Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki (11 June 1929 – 8 January 2026) was a British occult writer, third generation psychic and esoteric practitioner. As an associate of Walter Ernest Butler, she succeeded him as Director of Studies of the Servants of the Light.
Early life
Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki was born on 11 June 1929 in Jersey, where she was also raised.[1] Her grandmother was Romani, and she grew up in a family tradition dedicated to the occult sciences. During World War II she left with her family to live on the Wirral Peninsula in the northwest of England. She spent her spare time visiting the Roma who used to camp there. There, she learned about the natural world, tarot cards and fortune telling. After the war, the family returned to Jersey and her parents formed a clandestine occult discussion group due to restrictions imposed by Jersey's law.[2]
Ashcroft-Nowicki went to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; later she studied Opera at Trinity College of Music in Cambridge. She briefly interrupted her studies to get married, but divorced three years later. She then returned to her studies and completed them.
She was also very interested in fencing and represented the islands against France and England in competition. She won several cups and trophies and met her future husband Michael Nowicki at a fencing club. They married in 1957 and have two children, Tamara and Carl. The family moved back to the Channel Island of Jersey, off the coast of France.[2]
Nowicki died on 8 January 2026, at the age of 96.[4]
To date, Ashcroft-Nowicki has written several books and designed two tarot decks, the SOL Tarot Deck with Jo Gill and Anthony Clark, and the Shakespearean Tarot with Paul Hardy.
Ashcroft-Nowicki, Dolores (1986). The ritual magic workbook: a practical course of self-initiation. Wellingborough: Aquarian. ISBN978-0-85030-467-1.
Ashcroft-Nowicki, Dolores (2006). Your Unseen Power: Real Training in Western Magic. Sounds True. ISBN978-1591794783.
Ashcroft-Nowicki, Dolores (1999). The tree of ecstasy: an advanced manual of sexual magic. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser. ISBN978-1-57863-038-7.
An Anthology of Occult Wisdom
Daughters of Eve: The Magical Mysteries of Womanhood
First Steps in Ritual
Highways of the Mind: The Art and History of Pathworking
Illuminations: The Healing of the Soul
Inner Landscapes: A Journey into Awareness by Pathworking
