The Magical Diaries of Frances Mary Nottingham (aged 73 3/4) 2006-2010
Edited by Gary St Michael Nottingham.
Avalonia Book, 94 pages, Paperback, Royale, ISBN 978-1-910191-35-4.
(Check if delivery is possible outside the UK)
For the Netherlands, see: Bol, or your local bookshop.
This charming small book from Avalonia Books is well worth a read for two reasons. Firstly, as a diary it gives insight into the ceremonial magical practice, and secondly, as it is a tribute to a person who comes across as warm, intelligent and filled with curiosity.
This book is short, being only 93 pages, with the introduction by Gary St Michael Nottingham, and a Memory of Frances written by a friend who wishes only to be known as D.C.
Frances was the wife of Gary, and she sadly died from an aggressive form of Parkinson’s Disease in 2024. As Gary says in his introduction, the published diary is no doubt just the tip of the iceberg. He makes the important point that knowledge is built on the foundation of commitment, without the need for fanfare and showboating. It is the quest for the mysteries of the divine, the important work, and this book gives us a peek through the window at this remarkable woman’s quest.
Much of the book is taken from Frances’s diary entries, taken between 2006 and 2010. In these excerpts, she records various experiences from the practice of ceremonial magic. These include her experiences of meditating on the Tree of Life, from Malkuth to Kether. She discusses work to invoke the Paracelsian Elemental Kings and evoke planetary intelligence to empower talismans of alchemical distillations. She also records her experience of rituals at the solstices and equinoxes, working to evoke the spirits from the Lesser King of Solomon, as well as Enochian magical operations. Often this work is carried out with her husband.
In many of these operations, Frances was the skryer, using a shew stone in the triangle of art. Frances describes her experience of scrying, describing what she saw in each of these operations, often making a note on whether the operation is successful or not. As an aside, a shew stone (or show-stone) is an historical term for a scrying tool — such as a crystal ball, polished crystal, or obsidian mirror — used for divination and conducting visions, popular in medieval and early modern Europe. Derived from the Old English “shew” (show), it was used to “show” glimpses of the future or spirit world.
If there was any need for a clear indication of why to keep a journal of magical operations, this is certainly it.
I would recommend this book, especially to those interested in ceremonial magic. I would also recommend it to those, like myself, who enjoy hearing a first-hand account of a person’s experience of involvement in the occult, especially when it is done, as in this case, without self-aggrandisement and ego. Good old-fashioned, old school occultism.
Rhys
NB From Avalonia Books: Frances Mary Nottingham (1950 – 2024)
Frances Mary Nottingham was a British magical practitioner whose work drew on astrology, Kabbalah, and the ceremonial traditions of the western esoteric current. Trained in classical astrology and influenced by figures such as William Lilly, she combined meticulous study with regular practical work. She worked closely with her husband, Gary St Michael Nottingham, participating in ritual, pathworking, and spirit conjuration within their shared temple space. A skilled watercolourist as well as a committed student of the Arte, she continued her practice until the onset of the illness that would take her life in 2024. Her diaries stand as a clear record of her working methods and interests.
