“What mathematics are to matter and force, occult science is to life and consciousness.”
-Dion Fortune, Sane Occultism
Pioneer occultist, author, psychologist, and founder of The Society of Inner Light, Dion Fortune was a genuine initiate who walked with strength the esoteric path to bring the light to others.
Born Violet Firth in Wales in 1890, she had the opportunity to study the emerging science of psychology while also pursuing occult studies with the Theosophical Society and the Order of the Golden Dawn in England. The name Dion Fortune, used as a spiritual and literary pseudonym, comes from Dio, non fortuna, “God, not luck”, which deftly sums up her pragmatic and intelligent approach to religion and occultism.
Her books include practical guidebooks for navigating occult societies and one’s own inner path, works of fiction containing esoteric teachings, and her magnum opus The Mystical Kabbalah, truly a masterwork and contribution to the Western occult cannon. In The Magical Battle of Britain, she describes her great efforts and accomplishments in aiding Britain during World War II by way of prayer, ritual and magic.
“Natural science lays its evidence before the five physical senses possessed by every normal human being; occult science makes its appeal to the judgement of the senses but rarely found developed in human beings…We can define occultism as an extension of psychology, for it studies certain little-known aspects of the human mind and the mind side of Nature.”
-Dion Fortune, Sane Occultism
“Let the seeker, whatever be his ignorance and weakness, dare to stand up before any tribunal in earth or heaven and declare that with God’s help he will judge for himself. Freedom of thought and speech has been too hardly won for us to abrogate any [tiny amount] of that priceless boon. The remedy of an arbitrary authority is worse than the disease of ignorance.”
-Dion Fortune, Sane Occultism
Recommended reading of Dion Fortune
The Mystical Kabbalah
Sane Occultism (also published as What is Occultism?)
The Esoteric Philosophy of Love and Marriage
Esoteric Orders and Their Work
Psychic Self-Defense
The Training and Work of an Inititate
The Sea Priestess (fiction)
The Secrets of Dr. Taverner (fiction)