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The

Anglicanism gone Polytheistic

In Praise of Le Fay

The Line

SUMMER SOLSTICE 2018 VOLUME 38 NUMBER 2

Established by in 1922 1 I was recently asked to give a talk to a pagan group, it is always a challenge to think of a topic that will inspire and interest an audience, particularly when you do not know their level of awareness. Too basic a talk and you bore your audience and leave them with little new, too detailed you risk confusion. It is a case of being damned if you do or if you don’t. I decided to take the Qabalistic as the theme of my talk, and before I even started I had people saying that other talks on the subject had left them confused and bewildered, some saying they had even considered staying home.

For me Qabalah has been the rock on which my understanding of the esoteric has been built. When I first encountered it and all its literature I must admit I too was bewildered but underlying the verdant morass of verbiage I found something elegant and beautiful. This led me to thinking about the way esoteric convention has sought to confuse and mislead the uninitiated seeker. Crowley’s writings were often deliberately wrong, with him saying those who knew would understand. It has been suggested that this was his way of being able to publish with a clear conscience, in the belief that he was not breaking the oath of his initiation. Thankfully for us Dion Fortune saw no such need, and I am with her on this. The esoteric knowledge of the type we find in her wonderful text ‘The Mystical Qabalah’ is surely the inheritance of all humanity and not just the lucky few. It is true that this is a dense volume with every sentence carrying a depth of meaning that can only be accessed through much thought and contemplation, yet this book is clear and accessible. Long before encountering her book I had dispensed with many of the more onerous aspects of Qabalah, such as gematria. So loved by Crowley, gematria is a way of using that quirk of the Hebrew language where letters are used as numbers, enabling words to be reduced to a numerical value, which is fine if you are a speaker of classical Hebrew – a now dead language. However, I asked myself the relevance of such a technique. Crowley had used it to test the validity of his realisations from pathworking, he wanted to know if what he had encountered was genuine. Surely there is a better way to do this and it is not an obsession with correspondence and symbolism. Dion Fortune drew, instead, on the work of William James, just as a trained theologian would.

James saw that the encounter itself whilst being of value possessed particular chaaracteristics, notably that it was noetic and ineffable. In other words, we learnt something profound from it that we found difficult to express clearly in words. However, the test of its validity came not in what images were seen but, in the way that the vision had changed the person. That the individual had taken the experience and used it to shape their daily life. This idea is profoundly important to me, for if our practice does not lead us to encounter the Divine, and in turn we fail to apply that which we learn from our encounter into our daily life then it is pointless. No matter how many confusing words I write, how clever I appear on the page or in my speech, if what I am saying and doing does not help me to grow and become a better, more loving, more complete person, then it is merely chaff, and my energies have been wasted in an abortive act of self- misdirection. So how did my talk go you may ask. I kept true to my principles. I explained how I like DF jettison the peripheral distractions and take the core principles. It was these principles that I centred my talk on and the way that Qabalah helps me to grow and engage in right action in my daily life. My approach was clear and simple using accessible language and peppered with personal examples. The result was an increase of sales of the Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune! I hope these principles shine out in the pages of this journal, for I strongly believe it was the aim of DF to bring a clear and uncluttered understanding of the esoteric to all seekers so that they might use it to become better and fuller human beings.

Christian

2 “Anglicanism gone polytheistic” Dion Fortune and the Emergence of Pagan Part 1 By Paul Ashdown

in 1934 but it seems, surprisingly, to have won little immediate recognition in itself.

It was the rediscovery of her writings in the wake the psychedelic era which gave her the retrospective prominence which she enjoys in Glastonbury today. From 1926, under the name of Dion Fortune, she published short stories and novels in which she encoded her own views on the supernatural world. One of these, The Sea Priestess, 1938, was set in a lightly fictionalised Weston Super Mare, where she had lived for a while as a teenager. This, with Moon , in existence and circulated among friends by 1942 but not finally published until eleven years after her death in 1956, proved especially appealing for growing feminist approaches to the esoteric. Their heroine, Lilith Le Fay Morgan, references of Arthurian legend, the mistress of the Isle of , who in medieval sources is called both an What emerged most strongly from the recent enchantress and a 'goddess'. seminar, 'The Other Avalonians: Scholars and Eccentrics of Glastonbury's Romantic Era', was the importance of Anglican-Roman Catholic rivalries and Glastonbury was always the prominent role of clergymen of both confessions for her a retreat from a in shaping perceptions of Glastonbury in the first half of the twentieth century – Dion Fortune's London Glastonbury. This makes more striking the sudden transition at the end of the 1960s to contemporary, The topic of Pagan Glastonbury and Dion Fortune overwhelmingly neo-pagan, understandings of may be subdivided into four sub-themes: Glastonbury. Firstly, pagan Glastonbury as it actually existed in antiquity, approachable through and Dion Fortune was clearly a factor in that transition, analogy with similar places elsewhere. Secondly, but a slow-burning one. Unlike Alice Buckton perceptions of Glastonbury's pagan past before at , or operatic composer Rutland and during DF's lifetime. Thirdly, her own complex Boughton, who recruited local people for their personal attitudes to it. Fourthly, the contribution, if dramatic productions, she seems not to have any, of DF's practice and writings to those neo-pagan engaged to any extent with the local community understandings of Glastonbury which first emerged here. Glastonbury was always for her a retreat from at the end of the 1960s. a London which was the centre of her activities. Her tribute to Glastonbury, Avalon of the Heart, The Mendip hills within sight of Glastonbury was published under her birth name of Violet Firth were home to some of the oldest humans known

3 to have inhabited Britain, over 550,000 – half a has the oldest evidence of burial in open ground, million – years ago. These were not humans of rather than in caves, anywhere in Britain. Evidence our species, however, and they disappeared with survives from the Mesolithic, though not so far from a return of the ice sheets. In succeeding warmer Somerset, of head-dresses of deer antlers, periods, Neanderthals used the Mendip caves. Some reminiscent of the Horn Dance that survives at Neanderthals, elsewhere at least, had ideas we would Abbots' Bromley to this day. classify as religious, burying their dead with . Neanderthals in turn would withdraw in the face of The Glastonbury landscape has often been described worsening climatic conditions. After the very severe as surreal. It is a place of three hills, a magically conditions of the Late Glacial Maximum of 20,000 significant number, set, before medieval drainage years ago had passed, however, around 15,000 years schemes, within a great meander of the . ago, the humans that returned were of our own The Tor is a striking feature as seen from around species, Homo sapiens - people just like us. The Greylake, where, as from the Mendips, it appears as a continuous occupation of this region, and therefore perfect pyramid, a regularity which must have seemed its pre-Christian past, dates from that time, and the quite uncanny to people who had no experience genetic base of the population of what eventually of stone buildings or indeed large buildings of any became Somerset has been remarkably stable since kind. The solar aspect it shares with the pyramids is then. 'Cheddar Man', who died about 12,000 years fundamental as, by chance or supernatural design, the ago, had, as is well known, a descendant in the oval which forms the ground-plan of the Tor aligns female line who was teaching history in the local on its longer axis with the May morning sunrise and school when DNA tests were conducted there. the Hallowstide sunset, the cardinal points between Human bones from Gough's Cave show that these Summer and Winter in the ancient Celtic calendar. people were cannibals, a practice which, when met A Wiccan lady of my acquaintance once told with in more recent times, generally had a religious me she did not much like the Tor as it was 'too or magical element. phallic'. Viewed from the north, however, it may be seen more gently as a clitoris protruding from The Glastonbury its labial folds, while from the south, the Isle of Avalon presents the profile of a recumbent female, landscape has often with Stonedown the head, the Tor the left breast, been described as Chalice Hill as the belly and Wirral as a raised knee and thigh. The Abbey site and the Market Place, surreal it has been pointed out, lies at the vulva of this notional figure. If these resemblances and chances We are now transitioning to the post-glacial, Middle are apparent to many today, we may be sure they Stone Age period, the Mesolithic, with Britain finally did not go unnoticed by our prehistoric forbears, becoming an island around 6,000 BC. The Mesolithic whose acquaintance with the landscape was far more cemetery on the former marsh island at Greylake intimate than our own. The Mesolithic, indeed, is

4 Anglicanism gone polytheistic

later Welsh poem of the cauldron of the Head of the Underworld as having pearls about the rim.

The Celtic culture of the Age was, of course, the setting of the Druids, who figure so largely in Glastonbury's pagan past as imagined by Dion Fortune. Druids were Celtic , but it does not follow that all Celtic priests were Druids, and there is no direct archaeological evidence to link Glastonbury with them. Druids were associated by the Classical writers with oak trees, however, and the most likely derivation of Glaston, the fundamental element of the name Glastonbury, is from Cornish glastann, oak-trees. The Oaks of Avalon were famous Britain's 'Dreamtime', its culture comparable to that in the eighteenth century, and Gog and Magog, of the Aboriginal Australians. traditionally Druid oaks, survive to this day although sadly Gog is now dead. The agricultural revolution arrived somewhat before 4,000 BC, the dawn of the New Stone Many of the hill-tops Age or Neolithic. Britain has had a man-made, a managed, landscape since that time. The wetlands around the Severn Sea of mid-Somerset, the Levels as they are called, became the sites of offered valuable resources of fish, wildfowl etc. to supplement the production of early agriculture. Romano-Celtic temples Wooden trackways were constructed through the marshes, the oldest being the Sweet Track, which The Roman Period marks the transition to the tree-rings date precisely to 3,807 BC. Glastonbury of historic times. Many of the hill-tops around the Severn Sea became the sites of Romano- The so-called '-dolly', an apparently Celtic temples, doubtless older sacred places but hermaphrodite figure, was found deposited beside now identifiable for us because of the traces of it, as was a stone axe head. In the 1960s a Neolithic Roman-style stone foundations that remain. Brent axe-head was found likewise deposited on top of the Knoll, which DF thought had been built by the Tor. It would be nice to think that this was placed Atlanteans, was one, as was Brean Down, location here as a votive offering in the Neolithic itself, and of the temple of her Sea Priestess, although the site so testify to veneration of the hill, but such things was not discovered until after her death. The most were treasured as , 'thunderbolts', almost to famous was the temple of Nodens at Lydney in modern times, so that must remain an open question. Gloucestershire, excavated by Mortimer Wheeler in the 1920s, and probably connected with the Severn In the Bronze Age, tracks like the so-called Bore. Many of these sites are inter-visible. In 1988 I Abbot's Way, the first discovered, continued to be suggested in a magazine article that the Tor summit, constructed in the marshes. When in prehistory Britain became a Celtic-speaking county with an Indo-European type of society and mythology remains controversial. By the , when the world-famous Lake Villages were built, it was so. The Celtic cult of the severed head was evidenced here by skulls which had clearly been stuck on poles by the outer fences. The bronze Glastonbury Bowl, an heirloom which had been repaired several times, was deposited, perhaps as an offering, in the waters beside the village. It recalls the description in a much

5 significant pagan past actually made much impact on perceptions of Glastonbury in Christian times. There is no story of Christian missionaries throwing down the great pagan sanctuary that some modern archaeologists, as well as esotericists, have imagined. The closest we get is the story of St Collen, supposedly a fourth-century Christian hermit who was summoned from his cell at the foot of the Tor to the hall of Gwyn son of Nudd, king of the , on top of the hill. Nudd, significantly, is the Nodens of the Lydney temple. Collen splashed holy water about and the vision of the court vanished. This excavated in the 1960s, should be reinterpreted as a Welsh story, recorded only in a late manuscript, was Roman temple site and in 2001 local archaeologists not widely known until it appeared in print in the Charles and Nancy Hollinrake recognised the nineteenth century and it attracted little attention robbed-out foundations of a circular temple building even then. It seems unlikely that DF ever heard it, or on the old excavation plan. There were many spiral how could she have failed to use it? ammonite fossils found on the Tor summit, more than nature would suggest, and the Hollinrakes The, possibly tenth-century, Welsh poem Preiddeu have documented Roman temples elsewhere Annwfyn, the 'Spoils of the Otherworld', tells of where ammonites and prehistoric axe-heads were an expedition by Arthur and his men to win the deposited. Cauldron of the Head of the Otherworld (a kind of proto-Grail) from a fairy fortress called by many There is a continuous sequence of pottery at the names. One is Caer Wydr, the City of Glass. This is Abbey site from the Iron Age through the four the name which of Llancarfan, in his twelfth- centuries of the Roman period, as well as glass and century life of St Gildas, applies to Glastonbury. hypocaust tile, suggesting a villa there. The well The other-world character Melwas, which means beside the Lady Chapel, the site of the oldest part of 'Prince-Youth', captures Guenevere and holds her the Christian building, may be Roman. The Roman prisoner here until Gildas negotiates her return Christian room at Lullingstone villa in Kent began life to Arthur. This is a version of the Persephone as a pagan nymphaeum, and more recently part of myth. It is important to realise, however, that the a villa at Bradford on Avon near Bath was found to Mabinogion and Preiddeu Annwfyn are NOT pagan have become a Christian baptistry. literature, like Homer or Hesiod in Greece or Virgil in Rome. They were composed in Christian times, Sixth-century imported Byzantine pottery at the a romantic re-imagining of the ancient past. This Abbey shows the site continued in importance is true of most Old Irish literature also, although a into the post-Roman period, most probably as few texts, like the Tain, may go back as oral poetry a significant ecclesiastical centre. This area was to prehistory. As we have noted, Avalon continued one of the most highly Romanised in the country, to be associated with Morgan the Fay throughout however, and the transition to should the , but the association remained one be understood on a Late Roman model, similar to of the world of literary fantasy. It was with the contemporary Gaul, rather than on the romantic Virgin Mary and the relics of its numerous saints Celtic one of popular imagination. An Irish that Glastonbury was overwhelmingly associated connection was certainly important later, however. in the High Middle Ages. With the Reformation There was a cult of St Patrick at Glastonbury and the and the destruction of the Abbey, its ruins, like its traditions of Patrick on the Tor mirror those at the -flowering Thorn Tree, were popularly Irish sacred mountain of Croagh Patrick on the west associated with and the building coast, which it resembles. of the first church in Britain, and this in turn became associated with a patriotic Protestantism. It was with Turning to Pagan Glastonbury as Imagined, it is this aspect of Glastonbury as the cradle of British, perhaps surprising that none of this potentially imagined anachronistically as English, Christianity

6 Anglicanism gone polytheistic

Chalice Well, attended Boughton's fairy opera The Immortal Hour and sat as a medium for Bligh Bond.

She came, of course, as an heir to the often- forgotten Victorian neo- of the poet Swinburne, the Symbolist painters, the romantic cult of as evidenced in The Wind in the Willows, and Wagner's Ring cycle. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the all-pervasive influence of Wagner in late 19th- and early 20th-century culture and he certainly influenced DF. Another influence was Frazer's The Golden Bough which first appeared in 1890 and sought to put Christianity in its place as a mystery religion amidst his own synthesis of pagan that the writers of popular chap-books and the early myth and anthropological gleanings. The much- antiquaries were principally concerned. The Rev. admired conclusion of her 1934 Avalon of the Heart, Richard Warner, however, in his An History of the in which she calls herself an 'unrepentant heathen' Abbey of Glaston; and of the Town of Glastonbury, but hopes, none-the-less, for a Catholic revival here, 1826, which begins the era of modern scholarship, is actually closely modelled on the conclusion of the speculated on a Druid sanctuary here and solar Golden Bough. worship on the Tor. She developed a closeness to the Bonds, both father The Rev. Lionnel Smithett Lewis, the eccentric and daughter, and may already have known them in Vicar of Glastonbury between the Wars, who would Theosophical or circles in London before she eventually bury DF, made mention of the Druid oaks came here. Bond was something of a mentor to in work which was mainly concerned to vindicate the her in her early occultist career and was probably literal truth of the stories of Joseph of Arimathea. In a major factor in her coming to Glastonbury in the 1940s he would attempt to have the Nanteos the first place. In her trance sittings for him, she Cup, which he believed was the , brought produced material on a Druid order of '', to Glastonbury. a title, not a personal name, she declared, who welcomed the Christian missionaries here. Neither she nor Bond made much use of this material she calls herself an later on. Like William Blake, DF tended to have 'unrepentant heathen' an ambiguous attitude to Druids, accepting them as evidence of the antiquity of Britain's spiritual From 1908, , eccentric architect heritage, but regarding them also as a -thirsty and esoteric Freemason, began excavations in the and degenerate cult, sprung from the latter days of Abbey ruins. He became notorious for his use Atlantis. She was also one of the few people who of 'automatic' scripts through which he believed have disliked Chalice Well, finding it sinister. She he could access the memories of the long-dead believed Druids had drowned victims in its inner monks. In 1910 he found a large boulder of 'Tor chamber. Here she was quite wrong, for the so- burr' sandstone in a drain at the Abbey which had called 'inner chamber' is in fact Victorian. She evidently had some shaping. Named the Egg Stone, cannot be entirely blamed for this, however. Alice this, it was suggested, may have been the omphalos Buckton, the Well's owner in her day, believed the or naval stone of the prehistoric sanctuary of Well itself was as old as Stonehenge and might have Glastonbury, similar to that at Delphi. It was further been built by the Ancient Egyptians. It is probably all suggested that a hollow in it may have been cut to nineteenth-century. DF's dislike of the Well possibly accommodate a standing cross in Christian times. reflected her frosty relations with Alice Buckton, a poetess, playwright and Christian Socialist. Buckton Violet Firth - Dion Fortune - seems to have first ran the Well property as an esoteric guest house come to Glastonbury around 1919. She stayed at and craft centre, and hosted talks there. It was the

7 Greek paganism. Her rites of and Pan have been described, not, I think, unfairly, as 'Anglicanism gone polytheistic.' We must always remember that she sought synthesis and these rites paralleled her Guild of the Master , which held weekly communion services, and her Hermetic workings in the Golden Dawn tradition.

Her 1934 Avalon of the Heart does not seem to have been reviewed locally, but its eventual bequests to Glastonbury lore included the spiral Tor processional way, which others, including , would eventually elaborate into the theory of a three- dimensional Maze. Most perceptive, however, was her recognition of the dual nature of Glastonbury, with a pagan focus about the Tor and a Christian one about the Abbey. This is valid and seems to model for DF's own Chalice Orchard retreat across have been so from the beginning. Her idea of a fairy the road, which she set up in 1924. Avalon and a Christian Glastonbury as overlapping realms between which a sensitive person might move One of the speakers who tried out her ideas on a was also pregnant with future developments. Chalice Well audience was Margaret Murray. Murray began her long career – she lived to be a hundred – as an assistant to Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie, Most perceptive, to whose daughter Alice Buckton of the Well was however, was her godmother. Murray is now best remembered for her book The -cult in Western Europe, 1921, recognition of the dual in which she set out her theory that the witches prosecuted in the sixteenth and seventeenth nature of Glastonbury centuries were members of an underground pagan Something of this same sensibility also informed fertility religion. No serious historian now accepts John Cowper Powys' strange novel, A Glastonbury this but her idea was influential in her day. It was on Romance, 1933. This upset locals and caused a libel Murray's books that the post-War modern witch- action and appeared just in time to achieve a brief religion would be modelled, but that is to anticipate. notice in Avalon of the Heart. Katherine Maltwood's According to Bligh Bond, speaking in 1919, it was A Guide to Glastonbury's Temple of the Stars, Murray who first measured the Well for alignments which first appeared anonymously in 1935, seems and declared it the place of sacrifice of a fertility cult. nowhere to have been noticed in DF's writings. This first outlined the now famous concept of a In book recommendations etc., DF would broadly giant Zodiac formed by roads and natural features accept Murray's theory, but as with Druidry and around Glastonbury, which was later elaborated Chalice Well, she disliked . Although she by Mary Caine. Maltwood thought it had been might on occasion jocularly refer to herself as a created by the Sumerians in 2,700 BC. An artist and 'witch', she thought many mentally disturbed people sculptress, she would stay at neo-Gothic Chilton in the contemporary occult world had been witches Priory, with its high tower on the crest of the Polden in a previous incarnation. Hills, a holiday home which Bligh Bond extended for her. She moved to Canada in 1938. In her The The pagan ritual which she herself practised at Enchantments of Britain, written in Canada in 1944, Chalice Orchard and on the Tor, particularly after while musing on what the dawning of the Age of her marriage to Dr Penry Evans in 1927, was of a Aquarius might bring, she asked: 'Can the little town far more decorous kind. Record survives of her of Glaston be cleansed by the waters of its once holy Dance of the Elements, chanted out on the Tor, an “Chalice Well” (the Aquarius Cup) from the miasma example of her Green Ray which reflected Celtic and

8 Anglicanism gone polytheistic

of pseudo-occultism?' By this date, she can really only have had DF's Fraternity in mind. The comment may reflect another, otherwise undocumented, clash of personalities.

DF herself, of course, also made known her dislike of 'pseudo-occultism', warning repeatedly of the perils of drugs and sex-magic, such as would become so characteristic of the 1960s and 70s. Rather surprisingly, however, she seems to have achieved a rapprochement with , by now old and harmless, in what turned out to be the last couple of years of their lives. We can only guess what she might have made of the emergence of what its historian, Ronald Hutton, calls 'modern pagan witchcraft' in the post-War era, had she not died, tragically young, in 1946.

The Metrical Sephiroth

Yesod Yesod, for title, has Foundation, Though to the physical allied,, Beauty and Strength in combination, More vital on the etheric side, A strong man naked, and his place And with magnetic influence The Central Pillar, near the base. Invisible to outward sense. The Ninth Path - Pure Intelligence: The Symbols, which Yesod assumes Fluidic waters in suspense Our ritual Sandals, and Perfumes Are gathered up and purified, On man’s emotions brought to bear The God-Name – SHADDAI EL CHAI, With incense rising on the air. The Ever-living God Almighty: The Tarot Nines that are assigned The is . Work each according to its kind, Yesod displays his strengths as well bringing in the Powers of Pan, In the Strong – Cherubim. Cups, worldly Happiness to man, The mundane chakra given him Swords, dark Despair and Cruelty, Seems to his fixed foundation strange, But Pentacles, Prosperity. The Moon, Levanah, flux and change: Absolute’s hue is indigo; This is the realm of astral light With violet will Briah glow: Whose varied shapes hold matter tight, ’s purple glooms like wine; Bound by the magic power of Mind; Assiah’s azure flecks citrine For and , both combined With Tiphareth, to Yesod add Forces fulfilling their Triad. In Yesod’s Vision there is seen The Universe as a machine, Whose rhythm has a lunar beat As tides advance and then retreat. Yesod, in Virtue independent, Has Idleness as Vice attendant, Lethargy of the lunar phase, Called reflex of the Solar rays. In Yesod’s Microcosmic sphere The subtler modes of sex appear,

9 In Praise of Lilith Le Fay by Ian Rees and Penny Billington

background and is in some ways the classical anima figure linked with fertility and life who awakens latent capacities and brings about transformation. This capacity is emphasized in the novel by having Vivian described as an old woman who has somehow becomes ageless and ever-young and who enters into a relationship with Wilfred Maxwell a local estate agent in which she induces him to love her while being clear that she will not return his love. He represents the disempowered man who cannot access his own power. She uses the device of the fire of Azrael- a flame made of juniper, cedar and sandalwood - to develop his capacity of vision. Using this capacity he creates a temple for her and in a ritual offers her his subtle energy, incarnating within her the living image of the sea priestess. In The recent issue of the Inner Light included a this process he himself becomes an initiate of the number of articles that discussed The Sea Priestess mysteries; she then leaves him passing on into her and the figure of Vivien Le Fay Morgan. Some next stage of her path. concern was expressed about working with this figure – with the result that a friend humorously enquired if it was safe to read the book. As authors Using this capacity of a book analyzing Dion Fortune’s novels who he creates a temple have used the image of Vivien/Lilith Le Fay as guide and psychopomp we thought we would present an for her and in a ritual alternative view. It is our thesis that the main novels offers her his subtle represent the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life and the novel Sea Priestess where we first encounter Lilith energy (here called Vivien Le Fay Morgan) is concerned with We next find her in renamed as Lilith: the Sephirah Yesod-the sphere of the machinery of the semitic root L-Y_L-means night and one way of the universe whereas in Moon Magic we encounter translating the name would be night being. In the the mystical Sephirah Daath and Lilith Le Fay book of Isaiah she is called the female who lives in emerging in her fullness as a major adept. the abode of desolation - the desert place of Edom. The root archetype here is a deeper version of the In Sea Priestess the figure of Vivian Le Fay Morgan, anima figure we find in Sea Priestess addressing having entered the inner path, needs to take a deeper the Sephirah Binah - the ancient mother. Lilith le step creating the image of herself as a sea priestess fay the priestess of the Dark Isis and her task is to connected to the deep root of western tradition- bring back the lost energies of the Mother and bring Atlantis-Plato’s mythical island of perfection. Atlantis them into relationship with the masculine. The novel was believed by DF to be where the western magical describes a magical relationship between her and tradition emerged. It represents the archetype of Rupert Malcolm, a man who represents the chained the ideal city set on a mountain –a mandala city of dynamic masculine. There are echoes here of the 3 circles with, at its centre, the temple of Poseidon, Song of Songs as well as the mysteries of Isis and who is both the God of the Sea and the earth shaker Osiris; the story is told alternately from Rupert’s connecting us with the foundations of the world. perspective and then Lilith’s, before coming together The figure of the sea priestess emerges out of this in a series of rituals in which the Dark feminine is

10 In praise of Lilith Le Fay

evokes the idea of the archetype of priesthood which continues to express itself down the ages. Similarly in her introduction to Moon Magic she says,

“ When I imagined the figure of Vivien Le Fay Morgan or Lilith Le Fay as she variously called herself, I brought into being a personality, and in the second book in which she figures - the present volume - she is very far from being a puppet in my hands, but takes charge of the situation.”

She appears to have had a strong effect on Dion Fortune and there are stories of her dressing like Lilith. This led to various theories of her being overshadowed by this figure and even suggestions that it is was this overshadowing that led to her early death. This is further heightened by the fact that her successor in the Society of the Inner Light, Arthur , felt that there was what might be called a cult of the persona of Dion Fortune and manifest and then the divine masculine freed, meeting to enable the Society to move on it was thought the feminine in a sacred marriage. necessary to destroy images of her and objects that had a personal connection to her and to reboot the So what Dion Fortune is presenting in her two Society as an act of purification. accounts of this adept/priestess is an introduction firstly to the mysteries of Yesod and what Jung would describe as the collective unconscious; drawing The relationship on the ancient archetype of Atlantis and teachings between Yesod and concerning training of the magical imagination. In Moon Magic these teachings are expanded, through Daath on the Tree of showing us the mysteries of the dark feminine which echo into both Egyptian, Babylonian and Life is seen as very early Hebrew traditions. Both books are teachings significant for our time in that Vivien/Lilith is addressing the A further cycle of this happened in 1980 when it was reemergence of these teachings in the modern era thought that the figure of the Sea Priestess had been and we are presented with key images that express continually influencing and overshadowing people the essence of these older traditions. who were following the path that Dion Fortune

The relationship between Yesod and Daath on the Tree of Life is seen as very significant, defining what is called the magical circuit which flows between the poles of spirit and matter. Lilith is the teacher of the activation and manifestation of that magical circuit and as we follow her direction we too learn to immerse ourselves in the current and work with it.

Lilith/Vivian remains however a controversial figure as she intersects with the myth of Dion Fortune herself. This begins in her introduction to Sea Priestess in which she describes the book as, “a literary Melchizedek,” a strange phrase which

11 The talk concluded with a meditation in which participants were asked to visualize a mirror and see through it the temple landscape of Lilith le Fay, an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes leading to the temple of Isis which in turns leads to the underground temple of the Black Isis. From the distance a figure could be seen walking towards the mirror who as she got nearer could be seen to be the Priestess of the Dark Goddess who then stepped into the room to bless the participants. It was in effect an of Lilith into the room and the energetic atmosphere of all present.

It was a powerful experience for all who witnessed it and led to a whole stream of new work - a series of talks on the life and work of Dion Fortune, the writing of a book on her formula of the novels had laid out. This led to a formal banishing of Vivien/ and the Qabalah ‘The Keys to the Temple’, the Lilith in May of that year. The understanding then commissioning and painting of an image of Lilith was that she was a Ghost or un-integrated thought- by the fine artist Stuart Littlejohn and many other form that had been given power and presence by things. The ongoing talks and meditations gathered Dion Fortune’s and her associates’ identification and a group of participants, none of whom reported any reverence. sense of overshadowing. Understanding this experience is complex, Central to the book ‘Keys to the Temple’ is the figure particularly for those who were not there and did of Lilith as psychopomp. All the meditations begin not know Dion Fortune. She herself has become with making contact with her and the book ends a mythical figure and so in addressing Vivien/Lilith with a series of meditations on the mysteries of in her we are addressing an image within an image; the Dark Goddess. It might be argued that we have we are in danger of an infinite regress. What is sought to undo the good work of previous initiates clear though is that for those involved the direct who have bound a disturbed and autocratic thought- experience was one of disturbance and a feeling form. Our experience has been profoundly different of having been taken over by something that then from those earlier days. Lilith Le Fay presents herself needed binding and banishing.

So far so good for those involved in these events; they are all people of great experience and integrity and there is no particular reason to doubt their accounts. However as Dion Fortune has described the book “Sea Priestess” as a literary Melchizedek the matter does not end there. It continues to have influence and the figure of Vivien/Lilith continues to have impact upon the world. In relation to our work with this figure the sequence of events that led to us writing the book Keys to the Temple had its genesis in February 2012 when Ian Rees, on a dark and stormy night, gave a talk and led a meditation in Glastonbury Town Hall. The talk concerned Dion Fortune’s formula of putting together the novels and the Qabalah and in that act finding the Keys to the Temple.

12 In praise of Lilith Le Fay

as a clear and compassionate teacher who take those with a great blue bowl filled with water and having a who work with her step by step into the mysteries lotus flower floating in it. of the Dark Mother and enables us to enact the sacred marriage of the divine Feminine and Masculine A strange smoke or mist hovers over the bowl, and at first within our hearts and later within the world. as you sit opposite Lilith she invites you to look deeply into it. In the end judgment must be made by each of us on the basis of our own experience and by the fruits As you look into the waters, you see sparks of of the work. With this in mind we invite you to golden light within the water and the silvery mist experiment with the following meditation. that is rising. You feel as if you are sinking into the deep sea of the beginning, touching of all “Imagine yourself connecting to the ancient city of life, feeling the sea, the moon, the deep flowing tides London, walking along the banks of the Thames on a of the universe in which we live and move and have misty evening. our being.

Feel the rhythm of walking into the mist, into Behind Lilith you sense a vast veiled shape: the Deep mystery and silence... A little way ahead of you, Mother, the Dark Isis, and through her priestess, become aware of the figure of a woman with a Lilith Le Fay, you to the continuing spiritual broad-brimmed hat and a black cloak. current of the work of Dion Fortune and commit yourself to the work.

Central to the book As you do so, in your own way, you may be shown ‘Keys to the Temple’ is scenes or images relevant to the work and to aspects of your life, or you may just sink into the relaxation the figure of Lilith as of acceptance into service.

psychopomp At a certain point you will feel a change, the pull of the outside world and the impulse to leave. So, Let yourself follow her—your rhythm matching hers saluting the priestess and the Goddess she serves, as she leads you onwards, across a to the you find yourself outside the church door and other side of the river. thoughtfully retrace your steps, crossing the bridge and walking along the Thames, allowing the scene She leads you to an old gothic-looking church behind you to fade back into its own realm and your dimly seen through the mist ... and you pause at the awareness of the everyday world to come to the entrance as she turns to face you, shining a crystal- fore, until you find yourself back in the room you clear light into your face, asking, “Why have you started in. come? Why do you seek entrance here?” Answer spontaneously, and if she is satisfied she will invite Take time to return, grounding and orientating you in. yourself to the outer world.

You find yourself in a large room with high windows, lit by moon- light slanting across the dark polished floor. There is a great hearth and a fire in which aromatic woods are burning.

In the centre of this otherwise bare room are two chairs: one simpler, in which you sit, and the other like a throne, with many images carved on it. On this sits Lilith Le Fay, a priestly, still, and potent presence. Between the chairs is an octagonal Moorish table

13 The Light of the World By J P

In the experience of life, the dimensions of Daleth are in no way physical but the journey that we must rather they are pure states of being. all make is from this earthly sojourn back to heaven is Now let us turn to this painting by Hunt. We see described for us in the story that a figure is knocking on a door, but the key lies in of the “Prodigal Son”. Yet we the accessory that the figure carries - the lantern. are invariably lectured that It is a six sided lantern which indicates the sixth it is almost impossible for Sephirah ‘Tiphareth’ on that great glyph of the Tree the rich man to make such of Life (opposite). Tiphareth is the Christ center a journey just as it would be and also the crucified god and this is typified by the for a camel to pass through crown of thorns that the figure wears on his head the eye of the needle. What but note that the lantern is only being carried and is rarely delivered from the that it is not being used as a guiding light held by the pulpit is that the ‘richness’ is figure; it is being carried for us to follow. Had it have not the material wealth from been used to light the way for the figure, he would and of the physical world with its emphasis on money and gold, but rather the wealth and stature of our earthbound . In other words it is not a question about our material possessions but rather it is to do with our whole state of being and the state of our soul with its earthbound nature of the rough Ashlar at best and a rough hewn stone at worst. But, when we have come to the realisation that the way back to Heaven is through ‘Thy Will’ and not ‘My will’ and have thereby polished our rough Ashlar into that more perfect Stone, then the way is open for us to return and we follow the Path of Gimel heavenward, so as to be ready for our stone to be placed within God’s Holy Temple.

THE SECRET OF THE PAINTING.

The symbol of the letter Hebrew letter ‘Gimel’ is the ‘camel’. Thus the pathway back to the heavenly heights is by way of the Path of the Camel and from the diagram we can see that the Path of the Camel crosses the Path of Daleth. To the Hebrew letter ‘Daleth’ is given the symbol of a ‘little doorway’ and so the way back to our heavenly home is by following the camel through the little door or as it is exaggerated in the text, the eye of a needle. But the supreme reality is that the “eye of the needle” is the whole width of the sky and as deep as its deepest depths thus we begin to understand that

14 The light of the world

However, there is more. The picture shows us that it is still night-time but that the first glimmering rays of dawn are just beginning to show. In our mundane world it is always a figurative night because we are blind to the true light of heaven which is only mirrored to us in a glass darkly so that we are not blinded by the true brightness. That the world sleeps is shown us by the image of the ‘bat’ shown above Christ’s head who we must note is still crowned with the thorns. In this image Christ leads the way and although resurrected he has not yet ascended for as we are told by him when he met Mary “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father” When ascended, then he will be crowned not with thorns but with the radian light – “Ain Soph Aur” which is to say “Limitless Light”. You will also note that the clasp of the cloak bears the jewels of the High ’s breastplate. have been holding the lantern to see where he was going. This indicates that the figure and the scene It is also a possibility that the image of the ‘bat’ might depicted in the painting is at a higher level or state represent Da-at on the Tree of Life. That place which from Tiphareth; he is, in fact, treading the pathway in the physical world marks that transition as of of ‘Gimel’ and he is about to knock on the door of water into steam or that surface where ice becomes ‘Daleth’. water it is a place of transformation from one state into another; that place of transfiguration where God In the picture the figure is knocking on a doorway and Man are united; where the Creator is united which is partially obscured by an ivy-like plant and with the created. That moment when the ovum green herbaceous growth. At this level, the door can becomes implanted into the womb which secures its only be the entrance to the which is existence from just being a potential or a possibility. our Heavenly home and the conclusion of our quest which, as we again learn from the parable of the Here in the Garden of Eden is our destiny. Here we “Prodigal Son” is to dwell with God and He in us. are called so that we may walk and dwell in God and He in us as did Enoch who walked with God and Thus the figure is of Jesus who is showing us the came not forth again. way for as the sentence reads, “I AM the Way; the Truth and the Life and no-ones comes to the Father Here in the Garden we shall not only see but also but through Me”. Yes, no-one comes to the Father walk with and know God as did in his purity. but through the sacrifice of all of one’s personalities and all of those coats of the many colours of our Here in Eden, the Tree of Knowledge becomes the Jacobian auras. Having asked, Christ then shows us Tree of Life and the Serpent Nachash is One with All. the Way; He is knocking on the door and He will bid us enter and when the door is opened we will be admitted back to our Heavenly home for this is the door to the Garden of Eden from whence we all chose to leave as portrayed in parable of the Prodigal Son. We chose to leave and we chose to clothe ourselves with the fig-leaf coat of skin and then sojourn with the temptations of the physical world. But now, finally, we have seen the Light in all its meridian splendour and have followed that bright morning star which leads us Home.

15 The Initiate’s Ideal By Dion Fortune

in meeting those who may justly be reckoned as initiates.

There is a simplicity of life and serenity of demeanour. The initiate is entirely unperturbed amid catastrophe and horror. He possesses many of the qualities if a traveller in wild lands, especially an ability to land right side up and smiling in the most surprising circumstances. He is equally contented and at ease in the humblest cottage and the most imposing ceremonious surroundings. the Great Initiator comes in the Silence of the higher consciousness and is When we speak of the path we mean much more never a human being than a course of study. The path is a way of life, and on it the whole being must co-operate if the heights This harmonised, free-moving poise is the inevitable are to be won. When the seeker awakes to the result of the discipline to which he subjects himself. possibilities of initiation and sets out on the quest He learns control of emotion and desirelessness. It for the great initiator, he will not be long before he is not easy to upset the equanimity of a man who finds some one who is willing to direct him, and his has achieved these qualities. He loves simplicity, perplexity as to the direction of his search will be cleanliness, and quiet, but if he cannot obtain them, exchanged for anxiety as to the right choice of a he walls himself up in a shell of his own thoughts and guide. maintains his equanimity undisturbed.

We cannot remind our remind our readers too It is not easy for him to hide his light under a bushel, often that the Great Initiator comes in the Silence for his discipline has put its mark upon him, and of the higher consciousness and is never a human people feel that he is a man of power, withdrawn and being, however super-natural and secluded. All that remote even in easy social intercourse. The true the servants of the Masters on the physical plane can initiate, however, never makes himself conspicuous by do is to prepare the candidate. It may be of value, eccentricities; he desires to avoid the attention of the however, to indicate the type of character which outside world and to come and go about his affairs it is necessary to develop in order that the seeker as unobtrusively as possible. The long black cloak, may be accepted as a neophyte in the Temple of the wide-brimmed hat, the mysterious jewel, are never Mysteries, that ‘Temple, not built with hands, eternal sported by the true student of the Sacred Science. It in the heavens.’ is only the charlatan who seeks to attract attention to himself. The discipline of the path in its earlier stages is directed primarily to the production of a definite The adept, the man who has achieved the heights, is type of character; whatever variations of intellectual serene. Sensitive he must be owing to the work he quality and calibre there may be, the character-type does, but with that sensitiveness goes the knowledge is constant. It is the first thing that impresses one 16 The initiates Ideal

wide range of knowledge is necessary for its full apprehension.

The physical powers of the trained occultist are remarkable. He is able to influence many of the bodily faculties which are not usually under the control of the will. He is usually very sensitive to the influence of any drug, and consequently needs reduced doses, and any of the anodynes which dull consciousness, such as bromide, must be used with great caution. On the other hand, he generally and discipline that can control it. If he cannot defend takes a general anaesthetic exceptionally well, being his sensitiveness by the appropriate means, he will without fear and accustomed to go in and out of not last long upon the stormy path of occultism. The his body. His control over his emotions reduces occultist who is ‘a bundle of nerves’ has gone wrong surgical shock to a minimum and owing to his access somewhere in the course of his work. The pursuit to the source of energy, his recuperative powers are of occultism no more necessarily produces ill-health amazing. than the pursuit of athletics, though in both cases demands are made on stamina, and if there are any Among his immediate associates, and especially latent weaknesses they will be found out and, unless his pupils, the adept usually inspires the greatest they can be corrected, their victim will have to give devotion and affection, but on the rare occasions up the idea of training. One would hardly have when he comes in contact with the outer world, he thought it necessary to point out that any system of is often reckoned cold and forbidding. This aloofness training which produces physical debility and mental is very characteristic of the occultist; his attitude unbalance must be on the wrong lines, but there are towards life is so different to that of his companions, certain well-known systems which do these things his way of thought so alien to theirs that intercourse with such regularity that they accept them as part of is rendered difficult, and he takes refuge in silence to the path. avoid misunderstanding.

the adept usually Many people are estranged from the occultist because love is not his outstanding characteristic. inspires the greatest The difference between his attitude and that of the devotion and affection lover of humanity may be likened to the difference between the person who keeps animals as pets and the one who breeds them for show purposes. The It has been my experience that those who may justly latter sets out to bring the species to the highest be reckoned as among the more advanced students degree of perfection of which it is capable, and with of the occult, and especially such as are expert in its that end in view, he is ruthless with the individual. practice, are possessed of unusual bodily strength, of The standard of training in the higher degrees is wide culture, and are skilful in the use of their hands. very exacting, and but few achieve it, and these few The hand plays an important part in occult work, are those whom tradition regards as super-human. and the person who cannot express his will and But they are not super-human, they are human imagination through the fine muscles of the hands beings developed to the highest pitch of which the will seldom be able to do practical occult work. The human vehicles are capable. Such excellence in importance of manual work is well-known among any walk of life is only obtained as the reward of students of the occult. arduous labours, and it is these labours which leave The range of information upon general subjects their mark on the adept. He travels too fast for possessed by the initiate is amazing. This is probably the average of humanity, and they resent it, but of due to two causes; firstly, his trained mind endows those who delight in great adventure, he is the him with a retentive memory and intellectual chosen companion and beloved friend. alertness; and secondly, light is thrown upon occultism from many unsuspected quarters, and a

17 Like a Duck to Water By Janet Haswell

perceive what that Being is. The Source of all life - Divinity - God – Brahma – Great White Spirit etc., Ever keen to remember where we have come from and whence we shall eventually return; HOME.

Religions as such, may or may not answer the call of spirit for the questor, but being in amongst nature can offer the wisdom required to live a full and balanced life. The seasons reflect the continuum of changing circumstances yet remaining ever the same.

This statement usually refers to being out of our To live in the waters element. In fact it may seem an uncomfortable place of the spirit is to live even, but I wanted to look at it in the light of being out of our true element; that of the world of our in a space of peace & spiritual nature and all that connects us to The tranquillity Source of all life. Commencing the transit from winter to spring and There comes a time in life when we find that we are after a long period of rest and recuperation in which searching for something more, something intangible. the seeds of life have been hidden from view, nestled All that we have, own and do are not enough, there deep in the earth protected from the harshness of is a basic desire that is pulling in another direction; freezing winter temperatures and icy blasts of the away from the rat race of life. winds, seeds start to come to life once more. It is timely to remember the Winds of Greek myths. This is an inner calling from somewhere deep down The winter winds were named Boreas from whence inside. Trying to ignore it just does not work. Then cometh the term the boreal region of the northern there are a myriad of coincidences that mean having temperate climate, having cold winters and warm to look further outside of the self. No longer able summers, then following into spring is Zephyrus, the to sit lazily, on the beach of life, dipping toes in fructifying west wind who is the messenger of spring. the ocean, this calling is to totally immerse oneself right into the ocean of the spirit. It can be difficult In the northern hemisphere the increasing daylight to comes to terms with, oftentimes, but to live is noticeable as the vernal equinox announces this in the physical world and connect to the spiritual glorious return to the light. The dormant seeds can world calls for a great juggling act to take place. now begin to expand and grow with their gentle The physical world of attractions and distractions shoots bravely appearing through the earth, as the change, but the spiritual world, this more important days begin to warm up as a consequence of the sun world, remains the same. returning over the equator to greet the northern lands and sea. The early spring flowers greet the To live in the waters of the spirit is to live in a space days and our hearts are gladdened by the sight of of peace & tranquillity. Not my will but Thine be the first snowdrops, tiny bell shaped, white flowers done. Ever at one with all that is – not separated nor with drooping heads and we celebrate the fire divided. Able to resonate an of communicating festival of Imbolc, as Candlemas in the Christian the Love of God. Meditation is at the heart of the calendar. Following on from the snowdrops, who discipline of this way of life. To let go – give in – and could be deemed the first light bearers, are the pale receive the blessings of the Holy One, however you lemon primroses who also become light bearers

18 Like a Duck to Water

and no visible change is noted for some time. The lazy days of summer seem to bring out the best in all people. Smiling faces, happy children playing outside, trips to the beaches around the coast line of this nation and further afield to hot sunny climes also.

Fruits begin to ripen and strawberries become available. Generously followed by many of the soft fruits that grow within these islands and those imported in from many places around the globe. At this time the world of spirit is very close to all, as the quality and variety from these fruits of the world, remind us we are all one, as we all eat of the same bounty, are nourished and replete. to all the daffodils and narccisus family. The lovely descriptive poem by A.A.Milne, “Daffodowndilly”, The summer months are a time of great celebration is where she whispers to her neighbours, “Winter through numerous activities, many taking place is dead!” Not long after come the bright vibrant outside within the world of nature. It is very easy to colours of tulips and nestled in the flower beds are think of ourselves as spiritual beings at this time. It is the gentle pinks and lilacs of the lungwort flowers. as though we have available to us all the time in the Their nectar draws in the bees who revel in the world to love and be loved, to nurture and be cared delight and glory of the scents of new life, drinking for. in the nectar for literally all they are worth. A huge But by the time of the Lammas fire festival at the array of plants come to life and to flower, the leaf beginning of August, it is clearly evident that daylight buds of shrubs and trees push through the protective shortens and the strength of the sun is slowly casing to slowly unfurl into bright, fresh, green leaves. Fruit blossoms begin to form, magically showing It is very easy to think the identity of the fruits to follow. It never ceases of ourselves as spiritual to amaze me, when in my garden, the gooseberries form very early on as miniature versions of the beings at this time final, full blown, gorgeous fruit. I am sure you have many thoughts about your own garden or favourite diminishing. This is a time of pending great change place in nature, with their special flowers, shrubs and however much is the desire for the world to and trees. I understand that one of the favourite stand still just as it is, that cannot be for each day flowers of the British is the bluebell, found growing takes us closer in the shades of the woods and hedgerows alike. To to the autumn equinox and the preparation for catch the scent at dawn or dusk is a heady moment, the sun to return once more to the southern sending all into transports of delight. hemisphere. It is essential to the planet as a whole; all must respect the changing seasons, for in that By mid spring, the world of nature is full and vibrant process is a greater cycle that is beyond our 5 of earth’s bounty, as the fire festival of Beltane senses. We stay connected and find inner reservoirs heralds the May King and Queen and the fruit of strength and stability. This is a very important time of their collaboration, the Christian church stills for the soul to appreciate itself in the grand scheme celebrates the Risen Christ on earth, all the way of things, we are but pebbles on the beach. through until Ascension, falling sometime during the month of May or on occasion, very early June if it has Harvesting begins in true earnest in August all the been a late . way through to mid November, from the biggest farmers all the way down to the individual gardeners. Spring imperceptibly gives way to summer and the Harvest festivals in church give thanks for God’s Greek wind of Notos brings in the soft, summer, bounty and the preparation for storing food and south winds of the season. Summer solstice arrives preservation thereof, to cover the long winter

19 The final weeks of autumn remind everyone that rest and recuperation are vital to plant life. They need to withdraw all energy away from the plant and concentrate building solid and strengthening roots.

This is the time of year when the spiritual aspect of life can come to the fore. It is our own roots that also need to reflect the strengthening of a solid foundation.

We too need rest and recuperation, as we find the months ahead, still happens. Luckily though, we are daylight drastically reduced and our energy levels able to import in many items of food over winter, in lower. fact all year round, so this now has lesser importance. Though if you are a gardener, then preservation The run up to Christmas helps alleviate this time remains a high priority. Making jams and pickles is of darkness so that by the time it does arrive, the a fun way to enjoy autumn, ever watchful for the winter solstice has just passed and the evenings once ripened fruits to be picked and preserved. more begin to get lighter. The circle is now complete as Boreas the north wind of winter comes round The change from summer into autumn is dynamic, once more. with daylight decreasing in a mad rush to become balanced at the equinox. This is not the dynamism The winter cleansing tide returns and hibernation of spring growth, but of autumn decay. We note seems to be the key word of the season. Perhaps not this transformation as deciduous trees change physically, as we all need to continue with our daily colour. The shades of autumn are spectacular; green round of activities, but we can nestle down in the leaves become yellow, red and brown, the nutrients long dark evenings keeping warm by the winter fire, decrease as the sun can no longer provide the relieved from weeding the garden and cutting the essential daylight to continue growth. Here we are lawns. greeted by the autumn wind of the east, Euros. Yet thinking still in the vein of Greek myths, I see the Ecclesiastes 3 summarises this so beautifully, which bright autumn colours as Persephone saying goodbye The Byrds immortalised in the pop charts in 1965, to the physical world as she descends into the singing “to everything there is a season and a time to underworld for winter; knowing that she will return every purpose under heaven”. once more in the spring. Spiritually, do you feel you are a duck out of water? The new educational year commences. Great Is your spiritual life strong and focussed? We are emphasis is placed on learning but nowhere do we what we eat – we are what we think – we are what find any mention of the spiritual nature of humanity. we feel – we are spiritual beings enjoying a physical Should it be encouraged and taught in schools or experience. Finding time to experience and be in is it the role of parents and caregivers? These and a sacred space can be of immense value, whether other ponderous thoughts carry us through the it be church or cathedral. Recently, young parents season of autumn. Until we reach the trinity of All with their baby in church, mentioned this is the only Hallow’s - All Saint’s day and All Soul’s day and time in the week when their baby girl is awake, but encompassed in those 3 days are essential teachings is quiet. It is as though the energy or atmosphere is for studying the soul and the spiritual nature of conducive to this process, even to the very young. the Universe. Nature worshippers tend to focus Sacred spaces abound in nature and many people are on , whilst Christians focus more on All drawn to that same energy and atmosphere, finding a Saint’s and All Soul’s, but I have yet to find them connection to the world of the spirit. God’s kingdom treated as one aspect of the whole, except through is available to each and every one of us if we just psychological astrology. take the time to seek and find.

20 The Atlantis Line (or ex “Michael – Mary” Line)

By Roy Snelling

from the Atlantic Ocean from the north-west, passes into Cornwall at Rock, hence through the hill fort known as Largin Castle, near where it crosses the Atlantis Line, and then out via Rames Head, opposite Plymouth Sound. An icosahedron Water Line passes into though the North Suffolk coast, skirts South-East London, and then exits through the Isle of Wight on Its way to North-West France and thence to the Atlantic Ocean (see Maps Nos 1 and 2). In England there are Primary lines two primary lines near Britain passing through the Country In my book The Planetary Matrix I explain how the energy driving the Planet is in the form of the five The Azores are a group of islands, administered by elements, ether, air, fire, water and earth, that are Portugal, that straddle the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and located within the of the Planet in the are therefore liable to earthquakes and volcanic form of Platonic Solids. In other words, as psychic eruptions. They are thought to be the remains of a crystals. As all Platonic Solids, being constructed on mountain chain that lay to the north of one of the the principle of the Golden Ratio, fit exactly into large islands of Atlan (Atlantis). One volcanic island, each other, and with the shape of a sphere, these Pico, was thought to be sacred to the priests of Atlan psychic crystals fit into the globe of the Planet and it was thought that they had a temple platform (within a 2% accuracy, as the poles are slightly half-way up its eastern side whereby they could give flattened). The apexes of all these crystals lie on the salutations to the rising Sun every morning. Nine of surface of the Earth. The straight edges between the larger islands are today inhabited. Between two such dive under the curved surface of the Earth and of the eastern-most islands, Sao Miguel and Terceire, up again. The energy from such is then projected there is a long sea-mount. In the Spring of 2013 upwards to the curved surface of the Earth where it a Portuguese yacht owner. Diocleiano Silva, went appears as straight lines on the surface of the Earth. diving onto the sea-mount with colleagues. In the These then are the primary telluric lines of Gaia. centre of such, almost half-way between Sao Miguel and Terceira, they claimed to have found a perfectly The controlling factor in the above is the Platonic formed stone built pyramid, of a similar shape to the solid for Ether, the Dodecahedron, which has twelve Great Pyramid of Giza. They took photographs of pentagonal faces (see Figure No. 1 for the typical the pyramid and these can be viewed on a website layout the edge lines of the other solids within each Silva created. The co-ordinates of the pyramid have pentagonal face). These are located on the surface been given as 380 13’ 0’’ N - 260 12’ 50’’ W. This of Gaia in different locations, six in the northern news stirred up a controversy at the time with some hemisphere, six in the south. We are concerned accusing Silva of deliberately creating conspiracy here with the one that lies over the face of North- theories. It was even claimed that the photographs Western Europe. were actually photo-shopped Giza photos. I make no comment on the above, either for or against. In England there are two primary lines passing But what is strange is that an edge-line of the through the Country. A tetrahedron fire line enters hexahedron earth line passes right through this

21 south-west to east-north-east, Gwennap Head, St. Michael’s Mount, Chartres Fire-Line, Cheese Ring and Hurlers (Bodmin Moor), High Willhays and Yes Tor (Dartmoor), Chartres Line through St. Mary Magdalene Church, , , , Avebury Stone Circle and Chartres Line, Chartres Line that passes through Luton, Abbey ruins and Cathedral at Bury St. Edmunds, Chartres Line to Norwich, thence passing through Hopton on Sea to meet the Water-Line. In plotting the Line, I used a geographic computer program whereby if one feeds in the beginning and end co-ordinates in degrees, minutes and seconds, it will give a straight- Atlantis line through Southern line plot over the curved surface of the Earth, giving England also a schedule of numerous intermediate co- ordinates. But is the hypothetical centre line of the Atlantis Line truly a straight line? All primary lines, spot. Also, if one were to use a computer program being projections of the edge lines of the psychic to project what used to be called the Michael-Mary crystals embedded within the Earth would indeed be Line into the Atlantic, as far as the Azores, it meets dead straight. It is my belief that these lines, either the earth line exactly at the site of this pyramid on along their length or at the nodes where they cross, the sea mount. or at their apexes, set up secondary energy lines. These secondary lines, being part of the Earth’s own The Earth Line is approximately 4200 nautical energy matrix, are also dead straight. But Man has miles (nm) long. The Fire Line that passes through probably set up tertiary and quaternary lines feeding Cornwall is approximately 6,500 nm long. The off the above to irrigate the land with telluric energy, Water Line that passes through the South-East of constructing energy boosters along their paths England is Approximately 3,800 nm long. When we (earthworks, stone circles, standing stones, mounds investigate energy lines across the surface of the with cists et cetera). But if these lines are thousands Planet we have to realise that these are not like of years old there would have been lateral movement pencil-thin lines drawn on a paper map. They are between both sides of a fault line with earthquakes broad bands of energy, possibly with a hypothetical and earth tremors. In maintaining the straightness centre line running through them. In researching of a line a primary or secondary line would have energy lines around Chartres Cathedral for a new appeared to have shifted its position in the landscape book about the “Chartres Zodiac” I found that the over time. With tertiary and quaternary lines the Fire Line that passes through Cornwall also passes opposite is true. The line could end-up appearing through Chartres, on Its way to the Great Pyramid fragmented, and might need to be re-aligned. We at Giza. Using remote dowsing I estimated that the need to bear the above factors in mind when tracing width of this energy band was about three statute the course of an ancient line. As I believe the miles wide. But this is only about 0.046 percent of Atlantis Line is a secondary “natural” line I feel that the length of the Line. Now the Atlantis Line, from I am justified in using a computer program to do a its origin in the Azores to the point where it joins straight-line plot. the Water Line off the coast of Norfolk in the North Sea, is approximately 1,500 nm long. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the energy band of the Atlantis Line could be three-quarters of a statute the Atlantis Line mile or more wide. crosses the Atlantic

Where the Atlantis Line crosses the Atlantic Ocean Ocean and enters into and enters into England, it then passes through a England number of significant Earth Chakras before leaving the Norfolk Coast. These include, from west-

22 The Atlantis line

But as stated above, these lines are really “bands” of energy of a certain width. But how wide? If the Fire- Line at 6,500nm long has a band width of 3 st.m then I would suggest that a 1,500 nm long Atlantis Line could be at least three quarters of a st.m wide. On Typical plotting the progress of the Line along a small scale pentagonal face of O.S. map I have plotted onto this a series of four 300 dodecahedron megalithic yard (m.yd) wide bands either side of the centre line. This gives a total width of 2,400 m.yd. or 2 km, or 1.24 st.m. As the intensity of the energy is likely to be greater in the bands nearer to the centre line, then objects such as standing stones, churches et cetera, in the bands nearer to the centre are more likely to be relevant in identifying the nature and course of the line. the whole Country one could be justified in calling And now we come to a point of possible contention. the Line “Michael-Mary”. So, I decided to test this. The energy band of the Atlantis Line picks up I chose five different parts of the Southern part of numerous churches along It’s length, that is, the Country, but none near the Atlantis Line. Using along the 300 m.yd. bands that I have identified. I O.S. Landranger Maps I then delineated on each identified 159 churches in all. Up until the time of an area of 80 square miles. Using the Church of John Michell’s research (View Over Atlantis-1969) England’s web-site of all It’s churches in England I The Line did not have a name as such. But Michell noted what all the dedications were, and the number noticed that a number of churches were dedicated and percentage of Michael and Mary churches plus to St.Michael (variant – St. George) and that many post-Reformation dedication changes. The results of these were on high places, so he called the Line for the tests for the five areas show that the ratios the “MICHAEL LINE”. But Hamish Miller and Paul of the M-M etc churches to the totals is very similar Broadhust, in their book The Sun and the Serpent to the of the Atlantis Line. In conclusion therefore, (1989) noticed that there were also many churches I would categorically state that the Atlantis Line dedicated to St Mary (Virgin or Magdalene). So, they has no specific relevance to church dedications and then called the Michael Line the “MICHAEL-MARY should never have been given the name “Michael- LINE”. And from this evolved their theory that there Mary” by Miller and Broadhurst. I must however give were male and female energy currents weaving back due credit to their ingenuity, so far as it goes. Each and forth, serpentine fashion, through certain nodes geomantic research project improves on the former, on the central line. In my research within the band corrects past mistakes and moves on to the next. width that I adopted I identified 52 Michael – Mary The results of a research project are never static, – George churches; 33% of the total. However, this “written in stone”. percentage could be higher. In the Reformation the name “Mary – Mother of God” was anathema to many Protestants. So, a number of Marian churches the intensity of the had their dedications changed to something less individual saint-specific: All Saints, Christ, Holy energy is likely to be Cross, Holy Trinity, All Angels. There were 31 such greater in the bands churches down our line, 19% of the total. If these are then added to the Michael-Mary churches we nearer to the centre get a total of 83, or 52%. This is then indeed a high concentration of such churches. line This now brings into question the supposed male But now we have a conundrum. If such and female energy currents that are supposed to concentration of Michael-Mary churches occurs entwine themselves, serpent-like, around and through only along the Atlantis Line and not generally across the central line. In the SUN AND THE SERPENT

23 Miller and Broadhurst, having committed themselves article at a later date. to their Michael and Mary Churches, now needed to ensure that their male and female serpents used ADDENDUM such as nodes where they would cross over each From Stukely, Watkins, Maltwood, Caine, Thom, other. I have seen it often with dowsers in the Michell, Miller and Broadhurst various names have field who arrive on site with a pre-conceived idea become current to describe the telluric energy of what ought to be there, so their subsequent lines in the landscape. Energy lines, dragon lines, dowsing just confirms their bias. In other words, telluric lines, power lines, ley lines, leys. In earlier their pre-conceived ideas are projected into and editions of the Oxford English Dictionary a “ley” control the results of their dowsing. So, the results was described as a clearing in a forest. So, a ley-line are a foregone conclusion (plus or minus a little bit was an ancient trackway between two or more leys. for detailed “discovery”). It would have been better But later editions of the dictionary have changed for, say, a dowser to climb to the top of Glastonbury such definition to “a supposed straight line of a Tor, quietly attune with landscape, and then use prehistoric track”. The etymology is from an old their rods or pendulum (forgetting for the moment English word “lea”, meaning a field or pasture. And everything they have previously read about the site) yet different dowsing societies and geomancers are and honestly ask the following questions” ...” Is still using both words. Perhaps the British Society of there an energy line that passes through Southern Dowsers could pronounce a clarification of this. I England?” ... “If yes, does it pass through this Tor?” ... myself must confess to using both words as if they “If yes, are there male / female serpent energies that are interchangeable. The use of “dragon-line” has criss-crosses this line?” ... “If yes, do they always pass probably come into Western usage from Chinese through the nodes of Michael-Mary churches?” Self- Feng Sui, although I don’t think that our lines have honesty and an open mind is always more important wings or claws! But some of the primary lines are than re-gurgitating other people’s theories, however fire-lines, so who knows? high you have placed them on the pedestal of respected and acknowledged geomancy.

From the above the reader might assume that I have attempted to demolish all of Millar’s and Broadhurst’s theories. Far from it. I decided to do my own remote dowsing on O.S maps of the Atlantis Line. I asked the question ...” Are there male and female energy currents that interweave through Earth Chakras on a hypothetical centre line?” ... The answer was a definite yes! I also found that the centre line itself is an energy line in its own right. It is a line of intent, the Will-to-Life, and it controls the course, strength and periodicity of the male and female lines the interweave over It. The three currents are like the three Supernals of the Tree of Life, or the three Pillars of such. They are like the Susumna, Ida and Pingala of the human psychic energy system of ayervedic medicine. But it is definitely not the position of Michael or Mary churches that determine where the nodes are thought to be which the male- female serpents will cross. Another fact came to me in my remote dowsing. The cross-over nodes are not equally spaced apart along the central line. Their space-relationships are determined by some Divine mathematical formula. I intend to do more work on this, and hopefully, in due course, will update this

24 The Symbol of the Rose By Juliana Geer

finally resolved after the Battle of Bosworth Field. Then Henry VIII had the inspiration to combine the two in one design, producing a symbol of wholeness, which united the ideas of wisdom and love with power.

As well as the Rosa Mystica, the white spiritual consciousness, and the Rosa Mundi, the red, worldly consciousness, there is also white for Luna, the Moon, and red for Sol, the Sun. In the Alchemical process, the Great Work, the white and the red energies, or aspects of reality, must be equilibrated or The rose is the primary symbol of Netzach, the harmonised in a mystical union. This can be depicted seventh Sephiroth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. It is as the marriage of the White Queen and the Red symbolic of all kinds of love, from human passion to King. It takes place in the Rosarium, the Garden the most spiritual, from Eros to Agape. To see a rose of Roses. The resulting Divine Child is the Golden is to smile and think of a loved one or to resonate Androgyne, the completed human, the one who is with its presence, which is perfection in nature. To totally integrated. understand the rose as a symbol is to tune into the deepest of spiritual mysteries. It takes one to the The white rose stands very heart of things. for spirituality, light and Perhaps the rose has become such a potent symbol purity, the red rose for because of its beauty. It is the epitome of physical perfection in its shape, its colours, its perfume and courage and power as its ways of being in the world. It grows out of the well as passion earth, the soil. Its flowers bloom in the air. It relies on the fire of the sun for its warmth and light and upon water for its continuing life. Its perfume is subtle but For me the deepest meaning of the rose is the intoxicating. Its colours range from pristine white rose in the heart of the cross. If the vertical axis to pale pinks and lemons, to russet gold and darkest represents the spiritual world and the horizontal axis red. It may be a concrete symbol, but from these represents the material world, then the point where attributes comes a complexity of symbolism which they meet and merge is of the greatest significance. leads us to the core of mystery.

There are two colours associated with the rose which stand out as particularly potent symbolically, the white and the red. They represent the essential polarity of existence. The white rose stands for spirituality, light and purity, the red rose for courage and power as well as passion. In the 15th Century they were used politically. The House of York took the white rose for its emblem and the House of Lancaster used the five petalled red rose. The fight for power we know as the Wars of the Roses or the Cousins’ War, for they were all of one family, was

25 “roser” or “rosary”. The full Arabic term for the rosary is el-misbat el-wirdiat (the Praiser of the Reciter or of the Drawing Near). This term (WRD) is a special technical term for the special exercises of the Sufis or dervishes. The Catholic rendering into Latin is not so much a mistranslation as an adoption of the Sufi poetic (or almost heraldic) method of using a similar word to create a picture. Hence the word wird (dervish exercise) was used by the Sufis poetically as WaRD (rose). A similar development took place with the term “Rosicrucian.” This is a direct translation of the root WRD plus the word It is where time and space interact with eternity, for “cross” in Arabic, SLB. In the original meaning the where the Divine penetrates mundane reality. If phrase means WRD (exercise) plus SLB “to extract you put a rose there you put love and beauty at the marrow”. Hence it is only incidentally that SLB the heart of the creative process, the ongoing (which also means “cross”) occurs in the phrase of God into Nature. On the Tree of Life “Rosicrucian” – poetic juxtaposition.” that centre is Tiphareth, the Sun centre. Here the rose is golden, signifying its highest perfection. Here The rose was an is the integration of love, wisdom and power. The golden rose is Christ Consciousness with all that important symbol for that implies; the humility of sacrifice and the dignity the Sufis, as was the of the Risen Christ, a higher level of being within a higher level of consciousness. When the perfection idea of the rose garden of Tiphareth flows downward into the Astral Triangle it becomes Netzach, the Sphere of Nature, with The rose was an important symbol for the Sufis, as its symbol of the rose. I see the rose of Netzach was the idea of the rose garden. Shah continues, “A as having shades of pink and amber. It grows out of whole dervish order (that of Abdul-Qadir el-Jilani) the green of the garden of nature. It is beauty and is formed around the idea of Rose in this initiary love and light. It is formed from the golden qualities sense, and its founder is called the Rose of Bagdad.” of Tiphareth but it is now on a lower arc, in astral Jalaluddin Rumi, probably the most important of all consciousness, and soon to be enclosed in form, to Sufi Poets said, “A rose is all rose”, in other words, become a living rose in with all its tender the Truth, the Whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. vulnerability and its thorns. In Netzach it is subtle He invited us to “Come out here where the roses and nebulous and brings with it some of the feminine have opened. Let the soul and world meet.” shadow of Binah, and so I see it with dew drops like her tears. The rose, then, is an ancient symbol which speaks volumes, but it is in the silence of meditation that it But what is the meaning and significance of the word can be found and experienced in the garden of the ‘rose’ in the Mysteries? Juliet exclaims to Romeo, soul. “What’s in a name! that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.”I always assumed that the Rosicrucians were so called because the Further Reading: Rosy Cross was their symbol, but I recently came The Red and White Mysteries, Mara Freeman, The across this further explanation in The Sufis by Idries Inner Light Journal, Vol. 35 No. 3 Shah: Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare The Sufis, Idries Shah, Doubleday and Co. Inc., New “The Christians adopted the rosary from the York, 1964 Saracens. In so doing they translated the word el- Rumi, Bridge to the Soul, Translated by Coleman wardia (literally the reciter) by another word, almost Barks, Harper Collins, New York, 2007, 23 Another the same in the original sound, a word standing for Invitation, 10 Empty

26 Measuring the Sacred Land by Laurence Main

sites. And then there is the small matter that, for over a century, they have been trained to minimise the significance of prehistoric archeoastronomy as a matter of course. To mention the father of modern archaeoastronomy, Alexander Thom, is to professionally fall on one's megalithic rod. So, this second task, to understand the sky circles, will have to be undertaken from outside academic circles, by someone who understands megalithic science, and who has experience of understanding year circles. Probably me.”

That was Robin Heath writing about his book Temple in the Hills – The Discovery of the Original Mathematics, geometry and measuring are not Stonehenge (2016). Robin Heath began his publishing what you may think of regarding Dion Fortune and career with A Key to Stonehenge (1993). His the idea of a living planet. The evidence from our conclusions are solidly underpinned by mathematical prehistoric ancestors is that they measured with and astronomical data. Stonehenge and other circles precision. They were brilliant mathematicians and were calendars of stone. The importance of the astronomers. That's the evidence gained by the 5:12:13 triangle is emphasised, including the meaning engineering mind of Alexander Thom. of the story in the twenty-first chapter of the Gospel of St. John. The secret of Lundy Island (and That conclusion jars with the conventional dogma Caldey Island) is revealed. Robin expanded on this of archaeologists and other academics seeking theme in Sun, Moon and Stonehenge (1998) to impose the acceptance of human progress and, writing with John Michell in The Measure of from primitive types to Anglicans. So, when an Albion (2004). The latter was published in the USA as engineer (albeit a professor at Oxford university0 The Lost Science of Measuring the World in 2006. presented evidence to the contrary, you'd expect the archaeologists to express gratitude and to take Robin Heath not only inherited Thom's mantle but its implications on board. Not a bit of it. Sweep has reminded the current generation of the latter's it under the carpet, more like. A megalithic yard? seminal work by writing the book Alexander Thom The very idea! Alexander Thom died age 91 in 1985 – Cracking the Stone Age Code in 2007. Do you and that could have been that for his tremendous realise how important it is that you buy and read research. such books, recommending them to your friends? If you don't, such knowledge will soon be lost again for, Except for the likes of John Michell, Paul Devereux as Professor Richard Atkinson conceded, “... many and the 'lunatic fringe' of ley hunters. A bit like Dion historians either ignore the implications of Thom's Fortune and her followers. Most of all, thanks to work, because they do not understand them, or Thom's heir as mathematical wizard, robin Heath. resist them because it is more comfortable to do so.” Quoting Robin regarding his work on Stonehenge, which he wrote about in Ley Hunters no.21, If you are following an Arthurian quest, do not fail to read The Secret Land, written by Robin Heath and “This cannot be undertaken by conventional Paul Broadhurst in 2009. Visiting Pembrokeshire? archaeologists for they are not trained in, and do not Your essential local guidebook is Robin's Bluestone have the required skills in recognising astronomical, Magic (2010). Perhaps more chillingly relevant to geometric or metrological patterns at prehistoric modern politics is PowerPoints, subtitled Secret

27 Rulers and Hidden Forces in the Landscape (2005). This is certainly one book Dion Fortune would have endorsed. For more, consult the website www.robinheath.info and email: bluestone [email protected]

Trees By Juliana Geer

Sticks in a basket, rising like temple columns, kindling to light a fire, branching into the starry night, wood taken from a tree, and ten bright Spheres shining, a living tree, the Earth and her Moon, but of what kind... the Sun and his Planets, the Great Mother, an Ash, grey barked, the Great Father mysterious black buds hiding and the One, its green and delicate newness, all shining out Yggdrasil, the Shaman’s Tree, from the Limitless Light? of the Three Worlds; These words, an Oak, gnarled, ancient, kindling to light a fire. steady and true, the strong miracle, the great which grows afrom the small; an Tree, still smelling of orchard, fruity, warm, autuamnal, with resonance of family parties in a walled garden, and of another garden and another fall;

or the Tree of Life, gifted by an , taller than Heaven, wider than all the Worlds, three vast stems

28 “Anglicanism gone polytheistic” Dion Fortune and the Emergence of Pagan Glastonbury Part 2 By Paul Ashdown

In 1951 the old 1736 Witchcraft Act, which had been used to prosecute fake mediums in the War years and after, was repealed and replaced with the Fraudulent Mediums Act. This event provided a context for naturist Gerald Gardener, who had retired to Hampshire in 1938 following a career in colonial Malaya, to announce to the world his own version of , which he called . Based on Murray's books and an earlier, 1899, work by American author Charles Leland, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, about a supposed Italian witch-cult (a book which seems to have passed DF by) Gardener's Wicca featured nude rites in veneration of a Horned God and a lunar Goddess, preferably conducted out of doors. It was heralded by a novel, High Magick's Aid, 1949, under the pen- name 'Scire', the placement of articles in the press, and finally by his non-fiction Witchcraft Today, 1954. Witchcraft Today has a short, somewhat non- committal, introduction by Margaret Murray herself. They were both, by then, prominent members of the The new era was heralded in 1948, when Preiddeu Folklore Society. Although he touched on the Grail Annwfyn, 'The Spoils of the Otherworld', the early (and quoted from Sebastian Evans' translation of Welsh poem we have already noticed, entered the the 'High History of the Holy Grail', a Glastonbury- literary 'mainstream'. It was quoted in part in Robert related medieval romance which he seemed to know Graves' eccentric but influential mythography, The well) Gardener did not mention Glastonbury in 1954 White Goddess. Besides accepting its identity as and did not include any of Dion Fortune's books in Caer Wydr, Graves (1895-1985) was one of the first his bibliography. In his subsequent The Meaning of to link Glastonbury with witchcraft understood Witchcraft, 1959, he made brief mention of Arthur as a pagan survival, writing: 'popular reverence for and Avalon and the story of St Collen and suggested Glastonbury as a principal seat of the Old Religion that the Holy Thorn might be a survivor of a sacred was still strong in the seventeenth century.' Of the grove. [pp. 156 ff.] He included DF's 1935 The Holy Thorn, he wrote: 'Hawthorn blossom has, for Mystical Qabalah in his bibliography. many men, a strong scent of female sexuality; ... The monks of Glastonbury perpetuated it and sanctified In 1953, one A. G. Bennett, in Focus on the it with an improving tale about Joseph of Arimathea's Unknown, could write that where working magic staff and the Crown of Thorns as a means of is concerned, there is 'little to choose between the discouraging the orgiastic use of hawthorn blossom.' elaborate pantomime which is performed in the There is, it need hardly be said, no evidence for any West End salon, or at midnight on the summit of of these statements. Glastonbury Tor, and the ceremony which takes place in some forgotten valley in the Caribbean hills

29 legendary , from 1966 to 1970, spearheading a brief craze for 'Arthurian' archaeology. In The Quest for Arthur's Britain, edited by Ashe in 1968, veteran archaeologist Ralegh Radford could write of Ponter's Ball, the earthwork that marks the eastern boundary of the Isle of Avalon, that it made 'little military sense … As a boundary it must have been safeguarded by less material defences. It can best be explained as the temenos or enclosure of a great pagan Celtic sanctuary', adding that such a sanctuary 'would explain the foundation of an early Christian settlement at Glastonbury.' [Radford in Ashe, ed., 1968, p. 128.]

The Christian hero was himself undergoing a process of literary semi-paganisation at this time, notably in Rosemary Sutcliff's novel Sword [of Haiti], to the sombre thudding of rada drums at Sunset, 1963. in the flare and flicker of torchlight.' From the context, it is impossible to tell whether this purple Reflecting an upsurge of interest in the occult, the passage reflects early Wiccan interest in the Tor, or Beatles famously included Aleister Crowley, author merely London hearsay generated by DF's pre-War of Diary of a Drug Fiend, on the cover of Sergeant explorations there of the pagan Green Ray. Doreen Pepper in May 1967. The following hippy 'Summer Valiente, an associate of Gardener in the early 1950s, of Love' of 1967 saw the birth of the 'underground however, cited the passage in 1973 to support press', with its chief organs the glossy monthly, Oz 'Rumours of witchcraft meetings [there] current for and the more tabloid fortnightly International Times many years.' or IT'. Stylistically, Eastern tantric art blended with the pre-Raphaelite, the sub-Beardsley and the Art Nouveau. Graves (1895-1985) The growing cross-over between the occult was one of the first to world and the emerging hippy 'underground' was link Glastonbury with witchcraft understood as a pagan survival

Glastonbury's modern period began in earnest in 1957 with the appearance of King Arthur's Avalon by Geoffrey Ashe, whose name became inseparable from that of Glastonbury. This was a sensitive survey of the whole Glastonbury phenomenon, although he made no mention of DF, an omission he noted in later writing. Somewhat ironically, the revival which Geoffrey, who had been inspired by Chesterton and was a devout Roman Catholic, foresaw, was a Christian one.

Geoffrey was later publicist for the Camelot Research Committee, which conducted excavations at South Cadbury hillfort, believed to be the

30 Anglicanism gone Polytheistic

A feature entitled 'The Glastonbury Mystique' included a photograph captioned 'Vigil on Glastonbury Tor. Flaming torches of the Centre House (Kensington) , burn through the '68 summer night [presumably Midsummer Night], as mantra chanters tune in to the spiritual inspirations of the ancient site, making the old tower vibrate in the dawn with William Blake's query: And did those feet in ancient time...' The Centre House, 10a Airlie Gardens, Kensington, also featured in the 'what's on' section, hosting talks on such subjects as dowsing, holistic medicine and the human aura. This is the earliest picture I have found of a 1960s New Age gathering on the Tor.

A messianic piece by Geoffrey Ashe called Glastonbury 'strong magic' and the 'key to the future'. Its future, he declared, is greater than its past. 'The phase of ruin and silence is ending. Britain will begin to be reborn when Glastonbury is. The Giant Albion will begin to wake when his sons and documented in Gandalf's Garden, a 'mystical' hippy daughters gather inside that enchanted boundary, magazine, edited by one 'Muz' Murray, which was and summon him with the right words, the right published from a 'shoppe' of the same name, a actions, a different life. ... The time to found that 'headcraft emporium,' just off of the Kings Road at community is drawing closer.' the World's End, Chelsea. The third issue contained an article on Crowley which provoked some In another contribution, 'A modern mystic gives her criticism from his enthusiasts but an appreciative account of an experience at Glastonbury's Chalice letter from Paul Stanjer, shop manager at the long- Well, which affirms Blake's poem with a resounding established Watkins occult bookshop in Cecil echo.' 'Jesus' she declared, 'took his initiation at Court, Charring Cross Road. He wrote: 'Whether Glastonbury as a member of the highest order of that (very fair) article on Crowley (horrid man) Druids.' This was an idea which had been favoured has been instrumental in boosting sales, I wouldn't by British Israelites, who, with self-styled Essenes know; the fact remains G[andalf's] G[arden] is “in” at and the more Christian sort of modern Druid, had Watkins and that's the way I want it to stay.' [p. 33.] for some time held meetings in the town. This lady The fourth issue, which appeared in the March of mystic, however, wrote under the pen-name of the annus mirabilis of 1969 and which published his 'Meiwana', an alias, we may surmise, not unrelated letter, also featured a centre-spread of 'The Secret to the word marijuana. Whether people like to Zodiac of Glastonbury' with an article by Mary hear it or not, the chief difference between the new Caine entitled 'The Glastonbury Giants.' She wrote seekers and the old was (and remains) a fondness humorously: for psychedelic drugs.

'Archaeologists will argue; historians hiss; but why The August of that same marvellous year of 1969 not try believing in the impossible for a change? saw the appearance of Glastonbury, A study in The Red Queen in “Alice” practised until she could patterns, 34 A4 pages edited by 87-year-old Arthurian believe at least six impossible things before breakfast. scholar Mary Williams. Born in Aberystwyth, Williams It's exhilarating. Anyway, it's a marvellous idea, and (1882-1977), at various times, inter alia, Professor if it's not there it ought to be. The Grey People will of French at Durham and President of the Folklore get you certified, but the map at least will be on your Society, and a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, side, for these figures can plainly be seen on the 2 managed, like her remarkable contemporary female ½'' Ordnance Sheets.' 31 academics, Margaret Murray and Jessie Weston, ideas, can be expressed in numerical form. This is whose Grail theories influenced Elliot's The Waste called gematria. Bond, a Master Freemason and Land, to bestride the chasm between respectable practising architect, combined this with symbolic scholarship and outright crankery. It was published in geometry as applied to the plans of buildings. the name of RILKO (Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation), a group she had founded with Old Michell did not seek merely to revive interest in his Etonian John Michell, who had previously written on pioneers, however, but to produce a synthesis of flying saucers. Besides matter on the Glastonbury their ideas as a basis for work of his own, literally Zodiac, and the first essay on the Tor Maze (written along the paths which they had indicated. He noted without reference to DF), it contained a short paper that Glastonbury, Avebury and Bury St Edmund's, by Michell entitled: ', a solar and many churches dedicated to St Michael, stood instrument of former science.' Glastonbury Abbey, on a straight line from Norfolk to Cornwall which he declared, 'was built as the spiritual successor of he called the Michael Line. He applied the diagram Stonehenge, to exactly the same hidden plan … and known as the Vesica Pisces, which Bond had used for the same purpose, the distillation of solar energy in his 1919 design for the Chalice Well lid and and its fusion with the terrestrial current or life believed had been used in planning the Lady Chapel, essence.' to 'the sacred geography' of the Abbey and town of Glastonbury as a whole. The Vesica Pisces, literally None of this esoterica, the ‘bladder of the fish', two overlapping circles forming a pointed ellipse, symbolises, like the ying- however, although it yang sign, above and below, male and female, and might be described as in Bond's esoteric Freemasonry, forms the female vulva, or the Grail vessel, which is penetrated by the hermetic or gnostic, phallic Spear of the Grail legends on the Well design. Michell's interest, however, was in its arithmetical was necessarily 'pagan' properties, which he linked to the Great Pyramid. Projecting the axis of the Abbey churches, he found that it pointed to Stonehenge. He wrote that: 'the Michell expounded his ideas at book length in The Great Pyramid, Stonehenge and Glastonbury Abbey View Over Atlantis, also published in 1969, which do show the same numerical system, and presumably became an international best seller with a second edition in 1972. This was not primarily about Glastonbury, but Michell used that 'Glastonbury Mystique' as an exemplar to demonstrate his theories of 'lost knowledge' and 'what the Ancients were up to.' It actually contains little about Atlantis, although rather more about the Great Pyramid. Michell was possessed of a great deal of what some might consider misplaced erudition, but he took his ideas mainly from three then largely forgotten pre-War sources: Alfred Watkins' theories on 'ley lines', which had also influenced DF, particularly in The Goat-foot God, Maltwood’s books on the Glastonbury Zodiac (which had not) and the work of Frederick Bligh Bond. Michell's interest focused not on the spectacular 'automatic' scripts, through which Bond believed he could access the memories of the dead monks for archaeological purposes, but on Bond's work on Cabala and particularly on gematria. In Greek and Hebrew, letters may double as numbers, and so words, and quite complicated

32 Anglicanism gone Polytheistic

widely disseminated commercial products of their reign. The film combines some very dodgy history with ritual , the sacrifice of a white cockerel, and a form of Black Mass. A disciple of theirs, Rollo Maughfling, was a colourful character whom some found difficult. An anecdote which may or may not have some basis in reality alleges that Maxine the Witch Queen dispatched Rollo to Glastonbury to spread the Gospel of Wicca in order to get him out of her copious blonde hair. Be that as it may, Rollo acquired Dove Cottage at Barton St in the Dove sign at the centre of the Glastonbury Zodiac (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) and by the end of the 1970s had become a leading, not to say dominant, figure in the now well-established Glastonbury the same principles to which the numbers refer, 'alternative' occult scene. stretching as an unbroken arcane link over several thousand years. And the oral tradition, undeniably The world had, in any case, now moved on. The associated with the use of these numbers, refers to film The Wicker Man, 1973, brought Wicca-style the lost world that Plato called Atlantis, to the days paganism to a mass audience, contrasting it with when men could fly and when great stones could a sexually repressed Christianity. In classic role be manipulated by the use of sonic and other subtle reversal, the witches burn the Christian. The forces.' Few, then as now, understood or cared broadening of interest in genuine British folk about the maths, but the linkage of Stonehenge, , through bands such as Fairport Convention Glastonbury and the Great Pyramid stuck, and it and Steeleye Span, also played a role. Although was as a reflection of John Michell's ideas, and on ballads like Tam Lin and Reynardine are (again) his ley line, that the Pyramid Stage of the second not specifically 'pagan', they certainly gave a pagan Glastonbury Festival was built in 1971, in a tradition flavour to the sound-track of the era. Broader which is continued to this day. By the summer of hippy culture now assumed a more self-consciously, 1969, Glastonbury was already something of a hippy even assertively, 'pagan' character. A line-drawing Mecca, and the very first Festival, a small affair, took in Anthony Roberts' Glastonbury Ancient Avalon, place in 1970. New Jerusalem (1977, p. 19) shows a giant crusader in black armour about to plunge his sword into None of this esoterica, however, although it might a baby who lies in a stone circle holding a flower. be described as hermetic or gnostic, was necessarily The Tor is visible in the background. This illustrates 'pagan', certainly in the sense that Robert Graves, Roberts' contention that Christianity came 'first , or his successors in 'modern pagan as an inheritor, then as a usurper, finally as a witchcraft' might understand, and Michell himself destroyer'. The rise of the Glastonbury Festival believed in the 'New Jerusalem' and called Bond 'the from a small event in a field to the greatest Rock great Christian cabalist'. Festival in the world meant that Glastonbury would increasingly reflect that hippy character, although The actual beginnings of Wicca around Glastonbury the 'Glastonbury Mystique' was itself an essential are, by the nature of things, difficult to pin down ingredient of the Festival's success. Somewhat with any reliability. It did not, after all, depend ironically, just as Geoffrey Ashe is a devout Roman upon printed books or magazines, and drug- Catholic, dairy farmer Michael Eavis, impresario befuddled memories tend to be coloured by later of the Festival, has a Nonconformist background, developments. Gardner died in 1964 and by the and both, as people, might seem reminiscent of the late 1960s leadership of Wicca's world had passed older Avalonian Glastonbury of Rutland Boughton to the self-styled King and Queen of the Witches, and Dion Fortune. Alex and Maxine Saunders, who worked from a flat in London's Notting Hill. Even more than Gardener, The alternative Glastonbury which actually emerged eager self-publicists and exhibitionists, a film, Legend in the late 80s and 90s was in many respects a of the Witches, and an LP, A Witch is Born, were less than pleasant place, with a serious riot at the 33 Festival, a lurid ritual murder, bizarre suicides, and familiarity with the real Avalon was not extensive. a growing heroin problem. The so-called 'New Age She died in 1999. A better women's Arthurian Travellers' held their own impromptu festivals on perspective by far is Fay Sampson's 'Daughter of the Tor on which bonfires were lit and an unwashed ' series, particularly the brilliant Herself, and increasingly fervent paganism drummed and 1992, in which Morgan tells her own story. howled its presence at the moon. DF would Sampson's recent Glastonbury-based detective doubtless have been shocked. novel is, sadly, a disappointment.

On the more sedate side of town, the Women's Glastonbury's contemporary mood in the 1980s Movement became increasingly prominent both found its best literary expression in Fay Weldon's politically and spiritually. The Women's protests two splendid novels, Puffball, 1980, a story of the against American nuclear missiles at Greenham old rural witchcraft, and The Heart of the Country, Common, a short drive from Glastonbury, united 1987, the latter based on her screenplay for a 'alternative' types with a more conventionally television series which involved a local carnival club. middle-class left-wing and liberal sisterhood. Kathy Jones was one prominent figure who emerged Geoffrey Ashe bought DF's old retreat of Chalice from this background of community politics to Orchard in the 1970s and it was in his Avalonian write locally well-received plays on themes of the Quest of 1982 that he first noted her significance. Goddess and women's spirituality. She declared the Writing of 'her flashes of insight, crazily off-target, perfectly inoffensive Gothic at the alms-house yet perceptive,' he quotes Moon Magic on the chapel of St Margaret a 'yonic doorway'. The High worship of the goddess and the identity of the Priestess of Avalon, she averred, had bestraddled Catholic Virgin, Star of the Sea and Queen of Bligh Bond's Egg Stone and her sacred menstrual Heaven, with Venus and the Moon: 'If you want to blood was collected from its hollow. understand paganism, study Catholicism, its lineal descendant. “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même Rollo felt that all this female, lunar, magic had now chose.”' He cautioned, however, that 'Dion Fortune's got a bit over the top and moved on from Wicca hint towards a Christian-pagan rapprochement to found the Glastonbury Order of Druids in 1988 remained neglected. Some of her Avalonian lore to restore a solar balance. This held, and holds, May was wise, and today some of it has come through Morning ceremonials to greet the sunrise on the to a semi-vindication, but it has to be sifted for, top of the Tor. Rollo was also largely instrumental and very differently stated.' Not all may agree with in restoring free public access to Stonehenge at the him; but DF was by now firmly established in the Solstices. Glastonbury cannon.

It was in this era of Women's Spirituality that As a postscript, if visitors to her grave in the writings of Dion Fortune were discovered Glastonbury cemetery cast their eye along its by American pulp-fiction writer Marion Zimmer length to the western horizon, and if it is clear, they Bradley. Her , 1982, was a re- will find that it aligns directly with Brent Knoll, her telling of the Arthurian story from the perspective sacred hill that she thought built by the Atlanteans. of its female characters. She acknowledged the Given the suddenness of her death, and the run of inspiration of DF’s Avalon of the Heart for her use the graves in that part of the cemetery, it seems of the concept of the overlapping dimensions of this was not premeditated by her but, once more, a pagan and Christian Glastonbury. Her interminable function of 'chance or supernatural design.' book achieved a following and was nominated by Ken Livingstone as reading matter on Desert Island Disks. It has also been adapted as a feature film. Its success was followed by another six in the series, co-written with L. Paxson. Her halo as a feminist icon, however, was somewhat tarnished when her son and daughter accused her of sexual molestation and she admitted knowledge of her separated husband's relations with a 14-year old boy. Although she did briefly visit the town, her 34 DION FORTUNE SEMINAR September 22nd 2018 Glastonbury Town Hall

IAN REES The Devil and Dion Fortune

WENDY BERG Dion Fortune and

ALAN RICHARDSON Dion Fortune the Great He-She

CHRISTIAN GILSON Re-inventing Christianity...reclaiming the Celtic spirit

INTERNET SALES BEFORE AUGUST 12th £16 INTERNET SALES AFTER AUGUST 12th £18 Tickets on the door £20

https://www.companyofavalon.co.uk/the-dion-fortune-seminar 35 What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol and Story by P.L.Travers

ISBN: 1 930337 50 7 Publisher: Codhill press

I was lent this book and am going to have to buy myself a copy, because it has been my bedside companion for the last month and I know that I shall want to revisit it many times, the reprinted articles within being the ideal seeds to germinate within mind and heart before going to sleep, wise and thought-provoking.

P.L.Travers was a remarkable woman, perhaps best-known today for the series of 'Mary Poppins' children’s books, books which a perceptive reader would find much darker than the bowdlerised film version. Born in Australia in 1899, the author moved to England when she was 25. She became the friend of literary figures of the day, including J.M.Barrie, Yeats and other Irish poets, particularly George Russell (AE) who was a lifelong friend and mentor. Later she became a student of Gurdjieff. Having studied his work extensively, she met him in the 1930s, and later wrote an introductory article about him and his work for 'Man, Myth and Magic' in the 1970s.

What the Bee knows is a collection of articles first published in American magazines, mainly 'Parabola', a quarterly journal I would dearly like to have read too! They are as the subtitle suggests, explorations of mythical and symbolic themes, but written with a mystical sensibility. Many of these themes resonate with the Inner work we all share, and it is with this in mind that I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the myths by which we live.

Becoming Supernatural: How common people are doing the uncommon by Dr. Joe Dispenza ISBN 978 1 4019 5309 6 Publisher: Hay house

To be honest I couldn't resist the title, and it was 99p on Amazon at the time. (Other book suppliers are available of course!) and although it comes over, at first, as another of those self-help, 'this is basically an advert for my expensive courses' books, with lots of examples of healing and enlightenment from former 'students', this turned out to be unfair, because Dr. Dispenza does give the reader some very useful techniques in meditation which he sets out in print in the book for those who cannot attend courses or afford the CDs that are also available.

He has a different way of approaching subjects such as Regardie's 'Middle Pillar' exercise, Chakra work and energetic healing. He looks at the circuits of energy and Kundalini and gives a new slant to concepts relating to what a Shaman might describe as 'Loss of Soul' and, interestingly, to 'the Light within'. It is always refreshing to see familiar material approached in from a non-magical (as far as I know) viewpoint.

I have not yet had time to work with these exercises, but it would be interesting to see what other 36 seasoned meditators and visualisers would make of these techniques, and although there may be nothing exactly new to us, I found some of the science (in the broadest sense) behind the exercises interesting and insightful.

Last, but by no means least, is something hot off the presses,

Sword of Ice and Fire: Red Dragon Rising Book 1 by John Matthews

ISBN 978 1 911122 17 3 Published by Greystones Press

Although this is a work of fiction, John Matthews has spent all his life, many more than fifty years studying and working with the Arthurian legends in all their myriad forms, and he has distilled his lifetime's knowledge into this novel, which has been marketed as 'Childrens/Teenage fantasy'. It is the first in a series of four, three more volumes are planned, relating the childhood and youth of the boy who would become King Arthur. The forgotten years, one might say. Little is said elsewhere of his life before the sword in the stone incident, and of how it might have felt to have been fostered by Hector and his family for so many years. Most of the action is seen through the eyes of a very ordinary small boy, who turns out to be not quite so ordinary after all.

There are pauses in the adventure when different voices intervene, the voices of those who seek to guard and nurture the young Arthur, and these are gnomic, oracular voices, resonant with a bardic sense of mystery. I thought these passages might seem confusing to the young reader, but this was not so, the children who have read this book with me found them special and mysterious.

The lore within these pages predates Malory and goes back to earlier sources from both Britain and France, elucidating sometimes fragmentary scraps of information into a coherent whole. The young reader is introduced to some of the earliest legends of these islands in a subtle way, great groundwork that will be instrumental in creating a deeper understanding of the powers that lie behind the later, more familiar versions that have been influenced by the ideals of chivalry and courtly love. There have always been different versions of the Arthurian myth for different times!

The first page starts:

“The Enchanter came to the valley of Avalon quietly, carrying the child cradled in his arms. His journey had been long, for the place lay far from the roads trodden by men”

Thus begins the written large for a new generation, and John's prose is both lucid and fast-paced. In skillfully interweaving fragments from such diverse sources the author has woven something both rooted in the myths and traditions of our nation and entirely new. My grandchild and I eagerly await the publication of the next episode, “The Cauldron of Light and Dark” Highly recommended.

37 Design by Jon Samuels www.jonsamuels.co.uk 38 spirituality alone will not take a man far in the Mysteries; he must have intellectual powers as well Dion Fortune