The '''Alpha et Omega''' was an occult order, initially named the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,  co-founded in London, England  by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers in 1888.<ref>King, 1971a, p.43</ref><ref name="llew-timeline"/>  Following a rebellion of Adepts in London and an ensuing public scandal which had brought the name of the Golden Dawn into disrepute,<ref>Greer, 1995, pp. 160-63, 244, 263-264, 350</ref> Mathers renamed the branch of the Golden Dawn remaining loyal to his leadership to "Alpha et Omega" sometime between 1903 and 1913.<ref>King, 1971a, p. 110-111</ref><ref name="freemason-bio">"The Golden Dawn ceased to exist by that name after October, 1901, replaced by Mathers' Alpha et Omega and the London group’s Order of the Morgan Rothe. No longer associated with the SRIA after 1902, Mathers continued to oversee a few temples until his death, when his wife, Moina, assumed supervision." Samuel Liddel MacGregor Mathers biography, [http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/esoterica/mathers_m/mathers_m.html Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon], February 26, 2001</ref><ref name="llew-timeline">''Golden Dawn Time Line'', Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, [http://www.llewellynencyclopedia.com/article/35 Llewellyn Encyclopedia]</ref>  "The title was  usually abbreviated as '''A.O.'''"<ref>King, 1971a, p. 111</ref> and according to one source its full name was "'''Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega'''".<ref>King, 1971b, p. 195</ref> 

==Origin==
In 1900, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was rocked by disagreements between Dr. Edward Berridge and Annie Horniman, culminating in a rebellion of the Adepts of the Isis-Urania Temple No. 3. This was quickly followed, in 1901, by a scandal involving impostors using Golden Dawn materials for unseemly ends, culminating in the name of the Golden Dawn being dragged through the mud in the courts and in the press, and provoking further schism within the Order. In 1906, therefore, S.L. MacGregor Mathers summarily closed the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and founded the Alpha et Omega.<ref>Greer, 1995, pp. 160-63, 244, 263-64, 350</ref>

Two temples in Great Britain remained loyal to Mathers and joined the Alpha et Omega, one in London and the other in Edinburgh. Two or three former Golden Dawn temples in the United States, including Thoth-Hermes in Chicago, remained loyal to Mathers during the schism and became part of the Alpha et Omega as well.<ref>King, 1971a, p 111</ref> 

Elsa Barker, a poet and author who traveled frequently between Europe and the USA, became Mathers’ emissary to the American temples of the A.O. For example, the minutes book of the Ahathoor temple mentions that, on July 3, 1911, just prior to Elsa Barker’s return to the USA, Mathers had received applications from 9 members to form a new temple, Neith Temple No. 10.

By 1913, Mathers was presiding over at least five Temples of the Alpha et Omega; the original Isis-Urania Temple No. 3 (with 23 Inner Order members by 1913), presided over by Dr. Berridge, the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in Paris led by Mathers himself, the Amen-Ra Temple No. 6 in Edinburgh, presided over by John William Brodie-Innes, the Thme Temple No 8 in Chicago, The Thoth Hermes Temple No 9 in New York, presided over by Michael Whitty, and the Neith Temple No. 10 in New York. When Mathers died in 1918, he was succeeded by his wife, Moina Mathers in cooperation with J. W. Brodie-Innes.<ref>King, 1989, pg. 141</ref>

==Challenges==
Two famous members of the Alpha et Omega during this period were Dion Fortune (pen name of Violet Firth) and Paul Foster Case. Dion Fortune was initiated into the Alpha et Omega in 1919 and eventually reached the grade of Portal. With the approval of Moina Mathers, Fortune created an outer court for the A+O, for the purpose of attracting prospective initiates, initially called the ''Christian Mystic Lodge of the Theosophical Society'', as a "guise", and then later known by its formal title, the ''Fraternity of Inner Light''.<ref>King, 1971a, p 143</ref>  In 1922, Dion Fortune published the ''Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage''. Moina Mathers considered this to be an unauthorized expose of secret teachings of the Alpha et Omega, and also become concerned about Dion Fortune's increasing skill with astral travel and reception of "trance messages from Masters of the Western Tradition" (as King explains), which Mathers saw as competition for leadership and eventually resulted in Dion Fortune’s expulsion from the Alpha et Omega.<ref>King, 1971a, p.143</ref>  Fortune later joined the Stella Matutina and was directly admitted into the Portal Grade. She later went on to found her own occult school, known as the Society of the Inner Light.<ref>Greer, 1995, pp. 355-57</ref><ref>King, 1989, pg. 143</ref>

In 1918, Paul Foster Case was initiated into the Thoth-Hermes Temple of the Alpha et Omega under the direction of Michael Whitty. On May 16, 1920, Case was initiated into the Alpha et Omega's Second Order, and was made a Minor Adept on June 6, 1920. Upon Michael Whitty’s death, Paul Foster Case became the Praemonstrator of Thoth Hermes Temple. Shortly thereafter, Moina Mathers wrote to Case criticizing him for discussing teachings concerning esoteric sexuality in the presence of outer order members which provoked Case’s resignation as Praemonstrator.<ref>Greer, 1995, p. 352-53</ref> When Case began to question certain fundamental teachings of the order, including the system of Enochian magic, Case encountered increasing friction with the Chiefs of Thoth-Hermes temple. In December, 1921, Case therefore wrote to Moina Mathers asking for permission to demit from Thoth-Hermes temple, but was expelled by Mathers instead in January, 1922. Case went on to found his own esoteric school, known as the Builders of the Adytum,<ref> Greer, 1995, pp. 350-5</ref> also known as the ''School of Ageless Wisdom.''  Case's new school moved away from some of the Golden Dawn and A.O. teachings, adopting for example Arthur Edward Waite's modified design of the Tarot deck.<ref>King, 1971a, pp 141-142</ref>

'''Alpha et Omega''' bzw. '''A ∴ O ∴''' bezeichnet einen aus dem Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (nachfolgend ''Golden Dawn'' genannt) hervorgegangenen Nachfolgeorden, der 1903 gegründet wurde. Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, einer der Gründer des Golden Dawn, vereinigte unter diesem Namen alle Tempel, die ihm gegenüber noch loyal geblieben waren.

In seinen aktiven Jahren verfügte der Orden über drei Großbritanniens und über weitere in Frankreich und den USA.
Nach dem Tod von MacGregor Mathers, am 19. November 1918, übernahm seine Ehefrau Moina Mathers zusammen mit William Brodie-Innes und Dr. Edmund Berridge die Leitung des Ordens <ref name="Mathers">Mathers letzte Anweisungen, siehe unter: http://www.esotericgoldendawn.com/german/trad_mathers_anweis.htm.</ref>.

Berühmte Mitglieder des A ∴ O ∴ waren Paul Foster Case, Begründer des Builders of the Adytum, und Dion Fortune, die spätere Gründerin der Fraternity of the Inner Light.

Case wurde 1918 in den Thoth-Hermes Tempel No. 9 in New York initiiert und 1922 durch Moina Mathers wegen Meinungsverschiedenheiten ausgeschlossen. Dion Fortune wurde in den Alpha et Omega Tempel No. 3 in London eingeweiht. Wegen einer Streitigkeit mit Moina Mathers über ihr Werk „The Cosmic Doctrin“ musste sie den A ∴ O ∴ verlassen, setzte aber ihre Ausbildung später im Stella Matutina fort <ref name="Siehe Fußnote">Siehe Fußnote in: „Talismans & Evocations of the Golden Dawn“ von Pat Zalewski. Demnach erreichte Dion Fortune im A ∴ O ∴ nur den 2= 9, setzte aber ihre Ausbildung im Stella Matutina bis zum 5= 6 fort</ref>.

Der A ∴ O ∴ sah sich als einziger legitimer Nachfolger des Golden Dawn, während Stella Matutina als illegitim betrachtet wurde <ref name="Vergleiche">Vergleiche Ithell Colquhoun: „Schwert der Weisheit“ 1985</ref>. Die Aktivitäten des Alpha et Omega hielten angeblich bis in die späten siebziger Jahre an. 
Kritiker weisen aber auch darauf hin, dass William Wynn Westcott, ebenfalls einer der Gründer des Golden Dawn, bis zu seinem Tod weiterhin mit der Stella Matutina in Verbindung stand und Rober William Felkin bei seiner Arbeit unterstützte.

Insgesamt gehörten dem A ∴ O ∴ folgende Tempel an: