People have been interested in secret traditions since the beginning of time. Fraternal brotherhoods and sisterhoods, and secret orders of varying degrees exist in every country, race, and religion. Dion Fortune, in Esoteric Orders and Their Work, gets to the root of exactly what esoteric orders are, leaving no stone unturned. "Esotericism, Occultism, and Mysticism" defines what esotericism is in relation to exoteriscism; in layman's terms, the inner life versus the outer one. In "The Origin of the Mysteries", she looks at how esotericism grew hand-in-hand with the evolution of humankind, discussing how humans evolved from a group soul (still present in animals today, i.e.: packs of wolves) into a singular soul. "The Paths of the Western Tradition" is a discussion on the different schools that have developed (known as Rays) and how students, after having formed a solid base of knowledge, work through each ray on their way to becoming closer to an esoteric ideal. She expounds upon Masters in "The Evolution and Functions of the Masters". We discover that they are not so much superhuman entities as beings who have learned all they need to know on the physical plane and now teach from the ethereal. Chapters such as "The Right and Left-Hand Paths" and "The Use and Power of Ritual" explain the differences between Black and White Occultism, and how long-kept-secret rituals taught only to initiates are used to further the order's members along their paths.

Today, in the centers of the civilized world, there is renewed interest in esoteric schools, and although they may be misunderstood by the mainstream, some of the noblest people have been among their advocates. This book removes the shroudof mystery and fear from esotericism, and makes the Western Mystery Tradition accessible to anyone who has ever been curious about this fascinating spiritual path! Revised edition contains a new foreword by Gareth Knight, and an index.

Almost 15 years after she first appeared in Sea Priestess, Dion Fortune wrote about her heroine Vivien Le Fay again in her second classic novel, Moon Magic. In Moon Magic Vivien appears as Lilith Le Fay, and uses her knowledge of moon-tides to construct an astral temple of Hermetic magic. Dion Fortune's novels are enduring favourites among readers of esoteric fiction.

In this groundbreaking book, Knight shows how the Qabalah and its basic diagram, the Tree of Life, is a system of relationships among mystical symbols that can be used to gain access to the hidden reaches of the mind. He also demonstrates how the Qabalah is applicable to all mystical traditions and religious beliefs, including Christian mysticism, Greek, Egyptian and Celtic mythologies, and even Native American beliefs. It is indeed symbolic of our universal search for the Divine. Included here are two books in one. The first compares the Western Mystery Tradition with the Eastern system of yoga, analyzes the Tree of Life in full detail, and describes the practical application and theories of Qabalistic symbolism. The second gives the most comprehensive analysis ever published of the twenty-two 'Paths of Concealed Glory' that join the Spheres of the Tree of Life taking into account the Hebrew alphabet, astrological signs, and tarot trumps. A large section explores the history of tarot design and the varying systems of correspondence with the Tree of Life.

Springing from the heart of medieval France, The Romance of the Faery Melusine tells the story of Raymondin of Poitiers who accidentally kills his uncle while out hunting, and fleeing deep into the forest, encounters a faery by a fountain. Falling deeply into a mutual soul-love, the faery Melusine agrees to help Raymondin and to become his wife, on condition that he makes no attempt to see her between dusk and dawn each Saturday. On this basis the house of Lusignan thrives and prospers, until a series of treacherous events tempt Raymondin to violate his promise and shatter the magic which holds his faery wife to the human world. First rendered into written form in a text by Jean d'Arras in 1393, the legend of the Faery Melusine is well established in France, where she is credited with having founded the family, town and castle of Lusignan. However, it is very little known in the English-speaking world, despite the fact that Melusine originally hailed from Scotland. This new retelling by Gareth Knight translated from Andre Lebey's 1920s novel Le Roman de la Melusine captures the freshness of Lebey's telling of the legend and brings the benefit of Knight's expertise both in French literature and in the esoteric faery tradition.

The essays in this book originally appeared as articles in the Inner Light Journal, the house journal of Dion Fortune's Society of the Inner Light, between 2002 and 2005 and include two lectures originally given at the Temenos Academy. Full of wisdom and insights gained through a lifetime's work in the Western Esoteric Tradition, topics covered include the role of psychism within the occult tradition, working with the Elemental Tides, the medieval grail texts of Chretien de Troyes which predate Malory, pathworking the Qabalistic Tree of Life and the magical symbolism of the rose. Many of the articles have a common theme relating to the life and work of Dion Fortune and her trailblazing esoteric path, the results of which are still bearing fruit today.

In what appears on the surface to be a children's story, Gareth Knight, using Tarot imagery, conducts a guided visualisation through the Tree of Life from the homely Cottage of Heart's Desire to the Heart of the Rainbow ... and back again. Richard and Rebecca meet the Joker of their granny's pack of cards, and guided by his dog, embark on an adventure through the Inner Worlds in search of their True Names. To those attuned to its deeper symbolism, the story forms an imaginative journey along the serpentine path of the Tree of Life, conducted via the Tarot archetypes, which when read with openness and imagination may serve as a powerful key to intuitive understanding of the Western Mystery Tradition. Gareth Knight is one of the world's leading authorities on modern esoteric studies and the Western Mystery Tradition, with a career as an author, publisher and lecturer which spans more than 50 years.

Paul Sedir was one of the most important figures of the late 19th century occult renaissance in France, and yet he remains very little known in the English-speaking world. Born Yvon Le Loup in 1871, the young Breton moved to Paris and took up occultism as a teenager under the patronage of Papus (Gerard Encausse). Blessed with an exceptional memory and intuition, he embraced a diversity of paths and quickly rose through the ranks of a wide range of esoteric fraternities, authoring a number of books. From his home in Montmartre he held weekly open discussions on occultism and was well known for his exceptional knowledge and powerful presence. In later life, a significant mystical encounter led him to resign from his occult activities and focus solely on a Christian mystical path. Adopting the name Sedir (an anagram of 'desir'), he began writing his important work Initiations around 1901, and expanded it gradually over the following twenty-five years until his death in 1926. It follows the 'initiations', both occult and mystical, of a Paris doctor and his strange friend Andreas, nuanced by the enigmatic background presence of Theophane, the true healer. Presented in a deceptively simple narrative form, it distils and encodes a lifetime's esoteric and mystical knowledge in a way which serves as a very real initiation for the perceptive reader. Gareth Knight brings the benefit of 60 years' experience in practical occultism to this new translation of Sedir's work. He has translated a number of French esoteric texts, as well as being a renowned author in his own right.

Potent medieval faery lore and hidden goddess traditions for the 21st century. Gareth Knight explores and reveals the hidden mystery of the Faery Melusine, a major figure in medieval French lore and legend. Through vivid interpretation of original source texts, Gareth Knight shows that the Melusine story is a powerful initiatory legend emerging from the deeply transformative Faery Tradition of ancient Europe. Furthermore he demonstrates how such legends manifest as history: the innate sacromagical power of Melusine affected key places and events in the development of the medieval world and from there reached far into the shaping of the modern world through the conflicts for Jerusalem and the Middle East. Gareth Knight is the author of many books on magic, occultism, and esoteric tradition. His work is known world-wide and has been influential in the development of the contemporary magical revival.

A series of essays covering a wide spectrum of knowledge and experience, whose underlying theme is to show how our daily lives can be made a training ground for adepthood. It explains the different kinds of meditation and how to find the right esoteric teachers. Essays on the Tree of Life explain the evolution of modern esoteric Qabalah and how it has evolved from an image of God to a map of the created universe. A careful elucidation of the philosophy of Coleridge, and its relevance for today, is followed by a chapter on bridging the gap between psychology and occultism, with examples from the life of Dion Fortune and the 'ghost' of her Sea Priestess. Written by one of the world's foremost experts on Western Esoteric Traditions, this book is full of wisdom and insights that will help readers apply spiritual, magical and Qabalistic principles to their everyday life.

"By the time we met, he was a newly ordained curate and I was scratching a living in the esoteric world, had written a book on the Qabalah and ran an occult magazine. We were thus inhabitants of two worlds that were never supposed to meet - at least by popular convention - or if they did, to be diametrically opposed to each other." The catalyst for such a meeting of the minds was the provocative poetry of Anthony Duncan, hitherto little known to the world but privately praised by Kathleen Raine. Following on from the "Lord of the Dance" chapter in his recent autobiography, I Called it Magic, and various entries in his book of collected letters, Yours Very Truly, Gareth Knight muses on the esoteric resonances resulting from his unlikely friendship with the Reverend Anthony Duncan. Their intellectual sharing of ideas led to Duncan's The Christ, Psychotherapy and Magic and Knight's Experience of the Inner Worlds, which have become companion texts of esoteric Christianity often read and taught together. The pair had planned to co-author a book before Duncan's untimely passing in 2003 so Christ & Qabalah comes as a fulfilment of a long-held promise. The book will delight admirers of both authors with its intertextual interplay as well as a fresh exploration of the differences and similarities between a cleric and an occultist. Knight has described the book as an "organic process, almost an initiation, that has left me with a somewhat expanded consciousness." Readers are invited to share in the various machinations that sparked this dynamic relationship - one that keeps on giving.

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.

The knights of King Arthur's Round Table - Erec, Lancelot, Yvain, Perceval and Gawain - first appeared in the works of Chretien de Troyes, who cast into Old French stories told by Welsh and Breton story tellers which had their origin in Celtic myth and legend. Chretien wrote at a time when faery lore was still taken seriously - some leading families even claimed descent from faery ancestors! So we do well to look again at these early stories, for they were written not so much in terms of mystical quests or examples of military chivalry but records of initiation into Otherworld dynamics. Gareth Knight, an acknowledged expert on spiritual and magical traditions and a student of medieval French, goes to the well spring of Arthurian tradition to unveil these original principles. What is more, he shows how they can be regenerated today. "Opening the faery gates" can have its reward not only in terms of personal satisfaction and spiritual growth but as part of a much needed realignment of our spiritual responsibilities as human beings on planet Earth.

Considerable interest in faery tradition has grown up in recent years and not least in the story of Melusine of Lusignan, the subject of a prose romance by Jean d'Arras at the end of the 14th century, swiftly followed by one in verse by Couldrette. This book provides a collection of material from various sources to give an all round picture of the remarkable faery, her town, her church, her immediate family, and the great Lusignan dynasty she founded. An established authority on Melusine, Gareth Knight collects together all the best source material, which he translates from the French, and presents his own researches into the Lusignan family of the 12th century, whose dynasty included kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem, examining the possibility of a familiar spirit guiding the family in its destiny.

For a period of ninety days in 1993, Gareth Knight received a sequence of communications which seemed to come from three inner plane communicators who had worked regularly with Dion Fortune for much of her life. Forming a series of teachings and practical meditations which later became important knowledge papers issued to the Gareth Knight Group, the scripts construct an elaborate and multi-faceted magical image of an "Inner Abbey" which serves as a focal point for a wide variety of magical purposes and the evolution of consciousness. As well as providing vivid magical forms and pathworkings within the structure of the abbey, the papers discuss at length the development and use of such magical images and how to establish the magical vortex which empowers them. Three years later, while working with the Inner Abbey papers, Knight's daughter Rebecca received a further series of communications which augment the original material and add a practical example of its use, culminating in the Chapel of Remembrance ritual, a magical vortex focused on spiritual resolution for war victims. Now published together for the first time, the scripts provide a tried and trusted construct for personal magical work along with a fair amount of practical advice on occult and mystical techniques. It is open to the reader to follow up on this to find their own way into the Inner Abbey and come to a personal judgement of its experiential validity.

In this book Gareth Knight takes the most famous and most haunting of all British legends and places it in its rightful position as the core of the Western Mystery Tradition, which draws its inspiration from Greek, Irish and even Atlantean myth. The central Arthurian themes and characters are brought to life with clear and thorough explanations, while the carefully woven pattern that has developed around the Arthuriad is carefully unravelled and its full esoteric significance revealed. This fascinating study, which builds on the work of Dion Fortune and Margaret Lumley Brown, takes the reader beyond the world of Malory and unfolds an inner landscape as real as the isles in which it was created.

The knowledge and use of magical images was once a closely guarded secret of initiates and adepts in the Mystery Schools. Gareth Knight gives easy-to-follow classifications of the various kinds of magical image, along with instructions for their use as agents of self realisation and spiritual service. Indispensible for beginners and advanced practitioners alike, this book presents the theory and techniques of creative visualisation and meditation. These practical teachings range from the circulation of force within the aura for the purpose of balancing the personality to the development of a full magical system of pathworking, enabling deep contact with inner sources of wisdom. Now in its third edition, a new section is included on the magical images of the Tarot, plus an extensive chapter on Qabalistic pathworking in the Western Mystery Tradition.

A re-issue of a remarkable little novella published in 1918, which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle praised as "a unique experience". It comprises a fictionalised account of a psychic upheaval the young Margaret went through in 1913 while living in a disturbed house in Bayswater, London, with her sister. A casual experiment with table-turning triggered an intense and terrifying haunting, beginning with odd patches of shadow and light and soon developing into a full blown poltergeist manifestation - household items vanishing and reappearing in odd places, writing appearing on window blinds, and malevolent presences who began to materialise in various disturbing forms. Margaret Lumley Brown went on to become a significant figure in the Western Mysteries revival, and her remarkable mediumship gift was sparked by the experiences described in Both Sides of the Door. This re-issue includes an Introduction by Gareth Knight and an essay by Rebecca Wilby explaining the locations and historical background to the story.

The Breton lai is a narrative poem, usually accompanied by music, that appeared in France about the middle of the 12th century, carried by travelling musicians and storytellers called jongleurs. What is important about them is that they contain a great deal of faery and supernatural lore deriving from Celtic myth, legend and folktale. This collection of twelve tales focuses on faery lore in the lai tradition. Nine are taken from anonymous medieval jongleur sources; the other three are from the more courtly tales collected by Marie de France in the late 12th century. Gareth Knight, a scholar of medieval French as well as an established author on esoteric faery lore, provides a vivid and lively translation of each lai along with a commentary which takes a perspective both historic and esoteric.

Here is unfolded the fascinating history and development of the Tarot, from its fifteenth-century beginnings as a conjunct to playing cards, to the massive explosion of its popularity as a system of occult symbolism. Gareth Knight presents his analysis of the basic archetypal principle behind each card and gives practical examples of magical work with the Tarot images in pathworkings and rituals. Several different approaches are adopted which can be used to develop familiarity and skill with the Tarot system. Originally published in 1986 as The Treasure House of Images, and later re-issued in the USA as Tarot & Magic, this new, expanded edition includes six extra chapters, pulling together many of the new insights garnered over the 25 years since it was first published.