93 All,
Well, not as if you need any further encouragement after the above endorsements, but I have typed out one fairly long quote from the book. Please forgive its length, but for me so far it neatly sums up what is so special and moving about this book (and perhaps the author felt this way as well, since she placed it in the Introduction). Here it is (if it all fits in one post):
From: Women of the Golden Dawn, Introduction, page 4:
"Magical Mottos, Inner Myths
Each of these Golden Dawn women chose a motto to define her personal search for meaning and her link to the Divine. The motto became her magical name, because in so naming herself after the image of a central principle, each woman strove to make herself over in that image. Yeats said, “There is some one myth for every man, which if we but knew it, would make us understand all that he did and thought.” Through their mottos we can glimpse the inner myths through which these women gave life to their souls. As you read their stories and discover how their mottos weave through their decisions and actions, you might think about the magical motto you would choose for yourself to express your own inner myth. What is the central principle or image by and for which you would wish to live? Wisdom, Light, Peace, Joy, Justice, Bliss, Strength, Truth, Unity… to quest, to love, to learn, to dare, to persevere. Is it symbolized by a Heart, Fire, Stars, a Sun, a Divinity? All of these appear in the mottos of members of the Golden Dawn, and always they tell something about the character of the person so named and about the central principle or image that motivates them. Through their mottos we will find the character, motivation, and aims to which the women of the Golden Dawn aspired, which can be seen through the related concepts of principle, quest, and task.
Florence Farr’s magical personality was Sapientia Sapienti Dono Data, literally translated as “Wisdom is given as a gift to the Wise.” The Latin word for wisdom has an additional meaning relating to the senses so that the expression can also be understood thus: “Taste is given to those who have the ability to savor it.” The motto clearly places wisdom as Florence’s dominating principle; her quest was to perceive its presence, and therefore her task was to hone spiritual knowledge.
Annie Horniman’s magical motto was Fortiter et Recte, literally, “Bravely and Justly,” but perhaps best translated as “With Fortitude and Rectitude.” Annie’s focal principle was moral uprightness: to be straight and strong. Her quest was to find a standard straight enough to warrant her task of upholding it with spiritual courage.
Moina Bergson Mathers was known magically as Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum, meaning “I leave no traces behind” – literally, “No tracks (footprints) turn back” – and, in fact, she left almost no physical evidence of herself. Moina’s dominating principle was selflessness. The clue lies in “not turning back,” for to not retrace the circle of incarnation she must annihilate (make null) her individual personality. We might therefore say that her task was to escape the spiral of karma and rebirth (and perhaps her own heritage), and her quest was toward spiritual evolution.
Finally, Maud Gonne’s motto was Per Ignum Ad Lucem, “Through the Fire to the Light.” Maud lived by the principle of pure single-minded focus to which everything else must be sacrificed. Her task was to burn away whatever was unnecessary to her purpose, sensing that the way to Spirit was through the strength of her Desire. This implied that only if she proved her worth through the most intense, even painful, experiences could she achieve her quest for spiritual strength.
As Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar discovered when editing The Madwoman in the Attic, about nineteenth-century women writers: “Women will starve in silence until new stories are created which confer on them the power of naming themselves.” The women of the Golden Dawn demonstrate what is possible when we name ourselves. We will discover how together they sought, never looking back, to apply the gift of their wisdom to courageously evolve along the straightest path to the Divine within.
Yet their real stories lie not just in how they succeeded, but in how they failed, for biography is the story of a person in conflict with herself and her environment."