‘Olivia, Priestess of Isis’, colour film, available on DVD at £15.00 + p&p from www.logicreality.co.uk. Price includes a donation to The Fellowship of Isis.
Lady Olivia Durdin-Robertson, co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis, will be known to many in the Pagan and Goddess spirituality communities. Now in her 90s, she has dedicated her life to reviving the worship of the Goddess and into turning The Fellowship of Isis into a worldwide movement for women and men.
Steven Jones and Dennis Murphy’s film is a beautiful tribute to Olivia and her work. ‘Olivia, Priestess of Isis’ follows Olivia for a year, as she celebrates the seasons and venerates the Goddess in the temple beneath her home in Clonegal Castle in Ireland. The Egyptian Goddess Isis is important for Olivia; but so too are the Goddesses in all their many forms and in the DVD we see her celebrating the ancient Goddesses of Ireland and Goddesses worldwide.
Olivia and her brother and sister-in-law founded the Fellowship of Isis in 1976 as an international, multi-cultural and multi-faith organisation. While it has great appeal to Pagans, it attracts people of all faiths. This spirit of inclusivity is one of the qualities that stands out in Olivia’s refreshingly down-to-earth and at the same time highly spiritual worldview. Her robust belief that deities and nature spirits prefer dialogue with humans as equals and prefer veneration and communication to worship is another of the characteristics of her approach.
Not many people can say casually, ‘Oh yes, I remember Yeats.’ Olivia has lived through almost a century of change in the material world and in the spiritual needs and vision of humankind. She is one of the last living contacts with the spiritual visionaries of the nineteenth century. This film captures her philosophy, vision, personality and humour in a way that will enable generations after to see and to hear her. Olivia’s insight, humour and extraordinary vitality shine throughout the DVD.
‘Find me in the heart of love,’ is a phrase in one of the lovely Goddess charges that Olivia says during the film. The making of this DVD is an act of love by Dennis and Steven and in making it they have performed a great service. Many of the founding elders of our community have gone into the next world before their lives and thought were recorded for posterity. We are fortunate that in Olivia’s case Dennis and Steven’s work has ensured this is not so.
Dennis and Steven will be talking about the making of the DVD and showing extracts at the Pagan Federation’s 40th anniversary celebration on 8th October 2011 at the Royal Geographic Society London.
Vivianne Crowley
