S09E28: Laughter Cracking Through the Walls (The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn)
Summary
This episode of Unexplained explores the founding of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, contrasting its mystical origins with Wilhelm Roentgen’s scientific discovery of X-rays. Host Richard MacLean Smith details how members William Westcott, Samuel Mathers, and William Woodman deciphered a mysterious manuscript and corresponded with the enigmatic Anna Sprengel to establish the order. The narrative covers the group’s rapid growth, the controversial rise of Mathers, and dramatic occult rituals, including the infamous Taft-Arthureth evocation, before concluding with the initiation of Aleis…
Topics discussed
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Intro: Unexplained podcast and Edinburgh Fringe announcement
Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895
The Rosicrucian Society and the search for divine knowledge
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Deciphering the Cipher Manuscripts by Westcott, Woodman, and Mathers
Anna Sprengel and the founding of the Golden Dawn
W.B. Yeats joins the Order and Sprengel's disappearance
Sponsors: ChatGPT, Tredelvi, EpGliss, LinkedIn
Mathers claims contact with Secret Chiefs and creates Second Order
The Taft-Arthureth Evocation ritual and its aftermath
Alistair Crowley's induction and the Order's decline
Outro, book promotion, and final sponsors
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