Datura Press

A lifetime of occult wisdom gathered under one roof

Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki (born 11 June 1929) is a British occult author, third generation psychic, and esoteric practitioner. As an associate of Walter Ernest Butler, she succeeded him as Director of Studies of the Servants of the Light on October 31st, 1976, and remained at the helm until June 2018 when she retired so she would have more time to write!

Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki was born and raised in Jersey Island. Ashcroft-Nowicki’s grandmother was a full-blooded gypsy and her parents were both third-degree initiates. She grew up in a family tradition dedicated to the occult sciences.

During the 1960s, Ashcroft-Nowicki entered the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an esoteric order founded by occultist Dion Fortune. That’s where she met W.E. Butler, and Gareth Knight. Butler and Knight started the Helios Course in Practical Qabalah which, in 1971, became the Servants of the Light. In 1976, when Butler retired, Dolores became the Director of Studies of the SOL, a position she held until June 2018.

From the publisher, Debbie Chapnick

When I lived in the West Village of NYC, I would get up every Saturday and go out and sit in a cafe, have an espresso and do some writing. Trust me, a few espressos and you can do a lot of writing! I was studying tarot and learning about the fae from R.J. Stewart. I had reached a point when I decided I wanted to be the sorcerers apprentice! Well, how does one go about finding a sorcerer? This is years before Facebook and Meetups! There was a little bookstore on Carmine Street that usually had interesting books. One book cauget my eye, “An Apprentice to Magic”, by W.E. Butler. First I checked to make sure that it wasn’t a book about sawing a lady in half and then I bought it. A seemingly innocent moment that changed everything. I had never heard of Mr. Butler, or the woman who wrote the intro to the book, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, but as I read the book I was astounded to find that that this man who had never met me was answering all my questions.

This was before everyone had the internet, so I asked a friend who worked for a big company to do a search for me. Weeks before I had a tarot reading done. The reader told me that he saw a bee flying around. He asked me what it meant and I told him that I didn’t know what it meant apart from the fact that my name meant “the bee”.

My friend called me all excited! She not only found the school on the internet, but there was a bee at the center of the logo. At that moment I knew it was the bee in my reading. I applied to the school, and less than a year later I was in Maryland doing my first workshop with her!

My first time doing an SOL workshop in the UK, I was regailed with stories about the mysterious file cabinet in Dolores’s office. I imagined it eminating light when you opened a drawer, like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction! Everyone seemed so concerned about what was going to happen to all of those papers! 40 years worth of writing. I must admit I was baffled by their concern, after all, Dolores is a smart woman and her son is a lawyer, I was sure all would be well. A few months later she emailed me and asked if I would make a small book out of her poems (The Moonboat and Other Poems) and then a short story book (Shadows and Light). Little did I know these books were the beginning of a lifetime endeavor. Then the email came, “You know dear, I have 40 years worth of writing in a file cabinet, I think we should make some books!” Well, we have! There are eleven, to date.

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