Reviewed by Peregrin Wildoak
There is so much practical magical and esoteric wisdom in this book, I am unclear where to start. So I will start with Dion Fortune herself, who remains a living force and presence within modern western magic. Today there are conferences, books, workshops, websites and discussion pages that explore her work more than ever before. The volume under review shows us exactly why she remains such a force. Consisting largely of her weekly and monthly letters to members of the Fraternity of the Inner Light during the early and middle stages of World War II, the book is exceptional in many ways.
Firstly, the context. What we have in these letters is a evidence, real and concrete, of how a magical fraternity functioned and even thrived under the most onerous and trying circumstances – that of a nation at War. And we must remember this was not a nation going to war on a distant front but rather a war where the distinction between civilian and military effort collapsed and the whole of Britain’s resources were part of the war effort. It is hard to imagine today, just as it is hard to imagine our magical rituals being interrupted by aerial bombardment, as what happened with Dion Fortune.
What’s been said…