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Fifth Order of Melchizedek and Egyptian Sphinx

From Kook Science

Fifth Order of Melchizedek and Egyptian Sphinx
Classified advertisement for a meeting of the Fifth Order, Boston Globe, 22 Oct. 1893.

The Fifth Order of Melchizedek and Egyptian Sphinx (also called the Solar Spiritual Progressive Order of the Silver Head and Golden Star, or Silver Hand and Golden Star) was a secret society, according to Gould & co.[1] The name suggests itself as a link to Melchizedekian and Egyptian orders, while the "silver head" (or "silver hand") and "golden star" may be taken as alchemical in nature.

Of some interest, 25 October 1893 meeting of the order, advertised as being open to the public, was to have been held at No. 8 Pembroke St. in Boston, Massachusetts, which had been, ten years earlier, given as a mailing address for W. J. Colville,[2] and in 1889 published as an address for Julia Noyes Stickney,[3] both associated with the local Spiritualist movement, as well as, in 1888, listed as the address of Julia M. Carpenter, Clairvoyant Physician.[4] However, the address was likely leased only for the event, as it appeared consistently in Boston newspaper classifieds as being available for rent through 1893 and 1894.

References

  1. Gould, S. C., ed. (November 1896), The Fifth Order of Melchizedek and Egyptian Sphinx, "Masonic and Arcane Societies in the U.S.", Miscellaneous Notes and Queries 14 (11): 284, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044092649565;view=1up;seq=358, retrieved 2016-05-12, "We are not sure that this Order is in activity at the present time; at least, a session has been held within two years in the city of Boston, Mass. Its heads are Prince and High Priestess, both arrayed in gorgeous apparel. The Order claims great antiquity, even several thousand years before A.M., which may stand for Ante-Melchizedek, and not "After the Order of Melchizedek" (Ps. cx, 4). This Order is also known as "The Solar, Spiritual, Progressive Order of the Silver Head and Golden Star." Its place of meeting is called a Grotto." 
  2. Burns, James, ed. (1 June 1883), "Mr. Colville in England", The Medium and Daybreak (London): 348, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Medium_and_Daybreak/vqIOAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%228+Pembroke+Street+,+Boston%22&pg=PA348&printsec=frontcover 
  3. "Mrs. Julia Noyes Stickney, 8 Pembroke Street, Boston", Register of the Appalachian Mountain Club for 1889 (Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club): 40, 1889, https://books.google.com/books?id=Uy86AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40 
  4. "MRS. JULIA M. CARPENTER, Clairvoyant Physician.", Buchanan's Journal of Man (Boston) 2 (3), April 1888, https://archive.org/details/buchanansjournal02buch/page/n83/mode/2up?q=8+Pembroke