golden Dawn under the leadership of A.E. Waite. Brodie-Innes, Felkin, and the magically inclined members form the Stella Matutina.
In Paris, S.L. MacGregor Mathers founds the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega (also called the Alpha et Omega or A.O) as a superstructure for the "three order" system originally planned for the higher grades of the Golden Dawn, with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as its outer of first order and the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (R.R. et A.C.) as its Second Order, thus distinguishing itself from the dissident branches of the order. Adepts and Temples remaining loyal to Mathers and the "Secret Chiefs" flock to the Alpha et Omega.

1906
The Druid Order, also known as the Ancient Druid Order (A.D.O.) or An Druidh Uileach Braitheachas (A.D.U.B.) is founded in England. Its leading light is George Watson MacGregor Reid, who was Chosen Chief from 1909 to 1946. George Watson MacGregor-Reid was additionally closely associated with S.L. MacGregor Mathers of the Hermetic Order of the Golden and of the Alpha et Omega. Reid gave Mathers the Arch-druid degree, conferring on Mathers a right and authority to officiate at celebrations of Druid rituals; thus, for example, Mathers officiated at some Druid rituals in Nantes, France, in 1909. Additionally, Mathers gave Reid the title of MacGregor (which was inherited by his son), and also the Alpha et Omega 7=4 to Reid in return for the Arch-Druid conferral. Thus, Reid obtained an authority enabling him to officate at G.D. ceremonies. Golden Dawn and Alpha et Omega rituals were secretly worked side by side with Druidic rites in the so-called, Nauda temple. MacGregor-Reid's rights in both Druidry and the G.D. were transmitted to his heirs and successors, which included his son (MacGregor Reid) and Desmond Bourke. (Adam Stout made a thorough study of MacGregor Reid, and suggested that the conferral of the "MacGregor" title from Mathers, which was given only to three other individuals, all Golden Dawn or Alpha et Omega initiates, was tantamount to a mystical transmission).

1907
Henry Steel Olcott, cofounder of the Theosophical Society, passes.
Francis Israel Regardie is born in England but emigrates to the United States with his family at age 13. Ritual magician, student of Aleister Crowley, and later a chiropractor who utilizes the thought of Wilhelm Reich in his work. Beginning in 1928 he travels through Europe as Crowley's lover, secretary and student. In 1934, after parting with Crowley, he joined the Stella Matutina, an offshoot of the former Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Regardie breaks his vows of secrecy, and publishes the order's rituals and magical teachings in 1937. Despite his rationalizations, this act nearly destroys the both the Stella Matutina and the Alpha et Omega.

1909
William Alexander Ayton passes.
Franz Bardon is born.
Aleister Crowley begins to publish Golden Dawn rituals and teachings in The Equinox, leading Mathers to eventually sue him for copyright infringement in a suit which Mathers loses.

1910
-index-
Madeline Montalban (aka Dolores North) is born. Montalban eventually founds the Order of the Morning Star (Ordo Stella Matutina) in 1945, which practices Angelic magic and the magic of the Tarot.

1911(circa)
Countess Tamara Bourkoun (ca 1911-1990) is born. Bourkoun eventually founds a derivative order of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called Order of the Pyramid and the Sphinx. The O.P.+S. practices Alpha et Omega ritual and works Enochian magic, and has numerous connections with the Golden Dawn and its derivative orders. The cousin of the Cancellarius of the Alpha et Omega under Moina Mathers, Langford Garstin, also named Garstin, becomes a member of the Order of the Pyramid and the Sphinx. Ithell Colquhoun is also an initiate of the O.P.+S. Helen Rand, former Cancellaria gives the pillars of the Isis-Urania temple to Countess Bourkoun for use in the rituals of the O.P.+S. Miss Tranchell-Hayes, Imperatrix of Mathers' Alpha et Omega eventually transmits the lineal affiliation and authorities of the Alpha et Omega to Bourkoun. It is largely due to the efforts of Countess Bourkoun and Marquis Nicholas Tereschenko that Mathers' Alpha et Omega survives into the 21st Century. Bourkoun also becomes an active Gnostic; is ordained as a Sub-Deaconess of L'Eglise Universelle de la Nouvelle Alliance' by Roger Caro in 1973, made a Deaconess by H.L. Jacques Lacroix in 1975, and ordained a priest by Jean-Paul Charlet in 1977. Bourkoun was the official representative in Great Britain of the 'L'Eglise Universelle de la Nouvelle Alliance," directed by Roger Caro who was also the Imperator of the Freres Ainees de la Rose+Croix (F.A.R.+C., Elder Brothers of the Rose Cross).

1912
Alpha et Omega 2 (temple) is formed in Edinburgh as a daughter temple to Amen-Ra. Brodie-Innes its chief, (after having made peace with Mathers and broken off with Felkin). Felkin establishes Smaragdum Thalasses Temple of the Stella Matutina in Havelock North, New Zealand. The Order in New Zealand became known by the Maori name of Whare Ra or "The House of the Sun."

1913
Amen-Ra sires a spin-off hybrid called Cromlech Temple or the Solar Order-a collaboration between Alpha et Omega 2 and Anglican clergymen.
Brodie-Innes establishes an A.O. temple in London as a southern branch of his revived Amen-Ra Temple in Edinburgh.

1916
Papus (i.e. G.A.V. Encausse), French occultist and author passes. A.E. Waite's Independent and Rectified Rite of the Golden Dawn becomes the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross.
Felkin establishes the following temples of the Stella Matutina: Hermes Lodge in Bristol, The Secret College in London (open only to SRIA members), and Merlin Lodge in London. Felkin establishes another Order, the Guild of St. Raphael - a guild of the Anglican Church.

1917
Florence Farr passes.

1918
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers passes.
Desmond Bourke is born. Bourke eventually becomes a key player in nearly every field of British esotericism. Bourke becomes a 7=4 of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an VIII Degree of A. E. Waite's Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, an Adeptus Maximus of Madelain Montalban's Order of the Morning Star, an Arch Druid of numerous Druidic Orders, a High Grade Freemason, IX degree of Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, a Martinist (Supérieur Inconnu), Reaux-Crois, and Chief of the Sovereign Imperium of the Mysteries. Bourke also becomes a Gnostic Bishop (multiple affiliations), founds the Hermetic Martinist Order, and guides the merger of the Ancient and Archaological Order of Druids with the Literary and Archaological Order of Druids to form the Universal Druidic Order. Bourke, who eventually holds numerous Golden Dawn and derivative affiliations, serves in the 1980's as Praemonstrator of the Serapis temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in London, England. November - Paul Foster Case is initiated into the 0=0 grade at Thoth-Hermes Temple No. 9 in New York.

1919
Moina Mathers returns to London after S.L. MacGregor Mathers' death and establishes the Alpha et Omega 3 temple
Dion Fortune joins Brodie-Innes' A.O. temple in London.
The Alpha et Omega establishes Ptah Temple No. 10 in Philadelphia.

1920
-index-
Marquis Nicolas Tereshenko is born. Tereschenko's family was raised to nobility in the Ukraine by the former Czar of Russia. Marquis Tereschenko becomes a High Grade Freemason, an Adeptus Maximus of Madeline Montalban's Order of the Morning Star, an Arch Druid (United Ancient Order of Druids), Martinist, Reaux Croix, and Praemonstrator of the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in Paris, France. Together with Countess Tamara Bourkoun, Marquis Tereschenko bears primarily responsibility for the survival of S.L. MacGregor Mathers' Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega into the 21st Century in Europe.
The Alpha et Omega establishes Atoum Temple No. 20 in Los Angeles.
The Amoun Temple of the Stella Matutina in London is closed down due to the paranoid behavior of its chief (Mrs. Stoddart).

1922
In January Moina expels Paul Foster Case from the Golden Dawn. Case goes on to create his own Order, the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.)
Dion Fortune leaves the Alpha et Omega Lodge to form the Fraternity of the Inner Light. (Spin-off groups from the Fraternity of the Inner Light eventually include The Guild of the Master Jesus (London - 1925), Helios (Gareth Knight -Toddington -1956), the Enochian Temple (London 1969), and the Servants of the Light (W.E. Butler).]

1923
Allan Bennett passes.
The Stella Matutina is close to collapse. W.B. Yeats resigns.

1925
William W. Wescott passes.
Rudolph Steiner passes.

1926
R.W. Felkin, founder of the Stella Matutina, passes.

1928
Moina Mathers passes.

1930
-index-
Frederick Leigh Gardner passes.

1933
Annie Besant (née Wood), author and noted Theosophist passes.
Israel Regardie is initiated into the Hermes Temple of the Stella Matutina in Bristol.

1937
Annie Horniman passes.
Israel Regardie begins to publish the Order's teachings as The Golden Dawn in violation of his oaths of secrecy. This decision nearly destroys what is left of both the Stella Matutina and the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega.

1939
William Butler Yeats passes.
Most temples of the Alpha et Omega and the Stella Matutina become dormant (with the exception of the Hermes Temple in Bristol which works sporadically until 1970 and the Whare Ra temple in New Zealand which lasts into the 1970's.

1942
-index-
Arthur Edward Waite passes.

1945
The Order of the Morning Star (Ordo Stella Matutina) is founded by Madeline Montalban. The Order of the Morning Star practices a system which mainly focuses on Hermetic/Qabalistic and Angelic magic and the magic of the Tarot. The order consists of two exclusive circles, one for Angelic magic and the other for the magic of the Tarot, which are strictly limited to twelve members each. Prominent members of the Order of the Morning Star are Ukrainian nobleman, Marquis Nicholas Tereschenko (Praemonstrator of the Ahathoor Temple No 7 of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in Paris and Second Adept of Mathers' Alpha et Omega in France) and famous Druid and Martinist, Desmond Bourke (Praemonstrator of the Serapis Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in London), who each receive and eventually transmit the Ordo Stella Matutina affiliation.

1946
Dion Fortune (i.e. Violet Mary Firth) passes.

1947®
Aleister Crowley (Crowley, Edward Alexander) passes.

1951
-index-
Robert Word, Ph.D. (I.O.P and Sar Draconis) is born. Dr Word (with a Ph.D. in nuclear physics) eventually founds and becomes the Chief Adept of the August Order of the Mystic Rose, which eventually formally affiliates with the European headquartered, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.® Dr. Word also becomes a Board Member of the H.P. Blavatsky's Theosophical Society, a High Grade Freemason (and member of its Grand College of Rites), VII degree, S.R.I.C.F. (the only legitimate Societas Rosicruciana in the USA), 95th Degree, Memphis and Mizraim Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry, an Arch Druid (United Ancient Order of Druids), a Gnostic Bishop with multiple affiliations, an initiate of the F.A.R.+C., an Initiate of the Rose Croix d'Orient, a Martinist (Supérieur Inconnu), and a Reax-Croix.

1954
Jean Pascal Ruggiu is born. Ruggiu (Lux Aurorae) eventually becomes Cancellarius Ordinis of the European headquartered, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®, Third Adept of the Golden Dawn's Second Order, the R.R. et A.C.®, and Third Adept of S.L. MacGregor Mathers' Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®, which serves as a superstructure for the Golden Dawn's aforementioned First and Second Orders. Ruggiu also becomes Imperator of the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in Paris, founded by Mathers in 1892 and reawakened 100 years later in 1992 by Marquis Nicholas Tereschenko. Ruggiu becomes a High Grade Freemason (95th degree, Memphis and Mizraim Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry), a Gnostic Bishop (holding multiple lines of affiliation), Imperator of the F.A.R.+C., a Martinist (Supérieur Inconnu), a Reax-Croix, and an initiate of several Continental European secret societies whose names remain secret.
Elsa Barker passes.
Paul Foster Case passes.

1955
David John Griffin is born. Griffin (Lux ex Septentrionis) eventually becomes fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, and Swedish and one day becomes Imperator Ordinis of the European headquartered, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®, Chief Adept of the Golden Dawn's Second Order, the R.R. et A.C.®, and Archon Basileaus of S.L. MacGregor Mathers' Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®, which serves as a superstructure for the Golden Dawn's aforementioned First and Second orders. Griffin also becomes a high grade Freemason (IX Degree in the Swedish Rite, 32 Degree in the A.A.S.R., Knight Templar in the York Right, a member of the N.C.R.L. and C.F. Eckleff Research Lodges, and member of the S.R.I.C.F., the only legitimate branch of Societas Rosicruciana in the U.S.A), a Gnostic Bishop (holding multiple lines of affiliation), an initiate of the Gold und Rosenkreutz Order, of the Fratres Lucis (Asiatic Brethren), of the F.A.R.+C., and of several other Continental European secret societies whose names remain secret.

1958
Jorge Hevia, A.B., M.B.A., J,D., L.L.M., Esq, is born. Hevia (Deus est Daemon Inversus) eventually becomes Praemonstrator Ordinis of the European headquartered, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®, Second Adept of the Golden Dawn's Second Order, the R.R. et A.C.®, and Second Adept of S.L. MacGregor Mathers' Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®, which serves as a superstructure for the Golden Dawn's aforementioned First and Second Orders. A keen attorney as well as skilled occultist, Hevia on numerous occasions successfully protects the legal rights of the European headquartered, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®, its Second Order, the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (R.R. et A.C.) as well as its three order superstructure, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® (A.O.) from infringement and outside legal threat.
Franz Bardon passes.

1966
-index-
The Ancient and Archeological Order of Druids is merges with the Literary and Archaological Order of Druids to form the Universal Druidic Order, the new organization to be based in Blackheath, London. This merger occurs under the guiding hand of Desmond Bourke, head of the Ancient and Archeaological Order, who subsequently becomes head of the Universal Druidic Order. The intimate association between the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Druidry that began with the mutual initiations of S.L. MacGregor Mathers and George Watson MacGregor Reid, continues and deepens under the leadership of Arch Druid and Golden Dawn Adept, Desmond Bourke.

1974
-index-
Julius Evola passes.

1975
The Hermetic Martinist Order is founded in the United Kingdom by Desmond Bourke, a member of 'L'Ordre Martiniste et Synarchique' of England. The H.O.M is chartered by the O.M. & S of Louis Bentin (Sar Gulion) Grand Master of the Britannic Grand Lodge. The Hermetic Order of Martinists is accessible only to Fratres of the 'Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia' (S.R.I.A., founded in 1867 by Robert Wentworth Little) and is thus composed exclusively of Rosicrucian Masons and does not initiate women. Their teachings are taken from 'L'Ordre Martiniste et Synarchique'. The current Grand Master is Andrew Stephenson (Sar Benevolent). The membership is about 160 members with Heptads and Lodges situated around England. The majority of known English Martinists carry a lineage descending from Victor Blanchard (L'Ordre Martiniste et Synarchique).

1980
-index-
Jean-Pascal Ruggiu is initiated in London into a derivative order of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Order of the Pyramid and the Sphinx, by Countess Tamara Bourkoun. Countess Bourkoun authorizes Ruggiu to found temples of the Alpha et Omega in France. Ruggiu founds the first temple in Strasbourg.

1982
Israel Regardie, without proper initiatic authority to do so, irregularly consecrates a Vault of the Adepti and initiates Cris Monnastre into the Adeptus Minor (5=6) Grade. Monnastre founds the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the U.S.A.
Madeline Montalban passes.

1985
Israel Regardie passes.

ca. 1990
-index-
Countess Tamara Bourkoun passes.

1992
Marquis Nicholas Tereschenko and Jean Pascal Ruggiu travel to London, where they are advanced through the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus, 7=4, at the Serapis Temple, of which Apollon Leontas serves as Imperator and Desmond Bourke is Praemonstrator. Dr. Robert Word is in attendance. Charters are issued transmitting multiple lines lineal affiliation, including numerous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn derivative orders. Returning from England, Marquis Tereschenko and Ruggiu resurrect and reconsecrate the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in France, exactly 100 years after it was originally founded by S.L. MacGregor Mathers in 1892.

1992-1994
Cris Monnastre regularly initiates and advances David Griffin into each of the Grades of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn at the Alpha et Omega II temple in Los Angeles, then into the Portal and Adeptus Minor grades of the R.R. et A.C.

1994
Cris Monnastre is involved in a schism. David Griffin sides with Monnastre, Imperator Ordinis of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Griffiin registers the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn® trademark in Sweden (later registered with the Office of Harmonization in the Internal Market of the European Union). Another party attempts to register the same mark in the U.S.A. Griffin hires attorney Stuart MacKenzie, who successfully defended the O.T.O. against Marcello Motta, to oppose the American application.

1994-1996
Throughout the trademark dispute David Griffin is libeled on anonymously published attack websites using fantastic fabrications, false testimonials, etc. in a clear attempt to deceive the public by besmirching Griffin's character. The publisher of two such sites is eventually identified as Nagashiva Yronwode, an initiate of a Thelemic hybrid order licensed to use the Golden Dawn name in the U.S.A., calling itself the "Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn" (O.S.O. - G.D.). The O.S.O. - G.D. is further linked to the anonymous defamation campaign when its leaders, Joseph Max, Sam Webster, and Barbara Cormack, sign an open letter in an official capacity containing a diatribe giving explicit directions to one of these defamation sites. Robert Zink, leader of a Regardie-based "astral initiation" group licensed to use the Golden Dawn name in the U.S.A., the so-called "Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn" (E.O.G.D.), is additionally implicted in the proliferation of the "anonymous defamation websites," when Zink writes a long diatribe directing "Golden Dawn Blog" to one such site. This creates the distinct impression of a defamation campaign orchestrated between various Regardie-based "Golden Dawn" groups jealous of lineage.


1996
An agreement is reached between the two parties agreeing to share the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn® trademark internationally in an equal basis.

1997
Due to the publication of the rituals and teachings of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (H.O.G.D.) by Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie, a host of groups arise on the internet creating public confusion by calling themselves "Golden Dawn," yet offering their students little or nothing more than the aforementioned published material. Certain of these groups replace physical initiation in real temples with the dubious practices of so-called, "self" or "astral" initiation. Others dilute original H.O.G.D. teachings by mixing them with outside traditions like Martinism or Thelema. The worst of these groups, Robert Zink's so-called, "Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn," engages in cult-like practices and introduced dangerous, non-traditional practices like blood sacrifice, and the ritual scarring and flogging of candidates. Zink's "E.O.G.D." nonetheless preys on an unsuspecting public by improperly marketing itself as "Faithful to the classical traditional Golden Dawn tradition" and even as "Guardians of the True Golden Dawn.

1998
Cris Monnastre retires from the Golden Dawn, withdrawing from her partnership with Griffin, and leaving Griffin in charge of the order.

1999
January - David Griffin is advanced through the 7=4 Grade of the Golden Dawn's Second Order (R.R. et A.C.) at the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in Paris. Multiple lines of lineal affiliation deriving from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and derivative orders are transmitted to Griffin, who is additionally consecrated as a Gnostic bishop. Griffin takes the initiatic name of Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis. Griffin's Golden Dawn order (formally Monnastre/Griffin's) is merged into the Paris headquartered H.O.G.D. presently presided over by GH Frater LeS (David Griffin), GH Frater DeDI (Jorge Hevia), and GH Frater OVA as its international Chiefs.
March - Griffin's "Ritual Magic Manual" is released by Golden Dawn publishing, making the magical system of the R.R. et A.C. more readily available to practicing magicians in a user friendly format.
Vernal Equinox - The European headquartered, H.O.G.D. decides to further differentiate itself from the host of groups calling themselves "Golden Dawn, yet having no legitimate connection to the original Golden Dawn and offering their students little or nothing more than the material published by Israel Regardie. Their Second Order, the R.R. et A.C., therefore proclaims the "Reformatio Fraternitatis Anno 1999," according to an ancient rule of the Rosicrucian fraternity, which requires a general reformation of the fraternity every one hundred and eleven (111) years. The previous general reformations had occurred in 1888 (year of the founding of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as well as of two other Rosicrucian orders in France), 1777 (the year of the general reformation of the Gold und Rosenkreutz order in Germany), 1666, etc. In the 1999 reformation, the R.R. et A.C. moves all published material to its outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Next, using pre-Golden Dawn Hermetic and Rosicrucian esoteric transmissions, the R.R. et A.C. prepares a completely traditional (yet secret and unprofaned) magical and alchemical curriculum to replace the material profaned through publication by Regardie and Crowley.
In this manner the European headquartered H.O.G.D. distinguishes itself from the host of groups contemporaneously calling themselves Golden Dawn, yet offering little or nothing in their Second Orders beyond well-known, published material. Moreover, inclusion of Hermetic alchemy in the reformed R.R. et A.C. curriculum further distinguishes it as the only extant Rosicrucian Order teaching and practicing all three disciplines of the "Trivium Hermeticum": astrology, theurgy, and alchemy.

2001
-index-
Marquis Nicholas Tereschenko passes.
E.O.G.D. (Esoteric Order of the "Golden Dawn")cult leader, Robert Zink, is exposed as having sexually abused and impregnated the under aged child of a female E.O.G.D. member. Zink denies this, but the bereaved grandmother publishes the birth certificate as proof.

2002
Leaders of the European based, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn are contacted by and again meet with representatives of the same order referred to by Mathers as the "Secret Chiefs" in Paris once again. At this meeting, Golden Dawn leaders are given everything for the "Third Order" that had been planned by them for the Golden Dawn since its inception in 1888. These materials include the initiation rituals for the Golden Dawn's three highest grades (called "Magisteria"); Magister Templi (8-3), Magus (9=2) and Ipsissimus (10=1). Golden Dawn leaders are additionally given the complete curriculum of these higher grades; a vast esoteric corpus that includes not only the elementary sexual practices of Hermetic Inner Alchemy and Alchemical Magic once given to Mathers for the first Magisterium (Magister Templi), of the Golden Dawn's projected Third Order, but also the continuation and culmination of these teachings for the second and third Magisteria (Magus and Ipsissimus).
Hermetic "Inner" Alchemy represents the capstone on the pyramid and comprises the highest teachings of the Western esoteric tradition. This alchemical practice uses the subtle fires of the body, including love and sexuality, to transmute the "lead" of the physical body (or "Prima Materia") into the "gold" of a solar body, into which the Adept projects his or her consciousness at the moment of death, thus becoming consciously immortal.
David Griffin (G.H. Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis) and Jean-Pascal Ruggiu (G.H. Frater Lux Aurore) are initiated into the First Mageristeriun, 8=3, and are further chartered, granted the original Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineal affiliations previously transmitted to Kenneth MacKenzie, with which the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was originally founded in 1888.
This fully distinguishes the European headquartered, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn® from the modern, Regardie-based "Golden Dawn" groups that "dead end" with the material published by Israel Regardie and Aleister Crowley, as the only order ever to teach and initiate in the entire "three order" system planned for the Golden Dawn since its inception in 1888, from the Neophyte (0=0) through the Ipsissimus (10=1) grades. To further distinguish themselves from the Regardie-based groups, although their First Order remains the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.® (H.O.G.D.), and their Second Order the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis® (R.R. et A.C.), they additionally adopt the name given by Mathers to the superstructure of the entire three order system, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® (also called the Alpha et Omega or A.O).

2003
Following the public announcement of the European headquartered Golden Dawn having received the Third Order initiation rituals and curriculum from the "Secret Chiefs" in Paris, Griffin is once more subjected to an orchestrated defamation campaign, including anonymously published attack websites using fabrications, false testimonials, etc., in an attempt to besmirch Griffin's character. The publisher of two such sites is eventually identified as Nagashiva Yronwode, an initiate of a Thelemic hybrid order licensed to use the Golden Dawn name in the U.S.A., calling itself the "Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn" (O.S.O. - G.D.). The O.S.O. - G.D. is further linked to the anonymous defamation campaign when its leaders, Joseph Max, Sam Webster, and Barbara Cormack, sign an open letter in an official capacity containing a diatribe giving explicit directions to one of these defamation sites. Robert Zink, leader of a Regardie-based "astral initiation" group licensed to use the Golden Dawn name in the U.S.A., the so-called the "Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn" (E.O.G.D.), is additionally implicted in the proliferation of the "anonymous defamation websites," when Zink writes a long diatribe directing "Golden Dawn Blog" to one such site. This creates the distinct impression of a defamation campaign orchestrated between various Regardie-based "Golden Dawn" groups jealous of lineage.

2005
David Griffin is unsuccessfully sued for trademark infringement in the U.S.A., while the plaintiff meanwhile continues to use Griffin's mark in the European Union. Griffin files well founded counter-claims for breach of contract and tortuous interference in the internal affairs of the European world headquarters of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Desmond Bourke passes. Immediately following Bourke's death, once he can no longer set the record straight or seek redress for libel, Pat Zalewski and others begin to attack Bourke's reputation and affiliations, circulating a letter which Zalewski falsely portrays as representing Bourke's having denied having any Golden Dawn affiliation to begin with.

2007
Trademark litigation is settled by the parties. The November 20, 1996 agreement, supra is superceded by the January 17, 2007 Settlement Agreement adopted by the U.S. District Court on February 12, 2007. The agreement remains under supervision of the court upon motion to Enforce by either party. Griffin and the European, international world headquarters of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn are recognized as the sole and exclusive owners of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn® trademark in the European Union (OHIM reg. 000063925) as well as of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn International® trademark in Canada (CIPO Reg. TMA510387). To avoid confusion with the other party, however, the European headquartered H.O.G.D. agrees to use the name Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® in the U.S.A.
The European headquartered H.O.G.D.® publicly reveals that its Third Order curriculum includes Hermetic "Inner" Alchemy, which uses the subtle fires of the body, including love and sexuality, to transmute the "lead" of the physical body (or "Prima Materia") into the "gold" of a solar body, into which the Adept projects his or her consciousness at the moment of death, thus becoming consciously immortal. They further reveal the curriculum includes certain elementary sexual practices deriving from Hermetic Inner Alchemy and Alchemical Magic, that were once given once given to Mathers for the first Magisterium (Magister Templi).
These revelations spark a renewed round of controversy defamation against the order from the Regardie-based groups. Griffin continues to be disparaged on a website belonging to Aaron Leitch, member of yet another group.