Dion Fortune

Pagan

The Force is Strong With This One
Has anyone out there read any of books of Dion Fortune? I tried reading "Dion Fortune's Magical Battle of Britain" some years ago but found it pretty impenetrable. The novels "The Sea Priestess" and "Moon Magic" were more readable.

I searched this forum for Dion Fortune and she pops up in passing a couple of times.

I would be interested to hear what others in this forum thought about her writing.
 
Vilolet Mary Firth was an intriguing women and there is some value in some of her writings..Glastonbury:Avalon of the Heart is intresting because of her remarks about stonehenge and Her love affair with Glastonbury and its supposed arthurian connections,The Cosmic Doctrine,The Mystical Qabblah(Note The Q)Psychic Self Defence all have some interest and value within to a.. point but remember her influence from Frudian Begginings,TheosphyThe Golden Dawn/Stella Matutina(Alpha and Omega) where she was a member/intiate and then on to create her own group the Fraternity of the inner light and its modern off shoots today of course Ritual magic with christian undertones and Arthurian/Atantis Untertones run throughout her books fiction and non fiction..and her work with the hidden masters..her work from a ritual magic standpoint..good and bad should always taken with an open mind and some reserach on where here orginal beliefs and ideas formulated are worth investication.
`Priestess`by Alan Richardson is a good work on Violet Firth,remember though hes taking some of his own so called magicical background as a basis on sone assumptions.
`Dion Fortune Womanhoods answer to Alister crowley` as some have said has left many not wanting to even look at any of her books and indeed this is the case with some of her work but there is some knowlege here and part of Dion most definetly had the best interests of mankind in mind but she sufferd like many of us have to break the Veil of lies and ascertain what the truth was and if only then there was S.O.T.T perhaps things may have been so different for Dion.
 
Pagan said:
Has anyone out there read any of books of Dion Fortune? (...)
I would be interested to hear what others in this forum thought about her writing.

Yes, I only read Psychic Self Defence but found it to be very interesting and maybe even helpful - this is many years ago though. Sure, there are occult influences in there but it was a very worthy read in my humble opinion. It's actually a very sober and captivating examination - for example, she talks about assumptions people make with psychic attacks. Quite often, there are mundane explanations lurking behind the apparent symptoms.

It would be silly to engage yourself in this type of occult activity full-on without an understanding of the underlying principles. It was a fascinating read nonetheless, especially if you're into the classic psychical writings of the late 19th century.

This is the bit that stayed in my memory until this day.

Dion Fortune said:
The next type of psychic attack which we must consider is that conducted by means of artificial elementals. These are distinguished from thought-forms by the fact that, once formulated by the creative mind of the magician, they possess a distinct and independent life of their own, though strictly conditioned as to nature by the concept of their creator. The life of these creatures is akin to that of an electric battery, it slowly leaks out by means of radiation, and unless recharged periodically, will finally weaken and die out. The whole question of the making, charging, recharging, ordestruction of these artificial elementals is an important one in practical occultism.

The artificial elemental is constructed by forming a clear-cut image in the imagination of the creature it is intended to create, ensouling it with something of the corresponding aspect of one's own being, and then invoking into it the appropriate natural force. This method can be used for good as well as evil, and "guardian angels" are formed in this way. It is said that dying women, anxious concerning the welfare of their children, frequently form them unconsciously.

I myself once had an exceedingly nasty experience in which I formulated a were-wolf accidentally. Unpleasant as the incident was, I think it may be just as well to give it publicity, for it shows what may happen when an insufficiently disciplined and purified nature is handling occult forces.

I had received serious injury from someone who, at considerable cost to myself, I had disinterestedly helped, and I was sorely tempted to retaliate. Lying on my bed resting one afternoon, I was brooding over my resentment, and while sobrooding, drifted towards the borders of sleep. There came to my mind the thought of casting off all restraints and going berserk. The ancient Nordic myths rose before me, and I thought of Fenris, the Wolf-horror of the North. Immediately I felt a curious drawing-out sensation from my solar plexus, and there materialised beside me on the bed a large wolf. It was a well-materialised ectoplasmic form. Like Z., it was grey and colourless, and like him, it had weight. I could distinctly feel its back pressing against me as it lay beside me on the bed as a large dog might.

I knew nothing about the art of making elementals at that time, but had accidentally stumbled upon the right method - the brooding highly charged with emotion, the invocation of the appropriate natural force, and the condition between sleeping and waking in which the etheric double readily extrudes.

I was horrified at what I had done, and knew I was in a tight corner and that everything depended upon my keeping my head. I had had enough experience of practical occultism to know that the thing I had called into visible manifestation could be controlled by my will provided I did not panic; but that if I lost my nerve and it got the upper hand, I had a Frankenstein monster to cope with.

I stirred slightly, and the creature evidently objected to being disturbed, for it turned its long snout towards me over its shoulder, and snarled, showing its teeth. I had now "got the wind up" properly; but I knew that everything depended on my getting the upper hand and keeping it, and that the best thing I could do was to fight it out now, because the longer the Thing remained in existence, the stronger it would get, and the more difficult to disintegrate. So I drove my elbow into its hairy ectoplasmic ribs and said to it out loud:

"If you can't behave yourself, you will have to go on the floor," and pushed it off the bed.

Down it went, meek as a lamb, and changed from wolf to dog, to my great relief. Then the northern corner of the room appeared to fade away, and the creature went out through the gap.

I was far from happy, however, for I had a feeling that this was not the end of it, and my feeling was confirmed when next morning another member of my household reported that her sleep had been disturbed by dreams of wolves, and she had awakened in the night to see the eyes of a wild animal shining in the darkness in the corner of her room.

Now thoroughly alarmed, I went off to seek advice from one whom I have always looked upon as my teacher, and I was told that I had made this Thing out of my own substance by revengeful thoughts, and that it was really a part of myself extruded, and that I must at all costs recall it and reabsorb it into myself, at the same time forgoing my desire to"settle accounts" with the person who had injured me. Curiously enough, just at this time there came an opportunity most effectually to "settle" with my antagonist.

Fortunately for all concerned, I had enough sense left to see that I was at the dividing of the ways, and if I were not careful would take the first step on to the Left-hand Path. If I availed myself of the opportunity to give practical expression to my resentment, the wolf-form would be born into an independent existence, and there would be the devil to pay, literally as well as metaphorically. I received the distinct impression, and impressions are important things in psychic matters, for they often represent subconscious knowledge and experience, that once the wolf-impulse had found expression in action, the wolf-form would sever the psychic navel-cord that connected it with my solar plexus, and it would be no longer possible for me to absorb it.

The prospect was not a pleasant one. I had to forgo my dearly-loved revenge and allow harm to be done to me without defending myself, and I also had to summon and absorb a wolf-form which, to my psychic consciousness at any rate, looked unpleasantly tangible. Nor was it a situation in which I could either ask for assistance nor expect much sympathy. However, it had to be faced, and I knew that with every hour of the Thing's existence it would be harder to deal with, so I made the resolution to let the opportunity for revenge slip through my fingers, and at first dusk summoned the Creature. It came in through the northern corner of the room again (subsequently I learnt that the north was considered among the ancients as the evil quarter), and presented itself upon the hearthrug in quite a mild and domesticated mood. I obtained an excellent materialisation in the half-light, and could have sworn that a big Alsatian was standing there looking at me. It was tangible, even to the dog-like odour.

From it to me stretched a shadowy line of ectoplasm, one end was attached to my solar plexus, and the other disappeared in the shaggy fur of its belly, but I could not see the actual point of attachment. I began by an effort of the will and imagination to draw the life out of it along this silver cord, as if sucking lemonade up a straw. The wolf-form began to fade, the cord thickened and grew more substantial. A violent emotional upheaval started in myself; I felt themost furious impulses to go berserk and rend and tear anything and anybody that came to hand, like the Malay running amok. I conquered this impulse with an effort, and the upheaval subsided. The wolf-form had now faded into a shapeless grey mist. This too absorbed along the silver cord. The tension relaxed and I found myself bathed inperspiration. That, as far as I know, was the end of the incident.

I had had a sharp lesson, and a highly instructive one. It may not be convincing to other people, owing to the lack of corroborative evidence, but it was exceedingly evidential to me, and I put it on record for what it is worth to those who, having personal knowledge of these things, can see its significance.

It is a curious point that, during the brief twenty-four hours of the Thing's life, the opportunity for an effectual vengeance presented itself.
 
Talas said:
Vilolet Mary Firth was an intriguing women and there is some value in some of her writings..Glastonbury:Avalon of the Heart is intresting because of her remarks about stonehenge and Her love affair with Glastonbury and its supposed arthurian connections,The Cosmic Doctrine,The Mystical Qabblah(Note The Q)Psychic Self Defence all have some interest and value within to a.. point but remember her influence from Frudian Begginings,TheosphyThe Golden Dawn/Stella Matutina(Alpha and Omega) where she was a member/intiate and then on to create her own group the Fraternity of the inner light and its modern off shoots today of course Ritual magic with christian undertones and Arthurian/Atantis Untertones run throughout her books fiction and non fiction..and her work with the hidden masters..her work from a ritual magic standpoint..good and bad should always taken with an open mind and some reserach on where here orginal beliefs and ideas formulated are worth investication.
`Priestess`by Alan Richardson is a good work on Violet Firth,remember though hes taking some of his own so called magicical background as a basis on sone assumptions.
`Dion Fortune Womanhoods answer to Alister crowley` as some have said has left many not wanting to even look at any of her books and indeed this is the case with some of her work but there is some knowlege here and part of Dion most definetly had the best interests of mankind in mind but she sufferd like many of us have to break the Veil of lies and ascertain what the truth was and if only then there was S.O.T.T perhaps things may have been so different for Dion.

Why should such things be 'taken with an open mind' and not seen for exactly what they are which is a direct representation of Entropy and an attempt to create 'power over', as opposed to power within? If she was 'womanhood's answer to Alister Crowley', then nothing worse could be said about a person.
 
adam7117 said:
It would be silly to engage yourself in this type of occult activity full-on

It's not "silly", it's full-on destructive and entropic, with or without 'deeper understanding'. Make no mistake - it matters what face of 'god' one aligns oneself with and ritual magic is not the face of Creativity.
 
Thanks to all for your various inputs. I notice some parallels between Dion Fortune's writing and that of Marion Zimmer Bradley, especially the Shadow's Gate series of MZB's books. Her book "The Mists of Avalon" is a personal favourite of mine.


Shadow's Gate series (with Rosemary Edghill)
Ghostlight (1995)
Witchlight (1996)
Gravelight (1997)
Heartlight (1998)
 
anart said:
adam7117 said:
It would be silly to engage yourself in this type of occult activity full-on

It's not "silly", it's full-on destructive and entropic, with or without 'deeper understanding'. Make no mistake - it matters what face of 'god' one aligns oneself with and ritual magic is not the face of Creativity.

FWIW, I agree. The way I see it Crowley might represent the dark side of the coin and Fortune might represent the light side, but that still makes them two sides of the same coin. Like the Yankees and the Red Sox: they're different teams but they play the same game. Occult magic is a lot more dangerous than baseball.

Maybe 6 years ago I was into Tarot and "fortune telling" and I started trying to find out about "spells". I was initially quite drawn to Aleister Crowley's tarot deck because of the beautiful illustrations. I started playing around with it and some weird stuff started happening to me so I read Dion Fortune's Psychic Self Defense because I thought it would "help". It didn't. Weird stuff kept happening to me and the more I tried to "defend myself" the weirder it got. Luckily I stumbled upon SOTT and the Cassiopeia material around the same time and once I started reading the Wave I stopped messing with ritual "magic".
 
anart said:
Talas said:
Vilolet Mary Firth was an intriguing women and there is some value in some of her writings..Glastonbury:Avalon of the Heart is intresting because of her remarks about stonehenge and Her love affair with Glastonbury and its supposed arthurian connections,The Cosmic Doctrine,The Mystical Qabblah(Note The Q)Psychic Self Defence all have some interest and value within to a.. point but remember her influence from Frudian Begginings,TheosphyThe Golden Dawn/Stella Matutina(Alpha and Omega) where she was a member/intiate and then on to create her own group the Fraternity of the inner light and its modern off shoots today of course Ritual magic with christian undertones and Arthurian/Atantis Untertones run throughout her books fiction and non fiction..and her work with the hidden masters..her work from a ritual magic standpoint..good and bad should always taken with an open mind and some reserach on where here orginal beliefs and ideas formulated are worth investication.
`Priestess`by Alan Richardson is a good work on Violet Firth,remember though hes taking some of his own so called magicical background as a basis on sone assumptions.
`Dion Fortune Womanhoods answer to Alister crowley` as some have said has left many not wanting to even look at any of her books and indeed this is the case with some of her work but there is some knowlege here and part of Dion most definetly had the best interests of mankind in mind but she sufferd like many of us have to break the Veil of lies and ascertain what the truth was and if only then there was S.O.T.T perhaps things may have been so different for Dion.

Why should such things be 'taken with an open mind' and not seen for exactly what they are which is a direct representation of Entropy and an attempt to create 'power over', as opposed to power within? If she was 'womanhood's answer to Alister Crowley', then nothing worse could be said about a person.

Agree with all you say and `the taken with an Open mind` as is with all knowlege it is a path of information and i once thought i had an open mind.. i thought i had the correct knowlege...i had to learn
many things to be open and to learn what entropy was and what it can do.
 
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