The Demon Lover.

£3,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

The first edition of Dion Fortune’s first novel, in the scarce dust jacket, which is in excellent condition. Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 1890-1946), occultist, ceremonial magician, prolific author and co-founder of The Society of the Inner Light, is widely recognised as one of the foremost occultists of the twentieth century. Fortune studied psychotherapy at the University of London in 1913 under John Flugel after having become interested in the works of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. She worked as a councillor until 1916, and during this time developed an interest in esotericism. She joined the hermetic order of the Golden Dawn in 1919, where she embraced her family motto “Deo, non Fortuna” and became known as Dion Fortune. In 1922 she formed the Fraternity of the Inner Light (which would later become the Society of the Inner Light), in an attempt to draw in new people and revitalise the movement. It would first have a base in Glastonbury and then opened another in London. However, in 1924 after Fortune had gained some success for her new group and a notoriety within the occult community, she was thrown out of her lodge at the Golden Dawn by Moina Mathers who “claimed that certain symbols were not appearing in [her] aura”. Regardless she continued her work with the Society of Inner Light, and would go on to write over twenty books on the occult, numerous articles and nine fantasy novels. Fortune saw her fantasy novels as a way to disseminate her occult teachings t

• Year: 1927

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