Elementary, Doctor Rhodes

“The Secrets of Doctor Taverner” is a novel authored by Dion Fortune. It was first published in 1926. Fortune had considerable experience of the occult, having been a member of the Theosophical Society, Alpha et Omega and Stella Matutina before founding her own esoteric order, the Society of the Inner Light (which still exists and promotes both her fiction and non-fiction works).

While “The Secrets of Doctor Taverner” is written in the form of a novel, Fortune claimed that the stories themselves were true, or at least freely based on true events. The first chapter, “Blood Lust”, is supposedly literally true, except for the names of the protagonists. The main character, Doctor Taverner, is obviously inspired by Sherlock Holmes. He is also based on Fortune's real life esoteric teacher, whose name was – wait for it – Theodore Moriarty! Jungian synchronicity? Or just a common Irish last name? You be the judge…

Taverner and his assistant Dr Rhodes (the audience substitute and the “Dr Watson” of the story) run a nursing home specializing in cases standard medical science considers hopeless. It usually turns out that their afflictions have paranormal causes and equally paranormal cures. Demon possession, astral travel, reincarnation, karmic debt, crystals, thought forms and shape shifting are among the varied phenomena discussed in the novel. One of the characters is an animal or elf trapped in a human body – a kind of “Otherkin” if you like. Taverner is a member of a secret brotherhood, probably based on the Golden Dawn, which battles the Black Lodges and various individual sorcerers and dabblers in the occult. Rhodes is a skeptic who is gradually won over to the esoteric perspective. Like Dr Watson, he is a shell shocked war veteran looking for a quiet life in the countryside, something he certainly *doesn't* get! The novel ends with Rhodes joining Taverner's secret society, realizing that although the occult adept may be alone in the world of men, he is at home in the universe. Some believe that Rhodes is really Dion Fortune's alter ego.

Personally, I consider “The Secrets of Doctor Taverner” to be somewhat boring. What drives the various story-lines is the tantalizing notion that they are somehow based on real life events, and that Fortune's guru Moriarty really was an occult exorcist and White magician. The philosophy of the novel is positive (despite all the demonic occurrences) in the sense that Fortune believes in a higher karmic law which ultimately rewards innocent victims and punishes the guilty. Fortune's esoteric work had certain Christian traits, but her novel doesn't. One chapter describes the birth of a Hindu Mahatma who will unite East and West. This is probably a veiled reference to Krishnamurti. The only Christian reference is the gigantic Celtic cross which Rhodes approaches during his conversion experience, but in the context of the story, the cross is connected to the elfs and their worship of Pan.

I give “The Secrets of Doctor Taverner” three stars. Ultimately, the reader must decide of himself whether Dion Fortune's tales are simply a mildly entertaining form of fiction, or whether the Secret Masters have spoken…