Those who are interested in reading Meditations ought to peruse this index to his book here. Consulting the index under “personal magic”, one is referred to pages 478-480 (among others):

“Therefore, it follows from the preceding that magical formulae are not invented – just as true poetry is not invented – but that they are born from blood and light. This is why one uses in sacred magic, as a rule, traditional formulae – and this not because they are ancient, but rather because they took birth in the above indicated manner and they have proved themselves as such. This was well known to Martines de Pasqually, for example. The rituals of his magical invocations consist only of traditional formulae, drawn above all from the Psalms – not because he was a practicing Catholic but solely in view of heir magical effectiveness (int eh magic that he taught and practiced). Sacred magic differs from personal or arbitrary magic – beyond the differences which we have stated in the third Letter – also in that it “makes use” of the agent of growth, whilst arbitrary magic works above all with the magical agent of electricity…neither science nor personal magic can perform miracles…on the other hand, every human word can become magical if it is sincere to the point of engaging the blood, and if at the same point it is filled by faith to the point of setting the luminous waters of hope from above in motion.”

Tomberg is not rejecting paganism or magic per se (such as that outlined by the UR Group in their essays with Evola on magic, or by Franz Bardon in his work); he is endeavoring to place it within the Empire of Heaven. Just as traditionalism finds its fulfillment in the notion of an Imperium or sacral Emperorship which guarantees the “shields of the earth” (kingdoms) by stepping even higher, so does Tomberg push Eastern mysticism into the “Selves beyond the Selves” & the “Magic from on high” which supersedes without annihilating all lesser shadows and analogies.

Tomberg quotes Christ in the Beatitudes, who says:

Matthew 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself [NKJV: swear falsely], but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

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As a reminder to old readers, and a notice to the new, let us repeat Gornahoor’s purpose. We claim that there was a Primordial Tradition of the Indo-European peoples, which manifested in the Vedic civilization, Ancient Greece, and Medieval Europe, inter alia. We are not here to teach Aristotle’s four causes, which anyone can find on the Internet, but rather to demonstrate the intrinsic commonality of worldviews between the Middle Age and Antiquity, and ultimately ancient India. Specifically, the Medieval Tradition is closer to Pagan Antiquity than is any current form of neo-paganism.

First of all, all three worldviews held to some version of hylomorphism, as shown is these two sets of related terms:

1. Form, essence, idea, Purusha, potency
2. Matter, substance, hyle, Prakriti, act

A cause is a principle on which something else depends for its being. Thus the cause has priority over the effect, not just temporally, but in the wider sense that we give it. Aquinas and Aristotle name four types of causes in two classifications, as shown in this chart:

The extrinsic causes are exterior to the being, while the intrinsic causes are what make it what it is.

Efficient cause

That by which the effect is produced.

Final cause

That for which the effect is produced.

Material cause

That out of which the effect is produced.

Formal cause

That which makes the effect to be of a particular kind.

In Man and his Becoming, Guenon associates Purusha with essence of form and Prakriti with matter or substance. He writes:
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Everything belonging to the subtle state is very closely connected with the nature of life itself, which is inseparable from heat; and it may be recalled that on this point, as on many others, the conceptions of Aristotle are in complete agreement with those of the East. ~ Rene Guenon, Man and his Becoming

Rene Guenon often used Aristotle as the exemplar in the West of Indian metaphysics. Whether this is the result of a direct influence or from plumbing the same depths is open to debate. More likely, both the East and pagan Antiquity were drawing on a common source, viz., the primordial tradition of the original Indo-European peoples.

We recently outlined the Western tradition on the corporeal soul. Although the soul is the form of the body, it also transcends that function. Guenon mentions that the corporeal state belongs to the human individual. Moreover, there is the subtle state of the individual. Guenon makes clear that the subtle state is not totally coincident with the corporeal state:

The corporeal sate [and the subtle state] are strictly and essentially states of the living man. This does not necessarily involve admitting that the subtle state comes to an end at the precise moment of bodily death and simply as a result thereof.

The Western Tradition has an analogous teaching. In his book, Occult Phenomena, Alois Wiesinger describes this subtle state in some detail to explain the experience of preternatural and mystical phenomena. He gives the name spirit-soul to the subtle state to distinguish it from the corporeal soul; this corresponds to the Hermetic distinction between spirit, or pneuma, and soul, or psyche.

As interesting as Fr. Wiesinger’s analysis of occult phenomena is, for our purposes we now restrict ourselves to his description of spirit. Here are some salient points, without further explanation.
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Be wise as Lucifer and as innocent as the Holy Spirit.

Developing some of Rene Guenon’s ideas, Julius Evola described the tactics of the Occult War in greater detail. By this, he means the third dimension of history, that of depth, beyond the dimensions of space and time by which we conventionally view things. Yet, those who can only understand in terms of facts, material causes, and visible leaders still think at the level of brutes. Even worse, many men, wishing to be seen as intelligent, deliberately cultivate this view, thereby blinding themselves to any deeper understanding.

Let no one be deceived into believing that this is a simple matter. Even among those who desire to, or claim to, follow Tradition, there are many who fall victim to the tactics of the occult war, including some whom I have known personally for some time and would have expected a bit more insight.

Evola describes this War, at its most fundamental layer, as the battle between the forces of Order and the forces of Chaos. This necessarily assumes, without question or dispute, that there is a Cosmic Order, which we have been calling Logos and obviously a force behind that Logos, which we have called Providence, in accordance with Guenon and other Traditional and Hermetic authors. Hence, two requirements are imperative for anyone who wishes to consciously engage in this War.

1. He must understand the Cosmic Order
2. He must align his Will with the forces of that Order

The dimension of depth is the province of the Spirit, apart from and beyond any physical or material considerations. Obviously, then, to begin such an engagement, the spiritual warrior must first of all wage that battle in his own consciousness. Specifically, he must understand his own inner constitution, above all, the various layers of his soul life. He must strive to bring them into harmony with the Cosmic Order by subduing the lower layers to the higher. He must learn to harness the erotic and thumotic impulses that, left to themselves, lead to a process of inner integration.

To understand Gornahoor, readers must keep this foremost in mind. On the one hand, we have striven to describe the Cosmic Order in many different ways, apart from any a priori ideological commitment or allegiance to any particular movement or institution. We also hope to inspire others to take up arms in this battle in the way they see fit. It addition, one must also understand the forces of Chaos. Evola describes several tactics of those forces, which we summarize below. We have already written about some of them in detail, others we shall take up as the need arises.
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Tomberg remarks in his Meditations that Christianity places the locus of sin, not in the body or material existence (such as he thinks implied to a degree by Eastern metaphysic), but in the soul. The body, then, as such, becomes rather a focus of redemption and revelation, rather than something which needs to be shed (along with the sense of “self”), in order to attain Enlightenment. Tomberg even refers to the personality as the “lost sheep” or lonely and vulnerable flock which the Lord came intending to seek and to save. These views can be linked with his comments on hermeticism differing even from “saintliness”, in which he insists that the hermetic is like Jacob wrestling with the angel, in that it refuses to sacrifice or suborn its intellect. Instead, it wishes the intellect to be “re-made” but kept, in the image of holiness. This defines Tomberg’s path over and against those of magical bent (such as Franz Bardon) who might seem to believe that no essential connection exists between purification/illumination/theosis and the awakening of the vital bodies, and those who utterly reject Tomberg’s aspiration to pursue something which is essentially different than the saintly path of (say) someone like Saint Cuthbert, who waded into icy sea water and sang psalms all night long to develop their will. Tomberg (I think) would say that the saints truncated a part of their personality, and that the magicians sacrificed a piece of their soul.
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In the Medieval period, the doctrine of the soul reached its deepest understanding in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. This doctrine was adopted, virtually in toto, from Aristotle. Now, Aristotle was the heir to the totality of Greek philosophy and its mysteries. Even if much of that earlier work has now been lost except in fragments, it was familiar to Aristotle, who absorbed and organized it. Furthermore, as Guenon takes pain to demonstrate on numerous occasions, Aristotle is in deep agreement with the metaphysicians of India. As we have recently pointed out, this may be the result of a direct historical influence.

Bear in mind that the ultimate and pimary goal of the Medieval Christian is to save his soul. But we see that the understanding of that soul is purely pagan in its origins. And this understanding insinuates itself at the heart of Medieval doctrine.

There is no point to repeat what was written in The Intellectual Soul. There are a few important implications of this doctrine.

• The soul forms the body, not the other way around as most contemporary Westerners seem to believe (if they even consider the question).
• The body and the components of the soul form a unity.
• The natural order is for the body to be subservient to the soul, and each layer of the soul to be subservient to the one above.
• Unlike the view of some gnostic doctrines, and even Plato, the soul is not “imprisoned” in the body. There is a struggle between the body and soul to enforce the natural order between them. However, this cannot be understood as being “anti-life”.
• The intellectual soul reveals “man as the one who possesses the power of knowing with respect to the visible world.” (TB 5:6) This knowing is transcendental to the world. Guenon writes, in reference to Aristotle: “Pure intellect is of a transcendent order, knowledge of universal principles is its proper object.”
• The body is the object of the Will. Man is a subject not just in knowing, but also in acting. “The structure of this body is such that it permits him to be the author of all human activity.” (TB 7:2)
• The human person is never experienced as a phenomenon, but is revealed indirectly through his activity. Hence, the person is transcendent. Again, Guenon relies on Aristotle when he asserts, “The personality not manifested.”
• For Aristotle, the principle of all action must be actionless. That is, the unmoved mover is not an object in the action he initiates. The person, then, is that unmoved mover, the microcosmic version of the macrocosm.

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Ignorance pure and simple is far preferable to false ideas. ~ Rene Guenon

Lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west. ~ Jesus Christ

In East and West, Rene Guenon outlines a plan for the recovery of Tradition in the West. Obviously, the plan is complex and requires some unique skills as well as intellectual depth to succeed, and it is something he doesn’t expect to happen next week. Nevertheless, it is well worth elucidating in detail, if only for the boons it will bring to those who make the effort to understand. However, we take it seriously as we heed Guenon’s warning about the consequences of not undergoing a consciously led social transformation. These are either a fall into complete barbarism or else the assimilation to another Traditional culture, most likely following a period of social upheaval. The plan must take place on three levels:

1. The knowledge and understanding of metaphysical principles
2. The recovery of traditional sciences
3. The transformation of the social order

Return to Intellectuality

First of all, it is necessary to understand the goal, or what exactly defines a traditional civilization. Guenon explains:

What we call a traditional civilization is one that is based on principles in the true sense of the word, that is, one where the intellectual realm dominates all the others, and where all things, science and social institutions alike, proceed from it directly or indirectly, being no more than contingent, secondary and subordinate applications of the purely intellectual truths.

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If the intellectual elect comes one day to be constituted, the essential end which it will have to work for is the return of the West to a traditional civilization and we have the example of the Middle Ages … It would be a question, not of copying or reconstituting purely and simply what existed then, but of drawing inspiration from it for the adaptation made necessary… It can only be done by using both what the East has to offer and also whatever traditional elements remain in the West.

The superiority of Europeans over Asiatics in their trained ability to give reasons for what they believe—something of which the latter are wholly incapable … Europe was made Europe by reason in the schools; in the Middle Ages Europe was on the way to becoming a piece and an appendix of Asia again—by losing the scientific sense that it owed to the Greeks. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human

The civilization of the modern West has, among other pretentions, that of being eminently “scientific”. ~ Rene Guenon, East and West

Nothing can be clearer than this contrast between Friedrich Nietzsche, the prophet of the post-modern world, and Rene Guenon, the prophet of Tradition. Guenon calls the idols of modernity, viz. Science, Progress, Civilization, Right, Liberty, a sort of religion that replaced Tradition, but is better called a counter-religion. This faux religion originates the beginning of the modern epoch, (in Nietzsche’s words)

The anti-traditional spirit showed itself at once by the proclaiming of “free examination,” or, in other words, the absence, in the doctrinal order, of any principle higher than individual opinions. The inevitable result was intellectual anarchy; hence the indefinite multiplicity of religious and pseudo-religious sects, philosophic systems aiming above all at originality, and scientific theories as pretentious as they are ephemeral, in short, unbelievable chaos which is, however, dominated by a certain unity, there being beyond doubt a specifically modern outlook which is the source of it all, though this unity is altogether negative, since it is nothing more or less than an absence of principle, expressed by that indifference with regard to truth and error which ever since the 19^th century has been called “tolerance”.

Guenon mentions the irony that the apostles of tolerance, like all propagandists, are often the most intolerant men. Those who wished to overthrow all dogma have created new dogmas, which are really caricatures of dogma. We leave it to the reader to discern those dogmas, keeping in mind that a dogma is that which can never be doubted, whether or not it be true. Nietzsche’s specific complaint against the Eastern cast of mind is this:

Asia still does not know how to distinguish between truth and poetry, and is not conscious of whether its convictions are derived from personal observation and methodical thinking or from fantasies.

Guenon addresses the same point from the opposite end:
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I want to remark on something in Tomberg’s Meditations, in comparison between Chapter 18 (The Moon) & Chapter 19 (The Sun). Besides many other side meditations of delight (including a short, extremely well put defense of medieval scholasticism, which he says was a marriage of wisdom and intelligence to produce intuition), Tomberg gives us two symbols in each chapter. They are both based on the hexagram. Readers who frequent Gornahoor may recall that Mouravieff mentions the hexagram in connection with spiritual initiation, in his marvelous Gnosis. The hexagram (according to Tomberg) can be arranged either with two squatty triangles at the top and a rectangle in the middle (in which case it symbolizes antinomies and opposing lines which “eclipse” the Divine Intelligence in man and drive him back into the stagnant water which the crawfish or lobster is dwelling in on the card, The Moon), or it can form an interpenetrating two triangles, like the star of David, which is the Divine Trinity coming down, and the Earthly Trinity (of Mother Sophia, Daughter, & World-Soul) rising up. This last is the next card, The Sun.

This is a fabulous symbol which shows that the same facts, arranged in different configurations, produce entirely different results : it is simply a question of force-lines and spiritual energy, which makes the difference and either bars man’s path (The Guardian of the Threshold) or opens the gates of initiation. It is also worth noting that Evola speaks of something similar in his work on magic, related to ascending the different “steps”, each of which are guardians. Is there a particular “step” into the spiritual world which involves a hexagram and an all-seeing eye, which is either malevolent/protective or benevolent/benedictory?

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In De Monarchia, Dante’s goal is to demonstrate that, in general, the power of the Emperor derives from God, and, more specifically, the Roman Empire was such by right. It is instructive to follow Dante’s reasoning, as it challenges both the modern way of thinking, such as it is, as well as common misconceptions among those who identify themselves as Traditionalists. If he is a contender as the “greatest of Europeans”, as Coomaraswamy claims, then anyone whose avowed goal is to “save Western Civilization” is duty and honour bound to understand Dante, to know what he is trying to save.

For Dante, the Logos created the world, which is therefore logical, reasonable, and orderly. Man is a Rational Soul which has the power to understand the Logos and hence its Will. Dante takes pains to demonstrate all his points with a logical argument. To buttress his points, Dante refers to secular and religious, Christian and Pagan, sources, as suits his purpose.

The fundamental first point to ponder is whether God, or the gods, are a force in the world. As Rene Guenon insists, everything that happens, does so necessarily and for a reason. The modern mind doubts that, believing instead that things occur randomly with no guiding purpose, in the mistaken belief that this is the more hard-nosed and logical way of thinking. To the contrary, to know something is to know its sufficient reason; that is the very definition of rationality.
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