Many years ago, our beloved teacher Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki celebrated her 76th birthday with what was to become the Brotherhood of the Eternal Light. On January 8, 2026, Dolores closed her eyes on this earthly realm in Jersey, Channel Islands, and stepped through the final veil into the greatest adventure of all - or as she called it: The True Mystery. Today she would have celebrated her 97th birthday.
The Brotherhood of the Eternal Light honors her extraordinary life and her role as a spiritual mother to our school. For decades, Dolores stood as a towering beacon of knowledge. As the Director of Studies for the Servants of the Light (SOL), she took ancient, complex truths and translated them into a living, breathing reality for thousands of seekers across the globe. Through her groundbreaking books like The Ritual Magic Workbook, Highways of the Mind and Magical Use of Thoughtforms, she brought the Qabbalah, cosmic memory, and the depths of the astral plane into the hearts and minds of everyday students.
She welcomed every student with a warm smile and a friendly word. She encouraged questions, which she sometimes answered with a story from her rich personnel experience. She was a great storyteller, and skillfully captured the audience's attention when she sometimes touched the realm where mysteries and fantasy meet.
She never got tired to inspire students at the beginning of their spiritual journey to aspire to greatness and she saw future teachers of the mysteries in many of them. But when students had progressed further, she could also be very strict. But it was rare that she remained rigid, most often when the storm ended there was yet another friendly smile.
Despite the fact that January is perhaps one of the most common months in which the elderly leave us, it remains one of the strange synchronicities of the universe that she passed away exactly 80 years to the day after her teacher's teacher, Dion Fortune. Yet in many ways the two personalities could not have been more different. (In fact, their birthdays are at opposite dates of the year - Dion Fortune was born in the sign of Sagittarius on the 6th December 1890, and contributed to the highest ethical standards and a deep common sense understanding of the core principles of the mysteries and the Qabbalah. Dolores was born in the sign of Gemini, with many widespread interests, some deeper than others, ranging from many occult topics to other fields such as opera singing, dance and fencing.)
Dolores was an important influential and beloved figure especially during the early time of the foundation of our Lodge and training group until it became the Brotherhood of the Eternal Light. Eventually the torch was passed on and our paths separated, as we focused on evolving the teachings of the mysteries to the highest standards of ethics and quality.
Dolores taught and believed that it had been her task to spread out what was passed on to her by her teacher Walter Ernest Butler, and that it was the natural responsibility of the next generation to refine, evolve and build upon the vast foundations our spiritual ancestors laid.
The Brotherhood of the Eternal Light (BOEL) was founded in 2010 with her blessing as a daughter school of the Servants of the Light (SOL), now (having just celebrated its 15th birthday) continues to spread the Light of the Mysteries building upon the sacred foundations she and those who came before her laid. We honor her vast contributions, respect the remarkable volume of her life’s work, and recognize that her foundational influence will continue to shape the mysteries for generations to come.
On her 80th birthday we gave her a drinking horn with a stand that we had forged ourselves filled with little papers containing blessings of her students and friends. When she read them, she was so deeply moved that she said she would put it in her will that she wanted to be buried with this horn and the blessings therein. We don't know if this was actually done, but we hope that our blessings will go with her.
May she find peace and clarity on her continued journey.
With Thankfulness for all that she gave us.
The Brotherhood of the Eternal Light