Frederick Leigh Gardner (1857–1930) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 and member of various initiatory orders, among them the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

Early life

Gardner was born 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 ...

on 31 March 1857, the son of an accountant. His parents were spiritualists and psychic sessions were held at his house, and sometimes, the young Gardner "incorporated" an Indian guide.

Career

He began his career as a clerk for a stockbroker, eventually becoming, himself, in 1886, a broker at the Stock Exchange, where he retired in 1903, becoming an antiquarian bookseller. His interest in occultism elevated him to join the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, the

Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (Rosicrucian Society of England) is a Rosicrucian esoteric Christian order formed by Robert Wentworth Little in 1865,King 1989, page 28 although some sources acknowledge the date to be 1866-67. Members are confirm ...

(becoming the librarian) and the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

(1884). It was the environment of this Order that he met the woman he would marry. He corresponded frequently with the Rev. William Alexander Ayton, a student of

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

and member of the

, which Gardner would eventually join.

Publications

He wrote ''Catalogue Raisonné of Works on the Occult Sciences'', a private edition published in three volumes on the occult sciences, consisting of Rosicrucian, astrological and Masonic texts, which is still a source of reference for scholars of occultism.

References

* Howe, Ellic. ''The Magicians of the Golden Dawn''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972.

External links

Frederick Leigh Gardner
at Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A. M. 1857 births 1930 deaths English occult writers Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England {{England-writer-stub