The Order of Ancient Mysteries was an occult organization founded by blackmailer, Roderick Burgess in an effort to reap rewards then being won by rivals such as Aleister Crowley and his Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Burgess wanted to make his mark as one of the greatest magicians of his time among the occult circles.
Burgess named himself grand magus of the Order and based the cult out of his home Fawney Rig in Wych Cross, Sussex, England. In June of 1916, Burgess acquired a powerful mystic tome known as the Magdalene Grimoire, and with it, he sought to gain power by using it to summon and capture Death. The Order conducted the required elaborate ritual, invoking the names of various old powers. The Order failed to summon Death, however, but instead succeeded in capturing Death's sibling, Dream. Burgess knew immediately that they had not captured Death, but he did recognize their prize as one of the Endless. The Order bound Dream inside of a mystic circle and contained his corporeal form in a large glass globe in the cellar at Fawny Rig. Burgess tried to force Dream to do his bidding, but failed in every attempt. Dream never so much as said a word as he waited for the inevitable.
In 1930, a schism within the Order caused a major split in the ranks. Burgess' second-in-command, Ruthven Sykes, left Wych Cross, stealing a large sum of money, several powerful artifacts that had been found on Dream, and Burgess' mistress, Ethel Cripps. Burgess bided his time, and the moment Sykes was no longer magically protected, murdered him in a gruesome fashion.
In 1947, Roderick Burgess died, frustrated still at Dream's lack of response. His son Alexander took control of the Order. Alex was well schooled in the occult, but was not the practitioner that his father was. Alex met a man named Paul McGuire and the two became lovers. Paul served as Alex's second in the Order, but was not a practitioner, seeing the Order simply as a means to an end.
By the 1960s, the Order of Ancient Mysteries was a shadow of its former self. Alex and Paul turned away from Black Magic and focused on asceticism, yoga, meditation and karma in keeping with the times. The Order became little more than an aspect of the popular counterculture and a means of earning revenue. By 1970, Alex's followers began to abandon him. Alex decides to keep Dream imprisoned and, like his father, tries to bargain for youth and eternal life from Dream in exchange for his freedom. Finally, old and tired, he hands over the reins of the organization to Paul McGuire.[1]
Known members[]
- Roderick Burgess † (leader)
- Ruthven Sykes † (second-in-command, defected)
- Ethel Cripps † (defected)
- Alex Burgess (leader, resigned)
- Paul McGuire (second-in-command, later leader)