Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 1890 – 1946) was born in Llandudno but moved to the West Country in her teens. After time spent at a horticultural college she began studying psychology and psychoanalysis at the University of London before working as a counsellor in a psychotherapy clinic. During WWI she joined the Women’s Land Army and established a company selling soy milk products. She became interested in esotericism through the teachings of the Theosophical Society, before joining an occult lodge led by Theodore Moriarty and then the Alpha et Omega occult organisation. She was involved in various cults in her life and was a prolific writer. She produced a large number of articles and books on her occult ideas and also authored seven novels, several of which expound occult themes. Fortune is recognised as one of the most significant occultists and ceremonial magicians of the early 20th century. The Fraternity she founded survived her and in later decades spawned a variety of related groups based upon her teachings. Her novels in particular proved an influence on later occult and modern Pagan groups such as Wicca.
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Bibliography
- 1922 The Machinery of the Mind
- 1924 The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage
- 1925 The Psychology of the Servant Problem
- 1928 The Problem of Purity
- 1928 The Esoteric Orders and Their Work
- 1929 Sane Occultism
- 1930 Mystical Meditations on the Collects
- 1930 Psychic Self-Defense
- 1930 The Training and Work of an Initiate
- 1931 Spiritualism in the Light of Occult Science
- 1932 Through the Gates of Death
- 1934 Avalon of the Heart
- 1935 The Mystical Qabalah
- 1935 Practical Occultism in Daily Life
- 1949 The Cosmic Doctrine
- 1962 Aspects of Occultism
- 1962 Applied Magic
- 1969 The Magical Battle of Britain: The War Letters of Dion Fortune
- 1999 Principles of Hermetic Philosophy
- 1997 An Introduction to Ritual Magic