View From The Big Hills

“ It has been said, 'If you want to put the world right, begin with yourself'. In its measure this is true counsel, but it needs a corollary. The Alchemist says, 'If you want to work upon your inner self, start working on something outside yourself.'” What does Druidry really offer to Humanity? By Vivian Godfrey In July 2012 I pulled together a blog about the magical aspects of the successful campaign to save Oxleas Woods from a proposed new East London River Crossing. If Trees Could Cry – Oxleas Wood - a 20th Century adventure in eco-magic told the story from the viewpoint of an active member of Dragon and T.R.B. rather than the well-known public campaign by the marvelous folk in People Against the River Crossing (PARC). I've subsequently received a number of emails from people asking for more about the campaign. So, at the fag end of January 2015 , here is a little more about Dragon's campaign. Recently I was reminded by an old friend o...

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” T he 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 endea...

“ I sat one winter's night, musing upon the significance of the simple and beautiful story around which all the rejoicing and festivity of Christmas are centred, and preceding, each year, the miraculous rebirth in Nature which is Spring. Could a nation shorn of the fruits of an outwardly lustrous past find rebirth and put forth new strength and growth? The fall and disappearance of proud empires down the winding road of time did not encourage such a hope; yet where before had thrived a brotherhood of nations such as ours? Must the great spirit of this ancient people give place to inner dissension and the cleavage of its vital force?” - Ronald Heaver PS While  Ronald Heaver could ably channel and heal, sadly, he was also a member of the obnoxious British-Israelite movement. The British-Israelites illegally dug up Ireland's sacred Hill of Tara in their crass quest to find the "true Ark of the Covenant" at the cusp of the 20th Century.  W B Yeats, Maud...

"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

“ For the egg was now red-hot, and inside it something was moving. Next moment there was a soft cracking sound; the egg burst in two, and out of it came a flame-coloured bird. It rested a moment among the flames, and as it rested there the four children could see it growing bigger and bigger under their eyes. Every mouth was a-gape, every eye a-goggle. The bird rose in its nest of fire, stretched its wings, and flew out into the room. It flew round and round, and round again, and where it passed the air was warm.” The Phoenix and the Carpet by Edith Nesbit In the biography Dion Fortune and the Inner Light, Gareth Knight writes an illuminating chapter entitled “The Flight of the Phoenix.” Appearing towards the end of the book, the chapter summarises an important transformational point in the story of Dion Fortune and the Society of the Inner Light. Somewhat like a pressure cooker, the weight of circumstances—which had been building in the background since th...