Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

This was an organization devoted to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was founded in London, England in the late 1880s by William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell Mathers. The structure of the Order was based on freemasonry and included a series of initiatory rituals. Its teachings focused on the Qabalah, Hermeticism, astrology, tarot, alchemy, and other forms of mystical symbolism.