If you missed part one it can be found HERE.
Netta Fornario came to Iona with purpose. Her trip was no aimless retreat but a deliberate journey with intentions that remain elusive. Whatever she sought, it was important enough to bring her to this remote and mysterious island—where she would meet a fate as strange as the legends that surround it.
Why Iona?
Iona is probably best known for Saint Columba, who founded the Abbey of Iona there in the sixth century. It became a place where early Christianity heavily mingled with pagan traditions and played an instrumental role in spreading the faith throughout the islands. However, like the Hebrides Islands themselves, Iona has a rich history that reaches deep into the Iron Age, making it home to some of the world’s darkest folklore. The things said to have risen from the sea there would have made even H.P. Lovecraft himself shudder.
It is this unique history that drew Netta to Iona, undoubtedly fueled by the works of her favorite author, Fiona Macleod. Fiona Macleod was the pen name of William Sharp, a Freemason and early member of the Golden Dawn. Under the name Macleod, Sharp wrote extensively in the Celtic Revival and Neopaganism movements. He also wrote a great deal about the history and folklore of Iona, including his perspective on the Aos Sí, the people of the mounds, often compared to faery folk. Sharp described this supernatural race using the common abbreviation “Sidhe” (mounds) or “Shee.” His pen name, Macleod, may even be a subtle nod to Iona, as many of the chieftains of Clan Macleod are buried there, and the clan itself has legendary ties to faery magic.
Sharp wrote that Iona was a place where the veil between worlds was thin, and the Shee walked freely among men. In one passage often associated with Netta, he describes an occasion when he went to visit a friend, only to find she was not at home. According to the friend’s mother, her daughter had been under attack by spirits of the monks on the island and had gone away to the only place where she could be safe from them — near a faery mound by Loch Staonaig, where this crime was allegedly committed. It was in this very spot that Netta’s naked body was said to have been found.
As Fiona Macleod, Sharp wrote:
“The monks are still the strongest here… except over by Staonaig… there’s a path that no monk can go. There, in the old days, [the monks] burned a woman. She was not a woman but they thought she was. She was one of the Sorrows of the Sheen… It’s ill to any that brings harm to ‘them’ [i.e., the faeries]. That’s why the monks are not strong over by Staonaig way.”
The Aos Sí, or Shee in our story, are far removed from the typical fairy tale. Folklore describes them as a supernatural race of beings that live in a parallel universe overlapping our own. In Gaelic folklore, they are descended from the Tuath Dé, a pre-Christian race of demigods. In other traditions, they are considered fallen angels, cast out of heaven but not damned to Hell. By all accounts, they are ancient, powerful beings worthy of fear and respect.
The Immortal Hour
One of Netta’s few surviving writings confirms her fascination with Sharp and offers some insight into her views on the Shee — and possibly what she hoped to find on Iona. Using the alias Mac Tyler, Netta authored a review of Macleod’s best-known work, The Immortal Hour, which had recently been adapted into an opera by composer Rutland Boughton.
As Mac Tyler, Netta wrote:
“While this Celtic allegory may be interpreted to represent the return of Spring to the world from the enforced thraldom of Winter, it will be apparent to all students of esoteric cults that we have here a drama similar to those employed in the ancient mysteries, and that the reactions and interaction of Dalua, Etain, Eochaid, Midir, and the two peasants symbolize the psychological and spiritual effects of initiation.”
The Immortal Hour, music drama by Rutland Boughton from the play by Fiona MacLeod, produced by Barry V Jackson, at the Repertory Theatre, Station Street, Birmingham.
circa 1921
In synopsis, The Immortal Hour tells the tale of a supernatural marriage between a human — the High King of Eire (Eochaidh) — and a Shee (Etain), orchestrated by the Lord of Shadow, Dalua. Dalua, also known as the Faery Fool, or the Amadán Dubh, is “older than the gods” and imbued with strange powers of fate. An unknown compulsion brings him to a magical Shee forest, where he soon meets Etain, who has also arrived at the wood, seemingly by fate. Dalua touches her and erases her memory, essentially making her human. He sends her to a peasant’s hut to wait for the inevitable arrival of the king, Eochaidh. Guided by dreams of “immortal love,” Eochaidh is led to the forest and Dalua. Dalua introduces him to Etain, and their union is made.
On the anniversary of their marriage, their celebration is cut short as both admit to having dark dreams. Eochaidh’s vision involves powerful armies of marching faeries. That night, Midir appears, Etain’s lover from the Shee world, disguised as a harpist. He is reluctantly granted a favor by Eochaidh — that Midir be allowed to kiss the hand of the queen, Etain, and sing to her. The kiss restores her memory of the undying land, and she returns to her world with Midir. Eochaidh is consumed with grief and begs Dalua to restore his dreams. Dalua touches him, and he falls dead.
Midir’s song, “How Beautiful They Are,” was originally sung by the faery chorus in the first act:
“How beautiful they are, the lordly ones
Who dwell in the hills
In the hollow hills.
They have faces like flowers
And their breath is wind that stirs amid the grasses
Filled with white clover.
Their limbs are more white than shafts of moonshine.
They are more fleet than the March wind.
They laugh and are glad and are terrible:
When their lances shake, every green reed quivers.
How beautiful they are
How beautiful the lordly ones
In the hollow hills.”
Netta saw The Immortal Hour twenty-three times, likely during its 1922-23 run in London. Oddly, she lamented that the play did not receive a longer run, attributing it to the politics surrounding Boughton, the composer. By all accounts, the production was a smash hit, running for an unprecedented 211 straight performances in 1922, with an additional 160 the following year. Regardless, her remarks show a deep understanding of the allegorical references intended by the author.
Much has been made of Netta’s obsession with The Immortal Hour, often oversimplifying it as a fascination with faeries. While one could argue she was indeed drawn to faery lore, Netta was also trained in ceremonial magic and did not go to Iona lightly. Whatever she was seeking, it was very real to her.
Dion Fortune speaks to Netta’s time on Iona and her fascination with the Shee in her 1930 book Psychic Defense.
“I knew Miss Fornario intimately, and at one time we did a good deal of work together, but some three years before her death, we went our separate ways and lost sight of each other. She was half Italian and half English, of unusual intellectual calibre, and was especially interested in the Green Ray elemental contacts; too much interested in them for my peace of mind, and I became nervous and refused to co-operate with her. I do not object to reasonable risks, in fact one cannot expect to achieve anything worthwhile in life if one will not take risks, but it appeared to me that ‘Mac’, as we called her, was going into very deep waters, even when I knew her, and that there was certain to be trouble sooner or later. She had evidently been on an astral expedition from which she never returned. She was not a good subject for such experiments, for she suffered from some defect of the pituitary body. Whether she was the victim of a psychic attack, whether she merely stayed out on the astral too long and her body, of poor vitality in any case, became chilled lying thus exposed in mid-winter, or whether she slipped into one of the elemental kingdoms that she loved, even as Swinburne swam out to sea, who shall say? The information at our disposal is insufficient for an opinion to be formed. The facts, however, cannot be questioned, and remain to give sceptics food for thought.”
Dion Fortune’s remarks on Netta Fornario are oddly dismissive for someone who knew her well. Both studied under Dr. Theodore Moriarty, a legendary and almost mythical figure in occult circles. They were also initiates of the Alpha et Omega, a direct successor to the Golden Dawn. While Fortune went on to establish her own school, Netta’s credentials were no less impressive. She was well-versed in ceremonial magic and adept at astral projection, as illustrated by her ability to sustain extended trance states—far from the ill-equipped novice Fortune makes her out to be.
It is curious that Fortune, who frequently discussed the same “elemental forces” Netta studied, distances herself so strongly. She frames Netta’s work as reckless, despite engaging in similar practices herself. What Netta was doing on Iona would have been familiar, if not of interest, to Fortune—yet she speaks of her fate with detachment, as if attempting to discredit her.
Her comments feel strangely misleading. She reduces Netta to a naïve acolyte, disregarding her documented skills, and subtly absolves herself of any connection to what happened. At the very least, her remarks seem disingenuous—if not deliberately obscuring something.
What exactly did Fortune mean by “Green Ray elemental contacts,” and how much did she really know about Netta’s time on Iona? What actually killed Netta Fornario? Those are questions to be addressed next week in part three!
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.
