First to claim attainment to Master of the Temple

[SMBrush]

Who was the first person to claim to have attained the grade of Master of the Temple? Was it Aleister Crowley?

[augur]

It is an A∴A∴ grade, and Crowley was the first to claim Magister Templi. The closest related reference was a way of referring to the Grand Master of the Knights Templar.

[SMBrush]

Did the teachers of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn believe that no living person could become a Master of the Temple?

[augur]

It was not a term that they dealt with. Master of the Temple/Magister Templi is a grade of the A∴A∴

[SMBrush]

The original Golden Dawn had the same grade system as the SRIA. They had the Tree of Life diagram with the grades attributed to the sephiroth. Master of the Temple was always attributed to Binah and Magus to Chokmah. Of course, the GD didn't officially initiate anyone beyond Exempt Adept at Chesed. Did they think the supernal sephiroth was beyond the reach of living human beings?

[zeph]

I can't speak directly to the position of HOGD, but I have heard that Paul Foster Case (trained by A∴O∴, successor of HOGD) felt that advancement beyond 5=6 was a matter between the initiate and their angel. The supernal sephiroth were not thought to be beyond the reach of living humans, but the training for it was beyond the reach of B.O.T.A.