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removed Category:New religious movements; added Category:New religious movements established in the 1970s using HotCat

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{{short description|Western esoteric order}}
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{{EngvarB|date=February 2018}}
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'''The Society of Guardians''' or '''The Guardians''', is a [[Western esotericism|Western esoteric]] order that integrates mystical Christian and Jewish [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] teachings. The Society combines an emphasis on meditation and contemplative practice, ceremonial ritual, and esoteric study with a nature-centered approach to spiritual development. Traditionally, each sanctuary is limited to 22 members who are described as "technical mystics".<ref name="Ellwood">{{cite book |last=Ellwood |first=Robert S. |year=1993 |title=Islands of the Dawn: The Story of Alternative Spirituality in New Zealand |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0-8248-1487-8 |pages=224–225}}</ref>

==History==
Michel Tyne-Corbold joined the Melbourne Sanctuary of the Society in 1959, and became Senior Guardian in 1967 at which time he assumed the public [[pen name]] Michael Freedman. He has previously been an ordained Anglican priest but had left that vocation. In January 1968, Freedman and three other Australians went to India to study at the Maharishi Academy in India.<ref>{{cite news |title=Victorians to Study with Maharishi |newspaper=The Age |date=19 January 1968}}</ref> Freedman graduated from the [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]]'s Academy (Rishikesh headquarters) in India and, upon returning to Australia, established himself as a [[Transcendental Meditation]] teacher.<ref>{{cite news |title=His Memory Transcended |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=9 May 1968 |page=3}}</ref>

In 1970, Freedman moved to Auckland, New Zealand with his wife.<ref name="Ellwood" /> He studied for an undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Auckland during the mid to late 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://digitool.auckland.ac.nz/dtl_publish/12/678886.html |title=Speaker and audience in the Student Union quad (Michel Tyne-Corbold left, at table; Janet Roth, AUSA President, left of centre) |year=1979}}</ref>

In 1978, the Society began offering a free meditation course. Following this, it opened the "Sanctuary of the Angels" in a house on Horoeka Avenue, on the slopes of [[Mount Eden]] and built a flourishing order. The order's rites are [[Mithraism|Mithraic]] in nature and are based on solar and lunar cycles. A "Mass of the Archangels" is held weekly, and seasonal festivals are observed.<ref name="Ellwood" />

==See also==
*[[Magical organization]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official website|https://www.societyofguardians.org/}}

[[Category:1970s establishments in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Magical organizations]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Religion in Auckland]]

Society of Guardians - Revision history

imported>PARAKANYAA: removed Category:New religious movements; added Category:New religious movements established in the 1970s using HotCat