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- [00:02]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi listeners, it's Vanessa Richardson. Real quick, before today's episode, I want to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [00:48]
Crime House Announcer
This is crime house.
- [00:54]
Vanessa Richardson
On April 18, 190024 year old Aleister Crowley, sometimes called the wickedest man in the world, showed up at 36 Blythe Road in London's Hammersmith neighborhood. Crowley was hard to miss that day. He was wearing a kilt, a black mask, a giant gold cross, and had a dagger at his side. The building he was trying to get into, on the other hand, looked like an ordinary commercial property. But inside those red brick walls was a sacred room that belonged to one of Europe's most influential secret cults, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Known as the Vault of the Adepts, this was a seven sided chamber decorated with colorful occult symbols. The golden dawn used this vault for their most important ceremonies. It was where they inducted new members into their cult, where they infused sacred objects with magical powers, and where they cast powerful spells. The Vault depths was a precious place and many members of the golden dawn had been determined to keep Aleister Crowley far away from it. He was widely considered to be untrustworthy, vengeful, and downright evil. The cult's leaders were terrified that if Crowley gained control of the Vault, he'd use the powerful magic it contained to carry out his darkest desires. And that's exactly why Crowley was determined to get inside the the front door was locked, so he simply broke it down and marched inside. The Battle of Blyth Road had begun and the war for control of this secretive cult had reached a new level. From UFO cults and mass suicides to secret CIA experiments, presidential assassinations and murderous doctors, these just theories. They're real stories that blur the line between fact and fiction. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. A Crime House original Powered by Pave Studios Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll explore the real people at the center of the world's most shocking events and nefarious organizations. These cases are wild and I want to hear what you think at the end of each episode. Leave a comment Wherever you listen, be sure to rate, review and follow conspiracy Theories, Cults and crimes to continue building this community together. And for ad free access to all three episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. Today, I'm diving into a secret society that brought together some of the most famous literary and cultural figures of the late 19th century. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The For 16 years, members of this complex and mysterious organization practiced ancient magic. Eventually the group splintered and many members of the golden dawn went on to bigger and better things. But they took the lessons they learned with them. And centuries later, we're still debating what went down in the hallowed halls of 36 Blythe Road. Had the most brilliant minds of the late 1800s tapped into the secrets of the universe? Or were these wealthy dilettantes high on their own supply? All that and more coming up.
- [04:28]
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- [04:58]
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- [05:30]
Vanessa Richardson
The Hermetic Order of the golden dawn was the brainchild of three men who were all involved with not one but two other secret societies. It all started with William Wynn Westcott, a 33 year old doctor who was appointed as London's Deputy Coroner in 1881. For much of his adult life, Westcott had been a member of the Freemasons, an all male fraternal order first established in the 1300s. The Freemasons have lots of elaborate traditions and rituals which are kept secret from non members. They also have a strict internal hierarchy. Newly inducted Freemasons are known as apprentices. Eventually members can advance to the level of journeyman before finally reaching the highest level of Master Mason. Westcott became a master Mason around 1880. Soon after he was invited to join Another secret society within the Freemasons, which was only open to other master masons. It was called the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia or Sri A. The SRIA was established in 1865 to study the life and teachings of a medieval German aristocrat named Christian Rosenkreuz. In the late 1300s, Rosenkreuz allegedly traveled the world in search of forbidden knowledge, learning from wise men in Jerusalem, Damascus, Egypt and Spain. In 1413, Rosenkreuz returned to Germany and founded a secret organization to preserve this knowledge, which he called the Fraternity of the Rose and Cross. Rosenkreuz reportedly taught his followers the secrets of alchemy and magic which they used to become spiritually mature and closer to God. Eventually, Rosenkreuz died and his secret society fell apart. But in the 1800s, the Freemasons discovered his writings and formed the SRIA to pick up where the Fraternity of the Rosen Cross left off. So when William Westcott was invited to join the SRIA in 1880, he couldn't wait to learn all about Rosenkreuz's forgotten secrets and wisdom. He wound up being very disappointed by what he found. When the SRAA was first created, members focused on studying and replicating the occult rituals first documented by Christian Rosenkreuz. But by the time Westcott joined 15 years later, this secret society within a secret society had become little more than a glorified supper club. Most members weren't interested in uncovering forbidden knowledge or discussing spiritual philosophy. They just liked going out for expensive dinners with other members of their ultra exclusive club. One critic of the SRIA described the organization as having, quote, nothing Rosicrucian except the name. But Westcott took the teachings seriously. He poured over Rosenkreuz's writings and a few years later he'd become an expert in his mystical beliefs and rituals. Along the way, Westcott became close with two other SRIA members who like him, were more interested in Rosicrucian study than dinner parties. They were 26 year old Samuel Little Mathers and 52 year old William Robert Woodman. Mathers was a museum curator with a serious passion for knowledge. In 1885, he moved to London from the English countryside to fully commit himself to studying Rosenkreuz's teachings. He was notorious for visiting the British Museum almost every day where he spent hours reading up on occult lore. Woodman was just as impressive. He was a senior member of the Masonic leadership and a protege of the founder of the sria. He'd been studying Rosicrucianism for Longer than almost anyone else in the organization. Organization. Between them, these three men had amassed an impressive amount of knowledge about Christian Rosenkreuz's occult rituals and spiritual philosophies. And after several years of work, Westcott made a discovery that took their studies in an entirely new direction. In 1887, one of Westcott's fellow Masons, an elderly scholar named Adolphus Woodford, and died, leaving behind a library of books, papers and letters. While helping to manage his departed friends archives, Westcott discovered a set of 60 parchment documents allegedly dating back to the 15th century. All the text in these documents was written in code, which was how they came to be known as the cipher documents. Westcott loved a good mystery, so he enlisted his two SRIA friends, Samuel Mathers and William Woodman, to help him crack the code. After several months, they finally succeeded. The cipher documents were sort of like a class syllabus for studying esoteric traditions from all over the world. This included Hermetic Kabbalah. This was a mystical occult belief system that merged Hebrew teachings with hermetic traditions, as well as astrology, occult tarot, alchemy and geomancy. The manuscripts also included sketches of occult symbols and descriptions of rituals to tap into the powers of these esoteric belief systems.
- [10:52]
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- [10:52]
Vanessa Richardson
And they laid out a framework of ranking students which corresponded to the classical elements of earth, air, water and fire. People who had just begun their studies were at the earth grade. As they acquired more knowledge, they would move up to air grade, then water and finally fire. Whenever a student moved from one level to the next, there were elaborate ceremonies and rituals to mark the occasion, which the documents described in detail. But the most interesting thing Westcott and his friends found in the cipher documents wasn't a ritual. It was an address. While most of the cipher documents were seemingly written in the 1400s, Westcott discovered some more contemporary notes scrawled in the margins. One of these notes included the contact information for a German noblewoman in Nuremberg named Anna Sprengel. So Westcott wrote her a letter. He explained that he and his friends had decoded the cipher manuscripts. And as students of Christian Rosenkreuz, they were very interested in what they'd found. Soon, Sprengel sent a reply. She was impressed that Westcott had deciphered the secret documents, so impressed that she shared a secret of her own. As it turned out, Westcott and his fellow Masons weren't the only people people studying Christian Rosenkreuz. Sprengel said that she was the leader of another Rosicrucian secret society. This One a direct descendant of Rosenkreuz's original group. And unlike the sria, Sprengel's organization wasn't just a supper club. They were still very devoted to studying Rosac Crucianism. The cipher documents contained her society's teachings, and since Wescott and his friends had proven themselves to be gifted students, she offered to grant them a charter to start their own Rosicrucian society based in England. Westcott and his friends eagerly agreed. The knowledge contained in the cipher documents was far beyond anything they'd learned studying Rosicrucianism within the Freemasons. And they were sick of sharing their knowledge with people who just wanted to gossip, drink and host dinner parties. On February 12, 1888, William Westcott, William Woodman and Samuel Mathers signed loyalty pledges to a new society dedicated to the study of the occult. They called it the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In the years to come, some of the brightest minds of 19th century Britain would join the golden dawn in hopes of learning the secret secrets of the universe. But others joined in hopes of controlling the universe, and the battle between these two ideologies would go down in the history books.
- [13:48]
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- [14:14]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [14:36]
Vanessa Richardson
of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent
- [14:38]
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- [14:42]
Vanessa Richardson
See full terms@mintmobile.com In 1888, three Freemasons, William Westcott, William Woodman and Samuel Mathers discovered a set of coded documents that contained a roadmap for studying the occult. These so called cipher documents included ancient rituals and mystical ceremonies rooted in the four primal elements of earth, air, water and fire. And they laid out a hierarchy for students to progress as they gained more knowledge. In February of 1888, Westcott, Woodman and Mathers established a secret society, the Hermetic Order of the golden dawn, to study those teachings. And it wasn't long before word spread about this mysterious new group. In 19th century England, members of polite society were very concerned with being seen as proper, moral and God fearing. But a lot of those same people were also questioning whether traditional religious belief systems had all the answers. And this led to growing interest in occult teachings and practices. It wasn't necessarily something they talked about publicly, kind of like how we don't tell everybody what websites we visit when we turn on private browsing. But London in the late 1800s was full of affluent, well bred people who wanted to take a walk on the wild side. At least behind closed doors. Westcott and his friends sought out these like minded occult enthusiasts through word of mouth. They also placed an ad in a new magazine for fans of the occult called Lucifer, where they described themselves as dedicated to, quote, occult science and the magic of Hermes. Hermes was the Greek God who acted as a conduit between the physical world and the spirit world. In the 1800s, people who wanted to tap into spiritual energy to affect the physical world were known as Hermetics. And it turned out there were a lot of eager hermetics in London. Less than a month after it was founded, the Hermetic Order of the golden dawn held an initiation ceremony for nine new members. And there was something revolutionary about these initiates. One of them was a woman. Like I said, 19th century England was a stuffy, proper place. And at the time, the proper thing to do was to keep men and women separate. Most social clubs and activities were strictly segregated by gender. And many of the other clandestine societies dedicated to occult studies didn't allow women to join. But the Hermetic tradition taught that women and men were equals. So In March of 1888, 23 year old artist Mina Bergson was the first new member inducted into the Golden Dawn. To welcome Bergson and the eight other initiates, Westcott, Woodman and Mathers performed a ritual to move the new members from spiritual darkness towards the light of hidden knowledge. Each initiate was blindfolded, then had a rope wrapped around their stomach three times, symbolizing the binding of time, space and morality. Then they were purified with water and felt the warmth of an open flame. This usually meant a small amount of water was sprinkled on their forehead or hands and a candle or torch was brought near them. Close enough for them to feel the heat, but not enough to hurt them. After that, the initiates were led to a Black altar, where they knelt and recited an oath of secrecy, pledging never to share the secrets of the Golden Dawn. A sword was held against their neck as they spoke these words, a reminder of what would happen if they broke their oath. Then the initiates were led to the middle of two pillars, where their blindfolds were removed. After that, the ceremony wrapped up with a communal meal which also paid tribute to the four elements. Participants inhaled the perfume of a rose signifying air, felt the warmth of a fire, ate bread and salt representing earth, and drank wine, which stood in for water. With that, the new members of the golden dawn were ready to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Over the next three years, the golden dawn quickly became one of the most popular occult societies in London. By 1890, the Golden dawn had several hundred members and three temples across England. Some of Britain's most celebrated artists and intellectuals joined the society. There was Florence Farr, a famous actress from the West End theater scene, which William Crooks, a respected physicist, and Annie Horniman, a wealthy theater producer who donated huge amounts of money to fund the Golden Dawn's operations. But one of their most devoted initiates was the Irish playwright and poet W.B. yeats. He'd collaborated with Florence Farr and would play a major role in the group's later years. So what did these hundreds of highbrow members do? In the early years, they mainly studied a complex curriculum of occult knowledge. Some of it was drawn from the cipher documents, while other parts came from more contextual sources. Members learned the Hebrew Alphabet, the 20 channels of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, and the 22 paths connecting them. They studied tarot, divination and astrology. And per Westcott's rules, they had to memorize most of this information and pass tough written exams to ascend to higher levels. But it wasn't all hard work. Temple gatherings always ended with a lively feast, and relationships blossomed between some of the members. One of the founding members of the Golden Dawn, Samuel Mathers, eventually started dating Mina Bergson, the group's first initiate. The two later married and moved to Paris, where she attended art school, and Mathers continued studying the cipher documents. But in 1891, the couple suddenly returned to London because Mathers had a mission major breakthrough. After years of trying to commune with the spirits, the spirits had finally started to talk. Back. Back in London, Mathers told his colleagues that he had used the cipher documents to practice astral projection, an intense spiritual experience where the consciousness leaves the body to explore other realms. During one of his astral projection sessions, Mathers claimed he made contact with a group of superior beings he called the Secret Chiefs. According to Mathers, the Secret Chiefs were humans who lived on Earth. But they'd become so powerful through their pursuit of Rosicrucianism that they had gained supernatural powers. While communing with them in the spirit realm, the Secret Chiefs told Mathers about new knowledge and rituals he could use to attain their degree of power. The rituals Mathers was talking about were on a completely different level than anything the golden dawn had done before. Up to that point, the society had been dedicated to theoretical magic, studying ancient languages and sacred symbols to try and understand how they could affect the material world. What Mathers had learned from the Secret Chiefs, on the other hand, was practical magic. This involved casting spells, transforming objects through alchemy and and using crystals and mirrors to have visions of the future. Mathers was done studying occult power. He was ready to use it. Mathers wasn't alone. Many members of the golden dawn had attained the highest rank in the organization. They were hungry for more, and Mathers was ready to give it to them. In 1892, Mathers established the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn. While the Outer Order continued with their theoretical studies. The Inner Order, made up of only the highest ranking members, would put those theories into action. To induct new members, Mathers built another sacred space in one of the Golden Dawn's temples. Based on directions from the Secret Chiefs, he called it the Vault of the Adepts. This multicolored seven walled structure covered in magical symbols was designed designed to replicate the tomb where Christian Rosenkreuz was buried. The initiation ritual for the Inner Order was a lot more intense too. Initiates went through a mock crucifixion before being taken to the Vault. There, the high ranking member running the ceremony emerged from a replica of Rosenkreuz's tomb to educate them about the symbols on the walls. After that, the newly minted adepts of the Inner Order began to learn the teachings of the Secret Chiefs. They constructed magical instruments and weapons like wands and swords, which they blessed with ceremonies in the Vault. They meditated on colorful geometric symbols called tatwas to hone their astral projection abilities. And they practiced invocation spells to try and summon spirits to do their bidding. It was an exciting time for members of the golden dawn, especially for people like W B Yates, who was an early and enthusiastic member of the Inner Order. But not everyone was as excited about Ma's new pact with the Secret Chiefs. In the early days of the Golden Dawn, William Westcott William Woodman and Samuel Mathers all shared leadership responsibilities, but the inner order was all Mathers domain. He was the only one who had allegedly spoken to the secret church chiefs. So he was the one calling the shots. This didn't sit well with Westcott. He was the one who found and decoded the cipher documents. He was the one who first contacted Anna Sprengel, the German Rosicrucian, to get her blessing to start the Golden Dawn. The Society wouldn't exist without his hard work. And yet Mathers had created a new, more desirable group within the group. In Westcott's mind, this was a clear power grab. Problem was, he didn't have many allies. William Woodman, the third co founder of the Golden dawn, had died in 1891 at the age of 63. Anna Sprengel had also passed away recently. That left just Woodman and Mathers as the most senior leaders of the Golden Dawn. And Westcott knew that if it came to a popularity contest, he'd lose. If members of the golden dawn were forced to pick sides, they'd obviously choose to follow the guy who promised to teach them how to cast magical spells and explore other dimensions. So over the next few years, Westcott stepped back from his management duties. He reluctantly let Mathers take full control of the organization that he had founded. But he remained a member, studying the wisdom of the cipher documents until eventually one misstep got him cast out of the secret society for good. In 1897, a bunch of Westcott's personal paperwork was discovered in the back of a horse drawn taxi. As it turned out, many of these documents were related to the operations of the Golden Dawn. When they were discovered, it became public knowledge that Westcott was involved with a secret occult society. This was a problem for Westcott's career. He had a high ranking government job as a deputy coroner and his superiors informed him that having an occultist on the payroll would be an embarrassment for the government. Westcott had to choose between his life's work and his role in the Golden Dawn. Since he'd already been sidelined within the golden dawn, it wasn't that hard of a decision. Not long after his papers were discovered, Westcott formally resigned from the secret society he'd helped to establish 10 years earlier. In the aftermath of Westcott's resignation, rumors spread that this hadn't been an accident. Some people thought Mathers had planted the papers in the cab to force Westcott out of the group once and for all. It was impossible to know whether that was true or not. But one thing was clear. The Hermetic Order of the golden dawn was completely under Mather's control. Over the next few years, he would lead the group to new heights and new lows. And it was all thanks to an up and coming member named Aleister Crowley.
- [27:24]
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- [27:55]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi listeners, it's Vanessa Richardson. I wanted to take a brief moment to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes, hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on a notorious crime, whether unfolding now or etched into American history, revealing not just what happened, but how it forever changed our society. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Each case unfolds across multiple episodes, released every Tuesday through Thursday, from the first sign that something was wrong to the moment the truth came out or didn't. These are the stories behind the headlines. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. When William Westcott and Samuel Mathers founded the Hermetic Order of the Golden dawn in 1888, it was a secret society dedicated to studying ancient occult texts. But by the 1890s, Mathers was ready to do more than just study. He established an Inner Order dedicated to casting spells and astral projecting to new dimensions. The members of the golden dawn flocked to the Inner Order, hoping to become wizards, and eventually Mathers grew powerful enough to force Westcott out of the group in 1897. Now that he had total control, Mathers went to work remaking the golden dawn in his image. Once Westcott was done, Mathers issued a lengthy manifesto to members of the Inner Order. In it, he made it very clear that he was the boss. Now, Mather's manifesto stated that, quote, every atom of the knowledge of the Order had come from him, thanks to his connection with the Secret Chiefs. And he emphasized that he was the only person the Secret Chiefs were willing to talk to. This meant that no other member of the Inner Order could challenge him on anything. This ruffled some feathers with senior members of the Golden Dawn. As students of the occult, they were used to questioning everything. Now they were being told that it was Mathers way or the highway. And not all of his decisions were popular. In 1898, Mathers translated an 18th century French occult text called the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. The rituals and symbols contained in the book were considered black magic, an evil, dangerous version of the spells being practiced by the Golden Dawn. Some prominent members worried that playing with this kind of dark magic could put an entire world at risk. Who knew they might accidentally summon demons or bring about the Apocalypse? Annie Horniman, one of the Golden Dawn's major financial backers, even threatened to stop writing checks unless Mathers changed his ways. In response, Mathers expelled her from the Golden Dawn. When other members petitioned for her to be reunited, stated he flatly refused. And he notified them that if they gave him any more trouble, he'd have the secret chiefs use their magic to paralyze his critics or even kill them. Mathers might have gotten rid of some members, but he was also recruiting new ones. In 1898, the Golden dawn welcomed its newest initiate, a wealthy 23 year old student at the University of Cambridge and named Aleister Crowley. Crowley was raised in an evangelical Christian family, but when he was 11 years old, his father, who was a successful businessman, died. After that, Crowley abandoned religion entirely. He also inherited a third of his father's fortune, which he used on parties, sex workers and mountain climbing trips. Crowley first got interested in the occult in 1896, which eventually led him to the Golden dawn two years later. Mathers was eager to welcome a new member, especially someone as rich as Crowley. After all, he needed a new backer now that Annie Horniman was gone. And it turned out Crowley was a committed student. Mathers personally tutored him in the black magic rituals from the secret magic of Abramelin the Mage. And Crowley rapidly ascended through the ranks of the outer order. By 1900, 24 year old Crowley was ready to join the Inner Order and Mathers was ready to welcome him. But not everyone felt the same way. To say that Aleister Crowley was a controversial figure within the golden dawn would be an understatement. While other members of the society were somewhat progressive for the time, they were still upper crust British people and they thought Crowley was was a disgrace. It wasn't just that he was a heavy drinker and a regular customer at local brothels. Crowley was also openly bisexual. At a Time when same sex relations were illegal in England. Because of that, other members believed Crowley was an immoral, deviant, or even mentally ill. The Inner Order was the most sacred level of the Golden Dawn. Members were studying spells and practicing rituals they believed were extremely powerful to them. Giving somebody like Aleister Crowley access to that kind of magic would put the entire world at risk. So eventually, they took a stand. Mathers had planned to initiate Crowley into the Inner Order at the Golden Dawn's Isis Urania Temple. Located in a rented building at 36 Blythe Road in London. This temple housed the Vault of the Adepts, the sacred altar Mathers used for initiation ceremonies. Ahead of the ceremony, the most senior members of the Inner Order, led by the poet W.B. yeats and the actress Florence Farr, told Mathers that they wouldn't let him go ahead with the initiation because Farr was the one leasing the temple space. She convinced the landlord to change the locks on the doors to keep Crowley and Mathers out. They Mathers was furious. He ordered the rebellious cultists to resign, but they refused. He threatened to smite them with the magical powers of the secret chiefs, but they called his bluff. But Mathers couldn't let them go unchallenged. So he sent Crowley to Blythe Road to take control of the temple by any means necessary. On April 18, 1900, Crowley arrived at the temple wearing a kilt, a black mask, and armed with a dagger. After breaking down the front door, Crowley began marching up the stairs to the main hall where the Vault of the Adepts was located. But Yates and several other members of the Inner Order were gathered at the top of the stairs, waiting for him. They told Crowley to leave, but he didn't listen. So Yates began shouting spells to ward Crowley off. In response, Crowley summoned the dark magic Mathers had taught him and began shouting his own mystical incantations back at Yates and the others. Neither of their spells seemed to do anything. Instead, the two men just yelled at each other in ancient languages for several minutes. Finally, Crowley gave up on magic and tried to force his way past. Yates countered by kicking Crowley until he turned, tumbled backwards down the stairs. Before Crowley could get up, Yates and his friends shoved him back outside, barricaded the doorway, and called the police. When officers arrived, they found a very upset man in a black mask and a kilt yelling at a celebrated Irish poet. The police had a difficult time understanding all this occult drama. Eventually, they told Croley to leave and hire a lawyer if he was so desperate to get into the building. With that, the Battle of Blythe Road was over. Crowley and Mathers had lost. But this wouldn't be Mathers last defeat. The Battle of Blythe Road led to a fracture in the Golden Dawn. Yates was elected to a leadership position where he took control of the London Temple and formally extended expelled Crowley from the Society. Meanwhile, Mathers and Crowley retreated to the house Mathers owned in Paris. There, Mathers personally initiated Crowley into the Inner Order and began teaching him the wisdom of the secret chiefs. But Crowley didn't last long as Mather's protege. Both men had big egos and clashed a lot. This eventually led to a bitter falling out and three years later, Crowley fully moved on from the Golden Dawn. After he left, he published several of the Order's top secret documents out of spite. But by then, Mathers had other problems. Earlier, in 1901, a con artist couple named Frank and Editha Jackson tricked Mathers. Editha came to him claiming to be Anna Sprengel, the supposedly dead German noblewoman who had first chartered the Golden dawn in 1887. Mathers believed Editha and invited her into his home, hoping she could help him regain control of his secret society. Instead, Jackson and her husband stole many of the Golden Dawn's secret documents and fled to London. There they set up a fake branch of the golden dawn, which they used as a front for fraud and other criminal activities. Frank and Editha were arrested later that year and the secret documents they'd stolen were made public during their trial. That meant everybody in Britain suddenly knew about the innermost workings of this top secret occult society. Suddenly, it wasn't cool to be a member of the golden dawn anymore. The general public was making fun of the group's rituals, rankings and ceremonies, which made no members feel a lot more self conscious about being in the group. Over the next two years, more and more cultists resigned from the organization. Finally, in 1903, the remaining members of the Hermetic Order of the golden dawn voted to dissolve the society. The golden dawn had begun with grand ceremonies, sacred rites and oaths of secrecy. It ended with a lightly attended meeting. But the quest to solve the mysteries of the universe continued long after the sun had set on the Golden Dawn. After the group fell apart, many former members created new secret societies dedicated to their own occult interests. One ex member, A.E. waite, formed a group called the Independent and Rectified Rite, which was dedicated to studying the theoretical magic from the Golden Dawn's early days. But that's not why he's remembered today. In 1909, he published the Rider Waite Tarot Card Deck Featuring illustrations by another ex golden dawn member, Pamela Coleman Smith, the Rider Waite deck remains one of the most popular Tarot decks in the world today. If you have a Tarot deck in your house right now, it was probably heavily influenced by Waite's original deck. Then there was WB Yeats, who helped form another secret society called the Stella Matutina whose members tried to re establish contact with the Secret Chiefs. Yates didn't have much luck communicating with the spirit world, but he did pretty well for himself in the real world. In 1923 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Aleister Crowley's adventures after the golden dawn could be be a whole other episode, but after his split with Samuel Mathers, Crowley joined several other esoteric groups before forming his own occult religion which he named Thelema. He eventually formed a religious commune dedicated to Thelema in Sicily until he was deported by the Italian government in 1923 for his hedonistic lifestyle. Samuel Mathers, on the other hand, did not go on to be bigger and better things. He spent the rest of his life living in obscurity in Paris until he died in the influenza pandemic in 1918. We'll never know if Mathers was actually in contact with the Secret Chiefs during his time with the golden dawn, but if he wasn't, maybe he found them on the other side and either way, his work was still incredibly important. Mathers brought together a group of curious and talented people to study the occult. Their time in the golden dawn had a huge impact on every spiritual movement that came after it. Even more recent and more controversial ones. In Cult Watch this week I'm highlighting a group called Love Has Won. Love Has Won was started by a 32 year old mother of three named Amy Carlson. Carlson first became interested in New Age spirituality online and eventually came to believe she was a divine being. In 2007, Carlson left her husband, children and her job at a Texas McDonald's to form a commune in Colorado with several friends from a New Age message board. Carlson and her followers believed that she was a 19 billion year old being who had called created all life on earth. She claimed she was reincarnated more than 500 times, including as Jesus, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc and Marilyn Monroe. For 14 years, Carlson and her roughly 20 followers shared a house in Crestone, a small town in southern Colorado. Members had daily live streams on YouTube to solicit donations, recruit new members and and sell alternative medicines that they claimed could cure illnesses and remove negative energies. Despite multiple attempted interventions including one on a live episode of Dr. Phil in 2020. Carlson maintained tight control over her followers. But on April 28, 2021 police officers doing a wellness check at the House made a shocking discovery. Carlson had died from a combination of alcohol abuse, anorexia, and consumption of colloidal silver. By the time police discovered her body, Carlson had been dead for weeks. Since then, her followers had been worshiping her body. But the death of Amy Carlson wasn't the end of Love Has Won. After she died, Carlson's followers formed multiple new cults to continue her teachings, including a group called 5D Full Disclosure and another called Joy Reigns. Like the groups that sprang up after the Golden Dawn, Love Has Won shows that if a cult's message is strong enough, it can outlive anything, even its founder.
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Ryan Reynolds
Foreign
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Vanessa Richardson
thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Come back next time. We'll decode the episode together and hear another story about the real people at the center of the world's most notorious cults, conspiracies and criminal acts. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is a Crime House original Powered by Paved Studios Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes Wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Conspiracy Theories, Cults and crimes listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free. We'll be back on Friday. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertovsky, Lori Martin Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Alyssa Fox, Truman Capps, Leah Roche, Kaylee Pine and Michael Langsner. Thank you for listening.
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Vanessa Richardson
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