Dion Fortune

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Dion Fortune ( pseudonym of Violet Mary Firth ; born December 6, 1890 in Llandudno , Wales , † January 8, 1946 in London ) was a Welsh occultist , Rosicrucian , theosophist and author . She was the founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light , now known as the Society of the Inner Light .

life and work

Childhood, education and marriage

Dion Fortune was born in Llandudno on December 6, 1890. The parents were members of Christian Science , the mother worked there as a spiritual healer (practitioner), the father was a solicitor . Little is known about her childhood. In 1902 the family moved to Somerset , in 1906 to London and later to Letchworth Garden City . In 1904 Fortune joined Christian Science.

In the summer of 1911, she began on Studley College in Studley ( Warwickshire ) Horticulture study. After receiving her doctorate in 1913, she worked on the staff of the colleges , but then suffered a mental breakdown and gave up this post. According to her, the rector of the college, Lillias Hamilton (1858-1925), had launched a "magical attack" against her that put her out of action for three years. During this time she began to occupy herself with psychology and later studied this subject at the University of London .

During the First World War , she joined the Women's Land Army , a civil British organization that carried out food production tasks. Work was done in agriculture and then in the laboratory, where cheese was to be made from vegetable casein.

On April 6, 1927, she married the doctor Thomas Penry Evans († 1959) in Paddington ; she left in 1939 because of his relationship with Anne Mower White, the (childless) marriage was divorced.

As a theosophist and Rosicrucian

When she came into contact with Theosophy is unclear, the information varies from 1906 to around 1920. Her entry into the Theosophical Society (TG) is also controversial, here too the numbers fluctuate from 1906 to around 1920, but the latter is most likely be. In any case, she entered a TG lodge called the Christian Mystic Lodge of the Theosophical Society , probably an offshoot of the Adyar-TG . Theodore Moriarty (1873–1923) is said to have been president of this lodge, whose pupil she became and whom she received in her Dr. Taverner novels immortalized. After his death in 1923, she took over the management of the lodge. It is unclear how long she held this position.

In 1919, she joined the southern branch of the Alpha-et-Omega Temple in Edinburgh in London , a successor organization to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , which was headed by Maiya Curtis Webb (later Maiya Tranchell Hayes ). She chose Dion Fortune as her religious name , based on the motto of her family Deo, non Fortuna ( Latin God, not fate ). During this time she also had contact with John William Brodie-Innes (1848–1923). However, she later left this group and joined the London Temple under Moina Mathers (1865–1928), who claimed to be the "more orthodox" of the two directions. She soon found, disaffected, that this group consisted mainly of "widows and quarreling old men". Because of her publications of Sane Occultism and Psychic Self-Defense (= self-defense with PSI) , Moina Mathers accused her of betrayal. Further differences of opinion, among other things because of channeled material, which she later published under the title The Cosmic Doctrine , ultimately led to her being expelled from the order. At this point in time she had only reached grade 2 = 9. Later she continued her training in the Stella Matutina up to 5 = 6. It was also she who campaigned for Israel Regardie to be accepted into the Hermes Temple of the Stella Matutina.

According to her, she was in contact with several Masters of Wisdom . She was also a member of the Science, Arts and Crafts Society .

The Fraternity of the Inner Light

In 1924 she founded her own organization, the Fraternity of the Inner Light , at the foot of Glastonbury Tor . In the early 1930s she moved the headquarters from Glastonbury to London and in 1939 it was renamed the Society of the Inner Light ; this still exists today.

In 1937 she met Charles Richard Foster Seymour (1880–1943), who influenced her further work and, after her divorce from Thomas Penry Evans, took over the priestly role in her rituals. From October 1939 the Society held regular meetings on "light work" on the astral plane to protect England.

She died of leukemia in London on January 8, 1946, at the age of 55 . She published her works partly under her real name Violet Mary Firth and partly as Dion Fortune , sometimes she also used the pseudonym VM Steele .

Works

  • More violets . Jarrold & Sons, London 1906
  • The Machinery of the Mind . Allen & Unwin, London 1922
  • The esoteric philosophy of love and marriage . Rider & Son, London 1924 ( The karmic band . Schirner, Darmstadt 2001, ISBN 3-89767-082-8 )
  • The Soya Bean . Daniel, London 1925
  • The Psychology of the Servant Problem . Daniel, London 1925
  • The Secrets of Dr. Tavern . Noel Douglas, London 1926
  • The Demon Lover . Noel Douglas, London 1927 ( A demonic lover . Smaragd, Fulda 1991, ISBN 3-926374-24-1 )
  • The problem of purity . Rider, London 1928
  • The Esoteric Orders and their Work . Rider, London 1928
  • The Sane Occultism . Rider, London 1928 (some chapters from it in: Handbuch für Seeker . Smaragd, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-926374-19-5 )
  • Psychic Self-Defense . Rider, London 1930 ( self-defense with PSI . Ansata, Interlaken 1979, ISBN 3-7787-7046-2 )
  • The Training and Work of an Initiate . Rider, London 1930
  • Mystical Meditations on the Collect . Rider, London 1930
  • Spiritualism in the Light of Occult Science . Rider, London 1931
  • Avalon of the Heart, Glastonbury . Frederick Muller, London 1934 ( Glastonbury, the English Jerusalem, Avalon and the Holy Grail . Goldmann, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-442-12289-9 )
  • The Mystical Qabalah . Williams and Norgate, London 1935 ( The mystical Kabbalah - The secret of the tree of life . Aurinia Verlag, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-95659-017-7 )
  • The Winged Bull . Williams & Norgate , London 1935
  • The Scarred Wrists . Stanley Paul, London, 1935
  • Practical Occultism in Daily Life . Williams & Norgate, London 1935
  • The Goat-Foot God . Williams & Norgate, London 1936
  • Hunters of Humans . Stanley Paul, London 1936
  • Beloved of Ishmael . Stanley Paul, London 1937
  • The Sea Priestess . Self-published, London 1938 ( Die Seepriesterin . Smaragd, Fulda 1989, ISBN 3-926374-12-8 )
  • Moon magic . Aquarian Press, London 1956 ( Mondmagie . Smaragd, Fulda 1990, ISBN 3-926374-21-7 )
  • Through the Gates of Death . Aquarian Press, London 1957 ( Through the gates of death into light . Smaragd, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-926374-13-6 )
  • The Cosmic Doctrine . Aquarian, Wellingborough 1976 ( The Cosmic Doctrine - Big Bang, Chaos Research and Evolution . Aurinia Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-937392-07-6 )
  • Applied Magic and Aspects of Occultism . Aquarian, Wellingborough 1987, ISBN 0850306655
  • The god Pan . Verlag Heliakon, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-943208-36-8
  • Applied Magic . Verlag Heliakon, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-943208-37-5

literature

  • Janine Chapman: The Quest for Dion Fortune . Samuel Weiser, York Beach 1993, ISBN 0-87728-775-9 .
  • Carr Collins, Charles Fielding: The Story of Dion Fortune . Star & Cross, Dallas TX 1985, ISBN 0-87728-658-2 .
  • Gareth Knight: Dion Fortune and the Inner Light . Thoth Publications, Loughborough 2000, ISBN 1870450450 .
  • Gareth Knight: Light on Dion Fortune . Aurinia, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-937392-01-7 .
  • Alan Richardson: Priestess. Life and Magic of Dion Fortune . Smaragd, Neuwied 1991, ISBN 3-926374-25-X (translation by Priestess. The Life and Magic of Dion Fortune . Aquarian Press, 1987).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. George Knowles: Dion Fortune (1890-1946) . In: controverscial.com , November 24, 2004, accessed April 21, 2012.
  2. Ceremonial Magic Unveiled by Dion Fortune in the Occult Gazette , January 1933.
  3. Ithel Colquhoun: Dion Fortune . In: kheper.net , accessed April 21, 2012. See Alan G. Hefner: Fortune, Dion (1891-1946) . In: themystica.com , accessed April 21, 2012.
  4. ^ Pat Zalewski: Talismans & Evocations of the Golden Dawn . 2002, p. 93, footnote.
  5. ^ Ceremonial Magic Unveiled by Dion Fortune in the Occult Gazette , January 1933. According to this, the Fraternity of the Inner Light was originally formed by Dion Fortune as a forecourt organization with Moina Mather's approval in order to attract new members to the AO. This leads to the erroneous assumption that Moina Mathers authorized Dion Fortune to set up a successor organization to the AO.