When looking for examples of outstanding female magicians in the Occult Revival, few figures can stack up against Florence Farr. An actress, composer, and director in London’s West End, she was a friend to some of her time’s most significant literary and artistic figures. Oscar Wilde, Pamela Coleman Smith, Aubrey Beardsley, and William Butler Yeats were friends and collaborators, while George Bernard Shaw would be her lover for several years. In addition, as Soror Sapientia Sapienti Dona Data (S.S.D.D.), she was Chief Adept of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and oversaw its operations in Great Britain.
The Golden Dawn’s co-founded Wynn Wescott had a significant interest in the wisdom of the past. He wrote books on the history of Rosicrucianism, Number magic, and other topics. Though not as skilled at translation as other early Golden Dawn figures, he provided translation for an edition of the Chaldean Oracles, a text attributed to Zoroaster. He also edited a series of works related to Ancient Wisdom under the title Collectanea Hermetica, which he encouraged members of the Golden Dawn to contribute to.
To this end, Florence Farr wrote a work about Egyptian Magic based upon the new materials recovered due to the Rosetta Stone translation and the discovery of the Greek Magical Papyri. The resulting book, Egyptian Magic: Occult Mysteries in Ancient Egypt, was published in 1896 when she was the age of 26. A strong focus is given to the Egyptian concept of the Human Soul-Complex includes a chapter discussing Gnosticism and its retention of Egyptian themes. In particular, Farr focuses upon the doctrine of the Aeons within Gnosticism using a formulation of “the Aeon of (Name)” in her discussion.
Farr’s tenure as Chief Adept of the H.O.G.D. saw the group expand primarily through her circle of friends in the creative fields. As the original cohort of close friends and fellow magicians was leaving their 20s, another young 20-something, Edward Alexander “Aleister” Crowley, would enter their Chamber. The group would benefit from the Freemasonic access provided by the older generation of founders. At the same time, the 20-somethings of Farr’s association brought a theatrical flair to the delivery of the Workings and prop design for the Chamber.
Farr had met Crowley through an astral projection study group and oversaw his entry to the Golden Dawn after George Cecil Jones introduced him to the Order. Crowley quickly became a close contact with the Order’s Head, S.L. Mathers, who was living in Paris with his wife. This sudden closeness disturbed another G.D. member, W. B. Yeats, who felt Crowley had displaced him from his rightful place with Mathers. Yeats had previously been a rival for Farr’s romantic affections with G. B. Shaw and now found himself a rival for Mather’s magical affection with Crowley. It has also been suggested that there may have been romantic tension between Farr and Crowley which added to this situation.
The tensions created by Crowley would find release ins schism. A war of authority erupted between the London Golden Dawn and Mathers in Paris related to who could and could not grant membership to the Second Order of the system. The London GD had chosen not to allow Crowley, then only 23, to enter the Second Order. Mathers in Paris defied the Chief Adept’s decision and granted Second Order recognition to Crowley himself. The ensuing interpersonal conflict would separate Mathers from the London Golden Dawn and effectively end the organization’s
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