Initiatic order · 1895-1900s
The Mathers' villa in Auteuil – Ahathoor temple
Address · 87, avenue Mozart, 75016 Paris
Metro · Jasmin (9) / Ranelagh (9)
Today · Fate unknown. Fate of the villa not verified.
The story
Auteuil, annexed to Paris in 1860, was still a district of villas and gardens at the end of the 19th century. In 1895 the Mathers rented a house there that could be reached from three streets: avenue Mozart, rue Ribera and rue de la Source. According to Churton, each entrance served a separate part: the garden, the temple and the living quarters. Such a house made it possible to keep family life apart from ritual meetings.
The temple room, adorned with large paintings of Egyptian gods made in Moina's spirit, now housed the Ahathoor temple. Papus was admitted as a neophyte on 23 March 1895, in a ceremony held in French. The astrologer Ely Star, initiated in 1896, became its hierophant in 1899. Churton notes that those close to the Librairie du Merveilleux kept their distance, and that Michelet does not mention it. Rituals were conducted in English or French.
It was here that Aleister Crowley visited Mathers in January 1900, at the time of the crisis pitting the head of the order against its London members. The fate of the villa could not be verified; today the address is simply a landmark in a residential area of the 16th arrondissement. The area, served by the metro, remains residential and peaceful. Rue Ribera and rue de la Source let you walk around the site, and the Maison de Radio France and the Seine are not far away.
To be checked · Coordinates estimated; the villa may have been demolished or altered. Historic site: no temple exists here today.