Dion Fortune and the Three Fold Way Author: Gareth Knight Society of the Inner Light 2002 ISBN #1-899585-70-2 I was attracted to this book for two reasons: because it was based on the life of Dion Fortune (Violet Firth), and because the author is held in such high regard (and not just by me!). This book consists of articles that Gareth Knight published in the Inner Light Journal, the house journal for the Society of the Inner Light. The "Three Fold Way" refers to the three strands of the Western Mystery Tradition: the Green Ray encompasses nature contacts int he broadest sense, including Elemental and Faery traditions. The Orange Ray encompasses the study of symbolism, and its use in ceremonial or visualized forms, frequently in conjunction with the Qabalistic Tree of Life. The Purple Ray denotes religious mysticism, a direct approach to spirit, and the devotional way that is usually expressed in the West in Christian terms. Knight does an excellent job of summarizing the life work of Dion Fortune, and the society that she founded, the Society of the Inner Light. One of the subjects that she was devoted to was entitled the Arthurian Formula. Margaret Lumley Brown developed this material after Dion Fortune's death in 1946, but the material was initially worked on by Fortune and a lady by the name of Maiya Curtis-Webb (aka Maiya Tranchell-Hayes), a childhood friend of Fortune's, and had been her mentor in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Arthurian Formula provided the basis for the Greater Mystery work done by the Fraternity of the Inner Light in the 1950's. In essence, this work was geared to the opening up of the Greater Mystery grades in the Fraternity from 1946 to 1960. Knight himself has worked to bring these writings to the attention of the public through lecture format, and through public workshops. Quite an interesting section is devoted to the Master of Medicine, a channeled entity that worked through Dion Fortune. Aside from the healing nature of this work, it also goes to Fortune's background in medicine and psychotherapy (her parents ran a hydrotherapeutic center, and Fortune was married for several years to a medical doctor). There is a nice sample in this section of what an interview with this Master is like. Knight has what seems to me to be a very unique section where he discusses books that address contemporary religious thought, and the manner in which Dion Fortune is mentioned. The first book would be "The Triumph of the Moon" (by Professor Ronald Hutton), where Fortune figures as one of four modern figures, active between 1900 and 1950, that had an influence on modern pagan witchcraft. A mention was also made in "the Pagan Religions in the British Isles" in the context of beliefs surrounding Glastonbury Tor. There is also the issue of her professional relationship with occultist Aleister Crowley. There is also a professional relationship mentioned between Fortune and Charles Thomas Loveday, who funded the purchase of Fortunes plot of land at the foot of Glastonbury Tor. The group of people around Fortune at this point in time were also believers in an inner plane group called the Company, or the Watchers of Avalon. In the year 2000 four of Fortune's related books, based on inner planes communications, were published: "Dion Fortune and the Inner Light", "Spiritualism and Occultism" (both from Thoth Publications), "Principles of Esoteric Healing" and "Pythoness, the Life and Work of Margaret Lumley Brown" from Sun Chalice Books. Knight provides a synopses of each of the books in this section. There is also a wonderful article on the Lady of the Lake, part of the Arthurian legend. It is interesting to note here that the lake was considered to be an astral region, and the domain of faery women. Knight notes that Fortune's work was basically focused in three "strands": the magical tradition of Hermetic philosophy, Christian mysticism, and her Green Ray work, which included a broad range of contacts, including Elemental and nature contacts, Power centers, sacred sites, and Ley lines, as well as various forms of the Arthurian tradition. I found this book to be a wonderful source of information, and was even more amazed at the extent of work that Dion Fortune had been involved in. This is a must have book for any occult library! © September 2007 Bonnie Cehovet Personal Lifestyle Reading - I offer a Personal Lifestyle Reading using Tarot that looks at past, present and future influences in your life, at the energies that are currently available to help you along your path, and at those energies that are appearing as challanges. My goal is to offer you insight into your decision making process, as well as tools that you can use to both better understand your path and make conscious, choice centered decisions. Home Personal Empowerment links Personal Empowerment articles Graphics by Art for the web