View from the Big Hills

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” The Cosmic Doctrine is perhaps Dion Fortune’s most overlooked and undervalued work. Next to The Mystical Qabalah , it is also possibly her most important. The text presents a near complete cosmogony stuffed full with enough images and concepts to keep the adventurous seeker busy for a lifetime. As a comprehensive philosophical and magical system, it presents a detailed interpretation of the origin of life, the Universe, Deity and Humankind. Like any cosmogony, it has some imperfections, interspersed with occasional annoyances and contradictions. This article is offered in the hope that it will whet readers’ proverbial whistles to further explore the depths of The Cosmic Doctrine. Before we go any further, it’s important for me to set out a key foundational premise – the honoured place of cosmogony in the occultist's toolbox. In any longer term esoteric endeav...

"It is to this Avalon of the Heart the pilgrims still go.  Some in bands, knowing what they seek.  Some alone, with the staff of vision in their hands,  awaiting what may come to meet them on this holy ground.  None go away as they came." - Avalon of the Heart by Dion Fortune

"I had the unique privilege of seeing a performance of The Immortal Hour, which, timed to fit in with the exigencies of the local buses and trains, began at sunset. The first scene started with broad daylight shining in through the uncurtained windows of the Assembly Rooms. But as it progressed the dusk grew on, till only the phantom figures could be seen moving on the stage and the hooting laughter of the shadowy horrors in the magic wood rang out in complete darkness, lit only by the stars that shone strangely brilliant through the skylights of the hall. It was a thing never to be forgotten." - Dion Fortune This post follows on from my last blog where I outlined the story of Netta Fornario and the “terrible case of healing” which culminated in her strange death on the Iona .  If ever a more sobering reminder was needed of the dangers of an obsessive interest in the elemental kingdom, this was it.  Regrettably very little remains of Netta Forna...