/lit/ - Literature

Flamel, in commenting on the eighth of his hieroglyphic images, in which we see a Red Man planting his foot on a winged lion who wants to carry him off and ravish him, says that this is the "Lion that devours all metallic nature [all individualized nature] and changes it into its own and true substance [nonindividualized, liberated]," and that can gloriously transport the Red Man beyond the waters of Egypt—that is, from the waters of corruption and forgetting. We must awaken the force but not let it unseat us. The characteristic depiction of this ability is dramatized by the myth of Mithras who seizes the bull by the horns and does not let go despite the animal’s mad stampede until the bull, exhuasted, gives up and allows himself to be led back to the "cavern" (the alchemical texts speak specifically and frequently of Mercury’s cavern), where Mithras gives it death. After its death there follows the symbolic emerging of vegetation from the earth, sprouting from the blood of the sacrificed animal.

Basil Valentine agrees, using more complicated symbolism: "One who is curious to know what this ' All-in-Everything’ is [said to be the goal of the Art] must give the Earth great Wings [equivalent to the flight of the Dragon, the stampede of the bull, the arousal of the Serpent, etc.], and must rise up and fly over the mountains, up to the firmament; then he must clip his wings by dint of fire, so that he falls into the Red Sea [here, fire and Red Sea are symbols of the intervention of the principle of affirmation], and drowns."

But in the reciprocal killing and being killed, both natures are changed into one another, utterly interpenetrating. So that sometimes we speak of union and separation as though they were synonyms. We now find ourselves at one of the first phases of the formation of the hermetic Androgyne, composed of Sulfur and Mercury. The "two enemies" are embracing one another. The two serpents of the caduceus are intertwining themselves (male with female) around the rod of Hermes. In the Divine Water or Mercury of the Wise begins the state of unity, which is the true "First Matter" from which it is possible to obtain all the "Elements" and "Kingdoms" of the Great Work. But the work is arduous.· "We must understand that we are in the midst of a terrible labor, trying to reduce to a common essence—that is, to wed—the two Natures [active to passive, individual to universal]."

Is this a genuinely good book on hermeticism?
I'm not looking for a traditionalist bias (since I am not a perennialist) nor am I looking for an overview with inaccuracies and wrong details (like MPH's books or even Evola's book on hinduism).
So should I read this, or look elsewhere?

>>18028394

Has anyone read this?

>>17215925

Why is this book so difficult to understand?

>. . .the subtilization produced by the Divine Water confers iosis, the active virtue, on the bodies, the general idea being that bodies in the Mercury pass from potential to actual; all this leads us back again to the aristotelian and neoplatonic conception according to which every material thing, as such, is nothing more than something sketched out, a projected design that tends to be, but is not, because there can be no "being" in the world of becoming.

Curious if anyone's read this and whether or not it's readable for someone without much background in the subject. I'm primarily interested from reading about the Futurists and their interests in alchemy, seances, Theosophy, etc, and while I know Evola was only briefly acquainted with the movement, I thought this might give some insight into the beliefs of that milieu.

Reading Evola's Hermetic Tradition and fin ding it difficult to understand is there any supplementary texts that could help?

Trying to read Evola's Hermetic Tradition but a lot of it is over my head. Is there any supplementary texts I can read to help me out?

I'm halfway into this and I still dont have a clue what I'm reading. This is too big brained for grug brain.
/lit/pill me on hermeticism and alchemy

What I am in for?

halfway through pic related.

is it just me or is this shit actually really difficult? i knew evola once and awhile got somewhat dense, but this is fucking DENSE. is this evola's most difficult work as far as understanding goes or does it get worse?

Can anyone actually figure out what this book is about? It seems to be totally incomprehensible. Can anyone give a summary of the genuine reality of this stuff?

Good supplementary as well

Alright, this board is autistic as fuck, but at least has kernels of truth between the all the shitposting.

I am looking for good English translations of the works of Demosthenes and Cicero. More specifically, The Olynthiacs and De Officiis.

In what order should I read evola?

is he just talking about tripping?

>>9766406
About to start with the Hermetic Tradition