Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers

Samuel Mathers (b. January 11th 1854, d. 5th November, 1918): Of the three founding members of the Golden Dawn, S. L. MacGregor Mathers has been simultaneously the most vilified and the most deified. Both views are off the mark, for Mathers was neither a villain nor a superhuman god. He was, however, one of the more colourful characters in the history of the Golden Dawn, displaying many of the assets and liabilities often associated with those who possess magical genius and creativity. A gifted ritualist, Mathers produced some of the finest teachings in the Western Esoteric Tradition, but he was also capable of being an eccentric tyrant. Of the three founding Chiefs of the Order it was Mathers, the primary Chief of the R.R. et A.C., who made the Golden Dawn into a truly magical Order.