EA EI LS AV AILADLE BRUM DN ei THE PATH OF A ROSICRUCIAN PRIMER Ancient Landmarks of the R.C. ENLIGHTENMENT FORTY QUESTIONS OF THE SOUL IN TH E Jacob Boehme MITHRAIC MYSTERIES ZEN: THE RELIGION OF THE SAMURAI | Julius Evola y Julius Evola THE SECRET OF THE EMERALD TABLET Dr. Gottlieb Latz FROM THE INFERNO TO ZOS: The Writings and Images of Austin Osman Spare HERMETIC PHYSICK OF HENRY NOLLIUS Thomas & Henry Vaughan BANDLET OF RIGHTEOUSNESS EA. Wallis-Budge ROBERT FLUDD & FREEMASONRY AE, Waite i AMULETS, TALISMANS, & CHARMS. | C,J.S. Thompson HAM tue marrow or » ileum he Path of Eniightanmey George Riple Maint ne RT ateng Oe SotrInvicto¥ Deo ¥ ATIMETVS SAVGGwN NY SERV ACTY PRAEDIORVMY _ROMANIANORY M+Ker. L- a THE PATH OF ENLIGHTENMENT IN THE MITHRAIC MYSTERIES ‘Translated, with an introduction, by Guido Stucco Departmer st of Theology, ouis University Foreword by The Evola Foundation THE ALEXANDRIAN PRESS.FOREWORD The Julius Evola Foundation, Rome The first and the third of the following essays written by Julius Evola are dedicated to the mysteries of Mithras, while the second essay concerns itself with the Roman Emperor, Julian. The first essay. published in the periodical Ultra (1926), cribes some details of the J of the heavenly light, warrantor of oaths, and the sworn enemy of all lies; his initiation practiced in Mithraic mysteries. Mithras was th ult competed with Christianity for the spiritual primacy in the West, ia time when the Roman Empire had begun to decline, The second essay by Evola was occasioned by the publication in 1932 of an Italian translation of some writings of Julian, and it was published again on March 17, 1972, with slight modifications, in the Italian daily newspaper Roma. Evola's work dealt with the noble figure of the Emperor, who was initiated in the cult of Mithras, as he attempted to revive the ancient sacred traditions. In the third selection, which was first published dur and again in 1971 in ¢ nnterpreted in great depth the various symbols which animated the myth of Mithras and which were present in the initiation ceremony s the 1950's ione, Evola iodical V'e della Tr The religious events of the Roman Empire still evoke the interest and the fascination of those who study the spiritual doctrines of the Ancients. The image of Mithras in the act of slaying the bull has been cd by the Julius Evola Foundation as its emblem.Inmropucrion Who was Julius Evola? Considered by many a philosopher, others have cast him in the role of arch-reactionary. Regardless, his philosophical writings have earned him a place as one of thi intatives of the Traditionalist school. repre Like the American poet Ezra Pound be‘ore him, the term “fascist has been accorded Evola for being among the opposition during WWII For three decades he was shunned by the academic community which took little interest in his writings. Yet Evola has been the object of an interesting revival, acquiring a posthumous revenge of sorts. Conferences nnd symposia devoted to the analysis of his thought have mushroomed” in the past fifreen years throughout Europe. Secondly Evola has exercised a magical spell on many people who, having no interest in so-called progressive ideal: Tradition in the have taken a sharp tum toward quest for something “more transcendent” or for something of a “higher order.” These new views cannot be readily found in the wasteland of contemporary society. Thirdly, his spiritual ond metaphysical ideas, far from being an appendix to his Weltanschauamng, represent its very core and can no longer be ignored. Evola’s ideas call for a critical analysis and a reasonable response from sympathizers and critics alike he reader of these monographs will be able to find detailed information about Julius Evola’s life and thought in Richard Drake's writings.! This introduction seeks to identify and to characterize the common themes running through all of the following The Path of the Enlightenment in the Mithraic Mysteries; Zen: The Religion the Samurai; Taoism: The Magic, The Mysticism; Rene Guenon: A Teacher for Modem Times. (Holmes Publishing Group, 1994.) Let us begin with the first theme.Upon a cursory reading, it is immediately evident that Evola establishes a dichotomy between common, ordinary knowledge, and gative of a selected few. ‘This a secret knowledge which is the prero distinction, also known to Plato, who distinguished b episteme, has been the legacy of the Mystery cults, Gnosticism, and of all initiatory chains, East or W The epistemological distinction betw: is rooted, according to Evola, in the ontok ween doxa and Mithraism, of a ind_exoteric al classism knowled; which separates people, the multitudes, or the oi pollo, from the aristo, the heroes, the kings, and the men of knowledge (priests and ascetics). (One of the constants in Evola’s thought, is his aversion for the empirical subject, who lives, eats, reproduces and dies; everything in his works represents a yearning for something which is more than ordinary existence, more than that condition of life which is heavily conditioned by routines, passions, cravings and superficiality, for what the Germans call meher als leben (“more than living! Hyperuranium, for Transcendence, for “what was in the origins. to achieve the ultimate reality which all sort of nostalgia for the Esotericism is the me religions strive to achieve, though they call it by many names, as the npbell was fond of saying. During his care tate Joseph Ci as-a writer Julius Evola was involved in an extensive, sophisticated study of hs we find Evola celebrating the esoteric doctrines. In these monog sical premises and techniques of Zen and of operative Tanism: ism? and of early Buddhism.’ In metap elsewhere he sang the praise of Tanti another work, commended by Carl Jung, he discussed Hermeticism: Scholars of various disciplines will not forgive this controversial and brilliant Italian thinker his incursions in their own fields of competence, such as history, religion, mythology, and psychology. And yet Evola faving a colorful and suggestive pattern, which slowly succeeds in and gracefully evolves into a well articulated, monolithic Weltanschauung Another distinctive feature of these works i Julius Evola’s firm conviction in the existence of a hierarchy to which all states of being subject. These states defy the imagination of ordinary people. In the ious tradition one does not easily find an articulated the Western rel or for that matter a serious emphasis on the soul!s es in its quest for God. There are the powerful exceptions d by the writings of St. Bonaventure, St. John of the Cross Theresa of Avila, and other more obscure mystics experi repr Jacob Bochme, St Since the personal God of theism is believed to have brought the universe into being, Christianity’s focus, in terms of cult and speculation, has shift knowledge of the Christian tradition was not equal to the erudition he displayed in other subjects. N. from the cosmos to its Creator. Evola’s ertheless, he attempted to fill what he considered a vacuum in the Christian system. In this monograph Uedicated to Mithras he describes the states of being or the spiritual experiences of the initiate to Mithraic mystery tradition and wisdom. These Mithraic experiences are depicted as three-dimensional, heroic, cosmological and esoteric and are juxtaposed to the two-dimensional, devotional, liturgical and exoteric spiritual experiences of formal Christianity. In Evola's work on Zen he celebrates the hierarchical five grades of merit,” through which the initiate grows in wisdom and pursues the personal quest for enlightenment A third and final characteristic founc in these selections is the rejection of th ism and the polemics with Christianity, which in the piece on Guenon is merely outlined (see his :omparison of the Christian and the initiatory views of immortality, found in the work on Taoism). His penetrating critique of theism was articulated in the name of “higher” principles and not by an a priori hostility to religion and to the concepts of supernatural authority and revelation. What he J in theism was the idea of faith, of devotion, of abandonment in a higher power, To faith he opposed experience; to devotion, heroic and ascetical action; to the God of theism, who is believed to be the ultimate ality, as well as the believer's goal and eschatological hope, vola opposed the ideal of liberation anc of enlightenment as you will find in this examination of Michraism aphs are a testimony ta the restless curiosity and ritual hunger of a nonspecialist who dared to venture into the domain of scholars and of specialized disciplines, only to extrac Precious gems of wisdom, unburdened by technical details and minutiae ich are the obsession of scholars and of u my sincere hope that interest in Julius Evola sity professors. It is ind his ideas will be generated by the translation of these morographs as they represent nly a small portion of many untranslated works which need to be brought to the attention of the English speaking world.Richard Drake, “Julius Evola and the Ideological Origins of the Radical rary Italy," in Political Violence and Terror: Motifs and Peter Merk! (Berkeley: University of California Pres, 1986 61-89; “Julius Evola, Radical Fascia and the Lat The Historical Review 74 (1988) 403-19; and "The Children of the Sun," chapter in The Revol Indiana University Press, 1989), ue Evola, The Yoga of Power, trans. Guido Stucco (Rochester, VT: Inner TO THE MYSTERIES OF MITHRAS in Accord ‘athol Mystique and Terrorism in Contemporary Italy Bloomington: ‘THE PATH OF ENLI ING ions, 1992) Julius Evola, The Doctrine of the Au level of spiritual development i¢ is immediately evident Lucac Co, 1951), that the myths of the Mystery religions are essentially an allegory of the states of la, The Hermetic Tradition, trans. E. Rhemus (Rochester, V consciousness which are experienced by the intiate on the path roward sel 03), realization, The various deeds and adventures of mythical heroes are not poetical but real events; they are the specific actions of one's inn tening, trans. G. Mutton (London At a particula Inner Traditions, | beeing and shine forth from within the one who attempts to follow the path of initiation which leads beyond the fulfillment of the merely hu of existence. These adventures are not allegorical concepts, bur experiences. The philosophico-allegorical interpretation of myths is still mere allegory and no less superficial than the naturalistic and anthropomorphic interpretation of myths. This implies thar people can learn a valuable lesson from this subject only if they already know something; otherwise the “doot” remains inexorably shut. This also applies to what 1am going to say about the inner meaning of the Mithras myth. The Mithraic mysteries lead to the very heart of the magical Western tradition—a world characterized by self- affirmation, light, greatn: spirituality and spiritual asceticism; or mortification of the self through humility and devotion; or renunciation and contemplative abstraction. Mithras' path is one of action, of 1osed to both the dull and dreamy sriental universalisey’ and to Christian sentimentalism and moraliss Iris said chat only a “man” could proceed along this path; any “woman” xi and broken by the “taurine strength. the heareno, of the glorious and radiant Mithraic halo, arises only out of a would be consui The brightness of frightful tension, and it only crowns the “eagle,” which was capable of “staring at the Sun, Mich thought to be the primordial heavenly li generated from a rock” (theos ek petmas, 10 petroghenos Mithra). While standing on the bank of a river, he frees himself, escaping the obscure mineral by wielding of those who proceed slong this path, In the myth he nt which manifests itself as a “god the sword and torch which helped him while he was in the “mother's” womb, This is @ miraculous birth, noticed only by “shepherds” hidden on the mountaintops. Whar I have mentioned so far is a body of symbols related to what may be called the initiation phase in the strict of the word. The heavenly “light,which was the light of the Word, bur men could not comprehend (Jn 1:9 lin he who experiences his first spiritual birth. This birth occurs ‘go of this earth” and is able to withstand the when one breaks away onslaught of the waters. This light is rejected by che principle which informs smeral being, their by a frenzied cd the "abyss"; by a deep ‘ordinary people’s lives and the stuff on which their Fights and certainties are based. This principle is characte hallow and confused activity: by a blind eated greed which perpetuates, through the chain of rebirths, (chat i, tht different lives sharing the same inconsistency and transience), an. hetero-centr lifestyle, characterized by an insatiable craving for various things This wild and unrestrained vital force, which first generates and then devours its own energies in a context of radical contingency,’ corresponds to the symbol of the “waters” at the edge of which Mithras is generated. An initiate is on who is “rescued ftom the waters” (notice the connection with the Moses legend! as recounted in Exodus), and who “walks on water” (hence the esoteric me of Christ's miracle), The i of the 1 jsiae isa being who has learned how to take control lity of the cravings and the deficiencies which urge him incerally He has learned how to resist them, and has the power to say No, and how to break their law and how to develop a new life without them. On the contrar the beings of the "sub-lunar world" continue to experience death, annihilation, or reabsorption Thus, to be initiared (s like leaving behind a bank of a river, on whi people's lives unfold with all their miseries and greatness. At that point one ha to face the current which becomes i reasingly furious until he reaches the middle of the “river”, then he has to move beyond this limitation and uuggle wowaud the opperite bank, Once the opposite bank has been attained, a new; spiritual being is born: Mithras, the Divine Child The “tock” which acts as the womb of Mithras, is a symbol of the bod! The body isthe substratum of cosmic yearning, and the clement which is subjected (0 the “wet principle.” Thus the waters also dominate all those human states and faculties, whether “spiritual” or not, which exist in a physical substratum. In order to become initiated one has to become free from the “rock” and & achieve a state of consciousness which is no longer limited by the connection. with the bodily vehicle. Likewise, the foll codes which 1 am goin borly experiences which take p by specific practices, which I am not going to describe in derail The expression “thoos ek pewas” carries yet another meaning in the magical tradition. On the one hand, the precipitation of what constitutes the “heaven ight” into the dungeon represented by the datk “earth,” is 2 negative and degenerative process; but, on the other hand, it also represents an opportunity for the spiritual element to become individuated and actualized. The body sophisticated organism witnesses the presence of a nucleus of qualified energy Magical initiation does not consis in dissolving such a nucleus into the indistinct fluctuation of cosmic life. On the conteaty, it consists in strengthening and integrating it. Thus, an initiation consists in carrying this nucleus forward, not backwards. According to initiatory thought, the spirit is not “something ¢ but rather something immanent, which needs o be elevated from the pits of concrete human reality (the “rock"), This reality i divine, not by grace, but according to its own nature; hence the expression “generative rock” (the equivalent concept in the Hermetic-Alchemical -radition is that of the “material required in the Opus Magnum") and the attribute of petrogenos (gens the rock) which is bestowed on the Man-god, Mithras, who does not descend from Heaven, but who is derived fom the Earth, The “nakedness” of the divine child finds sts complementary symbols in the notions of “be rock"; of “throwing away the clothes” and of * re found in many esoteric traditions. To be *n g rescued from the waters" of “being extracted from the pure, which in this context refers co autarchy, self-sufficiency, detachment from anything and anybody With particular reference to the will, mined by various factors, auch as objects, eric traditions call a will impure when it is pre-occupied and dete purposes, reasons, or passions. Ie ie alo called irpure because a will such as this is unable to proceed by itself, to want and to asiert itself, or to resolve itsel i pure form. In the West, this pure form (which the Hindu call nishakama as opposed to sakama-karna, which is an action willed for the sake of the results ily by the “Virgin.” This "Virgin" tramples under her feet the “Snake” and the "Moon" (wo symbols for the water), and through “vinginal conception,” she gives birth to the divine child. The so-called aut I- generated life subsisting beyond the contingency of human nature from a "visginal” and purified will whick is free of all bonds, consisting ‘), is symbo which spring only of pure act. In the Mithraic ritual, mention is made of “the existence of the soul’ pos Fina state of uncontaminated purity"; this existence gencrate a new nucleus beyond the waters, This nucleus, in tum, once it develops into 4 new being, goes on to populate a world which is beyond the human dimension, beyond 5 pherds hidden in the Mountain." The symbol of the Mountain refets 9 those superior spiritual beings Such a miraculous birth is perceived only by rents of the who command and who direct in an invisible way the great c tuaters. The waters symbolize the historieal and social forces, the traditions, the beliofs and the collective psychie system which dominate the passive be who, living like a flock, inhabie the sublunar world, The Mountain itself is symbolic of a particular state of metaphysical consciousness, which is echoed fn the “Sermons on the Mount” which ate found in various traditions But i dlffcult trials, in which he can experience either victory or catastrophe. Since Visilgy, the new being must undergo new and more Mithras is superior to the world inhabited by inferior natures, he must also achieve superiority over the world of those spiritual natures which his out-of xly condition progeesively discloses to hin The myth goes on to say that once Mithras is beyond the waters, a “furious wind invests and scourges his naked body, as he feels the presence of terrible powers arising all around him.” Without hesitation, Mithras approaches a tee