Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki (born 11 June 1929) is a British

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

writer, third generation

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

, and

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

practitioner. As an associate of Walter Ernest Butler, she succeeded him as Director of Studies of th
Servants of the Light

Early life

Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki was born and raised in Jersey Island. Ashcroft-Nowicki's grandmother was a full-blooded

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

and her parents were both third-degree initiates. She grew up in a family tradition dedicated to the occult sciences. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

she left with her family to live on the

Wirral Peninsula The Wirral Peninsula (), known locally as the Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpo ...

in the northwest of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She spent her spare time visiting the Roma who used to camp there. There, she learned about the natural world, tarot cards and fortune telling. After the war, the family returned to Jersey and her parents formed a clandestine occult discussion group due to restrictions imposed by Jersey's law.

Occult career

During the 1960s, Ashcroft-Nowicki entered the

Society of the Inner Light The Society of the Inner Light is a magical society and Western mystery school originally founded as the Fraternity of the Inner Light by Dion Fortune in 1924. It operates from London and accepts pupils. History In 1922, after a falling-out with ...

, an esoteric order founded by occultist

Dion Fortune Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 6 December 1890 – 6 or 8 January 1946) was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult organisation that promoted philoso ...

. There it was where she became associated with Walter Ernest Butler, and with

Gareth Knight Basil Leslie Wilby (3 April 19301 March 2022), known as Gareth Knight, was a British occultist, ritual magician, author, and publisher. Born in Colchester, Essex, Knight developed an interest in magic in early life. He read the works of the occul ...

and the Helios Course in Practical

Qabalah Hermetic Qabalah () is a Western esotericism, Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, has inspired esoter ...

which, in 1971, became the foundation of Servants of the Light. In 1976, when Butler retired, Ashcroft-Nowicki became the Director of Studies of the SOL, a position she handed on in June 2018 to Steven Critchley.

Personal life

Ashcroft-Nowicki went to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to study at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

; later on she studied

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. She briefly interrupted her studies to get married, but got divorced three years later. She would then return to her studies, and complete them. Ashcroft-Nowicki was also very interested in

Fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

and even represented the Islands against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

in competition. She won several

cups CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs ...

and

trophies A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athletics. Add ...

and met her future husband Michael Nowicki at a fencing club. They married in 1957 and have two children, Tamara and Carl. The family moved back to the

Channel Island The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consist ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, off the coast of

Published works

To date, Ashcroft-Nowicki has written several books and designed two

tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

decks, the SOL Tarot Deck with Jo Gill and Anthony Clark, and the Shakespearean Tarot with Paul Hardy. * ''An Anthology of Occult Wisdom'' * ''Daughters of Eve: The Magical Mysteries of Womanhood'' * ''First Steps in Ritual'' * ''Highways of the Mind: The Art and History of Pathworking'' * ''Illuminations: The Healing of the Soul'' * ''Inner Landscapes: A Journey into Awareness by Pathworking'' * ''Magical Use of Thought Forms'' * ''Shadows and Light'' * ''The Door Unlocked'' * ''The Initiate's Book of Pathworking'' * ''The Sacred Cord Meditations'' * ''The Servants of the Light Tarot'' * ''The Shining Paths'' * ''The Singing Stones'' * ''The New Book of the Dead'' * ''The Ritual Magic Workbook'' * ''The Tree of Ecstasy'' * ''Your Unseen Power: Real Training in Western Magic''

References

Citations

Works cited

* *

External links

*
Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki
at the ''Servants of the Light'' website (archived) *

in ''ConnectionsJournal'' (1995) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashcroft-Nowicki, Delores 1929 births Living people British occult writers Hermetic Qabalists Society of the Inner Light