May 2008.v5 (click here for home)

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Helen Blavasky
(founded the Theosophical Society)
continued..
Theosophy is the name Blavatsky gave to that portion of knowledge that she brought from the masters to the world. It comes from the term "Theosophia" used by the Neoplatonists to mean literally "knowledge of the divine".

Perhaps all of her work can be summed up in one of her maxims: Compassion is the law of laws. She explained that brotherhood is not a mere ideal - it is a fact in nature on the spiritual plane. From that we derive a logical basis and a binding source for morality that can guide and inspire us, even while more traditional religious sources are losing their compelling force. She gives us the metaphysics from which we can deduce the most important principles of how to live.
Although Madame Blavasky left this plane in 1891 at the ripe age of 60 she left the following great books and a wonderful society that I have have had the privilege of being a member of for many years::

• The Secret Doctrine by Madame Blavasky - her magnum opus
• Isis Unveiled by Madam Blavasky - her major introduction to Theosophy
• The Key to Theosophy by Madame Blavasky - her introduction to Theosophy
• Voice of the Silence by Madame Blavasky - her inspirational book
  Mahatma Letter so A.P. Sinnett - letters of Blavastsky's teachers

Marie Leveau
(regarded as THE Voodoo Queen)
continued...
Marie Leveau's best documented exploit involved the murder trial of a young Creole gentleman, a trial which was almost certain to end in a guilty verdict for the young man. His powerful (and skeptical) father approached Marie and promised her anything if she could rescue his son. Marie agreed, asking for the man's New Orleans house in return. He agreed, and Marie secretly placed several charms throughout the courtroom. When his son was declared not guilty, the gentleman gave her his house as promised, and Marie Leveau gained the instant attention of the city's elite

Marie clearly had a great passion and devotion for Voodoo. Her most famous religious mark was probably the rituals on the banks of Bayou St. John held every June 23, St. John's Eve. Voodoo rituals were also held occasionally on the shore of nearby Lake Pontchartrain at Marie's cottage, Maison Blanche. It was said that sometimes Marie Laveau herself would dance with her large snake, Zombie, wrapped around her. Voodoo worshipers believed that even the snake possessed great powers.

Marie's Voodoo was about power but it bore no resemblance to Voodoo as fictionalized by the films of Hollywood. To her, and many of her followers, Voodoo's beliefs were not incompatible with Catholicism and Christian charity. Indeed, Marie frequently visited the sick in New Orleans' prisons, and she was called upon by the city's elite to help combat the Yellow Fever epidemic of the 1850's. Finally late in life as her power began to wane, she stopped practicing Voodoo and once again became Catholic solely. Marie Leveau is a figure shrouded in mystery. She was a Voodoo priestess and a devoted Catholic. She weaved spells and charms up to her last years approaching 90 but wielded even more influence through her earthly network. She ruthlessly wielded her power yet went to great pains to help the injured, sick, and downtrodden. In the final analysis, we will never know her true character, but it seems a mistake to try to choose between these disparate sides of Marie Leveau: this fascinating and complex woman was all of these things and more. If you look all around you there are so many spells and products alike that have the roots from which Marie's practice came from. Personally, I find everything about Marie Leveau very fascinating. If at anything you get from this article about Marie Leveau is that she was a great woman, a very literate black woman from the South, one of the most powerful not to mention one I admire and close to my heart the most for many reasons...

Dion Fortune
(founded the Society of Inner Light)
continued...
Once having embarked upon the occult path she cast her net wide and became a member both of the Theosophical Society and of the Alpha et Omega Temple of the former Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but becoming discontented with the performance of existing organisations she set about founding her own esoteric group. This was based in an old officer's mess hut erected at the foot of Glastonbury Tor, that they named Chalice Orchard, and which was the first headquarters of the Community (later Fraternity and then Society) of the Inner Light. Soon afterwards they also acquired a house in the Bayswater district of London which was big enough to accommodate some members in as well as to contain office facilities and a magical lodge

The Fraternity soon became an initiatory school of high calibre. Members attracted during the 1930s included such later well known figures as W.E.Butler, Colonel C.R.F.Seymour and Christine Hartley, whilst even the 14 year old W.G.Gray knocked upon its doors, but was turned away on account of his youth. Working in trance mediumship Dion Fortune made contacts with certain inner plane adepts, or Masters, whose influence on the Western Esoteric Tradition is still vital to this day.

During this period Dion Fortune wrote several esoteric novels to illustrate the possible practical application of the content of her textbooks and articles in her house journal, the Inner Light Magazine. She pioneered the popular exposition of the Qabalah as a key to the Western Mystery Tradition with her book The Mystical Qabalah, which is still one of the best texts available on the subject. Her other important work, The Cosmic Doctrine, which was mediumistically received early on in her career was at first reserved for senior initiates; its text is abstract and difficult to follow and is intended for meditation rather than as a straight textbook.

The Society of the Inner Light (the name was changed for legal reasons) continued to operate in much the same way for some years after Dion Fortune's death, largely under the inspiration of the remarkable mediumship of Margaret Lumley Brown. During this time a new generation of well known writers and teachers such as Gareth Knight, Charles Fielding, Dolores Ashcroft Nowicki, Kathleen Raine and Peter Valentine Timlett passed through its doors. It continues today as an initiatory school with much the same principles as those upon which it was originally founded.

Dion Fortune was truely has truely been an asset to the occult community and so it is why her name and teachings have touched so many ears!