_Men Among the Ruins_ is the post World War II political reflections of the Italian intellectual Julius Evola. Continuing along the same lines as he had in his more famous _Revolt Against the Modern World_, Evola advocates a return to Tradition and radical counter-revolution. This translation is divided into three parts: an excellent introduction to the life and thought of Julius Evola, the text of _Men Among the Ruins_ proper, and Julius Evola's defense when brought in front of a court for charges of subversive activity.

_Men Among the Ruins_ has been called a "dangerous book" and Evola has been called a fascist; however, if we are unable to read these "dangerous books" and decide for ourselves what they have to say then we will never be able to learn anything from outside of the dull conformist mainstream. The introduction to this book explains much of Evola's thought and life, while at the same time explaining the particularly tricky issues of his involvement with fascism, his lectures in Germany, his racist theories (unlike the crass biological racism of certain components of the National Socialist regime, Evola advocates a spiritual notion of race), and his relationship with antiSemitism (including mention of the notorious forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion").

_Men Among the Ruins_ advocates a return to Tradition and a rejection of modern day liberalism, Bolshevism, individualism, collectivism, and the ideals of the revolution. Against this, Evola proposes a return to an underlying Indo-European substratum, authority, and a re-recognition of the necessity for transcendence. The book includes discussions of various aspects of the State, hierarchy, work and the economy, the Roman Imperium, corporativism (which Evola will somewhat reject along with socialism), militarism, and the role of war. Evola also tackles the issues of the "occult war" (including many of the rumors about the Jews - Evola rejects the more virulent forms of antiSemitism), the "problem of births", and Roman Catholicism as a component of that Tradition. I disagree somewhat with Evola's rejection of Catholicism, although it is unclear to me how much of this aspect of the Tradition is retainable (this would include recognition of the changes in the Church post-Vatican II, as well as the need to address the problem Evola brings up of the world's other religious traditions within the framework of Catholicism). Evola concludes with a discussion of the united Europe and a call for a new European Order. Evola writes specifically about the kind of men that are needed to compose this new Order, including old European families and military leaders. He concludes, "It remains to be seen which and how many men, in spite of it all, still stand upright among so many ruins, in order that they may make this task their own." The book concludes with Evola's defense before the Italian court and his rejection of his specific "glorification of Fascism" charge. This defense is one of the best clarifications of Evola's personal idiosyncratic thought that I have encountered.

In order to read this work, it is probably necessary to first complete Evola's more famous _Revolt Against the Modern World_. Most of Evola's other works that have been translated have a more esoteric bent to them and are less outrightly political. In the end however, Evola advocates a form of apoleteia, a phenomenon he will refer to as "riding the tiger", and a rejection of all party politics. In fact, Evola never participated in outright politics nor ever voted in his entire life. The book goes beyond the familiar schema of Right and Left political thinking and is certainly not to be recommended to any person completely absorbed in either mainstream or modernist ideologies and modes of thinking.

A great book. Not as good as his Revolt Against The Modern World but still great. A good read for any one interested in the Pagan Revival and fighting against liberalism, capitialism, and the new world order.

Now, with "Men Among the Ruins," the political Evola also enters the ruinous cultural landscape of America. Here we find the dynamite of Evola's world view, packed in the warning colors of black and red. Another safety-mechanism, as Joscelyn Godwin aptly remarks in his Foreword, is the hundred-page introduction to Evola's political thought by H. T. Hansen. The placement of a thinker in his historical and biographical context naturally relativizes the ideas that he advocates--however apodictically he may have expressed them. Hansen's analysis, taken from the German edition of the book ("Menschen inmitten von Ruinen" 1991) presents not only the first factual biographical sketch of Evola in the German world, but remains hitherto the fundamental treatment of his political development, above all in the Fascist and National Socialist epoch--although, as Hansen mentions in the additions he has made for the American edition, some very worthwhile works have appeared in the meantime, which help to sharpen many contours. Evola appears more and more as a central figure of a right-wing, 'reactionary' revulsion against the mass-aspects of National Socialism and the biologism of many of its ideologues. His 'spiritual racial doctrine' arises from the attempt to offer an alternative in the field of racial theory to the cattle-breeding mentality of the National Socialists.
In "Men Among the Ruins," the concepts of democracy and of electoral Fascism, of the nation-state and individualism, the bourgeois world-order, historical pusillanimity, economic thought-habits, to name but a few, are torn to shreds simply through being juxtaposed with the sovereign, Ghibelline, authoritarian, masculine, and solar Tradition. Then in the course of sixteen chapters, the ruins of the modern world are carted away, piece by piece. As the book closes, the view opens up: one breathes the new, freer and fresher air of the aristocratic spiritual and soul-world that one's reading has revealed, and sees in the distance a Europe united in the spirit of Tradition.

Surfacing in 1616, the Chemical Wedding was the third and last commentary released by the Rosicrucians. Whereas the first two manifestos-the Fama and Confessio-were seditious declarations which seem to possess more of a fairy-tale quality than anything else, the Wedding stands on its own merit as one of the most profound and impenetrable hermetic allegories ever written. The story centers on a man who is summoned by an Angel to witness and take part in a mysterious process that bears very little resemblance to an actual wedding. Despite the success of he and his compeers (qualified by a selection where the other candidates who are not worthy to participate are killed) the story ends in sagacious irony, leaving the protagonist to stand guard over his reward, forbidding him to ever glimpse it.

Joscelyn Godwin provides the translation, and though my knowledge of medieval Latin is not complete enough to grade her work, her reputation is impeccable and warrants little scrutiny. Adam McLean provides introduction and commentary, and it is for his efforts that this volume is most valuable. He abandons the arrogance shown by J. W. Montgomery who quantified the story as an expression of Orthodox Lutheranism, and doesn't attempt a literal translation of the book's intricate symbolism as any specialized religious banter. Instead, he lists the literary symbols (actual and metaphoric) one by one and shows how they link to key Rosicrucian and Hermetic ideologies, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions, never attempting to force feed any specific brand of Gospel. Indeed, despite the fact that the commentary's length rivals that of the text itself, my only complaint is that it is not longer, much longer, as I'm sure his valuable insight could literally fill hundreds of pages: it leaves the readers curiosity piqued more than sated.

All of the drawings and diagrams from the original are faithfully reproduced, and summarily analyzed for their symbolic content as well. As a bonus McLean shows links between the Chemical Wedding and other allegories afterwards, paying close attention to Goethe's 'Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily', and includes the Parabola of Hinricus Madathanus Theosophus (an anonymous translation from 'The Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians') as an appendix. If you are looking for further readings on this subject, my best suggestion is 'Foucault's Pendulum' by Umberto Eco. Despite being a work of fiction, it describes a very thorough picture of the Rosicrucian's world, and other medieval secret societies too. Showing them as wildly diabolical, it stills bears the immutable signature of a dedicated and terrifyingly intelligent scholar.

An essential text. Godwin is the premier scholar in America in this area. This text, along with two manifestoes (the Fama and Confessio) made a major cultural and political impact in 17th century Europe and up through the 18th century in Germany. The Chemical Wedding is an allegorical tale of the processes of "alchemy." Written in coded and highly symbolic language, the book is historically important, but also important for the practicioner of spiritual alchemy or ritual magic in the Golden Dawn or Rosicrucian traditions. For the other two manifestoes purchase Frances Yates "The Rosicrucian Enlightenment," a controversial but excellent scholary text on 17th century Europe and the influence of Esoteric Christianity.

This is the first modern and accurate English translation of this work, attributed to a renegade esoteric Lutheran minister.

Joscelyn Godwin has produced a perfect introduction to the hermetic philosophy of Robert Fludd. The book reproduces 124 illustrations from Fludd's encyclopedic volumes, which range from medical, alchemical, musical, cabbalistic, cosmological and astrological topics. Godwin provides a short commentary on each plate and an account of Fludd's life in the introduction. A must have for anyone interested in the history of the Western esoteric tradition.

A beautful book, maybe the most wonderful Godwin's work. The plates and pictures just are comparable with a Manly Hall's "magnus opus", "The Secret Things of All Ages". Good spend of money.

This was the book which started my continuing quest for information regarding the foundation of music. It is a difficult read ONLY because one needs a huge background covering many individuals--Pythagoras, Kepler, Fludd, Hermes Trismegistus, Gurdjieff, the theosophists Blavatsky, Steiner, and Scott--all of whom I had but scant knowledge prior to reading this book. Godwin covers a wealth of information but only touches briefly on each: cosmology, the monochord, music of the spheres, temperment. I have reread this book several times; whole paragraphs are underlined. If you realize something is seriously wrong with the way music is presently used and abused by society, this book may be a starting point for you as it was for me six years ago.

Yes, this is a highly specialized, scholarly, and esoteric collection but it contains the translated writings of philosophers of music not easily available. Not even the huge "Strunk's Source Readings (1998)" has the information which Godwin has collected and translated: Nicomachus, Pliny, Ptolemy, Kepler, Fludd; Arab writers Al-Safa, Al-Katib; the kabalist Ibn Latif. If you are a fan of Godwin's research as I am, these source readings will fill in the gaps in the history of music which is not taught. It is, however, a reference book first and foremost.

The Pagan Dream Of The Renaissance by academician and Western esoteric traditions expert Joscelyn Godwin is an informed and informative exploration of how pagan deities captivated the Renaissance European imagination during the Renaissance, to such an extent that symbols of pagan doctrine would sometimes exist side-by-side with official symbols and doctrines of the Christian Church. Enhanced with numerous black-and-white photographs of Renaissance era art and stonework that celebrated pagan deities pepper this scholarly and insightful text, The Pagan Dream Of The Renaissance is a highly recommended addition to academic Western History and Renaissance History reference collections and reading lists.

This sixteenth century books is often cited. It contains many pictures and the commentary by the accomplished modern alchemist Adam McLean is interesting. This book is a must. It is wonderful that one can have these famous medieval works in ones own bookshelf.

Mats Winther

This is a Wonderful Book, although it burst my Bubble a few years ago. I consider this book to be a *very* important addition to any Occultist or Esoteric Freemason's library.

In 1991, I joined "The Brotherhood of Light," based in CA, (currently going by the name of "The Church of Light") and I thought I had joined a prestigious Occult organization. Their history was documented back to T.H. Burgoyne and the organization was "reformed" by C.C. Zain (aka Elbert Benjamine), but prior to this time period, they claimed lineage from "The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor."

The BofL newsletters had pictures of Max Theon, etc., and the organization was supposedly founded upon "The Light of Egypt, Vol. I & II," by T.H. Burgoyne, after a period of time in-which they were supposedly named "The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor." However, "The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor: Initiatic and Historical Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism," by Joscelyn Godwin, et al, disputes the CofL/BofL connection to "The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light."
With all this Pedigree stuff, I thought I was a member of a Big Deal occult organization.... then, when the internet age hit, I was utterly baffled by the fact that NO ONE took the CofL/BofL seriously.....
....until, I read this book!
Basically, all the bizarre and nonsensical aspects of the organization I had Previously held afiliation with suddenly made-sense.
"The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor: ....," by Joscelyn Godwin, et al, really opened my eyes and saved me a lot of money.
Luckily, I had not sunk much money into the organization--a very small amount, in fact, due to scepticism on a local level.
I strongly recommend this book to Occult Practitioners and Esoteric Freemasons. Waite's "Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry" is also very enlightening in regards to these organizations and "T.H. Burgoyne" and "Max Theon."
Apparently, Mr. T.H. Burgoyne was quite a shyster !
This historical account of "The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor" really helped me out, prevented numerous headaches, and saved me a lot of money.
It seems that "T.H. Burgoyne's" motto of "Omnia Vincit Veritas" was rather self-defeating.

This book really goes back to the beginnings of occultism. I would suggest reading
Paschal Beverly Randolph: A Nineteenth-Century Black American Spiritualist, Rosicrucian, and Sex Magician (Suny Series in Western Esoteric Traditions)
first, however; as you will get more out of it if you have a context to put it in.
Enjoy!

The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor has become "en vogue" lately among certain circles of occultists and occult historians. This book, unlike others written by persons of questionable academic reputation, gives a complete and unbiased account of the HBL, its structure, system, and personalities.

Complete and concise, contains several useful documents including sources for high degree OTO materials, this book is a must-have in the library of any serious occultist.

An earlier reviewer remarked "Fortunately Joscelyn Godwin didn't try to reproduce Francesco Colonna's difficult and idiosyncratic Italian in English, otherwise the book would have been as difficult to read as 'Ulysses' and needed another volume just for footnotes." The correct word is unfortunately. The present translation is a lifeless, dumbed down document. I wasted my money.

Francesco Colonna's legendary "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" is a book that captures the spirit of its time and place in a way few others do. Here, in the magical dream of the hero Poliphilus, we see classical antiquity through the eyes of the Italian renaissance, and it is not the view most students of the classics get today through Aristotle or Cicero - think instead of the Corpus Hermeticum, Neoplatonists like Plotinus, or of later Latin writers like Apuleius. It is not only in its text but in its format, its typesetting, and its illustrations, that the original edition of 1499 exemplified its age. That edition is esteemed by bibliophiles and students of typography as one of history's great landmarks in the art of book making.

The publishers of this edition have tried to reproduce, as much as is possible, the feeling of the original, while at the same time producing it on a commercially feasible scale. This leads, inevitably, to some compromises. The typesetting is very well done by modern digital techniques, the presswork is standard offset lithography and the paper a stiff dead white wove offset grade. Consequently the tactile character of the book is quite unlike original fifteenth- and sixteenth-century books. A private-press printer like Mardersteig's Officina Bodoni, or even a high-grade commercial book printer like the Stinehour Press, could have done a handsomer and more authentic job, but the book's price, already high, would then have been stratospheric. This said, the size and appearance of the pages are about as close in their resemblance to the original as is feasible using the techniques employed. A cream laid paper, more closely resembling the original, could just as easily and as economically have been used, and it is a pity that it was not.

The translation by Prof. Joscelyn Godwin is careful, and is preceded by an informative translator's preface. While the translator disavows trying to imitate the style of the original too faithfully, his work has a distinct "flavor" which struck me as familiar. It was only after some time that I realized where I had encountered it before - in some of the writings of Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo), for example, "Don Tarquinio." This may be a clever and deliberate device, like William Ernest Henley's translation of François Villon's "Tout aux tavernes & aux filles" into the slang of a cockney jailbird of the 1890s. On the other hand, it may well be that both Godwin's and the Corvine mannerisms go back to the common source, and attempt to reflect in English the peculiar voice of this Italian renaissance author, whose work was published in the time and place for which the eccentric æsthete Corvo felt such nostalgia and admiration.

This is fascinating. It attempts not only to translate Colonna's mixed Latin/Italian texts, but also to reproduce the look and feel of the original 1499 Aldine edition. Of course, all the woodcuts are there, and the typeface and layout also attempt to reproduce the original, which has long been famed as one of the most beautiful books ever printed.

The architectural and other illustrations are strange, but they are perhaps the most intriguing thing about the book. Some are reminiscent of Beardsley; others bring to mind Baudelaire's vision of a city made entirely of marble and metal, from which all plants have been banished as asymmetrical.

It will take quite a while to get through this. The peculiar mixed-language flavour of Colonna's prose is hard to reproduce in translation. The work is a long list of vaguely erotic dream-processions of gods and bulls and naked Greeks, with extensive descriptions of the architectural settings they appear in. With its unsparing strings of superlatives, it often reads like the florid descriptions of dishes found on the menu of an overreaching restaurant.

In other words, I may not finish this, but it is fun to look at.

This book is good starting point for those that
want to start learning more about this great area
of history and science.
While reading, write down all the cited books,
authorst and materials, then get them or look
for more books and information about tham.

A little slow at times but usually readable. This book covers the myths and legends of the poles in exhaustive detail. Excellent section on the Thule Society and Vril force. If you're looking for weird theories about the poles, or nazis, this is the book.

Long has man hungered for a return to a Golden Age, an era before the present one when he lived in idyllic bliss and was free from all the constraints and toils of modernity.

This book tells the fascinating tale of a source of hidden wisdom carried down through the ages preserved in the archetype of the Poles. The author examines the presence of this tradition in the writings of many eccentrics, cranks, mystics, visionaries, scientists, and science-fiction writers. He looks chiefly at the writings of H. P. Blavatsky and Rene Guenon, and he tells the tale of the "Aryan race" as revealed through a set of polar mysteries. Everything from the Nazi secret societies (e.g. the Thule society), to the neo-Nazi Black Order, to the spirituality of the polar tradition, to the mad and bizarre ramblings of insane prophets is told in full detail. Writers such as Evola, Schwaller de Lubicz, and Serrano are examined and their possible links to fascism explained. The author also deals with the Theosophists, the mysticism surrounding the poles, and the idea of a Ruler of the World who lives in Tibet, Aghartha, or Shamballah. Much is dismissed as mere nonsense, but also the true secret behind these myths is hinted at. Finally, scientific evidence surrounding the Earth's tilt and the precession of the equinoxes is presented, and the writings of the "illuminates" are compared with those of modern day geologists. The reader is left spellbound by tales which are not only totally bizarre (e.g. the hollow earth theory of Teed, that we live inside a hollow earth on it's concave inner surface), but which often also become incoherent and border on paranoid delusion. (There is a link here between these authors and madness.) The real question that needs to be asked is, What does it all mean? In one particularly disconcerting passage at the end of the section on the "Spiritual Pole", the author sums up what he believes to be the presence of the polar archetype in many diverse writers and visionaries. He then goes on to say that the pole must not be political because of its use by the Nazis (in the Thule Society). I feel he is disingenuous here after citing example after example of writers who used the polar idea precisely as a cover for political aims. Obviously the pole is political, and it remains so. I believe it would be more correct to say that not only is the pole political, but also that it's politics are too deeply entrenched for us to fully understand at this time. Perhaps, it is universally present in the mind of man, biding it's time, until the dispossessed individual is put under sufficient stress that it reveals itself to him and provides him with an interpretative framework to understand the world through (viz. Jung's "collective unconscious"). When someone turns to wonder, What is this all for?, this is when the archetypal appearance of the pole becomes manifest to him. It is an angry reaction to those societal forces which would attempt to oust tradition and reconstruct society along more "satisfactory" lines. As such, it is not revolutionary, but restorationist in nature. This is the meaning of the polar symbolism and its use by the various writers and prophets presented in this book. Fundamentally, it is a call for a return to tradition, the only tradition that predates the modern era and that will restore order to the chaotic world in which we live.