Post #598

Furthermore, the role of women within the Golden Dawn—as equals to their brothers differed from the role of women in society. In Britain, the Women’s Suffrage movement began in the 1860s, and women did not win full voting rights until 1928. But the women in the Golden Dawn were not only regarded as equals, they also rose to leading positions within the Order and wrote a number of official instructions for the members, which show that, in the Golden Dawn, they could even wield authority over men. One of [Victor] Turner’s main points is that the primary function of liminal phenomena is to maintain and strengthen social structures by forming an anti-structure. The liminal persons or communities indirectly set the standards for the normal or structured society. That which is not liminal is normal, and therefore part of the structured sphere of society. As an anti-structure to the late-Victorian society, the Golden Dawn can be viewed as a forerunner of the emerging modern culture. H. Bogdan - Women and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: Nineteenth Century Occultist Initiation from a Gender Perspective, in Women’s Agency and Rituals in Mixed and Female Masonic Orders, ed. by A. Heidle and J.A.M. Snoek (2008), p. 262 Гендерное!