Whare Ra is the name of a building in Havelock North in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand. The building housed the New Zealand branch of the magical order the Stella Matutina. It was designed and the construction overseen by one of New Zealand's most famous architects, and a senior member of the Order, James Chapman-Taylor.
Whare Ra was one of the last surviving temples that could trace its lineage back to the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It was the only temple to operate in a permanent, purpose-built building.
Early preparations
The foundations for the Order in New Zealand were laid by Reginald Gardiner (1872-1959). Born in New South Wales, Australia, he was the son of an Anglican vicar and brother of the Anglican vicar of St Luke's Church, Havelock North, New Zealand, where he finally settled in 1907. He formed about him an artistic, cultural and spiritual group whose activities became known as the "Havelock Work", and produced a publication called The Forerunner. The Havelock Work grew and in time the group became known as the Society of the Southern Cross.
In 1910, Revd. Father J. Fitzgerald travelled to New Zealand on Church business, and was introduced to the group. He was suitably impressed, and prior to his return to Britain, promised to stay in touch and to do what he could to help. One of the last G.H. Chiefs of the Order later recollected:
In due course he wrote that if further progress were to be made, that certain people of his acquaintance would need to come out from England.
In 1912 Dr. Robert Felkin, Chief of the Order of the Stella Matutina arrived, assisted by his appointment as Inspector of the Australasian Colleges of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia by William Wynn Westcott, one of the original Chiefs of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Supreme Magus of the S.R.I.A.
Founding of the Smaragdum Thallasses Temple No 49
Travelling with his wife and daughter, he initiated a group of twenty-four members into the Order, twelve of whom were advanced to the "Second Order". A sizeable piece of land on Tauroa Road in Havelock North was donated, and a home for the Order constructed, which they named “Whare Ra”, or House of the Sun. It was in the basement of this house that the large Temple was built.
During their three-month stay, sufficient members had been initiated to make a beginning, and the building commissioned and sufficiently advanced to enable its Consecration. Before leaving New Zealand to return to England, a Warrant was issued establishing the Smaragdum Thallasses Temple No. 49 of the Order of the Stella Matutina. The three Chiefs that appeared on the Warrant were Reginald Gardiner, Mason Chambers, and probably Harold Large (or possibly Thomas Chambers).
A trust had been set up to manage the monetary affairs of the Order, with the trustees being Mason Chambers, his wife Margaret Chambers, the younger John Chambers, and Reginald Gardiner. The trust deed stated that the group was formed:
John von Dadelszen, who spent most of his adult life in the Order, and who had been a Temple Warden and one of its last Chiefs, stated that the Order:
A contemporary of John von Dadelszen, and fellow Chief Archie Shaw, wrote of the role of the three Chiefs, in his 1960 address to members:
The Work
Students who had been initiated into the Order had to follow a curriculum of activities.
Topics studied included comparative religion, mythology, geomancy, astrology, tarot, cabala, alchemy and tatwas.
After a minimum prescribed period, and having passed appropriate examinations, a student would then progress to the next grade, and receive another “Advancement” through a ceremonial experience. In all, there was one initiation ceremony and 10 advancement ceremonies used in the Order, although arguably the last one or possible two were reserved for a small number of very senior members and leaders of the group.
The Order was really two orders, an “Outer” or “First Order” where basic disciplines and rudimentary knowledge were taught, and an “Inner” or “Second Order” where in essence the member received advanced teachings to enable them to become effectively priests, capable of making their own connection with the divine. Admission to the Second Order was by invitation only.
The “Work” of the Second Order took the theory and knowledge taught in the First Order, and turned it into ceremonial and ritual with the intent of strengthening the link with the divine, personal spiritual enlightenment, and the advancement of life in general.