Priestess: The Life and Magic of Dion Fortune

by Alan Richardson

As a powerful psychic and medium, obsessed with the study and practise of Magic, and a high-grade initiate within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, her career was never entirely in this world, and her companions not always human.

Genres: Nonfiction, Witchcraft

336 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

(1951-)

Reviews

[Katharine Kerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I waffled over the rating for this book. Richardson has done a good, solid job of researching his subject -- which could not have been easy. After her death, members of Dion Fortune's occult group seem to have burned as many of her personal papers as they could get their hands on. Since she died in 1947, not many of the people who knew her well were still alive when Richardson started his project.

Why only three stars? The "mansplaining", to use a trendy term, that rears its ugly head in the last few chapters. Richardson is absolutely sure, on very little evidence, that Fortune had a "thwarted" sex life and this "thwarting" somehow ruined her existence. He assumes that she had a terrible menopause because -- and here's where the mansplaining comes in -- don't all women?* And her husband had left her! Oh, the worst thing! Fortune herself seems to have been rather relieved that Penry Evans had gone on his way. By all accounts, they fought constantly when they were together. Richardson has had his attitude toward all of this questioned, in print by at least one writer**, because he pulls out the standard Mansplainer defense: several woman have agreed with him.

However, if you can ignore this vein of condescending assumptions, the book is well worth reading for the solid information it holds about Fortune's family, intellectual life, and associates.

*No, actually.

**Janine Chapman in her THE SEARCH FOR DION FORTUNE

[Sasha Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched and beautifully written. Speculative in places, so reader beware!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was more interested in the last couple of chapter, dealing with between the wars and WWII. But it does name names and places, which is very nice. The book has a sycophantic tone, that I just accept.

A fair bit of interesting occult anecdotes.