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Dion Fortune is recognised as one of the most influential figures
in twentieth century occultism and her books on various aspects of
the occult tradition are now enjoying a much deserved reappraisal.
Her works of fiction are highly acclaimed both as vehicles for
presenting complex magical and psychical theory and as remarkably
powerful pieces of genre literature. Gareth Knight, her biographer
and a life long student of her work, here gives an overview of all
her occult fiction, including her early work, The Secrets of Dr
Taverner, a series of short stories based upon the approach of her
early teacher Dr Theodore Moriarty to methods of esoteric healing,
and The Demon Lover, a blood and thunder thriller of black magic
and vampirism that developed in the writing into a story of
initiation and redemption through love. In her later novels, Dion
Fortune began deliberately to use fiction as a means of practical
teaching. While she had presented the theory of occultism in her
great work The Mystical Qabalah, it was through her works of
fiction that she sought to provide manuals for putting it into
practice, at a time when much of this material was considered
highly secret and to be revealed to initiates only. Gareth Knight
gives a clear guide on how and where to look for this practical
instruction in these later books, which comprise The Goat-foot God,
an evocation of Earth Mysteries and the Rite of Pan; The Winged
Bull with its polar Mysteries of Sun and Earth; The Sea Priestess,
celebrating the Mysteries of the Moon; and the posthumously
published Moon Magic that takes them to a higher arc with the
setting up of a temple dedicated to Isis. Many aspects of occultism
receive practical attentionin her pages, including place memories,
karmic elements from past incarnations, animal magnetism, ley
lines, sacred centres, techniques of ritual, and above all the
working out of right relationships between the sexes in polar
interchange.
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.
The Training and Work of an Initiate shows how, from ancient Qabalistic, Greek, and Egyptian roots, the Western Esoteric Systems have an unbroken initiation tradition that has been handed down from adept to neophyte. In this book, Dion Fortune indicates the broad outlines and underlying principles of these systems, illuminating an obscure and greatly misunderstood aspect of the path. Thanks to her teaching, even if you cannot give your entire life over to the pursuit of esoteric science, you can still develop a philosophy of life and learn your individual relationship to the cosmic whole. You will discover how initiates prepare body, mind, and spirit for the challenging journey that is the esoteric path, what the path of initiation looks like, and what it is to be called to this work. The book is filled with accessible information, presented in a way so that "even that which the smallest cup can carry away is the true water of life". This revised edition contains a new foreword by Gareth Knight, and an index.
Sea Priestess is the highly acclaimed novel in which Dion Fortune
introduces her most powerful fictional character, Vivien Le Fay
Morgan - a practising 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! Inextricably drawn to an ancient cult, she
learns the esoteric significance of the magnetic ebb and flow of
the moon-tides.
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.
Originally published in 1975, Experience of the Inner Worlds is a
classic magical textbook of the Western Mystery Tradition. Covering
a wide range of topics within a Christian-oriented Qabalistic
framework, Gareth Knight explains the difference between magic and
mysticism, natural and revealed religion, monism and theism. He
also covers the practicalities, examining methods of inner plane
communication, contact with the Masters, the 'consciousness'
approach of Carl Jung, the vision of Dante and the archetypal power
of the Hebrew alphabet - all within the context of the Qabalistic
Tree of Life. The book also contains powerful visualisation
exercises and examples of communication with angelic and elemental
contacts. While this book can be used as a course of
self-instruction, it is also an important modern reference book of
magical theory and practice, and has been used for decades by
students of Western Qabalah and magic.
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.
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.
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 works of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams and
Owen Barfield have had a profound impact on the contemporary world.
Together they were The Inklings, a small literary group of friends
who set out to explore the 'mythopoeic' or myth-making element in
imaginative fiction. The Magical World of the Inklings reveals how
each of these writers created a 'magical world' which initiates the
reader into hidden and powerful realms of the creative imagination.
Originally published in 1990, this new edition has been
substantially revised and expanded. It gives a thorough overview of
the works of all four writers, including some of their lesser known
work and posthumous publications, and explores the very practical
way in which the creative imagination is invoked within the reader
through the 'magical world' each writer constructed. In this
respect, Gareth Knight's background as a leading expert on both
magic and myth gives him a unique perspective which takes this book
some way beyond the sphere of straightforward literary criticism.
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.
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Initiations (Paperback)
Paul Sedir; Translated by Gareth Knight
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R586
Discovery Miles 5 860
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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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.
OCCULT / MAGICIn 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.GARETH
KNIGHT has spent a lifetime unearthing and teaching the principles
of magic as a spiritual discipline and method of self-realization.
He was trained in the esoteric school founded by Dion Fortune and
has been actively involved in the Western magical tradition since
the early 1960s. He is the author of thirty books, including Tarot
and Magic and A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism. He lives
in England.
With a foreword by Iain Sinclair. London is an ancient city, whose
foundation dates back literally thousands of years into the
legendary prehistory of these islands. Not surprisingly it has
accumulated a large number of stories, both historic and mythical,
during this period, many of which, though faithfully recorded at
the time, have lain almost forgotten in dusty libraries throughout
the city. The Secret Lore of London is a guide to the legends,
including a discussion of their importance as part of the oral
tradition of Britain, combining Prehistoric, Celtic, Arthurian,
Roman, Saxon and Norman levels - each of which has contributed to
the many-layered life of the city. The first part contains a unique
selection of essays (some printed here for the first time) by
experts in their fields, each of whom possesses a unique interest
in the legends of these islands, and who have written widely on
associated themes. The second part of the book will consist of a
Gazetteer of the sites mentioned which are still in existence,
together with various other sites of associated interest, compiled
by the Editor, the contributors, and members of the London Earth
Mysteries Group. This part will be fully updated and extended to
include many more sites. The result is a wide ranging and wholly
fascinating book, with wide sales application possible. A series of
appendixes will include William Stukley's extraordinary document
The Brill, which relates to the ancient prehistoric sites around
the area of present day St. Pancras, and excerpts from some of the
best known 19th and early 20th century works on Legendary London by
Lewis Spence and Harold Bayley Contributors to the book are: Nigel
Pennick John Matthews Caroline Wise Caitlin Matthews Carol Clancy
R.J. Stewart Bernard Nesfield-Cookson Gareth Knight Robert
Stephenson Geraldine Beskin Chesca Potter William Stukeley Lewis
Spence Harold Bayley Alan V. Insole Ross Nichols
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