The purpose of this book has been to examine a central and fundamental formula of Dion Fortune’s work exploring the power of story, the Tree of Life. This was then applied in practical work by engaging our will, imagination, and body in an alchemical process of development. The Tree provides a mandala and framework that enables us to direct and deepen this inner process.
These are the fundamental steps of this process:
1. The experience of meeting a turning point in life and becoming available to the possibilities of change.
2. The descent into the body that establishes a connection between our inner and outer worlds: the experience of Malkuth.
3. This opens us to a conscious relationship with our inner world through which our centre of gravity starts to shift inwards: the underworld path.
4. This path takes us to the sphere of Yesod, the place of the foundation and the treasure house of images. Here we start to understand the power of archetypal story and make connection with our inner energies. As we become established in this sphere, we create the foundation for our subsequent inner work.
5. This then begins the journey between Yesod and Tiphareth, the alchemical path. This path involves working with the wheel of resistance called the veil of the temple, formed from the spinning wheel of thought, emotion, and memory that blocks our deeper understanding.
6. As we pierce the veil, we enter Tiphareth, the heart centre of our being, opening us to clarity, balance, and compassion.
7 This radiant presence draws us on to the desert path that leads to Daath, the gateway to the non-dual. This path, as the phrase implies, strips away our prior ways of knowing and being.
8. As we surrender into the path, we encounter Daath, a place of paradox and fusion of opposites that takes us into a new way of being.
9 The crowning experience completing the desert path leads us to Kether, the crown of the Tree. This crowning and integration leads us to touch on the deepest part of our nature. This part is sometimes referred to as Ipsissimus, meaning “our own very self.”
The process leads us in a spiral back to the beginning, touching it all but on a higher, deeper arc. This is illustrated by the process of the four books, in that having completed the journey through The Goat-Foot God, we then begin it again in The Sea Priestess, and so on.
There is a great deal more in the books than has been described in this work, so having completed the workbook you will then be in a position to deepen your understanding and practice by returning to the novels. Many new insights will emerge; for example, in terms of further study, you can consider the way the four principal characters studied the path: Hugh Paston studies myth and story, Wilfred Maxwell communes with the moon, Ted Murchison invokes the gatekeeper of the gods, while Rupert Malcolm follows the inner priestess into the heart of the mystery.
Equally, there is much more that can be learned about the Tree of Life and the Qabalah, and if you are called to this, Dion Fortune’s The Mystical Qabalah will be of great benefit, as will the works of W. E. Butler.
Principally, the way forward will open step by step as you continue to practice the meditations and exercises and deepen your connection to your own soul.
This, if pursued, will lead you to the inner source of the teachings where, as W. E. Butler once said,
Our next meeting will be in the lodge, where, beneath the soft radiance of the everburning flame above you, and with the light upon the altar casting its wavering radiance upon the symbols thereon, you will take the Oath of the Mysteries. … The gates stand open; enter into light. 85
85. W. E. Butler, Apprenticed to Magic, 105.