The all-powerful religious authority in Lyra's world, a version of a Christian church that has maintained temporal as well as spiritual power. The Magisterium controls education, science, and political life, suppressing any knowledge it deems heretical - particularly research into Dust, which it equates with Original Sin. It operates through various bodies including the Consistorial Court of Discipline, the Society of the Work of the Holy Spirit, and the General Oblation Board. The Magisterium is the primary antagonist of the series.