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Julius Evola

17:04 / 02.12.05

I'm coming out of a fairly heavy semester w/respect to late 19th-early 20th century philosophy, particularly Heidegger and Neitszche, and I've run across Evola's name several times. I know he was involved/influential in a fair amount of occult activity, and also that he was at least a nominal supporter of Mussolini. I have a couple of questions: first, any info about his life/magic/influences anyone has would be great, but second (similarly to the Heidegger thread in Head Shop) I'm wondering how nasty he really is. Is he someone who, while admittedly fairly reactionary, has merely been associated with reactionary causes by unsympathetic readers/a few fanatics (a la Nietszche, or Crowley for that matter) or is he another mouthpiece for "the poetry of fascism"? Finally, is he worth reading despite that? (I'm more concerned with the race angle w/respect to the second question-I'm a whole lot more OK with someone who adopts a very individualistic, dominating stance with respect to the world and is fascistic in that way than with someone who harbors blanket anti-semitic or rascist sentiments.)

Boy in a Suitcase

17:10 / 03.12.05

I've read bits and pieces and the magical stuff is very intense. What do you recommend as a starting place to get into him? I've got copies of Intro to Magic and the Hermetic Tradition that I haven't got very far into.

Phex: Dorset Doom

18:34 / 03.12.05

Likewise, I've read Intro to Magic, which is very good (though some of the practical work would be difficult to actually do without a lot of cash, but I guess that's where all the chaos-y experimentation comes in), and Revolt Against the Modern World, which isn't so much occult (or even Temple related) but an explanation of why the ancient world was superior from an aesthetic/Nietzchean/cultural sense than our current situation. You get a feeling that Michael Holluebecq would enjoy it.
The introductions in my editions do a lot to persuade the reader that Evola wasn't a fascist, but they don't mention that he also translated The Protocols of the Elders of Zion into italian, despite having easily enough academic proficiency to find out they were a hoax, so I have my doubts.

19:02 / 03.12.05

BIAS, I can't really recommend anything; that was more what I was looking for. A friend has a copy of Riding the Tiger, which i've scanned, and it seems to be a continuation of what "Revolt against the Modern World" is described as here-how to live in a "Nietzschean" manner, or one fitting of a premodern. About all I know about his magical stuff is he seems to have worked alot with Tibetan Buddhism. Biographically, I know he supported Mussolini in some capacity (not sure how) and that he founded a lodge/group he called the Ur-group, again not sure what the specifics are. I'll check out intro to Magick, that seems a good place to start on the occult end of things.

trouser the trouserian

05:03 / 05.12.05

I'm wondering how nasty he really is.

Evola fan site

Let's see. Mussolini thought his book on race was ace, but Evola was critical of Italian fascism on the grounds that it was too populist - after all, he believed that society should be run by a warrior-elite class (his fascination with the caste system was what drew him to India, initially). After the surrender of Italy, Evola worked for the SS in Vienna, translating Freemasonic documents for the Gestapo, who were rounding masons up and sending them to concentration camps. Still, he was on friendly terms with Mussolini, & Hitler & Himmler thought highly of him too. Post-WW2, Evola is thought by some to have been an 'influence' on European right-wing groups through his call for a "total war" against the establishment - inspiring bombings, political assasinations, etc.

Although he wrote about the "power" of sex a lot, it was very much in terms of virile, manly qualities - he believed that it was the homosexual inclinations of the ancient Greeks which led to the downfall of ancient culture. He also seemed to think that communism was a jewish conspiracy.

I guess he just fell in with the wrong crowd.

trouser the trouserian

07:42 / 05.12.05

Mirror site for the above link

Boy in a Suitcase

14:35 / 05.12.05

Whenever I see this guy, I think Oswald Cobblepot. But I guess the real question is the soundness of any actual magical techniques / if they can be lifted for their own sake...

More reading needed on my part...

02:02 / 06.12.05

FYI there's a good, brief overview of Evola's life & work in an article by Gary Lachman in the Dec. 2004 issue of FORTEAN TIMES (issue #191). (Unfortunately, that particular piece isn't in the online archive.)

trouser the trouserian

05:05 / 06.12.05

Some Evola-related links 'n' stuff at disinfo

However wrote the intro piece there mentions that Evola was a friend of Mircea Eliade - well they had a lot of views in common. Eliade was involved with the 1930's Romanian right-wing paramilitary group, the Iron Guard.

03:41 / 07.12.05

Interesting interview with Antoine Faivre, author of The Eternal Hermes, and a professor who holds the Sorbonne's chair for the "History of Esoteric and Mystical Currents" (ohhhh yeah). The discussion touches on Evola and on the politicks of magick.

http://www.theosophical.org/theosophy/questmagazine/mayjune2000/esotericist/

ANTOINE FAIVRE: "If you say that what is above is like what is below, and what is below is like what is above, you can have a very hierarchical view of humankind, of nature...

"You have two ways of looking at things when one speaks of esotericism. One way can be used to the advantage of certain right-wing political movements. Here the emphasis is on hierarchy and authority. It’s led to esotericism being associated for the most part with right-wing politics. This is one reason why esotericism hasn’t been a major study in Germany. It has the association of the Nazis and the occult and so on. And some esotericists have been right-wing. But there is also a strong left-wing, socialist history in esotericism. Éliphas Lévi, who began the occultist current in the nineteenth century, was a utopian socialist."