Aontacht - Volume 7 Issue 3

subject of the Inner Realms first crossed mydesk, hers was the first name that came tomind. Following the grand tradition of hidingthings in plain sight she used fiction novelsas vehicles for instructing her followersregarding her believes and techniques on thissubject. Over a 27 year period she was theauthor of 12 books, many of them non-fiction,but also several novels that illustrated hervision of the world.Written between 1935 and 1946 the novels(footnote) illustrate this element of herspiritual practice and in The Winged Bull(1935) she implicitly acknowledges her debt toIgnatius of Loyola for this technique ofvisualization, having one character(Brangwyn) explain it to another (Murchison)as follows:“It is the way Ignatius Loyola trained hisJesuits. Only we apply it to other ends. TheJesuits visualize New Testament Scenes, andwork up an extraordinary religious pressure.We visualize the old myths, and work uppressures of quite a different kind.” (Chapter15, no page number available in the onlineversion of the book.)Fortune’s own training came to her throughher experiences with theosophy and the Orderof the Golden Dawn. She was also interestedin Freemasonry but at that time theorganization was still closed to women.Intriguingly, even the Masons have madepowerful use of imagery and visualization aspart of their rituals. Her choice to use thenovels as part of the training for her initiateswas very deliberate. In the front pages of hernovel, Moon Magic she wrote:“(...) I want my students to take themseriously. The ‘Mystical Qabalah’ gives thetheory, but the novels give the practice. Thosewho read the novels without having studiedthe ‘Qabalah’ will get hints and a stimulusto their subconscious. Those who study theQabalah without reading the novels will getan interesting intellectual jig-saw puzzle toplay with: but those who study the ‘MysticalQabalah’ with the help of the novels get thekeys of the Temple put into their hands. AsOur Lord said: “Know ye not that your bodyis the temple of the Holy Ghost?”Brangwyn’s reference to Ignatius of Loyolawas to a 16 th century Spanish theologian whofound the Jesuit Order. He formalized asystem of spiritual training that includedmeditation and visualization exercises. It isa 28 to 30 day regime of prayers, mediationsand mental exercise that has becomerenowned and adapted to many spiritualtraditions beyond the Jesuits.Meditative visualization is, of course, mucholder than just the 16 th century and crossescultural boundaries as well. It is, for example,also a powerful element of that most ancientof cultural practices, shamanism. One of myfavorite stories about shamanic visualizationinvolves the sea goddess Sedna. Accordingto Inuit myth her fingers were cut off andbecame all the creatures of the sea – the seals,fish and whales. Because she has no fingersshe cannot comb her hair and when her hairis tangled she becomes irritable and the seasbecome wild and unruly. To calm the sea forthe hunters of his village a Shaman willprepare himself for a hazardous journey underthe sea to visit with the Sea Goddess. HeAontacht • 57