Margaret Lumley Brown (b. 7 December 1886, d. 27 November 1975) was an English writer and occult figure of the 20th century.

Early life

Lumley Brown was born in Long Stratton,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. She had a sister Isobel.

Work

She took over the leadership of the Society of the Inner Light upon the death of Dion Fortune. She assisted Dion Fortune in writing ''The Arthurian Formula'', which is considered to be an extremely influential work to the Society of the Inner Light. She also wrote poetry using the pen-name Irene Hay. Prior to joining the Society of the Inner Light, Margaret Lumley Brown wrote ''Both Sides of the Door'', which is said to have been based on her own life experiences with the supernatural in 1913, and which was published in 1918. The book piqued the interest of

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

, and the two conversed about it and its subject matter and dedicated ''Both Sides of the Door'' to her sister. In addition to being a writer, Margaret Lumley Brown was a psychic, who began with the art of crystal gazing, but with practice was able to hone her abilities, and was eventually granted the title of Arch-Pythoness of the Society of the Inner Light, as well as being known as a "Cosmic Medium". She first joined the Society of the Inner Light between 1934 and 1943, and remained a member until her death in 1975 in London.

References

External links

Correspondence
with

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

English psychics Hermetic Qabalists Society of the Inner Light 1886 births 1975 deaths {{Para-psych-stub