Showing posts with label Gareth Knight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gareth Knight. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Moon Magic. Dion Fortune. Viven Le Fay Morgan. Lilith Le Fay. Occult. New Age

Moon Magic. Dion Fortune. Viven Le Fay Morgan. Lilith Le Fay. Occult. New Age
Moon Magic. Dion Fortune. Viven Le Fay Morgan. Lilith Le Fay. Occult. New Age 

"Moon Magic" by Dion Fortune is the sequel to her best known novel, "The Sea Priestess." It was published posthumously using manuscripts and notes she had left behind upon her death in 1946.



Almost 15 years after she first appeared in Sea Priestess, Dion Fortune wrote about her heroine Vivien Le Fay again. In Moon Magic Vivien appears as Lilith Le Fay, and uses her knowledge of moontides to construct an astral temple of Hermetic magic. The viewpoint of Lilith Le Fay is purely pagan, and she is a rebel against society, bent upon its alteration. She may, of course, represent my Freudian subconscious... --'from the Introduction 'Dion Fortune's books sell! Sea Priestess has sold 32,000 copies and Moon Magic has 25,000 copies in print. 'First published in 1938 and 1956, neither Sea Priestess nor Moon Magic have been out of print and are enduring favorites among readers of esoteric fiction. 'New packages will update these classic novels and introduce them to a new generation of readers.

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Dion Fortune's Rites of Isis and of Pan. Society of Inner Light. Occult. Ceremonial Magick. Gareth Knight

Dion Fortune's Rites of Isis and of Pan. Society of Inner Light. Occult. Ceremonial Magick. Gareth Knight
Dion Fortune's Rites of Isis and of Pan. Society of Inner Light. Occult. Ceremonial Magick. Gareth Knight

I'm enjoying "Dion Fortune's Rites of Isis and of Pan" edited by Gareth Knight. The book contains the actual ritual texts penned by Dion Fortune for her "Rite of Isis" and "Rite of Pan" and offers insights about her initiatory Order, the Society of Inner Light. These Rites are also examined within the context of Dion Fortune's fictional novels "The Winged Bull", "The Goat-Foot God", "The Sea Priestess" and "Moon Magic."



Dion Fortune encoded much practical magical lore within her novels, leaving it up to the reader to work out how to make use of it. Behind the novels were two major rituals, the Rite of Isis and the Rite of Pan, which Dion Fortune occasionally performed in public in the 1930s as part of her drive to open up occultism beyond the closed walls of esoteric fraternities. Now for the first time, these important magical workings have been released from her society's archive in their complete and original form. Edited and explained by Gareth Knight, this book contains the full text of the original Rite of Isis and Rite of Pan which formed the basis for Dion Fortune's Moon Magic, The Goat-Foot God, and The Sea Priestess. Further archive material elucidates the practical magical principles found in The Winged Bull. The book is supplemented by several articles written by Dion Fortune in the 1930s which shed further light on the practical content of her novels, including the essay Ceremonial Magic Unveiled, a review of the work of Israel Regardie in which she gives her views on the controversies within the Golden Dawn and frankly describes her own falling out with Moina MacGregor Mathers.

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Evoking the Goddess. Gareth Knight. Initiation, Worship and the Eternal Feminine in the Western Mysteries. Mythology and Magick

Evoking the Goddess. Gareth Knight. Initiation, Worship and the Eternal Feminine in the Western Mysteries. Mythology and Magick
Evoking the Goddess. Gareth Knight. Initiation, Worship and the Eternal Feminine in the Western Mysteries. Mythology and Magick

Gareth Knight passed away a couple months ago. He was a student of the esoteric school founded by Dion Fortune. "Evoking the Goddess" is an enjoyable work by him, which explores the Divine Feminine both in Mythology and magical practice within the Western Mysteries.


In this wide-ranging view of magic and ritual, Gareth Knight demonstrates the presence of the Goddess throughout Western esoteric traditions. From Greek myths and the Mysteries of Isis to the emergence of the cult of the Blessed Virgin and seventeenth-century Rosicrucian spiritual alchemy, he shows how the Goddess--the elemental consciousness of Earth--has revealed herself in different times and places.
Honoring her many guises, Knight explores the powers of the Goddess as maiden, mother, initiator, protector, sorceress, and faery queen. Guided meditations on each of these qualities lead the practitioner into direct contact with the potent healing energy of the Divine Feminine. The author also offers rituals, exercises, and other practical tools for integrating the Western magical tradition with worship of the Goddess. He shows how we, and our planet, have suffered due to the repression of the feminine principle. For our own health, and that of our environment as well, we must recognize the power of the Goddess within to reconstitute and guide our existence.

Monday, March 14, 2022

The Sea Priestess. Dion Fortune. Vivien Le Fay Morgan. Wicca. Ceremonial Magick

The Sea Priestess. Dion Fortune. Vivien Le Fay Morgan. Wicca. Ceremonial Magick
The Sea Priestess. Dion Fortune. Vivien Le Fay Morgan. Wicca. Ceremonial Magick

She was born Violet Mary Firth, but went by the name Dion Fortune. I've enjoyed her non-fiction writing on the Qabalah quite a bit, so I decided to venture deeper into her fictional works as well. She viewed both genres as essential keys to unlock her esoteric teachings. "The Sea Priestess" is her best known novel, and introduces her character Vivien Le Fay Morgan. Although veiled as fiction, this book is often cited as a foundational text of Wicca and other magical orders.


The Sea Priestess is the highly acclaimed novel in which Dion Fortune introduces her most powerful fictional character, Vivien Le Fay Morgan a practicing initiate of the Hermetic Path. Vivien has the ability to transform herself into magical images, and here she becomes Morgan Le Fay, sea priestess of Atlantis and foster daughter to Merlin! Desperately in love with Vivien, Wilfred Maxwell works by her side at an isolated seaside retreat, investigating these occult mysteries. They soon find themselves inextricably drawn to an ancient cult through which they learn the esoteric significance of the magnetic ebb and flow of the moontides.