The premise from which the Buddhist Doctrine of Awakening starts is the destruction of the demon of dialectics; the renunciation of the various constructions of thought and speculation which are simply an expression of opinion, and of the profusion of theories, which are projections of a fundamental restlessness in which … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: July 2010
This is our Gold
Alchemically, Solarity is represented by Gold. The path to solarity is given in the piece titled “The Hermetic Caduceus and the Mirror” 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. … Continue reading
Life of a Contemporary Hermetist
Where a Hermetist is comfortable. Continue reading
Past Performance and Wishful Thinking
Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Nevertheless, it is much more reliable than wishful thinking.
Cagliostro the Trickster
I belong neither to any century nor to any particular place; my spiritual being lives its eternal existence outside time and space. Continue reading
Walking on the Edge of an Abyss
The initiate is an occult being and his path is neither visible nor penetrable. He is elusive, not to be pigeonholed. He arrives from the direction contrary to that towards which all gazes are fixed and takes the most natural seeming vehicle for his supernatural action. He may be an intimate friend, companion, or lover; he may be sure of possessing all your heart and confidence. But he will always be something different, other than what he lets be known. We will perceive this “other” only when we have penetrated his domain. And then perhaps we will have the feeling of having been walking on the edge of an abyss. Continue reading
Three Amigos
We recently mentioned Guenon’s role in bring awareness of Tradition to the West, but there are two other very important figures: Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (AKC) and Julius Evola. Operating on three different continents, they kept in contact with Guenon via post, exchanging letters and even books. That was the precursor … Continue reading
The Absurdity of Traditionalism
The terms “Traditionalism” and “Traditionalist” have been gaining currency, reflecting an unfortunate and misleading trend. Presumably used to describe the intellectual ideas promulgated by Rene Guenon, then further developed by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Julius Evola, it instead treats those ideas as merely another perspective or school of philosophy. As such, … Continue reading
Hermit Crabs and Nietzsche
Perspectivism and the Human Race Part I of a series. Hermit crabs don’t have a shell of their own. Since that makes them vulnerable to predators, they have to scramble to find empty shells left behind by gastropods. As they grow and no longer fit completely within their current shell, … Continue reading
Tentacles, Paws, Arms, Wings
Since Evola wrote a thorough book on the Hermetic Tradition, I will use an example from the Hermeticist Valentin Tomberg to illustrate the Principle of Correspondence. In Letter XIV on Temperance in Meditations on the Tarot, Tomberg writes: Tentacles, paws, arms, wings — are they not simply diverse forms manifesting … Continue reading