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According to fellow occultist Dion Fortune, the reason Netta was going to Iona was to conduct some deep healing and to study Green Ray Elementals (non-magic folk speak: Fairies). Dion Fortune was a renowned occultist at the time and knew Netta very well. Dion distanced herself from Netta, however, because she was getting too deep into things she could not understand or control. Greer, Mary K. Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses. Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 1995. As was mentioned up-thread (at post #13), the (sadly, now defunct) podcast Thinking Sideways had an episode about Netta Fornario: http://www.thinkingsidewayspodcast.com/netta-fornario/. (And I'll just add that the Thinking Sideways podcast was really great, really entertaining. Too bad it is defunct.) (And, yeah, Thinking Sideways mistakenly has the photo of Moina Mathers to represent Netta Fornario. But it was an entertaining podcast. Too bad the co-host Steve moved to Southeast Asia, which reportedly caused the podcast to come to an end.) The scratches on her body, if they existed (they seem to have been a later addition, and some argue that only her feet were scratched up), are a bit more difficult to explain. It could be that she fell into some brambles, but the posthumous examination didn't contain any reports of thorns being found in her skin. Iona did not harbor large predators, such as foxes, that might have tried to scavenge the body, and no bite marks were found either.
Mysterious Death of Netta Fornario - Historic Mysteries
She departed for Iona in either August or September 1929 taking with her a large amount of luggage, which apparently included furniture enough for a small house. Upon arrival she took up lodgings with a Mrs MacRae in Traymore. The next day, 12 November 1929, she rose early and left the house. The alarm was raised when she failed to appear and two days later her near-naked body was found on isolated moorland. Netta was not a member of the original Golden Dawn, joining its remnants long after its collapse following the Battle of Blythe Road. She was among those who worked futilely to restore the cabal to its former glory. [2]Some skeptics believe that Netta’s death wasn’t related to spirits and can be explained medically. Medical experts have theorized that it’s very possible that Netta had ketoacidosis, a sometimes deadly condition in which there is a massive build-up of acid in your bloodstream. The Aos S í , or Shee in our story, are far removed from the typical fairy tale. Folklore describes them as a supernatural race of beings that live in a parallel universe overlapping our own. In Gaelic folklore, they are descended from the Tuath Dé , a pre-Christian race of demigods. In other traditions, they are considered fallen angels, cast out of heaven but not damned to H ell. By all accounts, they are ancient and powerful beings worthy of fear and respect. Her unclothed body was lying on a large cross which had been cut out of the turf, apparently with a knife which was lying nearby. In 1921, according to Gareth Knight in a 2006 talk at the Canonbury Masonic Research Centre, Netta was appointed Outer Guardian of a co-masonic lodge in Sinclair Road in Hammersmith.
Mathers, Moina – OCCULT WORLD Mathers, Moina – OCCULT WORLD
She seems to have resigned herself to this though. In fact, after a short spell in her room, she emerged and told Mrs MacRae that she had changed her mind, and that she would be staying indefinitely on the island. Netta’s sudden change of mood can seem baffling at first. I sometimes wonder if she had simply taken something as a “sign” that she was meant to stay on Iona. Someone like Netta would find symbolism in just about anything, and her belief in fate/destiny/karma would have been acutely strong. Hence her air of fatalism at this moment. One of Netta’s only surviving writings confirms her fascination with Sharp and offers some insight into her views of the Shee and possibly what she hoped to find on Iona. Fornario, using the alias Mac Tyler, authored a review of Macleod’s best-known work, The Immortal Hour , which had recently been adapted into an opera by composer Rutland Boughton. a review of The Immortal Hour (an occult opera about fairies) under the name ‘Mac Tyler’, which she claimed to have watched “some three and twenty” times. (Full review here.) For many weeks this arrangement went on without a problem, but something changed as the summer fell into autumn. The first indication that something was wrong was a cryptic message Netta sent to her London housekeeper. It stated that she would be out of communication for a while because she had “a terrible case of healing” to work on. Strange Behaviors and Signs Netta often called herself Marie Fornario and she is in fact buried under that name - Marie being French for Mary.If people would let her heal them she would moan and cry piteously, but she was otherwise cheerful and happy,” said Mrs Varney. “Once she announced her intention to fast for 40 days, but was persuaded to give it up after a fortnight.” Some years after the end of World War 1, she decides to take a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts to the Scottish Island of Iona. Why this island had a reputation like it did, can only be explained by its history. There's a lot more info in the video but in short, ever since an exiled monk landed there and built a monestary, it has been hailed as the defacto birthplace of Christianity for those regions. Several kings, lords and holy figures have also been burried on the island, further cementing it in the imagination of those looking for the occult in those days. Netta Fornario was a thirty year old woman living in London. Born to an Italian father who loved to travel to ancient places like egypt, Netta developed a keen interest in the occult, supernatural and spiritual at a young age. I think it is also safe to assume that given she was naked on an exposed mound in the middle of November, regardless of her mental state or perhaps because of it, that she succumbed to exposure/hypothermia.
Exposed to the Elements: A Strange 1920s Death on the
Jimi Hendrix may have written his song 'Wind Cries Mary' for one of his girlfriends named Kathy Mary, but there is startling comparison to the death of Netta Fornario within this song. Self-assured, Moina proved to be a gifted magician and performed well in ceremonial rites, especially when she incarnated the presence of the High Priestess of Anari in the Isis Rites, composed partially by Mathers. In her final years, Moina was destitute and discouraged. She attempted to revive her art career by painting portaits but was only modestly successful. Her health declined. Near the end she refused to eat. She died on July 25, 1928. FURTHER READING: Blue lights were seen near the body of Marie (Netta) Fornario and they are still seen near her grave today
Death on Iona
Among weird stories now in circulation in island regarding Miss Fonario are mysterious remarks about blue lights having been seen near the body, and of a cloaked man. The suspicious death of Netta Fornario on the Isle Of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, in 1929, has long been a source of fascination to me. Not just because it is unsolved, but because of Netta’s lifestyle, and her deep involvment in Occult practices. Netta became interested in the island of Iona after reading a story by her favorite author, William Sharp, which described the area around Loch Staonaig as one where the fairies roam free. Sharp was a Scottish writer, of poetry and literary biography in particular, who from 1893 wrote also as Fiona Macleod, a pseudonym kept almost secret during his lifetime. In The Mysterious Death of Netta Fornario, I have taken the scant facts around Netta's strange demise, that are available to even the most diligent researcher; including some of the wilder theories that surround the actual recorded events; and used them to create a Gothic story of my own. It shamelessly borrows from those classic stories that have gone before, to make a new play that is immersed in madness, murder, magic and decay, that has at its heart, a truly memorable character.”
A Mystical Island and the Mysterious Death of the Occultist
Over the course of a century, several theories have arisen to explain the true cause of Netta’s death. The first and most obvious is that the young woman was psychologically disturbed, suffering from hallucinations and paranoia. Her imaginings drove her out into the cold wilderness unprepared, where she met her fate exactly as the coroner said. Moina Mathers was an eccentric and flamboyant personality. Mathers was born Mina Bergson on February 28, 1865, in Geneva, Switzerland. She was the fourth of seven children in a gifted but struggling Jewish-Irish family. Her father, Michel Gabriel Bergson, was a French musician, and her mother, Katherine Levison, was from Ireland. Her brother, Henri, became famous as a philosopher. When Mina was not quite three years old, her family moved to Paris in search of musical work for Michel. In 1873, the family moved to London. Marie Norah Emily Edith Fornario, known as “Netta”, was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1897, the daughter of Norah Edith Ling and Guiseppe Nicola Raimundo Fornario, an English mother and Italian doctor father. After her mother died in 1898, she was placed in the care of well-to-do tea dealer Thomas Pratt Ling, her maternal grandfather, and lived with him and his family at Leigham Holme, Leigham Court Road, Streatham. Prior to that, she lived in Italy. Netta was a student of the occult and a member of the ‘Alpha et Omega’ Temple. This was the name given to the branch of the Golden Dawn that remained loyal to Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers after it was closed in 1906. She was a close friend of fellow member Dion Fortune who referred to Netta as “Mac”. According to popular belief she did not especially get along with father who was a medical practitioner and Italian national. Her mother was English. The Mysterious Death of Netta Fornario, a Mull Theatre and Wildbird co-production, opens on Mull and will tour in Scotland
But What Of Her Letters?
The Scotsman, 27th November 1929 said - “This “alien” woman, who dressed in the fashion of the Arts and Crafts movement – with a long cape and hand-woven tunic – settled into the house of someone only known as Mrs. MacRae. The 33-year-old Fornario spent her time walking the island and in long trances, some of which could last for days.” On Iona, ‘the dead overshadow the living’, Netta Fornario says. Each of the three characters is wrestling with their own pasts, and with the ghosts of people they loved or hated. Through dreams and nightmares, lies and revelations, these other characters make themselves felt, invisible presences crowding ‘this too small room’ of the stage. It is this unique history that drew Netta to Iona, undoubtedly fueled by the works of her favorite author, Fiona Macleod. Fiona Macleod was the pen name of William Sharp, a Freemason and early member of the Golden Dawn. U nder the pen name of Macleod, Sharp wrote many of his works in the Celtic Revival and Neo p aganism movements. He also wrote a great deal about the history and folklore of Iona, including his perspective on the Aos S í , the people of the mounds and comparable to faery folk . Describing this supernatural race, Sharp uses the common abbreviation of Sidhe (mounds) or Shee. In fact, his pen name Macleod may be a subtle nod to Iona, as many of the c hieftains of Clan Macleod are buried there . I ncidentally, the clan has legendary ties to faery magic. Ruth’s troubles unfold. Her husband is dead, and is not missed as much as might be expected. Her son Duncan is, throughout the first half, just off-stage. His unhappy fate is revealed later. By the end, the full story of the mysterious death of the title has been told, but not explained.
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