FORTUNE, Dion.

£200 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Winged Bull. First edition, first impression, of the first of Fortune's mystical works of fiction with what she described as an "initiatory" quality. Having visited the British Museum, the work's protagonist is "thrust into the bohemian world of Bloomsbury, entering into a magical relationship" and engaging in a psychic battle with a parody of Aleister Crowley (van Raalte, p. 58).Violet Mary Firth (1890-1946), known as Dion Fortune, is recognized as one of the most important British occult leaders of the 20th century. Her novels are interlaced with her occult theories in a deliberately didactic manner, offering "easy, accessible techniques for mystical experience" (van Raalte, p. 55). Her occult society, the Fraternity of the Inner Light, was founded in 1924 and provided training in occult rituals. During the Second World War the society launched a "Magical Battle of Britain", during which members concentrated their mental energies to attack the "cloud" of Nazism over Germany.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.