The Arthurian Formula Paperback – April 1, 2008

Few have come anywhere near the erudite approach of Dion Fortune and Ms. Lumley-Brown intheir work on revealing the inner side of the Arthurian Mythos. Gareth Knight is hands down the bestcandidate for editing and illuminating this work. In fact his companion work, "The Secret Tradition in the ArthurianLegend" should be read alongside this work for in it he is addressing the practical work one might pursue in his orher quest.Mr. Knight formed, years ago, the Avalon Group. An excellent school where one can pursue the practical aspectsof this ageless tradition.

As a summary of Grail personae and introduction Faery lore, it isn’t too bad. But this is channeled communication. As such, it contains some bad science then current, some Blavatskyism, a confusing succession of “root races” and imaginative details of social and economic life of Atlantis (to which, by the sound of it, I say good riddance).It also contains some of the mediums’ personal hobby horses. Dion Fortune’s sexual views, which seem appalling old-fashioned in some ways, hippy-dippy Summer of Love in others, and sometimes creepily fascist. How does this sound?“Replace the desire of exclusive possession with the desire for efficient function and you solve the problem of jealousy. That is the clue to the morality of the New Age. It will have to be realized that children are among the assets of the nation. The fertility of the soil, the flicks and herds, the mineral treasures of the rocks and the fisheries of the rivers and around the coasts, the integrity, intelligence and industry of the people and their fertility, are the assets of the race and the government should control all these basic products in the national interest.”That’s a fair example of the pedestrian prose, too, but allowances must be made for the nature of channeling, I suppose. Don’t expect exciting tales of the Round Table. This is more like Ladies Night Q&A at the Theosophy study group.Atlantis is not a footnote. It was the Atlanteans who messed up everything with their selective breeding program, just like the Bene Gesserit in Dune. So there’s quite a bit about Atlantis, none of it very interesting for a topic with such potential. Not so much about Lemuria, though, since they were so racially inferior.My attention was a little better held by the sexy Faery women, but, after all, that’s what they do, right?Additional later material by Wendy Berg appended by editor Gareth Knight comes to little too late.

This is a very difficult book to rate in terms of the standard star system. It's also marketed very cleverly so that the people who really like the works of Dion Fortune would buy it; however, the actual material produced by her contained in this book is somewhere between a third and a quarter at a rough estimate. While the segment written by Fortune is of her usual type of content and standard, a good section of the rest of the book is nowhere near the same level, and becomes hard to read. I did a lot of weary shaking of my head while reading it and in the end, stalled for over a year before finally finishing it the other day. The Appendices read more like notes for some fantasy novel than anything more useful.However, it is worth a read if you are already well up on the themes and the areas this book covers (Arthurian legends, esoteric studies) because you have a chance to pick your way through the confusion to some decent and useful material.

different thinking approach as learning metaphysics thank you

Our dear Violet (Dion Fortune) has been our guide through all our researches. I was delighted that you could provide us with this source material ahead of the expected date. It was put to good use immediately. Thank You.

Just what I expected. Grate