For today’s post I would like to share a book review for the novels The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic by Dion Fortune. The two books are interconnected in that the main character is the same in both tomes. This character goes by Vivian le Fay Morgan in the first novel, and by Lilith le Fay in the second novel.
In each novel she meets a male protagonist who needs her special brand of magic. He also allows her to gain more power in her magical works. In some ways it can be said that le Fay used the men to gain her own means! She is powerful and seems to appear ageless. She admits in Moon Magic to not being certain of her own age, but believing she is around 120 years old! Her longevity is assumed to be due to her advancement in the arcane field. The same can be said for her youthful beauty to be sustained by occult means!
Dion Fortune intended these novels to be a hidden way to pass occult knowledge to other practitioners. Where her non-fiction works give a background of knowledge, her novels would provide practical instructions. In the 1930s it made sense to hide actual arcane ritual instructions in the form of a fictional narrative.
It is something unsurprising that she would choose for her main character a woman who is the reincarnation of Morgan le Fay herself! This also explains the names she chooses to go by in her current incarnation.
I do not want to spoil any of the plot of these two incredible novels. So I will simply say that I highly recommend them to anyone interested in magick, Avalon, and Arthurian legend! I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts on these to incredible texts. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Further Reading
- The Sea Priestess by Dion Fortune
- Moon Magic by Dion Fortune
White Rose of Avalon 