Dr. H. B. Pullen-Burry

Dr. Henry B. Pullen-Burry (1855–1926) was a British physician, occultist, and prominent member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Initiated into the Order’s Isis-Urania Temple in 1892 under the magical motto Anima Pura Sit (“Let the Soul Be Pure”), he quickly rose through its leadership, serving as Sub-Cancellarius in 1894 and later as Cancellarius in 1896. As one of the Order’s senior officers, he was responsible for maintaining its records and helping oversee the administration of one of the most influential occult organizations of the late nineteenth century. During the internal disputes that divided the Golden Dawn, Pullen-Burry remained loyal to its co-founder, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers.

In the late 1890s, Pullen-Burry left England and emigrated to North America during the Klondike Gold Rush. Although he abandoned both his medical practice and his position within the London temple, he remained active in the occult movement after settling in the United States. He became an influential figure in the development of several American organizations modeled on the Golden Dawn and maintained a long correspondence with Paul Foster Case, encouraging him to establish what later became the Builders of the Adytum, one of the most influential Hermetic schools in twentieth-century America.

Pullen-Burry was also acquainted with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who later recalled visiting the physician at his home in England before his departure for North America. According to Conan Doyle, Pullen-Burry introduced him to discussions of occult philosophy, Rosicrucianism, astral projection, and the teachings of the Golden Dawn, even inviting him to join the Order. Although Conan Doyle ultimately declined membership, he later wrote that he encountered Pullen-Burry again during a visit to America, where he found him deeply immersed in Rosicrucian and Hermetic studies.

Through his leadership within the Golden Dawn, his influence on early American Hermetic organizations, and his writings on Qabalism, Pullen-Burry became an important figure in the transmission of Golden Dawn teachings to a wider audience. His work helped preserve and popularize many of the Order’s core interpretations of the Tree of Life, ceremonial symbolism, and Western esoteric philosophy during the early twentieth century.