Born Llandudno, North Wales, as Violet Mary
Firth on December 6th 1890
1910-20:
Interest and involvement in psychoanalysis
and attracted towards the occult by their apparent overlap. Studied occultism
under Dr. Theodore Moriarty and joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in
1919, in the Alpha et Omega Lodge run by the novelist Brodie Innes.
1920-30:
Transferred to Stella Matutina Lodge of the
Golden Dawn run by Moina MacGregor Mathers and developed mediumship capabilities
in herself whilst continuing the occult/psychological interest. Her writings in
this period reflect this: MACHINERY OF THE MIND; THE SOYA BEAN, THE PSYCHOLOGY
OF THE SERVANT PROBLEM, THE PROBLEM OF PURITY; THE ESOTERIC PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE
AND MARRIAGE, SANE OCCULTISM, THE ESOTERIC ORDERS AND THEIR WORK, THE TRAINING
AND WORK OF AN INITIATE, THE COSMIC DOCTRINE, PSYCHIC SELF DEFENCE and the
fictional works THE SECRETS OF DR. TAVERNER and THE DEMON LOVER.
Her strong
magical-psychological bias was modified by a powerful vision about the need to
take on board the Christian dynamic, and she joined, somewhat reluctantly, the
Christian Mystic Lodge of the Theosophical Society of which she soon become
President. As a result however of strong disapproval of senior figures in the
Theosophical Society, and the Golden Dawn, in her view, becoming moribund, she
founded the Community of the Inner Light, first at Glastonbury and soon also
with a headquarters in London. In 1927 she married Dr. Thomas Penry Evans.
1930-40:
Most of her subsequent non-fiction work
first saw the light of day in The Inner Light Magazine and her inner development
can be followed fairly straightforwardly from their titles. AVALON OF THE HEART,
SPIRITUALISM IN THE LIGHT OF OCCULT SCIENCE, THROUGH THE GATES OF DEATH,
PRACTICAL OCCULTISM IN DAILY LIFE, MYSTICAL MEDITATIONS ON THE COLLECTS, THE
MYSTICAL QABALAH and the novels THE WINGED BULL, THE GOAT-FOOT GOD, THE SEA
PRIESTESS. The novels were an attempt to give practical exemplification to the
theoretical principles given in her important textbook "THE MYSTICAL
QABALAH".
1940-46:
At the outbreak of war she continued in
difficult circumstances, (including being bombed out of her headquarters
temporarily), to keep the Fraternity going with a series of Weekly Letters and
after the restructuring of the group in 1942 in readiness for the post-war epoch
by a series of Monthly Letters, paper rationing having put a stop to magazine
and book publication. She also continued work on the novel MOON MAGIC. Her
writings of this time have been collected and edited by Gareth Knight under the
titles of THE MAGICAL BATTLE OF BRITAIN, AN INTRODUCTION TO RITUAL MAGIC, THE
CIRCUIT OF FORCE, and PRINCIPLES OF HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY (which includes
"Esoteric Principles of Astrology"). Teaching upon the Arthurian Tradition that
she initiated at this time has been incorporated into THE SECRET TRADITION IN
ARTHURIAN LEGEND by Gareth Knight.
She died of leukemia at the Middlesex Hospital, London on
January 8th 1946
The philosophical
and practical line that Dion Fortune pursued right the way through her life was
a three-fold balance of those elements of the Western Esoteric Tradition known
as the Hermetic Path, the Green Ray Path of elemental and nature contacts, and
the Mystic Path. She also had a long term interest in the practicalities of
esoteric healing, and details of her work along these lines between 1921 and
1942 have been published under the title of PRINCIPLES OF ESOTERIC
HEALING.
See Publications section details on how to obtain
the books mentioned Web Ref Inner Light.org
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