Golden Dawn

, also known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or the for short, Chapter 4 Part 19 Chapter 1 Part 3During her initial encounter with Touma and her explanation of her circumstances, Index refers to both the Rosicrucians and the Golden when talking about her pursuers, the latter by the term , which differs from how the Golden Dawn itself is usually referred to later on in the series. Given the overall circumstances surrounding the cabal, the initials appear to indicate Stella Matutina, one of the successor groups that the original cabal splintered into. It is currently unclear whether Index was indeed referring to Stella Matutina as an in-universe Golden-style successor cabal, or if she was referring to the original group and there was merely an earlier difference in how it was referenced. was once the largest and most powerful magic cabal in the United Kingdom and the world. Chapter 3 Part 1 Active at the end of the 19th century, the original cabal was destroyed by the rebellion of Aleister Crowley, though the various cabals born from its splinters and remnants have persisted to the present day.
==Principles==
As a group from , the Golden Dawn was affected by a common thinking among European magicians, who after running into dead ends in their research and exhausting the resources available to them in Europe, believed the answers lay elsewhere and sought them in foreign parts, such as the large, diverse and geographically convenient 'Dark Continent', . Chapter 2 Part 4
Within the cabal, one's stock of knowledge was directly linked to their power. Epilogue
While the cabal did not have a uniform and the members wore varying attires, many of them are known to have worn decorations in the shape of a four-pointed star, often silver in color.
===Structure===
The Golden Dawn had a number of levels and groups within itself, including the First Order, the Portal, the Second Order (also referred to as the R.R.etA.C., short for "Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis", meaning "Ruby Rose and Golden Cross"), the Third Order, Between the Lines 2 and the Lady of the Masquerade Ball's cabal-within-a-cabal known as the Sphere. In addition, there were also factions aligned to Mathers and Westcott, the two initial founders left after the unnamed founder's departure.
====Grades and Positions====
The Golden Dawn has an internal grading system, connected to both individual rank and the roles in the ceremonies carried out by the cabal. Chapter 3 Part 4 The grades are referenced to by paired numbers separated by an equal sign, relating to the associated position on the Tree of Life. With the exception of the initial 0=0 grade which has no associated position, the first numeral is the number of steps up from the bottom of the tree (Malkuth), while the second is the number of steps down from the top (Keter). Grades of 8=3 and beyond (associated with the Secret Chiefs) are not typically involved with the cabal's standard operations, with members such as Dion Fortune believing they didn't really exist and were just for show. Chapter 2 Part 6
# 	Grade 	Order 	Sephira 	Notes
0=0 	Neophyte 	First 	N/A 	
1=10	Zelator 	First 	Malkuth 	
2=9 	Theoricus 	First 	Yesod 	
3=8 	Practicus 	First 	Hod 	
4=7 	Philosophus 	First 	Netzach 	
5=6 	Adeptus Minor 	Second	Tiphareth	
6=5 	Adeptus Major 	Second	Geburah 	
7=4 	Adeptus Exemptus	Second	Chesed 	The highest conventional grade in the cabal, Chapter 3 Part 14 held by cabal founders Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and William Wynn Westcott.
8=3 	Magister Templi 	Third 	Binah 	
9=2 	Magus 	Third 	Chokmah 	
10=1	Ipsissimus 	Third 	Keter 	
As well as the grading system, the Golden Dawn also has a number of positions dedicated to specific roles in its operations. Chapter 3 Part 16
Position 	Notes
Imperator 	In magical ceremonies, the Imperator is the one commanding the other participants, described as a 6=5 role. In the 0=0 initiation ceremony, the Imperator position is associated with Nephthys. One of the temple chief positions.
Praemonstrator	Described as 7=4 role, the Praemonstrator's role is to instruct. One of the temple chief positions.
Cancellarius 	One of the temple chief positions, in the Golden Dawn, the Cancellarius is in charge of records.
Hiereus 	
Sentinel 	
Stolistes 	
====Secret Chiefs====
One of the roles held to be within the Golden Dawn was that of the , contact with which was supposedly carried out by Anna Sprengel. These positions are associated with grades of 8=3 and higher, and given the dubious background behind Anna Sprengel's alleged connection to the cabal, have been thought to be just for show and not actually existing.
====Temples====
The cabal had a number of ceremonial grounds and meeting places. The primary one in London was the Isis-Urania Temple, the first one established (though numbered 3 due to Westcott's fabricated story, claiming that the group was a new branch of a German cabal descended from an ancient line which had two existing temples). Aside from the Isis-Urania Temple, the cabal's most ceremonial ground and armory was located at 36 Blythe Road, Hammersmith.
Other temples included the Ahathoor Temple in , where Mathers made his headquarters, and the Amen-Ra Temple in Edinburgh, conceived as Mathers desired to go to Scotland. Between the Lines 2
===Golden-style Magic===
 is the system of magic developed by the Golden Dawn and used by the cabal and its successors. It uses Hermeticism and Kabbalah in its foundations, incorporating elements of Tarot, Egyptian Mythology, Greek Mythology, Enoch, and Astrology among other things.
The Golden Dawn and Golden-style cabals specialize in constructing sanctuaries and harnessing large amounts of Telesma to conduct large-scale powerful magic.Toaru Majutsu no Index: Stiyl SS Part 5
==== Magic====
The foundation and essence of the cabal was their group magic, involving ceremonial rituals which were modeled after stage plays. Chapter 1 Part 2 Chapter 1 Part 7
Although they studied in the same cabal, the members of the Golden Dawn each had their own distinct areas of expertise and levels of magic. However, as they were a cabal, where individual power wasn't enough, they just had to work together. The magicians carried their own specific tools, which were all symbols with their own important meanings, but were also props which could establish a major ceremony when used as a set. These included the Symbolic Weapons representing the four elements, black and white clubs representing , tarot cards, the Banner of the West and the Banner of the East, rose cross medals, tattva, magic swords, planetary magical circles, , oil lamps and Enochian chess pieces modelled after Egyptian deities, among others.
As the magical stage play uses a large group of people, their formation and arrangement can be altered in order to cover weak points or to reassign roles, allowing them to recover from mistakes which would be more difficult to recover from in a solo performance. The magicians of the Golden Dawn possessed a high degree of coordination, which strengthened their group performance in these ceremonies. However, for each person missing from the formation and not substituted, the more the magic will fail.
An example of this stage play ritual magic was the group ceremony used by the recreated Golden Dawn in order to jointly pursue the carriages carrying the British Royal Family, at a speed of 180km/h. For this particular ceremony, Mathers initially designated Felkin as the Praemonstrator (with another taking over after he was downed), Waite to do records and backup, and Westcott as the Imperator, letting him choose the Hiereus and Sentinel. Gardner acted as Stolistes, with Annie taking over after he was taken out. The magicians passed each other, changed lanes and swapped positions, their speeds rising and falling, their movements changing the locations of their ceremonial tools and their meanings. The group movement constructed a single large current, moving like a dragon or serpent, causing the group to pick up speed like a car shifting gear, reaching 180km/h on their own feet. Though they were running along the road and sometimes signs and streetlights, rather than running, it looked as though they were sliding along a thin layer of water. Chapter 3 Part 11
====GD Tarot====
thumb|180px|left|One of the Tarot's Major Arcana, #21 The World.
The Golden-style has a variation of Tarot associated with it which are used in ceremonies, known as the . In the standard Golden-style Tarot, the Major Arcana tells the story of the Son of God, from birth to execution and resurrection, in order to draw on a portion of his power. Connected to the 22 paths on the Sephiroth, they are meant to acquire a technique of entering the realm of god with a human body, miracles which can be explained by Christianity. The four suits of the Minor Arcana are associated with the four elements and the cards can activate a spell associated with their suit's element, though they are generally intended to be used in large-scale ceremonies rather than battle.Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Mark Space
The GD Tarot is also described as a reinterpretation using the secrets of Kabbalah in attempt to remove the original sin people are born with. Chapter 3 Part 4 Though they are intended to be used with arrangements based on the Sephiroth, it is also possible to perform a Telesma-level summoning using an alternative arrangement based on the Qliphoth, as demonstrated by Aleister Crowley. Chapter 3 Part 6
====Tattva====
Another concept adapted by the Golden Dawn was that of (Sanskrit for 'principle' or 'truth'), a variation of the concept of the elements found in Hindu and a number of Indian philosophical schools. There are varying numbers in the original traditions, but the one adapted by the Golden Dawn has five basic tattvas, roughly equivalent to the five classical elements found in the West. Each tattva has a specific color and symbol associated with them.
#	Name	Element 	Symbol
1	 	Spirit/Ether	Black egg
2	 	Fire 	Red equilateral triangle
3	 	Air 	Blue circle
4	 	Water 	Purple half-circle or silver crescent
5	 	Earth 	Yellow square
The Golden Dawn's primary usage of tattva was for a technique known as a tattva vision, which uses tattva cards created from a combination of the symbols as a tool for aiding and accomplishing astral projection and spiritual development. Chapter 3 Part 2 Chapter 3 Part 4 Chapter 1 Part 4 The Tattva combinations provide a technique for seeing and learning various things, with some capable of identifying and highlighting traces of residual information in a person's surroundings.Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Agnese's Magic Side Work Experience Chapter 1 Part 3Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Agnese's Magic Side Work Experience Chapter 1 Part 6Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Agnese's Magic Side Work Experience Chapter 1 Part 8 Although this form of meditation is normally done using cards, the symbols can be used without them.
While it is a simple method, the cabal warned that one must not take Tattva lightly or lose sight of their objective when using it. According to Mathers himself, pressing a tattva card to one's forehead in a misguided attempt to strengthen the image in the head will trigger a malfunction in the mind. However, these dangers can be exploited - for example, applying the card to someone else's head will cause them to suffer the effects of the failed meditation and force them into a temporary state of confusion or hallucination. Tattva-based mental immersion spiritual items wielded by the reproduced Robert William Felkin were intended to drag other people's mind into the bog and remove their astral bodies, leaving their physical bodies vulnerable. Chapter 1 Part 4
Another usage of the tattva in Golden-style magic is the use of their color arrangement to indirectly interfere with the five elements, strengthening them through emphasizing complimentary colors (e.g. green for the red-associated fire) or weakening them by adding vagueness to their outline (e.g. red for a red-associated flame), though this method was rendered obsolete by the development of methods to manipulate pure elements directly.Toaru Majutsu no Index: Kamijou Touma SS
The symbol of the black egg can be used for an invisibility spell, referenced in Israel Regardie's grimoire. Epilogue
====Astrology====
Another part of Golden-style magic involves the observation and use of stars and mysterious lights in the night sky. As well as reading the future from the stars, magicians can seal their light into talismans and amulets, and draw their power out when they see fit. Chapter 3 Part 11
Certain Golden-style spells involving the zodiac involve the invocation of angels associated with the individual signs. The only example seen so far was used by Karasuma Fran, involving and activated with the following chant; “Virgo. Heh, Heh, Vau, Yod. Guide the light of the 6th Sign that has already been lost due to precession, oh angel with an 8-letter divine name. Drive out the approaching calamity!!”. A light with color corresponding to Virgo began to build but the effects weren't seen as the Karma-bearing chain beast she was fighting interfered and caused to activate instead, disrupting the spell. Chapter 2 Part 2
Attributes associated with the zodiac in Golden-style magic include the following:
# 	Zodiac Sign	Color 	Month 	Angel 	Permutation 	Notes
1 	Aries 	Red 	March 	Melchidael	Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh	
2 	Taurus 	Red-orange 	April 	Asmodel 	Yod, Heh, Heh, Vau	
3 	Gemini 	Orange 	May 	Ambriel 	Yod, Vau, Heh, Heh	
4 	Cancer 	Amber 	June 	Muriel 	Heh, Vau, Heh, Yod	
5 	Leo 	Lemon yellow	July 	Verchiel 	Heh, Vau, Yod, Heh	
6 	Virgo 	Yellow-green	August 	Hamaliel 	Heh, Heh, Vau, Yod	
7 	Libra 	Emerald 	September	Zuriel 	Vau, Heh, Yod, Heh	
8 	Scorpio 	Green-blue 	October 	Barchiel 	Vau, Heh, Heh, Yod	
9 	Sagittarius	Blue 	November 	Advachiel 	Vau, Yod, Heh, Heh	
10	Capricorn 	Indigo 	December 	Hanael 	Heh, Yod, Heh, Vau	
11	Aquarius 	Violet 	January 	Cambriel 	Heh, Yod, Vau, Heh	
12	Pisces 	Crimson 	February 	Amnitziel 	Heh, Heh, Yod, Vau	
==Background==
===Establishment===
The cabal was officially founded during the late 19th Century by William Wynn Westcott, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and the unnamed founder. Chapter 3 Part 4 Chapter 3 Part 6Though unnamed in the Toaru series, the third co-founder of the Golden Dawn was , a surgeon, occultist and horticulturalist whose real-life counterpart died in 1891, before the creation of the Golden Dawn's Second Order.
One of the figures who supposedly helped in the foundation of the Golden Dawn was a woman called Anna Sprengel, who was said to have had the role of Secret Chief and as a point of contact, an existence of the type that Aleister Crowley would become. However, it is dubious as to whether she actually existed. Epilogue A letter which William Wynn Westcott supposedly received from her was actually forged by him in order to give prestige to the cabal he helped found. Chapter 3 Part 9 Wanting to claim that the cabal was the continuation of an ancient Rosicrucian line, he faked a letter sent to a German cabal (whom he claimed to have two temples) as well as a response from Anna Sprengel authorizing the creation of a British branch (hence the Isis-Urania Temple being called #3), an exchange known as the Sprengel Letters. Chapter 1 Part 11
===Golden Age===
After the retirement of the unnamed founder during an unknown time between the establishment of the cabal and 1900, the Golden Dawn eventually flourished under the leadership of Mathers and Westcott. However, due to the continuous black propaganda received by magic-side organizations funded by the Roman Catholic Church during the time, the cabal remained a secret meeting place, with its members, as well as the cabal in general, still vulnerable to financial difficulty. Two of the most notable meeting places for members of the Golden Dawn were the Isis-Urania Temple in London, and another located in 36 Blythe Road, the latter of which held much of the cabal's magical artifacts.
Immediately, it became apparent that Westcott and Mathers had clashing views on the path the Golden Dawn must take. Westcott, a coroner by trade, believed that the cabal must exist while making certain compromises. On the other hand, Mathers wanted to see constant progress in the cabal as a magical society and thus, began spearheading several activities like performing ceremonies that involved the use of material extracted from living things—a taboo amongst magical societies at that time—as well as the development of a that would grant flexibility in the way magic is created. This disparity would only intensify upon the arrival of an aspiring newcomer to the cabal, a young man named Aleister Crowley.
Despite being a relatively new member in the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley developed countless spells and spiritual items during his time in the cabal. Some of his ideas, such as the Aeons, were extreme even within the cabal and as such there were a number of people who didn't support them. Epilogue
===Downfall===
By 1900, the Golden Dawn was already split between the Westcott and Mathers factions. Crowley, who had decided to dismantle the cabal from within as part of his plan to save his future daughter Lilith from an untimely death (which was foreseen by his mentor Allan Bennett), Chapter 3 Part 11 provoked the two factions into fighting each other in a conflict that would later be known as the Battle of Blythe Road. The bloody onslaught cost the cabal many lives, with the casualties including both of the remaining founders, along with an unknown number of magicians from both factions. Additionally, an artifact, in the form of an arrow fashioned out of a shriveled, disembodied hand, was lost in the battle. Aleister would later disassociate himself from the Golden Dawn at the aftermath of the Battle of Blythe Road. Chapter 3 Part 13
After the destruction of the Golden Dawn, the splinter groups had developed on their own from the Golden Dawn's legacy and progressed, still existing to this day while continuing to chaotically break apart. The cabals produced by that were known as .Toaru Majutsu no Index: Stiyl SS Part 2 Over a hundred such cabals have been officially counted in the present. Between the Lines 0
Aleister Crowley would continue to deal with the survivors of the Golden Dawn after the collapse of the main cabal. The remnants and successors were involved along with the Church when Aleister was hunted down by his enemies in the English countryside in 1947, at the end of which he was thought to have died but actually survived and escaped. Epilogue
Despite the fall of the cabal, the Golden-style of magic, which had its heyday at the start of the 20th century, continued and is standard in the present day.
===Recreations===
At some point after the deaths of the original members, the demon Coronzon, who had been summoned by Mathers before his death to drive Aleister to ruin and was plotting towards this end while acting as the Archbishop of Necessarius, Epilogue secretly reproduced members of the original Golden Dawn and some of its later iterations through the application of Tarot-based grimoires, as part of her anti-Crowley countermeasures. Chapter 2 Part 7 Chapter 3 Part 1
The grimoires were comprised of Tarot cards, secretly produced by Coronzon in the British Museum's repair room through selected materials. A special charcoal made from red wine and iron oxide and kneaded erasers made from breadcrumbs were used to make the rough sketches on the paper base, chosen to apply symbols of flesh and blood to the card. These sketches were colored with pigments chosen based on the personal traits of the individual to be recreated, found in things like , and the cards were reinforced with a thin layer of the wax used for cursed dolls. Chapter 3 Part 3
==Chronology==
===Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index===
====Aleister Crowley Arc====
=====Coronzon Arc=====
Though the members of the Golden Dawn were believed to be long dead, when Aleister Crowley went to the graveyard of Westminster Abbey in order to find Mathers' remains to use against Coronzon, he was confronted by the man himself, who was apparently alive, leading the other members of the Golden Dawn, even Mathers' former rival Westcott, against Aleister. Epilogue
It was later revealed that the Golden Dawn here, including some magicians who joined after the collapse of the main cabal, were actually reproductions of the originals through Tarot-based grimoires, created by Coronzon as an anti-Crowley countermeasure. After hunting their enemy in London and pursuing the British Royal Family on the roads to Edinburgh (in order to protect the real Mathers' grave in Edinburgh Castle which could be used against Coronzon and thus themselves), Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Aleister managed to disrupt the flow of power to their grimoire bodies during his final battle with the reproduced Mathers, Chapter 4 Part 2 Chapter 4 Part 3 causing the reproductions to come apart and revert to cards. Chapter 4 Part 7
Later that morning, during the attack on the Queen Britannia, when Coronzon attempted to use the Honours of Scotland to hijack the UK's magical system and initiate the Ceremony of Mo Athair, the reactivated recreation of Dion Fortune made use of the essence of her fellow recreations, in an original spell bearing the full name of the cabal, which blocked the signal to Scotland, with the cards forming a vortex visible from space. Chapter 4 Part 17 Chapter 4 Part 18 Chapter 4 Part 20 Chapter 4 Part 21
===Side Stories===
====Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index SS====
==Known Members==
Name 	Type 	Personal Tools 	Details
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers	Founder 	Elemental Symbolic Weapons 	One of the three co-founders. User of elemental symbolic weapons.
William Wynn Westcott 	Founder 	Wax SealParchment 	One of the three co-founders. A coroner and quasi-immortal.
The Unnamed Founder 	Founder 	N/A 	One of the three co-founders. Retired sometime before the Battle of Blythe Road due to old age.
Aleister Crowley 	 	Blasting Rod 	Scouted by Mathers and affiliated with him for a time. Destroyed the cabal in order to change the fate of his future daughter.
Mina Mathers 	 	Palette knife 	Wife of Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. A painter who played a key role in the creation of the GD Tarot and other tools used by the cabal.
Allan Bennett 	 	Blasting Rod 	Friend and mentor to Aleister Crowley. Previous user of the Blasting Rod and Spiritual Tripping.
 	 	N/A 	One of the biggest names of the cabal alongside Mathers and Crowley. Chapter 1 Part 3
Lady of the Masquerade Ball 	 	Cloak 	The most influential member and considered the empress of the secondary faction, The Sphere, which she founded. Chapter 1 Part 8
Annie Horniman 	 	White and black clubs, representing Jachin and Boaz respectively 	A valuable source of funding for the cabal in its early years.
Arthur Edward Waite 	 	Tarot cards 	Affiliated with the Mathers faction. Played a key role in the development of the GD Tarot.
Robert William Felkin 	 	Tattva 	Affiliated with the Mathers faction.
John William Brodie-Innes 	 	Metal-soled shoes 	
Edward Berridge 	 	Reflective tablet 	Loyal follower of Mathers.
Frederick Leigh Gardner 	 	Oil lamp 	of the Sphere.
Charles Rosher 	 	N/A 	of the Sphere.
William Alexander Ayton 	 	N/A 	Supposed creator of Elixir of Life.Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Agnese's Magic Side Work Experience Chapter 2 Part 6
Dion Fortune 	(Post-1900)	Archetype ProcessorRose cross medal 	of a later iteration of the cabal.
Israel Regardie 	(Post-1900)	Enochian chess piecesWhile the items in question weren't specifically linked to them, given knowledge of items which are linked to other magicians who were mentioned in the same instance, there seems to be a correspondence between the order of the names mentioned and the items being used by those individuals, which suggests that this is the case.	of a later iteration of the cabal.
Netta Fornario 	(Post-1900)	Discolored silver cross 	of a later iteration of the cabal.
 	(Post-1900)	N/A 	Affiliated with the Mathers faction in the recreation in the Windowless Building.
==List of Golden-style cabals==
*Dawn-Colored Sunlight
*New Light (pseudo-Cabal Reserve Army)
*Exit of the Evening Dusk
*Dawn that Wipes Away Darkness
* (abbreviation, proper name unknown) Chapter 1 Part 4
* (abbreviation, proper name unknown)
* (abbreviation, proper name unknown)
* (abbreviation, proper name unknown)
* (abbreviation, proper name unknown)
* (abbreviation, proper name unknown)
* (abbreviation, proper name unknown)
* (abbreviation, proper name unknown)
==Trivia==
*The individuals described as members of the Golden Dawn in the Toaru series were all either affiliated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, or one of its successor organizations or members in real-life, though circumstances differ between the two:
**Though unnamed in the Toaru series, the third co-founder of the Golden Dawn was , a surgeon, occultist and horticulturalist whose real-life counterpart died in 1891, before the creation of the Golden Dawn's Second Order.
**, commonly known as W.B. Yeats, was a famous Irish poet and Nobel laureate in literature who joined the Golden Dawn due to his interest in the occult. He was involved in the power struggles within the organization, including the Battle of Blythe Road where he went up against Crowley.
** was an American occultist and an author on various books on occult Tarot and Qabalah. He joined one of the Golden Dawn's successor organizations, Alpha et Omega, but left due to a controversy with Moina Mathers.
** was a British Anglican clergyman who interested in alchemy. He joined the successor Order of the Golden Dawn. He was a supporter of the reforms of Arthur Edward Waite, which split the Order as the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn and the Stella Matutina.
==External Links==
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==Notes==
==References==
==Navigation==
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