Violet Mary Firth Evans, born Violet Mary Firth (December 6, 1890^[1] - 1946) and better known as Dion Fortune, was a British occultist and author^[2]. Events 1060 - Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary 1240 - Mongol invasion of Rus: Kiev Year 1890 ( MDCCCXC) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine hidden secret referring to "knowledge of the hidden" Her pseudonym was inspired by her family motto "Deo, non fortuna" (Latin for "God, not fate")^[3]. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Writing 3 Later magical career 4 Quotes 5 References 6 External links

Early life

She was born at Bryn-y-Bia in Llandudno, Wales, and grew up in a household where Christian Science was rigorously practiced^[4]. Llandudno (pronounced /ɬan'dɪdnɔ/ is a Seaside resort and Town in Conwy, Wales. Christian Science is believed by its supporters to be a system of spiritually scientific truths which are summed up in the two commandments having one God one Mind one Life Truth She reported visions of Atlantis at age four^[5] and the developing of psychic abilities during her twentieth year^[6], at which time she suffered a nervous breakdown; after her recovery she found herself drawn to the occult^[4]. In Spirituality including Religion, visions comprise Inspirational renderings generally of a Future state and/or of a mythical Atlantis (in Greek,, "island of Atlas " is the name of a Legendary Island, first mentioned in Plato 's dialogues The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine hidden secret referring to "knowledge of the hidden" She joined the Theosophical Society^[4] and attended courses in psychology and psychoanalysis at the University of London^[7], and became a lay psychotherapist at the Medico-Psychological Clinic in Brunswick Square^[8]. The Theosophical Society was the organization formed to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior The University of London is a university based primarily in London, England, UK.

Her first magical mentor was the Irish occultist and Freemason Theodore Moriarty^[9]. The Irish people ( Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a Western European Ethnic group who originate In 1919 she was initiated into the London Temple of the Alpha et Omega^[10] before transferring to the Stella Matutina order^[11]. The Alpha et Omega was an occult order initially named the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, co-founded in London, England by Samuel Liddell MacGregor See also Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Stella Matutina was an initiatory Order dedicated to the dissemination of the traditional teachings of the Hermetic

Writing

From 1919^[4] she began writing a number of novels and short stories that explored various aspects of magic and mysticism, including The Demon Lover, The Winged Bull, The Goat-Foot God, and The Secrets of Dr. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story The short story is a literary genre of Fictional Prose Narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction such Taverner. This latter is a collection of short stories based on her experiences with Theodore Moriarty. Two of her novels, The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic, became influential within the religion of Witchcraft, especially upon Doreen Valiente^[12]. Witchcraft, in various historical anthropological religious and mythological contexts is the use of certain kinds of Supernatural or magical powers Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente (4 January 1922 Mitcham, South London, England – 1 September, 1999, Brighton, England

Of her non-fiction works on magical subjects, the best remembered of her books are; The Cosmic Doctrine^[13], meant to be a summation of her basic teachings on mysticism, The Mystical Qabalah^[14], an introduction to Hermetic Qabalah, and Psychic Self Defence^[15], a manual on how to protect oneself from psychic attacks. Hermetic Qabalah (from the Hebrew קַבָּלָה "reception" is a Western esoteric and mystical tradition Though some of her writings may seem dated to contemporary readers, they have the virtue of lucidity^[16] and avoid the deliberate obscurity that characterised many of her forerunners and contemporaries^[17].

Later magical career

Fortune fell out with Moina Mathers, head of the Alpha et Omega, and claimed she was coming under magical attack^[4][18]. Moina Mathers, born as Mina Bergson ( February 28, 1865 - July 25, 1928) was an artist and Occultist at the turn of the 19th The Alpha et Omega was an occult order initially named the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, co-founded in London, England by Samuel Liddell MacGregor In 1922, with Moina's consent, Dion Fortune left the Alpha et Omega and with her husband, Penry Evans^[4] formed the Fraternity of the Inner Light as an offshoot of the Alpha et Omega^[19][20]. Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The Alpha et Omega was an occult order initially named the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, co-founded in London, England by Samuel Liddell MacGregor The Fraternity of the Inner Light was a magical society and Western Mystery School. The Alpha et Omega was an occult order initially named the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, co-founded in London, England by Samuel Liddell MacGregor This brought new members to the Alpha et Omega^[21]. Fortune's group was later renamed "The Fraternity of the Inner Light", and was, later still, renamed "The Society of the Inner Light". This society was to be the focus of her work for the rest of her life. Her masterpiece^[22][23][24]The Mystical Qabalah was first published in England in 1935, and is regarded by many occultists as one of the best textbooks on magic ever written^[4]. She died in 1946 from leukemia. Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Leukemia or leukaemia (Greek leukos λευκός, "white" aima αίμα, "blood" is a Cancer of the Blood

Dion Fortune met and corresponded with Aleister Crowley, whom she acknowledged in the introduction of The Mystical Qabalah^[25]. Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (ˈkroʊli (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947 was a British Occultist Writer, mountaineer

Dion Fortune participated in the "Magical Battle of Britain"^[26], which was an attempt by British occultists to magically aid the war effort and which aimed to forestall the impending German invasion during the darkest days of World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Her efforts in regard to this are recorded in a series of letters she wrote at the time^[27]. The effort involved in this endeavour is said to have contributed to her death shortly after the war ended^[28]. Her Society of the Inner Light continues to function, and has also given rise to other orders, including The London Group, until recently headed by Alan Adams (aka Charles Fielding),^[29][30][31] and Servants of the Light, headed by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki^[4]. Servants of the Light is a modern-day Western Mystery School which teaches the esoteric sciences through correspondence Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki is a British Occult author Psychic, and esoteric practitioner

Quotes

• "The true nature of the gods is that of magical images shaped out of the astral plane by mankind's thought, and influenced by the mind. " -- Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah

• "To say that a thing is imaginary is not to dispose of it in the realm of mind, for the imagination, or the image making faculty, is a very important part of our mental functioning. An image formed by the imagination is a reality from the point of view of psychology; it is quite true that it has no physical existence, but are we going to limit reality to that which is material? We shall be far out of our reckoning if we do, for mental images are potent things, and although they do not actually exist on the physical plane, they influence it far more than most people suspect. " --Dion Fortune, Spiritualism and Occultism

• "Psychotherapy may begin with the primitive, but it must end with the divine, for both are integral factors in the human mind. " -- Violet M. Firth (Dion Fortune), The Machinery of the Mind.

• "Symbols are to the mind what tools are to the hand--an extended application of its powers. " --Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah

• "The spirit of religious persecution is not the special failing of any particular faith, but springs eternal in the human breast. " --Dion Fortune, quoted in British esotericist and Fortune biographer Gareth Knight's Experience of the Inner Worlds

• "The driving forces of the universe, the framework upon which it is built up in all its parts, belong to another phase of manifestation than our physical plane, having other dimensions than the three to which we are habituated, and perceived by other modes of consciousness than those to which we are accustomed. Dr Basil Wilby aka Gareth Knight (born 1930 is a British esotericist and occult author who began his esoteric training in 1953 as a member of the Fraternity of the Inner Light "--Dion Fortune, Psychic Self-Defense

• "We live in the midst of invisible forces whose effects alone we perceive. We move among invisible forms whose actions we very often do not perceive at all, though we may be profoundly affected by them. " --Dion Fortune, Psychic Self-Defense

• "All gods are one God, and all goddesses are one Goddess, and there is one Initiator" -- Dion Fortune, Sea Priestess

References

External links

• Dion Fortune Texts and Resources
• Short biography at the Inner Light site
• the MYSTICA.ORG (Contains some erroneous material. )
• The Novels of Dion Fortune and the Development of Gardenerian Witchcraft
• The Society of the Inner Light
• www.mysteriouspeople.com Dion Fortune
• www.servants of the light.org Derivative group
• www.innerlightsociety.org Derivative group

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