The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (or Golden Dawn for short) was a magical order of secret society for the study of the occult and metaphysics. It was founded in London in 1888 by Dr. William Wynn Westcott and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. It ceased to exist under that name in 1903. However, two spin-off groups were created at that time, the Stella Matutina and the Alpha et Omega.