Olivia Robertson - The Call of Isis - Foreword, Introduction, Back Cover
The Call of Isis cover, 2nd Edition, Cesara Publications 1990
The Spiritual Autobiography of Olivia Robertson
Co-Founder of the Fellowship of Isis:
The Call of Isis
Foreword.
(Included in Second, Fourth and Fifth Edition, 1990, 1995, 2002)
I often wondered why I called this book "The Call of Isis" because there is little mention of Isis of Ten Thousand Names in it. A year after I finished the book, I made the pilgrimage to Egypt. This was followed by other Goddess pilgrimages to Greece, Rhodes and Crete. It was after my visit to Egypt that my brother, Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, his wife Pamela and myself founded The Fellowship of Isis at the Vernal Equinox, 1976.
We are often asked why we did so! I have noticed that when we open ourselves to our greater being, life is no longer a series of unrelated accidents, but becomes a fascinating series of meaningful "coincidences"! I had thought that possibly the Call of Isis was just for me - to write the book. Now I realise that this mystical vocation of Isis was coming to people of every sort all over the world. We expected only a handful of members. Instead, in fourteen years, we now have nearly ten thousand, in sixty-five countries. When we founded the Priesthood, we expected 1 or 2 Priestesses and Priests. Now we have nearly three hundred in eighteen countries. Our College of Isis has twenty-four Lyceums in nine countries. The Noble Order of Tara, an Order of chivalry "For Goddess and Nature" has Chapters already in three countries, having been inaugurated a month ago.
Why? people ask us. Why do people join and where do you find them! For instance we have Iseums in Japan, over fifty in Nigeria and solitary members in Siberia, Poland and Rumania. The answer is, we know why, but not how. Some people see us on television or hear us on radio or read "Prediction." Others, more dramatically, have had direct psychic contact.
"Why" is clearly answered by a message from the Goddess in our Temple: "This is the time. It is now." The Goddess is manifesting on earth to save us from ecological disaster. The Feminine Deity must be revered so that male domination be balanced. So when I think of this book I see the seeds of all that has happened subsequently and grown into our "Goddess World Wood". The veil is thinning between our physical world and the etheric realm. Hence people, with newly awakened etheric vision, see etheric space craft, Angels, Spirits, and are hurt when these cannot be verified by material science. Once this etheric realm, our lost Paradise, is regained, the way is open for all people and creatures, of all faiths and races, to experience greater spheres of Divinity. It is Heaven to be alive now! Let us enjoy ourselves. Isis calls. We answer.
The Call of Isis, cover, Neptune Press edition, 1993. Cover art © Judith Page.
Introduction
(From Third Edition, published and printed by Neptune Press, 1993. Introduction dated April 1993)
At the end of an Aeon and the beginning of the Space Age the Goddess Isis is manifesting as the feminine expression of Divinity. This is necessary as patriarchal culture has dominated the world through the logical scientific mind and strong arm of man. Though this was not evil in the past, the rapid technological development has now brought the whole earth to a flash-point of catastrophe. Roughly a third of the air, seas and land are polluted. Not deliberately, but by greed, stupidity and lack of love for nature.
The principles of patriarchal religion have set mankind against nature and created a war with the flesh. The Divine Plan of the Goddess, by whatever name you know her, is to restore harmony: the Goddess does not subtract, she adds. She is not fighting patriarchy, she is re-introducing matriarchy. This is a loving way - a love for all beings which particularly belongs to the Mother, for the universe itself gives birth to all that is and may aptly be called the Cosmic Matrix. Therefore however humble we are on our planet, we are allowed to co-operate with the Goddess in restoring the earth to that heaven that is should e in communion with the other spheres of being beyond the senses. Mankind dies but the spirits of humanity are immortal, therefore the Goddess of Love, Beauty and Truth brings happiness, harmony and psychic gifts.
The Great Goddess was adored by the Ancient Egyptians as Aset, perfect daughter of the Star Goddess Nuit and the Earth God Geb.
The Hellenic culture used the myth of Isis to form a mighty Goddess religion in which Isis had ten thousand names, as Lucius Apuleius, Her priest, described it. She represented all Goddesses and was in perfect balance with her consrt, the God Osiris. Isis kept the flame of compassion alive during the Christian era as the Virgin Mary: isis bore Horus in a virgin birth. The titles of Isis were bestowed on Mary by the Catholic Church: Star of the Sea, Sedis Sappientis (Seat of Wisdom), Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven). Since 1830 She has appeared in apparitions, usually to children, and always bringing a message of love, promise of heaven and a call to penitence.
We are now moving into a greater sphere of awareness of the cosmos. This change is happening all over the work as we know here at Clonegal Castle from the letter we receive.
I have just received a letter from a Nigerian Priest of the Cosmic Isis Amaseri, who speaks of the happiness, healing, hope and psychic gifts all the members of his Iseum receive from the Divine Mother. To quote Elizabeth Barret Browning, “There is no Death, Love is Eternal.”
The Call of Isis, cover, First Edition, Cesara Publications, 1975
Text on Outside Back Cover, 1975 edition:
In The Call of Isis, Olivia Robertson vividly describes her adventures in the psychic, occult and mystical fields. She has worked for eleven years with groups in South Ireland and London, and has specialized in inducing psychic projection through trance.
Readers will find much to interest, stimulate and amuse them in an original account that starts with the experiments of a few friends, and developes into a kaleidoscope of experiences involving artists, musicians, dancers, craftsmen and writers inspired by the divinity within Nature Herself.
The book is divided into three parts. The first, The Temple of the Moon, deals with psychic development and the control of the emotions through the use of trance.
The second part, The Temple of the Sun, introduces ways of using vital force for healing and creativity.
The third part, Temple of the Stars, deals with mystical experiences, and the safe development of cosmic consciousness.
The book has brush illustrations by the author.
Later editions included the following sentence at the end of the text featured above:
Olivia Robertson is Co-Founder with her brother Lawrence Durdin-Robertson of The Fellowship of Isis.
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