A while ago I was looking for a Traditionalistic forum. During that search I stumbled upon the Gnostic Community forum where a user said that Guénon was not a real initiate whereas Samuel Aun Weor (“pronounced “sam-ayel on vay-ohr”") was. The forum seemed quite serious at a glance, so I found out who this Weor was. Ah, the founder of the Gnostic Community. Of course! The man has written quite a few books with interesting titles. I chose two of them to see what this real initiate has to tell us. Of course I picked two titles that seemed interesting to me. Well, from the first page of “Alchemy & Kabbalah, the keys of radical spiritual transformation” it was more than clear that this Weor fellow is not for me. In his book he presents a mishmash of thin esotericism, combining Theosophy (the Blavatsky kind) with Eastern doctrines, a few Christian-sounding terms, flimsy alchemical and Kabbalistic symbolism and he structured his book after the Tarot. Weor uses the word Thelema implying that he read Crowley and probably also from Crowley comes the focus on sexual magic. Using sexual magic in the “Laboratorium Oratorium” (the act itself) “without spilling the cup of Hermes” or without wasting the “Ens Seminis” supposedly awakens your Kundalini that will on its turn awaken the chakras. Sex is the “Philosophical Stone”. There are a few practises that combine meditation and sleep and “the Arcanum A.Z.F.” that every real initiate uses. Weor uses a slightly irritating way of writing with very short sentenses and interesting-sounding words. I found nothing of the depth that his student finds in the writings of Weor. In fact, this little book (200 pages) worked on my nerves quite a bit. And I have got another one…
2009 Glorian Publishing, isbn 97819342063622
Alchemy & Kabbalah * Samuel Aun Weor (2009)
Het Grote Boek Der Apokriefen * Jacob Slavenburg (2009)
I was quite excited when I heard about the publication of this book. Still it took quite a while before I got myself a copy. It is a 1170 page book, printed on thin paper (and thus only 5cm thick) and however Jacob Slavenburg is on the cover as editor, he did not make any of the translations. Slavenburg has published quite extensively about early Christianity and Gnosticism and this monster work completes his publication of translated texts together with his massive Nag Hammadi publication. Most of the early Christian (gnostic) texts are now available in Dutch. I have found no English counterpart to this new “great book of apocryphal texts, secret early Christian texts”. The massive amount of texts are grouped under the headers “saying of Jesus”, “Fragments of gospels”, “Gospels”, “Youth stories”, “Early Christian lectures and letters”, “Acts of apostels”, “Revelations of visions”, “Oracles”, “Early histories of the church”, “Early texts from Edessa” and “Gnostic texts”. The texts are from the first to the fourth centuries and them being apocryphal means that they did not make it into the Holy Scripture. That is not to say that most of them are not very Christian texts, but probably there was something with them when the Bible was put together. The stories of Jesus’ youth, for example, portray Jesus as somewhat of a hothead. Many texts read like you are reading the Bible and I must say, a large part of this book is rather dull, especially when you compare them to the compilation of mostly Gnostic from the Nag Hammadi library. The texts do sometimes give a nice peak in the history of Christianity that the fourth century Church fathers did not want us to see. Sometimes amusing, sometimes slightly surprising, but I must way that I was relieved when I finally came to the short closing part with Gnostic texts which have more of my interest. The book is not cheap, but how could it be with 1170 pages, but Dutch-speaking people who want to expand their view on early Christianity are highly recommended to get this wonderfull publication.
2009 Ankh Hermes, isbn 9789020203578
Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of the World * Joscelyn Godwin (2009)
Quite a while ago I saw this book laying in the most beautiful bookshop of the Netherlands (Selexys Maastricht, soon bankrupt I am afraid). A massive book about Kircher for a massive price. When I got a load of book-coupons much later, my first idea was to go and get this book and so I did. I know Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) mostly for his magnificent images as they are often reproduced in books about hermeticism, Renaissance esotericism, alchemy and similar subjects. I knew Kircher was more of a “homo universalis” and that he was the last of the Renaissance men, but I had this romantised idea that Kircher was an esotericist with a broad interest. Godwin’s book first appears as a look-through book. Over 400 images of Kircher have been reproduced. When I had the book home, I noticed that Godwin discusses them all, so this book is a reading book after all. Well, a reading book. With its over 300 heavy pages, 30x30cm size and +2 kg in weight, this is not a book to read all night while laying on your couch. Godwin took the wide interests of Kircher and divided them over the different chapters of the book. Instead of esotericism, you will read about archaeology, geology, science, medicine, wonder-machines (Kircher liked to show off with weird machines that were magic to the unknowing spectator), music, Egyptology (Kircher was the first to translate hieroglyphs), information about the religions of the world (from China and Japan to South America) and much, much more. Indeed, Kircher was a man who wanted to know everything. So how did he come about knowing about all these things? Kircher was a devout Jesuit and his masters realised that he was more valuable at home than in some far country converting people. Thus Kircher became the spider in the web of Jesuit missionaries worldwide who sent him artifacts, stories, drawings, texts to translate, etc. and Kircher investigated them all and wrote about it. He set up a museum with exotics and weird machines and thought he was superiour in knowledge to his fellow man. However this book is a nice read, not all subjects interest me equally. I mostly enjoyed the first chapters with Kircher’s religious and symbolic drawings (Godwin goes nicely into detail) and the last chapter with didactic images. Indeed, do not expect too much alchemy, Kabbalah and hermeticism as suggested on Amazon (Kircher did not want to have too much to do with such subjects), but more a book showing the pursuits of early science.
2009 Thames & Hudson, isbn 0500258600)
Traditionalism Discussion Group
In an aim create a discussion group for contemporary Traditionalists I have set up a website using my old domain www.monas.nl. Do you see yourself as somebody who does not look at Traditionalism, but somebody who thinks like René Guénon and other thinkers of this ‘school’, come have a look and consider joining the forums.
Wende 10
5 Years and 10 Wendes. The magazine of the Flemish Asatru group Werkgroep Hagal comes to almost 50 pages this time and contains 12 “Odalistic” articles. The first text after the introduction is an experimental investigation of the small village of Wijnendale (municipality of Torhout) where the author suggests the castle was built on a heathen sanctuary. He admits that his theories are sometimes daring, but he hopes to get a discussion and further investigations in motion. A very short text of Aat van Gilst is about the number 12. Another daring essay is about the Shamanistic techniques used by Julius Civilis (or Civilus), the famous leader of the Batavian uprise against the Romans around the year 70. There is also a text about Männerbünde in the Northern Netherlands, thoughts on the original meanings of folk-dances, the all-seeing eye that spotted an Odal in a Belgian city’s building front wall, a thought-provoking short text about a new addition to UNESCO’s list of immaterial heritage that is not even a hundred years old and has but little to do with heritage. To close off a stand is taken against the moralistic tide of our day. There are a few shorter contributions such as a Norwegian song, information about the Germanic names of Gerik and Gerika and a bookreview in which the latest attempt of Varg Vikerness is slain to the ground. As always slightly provocative, both to the outside world as to similar-minded, Hagal makes a nice read (in Dutch) for people interested in modern Germanic heathenry and ecology alike. Click on the cover to go to the website of Werkgroep Hagal to find information how to get your copy.
The Journal Of Contemporary Heathen Thought II (2012)
Some two years ago the first volume of the heathen journal saw the light of day. The introduction of volume one said: “What this means specifically is that we seek to encourage the development and assist in the promulgation of rational inquiry into Heathenry as expressed in the domains of Philosophy, Theology, Psychology, Sociology, Antropology, and other disciplines generally included under the umbrella of Religious Studies.” (p. ix). Yet: “[...] we are not solely interested in soliciting essays and dissertations of an academic nature. The Heathen community is not comprised entirely of scholars, and nor is Heathen thought uniformly scholastic in nature.” (p. xi) So, I (non-academic) submitted a text and wrote one on request. Both were declined just before volume II went to the printer. The reason? Writing style. This time the editorial preface states: “What we need from our readership is the same kind of scholarly analyses of Heathen doxa and praxes that have been presented in the journal so far.” (p. ix) So it seems that JOCHT has become an academic publication afterall. True, in such a publication, there is no place for me. I would write nothing like:
Yet, without the intentional development of the seed-ideas that the faith of our ancestors presents us, we will remain locked into either a primitivist understanding of Heathenry as a static, historical relic, incapable of doxic development, or continue down the path of libertarian fragmentation where everyones believes what they want to believe and deal with the contradictory beliefs of others not by attempting to determine which theology is true, but by resorting to an epistomologically relativistic theological framework in which it is socially unacceptable for a theologian to publicly claim his position to be correct for fear that others might find his “dogmatism” unacceptable.
(p. 149)
I agree with editor Plaisance’s remark quoted from his “epistle to the heathen” added to his 80-page dissertation about “the emerging hierarchy”, how how big do the editors think the academic heathen community really it? Will such essays not scare away the average, but read, pagan who, either or not, manages to plough through the academic literature in his studies, with this way-too-learned-sounding way of writing? Should an academic not be able to write something that other people might understand as well, not only his/her fellow academics? If this is the path that this journal will take, I think it will overshoot it’s goal and limit it’s audience.
But, I ploughed through JOCHT II, so let us have a look at it. Continue reading ‘The Journal Of Contemporary Heathen Thought II (2012)’ »
Blutleuchte * Gerhard Hallstatt (2010)
Gerhard Hallstatt (or Gerhard Petak or Kadmon) is best-known for his musical outlet Allerseelen, but for a long time he also published magazines under the titles Aorta and Ahnstern.
These “tracts” first appeared in twenty issues of Aorta and nine of Ahnstern. They were homemade bilingual booklets done with typewriter, copying machine, and stapler. The print was cramped, the illustrations blurred or blackened, and the English translations extremely quaint (in contrast to Gerhard’s beautiful German.)
So a few people set up to make new translations of Gerhard’s articles and present them in a beautiful cloth-bound book with two-colour print. What is presented is a cabinet of curiosities that go from the Cathars to crop circles and man-made UFOs. The articles are only those of Gerhard and span about the decade from 1990 to 2000. It is great to find a man with an interest in a wide variety of subjects as myself not trying to hang around in the same allies all the time. Somehow many of the articles circle around the period of the two world wars though. Through interviews and articles you will learn about Kenneth Anger and his films, a woman with stigmata, characters such as Codreanu and Willigut, musicians such as Z’ev and Michael Moynihan, magic, shamanism, the far corners of science, artists, religions and cults. Several articles are very personal accounts of travels to ancient festivals or mystical places. At least one text is a made-up story which makes me wonder about one or two other personal accounts. Gerhard introduces new terms such as panzermaterialismus and heidnat and describes visions caused by eating mushrooms. Satanism, magic, controversial elements of history it is all here in Blutleuchte. The book is a very enjoyable read with nice, short texts about subjects that I was mostly familiar with, but for example the author rekindled my desire to watch the pre-WWII films of Riefenstahl and I do not believe that I ever heard of the subterranean midget worlds called “Erdställe”. The book is not cheap, but worth the money a worthwhile homage to a lifelong traveller. Speaking of homage, the introduction that I quoted is written by noone less than Joscelyn Godwin the famous scholar on music and Western esotericism and who is apparently no longer frightened by a bit of controversy, since he also wrote introductions to English translations of Evola and articles in the Tyr Journal. I admire the man for knitting his name to such publications which will hopefully make them appear less black (and white).
To get your own copy, people from Europe best get in contact with Gerhard himself (aorta(at)gmx(dot)at), in the US with the publisher (linked below).
2010 Ajna, isbn 9780972182034
Sufism For Western Seekers * Stewart Bitkoff (2011)
Abdel Wahid Yahia died in Cairo in 1951. Most of us will know this man better under his birth- and authors name René Guénon. Guénon was the major Traditionalist thinker hammering on the fact that a genuine initiation can only go through a “filiation”, an unbroken chain. In the West there are only two genuine esoteric orders left, both in decline. Perhaps this is the reason that Guénon opted for the Sufi path, the near Eastern esoteric Tradition. I find myself thinking about this sometimes. When the Western esoteric organisations might still be able to ‘do the trick’, but no longer understand what it is what they actually do, would there be real Sufism in the West to take over the task? Guénon probably did not leave France for nothing, but there are Sufi orders in the West. Would these groups just be mystical Muslims taking the name of Sufism or genuine esoteric orders in which religion is subsidiary?
Then I got an email of Stewart Bitkoff if I was interested in reviewing his new book “Sufism For Western Seekers; Path of the Spiritual Traveler In Everyday Life”. Sure I was! Of course I am preoccupied having read Guénon and other Traditionalists and on receiving this book I immediately noticed it is nothing like the heavy literature from the ‘Traditionalist school’. In fact, would the book be Traditionalist at all? In a ‘Guénonian’ sense it should be, but like I said, I am preoccupied. Bitkoff describes how he met a colleague at a hospital that he worked at and during lunch times Bitkoff and a varying group of colleagues had ‘classes’ of this first “mystical school” from the master/colleague. This goes on for about four years after which the author is directed to his second “mystical school” where he received some 10 years of long distance training, mostly involving reading books of Idries Shah (1924-1996), the Sufi teacher of our time. Like Bitkoff’s first teacher (whom he calls “Sam”) Shah stresses the fact that Sufism predates Islam and that it is the path to become a whole person and thus a better Muslim, Christian or Jew. (This) Sufism does not make the student leave society for study, but requires serious involvement in society, helping others. The book is presented as conversations between Bitkoff and a teacher (alternated with anecdotes). First this teacher seems to be “Sam”, later it becomes more likely that Bitkoff is talking “to self” as he would put it, his ‘higher Self’ in the terms of others. The tone is light and down-to-earth and what is presented is more of a general spiritual nature than information about the Sufi order. The second half becomes a bit more specific on methods and teachings, but overall I think I hoped for something deeper and dryer, while the book seems more focussed on people unacquainted with spiritual teaching in general and esoteric training in particular. But does the book suggest that the author was initiated in a genuine esoteric order (as I understand it from my previous literature)? The fact that his “first mystical school” was in an office rather than a ‘temple’ (or whatever) seems a bit odd, but of course when “Sam” has Guénon’s “sacred fluidium”, he should be able to pass it on in a mental hospital too, right? The students appear to receive “the Light” on several occasions, is that the ‘passing of the fluid’, the ‘initiation’ that ‘opens the third eye’? That can happen only once I take it. The word “initiation” Bitkoff uses not in a Traditionalistic, but more in the profane way of ‘getting acquainted with’ (e.g. on page 32). “Sam” can “direct the Light to each of us and we would experience it” (p. 89/90). This “[...] offered [a] state that would stay with me for 24 hours and was God’s present; it was an initiatory carress to lift me higher and teach me something.” (p. 94) “Sam” “was given the authority to teach” (p. 97) from a person long dead (what about the “filiation”?). He sure had something special: “It was as if Sam had some magical key which he used to unlock the door to my spiritual being.” (p. 102) “Also he was versed in all religions and understood every occult practice that I ever heard about.” (p. 106) About the Light, the teacher says on page 129: “The internal or spiritual essence, which gives life to the external religious form, is a living, vibrant element. This part, termed the Light in our presentation, is the inner core of life to the eternal form.” On page 156 the author says: “This initial caress, felt in the heart, is an initiation by the Master into the mystical school” which sounds more familiar in the context of my earlier literature. Also: “this learning must occur under certain conditions” (p. 157) could have been a quote of Guénon.
Conclusion from this uninitiated interested fellow? Couldbemaybe. I am sure that Bitkoff had a flying start in his spiritual development with his meetings with the colleague. Is this book about a regular, initiatic order? Not unlikely, but neither obviously. So should I go out and look for some Sufi master? I have no idea is this “Sam” is a representative Western Sufi, but he might well be of a modern-day initiate. I can only hope to run into such a person again and continue what I started.
2011 Abandoned Ladder, isbn 0615562809
Heidens Jaarboek 2011
This issue is already the ninth ‘heathen yearbook’ and the fifth that I review. The A5 size booklet again looks better than before with glossy paper and a colour cover, well bound and well printed. Most of the texts are from the hand of Boppo Grimmsma who wrote the introduction, tells the reader why to visit the Externsteine (also on the cover, but the photo is ‘photoshopped’ a bit of course), he interviewed the Dutch author Aat van Gilst and the Frisian novellist Willem Schoorstra. A lengthy article of Grimmsma is about the Balder myths. The author gives some information about the different interpretations that scholars in the course of the years gave to the myth and comes to his own less black-and-white conclusions in which one explanation does not exclude every other. Michiel de Nijs contributed an article about working with land-spirits and similar beings. At the end the reader will find the five stories that were read at the 2011 Midsummer weekend, this time with as theme a fairytale with a mythological foundation. The result is a nice 104 page booklet (written in Dutch of course) that you can get by clicking on the cover and following the instructions.
Edda * Snorri Sturluson (transl. Marcel Otten) (2011)
In Dutch so far we had no translation of the “Snorra Edda” (also called “Prose Edda” or “younger Edda”). In a 1990′s book the most important parts have been translated in a book about Northern mythology, but I have never been able to lay my hands on a copy. Otten also translated the other Edda and many sagas. Otten lives and works in Reykjavik. This new translation comes in a luxery hardcover, Otten added the first 12 chapters of the Heimskringla as well (and he is said to have plans for the complete Heimskringla in Dutch) and made a large list of notes and a detailed index. According to the preface, there are hardly any (near) complete translations of this book. Only Faulkes’ translation to English (which I happen to have) and now his own translation did not skip the lengthy lists of ‘kennings’ and Snorri’s test-of-strength concluding poem in which everything that he described in the previous chapters comes back. Yet, both Otten and Faulkes left out a few untranslatable passages. As you might know, this Edda of Snorri is really a handbook for poets, but in his explaining of the meanings of passages, Snorri rattles up a massive number of myths, also a few that we do not know from other sources. Also he quotes poems that have not survived. The first two chapters are the most famous. In the Gylfaginning king Gylfi visits the Aesir to gain knowledge. In later chapters the poetry itself is what it is all about. Snorri comes up with countless of ways to refer to something or someone. The material is getting dryer and dryer. As Otten says, once you get the hang of the strange ‘kennings’ and other poetical tricks, trying to figure them out becomes enjoyable.
As with Otten’s other translations, there is a downpart to this new book, to me at least. Otten chooses to translate almost anything. Especially his translations of names works on my nerves. I agree with Otten that many (or all) names are not chosen by accident and (probably) mean something, but I would prefer the he made notes of that rather than translate the names in the texts. Also I find his choices what to translate questionable. “Mjölnir” is an established name and Otten leaves it untranslated, but “Audhumla” becomes “Zonder Hoorn” (‘without horn’). So I find myself making a load of notes so that I know what Otten is talking about. Besides, when the names are meaningless, what is the use of translations such as “Hosklos” (for Hrungir, meaning something like ‘bounce spool’) or “Rietgrijnzer” (‘reed grinner’ for Sefgrísnir). Especially when he translates known names I find myself opening another Edda or page to the index (Fafnir becomes “Inslaper” or ‘faller asleep’, Hvergelmir becomes “Bruisketel” or ‘foam kettle’, etc.). Another thing that bugs me is that neither Faulkes nor Otten makes any subdivisions. I do not know if the divisions of Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur is based on the original texts, but I find his ‘chapters’ very helpfull. If all translators would use them, I could tell a German or a Brit to go to chapter 30 instead of saying: “In my Dutch translation this is page 52, in my English translation 26.” I marked these chapter in both my translations.
Even though I am not always too happy with the translation itself, I am happy that Otten makes the effort to bring these texts under the attention of a larger audience and I suppose this book will come in handy for all Dutch-speaking Asatruar and interested.
2011 Athenaeum, isbn 902536814X