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Culture Documents
Contents
Early life
Occult activity
Pullen-Burry and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The writer
Death
References
Early life
Pullen-Burry was born in Sompting, Sussex, to John Pullen and his wife Ann Burry. In 1868, his father John formally
changed the family surname to Pullen-Burry. He was educated at Craufurd College in Maidenhead and entered the
University of London in June 1873. He did further training at the Royal College of Physicians in London.[4]
He was married to Rose Anwyl, with whom he had a son given the same name (born 1882) and two daughters, Ethel and
Winifred.[1]
Occult activity
On 27 November 1892, he joined the Isis-Urania Temple,[5] which was the first founded Golden Dawn temple (in 1888).
Other temples were established elsewhere later. Each Golden Dawn member was required to choose a magical motto.
Pullen Burry chose Anima Pura Sit ("Let the Soul Be Pure"). His wife Rose joined the order in 1894. Her motto was Urge
semper igitur ("Always press forward"?).[1]
One of the most active members in London, he rose rapidly in the Isis-Urania Temple governing hierarchy, becoming its
Sub-Cancellarius official in July, 1894, promoted to cancellarius November 1896. Cancellarius (Latin for "chancellor") of a
Golden Dawn temple was its chief keeper of records and was one of the top three presiding officials in authority over a
temple. During the late 1890s internal revolt against top leader and co-founder of the G.D. Order, Samuel Liddell
MacGregor Mathers, Pullen Burry remained in the camp that stayed loyal to Mathers.[6]
Pullen-Burry unexpectedly abandoned family, his Golden Dawn temple, and home country to emigrate to the US, initially
drawn by the lure of gold during the Klondike Gold Rush.[1] The Klondike began as a widespread rush in 1897, peaking in
1898 as far as drawing the largest numbers (in the tens of thousands) of would-be-wealthy gold miners, the vast majority
of whom ended up disappointed, and poorer for their adventure. The best mining claims had already been staked very
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early on, mostly by locals already up there, and not by the hordes of hopefuls who came later. Without having evidence to
the contrary, it is probably a safe bet to think Pullen Burry did not succeed as a gold prospector. One could speculate his
medical skills may have stood him in good stead though, and perhaps he made a decent living treating medical complaints
of the masses of prospectors drawn North. Annie Horniman, a prominent Golden Dawn member, also prominent in
English theatre circles as founder/manager of theatre companies, came to the rescue of the Doctor's abandoned family,
taking them under her wing financially, and paying for the education of the two daughters. Wife Rose later remarried.[1]
Pullen Burry did not abandon occultism when he moved to America however. He reportedly influenced the development
of several temples in the US organised along Golden Dawn lines. He corresponded for many years with American Paul
Foster Case who had joined an American Golden Dawn temple affiliated with the British-based Order. Pullen Burry
encouraged Case to found his own US-based, Golden Dawn-influenced occult organisation, which came to be known as
The Builders of the Adytum.[7] Case wrote well known books on the Tarot, and Qabalah.
If Conan Doyle had decided to join instead of reject the Golden Dawn, he would have joined the ranks of a number of
famous folks who became members, including writers W.B. Yeats, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Bram Stoker, and
Evelyn Underhill, Irish revolutionary and feminist Maude Gonne, British stage actress Florence Farr, and Oscar Wilde's
wife Constance Mary Wilde who joined in the first year, 1888.[6][11]
The writer
Pullen-Burry wrote at least two books that were published. One is a little-known book called Our Morning Bath,[12]
possibly on the topic of personal hygiene and health. The other is his much better known Qabalism, published by The Yogi
Publication Society, Chicago, 1925. The Yogi Publication Society hardcover has been reprinted repeatedly through the
decades. In his book Qabalism, Pullen-Burry challenges Qabalistic orthodoxy by putting forth his own theory that the Tree
of Life, the central symbolic diagram of Qabalah mysticism, should have 34 paths linking its 10 Sephira (or Spheres),
instead of 32 paths, as traditionally taught.
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Death
His death was reported as occurring on 30 December 1926[13] at the age of 72 years from toxemia, in Multnomah Hospital
in Portland, Oregon.[2]
References
1. The Collected Letters of W.B. Yeats, Vol IV, ed.by John Kelly and Ronald Schuchard, Oxford University Press, 2006,
footnote p. 430.
2. Newspaper obituary dated 3 January 1927, newspaper origin unknown, likely a Portland, Oregon paper, possibly
"The Oregonian".
3. Qabalism, Dr. Henry B Pullen Burry, The Yogi Publication Society, 1972 edition.
4. UK, University of London Student Records, 1836-1945
5. The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, Ellic Howe, Samuel Weiser Inc., 1978, p. 51 – 52.
6. The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, Ellic Howe, Samuel Weiser Inc., 1978.
7. Qabalism, Dr. Henry B Pullen Burry, The Yogi Publication Society, 1972 edition, Introduction.
8. The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, Ellic Howe, Samuel Weiser Inc., 1978, p. 199-200.
9. The Golden Dawn:Twilight of the Magicians, R.A. Gilbert, The Aquarian Press, 1983, p.58 – 59.
10. The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, Ellic Howe, Samuel Weiser Inc., 1978, p.200.
11. The Golden Dawn:Twilight of the Magicians, R.A. Gilbert, The Aquarian Press, 1983.
12. The Magicians of the Golden Dawn, Ellic Howe, Samuel Weiser Inc., 1978, p. 51.
13. Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929
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