Credit: https://beyondthecraft.net.au/the-august-order-of-light/

This Oriental Order is founded upon the literature supplied by Dr Maurice Vidal Portman, a learned student of oriental lore, an occultist, and politician, who went to India in the train of the late Lord Lytton when Viceroy of India in 1876.

During his stay there, Brother Portman made himself familiar with the literature and ritual observances of Brahmans and other Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Muslims and gained much curious lore from fakirs and religious devotees of all creeds, and for some years was a Governor in the Andaman Islands where he collected all sorts of quaint traditions and magical arts from the natives and strangers from many Asiatic lands.

The Order in its first form did not become widely known, for some years was in abeyance and was revived in its current form on 9th January 1902, when Bros TH Pattinson and Dr. BE Edwards, were chosen, as Arch Presidents of the Order, to recast the original rituals and to present a series of ceremonies and lectures which confer instruction in a convenient form, and contain in its series of grades and rituals many profound esoteric Universal Truths.

The Order for many years consisted of a single Temple, meeting at a number of venues in Yorkshire before settling at Halifax. In 1970 a second Temple was formed in London, and subsequent Temples have been established in Melbourne (2011), Adelaide (2011), Philadelphia USA (2013), and Chennai India (2014).

The August Order of Light is concerned with intellectual and spiritual illumination.
This society of Freemasons supplies a series of grades and possesses rituals that illustrate the Old World Religions, and notably the mythologies of India, with side-lights from the cults of Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. While the Rosicrucian Society illustrates the teachings of the Mystics of the Middle Ages of Europe, this Order gives a view of Oriental ideas of Theology and Cosmogony.

The Order encourages its members to contribute to discussions at meetings so that all knowledge and opinion on relative subjects can be pooled, and each member thus gains experience that he can apply for the greater good. In accordance with the desire for light, all candidates of the Order contribute to a charity administering eye surgery among poor and disadvantaged communities in the developing world.

The Society is led by two Arch Presidents, supported by the Council of Agni, who control and administer the several Temples of the Order.

The Temples, which meet regularly, around the principal dates of the solar calendar, for the various ceremonies and for the diffusion of light through research and discussion, are under the direction of the Council of Garuda, supported by the Guardian of Light and his officers.

The August Order of Light is open to all Master Masons seeking further light in Masonry and interested in considering freemasonry from an Eastern philosophical perspective.

There are a number of ceremonial workings in the Order, with two principal degrees, the First and Second Degrees, separated by the ceremony of Passing of Garuda.

In addition, there are essential ceremonies to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes.

Entry to and progress within the Order is not automatic and every candidate must present a paper on a non-Masonic esoteric subject to the membership before being approved for entry and each advancement.

The regalia worn by members of the Order is a robe and belt.
In the First Degree, brethren are invested with a breast jewel, while in the Second Degree, brethren receive a neck jewel.
Each piece of regalia is of special significance to the lessons of the Order.