Servants of the Light (SOL) is an Esoteric Movement (see Esoteric Movements) or school of occult science based in Jersey, Channel Islands. It was founded in 1971 by W.E.Butler (1898-1978), based on the Helios Course, which was set up by Butler, Gareth Knight (b. 1930) and John Hall of Helios Book Service, in 1965.
Both Butler and Knight have written significant books on various aspects of the Western Mystery Tradition. Butler was succeeded as SOL’s Director of Studies in 1976 by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowick (b. 1929), who has also written numerous books on esoteric subjects, including Tarot, and has designed two Tarot packs.
Butler, Knight and Ashcroft-Nowicki had previously been initiated members of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, the Inner Court of the Society of the Inner Light, founded by Dion Fortune. Butler was also an ordained priest in the Liberal Catholic Church.
Like several other schools of occult science, and modern Rosicrucian movements, SOL runs a correspondence course for its initiates, with the Entered Novice beginning a fifty-lesson main course which lasts for four or five years. The first six lessons are based on The Art of True Healing by Israel Regardie, a former member of Stella Matutina, which grew directly out of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The remaining lessons of the course are based on Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism by Gareth Knight. If progress is satisfactory, the Novice will become a Fellow around the tenth or twelfth lesson, entering the First Degree. At a later point on the course, having taken part in several practical ritual workshops, the Fellow may enter the Second Degree as a Frater or Soter of the Fraternity of the SOL, and may then help teach Novices and lead Fellows in their ritual work. Entry to the Third Degree is by invitation only.
SOL is firmly within the Western Mystery Tradition, with a strong emphasis on the symbolism of Tarot and the use of the Tree of Life of the Kabbalah. ‘Owing to its simplicity, the glyph is easily committed to memory; and because of its profundity, from this sparse simplicity can be derived a complete and satisfying philosophy and knowledge of life in both its inner and outer aspects.’
There is also a strong emphasis on mythology, both the Matter of Britain—Celtic mythology and the Arthurian cycle—and that of other Western religions and cultures. SOL students are required to make a detailed study of at least two pantheons in addition to their own native tradition: ‘Any mythological knowledge you acquire will not be wasted. The ability to cross-index the legends and god forms can be of immense value in the understanding of the ancient past.’
SOL believes that such ancient traditions hold ‘a timeless key’ which may be applied to the complexities of modern life. As with the original Rosicrucian ideals, the intention is that SOL members, through their intense training, will be of service in the wider world, enabled to help others to achieve inner serenity.
The aim of the studies is to balance the inner and outer selves and to give the student a comprehensive theoretical and practical understanding of the ancient Mysteries. SOL says that if the student shows any psychic talents, the courses will stimulate them into activity and polish them. In this way the student may make his or her own inner contacts.
SOL claims to be a ‘contacted’ school, in that it is ‘in close psychic touch with the overshadowing Hierarchy on the Inner Planes’. First and Second Degree students are in the Outer Court. The Inner Court of Third Degree initiates, also known as the House of the Amethyst, is where the real power is believed to reside: ‘from there it is mediated in various ways to its counterpart on the physical level’. SOL’s ‘contact’ is from the ancient esoteric school of Alexandria, from the Temple of On, or Heliopolis. The Alexandrian Fraternity, or Fraternitas Alexandrae, is the inner fountainhead from which SOL’s teaching stems; ‘it is a withdrawn Order under whose authority the whole school works, teaches and has its existence.’ SOL is its earth-level expression.
As well as the UK, there are SOL Lodges in Australia, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA. SOL has 2,600 members in twenty-three countries. ‘A wide range of traditions are represented within the school: we count ourselves fortunate to have Wiccan witches, Pagans, Christian nuns and priests, Shamans, Hermetists, Kabbalists, Buddhists, Isis-worshippers and many others among our students. All paths to the Light are worthy of respect.’
