View from the Big Hills

One of the reasons for writing these three blog posts was to look at the occasionally overlooked esoteric Christian side of Dion Fortune’s work and beliefs.   In undertaking this, I’m also suggesting that we can’t really appreciate her work and general legacy if we turn a blind eye to her esoteric Christianity, much of which was undoubtedly seeded through the Christian Science of her early life. Arguably, some people miss a whole aspect of Dion Fortune when they confuse her with the fictional character, Vivien Le Fay Morgan.   Similarly, people miss out on much of the wisdom, power and love that can be found in the esoteric aspects of Christianity which she clearly relished. In the first blog in the series I looked at her war against The Star in the East – at times a thing difficult to comprehend in today’s global village of catholic (with a small “c”) beliefs. In the second blog, you may recall that I summarized the content of a lecture she gave to a Theosophical Lodge ...

“Today …. taboos and terrors still linger, many of them, in the form of conventions of morality, uneasy strivings of conscience, doubts and desperations of religion; but ultimately Man will emerge from all these things, free-- familiar, that is, with them all, making use of all, allowing generously for the values of all, but hampered and bound by none. He will realize the inner meaning of the creeds and rituals of the ancient religions, and will hail with joy the fulfillment of their far prophecy down the ages-- finding after all the long-expected Saviour of the world within his own breast, and Paradise in the disclosure there of the everlasting peace of the soul.”   -- Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds; Their Origin & Meaning, by Brace and Company: New York [1920]

91 years ago to the day, Dion Fortune gave a talk to a Theosophical Lodge in the Southeast of England.  This second part in a series of three blogs is based on notes taken of that talk by someone who attended the lecture. Providing some insight into what was happening at the time in her battle with the Star in the East, mentioned in Part 1, this is probably best approached by using your imagination and entering into the experience in the same manner as a guided visualisation. You may also wish to spend some time afterwards reflecting on its content and how you reacted to it.  Similarly, some prior background reading of the 20 th chapter in Gareth Knight’s biography, Dion Fortune and the Inner Light , may also provide supplementary pointers on the "warfare" against the Star of the East, one of the key themes in the talk.  The third post, to follow shortly, will elucidate in more detail some of the esoteric teaching alluded to within the Sermon on the Mount.   ...

“I ask those who are in sympathy with what I am doing to remember that thought power is potent for protection and support, just as it is for attack, and to lend me their help on the Inner Planes. My task is not a light one. But as long as I am responsible for the conduct of this magazine I will follow the example of the Master Who, while He had compassion for those who fainted by the way, had a scourge for the backs of those who made His Father’s house a den of thieves.” Dion Fortune ~ Transactions of the Christian Mystic Lodge , July 1927 Some nine decades ago, Dion Fortune and her Lodge were engaged in a form of both direct and indirect warfare with the Order of the Star in the East, a movement within the Theosophical Society, which promulgated the "Coming of the World Teacher". Some people thought that the World Teacher in waiting was none other than Jiddu Krishnamurti, pictured below. At the time, some felt that Western Civilisation, as they pictured ...

  Song for Bealteinne Who comes maying, comes maying with me? - Lad and maiden, sweetheart and friend – Softly slip from your house-doors free: Sweet May-night in the woods we'll spend! We'll pass by where the hawthorns white Breathe their bridal odour of love: Not a twig shall we pluck till light - Sweet May-night in the woods we'll rove! Bring ye plenty of bread and ale, Meat and sweet as it pleases ye, bring: Lanterns vying with moonlight pale, In the woods we shall sup and sing! Praise the Goddess-Queen for whose feast Love's the hymnal and kisses the creed: Two and two 'mid the leaves embraced, Sweet May-night in joy let us speed! Bathed in dew when the daybreak is come, Boughs of hawthorn bear we away - Crowned and decked with its sacred bloom, In the morning we'll bring home the May! ~ Vivian Godfrey (aka Past Presider, OBOD) When I reached my early twenties, I often found myself “awaken...