1899--The last year of an unified Golden Dawn.
According to Darcy Kuntz, it is likely that the fifth version of the Preliminary Pledge Form of the Order of the Golden Dawn in the Outer in Anglia was issued by Mathers in this year.
The Mathers are living in Paris. They move from 38 Rue Mozart to 23 Rue St. Vincent in October.
The highlight of Mathers' work this year is his Rites of Isis. There are public performances of the Rites; the Sunday Chronicle writes an article (March 19) about his Egyptian religion and his devotion to Isis.
In March, Westcott writes to Gardner that "I feel a curious occult necessity not to act directly with any Soror occultist at [the] present time."
Mathers offers Annie Horniman a conditional reconcilation. Horniman demands better terms, a demand that Mathers refuses to consider.
November 21, the novelist, Arthur Machen (Avallaunius) is admitted to the Neophyte Grade.
December 8, Mathers suspends F.L. Gardner, partially due to Gardner's threat that he would publish the Golden Dawn rituals and lectures.
Florence Farr refuses to advance Aleister Crowley to the Adept Minor Grade, due to rumors about his sexual behavior. Despite theories put forth by Thelemites and an argument by the Beast himself, this event is just additional fuel to the powder keg that is about to explode, and not the cause itself of the Revolt of the Adepts that will start the following year. In fact, the Revolt of the Adepts would have happened even if Farr would have permitted Crowley to advance.
Sometime this year and extending into the next, Farr recieves material from the "Akashic Records" for The Order of Great Osiris the Savior. The ceremonies are to be performed during specific astrological events (conjunctions of the Sun with the Royal Stars, etc.) and center around a single god per ritual. Silent mediation and mantras are both heavily used in the rituals. Alex Sumner suggests that this was Farr's attempt to channel higher Grade rituals based on similarities with the later Stella Matutina 7=4 Adept Extemptus ritual.
By the end of 1899, the five Golden Dawn Temples, including Mathers' Ahathoor Temple (Paris), had initiated a total of 358 members into the Grade of Neophyte (0=0). 124 of these members had advanced all the way into the Grade of Adeptus Minor (5=6). By the end of 1900, Golden Dawn will be split into several factions and its exact membership numbers would become increasingly hard to figure out.
Updated 8 July 2012: Minor stylebook correction suggested by Chris.
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