AUGUST ORDER OF LIGHT
Brief History This Oriental Order is founded upon the literature supplied by Dr Maurice Vidal Portman, a learned student of oriental lore, an occultist and politician, who went to India in the train of the late Lord Lytton, when Viceroy of India in 1876. During his stay there, Brother Portman made himself familiar with the literature and ritual observances of Brahmans and other Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Muslims, and gained much curious lore from fakirs and religious devotees of all creeds, and for some years was a Governor in the Andaman Islands where he collected all sorts of quaint traditions and magical arts from the natives and strangers from many Asiatic lands. The Order in its first form did not become widely known, for some years was in abeyance and was revived in its current form on 9th January 1902, when Bros TH Pattinson and Dr BE Edwards, were chosen, as Arch Presidents of the Order, to recast the original rituals and to present a series of ceremonies and lectures which confer instruction in a convenient form, and contain in its series of grades and rituals many profound esoteric Universal Truths. The Order for many years consisted of a single Temple, meeting at a number of venues in Yorkshire before settling at Halifax. In 1970 a second Temple was formed in London, and subsequent Temples have been established in Melbourne (2011), Adelaide (2011), Philadelphia USA (2013) and Chennai India (2014). Aim The August Order of Light is concerned with intellectual and spiritual illumination. This society of Freemasons supplies a series
of grades and possesses rituals which illustrate the Old World Religions, and notably the mythologies of India, with side-lights from the cults of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. While the Rosicrucian Society illustrates the teachings of the Mystics of the Middle Ages of Europe, this Order gives a view of Oriental ideas of Theology and Cosmogony. The Order encourages its members to contribute to discussions at meetings, so that all knowledge and opinion on relative subjects can be pooled, and each member thus gain experience which he can apply for the greater good. In accordance with the desire for light, all candidates of the Order contribute to a charity administering eye surgery among poor and disadvantaged communities in the developing world. Organisation The Society is led by two Arch Presidents, supported by the Council of Agni, who control and administer the several Temples of the Order. The Temples, which meet regularly, around the principal dates of the solar calendar, for the various ceremonies and for the diffusion of light through research and discussion, are under the direction of the Council of Garuda, supported the Guardian of Light and his officers. Qualifications The August Order of Light is open to all Master Masons seeking further light in Masonry and interested in considering freemasonry from an Eastern philosophical perspective.
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