The Training & Work of an Initiate Paperback – November 1, 2000

Dion's work is well known among old school Wica as well as people looking into occult and Mystery Tradition seekers, but I venture to say that she is not as well known among the majority of the modern Pagan and Wiccan community today. One can get into the mind set that since Dion is most well known for her book on Qaballa published well over half a century ago therefore she might not be relevant to today's pagans, and here I strongly disagree.This work is a quick read but one of great depth in understanding the fundamentals of working with a mystery tradition, of which Wicca is one. The reason that Wicca is one is because it is one that must be practiced and taught, preferably by another Wiccan. It is not a religion that you can grasp by just reading a book, it must be experienced to understand it. With that in mind Dion goes into the different steps of how one cam prepare the mind for such an initiation. Don't pick up the book looking TO be initiated because you read it, but rather pick it up to understand what the mind goes through when such a thing does happen.The one small thing that I could warn people about is that she does come to this book as more of an occult Christian mystic then a pagan one, but as both stem from the same mystery traditions of the past it's a small gripe at best. Pick this book up to know where the generation that is writing now got their information and make your own conclusions about things.

Dion Fortune is one of my favorite authors on these topics between this book, The Esoteric Orders and Applied Magic. I will warn to anyone new to these subjects that these books can be a fairly difficult read if you are not already quite familiar with the subject at hand. That being said even those just learning about this things should be able to digest it all after possibly rereading some sections a time or two and maybe having to look up some terms to gain a full understanding of them. Although these books aren't very thick they are still quite dense. Recommended for anyone into the occult

Very compact and straight-forward. Pretty much this is the kind of book you'd give someone you know whose trying to figure out what occultism is and what kind of head space it's coming from. She defines wonderfully the differences between the more sheer mystic vs. sheer occult paths, generally it seems like very few people are strictly one or the other, but at their philosophical polarities they can tangle over what each thinks of what the other is doing. The reason I drifted into the occult path was the alchemical work - that is I saw the opportunity to do the proper work of man unfallen which is to train myself in the hopes of tending the garden of Eden, right here, as well as to work on the regeneration of my own personality. That's the core of the Rosicrucian alchemical path, by extension the Golden Dawn and diaspora path (of course including that of Fraternity of the Inner Light and the later Knight and Butler creation - Servants of the Light). A beautiful and concise work written in LVX.

This gives the reader a true insight into how the early neo-pagan and 'traditional' witchcraft paths were evolved.Dion Fortune was both a person of her times, powerful woman in a predominately male world and quasi Christian/pagan in a world were only Christianity existed.Her work in so many areas was to have a profound effect upon today, if she knew I would imagine she would have been surprised but pleased, her correspondence with Aliester Crowley shaped the Thelemic and OTO traditions as, when you read their letters, he wasn't adverse to incorporating others work into his own and her interest in the Golden Dawn was to produce some of the most influential books on how the circle/coven system and ritual would continue, her work on Kaballah is still the most profound which was to also influence the way modern tarot is perceived.Although she was raised a Christian and never lost that faith she redefined it into it's most early beliefs back to the days of Gnostic Christianity when the belief in what we see and what we are able to see if we believe in more than what we are told we see.If one wants to understand today one has to look at the past, these books by Violet Firth allow us to understand who we are from the glossed over 'quasi traditions' we were supposed to have inherited from the past.

While much of Fortune’s thoughts are true, they sometimes skirt the absolute and offer advice that reflects the time when she wrote them. Her overall understanding and vision still provide a solid start for the seeker.

my adult son asked for this book. I ordered online and sent it directly to him. He says this is the best book in his extensive library so far. He asked me to buy one for myself.

This 85-year-old book, together with her even-earlier "Esoteric Orders and Their Work", set us firmly on the now Well-Worn Path. My wife and I own something over 214 Wicca-theology and closely-related books, of which I've read all the text in 60 -- in my perspective (as a non-initiated seeker) these are Must-Read books.

an excellent exploration of the training and work of an initiate. Finding all of Fortunes writings to be clear and affirming. Her authority is evident from the introduction to the practical value of the information she is providing.