Xander Wilde

Thesis Title: Orientalist Feminists: The Egyptomania of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its Offshoots as Acts of Empowerment for Female Members

Supervisors:

• Esme Cleall (Primary)
• Meredith Warren (Secondary)

Period:

Post-1800

Thesis abstract:

Research project investigating the Hermitic Order of the Golden Dawn (1187-1903), arguably the strongest influence on modern Western occultism. Specifically, the use by its members of a heavily stereotyped and exoticised version of ancient Egyptian religion in their magical rituals and how the women of the Order used such ideas as acts of liberation and empowerment. This is in the context of the Golden Dawn being almost unique in its admission of women, something rare in Victorian and Edwardian organisations, with many members being involved intimately with the suffrage movement.