Order of the Eastern Star

Considered to be the “female version” of Freemasonry (although men can join), the Order of the Eastern Star (OES) is directly named after Sirius, the “Star rising from the East”. A “general public” explanation of the origins of the Order’s name claims it originated from the “Star of the East” that lead the Three Magis to Jesus Christ.

A look into the occult meaning of the Order’s symbolism however makes it clear that the OES is a reference to Sirius, the most important star of Freemasonry, its parent organization. Madame Blavatsky, Alice Bailey and TheosophyHelena Blavatsky and Alice Bailey, the two main figures associated with Theosophy, have both considered Sirius to be a source esoteric power. Blavatsky stated that the star Sirius exerts a mystic and direct influence over the entire living heaven and is linked with every great religion of antiquity.

Alice Bailey sees the Dog Star as the true “Great White Lodge” and believes it to be the home of the “Spiritual Hierarchy”. For this reason she considers Sirius as the “star of initiation”.

== Aleister Crowley, the A.A. and Kenneth Grant==

In 1907, Crowley started his own occult order called the A.A. – short for Argentium Astrum, which can be translated to ‘The Order of the Silver Star’.

The ‘Silver Star’ was, of course, a reference to Sirius.

Even if Crowley almost always referred to the dog star in veiled terms, the whole of his magickal philosophy, from his development as a young Freemason through to his final years as the Head of the O.T.O, is wholly in accordance with the Sirian influence, which was identified and expressed by other writers of his era.

His alleged contact with his Holy Guardian Angel that later led to the channelling of ‘Liber AL: The Book of the Law’ is believed to have originated from Sirius.

If Crowley used code words to describe Sirius, his protégé Kenneth Grant has explicitly and extensively written about the dog star. Throughout his numerous books, he often described Sirius as being a powerful center of magical magnetic power.

His belief that the star holds the central key to unlocking the mysteries of the Egyptian and Typhonian traditions has strengthened over time and became a central focus of his research.

One of Grant’s most important and controversial thesis was his discovery of the “Sirius/Set current”, which is an extra-terrestrial dimension connecting Sirius, the Earth and Set, the Eyptian god of Chaos – who was later associated with Satan.

Although each occult philosophy describes Sirius in a slightly different matter, it is still consistently regarded as the “sun behind the sun”, the true source of occult power. It is perceived as the cradle of human knowledge and the belief of the existence of a strong connection between the star and planet Earth never seems to become outdated.

Is there a true link between Sirius and Earth? Is the dog star an esoteric symbol representing something happening in the spiritual realm? It is both?

One thing is for sure, the cult of Sirius is not a “thing of the past” and is very alive today. An in-depth look at our popular culture, which is heavily influenced by occult symbolism, reveals numerous references to Sirius.