Edmund William Berridge (1843–1923) was a medical doctor in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, homoeopathist in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

ist. He joined the Golden Dawn in May 1889, taking the magical name "Respiro" and the

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

Resurgam (I shall rise again). He was also a follower of

Thomas Lake Harris Thomas Lake Harris (May 15, 1823 – March 23, 1906) was an Anglo-American preacher, spiritualistic prophet, poet, and vintner. Harris is best remembered as the leader of a series of communal religious experiments, culminating with a group called ...

. In the book Moonchild written by

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

, Berridge is grossly depicted as Dr Balloch, a professional abortionist. Earlier, in 1911, Berridge testified in court on the matter of Crowley's reputation.

The Golden Dawn

Berridge was an active member of the Isis-Urania lodgeKing, Modern RM, page 52 and according to biographer

Francis King Francis Henry King (4 March 19233 July 2011) Ion Trewin and Jonathan Fryer"Obituary: Francis King" ''The Guardian'', 3 July 2011. was a British novelist and short story writer. He worked for the British Council for 15 years, with positions i ...

, he was the only senior

Adept An adept is an individual identified as having attained a specific level of knowledge, skill, or aptitude in doctrines relevant to a particular author or organization. He or she stands out from others with their great abilities. All human quali ...

us who remained loyal to

Mathers Mathers is an English surname and may refer to: * Edward Peter Mathers (1850–1924), British journalist and newspaper proprietor * Edward Powys Mathers (1892–1939), British translator and poet * George Mathers, 1st Baron Mathers (1886–1965), ...

during the revolt in 1900.King, RM of GD, page 12 He wrote (under a pseudonym) a series of articles for the ''Unknown World'', an occult magazine published by

A.E. Waite Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Waite–Smith o ...

. It was Berridge who introduced Waite to the Golden Dawn. Berridge was appointed by Mathers, as his London representative.King, Modern Ritual Magic, page 110 In his autobiography (''Shadows of Life and Thought''), Waite explains that a few of the members approached him to allege that the temple was badly mismanaged, and had soon died out. As King indicates, this might not be true at the time. The temple became active as early as 1903 and was still flourishing in 1913, with twenty-three members. Many of the members of the Golden Dawn wrote knowledge lectures, called flying rolls. During his time in the Isis-Urania Temple he wrote two of their knowledge lectures and collaborated on a third. On December 11, 1892, he issued flying roll number 5 titled ''Some Thoughts on the Imagination''. On January 12, 1894, he issued flying roll number 24 titled ''Horary Figure'', derived from a lecture he gave on the subject of

horary astrology Horary astrology is an ancient branch of horoscopic astrology in which an astrologer attempts to answer a question by constructing a horoscope for the exact time at which the question was received and understood by the astrologer. The answer t ...

.King, Ritual Magic, pgs 12, 276 and 287

Bibliography

*Complete repertory to the homoeopathic materia medica. 1873, reprinted in 1994 by B. Jain Publishers

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berridge, Edmund William 1843 births 1923 deaths Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn 19th-century British medical doctors British expatriates in the United States