Avant que tu penses et que tu choisisses, la société s’empare de ton entité et la façonne, selon son droit. Des que tu penses et choisis, efface les plis reçus, c’est-a-dire libère-toi des habitudes contemporaines, selon ton devoir.

Pour choisir, sache que tu as trois destins : tu peux être un animal comme ce décadent que les superficiels nomment sauvage; un animique comme tout le monde, un spirituel comme saint Thomas, ou Dante. Animal, sois beau; animique, sois bon; spirituel, cherche le Graal.

Pour embellir, animise tes instincts ; pour t’adoucir, spiritualise tes sentiments ; pour tendre à l’absolu, développe en toi l’abstraction.

~ Joséphin Péladan, Comment on devient Mage, II, La Société)

Joséphin Péladan was a key figure in the 19th century French occult revival. Along with Papus and De Guaita, he recreated the Rosicrucian order. Material that used to be secret — for reasons that will be obvious — were openly revealed. For the initiate, it doesn’t much matter, because the unitiated will not understand it. However, the misunderstanding can have consequences, especially in an open society that knows nothing of self-regulation.

For the initiate, the relationship with society can be problematic. Society operates under its own laws and facts, which supercede the individual and require him to be unconscious. The initiate, on the other hand, strives to become more conscious, transcending both the human state and society. In How to become a Mage, Peladan writes:

Baptism [as an initiation rite] makes us children of God, but Society dooms us to evil through is laws and education. Faith enlightens us, but it is in perpetual conflict with Society. The initiate, in order to make the grace of baptism full and effective, must renounce anew Society, its boundaries, its crimes, so that the fear of God makes him prefer the intimate greatness to the degrading favours of the country.

The following passage is taken from the chapter on Society. Note how it coincides with Evola’s Three Stages of Man.

Before you think and choose, society takes over your being and moulds it, as is its right. Once you think and choose, remove those received imprints, that is to say, liberate yourself from contemporary habits, as is your right.

The uninitiated man takes the world as it appears to him as the norm; this is not the real world, but is a second reality, or a shadow world hiding its true source; such a man lives in that second reality. The initiate begins to wake up and must see through that second reality in order to become fully conscious. Of course, in our day and age, everyone thinks he is a rebel and boasts about flaunting societal mores. Unable to conceive of any higher goal, this faux rebel can only act out against the taboos against sex, drugs, and other anti-social behaviour. This is just another trap, another way of being moulded. What better way to keep someone from liberating himself than to convince him he is already a “free spirit”?

In order to choose, know that you have three destinies: you can be an animal like that decadent the superficial call savage; a soulish man, like everyone else; a spiritual person like St Thomas or Dante. Animal: be beautiful; soulish man: be good; spiritual person: seek the Grail.

The three choices. One can act on instinct alone, like an animal. This is how many people would interpret “liberation”. Such a man should at least be a beautiful animal. The soulish man experiences no distance between his thoughts and feelings and his self. Whatever he thinks and feels is his “self” at that moment. His option is to be “good”, as his perspective is moralism. The destiny of the spiritual man, who transcends his thoughts and feelings, is to seek the Holy Grail.

In order to improve, soulify your instincts; in order to make yourself meek, spiritualise your feelings; in order to reach the absolute, develop within yourself a separation.

This summarizes his advice.

• Instincts need to be made self-conscious.
• Meek must be understood in the sense of the beatitudes: Blessed are the Meek.
• Learn to transcend the Mind. Develop a sense of detachment — the Observer, the Unmoved Mover, the Self.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

From the Manifesto of the Rose + Croix, (2 IX 1881) quoted by Joséphin Palédan in Comment on devient Mage (How to become a Mage). Foretelling the end of the Latin race due to the Barbarian invasion yet to come, in the midst of its own decadence, this is a Manifesto for living among the ruins.

Nous ne croyons pas ni au progrès ni au salut. A la race latine, qui va mourir, nous préparons une dernière splendeur, afin d’éblouir et d’adoucir les Barbares qui vont venir …

Soyons le Tout-Passé en face de Tout-Paris. Soyons l’enthousiasme, en face de la blague. Soyons des patriciens en face de la canaille. Soyons nous-mêmes, et que nos personnalité, réfractaires au milieu où se meuvent, triomphent du péché et du public.

We believe neither in progress nor salvation. To the Latin race, which is going to die, we will prepare a final glory, before dazzling and softening the Barbarians who are going to come…

Let us be the “everything past” in the face of “everything Paris”. Let us be gusto in the face of the joke. Let us be patricians in the face of the rabble.
Let us be ourselves,
and may our characters, resistant in the midsts in which they move, triumph over sin and the public.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

Since Gornahoor has been so insistent on the necessity for spiritual practice, we will here provide an example of Hermetic meditation. This is based on suggestions from the writings of Valentin Tomberg, the foremost Hermetist of the 20th century. As he points out: “There are no theories; there is only experience, including here the intellectual experience of arcana (mysteries) and symbols.”

The process involves relaxing the mind, and then entering into the arcana using the active imagination, almost as an eye witness to the events depicted. This is what Evola refers to as clairvoyance. Yet, the important thing is not to deal with the external facts surrounding the symbol, but to go deeper into the consciousness evoked by the symbol. This involves penetrating in succession the vital, mental, and spiritual layers. These layers are related to the Degrees of Knowledge.

So, the spiritual layer, or nous, is what Tomberg calls “intellectual experience”. Evola claims the nous is what he means by the solar or Olympian “spiritual race”. Even beyond that is the Primordial State, the Tao, the Unmoved Mover.

The following meditation is based on the use of the Genesis myth of Adam to penetrate to the awareness of the primordial state, and was intended for students studying Meditations on the Tarot. Again, the important thing is not the precise historical factuality, but rather the awareness of deeper and deeper levels of consciousness. This can be done, too, with other symbols. For example, take any of the many myths and symbols mentioned by Evola and Guenon, and do this sort of active meditation. That is how to reach an understanding of the Golden Age, or the Hyperborean origins, for example.

Guided Meditation

Invite everyone to take the appropriate role — Adam or Eve — the end result will be the same in any case.

Step 1:

Read the relevant passages or look at the symbols

Step 2:

relax, in preparation, concentration without effort (this is not a history test)

Step 3:

Quietly observe the flow of thoughts, without getting drawn in

Step 4:

Imagine what the Garden is like sensually and physically. The beauty, the abundance, the songs of the birds, the animals, the feel of the grass underfoot, the warmth of the sun, the refreshing coolness of the night. No mosquitos, no sunburn, and so on. Visualize the Tree of Life. Then the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – is it attracting, or repellent, or more like a void? Allow your imagination free reign to visualize the appearance of the Garden.

Step 5:

Move a little deeper. What is life in the Garden like? The experience of pleasure without pain, no hunger, no thirst. How do you experience your mate? Are you attracted by Adam’s or Eve’s beauty? Do you experience sexual desire? How do you react to nakedness? Again, give free reign to the imagination, always attentive to higher inspiration.

Step 6:

What is the mental life of Adam and Eve like – their feelings, their thoughts? What is it like to have no fear of death, illness, poverty? No anxiety, since there is perfect manifestation. But is there still something lacking? What is the attraction to the Tree of Knowledge? Why is there even the possibility of temptation? What were they thinking? Does that attraction to worldliness still exist? How to overcome it?

Step 7:

What is the spiritual life like of Adam and Eve? Move beyond words and thoughts and try to experience this directly. They are in constant awareness of the presence of God, not as an old man walking around, but in their hearts. What is that like? There is no crisis of faith, no doubts, no feelings of forsakenness and abandonment because that presence is always felt.

Step 8:

Gradually stop the active participation in the imagination. Detach and observe, and in the silence be attentive to any inspiration from the superconsciousness.

Step 9:

As you let go, and in silence contemplate the flow of thoughts, images, feeling, become aware of the primordial state that precedes all thought, images, & feelings.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

Hermetic initiation is the conscious descent into the depths of the human being all the way to the initial state. When we follow the Hermetic method and meditate on symbols and images, we transcend the external facts of the symbols to descend to the “vital, mental, and spiritual realities that the symbols and images reveal.” (Valentin Tomberg, in Meditations on the Tarot

These deeper realities correspond to the deeper levels of consciousness: to the life force (etheric body), the soul (mental body), and spirit (causal body).” Tomberg explains:

Descend into depths of your soul, down to its roots, to the source of feeling, will, and intelligence. Then you will know.

This knowing is certainty, the metaphysical certainty that Guenon also recognizes. And the root — which transcends feeling, will, and intelligence — is the initial state, the “image and likeness of God”. This is the same state the Guenon calls the Primordial State, and Evola the God-man.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

Ask, and it will be given you
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you
~ Luke xi, 9

Hermetism differs from both religion and science, although it does not attempt to replace them. Unlike religion, which accepts things on faith, and unlike science, which is based on facts and theories, Hermetism seeks knowledge. Not knowledge of facts, no matter how mystical, sublime, or luminous, nor knowledge of articles of faith or scientific knowledge, but knowledge of the mysteries, a direct, unmediated, intuitive knowledge.

Hermetism is a way or a path, so it must be traversed. Reading another book or article, or following another guru, will not lead to Hermetic knowledge. Instead, spiritual practice is absolutely essential.

In Letter IV on the Emperor, Tomberg expands on the essential steps of spiritual exercise:
“One must establish the state of consciousness suitable for receiving revelations.” This requires these steps:

1. The state of concentration without effort
2. Watchful interior silence
3. An inspired activity of imagination and thought where the conscious Self acts with the superconscious
4. The conscious Self then stops its activity and contemplates everything which preceded

Tomberg recommends the Gospels, John’s Revelation and parts of the OT provide as suitable subjects for meditation or spiritual exercise, not only the Arcana of the Tarot. Other Hermetists may choose runes, or some other suitable subject according to their own particular needs and inclinations.

Now, it will happen that different Hermetists will develop skills in the respective areas they chose to meditate on. But that is not what unites them, since only the depths of their mediations can do so. To further clarify this point, Tomberg makes a distinction between the individual knowledge of Hermetists — which is knowledge of particular facts — and their common knowledge, which is of the mysteries and involves depth of consciousness.

For example, one may know his past lives as a fact, another may know about the chakras – that is their individual interest and vocation. If I, for example, have no knowledge of past lives as a fact, then I simply ignore it; it is not something I am obligated to believe. So Hermetism is not an accumulation of facts to be studied and accepted uncritically.

Rather, Tomberg makes clear that Hermetism is a method. Just reading books will help no one become deep. Tomberg writes:

Spiritual exercises alone have taught [the initiate] – no theory or doctrine may in any way have rendered him capable of knowing how to know.

This will lead to a different kind of knowing, as represented by the Emperor. Hence,

Hermetism does not teach what one ought to believe about man, God, and nature, but it teaches rather how to ask, seek and knock in order to arrive at mystical experience, gnostic illumination, and the magical effect.

Only after having asked, sought, and knocked, can one know.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

Gornahoor has often emphasized that spiritual questions, or debates over the superiority this of that tradition, can be resolved neither by personal predilections nor by empirical and historical considerations. These issues can only be addressed from the understanding of metaphysical principles. Gornahoor finds it curious, though symptomatic of the contemporary human situation, that everyone feels competent to opine on spiritual and political matters, although they would not dare to say anything at all about quantum physics or algebraic topology, topics much simpler to understand.

One such principle is that knowledge is being, “to know is to be”. In order to know something of spiritual depth, one must become deep oneself. Schuon wrote a book titled The Transcendent Unity of Religions; although on the human plane, different religions may diverge widely, at the level of principle, they must needs converge. Thus, for example, the Catholic monk Thomas Merton can rightly claim that he has more in common with a Zen monk than with the average Catholic in the pew.

Hence, Gornahoor has always emphasized the importance of spiritual practice. This is what separate the Metaphysician and the Hermetist from the ordinary philosopher. The great Hermetist of the 20th century, Valentin Tomberg, in the Meditations on the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot makes this clear in the following passage: (p 122, my translation)

The goal of spiritual exercises is depth. It is necessary to become deep in order to be able to achieve the experience and knowledge of deep things. And it is symbolism which is the language of depth – so that these are the arcana expressed by the symbols that are the means and the goal of spiritual exercises, from which the living Tradition of Hermetic Philosophy is composed.

Common spiritual exercises create the common link which unites Hermetists. It is not common knowledge which unites them but rather spiritual exercises and the experiences they entail. If three people from different countries who had used Moses’ Genesis, Ezekiel’s Vision, and John’s Gospel as the subjects of spiritual exercises for several years were to meet, they would do it as brothers even though one knew the history of humanity, the other had the science of healing, and the third was a deep cabbalist. What they know is the result of personal experience and direction, whereas the depth, the level that they have reached — without regard to the aspect and extent of the knowledge that has been gained — is what they have in common. Hermetism, the Hermetic Tradition, is first of all and most of all, a certain degree of depth, a certain level of consciousness. And it is spiritual exercises that safeguard it.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

The return to Tradition in the West, which rather than “saving” Western civilization, is instead its overcoming, has nothing to do with primitivism. It is consistent with reason as well as the highest standards in the arts and sciences. It protects religious life from its enemies (though not necessarily the Church) and permits esoterism and the Hermetic sciences to be practiced in safety. Unlike the will to massification of the contemporary West, the Traditional view is differentiation: not only within a society, but it also seeks to preserve the distinctiveness of nations within the Empire. It encourages the chivalric code in all its aspects, including love and war.

Frederick II, the grandson of Roger II, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 until 1250. More than a great Emperor, he was fluent in six languages and a patron of arts and sciences. In particular, in the realm of art, we make mention of the Sicilian School of Poetry, that drew its inspiration from the troubadours of Provence, and transmitting that influence to Dante. As for science, Frederick supported practitioners of the Hermetic sciences.

Besides the promotion of learning and the legal duties required to run an empire, Frederick still managed to run a knightly court, steeped in the traditions of chivalry. Here follow some first-hand reports about hte lavishness of court life in the castle of Foggia, one of his palaces.

Every sort of festive joy was there united. The alternation of choirs, the purple garments of the musicians evoked a festal mood. A number of guests were knighted, others adorned with signs of special honour. The whole day was spent in merriment, and as the darkness fell, flaming torches were kindled here and there and turned into day for the contests of players.

Another report concerns the visit of the English prince Richard, Earl of Cornwall.

The English noble was returning home from the crusade in summer heat: they first with baths and blood-lettings and strengthening draughts made him forget the toils and hardships of the journey and the war, and then entertained him with every type of sport. He listened in amazement to strange airs on strange instruments, saw the jugglers display their skill, was ravished by the sight of lovely Saracen maidens, who to the rhythm of cymbals and castanets came dancing in, balanced on great balls that rolled across the many-coloured polished floor.

Then there are the more fantastic accounts: hundreds of knights from all nations were entertained in silken tents, minstrels streamed in form every corner of the earth and foreighn embassies displayed the rarest jewels. There are accounts of the Hermetists:

The messengers of Prester John brought an asbestos garment, an elixir of youth, a ring of invisibility, and, lastly, the philosopher’s stone. Further, people told how the Emperor’s court astrologer, Michael Scot, whose name was named with shuddering curiosity, on a hot day at a feast assembled thunderclouds at the Emperor;s command and performed other miracles.

from Frederick the Second by Ernst Kantorowicz.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

Julius Evola advocated something he called the “race of the spirit”, which is not caused by or the result of any biological process or genetic makeup. These races of the spirit do not correspond to what we would recognize as races. Actually, since Spirit is free, the race of the spirit is not a given, but must be willed. The spiritual race most important to Evola is the Solar race. Now, perhaps, not every man is capable of reaching that state, so at best it can exist only virtually, as a possibility, and not necessarily in actuality.

Alchemically, Solarity is represented by Gold. The path to solarity is given in the piece titled “The Hermetic Caduceus and the Miriror” by Abraxas from “Introduction to Magic” . It starts off with this claim:

Every teaching of ours is illusory until it is translated into a practice and an action.

This distinguishes Hermetic philosophy from academic philosophy. It is not sufficient to know. One must also will and dare. This is what makes the ideas actual.

Abraxas tells us that it is necessary to firmly and actively establish a new quality, by becoming the master of a part of your life. The path to becoming one among the Solar race involves:

1. Become innerly detached from yourself and from what surrounds you; maintain a sober, effortless, neutral, and well-balanced lifestyle, without excesses. Sleep only as needed and eat little.
2. Let your body be whole, calm, harmonized. Temper your soul with the power that is in you; cleanse it from impulsiveness, passions, restlessness, and then stabilize it and amalgamate it with your body.
3. Other beings do not exist. Do not let their actions, thoughts, or judgments affect you, no matter what they are.
4. Make sure that nothing will secretly creep into you: watch over everything that comes from the outside and that emerges from the unexplored depths of your consciousness. Observe all things in silence with your mind and remain unperturbed, stopping every judgment with a firm hand.
5. If passions bother you, do not react or become perturbed. Bring them deliberately to satisfaction, and then get rid of them.
6. Grow in this direction until you are able to realize the frivolity, uselessness, and the threat of every thought, so that your mind, too, may slowly calm down and silently crouch at your feet.
7. In this way you can slowly build up a strength inside you, similar to a lord whose glance instills silence, respect, or confusion in the servants around him.
   THIS IS OUR GOLD.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

A Hermetist is comfortable whether

• performing in obscurity the activities of so-called ordinary life,
• or in the company of the high and mighty,
• or alone with his studies, inscrutable to the most intimate of his friends, relatives, and lovers,
• or entranced by the seductions of courtly love,
• or in prayerful contemplation in the presence of beautiful old men.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (1743 – 1795) was the alias of the hermeticist Giuseppe Balsamo, a Sicilian by birth. He led a remarkable life by earthly standards, the details of which &mdash whether factual or fanciful — can be found on Wikipedia. Like other Hermeticists of the time, he was eventually put in prison for heresy, where he died. However, we are more interested in his inner state, not the outward conditions of his life. Julius Evola quotes this passage written by Cagliotro:

I belong neither to any century nor to any particular place; my spiritual being lives its eternal existence outside time and space. When I immerse myself in thought I go back through the Ages. When I extend my spirit to a world existing far from anything you perceive, I can change myself into whatever I wish. Participating consciously in absolute being, I regulate my action according to my surroundings. My country is wherever I happen to set foot at the moment … I am that which is … free and master of life. There are beings who no longer possess guardian angels: I am one of those.

In his role as trickster, Cagliostro was able to travel and obey an intention. Guenon remarked that initiates often traveled under the guise of jugglers or horse traders, something we documented in The Symbolism of the Horse.

If Cagliostro’s claims about himself are true, we can note the following:

• He is aware of himself as transcendent spirit
• “Going back through the ages” may refer to knowledge of previous yugas.
• By “regulating his actions according to his surroundings, he is engaging in what Gurdjieff called “conscious acting”.
• “Master of life” refers to the correct ordering of spirit over soul over body, something mentioned by Evola on many occasions.
• By having no “guardian angel”, he would mean that he has reached higher states of consciousness, which, according to Guenon, are equivalent to angels.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press