Expansion Elsa Barker, a poet and author who traveled frequently between Europe and the USA, became Mathers’ emissary to the American temples of the A.O. For example, the minutes book of the Ahathoor temple mentions that, on July 3, 1911, just prior to Elsa Barker’s return to the USA, Mathers had received applications from 9 members to form a new temple, Neith Temple No. 10. By 1913, Mathers was presiding over at least five Temples of the Alpha et Omega; the original Isis-Urania Temple No. 3 (with 23 Inner Order members by 1913), presided over by Dr. Edmund William Berridge, the Ahathoor Temple No. 7 in Paris led by Mathers himself, the Amen-Ra Temple No. 6 in Edinburgh, presided over by John William Brodie-Innes, the Thme Temple No 8 in Chicago, The Thoth Hermes Temple No 9 in New York, presided over by Michael Whitty, and the Neith Temple No. 10 in New York. Three other American temples of the Alpha et Omega were founded after the First World War: Ptah No. 10 in Philadelphia in 1919, Atoum No. 20 in Los Angeles in 1920, and Themis No. 30 in San Francisco in 1921. When Mathers died in 1918, he was succeeded by his widow (Moina Mathers) and J. W. Brodie-Innes. After Moina's death in St Mary Abbots Hospital on 25 July 1928 Isabel Morgan Boyd, her daughter Isme, and Edward John Langford-Garston took over the London temple. Decline According to Langford-Garston's cousin Ithell Colquhoun, the AO "survived until the outbreak of [World War II] in 1939" when it was "officially closed" and its temple-furniture destroyed "at the instance of the Secret Chiefs." Colquhoun later asserts that the furniture, along with its Vault of the Adepti, were "consumed in a bonfire" at Sacombe Park, Hertfordshire. Rituals While the rituals of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its Stella Matutina offshoot were published in the early 1900s (1909-1910 and 1937 respectively), the rituals of the A+O remained secret until they were published in 2011. Challenges and legacy Two famous members of the Alpha et Omega were Dion Fortune (pen name of Violet Firth) and Paul Foster Case. Dion Fortune was initiated into the Alpha et Omega in 1919 and eventually reached the grade of 2°=9□. With the approval of Moina Mathers, Fortune created an outer court for the A+O for the purpose of attracting prospective initiates, initially called