In 1892 an article by W. B. Yeats appeared in The Irish Theosophist, the magazine of the Irish Theosophical Society titled “Invoking the Irish Fairies”. Yeats wrote about a series of visionary invocations which he and another occultist carried out on various occasions. Their invocations summoned Heaven and Hell, the trees of knowledge and of life, the hidden meaning of the Zodiac, and even journeyed to ancient Egypt and “heard mysterious talk of Isis and Osiris”. But tiring of these supernatural spectaculars, Yeats and his companion (referred to as D.D.) thought they might bring their vision questing closer to home, and invoke the Irish fairies.
Yeats performed a lunar invocation and D.D. saw a mountain with a bare bent tree and a white woman standing beneath. They “commanded” the woman to show them all the hierarchies of the fairies in order. They immediately saw a multitude of tiny figures emerge from the ground with green, seaweed-like hair, after that they saw another multitude dragging a car containing a giant bubble. Then appeared another group which were like “living flame” and finally a group whose bodied were “like the stems of flowers and their heads like petals.” They understood that the woman in white was the fairy queen, and she told them that the beings they had seen so far were the good fairies and that she would now bring D.D. to the evil fairies.
These beings appeared in a great abyss, in the middle of which was a huge fat serpent who was surrounded by smaller beings in the shape of grotesque pigs and bats and mis-shapen cherubs who polished the scales of the serpent. These creatures then flew high into the air and commenced a battle with the good fairies, shooting fiery darts at them but were unable to defeat them because they could not approach closely enough. Yeats thought that the evil beings could not bear the proximity with the good ones. The conflict covered the entire area, filling the sky with millions of flying fairies. Yeats observed that “The fairies are the lesser spiritual moods of that universal mind, wherein every mood is a soul and every thought a body. Their world is very different from ours, and they can but appear in forms borrowed from our limited consciousness, but nevertheless every form they take and every action they go through, has its significance and can be read by the mind trained in the correspondence of sensuous form and supersensous meaning”.
Yeats’s companion, D.D., whom he describes as an “occultist and student of Alchemy” was Dorothea Butler (later Hunter). She was born in Ireland in 1868, the daughter of a clergyman. The family moved to England around the time of her birth. Yeats knew her from the Bedford Park circle and sponsored her entry into the Golden Dawn. What is interesting to note from the article is the date – the events he is writing about pre-dated her admission to the Golden Dawn by at least one year. She entered the Order in 1893 and progressed quickly through the outer order, entering the second order in 1894. She was regarded as a powerful seer and taught clairvoyance to other members.
In November 1897 Yeats wrote Dorothea a letter regarding a meeting he was trying to arrange at her home. “Could I go down to you on (say) Friday morning & work at the gods during the afternoon & evening…the really important thing is to get those telesmatic shapes of the Gods done.”
This meeting was to be the first group scrying session which would form an important basis for his researches into the deities and mythological heroes of ancient Ireland for his Celtic Order. There were three of these sessions, written up in Yeats’s notes as “Explorations”, and Dorothea Hunter took part in two of them. The second Exploration took place on 1st January 1898. Those present were Yeats, W. F. Kirby, Edmund Hunter, Mary Briggs, Dorothea Hunter and Florence Farr. Yeats performed an Invocation and the group entered the world of the gods and heroes by diving into Connla’s Well – the well leading to the world of the gods in Irish mythology.
Using a wand which had been given to them in the First Exploration, they found themselves again in the forest with a shining being, they asked its name but were told it was the Guardian of the Wood. She led them through a thick part of the forest to a clearing full of bright flowers. A procession of maidens approached bearing apple blossoms, making music and singing accompanied by birds. They were directed by a woman who stood in their midst. There was a throne on steps at one end of the glade on which was seated the brilliant figure of a god, and to his right a female figure with dark hair, half-recumbent. The god held a shining globe, which opened and poured out “gems and riches and priceless treasures”. He wore a headdress like a bishop’s mitre and held a sunflower in his hand. After calling out the names, and seeing several beings from ancient Ireland the group then turned their attention to the throned being, trying to discover his identity. He gave the group to understand that that he first had to put a mark on one of them. Yeats and Dorothea Hunter stepped forward and the being placed a drop of blood on their foreheads. Hunter thought that being said his name was Angus Macheor. The group said his name and the being became brighter. They then also realised that the rowan wand they had been given previously wasn’t complete without a red ball in the centre. They were also given a sign to use in order to re-visit the World of Heroes. After some realizations concerning the nature of the place they had visited the group returned to the wood, meeting the Guardian and noticing that they had become much brighter and luminous and the Guardian less so, as they had absorbed light from the throne of Angus.
What is very interesting in this session is that of all the group, the two who stepped forward were the only ones in the group who were of Irish heritage. And Dorothea Hunter did receive the name correctly though it is probable that neither she nor Yeats recognised it. The nearest equivalent in Irish would be Aonghus mac Úmhór, a king of the mythical Fir Bolg of Connaught. The huge cliff-edge fort Dún Aonghasa on Inis Mór in the Aran Islands was said to have been his stronghold.
There is no doubt that Yeats highly regarded the psychic gifts of Dorothea Hunter. She had been his partner in various scrying sessions in his fairy researches, in the Golden Dawn, and in the Celtic Explorations. She and her husband left the Golden Dawn in the early 1900s and his contact with her, at least through the medium of letters, tapered off. But while researching our History of Irish Magic an intriguing document raised the possibility that though she had left behind the Golden Dawn and the Celtic Order, she may not have entirely disengaged.
The mysterious Dr. Theodore Moriarty was Dion Fortune’s teacher and mentor, and the model for her Dr. Taverner. Among a collection of papers which belonged to one of Moriarty’s pupils is a document called “The Wayfarer’s Prayer”. It invokes planetary beings beginning with the “Master of Quiet Memories” which corresponds to Saturn. Each of the planets is invoked in turn, ending with an eighth plea to the “Masters of Silence”. The epithets of each planet are identical to those in Yeats’s “Neophyte” ritual (version 2) from the Celtic Order. And the neophyte himself is referred to as the Wayfarer, again, as in Yeats’s ritual.
The connection with Dorothea Hunter, though seemingly tenuous is the Arts and Crafts Movement, a significant theme in Moriarty’s lectures The Mystery of Man, and in the work of Dorothea and Edmund Hunter who set up the St. Edmundsbury Weavers in 1902. They moved to Letchworth when the firm outgrew its original premises. It was probably in this milieu of political radicals, artists and crafters, that the connection between Moriarty and the Hunters’ Celtic work was made. Several of Moriarty’s pupils were artists themselves, and were based only twenty miles from Letchworth at The Grange in Bishop’s Stortford. They were students at Moriarty’s Science, Arts and Crafts Society, “which offered a rigorous course of study in all those disciplines, lasting almost four years and including written exams.”
It is fascinating to imagine that Moriarty and/or his students, may have been in contact with Dorothea Hunter. It is otherwise difficult to imagine how the epithets and structure of the Wayfarer’s Prayer could otherwise have been known. But like much else relating to both parties, it will remain conjectural, at least for now.
THE WAYFARER'S PRAYER
Master of Quiet and Memories - Open to me the Gates of Wisdom; Restore unto me the memory of Divine Things;
Watch over me in the hour of temptation that I may return to Thy Presence in Peace
Master of the Just and Joyous Mind - Kindle in my heart the Fire of Thy service
Remove from my eyes the vision of sorrow. May the seven lamps be trimmed and ready.
Grant me Thy Power before the setting of the evening star
Master of Keen Thoughts and of Courage - I invoke Thy Power to direct my
desires; I pray that I may walk with steadfastness the path of regeneration that Thy Strength may be my shield through the hours of darkness.
Master of Magnificence and Kingly Thought - I recognise Thee as the source of
my life. Vouchsafe unto me the knowledge of Thy Divine Law that I may walk the hidden ways of beauty, conscious of Thy Presence until the rising of the morning star.
Master of the Laughter of Lovers and of the Flowers of the Wood - At the
beginning of the dawn I raise my thoughts to Thee; Grant unto me Thy gifts of healing. May I be a Messenger and Interpreter of Love and live humbly among men adorned in Thy Splendour.
Master of Pleasant-sounding Words - Every wise act is from Thee With Thy
word of power still the tempest within and without. May I speak and act with true
understanding. Quicken my imagination and enliven the work of my hands from the rising of the sun till noon.
Master of Indolence and of Devout Hearts - Remove the veil from my vision that
I may look upon the seven lights with perfect eyes. Temper justice with mercy; teach me to walk humbly in Thy sight and may Thy Power be with me till the setting of the sun.
Masters of Silence - Descend upon me. Purify my thoughts. Strengthen my
Purpose. Lead me as a wayfarer to the Ancient Fold, as it was before the making of the worlds. Amen.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Alan Richardson who first published the Prayer in his biography of Dion Fortune: Priestess: The Life and Magic of Dion Fortune (2007).
Thanks to my keen-eyed and sharp-witted husband James North, who spotted the source of the Wayfarer's Prayer in Yeats's Celtic Mysteries.
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