If you missed PART ONE or PART TWO click on the link.

Netta’s last day on Iona was marked by the sudden onset of mania. According to Mrs. McRae, Netta complained of being under telepathic attack, claiming to receive messages from beyond the veil. Perhaps the most chilling aspect of her final conversation was her vision of a “rudderless boat” crossing the sky.

The symbolism of a rudderless boat is deeply rooted in Christian mythology, with the primary concept being the total resignation of one’s fate to the will of God. Examples include the baby Moses drifting down the Nile in a basket or Constance from The Canterbury Tales, who was repeatedly set adrift in a rudderless boat, escaping peril only through a series of miracles. This imagery serves as a fitting metaphor for Netta, who Mrs. McRae described as having resigned herself to her fate before ultimately succumbing to it.

As to whatever, or whoever killed Netta, she seemed, at least in part, to have foreseen it. With that in mind, let’s explore some theories.

Exposure to the Elements

Unfortunately, there are no details regarding any police investigation into the possible crime scene. What we know comes from contemporary news articles, Dione Fortune’s comments, and The Ghost Book: Strange Hauntings in Britain by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor, published in 1955. The latter includes firsthand accounts from island residents.

What remains consistent is that Netta was found wearing nothing but a black cloak, lying on a cross carved into the turf. Her right hand was placed under her head, her left hand at her side, with a long knife or dagger nearby. Around her neck hung a tarnished silver chain with a silver cross. Original accounts make no mention of scratches on her feet, the knife being clenched in a “death grip,” or a “look of terror” on her face, as some later reports have claimed. We will disregard these elements as embellishments.

Iona in November is typically cold, wet, and windy, making it easy to imagine someone, especially if nude, succumbing to exposure. However, this theory seems to contradict the circumstances. Anyone suffering in such conditions would likely have sought shelter or clothing, which would not have been far on a small island like Iona.

An intriguing clue that might support a natural cause is the blackened silver jewelry. In my research, I found no magical significance for this, though there is a medical one. It has been suggested that Netta may have suffered from acidosis, a condition that causes acidic sweat, which could account for the rapid tarnishing of the silver. Netta herself admitted, “It happens to me all the time.” Acidosis can be caused by several factors, commonly diabetes. Netta was known to be a vegetarian, which could have contributed to nutritional deficiencies and exacerbated the situation.

Imagine if Netta arrived at the location, made her preparations, and then entered her trance. While in this state, she could have suffered complications from acidosis and/or diabetes. Combined with the very real danger of hypothermia, it’s easy to envision a scenario in which Netta was unable to awaken or suffered heart failure, as the original doctor determined.

On the surface, this explanation seems reasonable, though unsatisfying. It leaves several unanswered questions. Where were Netta’s shoes and clothes? Did she walk nude and barefoot over two-and-a-half miles of rough terrain from the McRae house on a cold November night? Why wouldn’t she have waited to undress when she arrived?

 

 

Simple Murder

It is also possible that Netta’s death was a homicide. The medical examination of her body was not thorough; something may have been overlooked. If she were drugged or poisoned, it would have gone unnoticed, as no toxicology report was conducted. Murder could also explain the absence of personal possessions at the scene. Perhaps they were taken by the killer, or maybe Netta wasn’t killed at that location at all, but placed there—possibly by the mysterious cloaked figure mentioned in some reports.

Like Dion Fortune, Netta’s occult path was strongly influenced by esoteric Christianity. In fact, she was found wearing a cross around her neck. However, the cross carved into the turf is somewhat puzzling. If Netta were performing a magical operation, perhaps to contact Green Ray elementals or the Shee, a protective circle or symbol would not be out of place. But a single cross seems an odd choice. To a Christian untrained in occult principles, the cross might offer comfort as a ward against evil, but for Netta, it feels strange, given everything we know about her practices.

The cross could have been left by her killer. Depending on the mind and motive of the individual, it may have been an attempt to restore sanctity to the place or to reconcile some perceived blasphemy. Iona is a rural location with a long history, steeped in both folklore and piety. Beings such as the Shee, particularly in that region, were respected, if not feared. Could it be that someone disapproved of her invocation of such forces? Or perhaps they viewed her beliefs as evil or witchcraft? She would not be the first to face such prejudice.

Murder is a plausible conclusion, but Netta’s distress on the day of her disappearance does not seem to describe a conventional threat, and she had no known conflicts with the locals of Iona.

 

 

Psychic Attack

Netta believed she was under psychic attack, a phenomenon well-documented in Western occult traditions, perpetrated by both human and non-human entities. Her anxious and erratic behavior on the day of her disappearance was consistent with the symptoms of such attacks. While unsettling and harmful, these attacks are rarely fatal. However, they can serve as a catalyst for more extreme outcomes, such as self-harm or even suicide. But who would attack Netta in this way?

One possible culprit is her friend, Dion Fortune. Less than a year after Netta’s death, Fortune published Psychic Defense, one of her most widely read works. In it, she not only discusses the events on Iona, but delves deeply into the topic of psychic attacks and her personal experiences with them. If anyone were capable of such an attack, it would be Fortune, but what would her motive be?

Occult societies at the time were rife with personal drama, often fueled by conflicting ideas and philosophies. Just as Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla battled over AC and DC currents, occultists frequently attacked one another in attempts to discredit rivals and solidify their own philosophies. Dion Fortune would go on to become one of the most influential British occultists, second only to Aleister Crowley. However, at the time of her friendship with Netta Fornario, she was still emerging as a figure in the occult community, developing her own school, the Fraternity of the Inner Light, which still exists today.

Netta and Fortune shared similar schools of thought, and Netta’s work would have been immensely interesting to Fortune, despite the latter’s attempts to downplay it. Fortune, writing from a position of authority, often diminished Netta’s abilities and focus, using her death as a cautionary tale. Given the subject matter, it’s hard to refute Fortune’s claims, but one could speculate that Netta might have disagreed. Perhaps she was on the verge of a revelation that could have invalidated Fortune’s theories? This would not have been the first time Fortune’s credibility had been called into question, making it a compelling motive.

 

Fortune was driven to make a significant mark on the occult movement, which often led to friction with others. For example, she boldly claimed to be in contact with the Ascended Masters, or “The Secret Chiefs,” through whom she transcribed The Cosmic Doctrine. These Secret Chiefs are believed to be the keepers of sacred knowledge, existing on another, ethereal plane. Contacting them was no small feat, and Fortune’s career and credibility hinged on the acceptance of these claims. One person who doubted Fortune’s contact with the Masters was Moina Mathers.

As you may recall, Moina was the widow of Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, the founder of the Golden Dawn. Samuel was well-known for his communications with the Secret Chiefs, a process that Moina claimed ultimately contributed to his death. Curiously, Samuel had died in Paris in 1918 under unexplained circumstances, with no clear cause of death. Rumors at the time—and since—suggest that his death was the result of a psychic attack orchestrated by Aleister Crowley, as their relationship had become toxic. There is said to be a two-week discrepancy between his death and the discovery of his body, a detail that Moina could have shed light on, but did not. Strangely, Fortune, under her birth name Violet Firth, is on record claiming that Samuel died of the great influenza of that year—a fact Moina could have easily confirmed but did not.

Moina, who had been with Samuel from the beginning, is often referred to as the “Mother of the Golden Dawn.” She was a respected figure in the occult community, and her words, as leader of the Alpha et Omega (AO), carried significant weight. After Fortune’s expulsion from the AO, she claimed that Moina attacked her telepathically, using both ethereal and physical cats to do her bidding. When Netta died in 1929, Fortune made the bizarre claim that she, too, had been a victim of one of Moina’s psychic attacks—despite the fact that Moina had been dead for about 18 months at that point. To believe that Moina could kill from beyond the grave would certainly be high praise for a deceased foe. Oddly, this claim perpetuated confusion between Moina and Netta, as there are no known photographs of Netta. However, a photograph of a young Moina, with wild, frizzy hair, is often mistakenly attributed to Netta.

Moina Mathers

The Shee

It is difficult to know exactly what Netta believed the Shee to be, though her analysis of The Immortal Hour suggests she viewed them as an esoteric force of nature, more allegorical than a literal race of demigods living inside hollow hills or parallel universes. Local folklore, however, contradicts this interpretation, stating that the presence of an iron dagger was a clear indication that Netta was attempting to “open” a faery mound. According to legend, doorways can appear in these mounds, and a dagger can be used to prop them open. Personally, I find it more likely that the knife was an instrument of ceremonial magic, a tool that fits more closely with Netta’s profile.

Another traditional tale tells of humans being drawn into faery mounds, leaving their bodies behind. If the human is not allowed to return, or if they remain in the faery realm too long, their body dies. By the same principle, the Shee are known to inhabit the vacated bodies of humans, often children, continuing to live in the human world. These beings are known as “changelings,” and the stories surrounding them are deeply unsettling. These themes also appear in The Immortal Hour, further linking Netta’s experiences with folklore.

The theory that Netta stayed too long in the faery realm—or perhaps angered the temperamental Shee—remains a popular one to this day.

The Green Ray Elementals

Netta, Sharp, and Fortune would have been well-acquainted with these legends. Sharp wrote extensively about them, and both Netta and Fortune studied his work, with Fortune quoting Sharp in several of her books. When describing the Shee, Fortune uses the term “Green Ray elemental contacts,” taken from her Three Rays philosophy.

In 2012, Gareth Knight, a Dion Fortune adept and biographer, described the Three Rays as follows:

The three major strands of the Western Mystery Tradition, based on the color symbolism popular when the Society of the Inner Light was first founded, were called the Green Ray, the Orange Ray, and the Purple Ray.

  • The Green Ray concerns nature in its broadest sense, encapsulating mythological traditions related to nature and Earth, including Elemental and Faery lore.
  • The Orange Ray focuses on symbolism and its manipulation in ceremonial or visualized forms, particularly in relation to the Tree of Life in the Qabalah.
  • The Purple Ray involves religious mysticism, a direct connection to spirit, often expressed in Western Christian terms.

Fortune’s Psychic Defense takes an ambitious approach to describing these Green Ray beings, starting with traditional folklore and then veering into abstract concepts. Paraphrasing, she describes them as one-dimensional beings made up of a single element—earth, air, fire, or water—while humans are composed of all four. The barrier between our world and theirs is the veil. When these beings cross into our world, they become weakened, struggling to operate with all four elements. But when humans cross into their world, we are overwhelmed by their single element, much like a sailor who falls off a ship and drowns in the sea.

Fortune seems to suggest that Netta was overpowered by these beings, and that if she had been interacting with them on the wrong side of the veil, it could have been fatal. There is an interesting parallel between the folklore and the occult. In both instances—whether with the Shee or elementals—there is a barrier, and once crossed, return is not guaranteed. 

Conclusion 

Who or what killed Netta Fornario? Was it the cold, exposure to the harsh elements? Or was her death the result of something darker—murder driven by her esoteric beliefs and practice of ritual magic? Could her former friend and colleague, Dion Fortune, have unleashed a psychic attack? If so, what would her motive have been? Or perhaps, as Fortune suggested in her own writings, Netta was overwhelmed by forces beyond her control—forces she had summoned but could not contain.

Netta left behind a collection of letters said to be of a “strange character,” which could have been enlightening. I suspect she would have also kept detailed notes, if not a journal of her magical practices. Unfortunately, like Netta, these items have been lost to time.

In the end, we are left with a void where Netta once existed—both figuratively and literally. In reconstructing her life, we can only imagine who she may have been by reflecting on her interactions with Dion Fortune, the Alpha et Omega, and the ethereal places invoked by The Immortal Hour.

 

 

Jason Roberts is a Seattle-based author noted for his acclaimed western horror series The Dead Wind Trilogy as well as other works of cosmic horror infused with historical fiction. His web-based series, Dark Distractions examines paranormal mysteries, unexplained phenomena, and all things strange.