The

The Journal of the Society of the Inner Light

£4.00

Dion Fortune and the Druid Path

Times of testing and Dediction

The Guild of the Master Jesus

aries
SOL
in
AR Vernal EQUINOX 2016
IE S VOLUME 36 NUMBER 2
Established by Dion Fortune in 1922
 THE NINE O'CLOCK VIGIL

Those who want to link up with the Fraternity and further Dion Fortune’s work can do so
through the nightly Nine o’clock Vigil. This is possible even if they can’t make direct
contact because they are not UK based or, even if they are UK based, circumstances would
prevent them from travelling to London on a regular basis.

For further details of what is exactly involved write or e-mail us giving your address to:

The Secretariat,
38 Steele's Road, London, NW3 4RG
email - sil@innerlight.org.uk
website - www.innerlight.org.uk
Copyright © SIL (Trading) Ltd 2014

THE INNER LIGHT JOURNAL

A Quarterly Magazine, founded by Dion Fortune, is devoted to the study of Mysticism,

Esoteric Christianity, Occult Science, and the Psychology of Super-consciousness.
The UK Annual Subscription is £16.00.
Overseas subscription is £20.00.
Please make cheques out to Society of The Inner Light.
Any and all contributions to the Journal are welcomed and
given due consideration, please email or send them in

THE SOCIETY OF THE INNER LIGHT

The Society of the Inner Light is a Society for the study of Occultism, Mysticism, and
Esoteric Psychology and the development of their practice.

Its aims are Christian and its methods are Western.

Students who, after due inquiry, desire to pursue their studies further, may take the
Correspondence Course. Their training will be in theory of Esoteric Science, and they will
be given the discipline which prepares for its practice.

For further details apply for a copy of the

WORK & AIMS of the Society
from;
The Secretariat
Society of The Inner Light
38 Steele’s Road
London NW3 4RG

Individual opinions expressed in articles in this journal do not necessarily represent the views of the
Society of the Inner Light.

The Society of the Inner Light has no branches nor authorised representatives and expresses no opinion on
other groups.

S.I.L. Trading is the commercial extension of the Society of the Inner Light. Registered Charity No 207312.

1
 From the Editor
The Vernal Equinox marks the end of the first quarter of the solar tide which began at the winter solstice.
This quarter of the waxing sun in the northern hemisphere sees the worst of the winter. The land is scoured
by wind and rain, the frosts lay heavy upon the ground and for some of us the snows blanket the land. So
even though the new solar tide is growing in strength this is a time of scouring. The old debris from the
previous growing season dries and is cleared away ready for the new season. Taking our lead from the natural
world we too have entered and experienced a time of scouring and cleansing.
For us it is a time of reflection and renewal a time to find the balance of the pillars of manifestation within
our own selves, a time to stand back and ask ourselves who are we? Who will we be? Where are we going?
On the lower part of the Tree of Life lie two girders, two lines of balanced force and form, the balance of
Geburah and Chesed, Hod and Netzach. These complimentary pairs are wonderful guides to us, reminding
us that in all things we should recognise the balancing forces. We cannot create without destroying nor vice
versa. In the same way we should reflect that no thought is without the passion and feeling to drive it into
reality. For form without force is dead and force without form is dissipated. That is what the two equinoxes
remind us of. As this spring equinox passes we see the cleansing tide draw closed and a new tide of growth
begin, but this can only be because the old growth is destroyed in Geburah and the new given rise in Chesed.
In our hearts and minds too we must be ready to move on from our reflections and plant new seeds.
It is no surprise that in the Christian calendar we see this period dominated by the liturgical season of lent,
a period of atonement. It is a time when believers are called upon to inspect their lives and recognise the
forces and desires within that lead them away from the path of God and break community. For at the heart
of the Christian message is the command to love, and through love to create and build community. By so
doing can we build the Kingdom of God here on earth. However, it is our refusal to love without condition,
to focus on anyone but the self that prevents this. This is as true in the pagan world where the myth of the
divine love of god and goddess forms the backbone and example of the faith. The god so loves the goddess
that he will give his life for her. But more than that it is in the community that true faith grows, it is through
relationship. We are called on to love one another with the love that God has for us, with the love of god
and goddess. The polarity is that of individual and community. The challenge is to be distinct and yet a part of
the whole.
This love of other is a love without condition, which for human beings is so hard to achieve. For we
constantly put conditions on our love. Even our deepest loves come with clauses; I will love my partner
if they are faithful, I will love my friend if they are supportive and
uncritical, I will love if I am loved … We are told that the love God
has for us is different or other – it is not. There is just love, what is
different is the power to love without question or condition.
In these pages are many articles on the journey to the grail, each
asking what the grail is. As a symbol it is a powerful and unifying
one that stretches across the Tree of Life. As an ideal to be sought
then it is one that ennobles the human spirit and draws it on to self-
discovery. That is to truly know yourself and in knowing come to love
as God loves, and so become a corner stone of the Kingdom of God.
Christian

love one another with

the love that God has for
us

2
 Dion Fortune and the Druid Path
By Penny Billington

When we speak of the Path we mean much more than

‘
a course of study. The Path is a way of life and on it the
whole being must co-operate if the heights are to be
won.’ The training and work of an initiate. Dion Fortune

The mysteries of the Qabala, ceremonial magic and
the glamour of the moon instantly bring to mind
the work of Dion Fortune, rather than Druidry. But
her influence informs my spiritual life: her work is
entwined with my Druidic practice so deeply so
that it would be impossible to separate them.
Druids are firmly rooted in the enspirited landscape.
The creative expression of spirituality springs
from the land, and this seems exactly to correlate
with Dion Fortune’s magical view of the world.
The earth’s current finds form in folklore, and
is clearly shown in Welsh myth, where worlds
coexist; the world of magic constantly informs
the material world. This resonates with Druidry,
and also with Dion Fortune, who wrote lyrically
of the nourishing influence on the growing child
of folk tales springing from their native land.
I’ve pursued an active druidic path for well over
20 years now, but continue to draw heavily on
books that have been a seminal influence since
well before that. I suspect that I’m not alone. The
call to the spiritual search comes early in life, fed
by personal numinous experience, and sustained
by occult fiction. Kenneth Graham’s Wind in the
Willows, Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising,
Alan Garner’s Weirdstone of Brisingamen: many
people have had their urge for ‘the reality behind
the reality’ fostered by such children’s books.
Graduating from these, my discovery of Dion
Fortune’s fiction in the 1970s was a revelation.
would simultaneously be both home and a valid
journey, Fortune’s books kept alive the reality of
‘Otherness’ for which I knew I was searching.
The non-fiction supplied a thorough grounding in
ethical magical practice that is relevant in perpetuity,
being sane, ethical, commonsensical: it answers
questions that the novice does not know enough
to know they need to ask. The books supply mature
and thoughtful guidance, which I later found in the
OBOD (The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids)
course: this does not deal with rules, but provides
guidelines to support individual creative expression.
What connects all
spiritual seekers is a
yearning
What the fiction gave me – and continues to
give – are lyrical passages that act as a bridge to
an enlarged consciousness. They are an instant
antidote to the importunings of a mundane
world constantly screaming for attention. They
encapsulate the essence of the call of the magic.
‘Fusion’ spirituality has a bad press through being

What connects all spiritual seekers is a yearning - a

conviction that an expanded world of more than
the five senses can be found, a dimly viewed door
whose key we suspect is hidden in clear view…
Whilst exploring for a spiritual approach that

3
associated with cultural misappropriation
by the west. But fusing Dion Fortune’s
ideas with those of modern Druidry
seems natural: for me, her books and
the OBOD course materials together
comprise a complete resource
pack. Each adds to the other, with
complementary aspects of fluidity and
structure that arrange and rearrange
themselves effortlessly as tools for each
task. By whatever differing occult means
they emerge into manifestation, they
are drawn from the same wellspring.
Dion Fortune, Druidry
and the land
Wherever in the world we happen to live, for
OBOD is an international teaching Order, Druidry
is land-based. I see nature spirituality and land magic
as springing from geology, for what else apart from
climate informs the way people live and grow? In
desert or fenland, we adapt to the land, or die. And
in a deeper way we are shaped by the terrain even
in a tiny country, or why is the Yorkshire/Lancashire
divide a byeword in the UK? Why do we associate
the Midlands with stoicism, the softer South with a
gentler temperament? Can we imagine a television
programme called TOWIA - ‘The only way is
Aberdeen? Surely not: it is far too frivolous a concept
for the Granite City. Iron-hard granite, permeable
chalk or shifting sand; the Light and the Dark Peak,
the far north of midnight sun at midsummer and
the mytho-poetic land of the South West, who can
deny that they shape the character of their peoples?
Every time we go out into nature consciously to
make relationship, have experience or simply enjoy,
we are grounding, reflecting and strengthening an
inner reality of connection to the magic of our
land. And we need that far more than they did in
Dion Fortune’s time, when the connection was
more intimate – using outside privies; collecting the
coal; digging up parsnips on a cold winter’s day. The
outside world inveigled its way into the very house,
in the form of ice on the inside of bedroom windows,
draughts, and smoking chimneys: I am part of the
last generation to have experienced all these as the
norm. More importantly, by going out we notice the
daily cycle of the sun. What an aid to magic are the
liminal times of solstice and equinox, dawn, dusk and
midnight, and the gentle light of lamps and candles
that illuminate them. Electricity has eroded the
difference between day and night, but at what a cost
to our spiritual health? How much richer were our
lives when we were wedded to the seasonal round?
Expanding our senses to be aware of ourselves as
part of nature is immensely good for us, the land,
and especially the Otherworlds. These, by their
nature, rely on our being proactive in the process
of recognition and interaction. The nature of the
Otherworlds and the spirits of the landscape is
part of a mystery; it cannot be perceived literally in
the physical world: it remains ‘other’ and accessible
not by physical means; nevertheless, ‘grounding’ our
connection with physical acts is an essential part of
our practice. Our inner world is always reflected
in the outer; we must be effectual on both levels.
A casual glance at Dion Fortune’s fiction gives the
impression that her major influences are Greek and
Egyptian: the periods that the reincarnations in the
stories reference. But read her thoroughly and her
deep love of the
mythic landscape
is apparent; and
the belief also
held by Druids in
a magical current
emanating from
the land that
informs both the
enspirited world
and humanity.
These ideas
come from
contemplation,
study and from
reading Dion
Fortune’s books.
4
 Dion Fortune and the Druid Path
Dion Fortune’s love letter to Glastonbury, Avalon
of the Heart, shows clearly that she also believed
in mytho-poetic landscape of our ancestors, whose
remnants of belief sing from our earliest written
poems, myths and legends. Reading about the Tor
as a volcano of spiritual energy, and the effect of
the wind, inducing a spontaneous ‘chant of the
elements’ it is clear that Dion Fortune had an
awareness that modern Druids aspire to. Today,
when we are far more divorced from the natural
world than in her time, we turn to the land; we
try to ‘turn up the volume’ of nature in our lives.
Our inner world is
always reflected in the
outer;
The Goat-Foot God is an example that, whilst it
reaches back to ancient Greece through a Mediaeval
level of reincarnation, celebrates the English
landscape throughout and tells us a great deal about
magical geology. Although Alfred Watkin’s seminal
book The Old Straight Track was published a decade
earlier, that book simply set out the theory of
Neolithic trackways with still visible markers in the
countryside. Dion Fortune’s exposition on energy
lines, explained as the characters pore over a map,
introduces a spiritual and religious dimension: I
think that she was the first author to publish these
ideas. Put yourself in the places the old gods are
accustomed to having been worshipped, she tells
us, if you want to reawaken them. This argues an
interaction between person and landscape that is
animistic and totally Druidic. It is a two-way process,
and the true Druid – or magician – will never
know how much is coming from them, and how
much from the land, from discarnate entities and
so on. Doctor Taverner makes the point without
any overlay from other climes. In The Son of the
5
Night, Fortune draws a magician wholly from British
sources: not the intellectual Taverner, though he is
a man of true stature, but a shaman, a Merlin figure
who becomes intuitive councillor and initiator
of Rhodes, the acolyte figure of the stories: he is
Marius, Earl of Cullan. Is he wholly human, or of a
mysterious species that can mediate between land
and people? Today, the main thrust of Druid training
is to learn to mediate this current for ourselves:
and in her day, Dion Fortune worked to allow
all her students to become their own priest and
priestess. Near the end of her life, after a lifetime in
service to the mysteries in withdrawn groups she
– through the war letters - opened the doors to
all who would work for the evolutionary current.
The magical template
The temptation in studying anything formulated
nearly a century ago is to regard the creators as
having lain down a system to be preserved as in
museum conditions. Rudoph Steiner, like Fortune a
great modern thinker of his time, suffers from this
attitude. It is far healthier – and more respectful
to the spirit of the systems – to regard them as
templates vibrant enough to hold the creative
impulses of the modern day: for the precepts of
magical working provide a holding space should
remain relevant in perpetuity. In Dion Fortune’s
fiction the central part of each ritual is unstructured
and intuitive. Ted singing with the voice of Horus,
Mona dancing for Hugh, Wilfred meditating in
the cave and Lilian and Rupert ascending to the
temple not knowing what might happen; all rely
on the inspiration of the Gods to bring them
to life. In Druidry, we have a standard opening
and closing to every ritual to supply a structure
within which we too can allow inspiration to
flow through us; for seasonal celebration, for
healing, for any kind of magical working.
the central part of each
ritual is unstructured
and intuitive
Triplicities, the Three Rays and the Awen
Triplicities of all kinds are important to Druids,
and Triads are a part of Druidic culture:
they are groupings of three things with a
point of contact that preserve fragments
of ancient Welsh folklore and myth.
But it was especially Dion Fortune’s Three Rays and
the three rays of the Druids’ symbol of the Awen
that seemed to me a coincidence comparable to
the placing of the Major Arcana on the Tree of Life.
The Awen is a glyph which represents three rays
of light emanating from three points of light and
symbolises, among other things, the triple nature of
the Druid path; the paths of Bard, Ovate and Druid.
Awen is a Welsh word impossible of one translation
but by including the suffix ‘wen’, implying white,
fair, divine – it has a connection to the Otherworld
of magic. We interpret it as the flowing spirit of
inspiration that can induce poetic frenzy or be the
lightning bolt of a transformative idea; it is our job
to put ourselves in the state in which we can access
it. Connecting to the Awen allows the expanded self
to access the greater wisdom, far beyond that of the
individual’s brain. Remembering how Dion Fortune
wrote her stories, not from her logical mind, but
by viewing them as if on a screen and transcribing
what she saw, I can view this as a different way
of expressing a direct connection to the Awen.
The number three is important also because Druidry
teaches us that it is our duty to live as creative
beings. Any choice of two implies polarisation and
conflict, whereas introducing a third way always
opens up creative possibilities. As other nature
religions celebrate the union of male and female,
so Druidry focuses on the result of that union; the
conception of new ideas, new beginnings, and the
bright birth of the Sun child every midwinter.
three also makes a
structure unrivalled in
its stability
But three also makes a structure unrivalled in its
stability, a perfect holding structure for the volatility
of ritual. And the three strains of Wisdom, Power
and Love encapsulate perfectly the necessary balance
for any spiritual path. Druids study nature, as did
their ancient forebears, who were known to have a
deep understanding of the natural sciences and the
starry heavens, using weather and birds as divinatory
tools and attracting students from all over Europe.
It was a genuine ‘Awen’ moment when I saw the
implications of Dion Fortune’s Three Rays of
Wisdom, Power and Love, as seminal to Druid
practice. Having long completed the OBOD course,
I realised that these three held the balance to all
that I did, and the three rays became key to the
study sections in my course book of Druidry, The
path of Druidry; walking the ancient green way. As a
simple example of tree-work, using both inner and
practical techniques, the solitary student can follow
the Hermetic, Wisdom Ray, gathering practical and
esoteric knowledge about the oak tree; honour the
Nature, Power Ray, through studying it on the land,
spending time communing with actual trees; and
then ground their work through the Ray of Love or
Compassion, doing something that is of service to
6
 Dion Fortune and the Druid Path
the natural world – from litter picking on a walk in
the woods, through supporting research into oak
dieback to protecting an ancient forest. And so on.
Magical study is not something that removes us
from the world. Rather, it allows us to take our place
in a world enriched by our layers of knowledge.
And we do that ultimately to be of service, to
our communities, to the greater world and to the
evolutionary current – a way of interacting with life
that comes equally from Dion Fortune or Druidry.
The Arthurian mysteries
The connections I find are myriad, so I’ll conclude
with the main thrust of her work at the end of Dion
Fortune’s life – developing the Arthurian mysteries as
a working system for modern magicians. The parallels
between that and Druidry are obvious. Arthur is
mentioned in the Triads, and is the subject of one
of our oldest poems. Druids base their modern
practice not only on information from the classical
commentators and hints from the monumental
remains on the land, but with reference to the
Matter of Britain, through all its many incarnations.
Like Dion Fortune, we find in the Arthuriad the
resonance of the relationship between land and
people that is continually reinterpreted to be of
relevance in every generation. It sustained Dion
Fortune’s students during the dark days of the
Second World War, as, in a reflection of Arthur’s
own raid on the Underworld, the Priddeu Annwn,
they went deep within, plumbing the imaginal
7
realms to connect to the Arthurian archetypes.
The modernity of Dion Fortune’s thinking is clear
in her war letters, where she looks forward to
victory. Being so sure of the war’s outcome was
impressive, years before the end when, to logical
thinking, the outlook was very bleak. Dion Fortune’s
house suffered bomb damage, bringing the ceiling
down and literally turning her, she whimsically
reported, into something of which she had often
been accused - a black magician. It shows a generous
and enlightened attitude that she then instructed
her students to harbour no animosity to the
Germans. In this her group and other spiritual
workers were going counter to the mindset of the
besieged Londoners and the country as a whole.
Her thrust was on going forward to build a post-
war future for the good of all nations. Her impetus
was always for the win/win, creative situation which
Druids aim for always: our stance may be summed
up in the phrase, ‘for the good of all beings.’
Along with the two essential Druid aspects
of creativity and service, we have the impulse,
in this constantly changing world, to help
further the evolution of a beneficent universe.
Those three instincts make another triplicity
at the heart of modern Druidry; that accords
absolutely with the ethos, the spirit, so
dear to the heart of Dion Fortune.
May the blessing of the Uncreated One, of the Created
Word and of the Spirit that is the Inspirer be always
with us. May the world be filled with harmony and
Light. ….” (Conclusion of OBOD seasonal ritual)
______________________________________
Penny Billington is a Druid celebrant who has
had a significant role in the Order of Bards,
Ovates and Druids for many years, and has
edited their magazine for 15. She is an author
and speaker, and regularly leads ceremonies and
workshops. She has spoken on Dion Fortune and
Faery at the DF conference in Glastonbury.
Her published work includes ‘The Path of
Druidry; walking The Ancient Green Way’ a
bestselling practical Druid study course and
guide and, in spring 2015,‘The wisdom of birch,
oak and yew’ (both pub. Llewellyn Worldwide).
During 2015 she has contributed chapters to
books on Druidry, ancestral connections and
meditative practice. www.pennybillington.co.uk
Times of Testing and Dedication
by Gareth Knight

It is interesting to look back over the old files of the

Society of the Inner Light to identify ‘times of testing
and dedication’. They come up from time to time
over the course of the lifetime of the group – and
indeed of any group.
One such is revealed in a trance address given by
Dion Fortune at the Vernal Equinox of 1940 when
the nation – and the Society along with it – had been
plunged into the 2nd World War.

Real occultism is
however a lot less
sensational (and
disreputable) than it
may appear to be,
“We have already travelled a long way since the
Group was formed. At present we are about to
enter upon a new phase of what has up to now
passed for a war and as a Group we are opening the
inner Mysteries. Those of you who are gathered here
have diverse gifts to bring to the Altar, but one quality
you have in common – the quality of LOYALTY – and,
whatever gifts you might bring to the Altar, if that
quality were lacking they would be unacceptable. It
is on the quality of loyalty that we build in the inner
Group and you, by your loyalty, make many things
possible for others. None who lack this quality are
acceptable for the deeper training.”
Indeed a new phase was coming in – much of
which can be gleaned from the War Letters of Dion
Fortune – subsequently published as Dion Fortune’s
Magical Battle of Britain. A title perhaps erring on the
sensational side, although it had its effect in attracting
interest in the book, even if for the wrong reasons.
Those who expected a sensational tale of astral
derring do on the lines of a Dennis Wheatley novel
may have been disappointed, but at least there is
no record of anyone being shocked as had been
the case with Dion Fortune’s The Winged Bull,
hurling it across the room in disgust with fears
that it might corrupt the garbage men. Although I
have in the past been barred from one reputable
spiritual organisation when I offered to speak upon
the subject – “magic” being a no go word in some
quarters – let alone magical battles! And another
refuses even to sell me their books lest they be
corrupted by taking my money.
Real occultism is however a lot less sensational
(and disreputable) than it may appear to be, even if
it packs a considerable punch at levels that are not
readily appreciated by the general public. Hence the

8
 Times of Testing and Dedication
need for a period of graded Lesser Mystery Training
to prepare the initiate for Greater Mystery work.
In The Arthurian Formula, that was shortly to
develop from the Group’s Greater Mystery work
in 1940 it was couched in terms of the testing and
dedication of a Round Table knight. A ‘redemption
of the archetypes’ leading to a personal and group
involvement with the Mysteries of the Grail.
the first full-
length study of the
Elucidation to appear
in any language
Actually teaching on the Grail had been seeded in
the group (even before it became a formal group)
as far back as 1923 in what came to be known
as the Glastonbury Scripts. And in the form of
ritual and other work that devolved there from,
mystical dynamics begin to shine through the lesser
illumination of the astral light.
Thus the roots of the inner work of the Group
run far back for almost a hundred years since the
first hesitant inner contacts of Dion Fortune and
Thomas Loveday at Glastonbury – the holiest Earth
in England. And it is not for nothing that a series of
seminars celebrating the work of Dion Fortune have
sprung up by popular acclaim there in recent years.
As was remarked by the inner head of the Fraternity
in Dion Fortune’s address back in 1940, it is
dedication and loyalty that count. Which means
dedication and loyalty to a vision as well as to any
individual or group. For groups and individuals may
pass away if loyalty and dedication be lacking, but the
vision ever remains.
Much has been happening of late at Glastonbury that
has had little public attention and has been going
on for some little time. I can speak only for myself
9
although I am aware of the work of others.
On a personal level it came my way some three
or four years ago with a commission to write a
translation from the Old French of the so-called
Elucidation of Chrétien de Troyes’ romance Le
Conte del Graal. The Elucidation is a 13th century
French poem that has lain virtually forgotten since
its discovery in the mid19th century, and it contains
some of the most powerful and revealing clues to
the nature of the Grail to be found in any of the
many texts relating to this most mysterious of sacred
objects.
Within the seven branches of the story, we learn the
cause of the Wasteland, of how the Maidens of the
Wells were violated by the anti-Grail King, Amangons,
and the attempt to restore them by the quests of
King Arthur’s knights through the seven guardians of
the story.
After tracing the history of the manuscript and
its possible author, my colleagues John and Caitlín
Matthews have presented the first full-length study
of the Elucidation to appear in any language, in
fulfilment of the text’s own words, ‘that the good that
the Grail served will openly be taught to all people.’
As it goes on to reveal – “No matter the evils
befalling our world, whether they be Wasteland, rape
or devastation, there are always some beings who
are attentive to the source: they may be the Grail
guardians themselves, or those we encounter upon
the way who illuminate the pathway of the quest.
Each quester then becomes like a needle, sewing
together the torn seam that joins our world with the
otherworld: wherever they ply or wander awry, their
individual attempts serve to bring that quest closer
to achievement.”
Sufficient reason then, for willingness for testing and
dedication?
The Lost Book of the Grail - Restoring the Voices of the
Wells - a new translation, by Gareth Knight, of the 13th
century Elucidation of the Grail, with commentary by
Caitlín Matthews and John Matthews, will be published by
Skylight Press during 2016.
Seed
Listen to this seed of life.
It sings a sweet song of love.
Carried, originally, in the dove’s beak,
it speaks of peace.
It asks, merely, to be planted
within the warm brown skin
of the earth.
There it sighs, surrendering,
as its outer skin dies.
There it smiles in ecstatic bliss,
knowing that this is its destiny.
Perched upon miles and miles
of whirling planet,
pushing its tender roots down
ever nearer to her heart,
it plays its tiny part
in the great scheme of things.
Putting its delicate shoots up
ever closer to the light,
its one thought is to grow.
Its one urge is to know
the mighty sun’s heat.
Forming exquisite leaves,
like wings, as it emerges,
life force surges through each minute cell,
teaming activity transmits
the Mother’s life breath
into nourishment.
Content to be utterly itself,
it dances the circle of light and dark,
night and day.
Trusting in the utter perfection of its journey,
it does not question
the need for joyful expansion.
It does not resist its compulsion
to reach out ever further
down into the darkness,
ever higher up into the sky,
until its symphony of sound
reaches a crescendo of creation,
until it forms,
through its own unique design,
through the hidden, powerful knowing
of its growing point,
a perfect crown.
Then its heart’s desire
is simply to open.
Then its one glory and its power
is to be a flower.

By Juliana Geer

10
 The Holy Cup
By Janet Haswell
After recently purchasing “Working with Inner Light”
by William G Gray and reading Dion Fortune’s “The
Guild of the Master Jesus IV”, aspects of both came
to life in my mind with regard to the Cup of Holy
Communion.
In the first book, from the chapter “The Kiss” comes
the following piece:-
The Ritual Kiss has far deeper meaning than a casual
brush of lips against inanimate objects or Companions.
It is the outward sign of an Inner energy-exchange at
closest possible contact.
From Dion Fortune’s chapter under the section of
The Mass:-
The Mass itself is the Ritual of the Cup; it is the calling
down of power into a receptacle, that receptacle being
the soul of man.
In my mind’s eye I saw these two passages intimately
connected. I can only speak from the knowledge that
I have experienced, through the Church of England
and a Free Catholic Church, of the Holy Communion
rite.
Previously in my studies, I learned that the elevation
of the sacred elements during the Rite of Holy
Communion, was at Path 13. Here the Uniting
Intelligence connects Kether to Tiphareth, it is the
11
highest point of the Rite, whereby the Power of God
can descend into the elevated sacred elements of
the Bread on the Paten and the Cup of Wine. It is
a powerful moment in itself, when the congregation
looks upon this action as time and space stands still
and the enormity of this symbology is re-enacted in
the mind.
the Power of God
can descend into
the elevated sacred
elements
William G Gray further points out:-
Ritually, the closest connection possible with a God
or Divine One is by eating their earthly contact point
of bread and wine, or other sacramental sustenance.
Next to this comes the Kiss, or lip-contact with inedible
physical objects, yet having an assimilable spiritual
association.This Innerworld content is the whole
objective of the ritual Kiss.
He then continues in great detail, to explain how this
should be achieved.

Dion Fortune expains:-
It is by means of action, not word that power is called
down from on high.
So when she further mentions:-
He holds out to them (the disciples) the Cup and
says,”Drink ye all of this”
Meaning the experience he is to undergo and
together with the broken bread of his body which
he also offers, (that of the sacrificed god) thus
we see this symbol is re-enacted every time Holy
Communion is performed.
Dion Fortune furthers writes:-
The bread, which is the negative aspect of the power
For two are the mystical pillars, that
stand at the gate of the shrine,
And two are the powers of Nature, the
forms and the forces divine.
Doreen Valiente
and the wine, which is its positive and dynamic aspect.
Therefore, at the point of taking the wine at Holy
Communion from the Cup, if we pause for a brief
moment and breathe in the energy before touching
the Cup itself with our lips, we have a further and
deeper interaction with the dynamic aspect of God.
This is prior to the wine touching our lips and
tongue and passing the heat of that experience down
through to the stomach, where it resides, glowing
for a while, as we recite inwardly our own post
communion prayer.
It is little wonder that no food is recommended to
be taken before Holy Communion, as this experience
is enhanced by this breaking of the fast at the
beginning of the day.
Even if we are unsure just how much magical and
mystical knowledge the priest standing before us has;
we know deep in our hearts, through our expanded
consciousness, the deeper levels that are being played
out before our eyes. If we believe it to be so, then we
can receive from the highest level of our Beingness, a
truly magical and mystical experience of the highest
order, as we partake in Holy Communion.
we can receive from
the highest level of
our Beingness, a truly
magical and mystical
experience of the
highest order,
12
 The Guild of the Master Jesus
by Dion Fortune (January 1931)

V
Notes on the Service I
Introduction
We have the pleasure of reproducing in these pages the original papers by Dion Fortune for the Guild of
the Master Jesus. Over the coming months we will print each and every one of these papers as they were
written and published within the pages of this Journal between October 1930 and April 1932. Our aim is
not simply to provide an historic record, but to participate in a living and evolving tradition. Along with each
of these articles we will print an interpretive and reflective piece to help the reader explore the text and
bring it up to date.

Our ritual requires two persons for its celebration,
whom we call the Ministrant, and the Lector. The
ministrant performs the actual rite, and the lector
reads the interpolated passages of Scripture and
leads the responses of the congregation. The address
may be given by either of these, or by a third person,
who need not necessarily be a member of the Guild.
The service itself falls into four main divisions.
Firstly, the opening service, in which the Lector
takes the lead, and which is designed to prepare the
congregation and place for the performance of the
great rite of the Eucharist, and which has several
subdivisions within itself. Secondly, the address,
in which teaching and instruction is given to the
congregation. Thirdly, the Eucharist itself, in which
the Ministrant is the dominant figure; and fourthly,
the concluding service, in which the major part of
the working again falls to the Lector.
The service itself
falls into four main
divisions.
The opening part of the service is designed, as has
already been said, to purify the consciousness of the
congregation for the Mystical Rite, to prepare what is
called in esoteric terminology, the Place of Working.
The Ministrant, standing before the altar, raises his
hands in the Sign of the Chalice, which consists
in lifting the arms above the head with the hands
cupped, as if about to catch something falling from
above. In this position the head is involuntarily
thrown back and the face turned upwards, and the
whole attitude is that of one who awaits the descent
of power. These symbolic attitudes, called in esoteric
terminology, Signs, are very important, for they
render in the universal language of mime or gesture
the idea which should have been inwardly formulated.
And even in the case of an ignorant operator, who
does not understand the significance of the inner
processes of ceremonial, the very assumption to
an attitude tends to induce the corresponding
state of consciousness, and automatically renders
him an adequate celebrant apart from his personal
co-operation. Let the reader experiment with the
attitude of the Sign of the Chalice and note its effect
upon consciousness. He will then be in a much
better position to understand what is going on in the
consciousness of the Ministrant, standing at the focus
of power.
In this attitude the Ministrant makes the opening
prayer:
“O Holy Jesus, Master of Love and Compassion, we,Thy
little children, dedicated to Thy service, approach Thee
in faith in the Living Christ, the Unseen Companion of
the Heart. Prepare us, O Lord, to drink of the living
waters of Life, soon to be made manifest unto us; open
our eyes that we may see, and our hearts that we may

13

understand. Make the way plain, O Lord that we fail
not in Thy service.
“May we be a channel whereby Thy Holy Ones may
approach the world. May we be a centre of radiation
of Thy power. Teach us to travel light, as do all who
travel upon the Path; to give ourselves entirely to Thy
service; to attune ourselves to Thy will; to suffer gladly
for Thy sake; to lay down the small personal life in the
great Cosmic Life, and to love with the Love of God.”
For several years before the Guild was formed, this
prayer was used each day in morning meditation
in the community house, and it has a very deep
significance for our Fraternity. When the command
was given to set on foot the work which is now
known as the Fraternity of the Inner Light, the group
of people who were the pioneers were gathered
together by chance at Glastonbury, the Holy Centre
of these islands, and this prayer was among the
communications and instructions that were then
received. It was given by one of those who are
known to esotericists as the Watchers of Avalon.
Ever since it has been the especial prayer of those
who undertook to carry through this work.
Each prayer is designed
to call down a different
aspect of Divine force,
It will be observed that each prayer in our ritual
opens with a different phrase of invocation; no two
are alike. This is not a mere literary device to avoid
unpleasing repetition but has a definite esoteric
significance. Each prayer is designed to call down a
different aspect of Divine force, and the ceremony
builds up out of them as a symphony builds up out of
the unfolding motifs.
In this, the opening prayer, we have the invocation of
Our Lord as Master of Love and Compassion, and
we who pray approach in humility as little children.
We recognise our own helplessness and need of
compassionate help. We approach God from the side
of Mercy. We recognise our own limitations and the
difficulties of the Path and our liability to err therein.
This honesty and humility is not only the beginning
of wisdom, it is also the beginning of strength, for it
causes us to cast aside all that is meretricious and
unsound in our character or position and plant our
feet firmly on the rock of reality. This prayer of
humility brings down them that are of high estate
into honesty and self-knowing, and raises up the
lowly and meek of heart and gives them strength and
confidence because they have cast themselves upon
the mercy of the Master of Love and Compassion,
who knoweth the needs they cannot utter and
answereth to them with His unfailing love. It is
this attitude of confiding love which is the surest
invocation of the Christ and it is the bedrock of
mystical attainment. Intellect will not take us very far
on this Path of the Bhakti Yoga; we have to find God
through the heart.
But even for those of intellectual capacity and vigour
of character this prayer is needful, for the night
14
 The Guild of the Master Jesus
cometh when no man can work, and there comes a
time for all when life has beaten them to their knees
and they have found the limits of their own strength.
This is one of the tests of the Path, and none who
set out on that road can hope to escape it. Those
who are meek and lowly in heart meet this test at
the outset; they are easily brought low and shaken in
their self-confidence for them to come to the Master
of Love and Compassion is to find rest for their
souls; they escape onto the Path.
in the Church of the
Initiates we seek to
find the Risen Christ,
But strong and positive natures do not find it so easy.
Going in their own strength, they evade this test
until the evening is far advanced and the dark night
of the soul closes about them in good earnest. It is
now that they need to know how to change their
polarity and come to the Master of Compassion as
little children, for no one else can help them. Until
we have been through that experience, and found
that Master, we cannot reckon that we are more than
neophytes upon the Mystic Path.
So then, in this the opening prayer of our ritual, we
bring the soul to its knees, for that is the starting
place of the Path.
But the soul does not remain upon its knees, but
at the bidding of the angel which God sendeth to
those who cry for light, it stands upright upon its
feet and grows strong. Just as it is necessary that
the soul should come to its knees at the threshold
of the Path, so is it needful that it should rise to its
feet in firmness and resolution if it is to tread that
Path. For it is not our concept that the soul should
grovel before its God, but that it should arrive at the
right starting point before it tries to set out on its
15
journey. And so the prayer goes on to invoke the
Master under another name; and again this change
of phrase is not fanciful, but has its exact esoteric
significance. “We approach Thee in faith in the Living
Christ, the Unseen Companion of the Heart.” This is
the invocation of the initiate who seeks his Master in
the Hidden Church of the Holy Graal. The exoteric
churches stress the Slain Christ, Christ crucified; it is
in His Name that they call to the lost sheep and seek
to raise the submerged tenth. But in the Church of
the Initiates we seek to find the Risen Christ, the
ever-living Master, who comes to meet us on the
Inner Planes and shall be for us the Great Initiator.
This is the Unseen Companion of the Heart with
whom the initiate seeks to make contact.
The prayer continues with its plea for Divine aid
in the heavy task of self-preparation for the Great
Work, and concludes its first clause with the words,
“Make plain the way, O Lord, that we fail not in Thy
service.”
How needful is this guidance, for with the best will
in the world our unresolved karma causes us to
wander from the Path. Everybody has a blind spot
in his soul; there are things that each one of us
will never face voluntarily; there are preconceived
ideas that fit in with the bias of our temperament
and which we defend at all costs, even the cost
of relationship with reality. It is these dissociated
complexes, nothing more, that give us our first test
upon the Path.
Well-meaning people reiterate the assurance that
if our intentions are right, no harm shall befall us.
But is this promise confirmed by experience? We
know only too well that it is not. So long as our
intentions are right, it is true that God will never
lose touch with us, but if we make a misstep and slip
into the Slough of Despond, no miracle is going to
be performed for our benefit. Too many souls make
that commonplace mistake. The Eastern Tradition
speaks truly when it makes Discrimination one of the
qualifications for the Path. The Christian faith lacks
its Gnana Yoga; it has an inadequate appreciation of
the place of the mind in the scheme of salvation.
We do well to pray that the way be made plain to
our understanding that we fail not therein, for if it
is not plain, and we make mistakes, even with good
intention, we must bear the consequences of those
mistakes and retrace our steps.

Commentary
By Christian Gilson
When we look at this opening text of the Service
of the Master Jesus Dion tells us that it is a prayer.
Perhaps she uses this term because there is no
better term to use, yet this prayer seems less about
communication with the Divine and more about
establishing the correct working environment. These
opening words seemingly addressed to God are
more about the physical participants and the process
of bringing their concentration and focus to the task
at hand. The words are spoken not for the sake of
God, but for those participating. Dion tells us that
the aim of the opening is to purify the consciousness
of the congregation, that is they are said to remind
the participants why they are there, and who they
are there for.
Each of us brings with us a certain amount of
personal baggage, by which I mean our day to
day concerns and worries. It is easy in many acts
of worship to become preoccupied with these
concerns and so fail to fully engage. In this regard
the participant can only pay lip service to the order
of service, and such a response brings nothing. It is
only when we are able to leave aside the mundane
concerns that we become ready to meet God
through ritual. Thus these words are spoken to
remind every participant that it is through service
and full attention to the will of the Divine that they
will receive the blessing and grace of God.
It is only when we are
able to leave aside the
mundane concerns
that we become ready
to meet God through
ritual.
Not only are words spoken but the ministrant is
called upon to adopt a specific posture. In any ritual
physical gestures are very significant as they can bring
about changes in the flow of energy within the body
and within the space in which they are performed.
This is the very basis of Hatha Yoga, which uses
postures – asanas – to change consciousness and
create particular effects within the spiritual or
energetic body. The whole point of this form of
physical yoga, combined with pranayama the exercise
of breath is to bring the participant into a meditative
altered state of consciousness. In our modern age
where yoga is practiced as a form of exercise we
have begun to lose sight of the importance of gesture
and posture.
The Sign of the Chalice is an important asana which
aligns the energy centres of the body, and then
through the tilting of the head moves the crown
aside and uses the third eye as the entry point of
spiritual energy. The divine energy is invited to travel
from the third eye down through the aligned chakra
through the root and into the feet so grounding this
16
 The Guild of the Master Jesus
energy in the earth, the planetary being. In so doing
the person becomes a vessel, a chalice if you will, and
into and through which the energy, or grace of God
may travel. The person literally becomes a channel of
divine grace. Coming through the third eye lends to
it the idea of vision, that the essence of this energy
is a visual one, empowering the individual with the
ability to visualise the grace of God, and bring it to
the eyes of others.
The shape of the gesture also suggests an openness,
a self-surrender of the supplicant to God, in this way
they are preparing themselves to serve both God
and the assembled community. On a deeper level
this position suggests the glyph of Pluto, which as
an astrological force is said to be the transformative
power of the new age. This suggests that the
ministrant in assuming this position is opening
themselves to this transformative power of God,
and making themselves a channel of this energy
for the congregation and for the planetary being
itself. In this way we could talk about the ministrant
becoming the channel for the regenerative power
of God. The combination of this gesture with
controlled and thoughtful breathing would elevate
this further. This gesture is also reminiscent of the
way spiritual force crosses the abyss and enters into
the sephirah of Chesed which in itself represents
force, when twinned with Geburah, form.
This opening prayer is an invocation of God as the
Master of Love and Compassion, in this sense it is
an invocation of the spirit of God in its form of the
sephirah Chesed. This is the fourth sephirah on the
Tree of Life, and depending on how we look, it can
be seen as the first sephirah below the supernals
and the Abyss, or the last sephirah of our journey up
the tree before the abyss and the crossing from the
lesser countenance to the greater countenance, the
microprosopus to the macroprosopus. That is to say
17
it is the first sephirah of manifestation as we are able
to comprehend it. We can understand this as the
point where being burst forth into doing, which is
exactly the action that the ceremony is undertaking,
bursting forth into action. We are then called upon
as a congregation to approach with our experiences
and find contact with the sum of all good human
activity, the good that God intended us to perform
and embody.
Chesed is the place where in as Dion tells us “the
abstract principle that forms the root of some
new activity is formulating in our minds” (Mystical
Qabbalah pg. 163). The root then of this ritual is
contact with the Divine through the power of His
grace and mercy. We approach in humility and
seek the blessing of God who is our protector
and preserver. Yet it must be remembered that as
Chesed gives out and says take freely all that I give,
its paired sephirah of Geburah says ‘what will you
pay?’ For the initiate the cost is simple, service,
to God and to manifestation in all of its forms. A
service given with pure heart and intention, with joy
and expectation of nothing, given with a laugh and a
smile.
For the initiate
the cost is simple,
service, to God and to
manifestation in all of
its forms.
The function of Chesed is also to expand and extend.
Thus in this opening invocation the participants
seek to expand not only the ritual, but to open up
and reach out to God, and in turn they entreat the
Divine to respond in like kind, hence the ministrants
gesture, the Sign of the Chalice. For “as below so
above” to reframe the well-known aphorism. Or
in the words of Jesus in”Truly I say to you, whatever
you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and
whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in
heaven” Mt18:18. So this opening prayer flings wide
the gates of the heart and mind, setting the being of
the participant in order and readying them to receive
the grace of God.
Yet this opening goes further and reminds us to
enter this state of receptivity is to become as “little
children”. To place ourselves into a state of

innocence whereby the concerns of the world no
longer encumber us for a short while. This state is
one of true focussed intention, where we suspend
our disbelief, or judgemental natures, and self-
righteousness. The child is fearless until we teach
them fear, they face the world with courage and
a willingness to love until over time as adults we
impart our fears and worries to them, by bringing
them into what we think of as the safe harbours of
society. We forget that innocence is the true origin
of our nature, for Adam and Eve were truly innocent
within the Garden before the Fall. This invocational
prayer reminds us that we must endeavour to return
to this state of innocence where fear is absent and
we are able to love unconditionally. Once again Jesus
tells us "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and
become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of
heaven” Mt18:3.
Yet to do this is for us the greatest of challenges,
to take our experiences of life and then to take the
step and become a child again seems to be without
reason. Yet this is the perfect step to know like the
child that we truly know nothing, that through our
own endeavours we have reached the limits of all
that we can know, that we stand at the edge of the
abyss in Chesed and need to call on the Divine for
assistance. This is the next test, the test that pushes
aside ego, and seeks for us to recognise our needs
and humbly ask for help. This is the very heart of
the Hindu practice of Bhakti yoga, where the disciple
acts out of a loving desire to serve God. They praise
and approach the Divine with humility and through
the grace of God they are enabled to experience
spiritual liberation, and by doing so they are able
to come into a loving union with God. The aim of
the rite of the Guild is to do exactly that, to enter
through the sacrament into a loving union with God,
through the salvation offered by the resurrected
Christ.
So then the invocation turns to the ‘Living Christ,
Unseen Companion of the Heart’ taking us from
Chesed to Tiphareth along the twentieth path of
the Tree of Life. The Yetziratic text calls this “the
Intelligence of Will and is so called because it is the
means of preparation of all and each created being,
and by this intelligence the existence of the Primordial
Wisdom becomes known.” Hence we see the prayer
call out to the Unseen Companion of the Heart,
“Make plain the way O Lord that we fail not in Thy
service.” Whilst echoing the Yeziratic text these
words also echo those of John the Baptist in Mt3:3
“Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths
straight!'' which in itself is a quote from both the
prophets Isaiah (40:3) and Malachi (3:1). The path
from Chesed to Tiphareth communicates to the
individual the true idea of their nature and purpose,
a vision of their spiritual destiny. The invocation
calls on us to see our spiritual will whilst asking the
Divine to help clear away the obstacles to such a
vision. These obstacles are the self-delusions and
matters of ego that cloud our sight.
In our actions as manifest being we are prone to
error, even with the best of intentions we still
struggle to become that which we were created to
be. This struggle is an important part of who and
what we are for it is in the struggle that we become,
that we grow. So in part it is our duty to make plain
the way, but this is something that we need to realise
that we cannot achieve alone. For it is only with
the help of God that we can finally see our way and
make straight the dessert path. Yet it is only by the
grace of God giving us glimpses of our goal that we
are able to discriminate and so discern the true path,
rather than be deflected by the many obstacles that
we have placed in our own way. When Dion talks
about the “blind spot” in everybody’s soul it is to this
that she is referring our inability at times to see the
true will and the need for Divine grace to help us
perceive the truth. But as she rightly says it is easy
to take the wrong path, to make a misstep, but it is
down to us to recognise this and to pull ourselves
out and move on. This can only happen if we act
with discrimination and so at the opening of this
rite the participants call upon God’s grace through
salvation to aid us in seeing the true will so that we
can guide our feet with care upon the path.
18
 The Metrical Sephiroth
Binah
Binah is Understanding: she,
A Matron in maturity,
Heads, Third of the Supernal Three
The Pillar of Severity;
Intelligence that sanctifies,
In her Primordial Wisdom lies.
Rooted in Amen she creates
The conscious faith that emanates,
Begotten of experience
Too subtle for the brain to sense,
For Faith must truly have its rise
In Kether’s pure immensities and.
Contrasting titles Binah bears,
And fertile and infertile shares,
Now Marah, the all-fruitful Sea,
Now Mary, pure Virginity:
Mother and Maid, now dark, now bright,
She fashions in the sphere of light
Form beyond form made manifest
And in no earthly substance dressed.
JEHOVAH ELOHIM she is known
In the God-Name, and as the Throne,
Khorsia; and for Archangel
In Briah ruleth Tzaphkiel
For order of Angels – Aralim;
19
And Mundane Chakra ruled by him
Whom watchers of the Planet fear
As Saturn, with the leaden sphere,
The Great Infortune Shabbathai,
Vision of Sorrow seen on the high;
The virtue Silence, and the vice
Attributed is Avarice.
Symbols of Binah all express
Her mystery and fruitfulness,
Vesica Piscis,Yoni, Kteis
And Chalice where abundance lies,
And hers the Outer Robe to shroud
Spiritual Glory unavowed.
The Tarot Cards are the Four Threes:
Established Strength is the first of these;
In Cups – Abundance, Sorrow in Swords,
Pentacles - Worldly Works, not words.
Atziluth crimson, black for Briah;
Yetzirah brown, grey-pink Assiah,
Are hues harmonious that teach
What rays of light vibrate in each.
Chokmah and Binah, Father – Mother,
Oppose and balance one another,
Not viewed in singularity,
But dual in polarity,
First pair of Opposites, whose sum
Is sold in Equilibrium.
The Work of the Masters
by Alan Robinson

consider them dealing with space and events, past

and future.
Under the term space, we can consider them as
dealing with present evolutionary forces which they
observe and try to ease the progress of whilst these
events affect humanity, so that there is a smooth
transgression from one phase of evolution to the
next.
If we wished to use an image to represent this, we
could visualize a chalice or bowl situated at the
point of Chesed and Geburah (composed of the two
‘spheres’ to use Kabbalistic terms) and around its
It is perhaps time now to examine the workings of edge a round table where sits the masters. Above this
those beings whom we refer to as ‘the masters of table, through daath are transmitted the evolutionary
the great white lodge’. There is no need to go into an forces arising from Kether, Chockmah and Binah
explanation of what they are, other than to say that and we could visualize these forces reflected in the
they are human beings who have evolved to the point chalice/bowl within the floor of the round table
where they do not need to incarnate anymore; or rather like looking into a reflective pool of water or
in other words, they have reaped all the knowledge perhaps a mirror. It is these forces that the masters
that is accessible while in incarnate form. There have watch and than work with so that the evolutionary
been many instances where what they have been direction comes about in as stable manner as
documented, from Madam Blavatsky to Dion Fortune possible. If we are imaginative, seeing ourselves
and many others indeed, who all state that they are standing in the centre, looking beyond to the outside
‘perfected human beings’ who now guide evolution of this table we could see scenes of landscapes, for
and the development of others. this point is also related to the perfected earth. If
we pass in vision above the table we would see it
To say that they guide evolution is perhaps pushing surrounded by the Zodiacal forces, which is a fair
things too far and the proper term should be to
state that they ‘work with evolution’ which is a more
correct phrase. But the object of this work is to
try to explain the work of the Masters of the great
white lodge, rather than restate what they are.
Firstly, contact with such can take the imagery of
being contacted by a figure on the inner planes, be
it man or woman but with the difference that a true
master (rather than an inner contact) has the ability
to bring things to pass in the physical world, which is
usually a good sign that the contact is indeed of the
quality of a ‘Master’ of the great white lodge rather
than an inner contact (and please note that although
we are here referring to the word ‘Master’ which is
masculine, there are indeed those who incarnated as
female and have achieved this status).
But firstly let us consider what the masters do.
The principle amongst their tasks could be said
to deal with the evolution of consciousness and
emotion and these we can term under the title
of the evolution of mind. From here we can next

20
 The Work of the Masters
reflection of this round table of the ‘Masters’ and so
this we can refer to as their work with evolution in
space.
We have already started this work stating that
the Masters are concerned with the evolution of
thought and emotion and having considered their
involvement with time, will now move on to events
past and future. Under the title of ‘past’ we can
consider past evolutionary directions and events
that have now come to an end. However, in an
imperfect world there resides currents and forces
set up during these era’s that may for some reason
have not been successfully integrated into the next
current of evolution. This can be seen in some of the
major historical events where have been set up two
opposing forces, whose influence reaches into the
present where it has no place and these are worked
with through ritual by groups under the direction of
the Masters to realign the national current so that
they no longer prove a distraction for the future
direction of nations.
Which leaves us to consider the term future. If we
once more return to the imagery of the round table
of the Masters we can see that by watching past and
present evolutionary forces, it should be possible
to come to an understanding of what the future
evolutionary force is going to be and the Masters are
much concerned with this matter so that they can
help in bringing about a state where this is achieved
without to much upheaval.
If we now return to the imagery of the round table
we can visualize force or an evolutionary impulse
coming down through the sphere of Daath as a Spiral
force shaped like a cone with the largest end above
21
us and like a spring, if there is opposition at the
bottom end which represents the ‘physical sphere’,
we can visualize this ‘spring of force’ tightening. Now
the evolutionary current cannot be stopped and if
there is opposition at the incarnationary end, we
can visualize this coiled spring of force tightening,
increasing the tension. Eventually the pressure
that builds up will release this spring of force in a
very disruptive fashion in the physically manifest
universe and it is to stop this happening, so that the
evolutionary forces manifest in as easy fashion as
possible that the Masters are concerned.
There are probably other concerns with which the
‘Masters’ are involved, but so far I have tried to use
that which has been experienced so that it may be of
help for those who seek to serve.
As there may be those reading this who are starting
out on the ‘path’, it may be a good idea to give a
brief example of one method of how the ‘Masters’
may be contacted and that is through the use of the
creative imagination. Therefore sitting in meditation,
we can use the method of ‘path working’ or going on
an imaginary journey, or we may just see a character
arising in our mind as opposed to meeting them on
our ‘inner journey’. Now a principle characteristic
of humanity is that we communicate and there is
no difference now and so we should endeavour to
engage the figure in conversation. If we seek great
knowledge to be imparted immediately, we are
using expectation which can be a hindrance in first
establishing contact with these inner beings and so
the best attitude is to expect nothing and see how
the conversation flows. The character may appear in
historical clothes or in robes or in normal clothing
and this does not matter too much other than to
give a feeling for the nature of the character (It may
be important here to state that this should only be
attempted during meditation and not to let a habit
 develop in everyday
life which would
be unhealthy and
lead to poor health
in one state or
another) During the
conversation we
may find that the
experience starts
to develop a life
of its own and this
is usually a good
indication that contact with an inner being is under
way. If fact the communication can come at such a
fast rate that it is hard to take in all that is being said
and in such cases it is best to just go with the ‘flow’
as it where, so that the contact isn’t broken. Those
whom we meet will probably not be of the grade
that we term ‘Masters’ at first, but there does seem
to be a hierarchy involved and so those we meet may
be representatives of someone more advanced and
discrimination in this is everything. No matter how
well the ‘conversation’ goes, afterwards everything
should be inspected in the clear light of day and
evaluated as to its worth. I have had conversations
with inner beings that have gone on for some length
of time that really have not giving any indication of
being fruitful and then in the middle will come one
sentence that I know does not arise from myself
and that has made the whole exercise worth while,
whilst other times I have had communications that
have been fruitful from beginning to end. Then again
I have had others that have gone nowhere. Once
again, discrimination is essential in all of this, although
it should not be exercised till after the meditation
has finished. One of the good things about training
in an established ‘contacted’ group is that most
groups will reveal their inner contacts, when they
think the pupil is ready to use this knowledge. These
are usually related to historical figures and there is
one used frequently that I know of, whom seem to
be used by many people of the same inner order
(which I found somewhat amusing when discovering
it) i.e. all using the same inner characters image, but
what is important is the quality of the information
or instruction that is given not the person that the
contact appears as. The use of historical figures can
be something of a bind if the person meditating is of
the nature to research the contacts physical life for
then they will build up an expectation of how the
figure should act which is not helpful. I once stopped
a contact with a female figure who was quite well
known in esoteric circles when I stated something
about where she was born, the reply that was given
was far from where everyone thought and what I
expected and so I stopped the contact thinking I was
going astray only to find out later from someone
who actually researched the place of her birth, that
what she said was correct. Therefore I personally
would not expend to much time finding out (or
building expectations) about the person concerned.
Eventually the initial contacts will usually lead to
those whom we term ‘Masters of the great white
lodge’ if we seek with the correct attitude and as
stated at the beginning of this work these will be
able to bring things to pass in the physical world
and bring a speeding up in the development of the
student and this is no understatement. But when the
student is ready for contact with them he or she
will find that these two points have no longer any
importance which is something to ponder! What
we seek in contact with the masters should be in
the spirit of selflessness, a lot of what is received is
mediated through what we can term or own ‘sphere
of sensation’ and a certain ‘colouring’ will take place
due to this medium, but if we approach this type
of work in the right attitude ie stepping out of our
self in the spirit of selflessness we will rise above
colouring what we receive through the intervention
of our own sphere of sensation and then we may find
that the communication will reveal things that are
not what our mental mind set would expect them to
be, thus we may get a communication at odds to our
initial beliefs and when we exercise discrimination
afterwards, we may find that what has been
imparted is true and then have to change ourselves
and thoughts, thus true growth takes place.
At the end of the day we are not aiming at
developing an oversensitive psychic ability through
these contacts for we do have to operate in the
physical world and an oversensitive psychic ability
makes working in the physical world and interacting
with our fellow incarnating people very hard, but
with practice we will develop an ability to strengthen
or contacts with those on the inner and this is
always to the advantage of the work.
I hope that what is written here gives you the reader
something that you can take away from it.
22
 When is a Second Coming
not what it seems?
by Gareth Knight

I pen these words as we approach the religious

period called Advent, which is popularly associated
with the coming, or advent, of Christmas, although
more fundamentally it refers to the Second Coming
of the Messiah, which in the eyes of Christians
represents the end of the world and the coming of a
better one.
Whatever the eschatological possibilities, to
occultists it calls to mind matters rather closer to
home and the question of the return (spiritual, astral,
etheric or physical) of certain gurus or significant
forerunners close to our hearts.

When researching
his biography of
Dion Fortune, Alan
discovered an awful lot
of people who felt they
had meaningful links “But here is how she influenced me from a very
young age. I have often said that it would take a
with her book in itself to describe the incredible levels of
chance, coincidence, synchronicity and totally bizarre
I am reminded of this question by a remarkable little serendipity that enabled (and often forced) me to
book just published by Alan Richardson entitled Me, research and write about this energy/entity/great
mySelf & Dion Fortune. A very personal work by magical soul known as Dion Fortune.”
one of her biographers and also a bargain (currently
Anyway, this is the book. And a valuable one because
about £4 on Amazon) for a hundred odd pages of
what it has to say about Dion Fortune can be applied
rare and honest wisdom and self revelation.
to a whole host of inner plane gurus or legendary
As the author admits: “The older I get, the less I
or ancestral characters, together with a range of
understand about Dion Fortune. The more I read
startling serendipities and synchronicities involving
(and write) about her, the less I actually know. Is
such figures. Some that may appear puzzling or
Dion Fortune simply the pen name of a woman who
pointless. Others open to being glamorised or
died in 1946? Or a convenient name given to an
misinterpreted.
entity who has floated in and out of many peoples’
minds ever since? When researching his biography of Dion Fortune,
Alan discovered an awful lot of people who felt they
“Yet again, could ‘Dion Fortune’ be more accurately
had meaningful links with her. In fact he doubts if
described as ‘It’? That is to say, instead of being seen
there is any DF fan who does not claim some link.
as a wise and powerful soul on the Other Side, could
And although to anyone else such links might seem
‘It’ be more in the nature of an energy, an inner
far-fetched, to the person involved they can be
plane impulse which pushes us in certain directions?
important keys.
Honestly, I don’t know.
Some links seem so powerful that those concerned

23

have even wondered if they were Dion Fortune
reborn – although more likely to have been cases of
being temporarily overshadowed. A possibility with
which I would concur from my own experience and
of others known to me. As Alan Richardson is called,
from personal experience, to say, the only danger
is when you expect everyone else to believe this,
and fail to accept within your own self that – almost
certainly – something else is going on.
These days he is more inclined to think in terms of
Other Lives rather than past lives. That is, that time
is not linear. That everything is happening now, at this
instant, ever-becoming.
Be this as it may, it seems we all have our own stories
to tell and puzzlements to express. And Alan reckons
that the only thing we can be dogmatic about is that
no-one can be dogmatic about it! That whether ‘Dion
Fortune’ is a great soul on the inner planes or a flow
of energy rather like an electrical current shouldn’t
worry us too much.
To which I would add that it is of course possible
to be both – or even something quite Other. My
esoteric sparring partner, the Rev Anthony Duncan,
was thus ever chary of an occult tendency to call the
Second Person of the Trinity a ‘Christ force’ rather
than a Divine Being. It can be spiritually demeaning to
make an abstraction out of life.
Much the same could be said about various inner
contacts one might have had, including the three
canny lads that jumped me into writing The Abbey
Papers. Anyone who has a copy could here profitably
turn to Section 55 for some handy hints about much
of this, but for those who have not I abstract the
following.
When, under guidance
in the Mysteries we
come upon the spirits
of the Ancestors
When, under guidance in the Mysteries we come
upon the spirits of the Ancestors, they are like
guardian angels of the race, for they partake more
of the angelic than of the human spirit that gave rise
to them. So when we come upon them we are not
taking part in a kind of spiritualist séance. These are
not spirits of the departed as commonly understood.
They are more in the nature of intelligent holograms
– to use a souped up image of modern technology.
They are representations of power – or ensouled
magical images.
They are not put there or imaginally created by
us. They have an objective existence of their own
and may be used by those who are invested with
sufficient authority and who have the power and
ability to do so. Much of their emotive power comes
from emotions embodied in the ideas attached
to the particular archetype they represented as
individuals when in incarnation.
In normal circumstances they are put before us
with a purpose. They are brought before our field of
attention, to be, in a sense, restimulated within our
aura, thereby imparting a certain energy to the image,
and also stimulating a corresponding energy in us. An
exchange of energy takes place, an energy that may
last and be drawn from for some time.
In other words it has the effect of dedicating a
certain part of our aura to the works and the
powers of that particular archetype and its needed
work in the world today. This may be by realisation as
much as by physical action. It is what practical magic
is all about.
24
 THE HOLY THORN
Adaptation in verse by Christine Felton
From ‘Merlin and the Grail Tradition’ by
Gareth Knight
Within a field of fragrant wild flowers
Merlin’s eyes and Nemué’s fair hand
beckon the willing to follow a fairy path
to the world of Myth and Magic.
We cross the field to discover a spring,
In clear water we wander downhill.
Paddling on pebbles in the sparkling stream,
following meanderings as it deepens
and gathers speed on the slope, gushing on
to a weir where it pours into a large lake.
We linger on the bank before setting foot
in its freshness, losing ourselves underwater.
Deeper and deeper through fish and weed
we go to a wall of dark green parted by Merlin
to reveal a nature hall with a bubbling cauldron
attended by nine beautiful maidens.
We drink of the brew from small shell cups
and feel a shift of being as we gently float
to the surface, captured in a golden net
cast from the craft of the Fisher King.
He sits amidships with crown and purple robe,
bidding us to climb aboard. We set off for
a beautiful castle on an horizon island
ploughing a gentle wake on the water.
The magical castle throws wide its gates
showing a magnificent chamber within.
Beyond a small door an old bearded King
receives holy communion from a maiden.
This fair princess greets us and bids us
follow through a curtained doorway.
We ascend a winding stair to a Chapel
bedecked with purple velvet and silver altar.
25
A Bleeding Lance drips drops of blood
in a shining silver cup next to a plate
on which rests the delicate white host.
We kneel to partake of the offerings.
The roof opens wide and we ascend
into blue sky whereon a crystalline cloud
floats a bark with masts of red, green and white.
At the prow stands a knight in golden armour.
Sir Galahad with white red cross shield,
on a bier the body of a beautiful maiden,
an empty chalice resting on her breast.
We step aboard this heavenly vessel.
Floating in a reflection of the ship,
it soars to the shining sphere of the Sun.
Our Lady ascends from her bier,
Our Knight transformed in our Lord.
A great silver dove becomes their ship
and from the golden sphere steps
Joseph of Arimathea clothed with the Sun
he strides aboard to strike his staff upon our deck
to bring us joy of the Holy Tree.
Branches, leaves and blossoms bloom,
Delicate pink and wonderful white flowers
springing from the masts and deck.
In wonder we tumble through the sky
with thousands of flowers like blessings
of kisses for the earth to cherish.
The Legend of the Glastonbury Thorn.
“With us is the Grace of the Shining Ones in the
Mystery of Earth Light. Peace to all Signs and
Shadows, Radiant Light to all Ways of Darkness, and
the Living One of Light, Secret Unknown, Forever.”
The Fall of Man - Was it Universal?
by Roy Snelling
I refer to the article in a previous issue of The Inner
Light, in particular to the article entitled Fallen No
More to Rise is the Virgin Israel by Steve Hanafin.
Referring to the Fall Steve suggests that Malkuth was
originally in the position of Daath on the Qabalah
Tree of Life, and that it ‘fell’ to its present position
under Yesod. As Malkuth represents the lowest, or
material plane, of creation in Assiah I have my doubts
about this. Whilst respecting Steve’s point of view I
would like to present an alternative scenario.
To understand what the ‘Fall’ was we first have to
understand what ‘Man’ is, and that is not just Gaian
Homo-Sapiens. The Christos, speaking through the
Master Jesus, makes statements that He is the Son of
the Father, and also that He is the Son of Man. Is this
a contradiction?
the archetypal patterns
of creation will
determine how Divine
Sparks will manifest
At the end of a Cosmic Night (Pralaya) when it
bursts into a new Day of Creation, the Cosmos
creates various intelligent powers that are going
to work in the new creation, on the various planes.
The positive – negative tension of force and form,
the ten sephiroth and their attendant archangels
and angelic orders, the four cherubim who will be
the controllers of the four elemental kingdoms,
the seven elohim that will form the seven ‘qualities’
throughout creation (eletro-magnetic spectrum),
and the four planes of creation with their universal
‘Soul’ essence. The highest plane, Atziluth, is where
the archetypal patterns of creation will determine
how Divine Sparks will manifest when the lower
planes are formed. The cosmos then seeds its new
universe with myriads of Divine Sparks, each one
being an aspect of the cosmic consciousness itself.
Some of these are simple cosmic atoms that will
be the motivating consciousness of group souls for
bacteria, insects, fish, birds, reptiles, plants and trees,
and most mammals, in the huge variety of types that
will manifest in various parts of the galaxy, and the
wider universe. Through partial evolution in previous
universes some Divine Sparks are more complex
cosmic atoms, those that will form the motivating
consciousness’s of man, planets, stars and galaxies.
Those that take on the archetype of ‘Cosmic Man’
will, whilst still on the plane of Atziluth, associate
with complex cosmic atoms that are to manifest as
stars on the plane of Assiah (Malkuth). These stellar
logoi will be their Gods during manifestation. They
will descend on the involutionary arc with their
chosen stellar solar systems into humanoid form on
some planet on the plane of Assiah. What we are in
fact inferring is that homo-sapiens on Gaia is only
one small part of cosmic or archetypal man. One
small part of the Cosmic Adam.
The big question is: ‘has a prime deviation or fall
affected the whole created universe, or just our
Solar System? Is the ‘Abyss’ on the Qabalah Tree of
Life that we are familiar with something that affects
a dramatic change in consciousness in our Solar
system only? What I am going to suggest is that the
‘Perfect’ format of a Tree of Life is that as shown in
figure no. 1. To this article. It will be seen that
26
 The Fall of Man
all sephirah are contained within two overlapping
circles that form a vesica pisces at their centre. This
figure is an important part of Scared Geometry. It
represents the perfect union of Heaven and Earth,
with the stellar logos in its correct position directly
under the Cosmic Father(Chokmah) and the Cosmic
Mother (Binah) as their son, or rather, hermaphrodite
child. There is no Daath, which is really the absence
of a Sephirah. So Yesod is in the position of ‘our’
Tiphareth and Malkuth in the position of ‘our’ Yesod.
Kether is the parent
that has within It
the potential of both
gender
Now in our Solar System, our Solar Logos (in
Tiphareth of the Fallen Tree) is seen by esotericism
as the Christ Centre. It is the son of the Father,
Kether. But we have to remember that both are on
the central pillar of equilibrium. This means that,
strictly speaking, Kether is the parent that has within
It the potential of both gender. The three lower
Sephiroth, being in manifestation, are androgynous.
So Tiphareth in our system is the ‘child’ of the
parent Kether. But Tiphareth being androgynous the
Christos is only the male aspect, whereas the female
aspect is what is known as the Goddess Sophia.
27
Chokmah is the father and Binah the mother of the
Christ-Sophia child. But because our Tiphareth has
fallen from the position that is now Daath it is a
prodigal son (child). In the true Tree Malkuth, being
at a higher level, is the true Garden of Eden from
which we have fallen into our own manifestation
of Earth, which is only a reflection of the true
Earth. Where ‘Man’-type beings have incarnated
into humanoid forms on other planets in our galaxy
many of them will not have experienced the ‘Fall’
that we homo-sapiens have, and are therefore more
spiritually advanced than us. Evidence from the
various sacred texts from the past from different
lands would seem to indicate that, using astral travel,
some of our elder galactic brothers and sisters have
visited us many times and, working with the spiritual
intelligences of our Solar System, have tried to help
and guide us in our evolution. Gareth Knight, in his
A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, makes
an intriguing statement: ... “The Pleiades, which with
the binary Sirius and the Great Bear are among
the more important stellar groupings as far as our
Solar logoidal system is concerned. Just as Sirius
bears a similar relationship to our Solar Logos as
the individuality does to the personality of man
...” Other sources suggest that, particularly in this
Aquarian Age, these stellar logoi will soon help our
Solar Logos to ascend back to its correct level of
consciousness on the Tree of Life. And also that
the extra-terrestrial beings from these systems are
currently trying to help their younger brothers and
sisters, us, to ascend in consciousness also. In Dion
Fortune’s The Cosmic Doctrine, in respect of the
evolution of a stellar logoidal consciousness, it is
stated that a point is reached when a stellar logo
projects a self-conscious image of how it sees itself
onto its own solar system, which is reflected back
by the component Divine Sparks of that system.
And the whole system then develops in harmony.
In respect of the ‘Prime Deviation’ of man in our
own system it has been stated that (Gaian) man
refused to accept the projection of our Solar Logos,
and hence ‘fell’ into a false image of the world. But
did those Divine Sparks of man see in the Solar
projection a false image that they did not, in their
turn, want to be associated with?
At this point you might ask ... “Am I not putting
forward a point of view that is a gross heresy
regarding true esoteric teaching? What is my
evidence?” ... Esoteric Teaching recognises that many
of the true teachings of the Christos, via the Master
Jesus, are contained in the Gnostic Gospels, as well
as the New Testament. There are three stories from
the Gnostic Gospels that would seem to support the
above theories (my paraphrasing):
The Sophia Myth
One particular story running through some of
the Gnostic tractates which infuriated the Church
Fathers such as Irenaeous, Athanasius and Hippolytus
was that known as the ‘Sophia Myth’.
The female motherhood principle of the cosmos
(Binah) caused a projection from herself that became
known as (the Goddess) ‘Sophia’ (the female aspect
of the Solar Logos). Sophia was the operational
intelligence from the Universal intelligence. Sophia
produced a desire that became the prototype for all
desires. This desire became polarised from her and
took the form of a lion-faced serpent,Yaldabaoth. Its
existence had to be concealed from the forces of
the cosmos because Sophia had produced this entity
without her male counterpart, the Christos (the
male aspect of the Solar Logos).
Sophia produced a
desire that became
the prototype for all
desires
Through Sophia, the goodness of the cosmic mother
was, in Yaldabaoth, challenged by the bonds of desire.
This was a dangerous tension that only the balance
of the Christos could manage and diffuse. Yaldabaoth
took great power from Sophia and became strong
and arrogant. ‘There is no other God but me’ ...
‘I am a jealous God’ ... ‘I am a wrathful God’. But
Yaldabaoth was ignorant of what was above Sophia,
ignorant of the cosmic mother, or even the Christos.
Yaldabaoth then created its own race of beings,
which themselves were shadows of the aeons, the
archangelic host. Yaldabaoth then saw in spiritual
man (Adam), that it had potentially superior power
to itself. Yaldabaoth then formed a new dimension to
creation, the 8th. dimension, a reflection of the true
material plane. It was in essence an illusion, Maya.
Yaldabaoth then drew Adam, to look into the new
dimension and Adam saw its own reflection and fell
into it. So Adam became trapped into a wheel of
incarnations on the material plane, a plane of negative
karma and suffering. Yaldabaoth then presented itself
to man as the true god, and taught that there was
no other god than it. It then taught a false morality
(the ten commandments) that made man a slave to
external laws rather than man using its free will to
listen to the voice of its inner spirit, the voice of its
own intuition and conscience. An inner spirit that
could teach the truth about the cosmos. Whilst
seemingly teaching laws of superficial goodness,
which were really laws of control,Yaldabaoth and its
phantoms also stirred up negative emotions in man
upon which, when released as negative energy into
the ether, they gorged themselves in a vampiristic
fashion. Yaldabaoth drew back into itself the essence
28
 The Fall of Man
of its mother, Sophia, that had originally by Sophia
herself caused Yaldabaoth to breath into man for
man’s salvation.
Sophia then, realising the state that man was in,
descended into the Earth, so that, with the Planetary
Spirit of the Earth, she could try to give man Succour
and guidance.
The Fallen Christ
In the tractate ‘The Tripartite Tractate’ is discussed,
amongst other things, the creation of the ‘Aeons’
from the cosmos. The aeons are powers that
represent each specific quality of the cosmos. But
one aeon, called by the Gnostics ‘a Logos of the
Unity’ (our Solar Logos?), having been given free
will, used such to wish to examine the immutable
nature of the absolute, which was not possible. This
resulted in the parent and the other aeons drawing
away from this logos, which became isolated. It then
created likenesses of the other aeons as shadows
for the logos could no longer bear the light of the
absolute. So it looked into the depth and doubted.
It became ignorant and forgot its origin. The cosmos
29
therefore abandoned it and all that it had created.
The false aeons therefore came into being from
its arrogant thought. They are phantasms, lacking
reason or light. They thought of themselves as
beings without source as they cannot see anything
before or above them. As they are copies of the
aeons of the absolute they have a sort of beauty,
but only as a shadow, a reflection. Each had a lust
for power and thought of itself as superior to its
fellows. But this logos saw defect rather than
perfection. Once his original exaltation as one of
the aeons had abandoned him he was powerless. He
brought forward more beings who were weak and
ill. But the logos realised that it had done wrong
and turned its prayers back to the true aeons and
the parent, the absolute. It was like coming out of a
heavy sleep. He then sowed in his creations a pre-
disposition to turn within. All the defective ones
were brought back to the source that their defects
be eliminated. The aeons and the parent received
back to themselves the defective aeon like a prodigal
son. He was then the son of the parent, the Christ.
The parent had perfected him. But not all those
that had been created by the logos came back to
him in his new form. They were consigned to Hades.
But those beings who were created as shadows of
the true aeons, whilst imperfect, served a purpose.
They are passions rather than qualities as their
begetting was premature of the will of the parent.
By being allowed to pass into the lower dimension,
then by them everything could be perfected. The
logos then appointed archons from among them to
represent the power of the true aeons, and from
them appointed a chief archon who, as a shadow
likeness of the true parent, was to rule over them.
The spirit of the logos moves the archon to do what
is necessary for temptation, learning and redemption,
although the archon knows this not, thinking that
the spirit flowing through it is from Itself (the fallen
Christ as tempter?).
Lucifer, The Angel of Light
The above account has strange similarities to the
storey of the archangel Lucifer, who supposedly was
thrown out of, or fell from, heaven with his angels.
Or one could say ‘descended’ into the material plane.
In Christian tradition Lucifer is synonymous with
the devil. The name actually means ‘Light bringing
Morning Star’, and is thought to be a reference to the
planet Venus. According to Biblical Judaism Lucifer
was thrown out of heaven for refusing to bow before
Adam, the universal spiritual man. This is a theme
that is repeated by Muhammad in the Koran, where
Lucifer is called ‘Iblis’. But I would suggest that this
defiance is more reminiscent of the Old Testament
Demi-urge (Yaldabaoth) than Lucifer. Strangely the
Morning Star is honoured in the Exulstet, which
is said or chanted in Catholic, Anglican and some
Lutheran churches as an ‘Easter Proclamation’. Near
the end of the prayer it is stated:
“ Flammas eius lúcifer matutinus invéniat;
ille, inquam, lúcifer, qui nescit occásum.
Christus Filius tuus. ‘
‘ May this flame be found still burning
by the morning star
the one morning star who never sets,
Christ your son.
In early semitic mythologies gods associated with
Venus, such as Attar, Ishtar, Innana and Etana, had
to descent into the underworld. But in Christian
mythology the Archangel Michael does battle with
Lucifer because of the latter’s pride, when Lucifer
and his host are thrown out of Heaven. In the Book
of Revelations in the Christian Bible Michael fights
with the ‘Dragon’ who, with his host, is thrown
down to Earth. Not to hell or the underworld,
but to Earth! But there is a tradition that Lucifer
descended (not ‘fell’) into the realms of the Earth
for a purpose ....... to rise up with man so that the
incarnated man can become the Spiritual Adam again.
In other words, the Christ in the above story and
Lucifer are the same being! Interestingly, one of the
Gnostic Gospels speaks of Christ descending into
the Earth to redeem His female counterpart, Sophia.
Lucifer descended (not
‘fell’) into the realms of
the Earth for a purpose
If our Solar Logos has fallen from the position of
Daath on the Tree, how and why did this happen?
There is one intriguing theory that might or might
not give us a clue. Between Mars and Jupiter there
is the Asteroid Belt, a circle of millions of fragments
of rock in orbit around the Sun, in roughly the same
plane as most of the planets. Astronomy has posited
two different theories to explain this: (1) That it is
material left over after the formation of the planets
in the Solar System. (2) That it is the result of two
planets colliding with each other, possibly the result
of a rogue planet coming into our Solar System
from outer space and disrupting the orbits of the
existing planets. I doubt the first theory as it does
not explain how interstellar cosmic dust can morph
into hard rock comprising several heavy elements
without going through a thermo-nuclear reaction
in the centre of the Sun. Accepting, say, the second
theory, we have to remember that all manifestations
on the Plane of Assiah in the form of humans, planets,
stars and galaxies have a directing Divine Spark and
an evolutionary personality. What happened to the
spiritual intelligence of the two planets that were
smashed to smithereens? Was at least one of them
traumatised? Was this Yaldabaoth (Satan or the
Devil)? What happened to the balance and harmony
of the whole of our Solar System? Was the Solar
Logos temporarily knocked from its original state of
consciousness?
So where does the above leave us humans? During
creation a certain amount of surplus unbalanced
force is left over during the creation of each Sephira
(the Qiphoth). Although this is dangerous for
man to approach, eventually, through the laws of
balance, harmony and the necessity of evolution,
these will eventually be transposed into love and
harmony and be re-absorbed back into their correct
Sephirah. The cosmos leaves nothing undone in the
course of evolution. Spiritual powers are currently
working with our Solar Logos so that eventually
the whole Solar System will ascend to a higher
state of consciousness, which includes us. We must
hold on to the fact that the Solar Logos, through
Its projections as Christ and Sophia, truly loves us,
if only we did but know it. We must learn how to
live in correct relationship with our fellow man,
other species and the planet. We are supposed to
be of the Angelic Order of Malkuth, in respect of
our system, and as such ought to be the guardians
and teachers of the other species on this planet. So
by healing the shadow part of our subconscious
(our own Qliphoth), nurturing feelings of altruistic
love, compassion and honour, and realising our
connectedness with all life, we will be doing our bit
to help the ascension or our Solar family in this New
Age of Aquarius.
30
 God the Father
by Dion Fortune

The concept of three Persons in one God, has always been

a favourite topic of theologians and a stumbling-block
to the plain man. Unless it can be shown to have some
practical value, either in en¬abling us to live better lives,
or better to understand the universe in which those lives
have to be lived, it would be unworthy of serious attention,
resembling those mathematical curios which amuse people
who have a taste for figures, but serve no other purpose.

We cannot conceive that it matters to God whether
we understand the Athanasian Creed or not;
neither can we conceive the act of swal¬lowing it
whole without understanding it to have any ethical
value; but it matters very much to us if we have
a working hypothesis of the universe which does
violence to the facts. From the theology of our
religion we need an explanation which shall enable
the intellect to conceive the ultimate aspects of
Being and relate life thereto. If it were worth the
while of the British government to offer a re¬ward
of twenty thousand pounds for a method of
determining longitude at sea, what is it worth to
immortal souls to have a means of deter¬mining
their relationship to the infinity of existence?
It is difficult to believe that any philosophical
opinion as such, and apart from the results of its
practical application, ever "either saved or damned
a soul". Theology is, or ought to be, an appli¬ed
science. It should explain to us the origin and
end of existence, and the essential principles of
the conditions under which the life of the soul
is carried on. If it can do this, it is justified of its
wisdom. If it cannot, we shall more advantageously
spend our time on experimental science.
it is difficult to
dissociate the Holy
Ghost of the New
Testament from the
Shekinah of the Old
Testament

31
What shall we say, then, of this
fundamental concept of Christ¬ianity,
the Triune Godhead, which is the
foundation, not only of our own
faith, but of many other faiths as
well? Egypt and India both have
their Holy Trinities. In the testimony
of independent witnesses there
is the establishment of truth. The
very fact that other of the great
theological systems of the world
also stress the triune nature of
the Godhead leads us to believe
that in this concept there must be
something of radical importance,
and that we cannot discard It as a
fine-spun theory, having no relation
to the problems of existence.

The doctrine of a Trinity invariably

conceives of a Father, a Son, and
another factor which, except in
Christian theology, is fem¬inine, the
cosmic Mother; and even in Christian theology,
it is difficult to dissociate the Holy Ghost of
the New Testament from the Shekinah of the
Old Testament, which was a feminine potency.
With this problem we cannot deal at present.
It is our concern at the mo¬ment to try and
discover what value the Trinitarian concept of the
Godhead has for us, and especially what may be
the nature of the First Person of that Trinity.
The Trinitarian concept really teaches us that
the Godhead has certain modes of functioning. If
we are in the habit of personifying God, we shall
personify these modes; but if we look upon God
as a force or a principle, we shall look upon the
Three Persons of the Trinity as modes of its
manifestation, and this concept is more in keeping
with a philosophical manner of thought than
the more primitive anthropomorphic one.
Let It not be forgotten, however, that though we
may not conceive of any of the Three Persons
as a person in the ordinary human sense of the
term, having like parts and passions to ourselves,
we nevertheless conceive of each and all of Them
as individualised, which is a different matter; for
whereas the word personality conveys to us a
concept of that which resembles an organised
human consciousness, the word individuality does
not necessarily do so, but merely suggests that
which is separated off from the surrounding mass
and organised. We may therefore conceive of the
individuality of God without involving ourselves in
anthropomorphic implications, we shall probably
get nearer the truth if we do this, and do less
violence to the educated intelligence, then if we
persist in making God in our image and likeness.
Finally, let us ever have with us, the realisation that
are theology is only an approximation, and attempt
to codify what we, reasoning by analogy, have been
able to deduce concerning the nature of God. There
exists no direct testimony concerning the Absolute;
all that we have is circumstantial evidence, and in
dealing with circumstantial evidence, everything
turns on the question of its interpretation.
To define the nature of God Father would be to
define the source went existence emanates. This
has ever proved a thankless task, for however we
may wrap our explanations up. In metaphysical
subtleties, we come back in the end to an
explanation which has no intrinsic difference from
that which declares the world to be supported
on the back of an elephant which stands upon a
tortoise. However far we may go back, something
has to come from somewhere. We may not be
prepared to agree with Herbert Spencer that God

32
 God the Father
is the Unknowable, because this sets a limit to the
evolution of human intelligence, and we have no
justification for setting any such limit; but we can
justifiably declare that in His Innermost Essence He
is unknown to human consciousness as at present
constituted. There is always a horizon at whatever
point we seek to penetrate into the nature of
causation. True, it recedes as knowledge advances;
but we have reason to believe that as long as
Earth has a form, there always will be a horizon.
God the Father is the
God of Nature
Let us, therefore, ceased to trouble ourselves
about that which is beyond our reach, and be
content to know God in His manifestation. For
after all, God, for us, is the concept we have of Him;
we can never know the "thing-in-itself", if such a
term can justifiably be applied to the Godhead.
We may conceive of God the Father, then, as
the creating and sustaining aspect of the Deity,
everything that relates to the causation and
conditioning of the universe comes under that
heading. When we are seeking to penetrate the
causation of existence, we are thus engaged
in the worship of God the Father; when we
seek to understand the laws of nature, we are
offering our obedience to God the Father.
33
The man who builds a bridge, according to
mathematical laws of the stresses of materials is
obeying God as much, and perhaps more, than
the man who goes to church on a Sunday.
God the Father is the God of Nature, and He is
indeed a jealous God, as every scientist knows to
his cost. In other words, He demands accuracy.
But in that very exactitude lies our hope; for if the
laws of nature were slipshod and uncertain, where
would be our security?' It is because the same
causes will produce the same results with un¬erring
accuracy that we have any certitude; and they can
only do this because "our God is a jealous God",
in other words, an accurate and dependable God.
There is no 'give and take' in God the Father.
He is the Law. It is God the Son who Is the
Mediator and Reconciler, not, we must believe
in spite of all the theologians, by changing
the Unchangeable, but by showing man how
to make the necessary adjustments.
Behind all forms of manifestation abides an
Essence. That Essence differs in kind from any
form of manifestation. When It changes its
nature, it becomes manifest and ceases to be
Unmanifest. As long as no such change occurs,
it remains Unmanifest. We may be justified in
thinking that the Unmanifest is in a continual
process of becoming manifest, just as the water
of a lake may be in a con¬tinual state of flowing
out of that lake and becoming a river. We might
also say that the Unmanifest becomes manifest
in proportion as it is conceived by conscious
beings, not limiting, however, the con¬cept of
conscious beings to those of our own nature
and state of evolution. If we limit our concept of
consciousness to that with which we are familiar
through personal experience, we make a mistake.
We may conceive, then, that consciousness
may reach out from the known towards
the imaginative realisation of that which lies
immediately beyond its horizon of awareness, and
thus the Unmanifest becomes manifest. Should
we, moreover, be making a fundamental error if
we imagined that a part of God's nature is not
unmanifest, but has realised Itself under three
modes, and that these are the Holy Trinity?
We must perforce conceive of the root of existence
as Unmanifest, and we must therefore conceive of
the Creator as being in the Unmanifest. But though
we may conceive of God in His essential being as
unmanifest in relation to our universe, we may
yet conceive of Him in His peripheral aspect as
manifest. It is, perhaps, in this distinction between
the Unmanifest Absolute and the manifest Godhead
that the solution of many problems may lie.
After all, what is the universe except the
much more of God
than is manifested
in the universe at
its present stage of
evolution
manifestation of God? This statement does not
necessarily imply a pantheistic outlook, for we must
perforce believe that there is much more of God
than is manifested in the universe at its present
stage of evolution. Equally must we agree that in
the earlier stages of evolution there was much less
of God made manifest than there is now. This being
the case, we can hardly deny the implication that in
future ages of evolutionary time there will be much
more of God manifested than there is at present.
Such being the case, we may justifiably await the
growth of understanding before we attempt any final
pronouncement upon the nature of the Godhead. It
is only when we believe that we are here in a static
world for a limited time that we are goaded into a
frenzy of hasty theology with its rash and premature
generalisation. It is in the doctrine of reincarnation,
and in that alone, that the soul can find scope.
Apart from such a doctrine, we are reduced to all
manner of desperate theological and philosophical
expedients in ord¬er to justify the ways of Cod
to man. Ways which never can be jus¬tified if we
posit of God omnipotence and omniscience and
require of Him any ordinary standard of decency.
The doctrine of evolution rescued the
physical sciences from an impossible position.
The doctrine of reincarnation can do the
same for the moral sciences. There is infinite
hope of an Infinite Becom¬ing; but the Static
stares death in the face on all planes.
34
 Pesach

According to the gospels Jesus had travelled to

Jerusalem in order to celebrate it at the temple. It
was common in first century Israel for Jewish people
to make a special effort to attend the one temple
at specific festivals such as pesach. They maintained
and still do that there could be only one temple for
the worship of the one God, and so it is a mistake
to consider a synagogue to be a place of worship as
such, rather it is a place of study. The one temple
was in Jerusalem until its destruction in 70AD by the
Romans in response to the Jewish uprising.
The Jewish year follows both the moon and sun
and so has a more complex structure in terms
of months. Pesach falls on the 15th of Nisan which in relation to the solar calendar varies from year to
year. This festival marks the Hebrew exodus from Egypt, and as a result its symbolism is focussed on the
theme of release from slavery, and the idea of redemption. For the Jewish people see it as a time when
God redeemed their ancestors and brought them back into covenant with him. Not simply restoring the
covenant with Abraham but entering a new a fuller covenant, marked with a sacrifice and blood offering. In
the time of Jesus the special journey was made to the temple because it was the only place where offerings
of livestock could be made to God. A practice that is no longer possible.
Modern Jews focus the celebration of this festival in the home, where an elaborate and ritualised meal is
held on the Friday evening. This ritual is an adaptation of the weekly celebration of the day of rest known
as Shabbat. However, on this occasion the story of the Exodus and the ten plagues brought by God on the
Egyptians in order to secure the release of the Hebrews is retold and symbolised within the meal, known as
a seder. The whole ritual is set in motion by the youngest child at the table who drives it forward through
a series of questions.
On the table is a ritual plate, or seder plate, upon which are specific objects each with a symbolic
connection to the story. The bitter herbs that recall the suffering of the Hebrews in slavery, the mixture
of nuts and fruit that represents the materials used by the Hebrews to make bricks. Whilst being a joyful
expression of freedom and restoration, this festival is not afraid to recognise the sorrow that is also
present in the suffering of the Egyptians, and for every plague a little wine is spilt, showing the joy lost by
this taint. The Jewish people recognise that in every moment of joy there is also the possibility of sadness,
they see each festival as a tipping point.
This festival is also a harvest festival, as in Israel it marked the time of the barley harvest, and it was
common practice for a sheaf of barley to be placed on the altar of the temple. Josephus writes
On the second day of unleavened bread, that is to say the sixteenth, our people partake of the crops which
they have reaped and which have not been touched till then, and esteeming it right first to do homage to
God, to whom they owe the abundance of these gifts, they offer to him the first-fruits of the barley in the
following way. After parching and crushing the little sheaf of ears and purifying the barley for grinding, they
bring to the altar an assaron for God, and, having flung a handful thereof on the altar, they leave the rest
for the use of the priests. Thereafter all are permitted, publicly or individually, to begin harvest. (Josephus,
Antiquities 3.250-251, in Josephus IV Jewish Antiquities Books I-IV, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, 1930, pp. 437-439.)

35
Book Reviews

Charles Williams the Third Inkling by Grevel Lindop

Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 928415 3

This superb biography of the enigmatic novelist, poet, theologian and magician Charles Williams
fleshes out the paradoxical nature of a man who is perhaps mainly remembered today as a member of “The
Inklings” but this is to do Charles Williams a disservice, as he was well-known in his own right as an author
and lecturer long before he joined them in the late 1930s. The Inklings were a literary group of friends who
met at the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford to explore their common interest in imaginative fiction, namely
JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and Owen Barfield among others. Today we would call their work fantasy fiction, but
this dismissive term serves to underestimate the serious themes and mythic elements contained in their
work, and the interest they all shared in the varying aspects of their Christian faith.
The work of Tolkien and Lewis is better known now, not least because their work has been made available
to us in our youth by parents and teachers. They have been adapted for radio and TV and more recently
presented as feature films. In contrast, Charles Williams' fiction has been transmitted from peer to peer by
recommendation, the seven novels seem to have acquired a reputation as something for the cognoscenti,
and a rarified taste, a reputation very much at odds with the spirit in which they were written, when they
were intended very much for the general reader, between 1928 and 1945.
The novels are sometimes perceived as difficult now. It is harder for us to relate to the world between the
wars when questions of faith and belief were seen as of vital importance to large sections of the population
in our increasingly secular world. Now we tend to pick up on attitudes that are unacceptable in the world
of today, but to dismiss books on grounds of apparent racism or sexism is to miss much. They were from
and of their time, furthermore the attitudes of characters within a novel are not necessarily those of the
author. In the best of Williams' fiction, things are seldom as they seem at first reading. Perhaps it is the blend
of Christian mysticism, eroticism and the occult that has resulted in making these seven novels a somewhat
secret passion for so many. Even for those of us who value his writing there are moments where we have
wondered exactly what he was getting at.
Looking at the novels as a sequence, it is clear that they all deal with aspects of power and its uses
and abuses. Williams seems to begin with a hypothetical question which he proceeds to explore in the
fiction. What would happen if we could harness and enhance the will beyond the constraints of physical
limitation? (Shadows of Ecstasy) What would happen if platonic archetypal figures became manifest in
our own reality? (Place of the Lion) The themes are played out by casts of individuals who represent
different character types and their viewpoints, yet they are believable as characters. This is not to say that
the books are without flaws, but they speak to us now and create a very real sense of excitement, and of
danger lying latent within the apparently mundane world we live in. Williams does not shrink from showing
us the darker side of magic and of human nature, and indeed seems to be markedly fascinated by those
aspects. However, that has enabled him to describe “the lower depths” within the psyche in detail, with an
unsurpassed realism within what might be dismissed as fantasy.
Thanks to Grevel Lindop's work many of the strands of thought and experience which led Williams
down increasingly darkening avenues of thought, dark but ultimately redemptive, are made clear. In gaining
access to a wealth of previously unpublished material, including private letters and interviews with those
who knew Williams, we can at last begin to understand how a working class Londoner became such an
influential poet,thinker and writer, and whose charismatic lectures so inspired his students. Mr. Lindop has
given us a lively and very readable account of an extraordinary life, and unusually for an academic work, I
really could not put it down. At last we begin to understand Williams' blend of mysticism and perversity, as
a practicing ritual magician with Patmore and Waite and as Christian apologist, and the spell he cast over his
36
 students and followers becomes explicable, in reading how refreshing and exciting his talks on Courtly love,
on Virginity and on Milton seemed to students of the day, who flocked to his lectures.
We hear about the friends and lovers, so important to his life and thought, platonic and otherwise. We
also read of unusual practices involving mild forms of sadism which were clearly important to Williams'
inspiration, and in a more innocent age perhaps, did not seem to perturb his “muses”. This was part and
parcel of his ideas about substitution and co-inherence, ideas which he wrote about a great deal, and around
which he formed an Order, the Company of the Co-inherence, believing as he did in work involving taking
on one another's burdens because at root we are each other, just as Christ can atone for our sins because
he is also us, that we are inseparable from God and from each other. These themes are explored both in his
theological writings and in the later novels.
The seven occult novels are a small part of Williams' output, which included plays, theological books, and
“Witchcraft”, a history of the uses, for good or ill, of the imaginative powers down the ages. He was a
published poet, and undoubtedly his finest work is the Arthurian poetry, the collections “Taliesin through
Logres”, “Region of the Summer Stars” and “Arthurian Torso”. Williams goes back beyond the familiar tales
described by Malory and Tennyson to the more primal myth of the bard Taliesin, wherein we follow the child
with the Shining Brow as he travels from the wilds of his birthplace to Byzantium to bring a divine vision
back to the lands of Logres.
Williams can be as gnomic as Blake at times. Best when read aloud perhaps; these are not easy poems to
fathom and yet the rhythm and cadence of the text creates an almost subliminal grasp of the mood created,
if not the meaning. Even so, the deeper aspects of Charles Williams' theories of co-inherence and substitution
so central to his life and thought are revealed more fully within these poems.
Thanks to Mr. Lindop's work we can read the correspondence between Williams and his various friends
and muses at the time when he was working, and see how his internal struggles and external difficulties
hampered or enhanced the flow of his creativity. Fascinating and insightful, this biography inspires us to
explore or revisit the work of this underrated genius. Highly recommended.

37
Books by Dion Fortune
Secrets Of Doctor Taverner [Paperback] £14.99

Twelve brisk paced stories about an esoteric teacher and healer who uses his skills to save patients. As he does
he battles a whole range beings from vampires to body-snatchers. Dion uses these carefully constructed stories
to introduce the reader to magical practices and many arcane principles of occult law. A must-read for serious
students, and a delightful introduction to many aspects of the Western Mystery Tradition.

Publisher: Weiser Books; Reprint edition (28 July 2011)

ISBN-10: 1578633370
ISBN-13: 978-1578633371

Also currently in print:

The Mystical Qabalah [Paperback] £8.99

Aziloth Books (12 Jan 2012) ISBN-10: 1908388609
Glastonbury Avalon of the Heart £12.99
Red Wheel/Weiser (1 Aug 2003) ISBN-10: 1578631572
Psychic Self-Defence £14.99
Weiser Books (18 Aug 2011) ISBN-10: 1578635098
Sea Priestess £12.99
Red Wheel/Weiser; (1 July 2003) ISBN-10: 1578632900
Demon Lover [Paperback] £12.99
Weiser Books (1 Nov 2010) ISBN-10: 157863492X
Moon Magic [Paperback] £15.99
Red Wheel/Weiser (1 July 2003) ISBN-10: 1578632897
Cosmic Doctrine [Paperback] £14.99
Red Wheel/Weiser (1 Aug 2003) ISBN-10: 1578631602

Check out Skylight Press, and Thoth Publications for these and other publications.

Magazine Exchange
Quest is a small magazine, regularly published in March, June, September and December, since 1970. It
covers many practical aspects of the Western Mystery Traditions, folklore, and Magical philosophy, as well as
personal esoteric experiences, reviews and stories. Since 1968 Quest has organised an annual Conference
each March, runs workshops and occasional day courses. The Editor, Marian Green, is the author of 18
books and regularly lectures in the UK and Europe.
Annual subscription £10 in UK, starting from latest issue, sample £2, pay QUEST. Write to BCM-SCL QUEST London
WC1N 3XX

Mandrake Speaks This is a regular online newsletter with articles and reviews from the Oxford based publisher
and bookseller, Mandrake. It is free of charge and you can sign up by going to: https://mandrakespeaks.wordpress.
com/

Greenmantle A pagan journal filled with news, reviews and articles on a wide range of magical practices and
experiences. http://www.greenmantle.org.uk If you would like to buy an edition of the magazine or pay for an annual
subscription by means other than PayPal then please e-mail the editor. Single issue 3.75 GBP / Annual Subscription (2
Issues) 6.00 GBP

The Newsletter of the Network of Ley Hunters A quarterly magazine that explores Earth Myster-
ies and living within the Sacred Landscape. £15 per year (UK), available from Laurence Main, 9 Mawddwy Cottages,
Minllyn, Dinas Mawddwy, Machynlleth, SY20 9LW Wales

If you run or know of any other magazines that you think would like to be listed here please contact us at
sil@innerlight.org.uk

Design by Essex
www.visualeyes.design 38
There is a life behind the personality that uses personalities as
masks. There are times when life puts off the mask and deep
answers unto deep.
Dion Fortune

The Society of the Inner Light

38 Steele’s Road, London NW3 4RG
© Society of the Inner Light