Cosmic Doctrine

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the most important book of occultism ever written.
Review: Fortune's _Cosmic Doctrine_ is among the most important works of modern spiritual literature. Yes, it's difficult - like a koan. Yes, it's dense - like the Vedas. But it yields more useful information than any other book of its size. Fortune "received" the communication of the doctrine from an ascended master, and set it down pretty much as received. It helps if you have some understanding of Magick, Qaballah and the essential esoteric traditions. But even if you don't, study of it will still yield enormous results.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the most important book of occultism ever written.
Review: Fortune's _Cosmic Doctrine_ is among the most important works of modern spiritual literature. Yes, it's difficult - like a koan. Yes, it's dense - like the Vedas. But it yields more useful information than any other book of its size. Fortune "received" the communication of the doctrine from an ascended master, and set it down pretty much as received. It helps if you have some understanding of Magick, Qaballah and the essential esoteric traditions. But even if you don't, study of it will still yield enormous results.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely peculiar, to say the least
Review: Many claim that this book was channeled from a spiritual entity, or entities. It may well have been, or not; in her introduction to the book, Fortune states with admirable honesty that she doesn't know if it was channeled or if it came from her subconscious on overdrive. She does lean toward the "channeled" theory.

I am sorry to say that, although I am a student of the occult, I find much of this book incomprehensible. This does not invalidate the worth of the book; perhaps I'm not "ready" for what it offers, or perhaps it would only make sense to someone who was involved in the same magickal tradition that Dion Fortune was involved in.

In any case I can say for sure that this book is not for the casual student of the occult, nor is it even for the average person who reads Dion Fortune's works and learns from them. To be honest, this book mystifies me completely, although I have to admire the thoroughness with which Fortune and/or the Entities create their cosmology and the apparent "rightness" of some of the more comprehensible statements in the book. That is what the three stars are for.

However, I have to be honest and say that I don't understand what she's getting at (or what the Entities are getting at) here, and I seriously doubt the general reader will either. Nonetheless its cryptic nature makes it an interesting curiosity, and perhaps much more than that to those more adept than I in Dion Fortune's tradition.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely peculiar, to say the least
Review: Many claim that this book was channeled from a spiritual entity, or entities. It may well have been, or not; in her introduction to the book, Fortune states with admirable honesty that she doesn't know if it was channeled or if it came from her subconscious on overdrive. She does lean toward the "channeled" theory.

I am sorry to say that, although I am a student of the occult, I find much of this book incomprehensible. This does not invalidate the worth of the book; perhaps I'm not "ready" for what it offers, or perhaps it would only make sense to someone who was involved in the same magickal tradition that Dion Fortune was involved in.

In any case I can say for sure that this book is not for the casual student of the occult, nor is it even for the average person who reads Dion Fortune's works and learns from them. To be honest, this book mystifies me completely, although I have to admire the thoroughness with which Fortune and/or the Entities create their cosmology and the apparent "rightness" of some of the more comprehensible statements in the book. That is what the three stars are for.

However, I have to be honest and say that I don't understand what she's getting at (or what the Entities are getting at) here, and I seriously doubt the general reader will either. Nonetheless its cryptic nature makes it an interesting curiosity, and perhaps much more than that to those more adept than I in Dion Fortune's tradition.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Esoteric Text
Review: There are several essential esoteric texts and this is one of them. It is written in a manner similar to the Secret Doctrine by Blavatsky but is much more concise with information you will not find other places. Fortune, a Golden Dawn magickian and founder of her own occult order, was greatly influenced by Theosophy and this shows in this work. The chapters are quite short and the new edition of this work contain her original illustrations. The writing style is somewhat convoluted but it does stimulate one's intuitive nature similar to the Secret Doctrine.