A graveyard search

Yesterday I woke up to a beautiful golden dawn, and while taking a quick photo before it vanished, I got to thinking about Dion Fortune. The link is tenuous, I admit. In fact it’s simply that I knew she was a one-time member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, even if perhaps less well known than other former members such as Aleister Crowley, WB Yeats and AE Waite, of the Rider-Waite tarot pack fame.

Dion Fortune was born Violet Mary Firth in 1890, in Llandudno. She was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, and author - these days possibly mostly remembered for her work with the mystical Qabalah and her esoteric fiction, which is still in print nearly 80 years after her death. She studied psychology at the University of London and, for a time, worked as a counsellor in a psychotherapy clinic. Deeply interested in the esoteric, she became a member of both the Order of the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical Society. Here’s what she said about the Golden Dawn:

“When I came in touch with this organisation, it was manned mainly by widows and grey-bearded ancients, and did not appear to be a very promising field of occult endeavour. But I had considerable experience of practical occultism before I made its acquaintance, and I immediately recognised power of a degree and kind I had never met before, and had not the slightest doubt but that I was on the trail of the genuine tradition, despite its inadequate exposition.”

Over time, she split from both the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical Society, and formed her own esoteric society, The Society of the Inner Light - which is still based here in Glastonbury, a place she loved. During the Second World War she organised a widespread resistance to the Third Reich from here, through a programme of visualisation and meditation, undertaken by people across the United Kingdom.

It was her connection to Glastonbury that interested me, as I only recently discovered that she’s buried in the cemetery here. Considering the publicity the town council gives to promote King Arthur’s grave in the Abbey (which almost certainly isn’t his grave but it suited medieval monks to claim it was), you’d think they’d give a little more attention to Dion Fortune’s final resting place.

If it was Aleister Crowley’s grave, the place would be awash with curious visitors - but though she was a friend of his, Dion Fortune was far less controversial figure, and her grave is quite hard to find. Which means you can enjoy time wandering around the cemetery looking for it. When you find it, it’s unremarkable. Nothing showy, and not many traces of the activity of her many fans - just a few burnt candles and a couple of rain-soaked vases of flowers. Quite wild and lovely, in fact.

Mission accomplished, I left the quiet grave and walked into town, searching for a post graveyard flapjack. I only realised it was Remembrance Sunday when I got to the High Street, which was full of people leaving the parade.

But maybe the remembrance day zeitgeist was in the air? I’d gone to the cemetery to find someone whose war effort (whatever you think of it) has been mostly lost to history - but she’s worth remembering, just the same.

I’m not a follower of her path or The Society of the Inner Light, and found even her most famous book, The Sea Priestess, a bit of a struggle to get through. But I know she was an influential and powerful presence in a world dominated by men, and she still has a devoted following.

She also left a vast legacy of her work, if you’re interested in finding out more about her. To this day she has far more of her books for sale in bookshops on the High Street than most of us. But perhaps that’s not saying a lot. It’s Glastonbury. You can also probably buy a crystal wand more easily than a cheese sandwich…