Review by Bonnie Cehovet
This is one of those books that
sneaks up on you. Every so often on one of my Tarot
e-lists this book would be mentioned in passing. After
hearing about it several times, the thought began to stay
with me that this might be a book worth reading. The
day finally came when the book was in my mailbox. I
was incredibly excited - it was here ... now I was
going to see for myself what everyone had been talking
about!
The physical book itself has a commanding presence -
490 pages, replete with charts, extensive footnotes,
wonderful graphics and a cover that one cannot takes ones
eyes off of - a wonderful rendition of "A Masque of the
Four Seasons" by Walter Crane.
"Women of the Golden
Dawn" tells the story of the men and women that founded
and nurtured the original Golden Dawn society (a
society of an occult nature, and the "parent" to the
influential Rider/Waite Tarot deck). The focus is on the
women: Florence Farr, Maud Gonne, Annie Horniman and
Moina Bergson Mathers. This is their story - a story of
four women growing up within the strictures of
Victorian society - how they were able to live outside the
bounds of convention, how they were drawn into the world
of high magick, and how t hey were able to use that
world to help them focus on accomplishing what they did
in the physical world.
The very strength that
"makes" this book almost had me putting it down before I
ever really got into it. The first few pages (right up
until the storyline really begins) were so focused on
timelines and the psychological nature of the four women
that I was sorely tempted to leave the rest unread. I
was not about to read close to 500 pages on the
psychological nature of anybody!
Fortunately for me, when I had
just about had enough the story began. It is written in
a very interesting manner - using the connotations
of spring, summer, fall and winter as dividing
periods in the all too human lives of these women. What I
"thought" was holding me back in the beginning was actually
the strength of this book - intense research and the
wish to present this "story" in a coherent
manner.
Once I began the "story", I could not put it down!
People that had been names in a history book to me
started to become "real people"! They had personal family
histories, marriages, divorces, children, causes - all of the
stuff that life is really all about. Behind all of this
- the driving force in their lives, was an intense
interest in studying (and most importantly, living) the
principles of high magick that became the Golden Dawn
magickal system.
This book IS magick - we feel their joy,
we feel their pain, we feel their sorrow. We cheer
them on, we encourage them to make "different"
decisions in their lives. For the duration of the time spent
reading this book, we live in a different world - their
world. For many of us, their world - and the body of work
that they left behind, is actually the basis for our
world. I studied Rosicruciansim from the time I was in my
late teens. I studied astrology, Tarot, and the
magickal arts. Like these women - it was not an esoteric
pastime - it became how I lived my life. Complete with the
corollary that I was always well aware that the world that I
walked in was not part of the conventional world.
Through these women, we get to know the men of these
times: S. L. MacGregor Mathers, William Butler Yeats and
George Bernard Shaw, to name a few. We see the egos
involved, and we get to know them in a far different manner
than if we were to research them directly.
Throughout
the book, Mary Greer includes wonderful insights into
the psychological makeup of all of the cast of
characters - the why behind their decisions and actions. She
goes one step farther and includes the art of
astrology, through the use of individual birth charts for
each of the women and the men in their lives and
through referencing their charts for specific events in
their lives.
These women were involved in the
transformative world of Magicians, yes, but they were also active
in Irish politics, in establishing theaters, in the
creative worlds of poetry and music, and in women's rights
in general. Maude Gonne throughout her life was
passionate about Irish freedom; Moina Mathers an artist with
a great deal of ability that she set aside to act as
a partner to her husband in birthing and nurturing
the Golden Dawn Society; Florence Farr was an English
actress of considerable ability who held high office and
had a great deal to say about the Golden Dawn
policies; Annie Horniman co-founded the Abbey Theater, was
active in Golden Dawn politics and was a source of
financial largess for the Mathers and others.
Throughout
the book Mary Greer has included pictures of the men
and women at various stages in their lives, graphics
showing the systems being referred to, illustrations from
different Tarot decks and representations from Moina Mathers
art work.
We are also privy to the actual work being
done, such as an Enochian skrying session done by S. L.
Mathers and W. B. Yeats with Moina Mathers doing the
actual skrying. We experience the work of W. B. Yeats and
Maud Gonne on the astral plane as they create their
Celtic Mysteries. We get to read about Tarot work done by
these women - and see how they interpreted the cards. We
get to experience some of the wonderful world of
ritual that these men and women lived. And .. we get to
see how ego's and political intrigue brought about the
downfall of the original Golden Dawn Society.
Reading this
book is to experience the lives of these men and women,
to become one with them. Exceeding well researched
and presented, with extensive footnotes, this book
that I almost put down is a keeper. I highly recommend
it to anyone interested in High Magick, the Wisdom
Traditions, the Golden Dawn itself, Tarot and women's history.
If at first you find it hard going - put it down -
you will find a time in the future when this book will
have a place in your life!
Bonnie Cehovet is Certified Tarot Grand Master, a professional Tarot reader with over ten years experience, a Reiki Master/Teacher and a writer. Bonnie has served in various capacities with the American Tarot Association, is co-founder of the World Tarot Network, and Vice President (as well as Director of Certification) for the American Board For Tarot Certification. She has had articles appear in the 2004 and 2005 Llewellyn Tarot Reader.
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