Violet Mary Firth, better known as Dion Fortune, was one of the most famous occultists of the 20th century. She was the founder of the Society of the Inner Light and claimed to have participated in the “Magical Battle of Britain” to prevent a possible German invasion in World War II. Her many occult novels and works on magical subjects are still in print and many occultists consider her Mystical Quabalah to be one of the best books on magic ever written.
Although we know that Dion Fortune was born at Bryn-Y-Bia in Llandudno, Wales, on December 6th 1890, no written record concerning her exact time of birth has ever come to light. Nevertheless there exists one important statement from her mother, Sarah Firth, claiming that she sat with the newborn child in her arms during the dark hours before dawn. Taking this fact into consideration, I was trying to rectify Dion Fortune’s nativity in a traditional manner with the help of primary directions. Having done so, my proposal is that the birth took place at 1:58 AM.
Taking a look at the nativity, we see that her Sagittarius Sun in the 3rd house is in close opposition to Caput Draconis in the 9th house. This makes them immediately recognisable as being important indicators of her life. The Sagittarius Sun is characteristic for people looking for wisdom and knowledge and a deep interest in spiritual matters. The positioning of the Sun in the 3rd house indicates that the native may express his interest in writing or other forms of communication. Dion Fortune’s 3rd house Mercury adds, of course, to her success as a successful author of many books. The placement of her North Node makes it clear that her field of interest could only lie in the occult. Venus, ruler of the Ascendant, is in shocking condition, being combust, peregrine and retrograde and, together with her 12th house Moon, can tell us a lot about her difficult emotional life patterns and her notoriously secluded lifestyle.
If we now have a look at some of the most important dates in Dion Fortune’s life, it will become clear that my suggestion for her time of birth at 1:58 AM is likely to be correct.
At the age of 23, in March 1913, young Violet had a nervous breakdown. This event is clearly reflected in the primary direction of the Moon to the South Node occurring the same year. William Lilly says about contacts between Moon and Cauda Draconis in his Christian Astrology: “It usually brings a melancholy Disease or proceeding of phlegm along with it.”
On April 17th 1927 Dion Fortune married Penry Evans; in the same year her primary directions included Ascendant square Venus and MC trine Venus. William Lilly says about Ascendant square Venus: “the Native falls into distempered passions by his folly in Love”, and about MC trine Venus: “many times it produces marriage”. The same aspect can also be seen in Dion Fortune’s Solar Return chart for 1927.
Already in December 1938, she got divorced. The primary direction for that year, Moon square Mars, tells the tale of this event. Interestingly 1927 and 1938 were both profected 1st house years for Dion Fortune, indicating new beginnings on the spiral path of life.
On January 6th 1946 Dion Fortune died from leukemia. The primary directions for the year show Ascendant opposite Mars, in the secondary progression her Ascendant squares the natal Mars. This year was a profected 8th hose year with the profected South Node close to the 8th house cusp.
Update April 2011 – see as well: Dion Fortune Revisited
Peter Stockinger's Traditional Astrology Weblog 
I just read about Ptolemy’s indicators of profession etc on Giada’s blog, and cannot help but notice that although venus is rising before the sun, it is too close to have been visible at dawn; therefore, moon high in the sky would have been visible at dawn and is at the same time lord of the 10th: she qualifies to indicate the profession.
Moon in Libra (and Aries and Leo): persons insipred by the gods, interpreters of dreams, and exorcists.
If DF had been alive, I would have been a groupie at the age of 17-18, because of her writings on old magical teachings; and one of the books she used to be/is quite famous for, is: Psychic Self-Defense” (or something along those lines) – which nicely fits “exorcist” as a profession… 🙂
Thanks for the opener!
Herman
Dear Herman
thank you for your interest and your thoughts. You are of course correct in your observation and DF’s book “Psychic Self-Defense”, as well as all her other publications, is still in print, as much as her “Society of the Inner Light” is still functional after all these years.
Peter
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Thanks for this nativity of Dion Fortune, Peter. I know you did it a while ago, but I’ve only just seen it. Have tweeted! 🙂
It’s a pleasure. There is so much information available online that one can’t read everything when it first comes out. This is the reason why I like web logs. They are interactive, searchable and entries can be updated or pointed at easily. On the other hand articles are preserved and can be accessed a long time after they have been written. Thanks as well for re-tweeteing it. :-)xx