The Secrets of Dr. Taverner

by Dion Fortune

Of the many authors who have turned their hands to the creation of 'supernatural sleuths', few have been so colourful, and as contradictory, as Dion Fortune. She was, in her time, a highly significant and influential figure within spiritualistic a one-time member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, she left it to create another society, the Fraternity of the Inner Light, which (under another name) still exists today; and which refuses to discuss her. During the 1920s and 1930s she wrote books, pamphlets, and articles about her spiritual philosophies and various sociological and sexual issues, including vegetarianism, the servant problem, and contraception. She also turned her hand to fiction, writing novels which contained such elements as black and white magic, the great god Pan, astral bodies, reincarnation, and the lost city of Atlantis. When she died in 1946, Fortune left her final novel, MOON MAGIC, uncompleted; the last two chapters are said to have been dictated by her from beyond to one of the Inner Light mediums. Her first work of fiction, however, was THE SECRETS OF DR TAVERNER, first published in 1926. The stories concern some of the psychic adventures of the Holmes-like Taverner, as narrated by his assistant, Dr Rhodes. In addition to containing the eleven stories from the first edition, this volume also includes a twelfth Dr Taverner tale, 'A Son of the Night', which was not published until some years after Fortune's death, and which has been the cause of some speculation regarding its authorship. In his lengthy introduction, Jack Adrian examines the enigma who was Dion Fortune, and provides a possible solution to the question of which real person served as the basis for Dr Taverner.

Genres: Fiction, Occult, Fantasy, Short Stories, Horror, Magic, Paranormal

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Violet Mary Firth Evans (better known as Dion Fortune), was a British occultist and author. Her pseudonym was inspired by her family motto "Deo, non fortuna" (Latin for "by God, not fate").

From 1919 she began writing a number of novels and short stories that explored various aspects of magic and mysticism, including The Demon Lover, The Winged Bull, The Goat-Foot God, and The Secrets of Dr. Taverner. This latter is a collection of short stories based on her experiences with Theodore Moriarty. Two of her novels, The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic, became influential within the religion of Wicca, especially upon Doreen Valiente.

Of her non-fiction works on magical subjects, the best remembered of her books are; The Cosmic Doctrine, meant to be a summation of her basic teachings on mysticism; The Mystical Qabalah, an introduction to Hermetic Qabalah; and Psychic Self Defence, a manual on how to protect oneself from psychic attacks. Though some of her writings may seem dated to contemporary readers, they have the virtue of lucidity and avoid the deliberate obscurity that characterised many of her forerunners and contemporaries.

Reviews

[Mrs. Woodhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a splendid read of paranormal/occult fiction. A collection of 12 stories originally published in magazines during the 1920s, the tales follow the adventures of a Sherlock Holmes type of character, the great psychic detective Doctor Taverner, and his assistant Dr. Rhodes (Taverner's Dr. Watson). The stories are written as case studies from Dr. Rhodes' point-of-view. Rhodes has emerged from the Great War with shattered nerves and a wish for a quiet life in the English countryside. Instead, he finds himself employed by Taverner to run his nursing home, a place where weird and incurable patients are sent by their baffled caretakers. There is vampirism, shape shifting, soul switching, and other mysterious business, and the eccentric genius Dr. Taverner helps them all. Rhodes, always the sceptic regarding the occult, cannot help but admire the way Taverner handles each case, and gradually begins to accept the idea that there is more to life than his medical science can make sense of.

Dion Fortune was a student of the Western Mystery Tradition, and she meant her fiction to be teaching tools. However, you can enjoy this collection of mysterious tales without that particular knowledge or interest. If you would like to read about a magic other than the Harry Potter type, give Doctor Taverner a go. I only wish Ms. Fortune had written more tales.

[Pinar · Rating 5 out of 5]

still reading it but am more than halfway through. this is the first book by Dion Fortune (Violet Mary Firth), the famous occult writer, I am reading and am very pleasantly surprised. I had heard her fiction writing was really good (in addition to her well known non-fiction occult titles) but had no idea until I picked up this book on my Kindle. Dr. Taverner is a Sherlock Holmes-like character -but MUCH more loveable- tackling paranormal/occult cases. as almost every other commentator had also pointed out, the stories are full of glimpses to Fortune's own spiritual path -but not in a didactic sort of manner at all. she's a terrific writer and this book is absolutely charming.

[K.J. Charles]

Collection of occult stories by your actual practitioner in the 30s. Not as terrible as you might think, though there are basically only two plots: reincarnation, and being a weird elemental. These both keep happening and our Watson never sees it coming.

Horrendous ableism TW, really nasty. One quite good story where an Anglo Indian gets consequences for discarding his mistress, with actual acknowledgement of the abuses of men and colonialism.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been slowly reading my way through these stories as an ebook. At first the writing style appeared clumsy, each case was solved and then Dr Tavverner would sit and explain the occult principles or the "message" of each tale. But as the stories progressed they got more interesting and less heavy handed. There are some beautiful, spooky and romantic stories as well as some interesting discussion of the Western Magical Tradition.
Having had a background in psychology I found the setting of the psychiatrist as the psychic investigator to be very interesting. As the author was trained in psychiatry it was a nice juxtaposition between the occult and the modern science. There is also some discussion on the rights of women and ethnic minorities that at first come across as frighteningly racist and sexist but the message that comes across in the end is that those beliefs are incorrect and everyone deserves respect. Despite being a selection of short stories the narrator himself undergoes his own journey. Perhaps part of the reason the quality of the stories improves through the book is the narrator's increased acceptance of the world around him. But I thoroughly enjoyed this and will definitely read more by this author.

[Wreade1872 · Rating 3 out of 5]

As supernatural detective fiction goes, this is quite good. It's about a doctor who runs an asylum but is a sort of wizard on the side and each chapter is a different 'monster-of-the-week' style story about a patient. It covers the usual assortment, ghosts, dark magic, past lives, nature spirits etc.

[Carlotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, both as a "novel", as a teaching on the personal inner path Dion Fortune so much wished to bring in her books, and as an account of a different method of approach to certain subjects.

The book is written from the point of view of Doctor Rhodes, that becomes a helper at the psychiatric clinic of Doctor Taverner, together they meet peculiar medical cases, that are approached by Taverner with a method different from any existing one at the time the book was written... read as magick unfolds...

Based on Dion Fortune's personal experience with T.W.C.Moriarty, this book will be a pleasure to read whatever your personal belief is, and in any key you like.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

So entertaining to read this book as metaphysical Sherlock Holmes/Watson cases. I truly loved the characters of Dr. Taverner/Dr. Rhodes. These stories are stranger than fiction. That is for sure. In particular, the first story, called Blood Lust, a vampire tale, illustrated to me just how flat that genre has become in modern story-telling. Much better to deal with it from an etheric point of view. Very other-worldly undertones in these cases that leaves one unsettled at times. These stories are certainly not for everyone.

[Halvor (Raknes) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed reading this book. It may even have provided me with one or two insights even given its fiction format. Dion Fortune writes quite well and it is quite interesting to get a description of the milieu in which occultism plays an integrated part, even though the protagonist is ostensibly an uninitiate.

[Gwyndyllyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tons of wisdom in these tales...and gerat fun to read. Dion Fortune is FANTASTIC. No occultist should be without her texts.

[Jen]

I need to think about this before I can give it a rating

[S.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the exception of one or two, these stories were pretty good. If you're a fan Hodgson's Carnacki and/or Blackwood's Dr. Silence, you will surely like Fortune's Dr. Taverner. 🧿

[Shadow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent novel it is a mixture of Carl Gustav Jung with a touch of Dr Strange (from marvel comics) and Sherlock holmes. It is an interesting read with pointings of how the unconscious mind works from an occultist point of view but nevertheless an interesting read plus very entertaining.

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourites. Fascinating!

[Joshua]

A fun book of Victorian mysteries presented in sort of an X-Files format where the supernatural is real and makes a difference in solving each case.

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, well, doing some reading for the 1926 public domain project and there were three stories from this collection. Noted occultist Dion Fortune gives us her take on a "occult/psychic" doctor shtick. Now, as might be expected - this is all kinds of posturing about secret knowledge, astral selves, black lodges, reincarnation and the like - your usual Theosophist/Early-2oth Century Ceremonial Magic stuff. And pretty by the numbers - Fortune isn't really concerned with telling a good story so much as illustrating some particular principle or belief. Taverner is your usual stuffy, smug wise-man and his "Watson" - to which Taverner is eternally explaining things - is Dr. Rhodes, recently returned from the trenches of WWI. The slight difference in these from other occult doctors of the time is that Taverner runs a clinic where he treats maladies of the mind (and which serves as a safe haven and occult purity zone, to protect the patients). Also, WWI seems to loom in the background of at least two stories here.

"The Soul That Would Not Be Born" is fairly weak - a catatonic woman is diagnosed by Taverner as resisting the process of embodiment in the world, after having watched the story of her own life pre-birth (or some such nonsense) where she saw that she would have to pay her karmic debt in this incarnation. YAWN. "The Death Hound" is a bit better, as a recurrent threatening vision plaguing a young man with a weak heart is traced by Taverner back to a black magician motivated by jealousy. Finally, a WWI vet finds himself manifesting a strange, spectral "vampire" driven by a "Blood-Lust".

None of these are particularly compelling, although "The Death Hound" ends on a blackly humorous note and "Blood-Lust" is okay if, like the other two, didactic.

[My work is never done · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this book with the feeling that it would be like many other classics I love. But I have to say, it was better than I had expected. Taverner is like a Psychic Sherlock Holmes. And while there are times where there is white nationalist sentiment by Eric Rhodes, the Narrator, it's clear that Taverner isn't that kind of person at all. There was even a (surprisingly) strong condemnation of British Nationalism and Colonialism in India.

And strangely enough that one chapter predicted how India would be liberated. I was surprised that Dion Fortune, as nationalist and racist as she was, would portray Taverner. Of course she based him off of her own Master, the real life Irish Occultist and Freemason Theodore Moriarty. Who probably had a less than favorable view of how England conducts business. The first story about a man haunted and drained by the Vampiric Ghost of a man he killed on the battle field was a real account.

Moriarty had helped Dion with a man who was being drained to death. And it turned out that he was a soldier in the first World War and had killed a German Soldier. The Vengeful Spirit remained attached till Moriarty did an exorcism. So no doubt, these stories are as Fortune mentions in her introduction : case studies of things that happened. Simply she embellished them.

Because if she tried to submit these things for serious study, she'd have been laughed at. I was surprised she made the narrator (who was obviously at least partially based on her) a man rather than a woman. The reads were amazing. And information on these studies was also enlightening. I wish she had written more adventures such as these.

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I segreti di Taverner, dottore dell'occulto, per la serie letture stregate ( la magia è una delle mie grandi passioni 💫). Si tratta di un libro di nicchia per molti ma un bel mattoncino per chi si occupa di Teosofia e di Magia a livello amatoriale. Dion Fortune fu infatti una delle prime donne ad entrare nella Società Teosofica e anche ad uscirne per approfondire sue teorie quando la società sembrava aver identificato Jiddu Krishnamurti come Mestro del Mondo. E' poi entrata nella Golden Dawn per poi esserne espulsa anni dopo. Insomma una donna che sicuramente, seppure nel '900, sapeva ciò che voleva e non aveva timore di affermarlo. In questo libro Dion, per la quale non basterebbe un post per raccontarne la vita e gli studi, afferma di aver creato un romanzo fatto di di storie realmente accadute e di cui può essere testimone sotto forma di episodi avventuti al Dottor Taverner ed al suo assistente Dottor Rhodes presso la sua clinica psichiatrica per malattie mentali. L'intento è quello di avvicinare i più alle basi del sovrannaturale. Sicuramente la base di professionista in psicologia freudiana e la passione per la magia rendono il romanzo armonioso, interessante e avvincente, molto simile ad una lettura alla Sherlock Holmes. Suggerisco questo libro a chi volesse avvicinarsi, anche solo guardando da lontano, al mondo esoterico.

[Kaj Roihio]

Okkultismi ja kaikenlaiset salatieteet saavuttivat kohtalaista suosiota ensimmäisen maailmansodan jälkeen. Eikä ihme, miljoonat kuolonuhrit olivat jotain, mitä oli vaikea käsittää. Melkein jokaisessa kodissa tunnettiin suurta surua ja haettiin vastauksia. Dion Fortune, oikealta nimeltään Violet Mary Firth, sai kuningasajatuksen viihteellistää näkymättömän maailman etsiminen ja runttasi innoituksensa Sherlock Holmes -tyyppisiksi salapoliisikertomuksiksi. Niinpä sain alkunsa Tohtori Taverner, okkultistietsivä, omalaatuinen nero ja aivan ällistyttävän yksiulotteinen kirjallisuuden hahmo. Tavernerillä ei oikeastaan ole muita luonteenpiirteitä kuin yliluonnollinen kyky nähdä kaikkea, mitä muut eivät näe eikä tuskin ole edes olemassa. Tohtori Watsonin roolin perii tohtori Rhodes, vähälahjainen aseenkantaja, sihteeri, perässähiihtäjä ja ihailija, joka tarina toisensa jälkeen ihailee suu auki mestarinsa ylimaallisia oivalluksia. Tarinat ovat lyhyitä, typeriä ja huonosti kirjoitettuja, mutta viihdyttäväksi tästä tekee tosiasia, että kirjoittaja oikeasti uskoi juttuihinsa ja se antaa tarinakokoelmalle aivan toisenlaista puhtia kuin tavanomaisille kertomuksille aaveidenmetsästäjistä. Bonuksena sivujen välissä oli kutsukortti Pohjois-Savon yksityisyrittäjien kesäkokoukseen Kuopiossa 25. päivä kesäkuuta vuonna 1945.

[Mike Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard for me to justify five stars because it's such a personal taste thing. But this book brings a tone, energy and vibe that is mystical and personally, I LOVED IT.

Some readers might laugh at this as pulp/cheap writing and recommend instead someone read Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. While those are also great, and capture the 'mood' of 19th century England, this one is a little more mystical and modern to me.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occult detective fiction by a real occultist. This one is interesting. It is from an era where supernatural themes and psychological science fiction themes were indistinguishable... Kind of the same way that A Princess of Mars was conceived as science fiction, but reads like low fantasy now. The further science progresses, the stranger old sci-fi looks.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the best occult fiction writers!

[Ken B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 STARS

[Lachrymarvm_Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over the summer, I read a collection of short fiction called “The Weiser Book of Horror and the Occult” (pub. 2014 but containing works originally published between 1851-1922). That collection was my first exposure to one of the best-known female occultists of the early 20th century, Dion Fortune. I had, of course, seen her name mentioned often in other books, but had not read her work firsthand. Her story, “The Sea Lure” was in that collection, and as it turned out, that story was originally part of Dion Fortune’s first book of fiction, titled “The Secrets of Dr. Taverner.” So, I decided to buy it and dig in. After all, I started reading Crowley thru his fiction (see the novel “Moonchild”) and I thought it would be just as good a way to start reading Fortune.

“The Secrets of Dr. Taverner” is very blatantly influenced by Sherlock Holmes; with Dr. Taverner being the more occult-oriented version of that famous detective, and the narrator of the stories (Dr. Rhodes) being the equivalent of Watson. In these tales, which are mostly standalone but share a basic continuity, Dr. Taverner runs what they call a ‘nursing home’ which is essentially the era’s equivalent to a mental asylum, with the important exception that Taverner’s is not some abusive psych-ward, but rather a unique place where esoteric practices are used to treat patient’s conditions that have thwarted treatment by ‘normal’ medical means. Each tale is presented as a ‘case study’ of some particular individual; a mystery that is then solved by Dr. Taverner and his assistant Rhodes.


Apparently it was originally published with 11 stories in 1926, but this 1979 reprint by Llewellyn includes a 12th story previously unpublished, called “A Son of The Night” – it’s strange to imagine the collection without it, since it provides more of a narrative resolution to all the stories than there would be otherwise. This version also contains an essay titled “The Work of a Modern Occult Fraternity” by Gareth Knight.

I am still just beginning to learn about Dion Fortune, as both a person and as an occultist. I also obtained her more famous classic “The Mystical Qabalah” but have not started it yet. She was born as Violet Mary Firth, and took her magic name, Dion Fortune, from a family motto coined by her grandfather, “Deo, Non Fortuna” which meant “God, Not Luck.” Fortune was involved with the Golden Dawn, and after MacGregor Mathers died was also in its successor organization led by Mather’s wife, The Rosicrucian Order of the Alpha et Omega, but after Moina Mathers kicked her out, Fortune formed her own order, called The Society of the Inner Light, which still exists today.
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[Graham Dragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a young teenager and was enthralled, and have now read it again to repeat that pleasure.

This is a book with lots of short stories all based on Dr Taverner, a psychoanalyst with a deep understanding of occult mysteries and who helps those who have been attacked by dark forces. Dr Taverner is not simply a trained psychoanalyst but also an adept member of an ancient esoteric brotherhood, and this comes through in all the stories.

Included in this collection is a vampire story that gives a much more compelling and, in my view, realistic background to the vampire legend, the theft of an ancient manuscript of a powerful magical ritual which would be very dangerous in the wrong hands, lovers from a previous age seeking each other in this incarnation, individuals who are closer to being nature spirits than human, and many more such delights.

Some of the language is quite erudite. We are informed that a small London café provides exiguous accommodation, where another writer might simply have said it was cramped. A rather eccentrically dressed individual is described as rococo, a description usually reserved for a building rather than a person.

Dion Fortune claimed that although she wrote this as fiction all of the incidents actually occurred in one way or another. Having studied this subject all my life, and being much more of a Jungian than a Freudian persuasion, I am inclined to believe her. But even if you do not share my belief you may well really enjoy this collection of quite unusual mystical stories.

This particular edition by Lamp of Trismegistus has some unfortunate typographical errors. Early in the book "neighbours" is mis-spelled the American way (Dion Fortune was English, not American, and would not have used American spelling, and almost immediately after this mis-spelling we have “colour” spelled correctly rather than the American way, all of which suggests quite clearly this is a typographical error rather than the way Dion Fortune wrote it). Later, in a story relating to drugs with unfortunate properties, a character named Polson keeps being referred to as Poison. There are also many instances of words split in peculiar places by a hyphen, presumably originally to allow the splitting of the word at the end of a line, but which is now no longer at the end but in the middle. These are all just problems created by this particular publisher and not a fault of the author herself. They are unlikely to be present in another edition.

[Shadow Wolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely a take on the Holmes/Watson formula but pretty lazy and uninspired. Perhaps Fortune being a practicing occultist harmed more than it helped as she seems more concerned with conveying moral and esoteric lessons than with writing a good story. Even the protagonists are not all that great. Doctor Taverner is your basic "I am burdened with knowledge and cares beyond mortal ken" type but at least shows occasional flashes of compassion. Doctor Rhodes, however, is just an altogether horrible beast. Want to make me irrevocably and deeply hate your character? Have them say something like "The greyness of the skin told of chronic ill-health, or an unwholesome life in the foul and sunless air of which the denizens of that district are so fond. " with a straight face. Haha, them poor folks, they sure do love airborne pollutants and short life spans. Maybe (hopefully) the characters are not meant to speak to Fortune's own convictions but there are only so many times I can say "the writer is a person of her time" before the charm stops working and I begin to loathe her. For someone endlessly prattling on about White Lodges and moral responsibilities of the occult practitioners, she seems to be seriously lacking in kindness. A lot of it really just feels like a new spin on the white man's burden idea, now with 100% more "gypsies are kin to Pan" filling.

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dion Fortune’un Doktor Taverner’in Sırları kitabı, okült temaları merkeze alan ilginç bir öykü derlemesi. Her hikâye, psişik ya da ruhsal bir vaka etrafında şekilleniyor ve bu yönüyle başta merak uyandırıcı olsa da, ilerleyen sayfalarda bazı tekrarlar dikkat çekiyor. Benim için kitabın en büyük sorunu, birçok öykünün sonunda olayların oldu bittiye getirilmiş hissi vermesiydi. Çözümler çoğunlukla ani ve yeterince temellendirilmeden sunulmuştu. Ayrıca kullanılan okült terimler ve kavramlar o kadar yoğundu ki, konuya aşina olmayan bir okur için kafa karıştırıcı olabiliyor. Taverner karakteri etkileyici bir figür olsa da, onun bile iç dünyasına dair fazla şey öğrenemiyoruz. Son tahlilde, kitap atmosferi ve konusuyla ilginç ama anlatım tarzı ve içeriğindeki yoğun ezoterik yük, zaman zaman okuma keyfini gölgede bırakabiliyor. Daha derli toplu ve karakter odaklı bir anlatım, çok daha etkileyici olabilirmiş.

[Rubén Lorenzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta recopilación con todos los relatos del detective de lo sobrenatural John Taverner tiene una peculiaridad: está escrita por una auténtica ocultista, si es que ese concepto existe.

Los primeros relatos, sin embargo, son sencillos y poco originales. Por suerte, a medida que el tomo avanza, se vuelven mucho más interesantes y divertidos. De hecho, el tomo acaba en alto con un final estupendo.

El estilo de Dion Fortune es sencillo y directo, con un enfoque tirando a lógico y racional dentro de lo sobrenatural de los hechos. No por ello está exento de momentos emotivos y hasta poéticos. He acabado la lectura muy satisfecho de lo disfrutado y con pena de que se acabara, que es el mejor piropo que puedo hacer.

Lo recomiendo, aunque es una edición muy exclusiva que resultará casi imposible encontrar en castellano.

[Amina Berdin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letto in inglese, una serie di racconti dove il sovrannaturale è metodologia scientifica.
La coppia di protagonisti ricorda un po' il famoso duo Sherlock Holmes e John Watson, aggiungendo quella gradita dose di ironia alle varie short novels. Ogni storia risulta molto accattivante e si risolve coerentemente in poche pagine, per chi ama come me storie di occulto qui troverà di sicuro un gioiello.
L'ho letto in inglese e trovo come tanti libri degli anni 20-30 che utilizzi molte espressioni di moda all'epoca, frasi fatte magari spesso ripetute, ma a parte questo scorrevole, delinea i personaggi in modo intuitivo e rapido senza mai scadere nel caricaturale.

E poi diciamocelo, finalmente una voce dell'occulto femminile ed emancipata!

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An occult version of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson short stories featuring facsimiles of the aforesaid in Dr Taverner and his loyal protege Dr Rhodes. These two investigate lots of strange goings-on during the interwar period in Britain caused by various psychic and magic malaises. That's to say, Rhodes does the investigating and Taverner drops by to provide fatherly insights, solutions and good advice. All of these stories are entertaining in a way, but none of them come close to being exquisite works of fiction. They're close to each other plot-wise and are a harsh soul could classify many of them as rewrites of the others, and there's the matter of the author genuinely believing in the abracadabra that underlies these works.

[Jean-Pierre Vidrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of occult mysteries is deceptively simple. On the surface, they are amusing trifles utilizing tropes that fans of such fiction are all too familiar with. They serve, however, as an introduction to . . . I won’t say it. The back cover synopsis uses the word “occult,” which is technically accurate. The term “psychic” is used as well throughout the stories. “Heathen” is thrown out loosely by one unreliable narrator. These words only hint at or skirt around what’s really happening. Dr. Rhodes is, over the coarse of the book, being initiated into a world that is only more broadly named at the end. If readers are willing, so are they.