The Society of Inner Light was an English magical order founded in the mid-to late 1920s by Dion Fortune as the Fraternity of the Inner Light. In 1946, after Fortune’s death, the name was changed to Society of the Inner Light.

According to its website (www.inner light.org.uk/intro.htm) it is a: ‘Society for the study of Occultism, mysticism and Esoteric Psychology and the development of their practice. Its aims are Christian and its methods are Western.’ The Society’s teachings derive from material from astral plane contacts brought through in trance by Dion Fortune in 1922. The Society has a grade structure of three degrees of lesser mystery and two degrees of greater mystery.

Fortune’s books, The Cosmic Doctrine and The Mystical Qabalah are central texts.

While Fortune was alive the Society served as a vehicle for her work and teaching but after her death the Society expanded on her work under the guidance of Arthur Chichester and principal trance medium Margaret Lumley Brown. In 1961 the Society stopped working all but the first degree of lesser mysteries and focused more on Christian mysticism. A large number of members left to join other magical lodges. In 1990 the society reestablished the full degree structure and brought out many of Fortune’s previously unpublished works.

SOURCE:

The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World: The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal: The Ultimate A-Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal – Written by Theresa Cheung – © Theresa Cheung 2006