“It is one of the strictest conditions of initiation that occult knowledge may never be sold or used for gain.” ― Dion Fortune,

“What you contemplate, you touch. What you enter into in imagination, you make yourself one with.” ― Dion Fortune

Russian Scholar Warns Of 'Secret' U.S. Climate Change Weapon

'As Muscovites suffer record high temperatures this summer, a Russian political scientist has claimed the United States may be using climate-change weapons to alter the temperatures and crop yields of Russia and other Central Asian countries. In a recent article, Andrei Areshev, deputy director of the Strategic Culture Foundation, wrote, "At the moment, climate weapons may be reaching their target capacity and may be used to provoke droughts, erase crops, and induce various anomalous phenomena in certain countries"...Read more:

A Word On 'Dion Fortune'

Dion Fortune was born in Llandudno, North Wales, as Violet Mary Firth on December 6th 1890.

1910-20: Interest and involvement in psychoanalysis and attracted towards the occult by their apparent overlap. Studied occultism under Dr. Theodore Moriarty and joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1919, in the Alpha et Omega Lodge run by the novelist Brodie Innes.

1920-30: Transferred to Stella Matutina Lodge of the Golden Dawn run by Moina MacGregor Mathers and developed mediumship capabilities in herself whilst continuing the occult/psychological interest. Her writings in this period reflect this: MACHINERY OF THE MIND; THE SOYA BEAN, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SERVANT PROBLEM, THE PROBLEM OF PURITY; THE ESOTERIC PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE AND MARRIAGE, SANE OCCULTISM, THE ESOTERIC ORDERS AND THEIR WORK, THE TRAINING AND WORK OF AN INITIATE, THE COSMIC DOCTRINE, PSYCHIC SELF DEFENCE and the fictional works THE SECRETS OF DR. TAVERNER and THE DEMON LOVER. Her strong magical-psychological bias was modified by a powerful vision about the need to take on board the Christian dynamic, and she joined, somewhat reluctantly, the Christian Mystic Lodge of the Theosophical Society of which she soon become President. As a result however of strong disapproval of senior figures in the Theosophical Society, and the Golden Dawn, in her view, becoming moribund, she founded the Community of the Inner Light, first at Glastonbury and soon also with a headquarters in London. In 1927 she married Dr. Thomas Penry Evans.

1930-40: Most of her subsequent non-fiction work first saw the light of day in The Inner Light Magazine and her inner development can be followed fairly straightforwardly from their titles. AVALON OF THE HEART, SPIRITUALISM IN THE LIGHT OF OCCULT SCIENCE, THROUGH THE GATES OF DEATH, PRACTICAL OCCULTISM IN DAILY LIFE, MYSTICAL MEDITATIONS ON THE COLLECTS, THE MYSTICAL QABALAH and the novels THE WINGED BULL, THE GOAT-FOOT GOD, THE SEA PRIESTESS. The novels were an attempt to give practical exemplification to the theoretical principles given in her important textbook "THE MYSTICAL QABALAH".

1940-46: At the outbreak of war she continued in difficult circumstances, (including being bombed out of her headquarters temporarily), to keep the Fraternity going with a series of Weekly Letters and after the restructuring of the group in 1942 in readiness for the post-war epoch by a series of Monthly Letters, paper rationing having put a stop to magazine and book publication. She also continued work on the novel MOON MAGIC. Her writings of this time have been collected and edited by Gareth Knight under the titles of THE MAGICAL BATTLE OF BRITAIN, AN INTRODUCTION TO RITUAL MAGIC, THE CIRCUIT OF FORCE, and PRINCIPLES OF HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY (which includes "Esoteric Principles of Astrology"). Teaching upon the Arthurian Tradition that she initiated at this time has been incorporated into THE SECRET TRADITION IN ARTHURIAN LEGEND by Gareth Knight.

She died of leukaemia at the Middlesex Hospital, London on January 8th 1946 (Innerlight.org)

Advice to the Tarot Reader

To use the Tarot properly, however, requires a very great deal of preparation, and the preparation does not consist merely in knowledge of the significance of the cards, but in getting in touch with the forces behind the cards. An adequate rule-of-thumb use of it, however, can be made by any sincere person for himself, though it is doubtful if he could use it satisfactorily for anyone else.

Obtain a new pack of Tarot cards, for a used one will be too full of other people's magnetism to be reliable, and carry them on the person, and sleep with them under the pillow, and handle them and ponder upon the meaning of the pictures in the light of what the book of instructions has to say about them until the significance of each picture is realized. It does not matter greatly which pack is used, whether the quaint, hideous, archaic ones, or the very beautiful ones redrawn in recent times for Mr. A.E. Waite; it is not the details of the cards that matter, but that they should serve as reminders, as it were, of the ideas underlying them. As soon as one perceives some sort of significance in the picture on a card, one has made a link with that card, and its appearance in the divination will mean something.

Having got in touch with one's chosen pack, the next thing is to lay out a divination according to whatever system is chosen, work it out according to the book, and note down the results obtained and the position in which the cards fell. Repeat the process a second time, and a third time, upon each occasion keeping accurate notes of the fall of the cards, and, of course, thoroughly shuffling the cards between each lay-out. If certain cards keep on coming up, and especially if they come up in approximately the same positions, or even if cards of the same type predominate through the three divinations, it may safely be concluded that the system is working satisfactorily, and a divination may be made on the basis of the recurring cards. But if the three divinations bear no resemblance to each other; if even the balance of the four suits does not remain constant for at least two out of the three, and if none of the Greater Trumps turn up more than once, then it must be concluded that the Tarot is not working for the diviner, and the divination should be abandoned. The same principles apply if divinations are done with ordinary playing-cards, though this method is not nearly so sensitive and comprehensive as Tarot divinations.

Divination is a thing that cannot be learnt out of books, but builds up gradually as a system of associated ideas in the mind of the operator. Moreover, one varies very much in one's capacity for divination; upon one occasion one may be absolutely inspired, the cards recur and recur, and one reads with the most extraordinary insight, one thing leading to another in an endless train; at another time, one may have to spell out the meaning of the lay-out with reference to the book for almost every card. It will always be found that it is useless to force a divination; if the interpretation does not leap spontaneously to the mind it is unlikely to contain much insight.

Practical Occultism in Daily Life, Dion Fortune, Aquarian, 1976

The Deeper Issues of Occultism

... What Is Occultism?

This question we may very well ask if we intend to devote time and trouble to its pursuit. Are we to content ourselves with tales of haunted houses, accounts of telepathy among primitive peoples, and research into the esoteric literature of the past? These things certainly have their value; all available occult phenomena should be carefully investigated, not only for the sake of obtaining knowledge, but also for the sake of unmasking charlatans; and the results obtained by investigators in the past are of the greatest value for counter-checking the results we are obtaining at the present day.

But is this enough? Is our attitude towards occult science to be the same as our attitude towards the classical languages, in which we admire the masterpieces of antiquity but ourselves produce no living literature in the present? We know that the Mysteries exercised a profound influence on the ancient civilizations, and that some of the noblest men [and women] of all races were inspired by them, and looked on them with reverence and awe.

Are the phenomena we call "occult" merely those of the seance room on a larger scale,or, in addition to the little known laws of Nature whose operations we seek to understand, is there an energizing spiritual influence such as raised the consciousness of the initiates of old, and gave them a deeper understanding of their gods?

Let us consider the phenomena which may justly be described as occult, or hidden in their working and nature: ectoplasm; psychometry; clairvoyance in all its forms; telepathy; the various forms of divination, which are far from being altogether delusive; mystic experiences; conversion; trance and rapture; hypnotism, suggestion and auto-suggestion; the survival of bodily death; and last but not least, certain forms of mental disease. All these things are hidden in their nature, not amendable to ordinary scientific methods of investigation with instruments of precision, and legitimately form the field of investigation of occult science.

There is, however, another aspect to occult science as well as its scientific side, and that is the realm of inner experience which experimentation opens up. The gateway into the Unseen can be found by the practical application of its principles, and those who care to fulfill the conditions and take the risk may adventure therein. The powers that the ancient rituals invoked still remain, and are not very far to seek for those who combine knowledge, faith, and courage.

If, however, we desire to essay this adventure, we should remember that the ancient rituals were used as part of a religious system, and that no initiate of the ancient Mystery schools would ever have dreamed of experimenting with them to satisfy his curiosity or love of the marvelous. He approached them with reverence, after strict discipline of character and severe tests of fitness. It was when the lofty ideals fell into abeyance that black magic began.

If we want to penetrate into the deeper issues of occultism, it is not enough that we should approach it out of intellectual curiosity. This will reveal us no more than its outer form. The Occult Path is not so much a subject of study as a way of life. Unless the element of devotion and sacrifice be present, the key will not turn in the lock that opens the door of the Mysteries. Unless we approach the Sacred Science as did the initiates of old, we shall not find in it what they found.

It is not enough that we work for its secrets as men work for the prizes of their profession; we must live for it as men [and women] live for a spiritual ideal. There is only one motive that will take us safely through the labyrinth of astral experience - the desire for light on the path of spiritual development that ends in Divine union. This was the goal of the Mysteries in their noblest form, and it is only by seeking the same goal that we shall be able to enter into them in their higher aspect.

Occult science is a very potent thing, and many people are protected in their researches therein by their own ineptitude. Did they succeed in some of the operations they undertake, their natures, unpurified and undisciplined, would be shattered by the result. It is only because no power comes through that no disaster follows. If we desire to safely to investigate the Mysteries, we must first approach them under their nobler aspect, as part of a system of spiritual regeneration, and only after we have submitted to their discipline and offered the dedication of the lower self to the purposes of the Higher, and had that dedication accepted, can we safely study the magical aspects of occultism which usually attract the unenlightened.

Our intellectual questionings can only find their resolution in spiritual illumination. Occult science, rightly understood, is the link between psychology and religion; it gives the means of a spiritual approach to science, and a scientific approach to the spiritual life. The experiences to which it admits us, rightly understood, form a stairway from rational brain-consciousness, dependent on the five physical senses, to the direct apprehensions of spiritual intuition. (Dion Fortune ... read more ...)

The Machinery of the Mind

In order to arrive at an adequate understanding of mental processes it is necessary to have some idea of the machinery whereby the mind makes contact with the body.

Throughout every inch of our organism is a network of specialised fibres whose function it is to carry nervous impulses from the sense organs to the central nervous system of brain and spinal cord, and from thence out again to the muscles, glands, and other organs of reaction. The sense organs act as receivers of sensation, the nerve fibres as transmitters, the central nervous system as a general telephone exchange, and the muscles, glands, and organs as the executants of the impulses of the mind.

Sense organs consist of cells, or sets of cells, specialised for the reception of particular kinds of impressions. That is to say, if the particular kind of stimulus they are fitted to receive is administered to them, a change, probably of a chemical type, takes place in their substance, which, it is thought, gives rise to energy of an electrical nature, which runs along the nerve fibre as along a wire. At the present moment, however, our knowledge of the nature of the nervous impulse is tentative and hypothetical.

Like all other living tissue, the nervous system is built up of millions of specialised cells. These cells consist of a main cell body with prolongations, usually two in number. One of these has a mass of branching fibres like the root of a plant, and is called the DENDR0N; the other consists of a long thread, the end of which is frayed out into strands as the end of a piece of worsted may be unravelled. This process is called the AXON.

The thread-like branches of the axon of one cell interlace with these of the dendron of another cell, and a nervous impulse, running down the nerve fibres, jumps the gap in the same way as the electric current jumps the space between the terminals of an arc lamp.

It will readily be seen that these interlacing fibrils, millions in number, ramifying throughout every portion of the body, form a most wonderful system of communication; the brain and spinal cord acting as a central telephone exchange.

Muscles are composed of long, spindle-shaped cells which are capable of contraction. Chemical changes are constantly going on in their substance. The blood and lymph which bathe them bring food materials and carry away the waste products of their activity.

These food substances, which are highly organised chemical compounds, are stored in the body of the cell. When a nervous impulse is received, these food globules, as it were, explode; that is to say, they break down into their component chemical parts, and the energy which went to build them up is set free in the process and performs the work for which the muscle is designed.

The glands are the chemists of the body, and in the crucibles of their minute cells carry out the wonderful processes of living chemistry upon which our vital functions are based. The quantity and quality of their output is controlled by the nervous system, which acts as regulator of every process of the body. ('The Physical Vehicle of Consciousness' by Dion Fortune)

Dion Fortune

The magical name of Violet Mary Firth, a British occultist and author whose books still influence modern Witchcraft and neo-Paganism. A prominent occultist of her time, Fortune was an adept in ceremonial magic, and was perhaps one of the first occult authors to approach magic and hermetic concepts from the psychology of Jung and Freud. For some Witches and Neo-pagan her fictional works are considered more important than her nonfiction, because they are filled with Pagan themes and rituals.

Fortune was born into a family of Christian Scientists. In her teens she begun exhibiting mediumistic abilities. During her early twenties she worked as a law analyst at the Medico-Psychological Clinic in London. Her interest in exploring the human psyche led to her being psychologically attacked. This occurred in 1911, when she was 29. She worked in a school helping the principal who took a great dislike toward her. When going to tell the woman that she was leaving her job, the principal subjected Fortune to vindictiveness, telling her she lacked self-confidence and was incompetent. Later Fortune said the woman also had conveyed this psychic attack through yoga techniques and hypnotism which left her a "mental and physical wreck" for three years.

This type of psychological violation resulted in her initial study of Freudian and Jungian psychology. At first she preferred Jung over Freud, but as she continued her study Fortune concluded that neither psychiatrist adequately addressed the subtleties and complexities of the mind. Thus, for her, the answers lay in occultism.

Fortune joined the Alpha and Omega Lodge of Stella Matutina, in 1919, an outer order of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and studied under J. W. Brodie-Innes. She had classes with the wife of S. L. McGregor-Mathers, one of the founders of the Golden Dawn, which again left her feeling psychic attacked.She felt Stella Matutina in 1929 and left to found her own order, the Community (later Fraternity) of the Inner Light. At first the order was part of the Golden Dawn, but later separated from it.

Following this Fortune worked as a psychiatrist which brought her in contact with other psychic attack victims. Being a prolific writer she poured her knowledge into both novels and nonfiction works. She derived her pen name from the magic motto which she adopted when joining Stella Matutina, "Deo Non Fortuna," ("by God, not chance"), which became shortened to Dion Fortune. Her works are classics and continue to be popular.

During the time when she lived in Glastonbury Fortune became deeply interested in the Arthurian legends and magical-mystical lore which is centered there. She wrote of Glastonbury in Avalon of the Heart.

As a result of her experience with psychic attack Fortune concluded that hostile psychic energy can emanate both deliberately and unwittingly from certain people and that one can mentally fend off such energy. Her work Psychic Self-Defense (1930) is still regarded as the best guide to detection and defense against psychic attack.

The work, The Mystical Qabbalah (1936), perhaps her most famous book, contains her discussion of the Western esoteric tradition and how the Kabbalah is used by modern students of the Mysteries. The true nature of the gods, she said, is that of magical images shaped out of the astral plane by mankind's thought, and influenced by the mind. (More ... )