The Hermetic Tradition

[Anonymous No.17638444]

Has anyone read this?

[Anonymous No.17638465]

>>17638444

Be careful.

[Anonymous No.17638505]

>>17638465
why

[Anonymous No.17638514]

I mean you could probably start by reading hermes trismegistus himself first

[Anonymous No.17638527]

>>17638444
Best book I've ever read. Be very careful. You will probably have to read many other texts and then read this one again before you understand.

[Anonymous No.17638528]

>>17638514
this why would you read evola over the man himself?

[Anonymous No.17638565]

>>17638528
The Corpus Hermeticum is good, but the texts seem tainted by Neoplatonism; and they certainly weren't actually written by the mythical Trismegistus. Evola was in touch with the purest tradition, and wrote with the utmost clarity.

[Anonymous No.17638570]

>>17638528
Because this book does not have to do with Greco-Egyptian magic or hermeticism. This books examines the Western alchemical tradition, which Evola refers to as the Hermetic Tradition. And this book is the greatest exposition on that topic that I am personally aware of.

[Anonymous No.17638573]

>>17638527
>>17638565
Which other texts would you have to read? Evola texts?

[Anonymous No.17638621]

>>17638573
I'll name a few off the top of my head.
Corpus Hermeticum
Book of Enoch
Iamblichus
Emerald Tablet
Zosimos
Morienus
Secreta Secretorum
Albertus Magnus
Artepheus
Aurora Consurgens
Rosarium Philosophorum
Paracelsus
Agrippa
Basil Valentine
Boehme
Pernety
Introduction to Magic (Ur Group)
Everything by Evola

[Anonymous No.17638636]

>>17638621
I've been keeping an eye out for a list like this. You're the Anon, Anon. I heard Evola is autistically verbose tho and I've been avoiding him for that reason.

[Anonymous No.17638654]

>>17638573
It's helpful to be familiar with some of his works, but it is by no means necessary. He makes reference to several of his other books throughout the Hermetic Tradition as they tend to deal with the same topic.
I would say the Hermetic Tradition is more of an introductory to his other works than vice versa. A lot of people recommend reading Mystery of the Grail first as it deals with a topic that is more familiar to most readers and is therefore easier to understand. Just don't expect to understand any of his books completely on the first read through. You'll find that the more you read the more you're able to make sense of through the added context.

[Anonymous No.17638687]

>>17638636
Glad to be able to help. We're both on the same journey: may our paths one day intersect.

>>17638573
Mystery of the Grail is a good suggestion, too. I loved Arthurian lore before I discovered Alchemy. It was a joyful moment when I realized the Holy Grail and the Philosophers' Stone were the same object.

[Anonymous No.17638713]

>>17638654
>He makes reference to several of his other books throughout the Hermetic Tradition as they tend to deal with the same topic.
This. Pay attention to the books he mentions, even is the footnotes, especially for The Hermetic Tradition and Introduction to Magic.

[Anonymous No.17638807]

>>17638444
I have, it ended up being much more dense than I expected it would be. This was Evola's preferred metaphysical system until he discovered Sufism and it's honestly as concise a treatment on the subject as you will find.

[Anonymous No.17638840]

>>17638444
I heard the English translation is pretty bad. Can any pastabros confirm this?

[Anonymous No.17639223]

>>17638621
>Morienus
>Secreta Secretorum
>Albertus Magnus
>Artepheus
>Aurora Consurgens
>Rosarium Philosophorum
>Pernety
Can you post links where we can find these online? I'd hate to have to pay an arm and a leg for these books.

[Anonymous No.17639237]

Yea pre gud

[Anonymous No.17639284]

>>17639223
Let me see....
>Morienus
https://www.academia.edu/31294534/Transmission_of_Alchemy_The_Epistle_of_Morienus_to_Prince_Kh%C4%81lid_bin_Yaz%C4%ABd_the_Ris%C4%81la_
>Secreta Secretorum
https://archive.org/details/b24877037_0005
(Looks like Latin but it has English inside. Gaster's translation of the Hebrew can also be had on Jstor.)
>Albertus Magnus
https://www.alchemywebsite.com/hrs14.html
>Artepheus
https://www.alchemywebsite.com/artephiu.html
>Aurora Consurgens
https://www.worldcat.org/title/aurora-consurgens-a-document-attributed-to-thomas-aquinas-on-the-problem-of-opposites-in-alchemy/oclc/954735
(Not online. Try ILL?)
>Rosarium Philosophorum
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/rosary0.html
>Pernety
https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/great-art-ebook.html
https://www.bookarts.org/store/p9/Mytho-Hermetic_Dictionary.html#/
(Second one neither online nor in libraries.)

[Anonymous No.17639309]

>>17639284
Thanks. It's funny, I actually have the Mytho-Hermetic Dictionary, but I have not read through it cover-to-cover yet. Only looked up a few entries. What are your thoughts on it?

[Anonymous No.17639334]

>>17639309
You're welcome! That's actually the only one I haven't read yet (due to not wanting to lay out the expense), but I expect it to be packed with valuable citations. I wish his Fables Egyptiennes were in English. My one semester of French is totally inadequate.

[Anonymous No.17639376]

This books figures as on some /lit/ guide to Evola as the first book one ought to read by him. Nothing could be more wrong. I got thoroughly filtered and have a lot of background reading to do before coming back to it

[Anonymous No.17639391]

>>17639376
First time I tried it I got bored and laid it down. Later, after a few months of further study and reflection, I read the whole thing with rapt astonishment. It is certainly not for total beginners.

[Anonymous No.17639419]

>>17639334
Here are some screenshots I took from a book in a previous thread. I can take some more if you want, but not until Sunday or Monday. I have to pack for a road trip tomorrow.
>>>/lit/thread/S15641766#p15643210

[Anonymous No.17639430]

>>17638444
Yeah, probably one of his worst books.

[Anonymous No.17639451]

>>17639419
Thanks for those. Gives me a better idea of what I'll be getting when I buy it. Now I'm wondering if it has any passages on precious stones, such as garnet or amethyst. Not strictly alchemical, but I'm still hoping because Rulandus set a precedent by addressing them in his Lexicon.

[Anonymous No.17639460]

>>17639451
>garnet or amethyst
There are. IIRC, amethyst is the starry dome on top of some kind of flask or alembic.

[Anonymous No.17639482]

>>17639460
Excellent. I would love to see some of those pages when you get time. Have a nice trip!

[Anonymous No.17639519]

>>17638687
>It was a joyful moment when I realized the Holy Grail and the Philosophers' Stone were the same object.
Incredibly based

[Anonymous No.17639544]

Quite dense but well organized (as far as Evola's writing gets).

Extremely complex subject matter. So much so that it appears as gibberish to the uninitiated. Heavy use of alchemical symbols. Make sure you know your shit before tackling this. Supposedly it's the final boss of his spiritual works before the reader is supposed to move on to the big boy texts (the political ones).

As monocle man states at the start, this is a work that is to be studied and not simply "read". I made my way through it and got completely clotheslined by the second part which deals with the non-theoretical aspects. If you're not careful Evola will hopscotch between either multiple subjects or many ways of looking at an open-ended concept. Your train of thought will dissipate into a blur if you let this happen.

I would rate this much harder to read than Jung's texts but measurably easier than coded writings such as the Chymical Wedding. An incredibly edifying read, and this is coming from someone who probably understood only a fraction.


>>17638807
Are you sure you aren't referring to Guenon, or am I mistaken?

[Anonymous No.17639562]

>>17638687
>the Philosophers' Stone
evola is harry potter?

[Anonymous No.17639563]

>>17638565
>Evola was in touch with the purest tradition, and wrote with the utmost clarity.
Evola was very knowledgeable and correct about 90% of things, but I wouldn't go that far.

[Anonymous No.17639584]

>>17638444
Yes, it blew my mind. Difficult reading though.

[Anonymous No.17639600]

>>17638687
>It was a joyful moment when I realized the Holy Grail and the Philosophers' Stone were the same object.
You may have been filtered. They're not objects at all, and even symbolically they're not the same thing (first of all, the "Philosopher's Stone", which is barely mentioned in Hermetic Tradition, is lead, which has no correspondence to the Grail. It's the prime matter which is "common to all")

[Anonymous No.17639615]

>>17638636
Once you Man up to facing Evolas incredible prose and vocabulary you can look down at most other writers

[Anonymous No.17639616]

>>17638444
Is hermeticism legit or is it just for schizos? What fundamental truths lie within it?

[Anonymous No.17639624]

>>17639600
>You may have been filtered.
The irony.
> the "Philosopher's Stone", which is barely mentioned in Hermetic Tradition, is lead, which has no correspondence to the Grail. It's the prime matter which is "common to all")
This is not true. In its leaden state, it is just a stone.

[Anonymous No.17639638]

>>17638565
Evola was a schizo who made up a bunch of pseudomystical bs to justify being a racist fascist. He is the Varg of his generation and only appeals to the male equivalent of hot topic wiccans.

[Anonymous No.17639694]

>>17639624
According to Isaac Hollandus, quoted on p. 80, fn.7, of Evola's book, "From Saturn [lead] proceeds and from Saturn is made, the Philosopher's Stone." As for objects, of course I meant symbolical objects....

[Anonymous No.17639716]

>>17638636
I don't know who you heard this from, but personally I found Evola's prose to be precise and measured. In fact, I wish he would discuss things in more detail - once you actually understand what he is talking about and are looking at specific methods, any ambiguities at all become a nuisance.

[Anonymous No.17639719]

>>17639624
>In its leaden state, it is just a stone.
I'll quote the exact section on this, which references the "stone" as essentially common matter (the prima materia), in other words lead:
>The "unique thing that contains in itself the four elements and rules over them", "the matter of the wise", also called their "stone" [the Philosopher's Stone], contains in itself whatever we may need. [...] "This stone and not stone, it is found everywhere, is base and precious, hidden and visible to everyone."
>[Magical Lead] is just where the primordial state of the individual, Osiris, lies sleeping - and Saturn also, who was the king of the Golden Age: the metaphysical kingdom corresponding to the state of Being in the absolute sense.
>Isaac the Hollander: "From Saturn proceeds, from Saturn is made, the philosopher's stone... There is no greater secret than this: that this is found in Saturn, since in the Sun we do not find the perfection that we find in Saturn. In its interior, and in this all philosophers agree, it is a most excellent Sun... In truth, Saturn is the Stone that the ancient philosophers did not want to name.", "nothing does [Saturn/lead] lack, but to be cleaned of its impurity; its interior must be made exterior, that is to say, its Redness must be brought out and then it will be an excellent Sun"

A major point throughout the work is the division of substances into vulgar and magical/wise, which is simply a matter of knowledge and perspective (as is the case with the stone). Lead is just a stone, but it's also not.

[Anonymous No.17639725]

>>17639694
Wasn't saturn (lead) the prima materia? If so then wouldn't everything technically be made out of saturn?

[Anonymous No.17639764]

>>17638807
What is it with traditionalists and Sufism?
Seriously, what's the appeal of Sufi metaphysics?

[Anonymous No.17639796]

>>17639725
According to Paracelsus, the four elements are the prima materia of which all things are composed. Saturn is the Stone out of which comes the Stone of the Philosophers.

[Anonymous No.17639881]

>>17639764
Nothing in Evola's life ties into Sufism, that anon is referring to a book by a third party that claimed Evola was a Sufi (book is called Sufi of Rome). I don't buy it.

[Anonymous No.17639915]

>>17639638
What's the point in trying to critique him when you clearly have read him and are just being a faggot?

[Anonymous No.17639925]

>>17639544
Evola was never Sufi

[Anonymous No.17640955]

>>17639719

Imagine reading any of this unironically, or even considering it outside of a fictional/fantasy framework. Please don't tell me anyone takes this shit as truth.

[Anonymous No.17640970]

>>17640955
>Please don't tell me anyone takes this shit as truth.
You tell me

[Anonymous No.17640976]

>Why yes, I do take this shit as truth

[Anonymous No.17641074]

>>17639562
No, Harry Potter is written by a Rosicrucian think tank. It's the Shakespeare of our time.

[Anonymous No.17641107]

>>17641074
Harry Potter is very obviously a reflection of the psyche of the educated middle class liberal boomer white woman, and even more specifically a British variant. You can trace literally everything in those books back to that sort of person, it's only a product of a think tank as far as that type of person themselves is a product of a think tank.

[Anonymous No.17641348]

>>17640955
Anon, you must choose your truth. There is much more in heaven and earth and in ourselves than most people ever realize.

[Anonymous No.17641363]

>>17641107
>a reflection of the psyche of the educated middle class liberal boomer white woman
Some aspects, yes. But the average middle class woman isn't steeped in esoteric imagery, personages etc. in the way that those books are. It's obviously intented to plant a seed in young, impressionable minds, and spark an interest in the occult.

[Anonymous No.17641384]

>>17641363
The strange thing about Harry Potter, is that it's so full of authentic magical tidbits, yet the story itself is so very modern and dull.

[Anonymous No.17642233]

>>17638444

>Alchemy

Take this to /x/ please.

[Anonymous No.17642370]

I wonder if ordering a copy on amazon is going to get me put on a list due to the author. It would be a nice investment considering it's going to get taken down by the fun police eventually.

[Anonymous No.17642383]

>>17638444
It's another meme book with its author finding patterns in history that only exist in his mind.

[Anonymous No.17642474]

>>17639616
Fundamental Truths that help you chart your way through the relation between physics and metaphysics healthfully and not like a schizo or autist.

[Anonymous No.17642481]

>>17638565
>certainly weren't actually written by the mythical Trismegistus
Haha

[Anonymous No.17642498]

>>17642383
Examples?

[Anonymous No.17642524]

>>17642383
>didn't read the book: the post

[Anonymous No.17642529]

>>17642370
It's published by Inner Traditions. The same publisher that also publishes crystal healing herbal medicine sex magic books by 50 yo lesbian cat ladies who rarely bathe. I doubt buying Evola books from them would be a blip on the fed radar.

[Anonymous No.17642581]

>>17638444
Yeah I enjoyed it. I need to read it again though, as well as my other books on Hermeticism.

[Anonymous No.17642629]

>>17642370
Order fast. Just saw an article saying amazon isn't selling books marked hate speech. And probably not, I have all of his books (for the most part)

[Anonymous No.17642833]

>>17638565
What's wrong with neoplatonism? Everyone except new age tards and kooky renaissance noblemen seems to have got the memo that Trismegistus was a meme invented by Ptolemaic Greeks.

On the other hand Evola seems to have scrubbed most of the kabbalah trash out, which is more than I can say for Hermetic authors in the last 700 years.

[Anonymous No.17642934]

>>17638636
I'm about a third of the way through mystery of the grail as my first of his works for now, and I've found it no issue at all, if you pay enough attention his writing is easily understood

[Anonymous No.17643132]

>>17638444
Was Evola a neoplatonic/gnostic too? I tried googling but did not really find a satisfying answer

[Anonymous No.17643155]

>>17638565
Neoplatonism is just Platonism and there is no "pure tradition" you utter cope

[Anonymous No.17643186]

>>17638621
No Picatrix
Ngmi

[Anonymous No.17643282]

>>17643132
I heard he was a Pythagorean.

[Anonymous No.17643295]

>>17638528
Retard who doesn't even know what the book is about

>>17638687
Very based

[Anonymous No.17644166]

Bump

[Anonymous No.17645164]

>>17643186
Picatrix is good, but its alchemical passages are very sparse. It is mostly concerned with astral magic. I probably should have mentioned Turba Philosophorum by name as well, but that can be found in Introduction to Magic.

>>17642833
Main issue with Neoplatonism, and Plato himself for that matter, is that they put attainment of the "Good" on the level of mere contemplation, and thus fall short of the true initiatic Experience put forward by Evola and the alchemical corpus.

[Anonymous No.17645171]

>>17643155
then why is it called neo instead of just platonism.

[Anonymous No.17645482]

>>17638565
>the mythical Trismegistus
And how about the texts written by the actual Trismegistus hmm?

[Anonymous No.17645495]

>>17638621
Rosenkreutz

[Anonymous No.17646024]

>>17638565
>Evola was in touch with the purest tradition
can you elaborate on that?

[Anonymous No.17646030]

>>17638444
>occultism
into the trash it goes

[Anonymous No.17646229]

>>17646024
The last remnants of the Hyperborean Tradition, handed down through the ages, via mythology, alchemy and certain elements of religion to us in the West, and through Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism in the East. I can't do it justice here. Read Revolt Against the Modern World.

[Anonymous No.17646281]

>>17638444
No because I am not gay

[Anonymous No.17646302]

>>17645164
>Good" on the level of mere contemplation
He doesn't actually. Contemplation of the Good on rational grounds is only the first step, not to mention Plato's higher teachings were never actually written down. All of Plato's surviving written work were exoteric teachings. Even Aristotle makes reference to Plato's unwritten teachings.

[Anonymous No.17646321]

>>17646302
You may have a point there. I'm just going by what we see in the texts.

[Intermittent Fasting No.17646383]

>>17646229
How would you compare Evola's hermetic tradition to Revolt in terms of readability?

[Anonymous No.17646434]

>>17646383
Revolt is probably easier, as it presents a general worldview, while Hermetic Tradition is a specialized decoding of alchemical texts.

[Anonymous No.17646473]

>>17639881
>>17639925
>>17639764
That book by Gelli looks pretty good. Gelli knew Evola personally and believed that he was a Sufi Mystic.

So yes there is something that ties Evola to Sufism, the author Frank Gelli.

That being said, I haven't read the book yet. I'll let you know what I think once I have.

[Anonymous No.17646497]

>>17639764
There are many paths up the mountain fren.

[Anonymous No.17647191]

Does Evola give practical exercises in any of his books, or are they all academic?

[Anonymous No.17647413]

>>17647191
He focuses on praxtical exercises and inetrictions but a lot of the times it looks like the instructions aren't clear and you'd have to be physically present with him and his friends to understand it

[Anonymous No.17647687]

>>17642833
scholars tend to agree that the idea of hermes trismegistus came from egyptian ibis cults

[Anonymous No.17647752]

>>17646473
Gelli doesn't really provide much in the way of evidence for that claim. It's a good read as a snapshot of a time in his life, but I doubt you'll come away from it thinking he was heavily engaged in Sufi practice.

>>17647191
The Gruppo di Ur material (published in English as Introduction to Magic) is highly practical. It's essentially the in-house journal of a working group.

[Anonymous No.17647767]

>>17640955
Pleb filters can work for literally hundreds of years.

[Anonymous No.17647926]

>>17638514
>he thinks Hermes was real

[Anonymous No.17648629]

>>17638444
Ev(b)ola is a psued

[Anonymous No.17648969]

>>17646497
"Traditions lead to the Tradition."
—Introduction to Magic, Vol. II

[Anonymous No.17649775]

>>17648629
seethe harder