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BIOGRAPHY Early Years Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola was born in Rome to a noble Sicilian family. He fought in World War I as an Artillery officer on the Asiago Plateau . Attracted to the Avant-garde , Evola became a Dadaist painter and poet and was briefly a member of Filippo Marinetti 's Futurist movement. Entry into Esotericism Around 1920 , his interests led him away from the production of art. He had begun reading various esoteric texts and gradually delved deeper into Occult and Oriental studies, particularly Tibetan Lamaism and Vajrayanist Tantra Yoga . In 1927 , along with other Italian intellectuals, he founded the Gruppo Di Ur for the study of Esotericism , specifically of a Guénonian stripe. It is in this enterprise, although not exclusively with this group, that Evola would primarily work for the rest of his life. Involvement with Fascism In the late 1920s Evola became a supporter of Mussolini 's Fascist party. Rejecting the party's Nationalism and its focus on mass movement mob politics, he hoped to influence the regime toward Traditionalist School values. He did not become a member of the Fascist party, but from 1934 to 1943 , he edited the cultural page of Roberto Farinacci 's journal ''Regime Fascista''. Evola supported Fascism for his own ends, but was rebuked by the regime because his ends where not always theirs. When World War II broke out, he volunteered for military service in order to fight the Communists on the Russian front; he was rejected because he had too many detractors in the bureaucracy (Hansen 2002). Italian Fascism went into decline when, during the midst of the War, Mussolini was deposed and imprisoned. Evola, although not a member of the Fascist Party, and despite his apparent problems with the Fascist regime, was one of the first people to greet Mussolini when the latter was broken out of prison in 1943 by the Nazis. After the Italian surrender to the Allied Forces in September 8 , 1943 and the execution of Mussolini at the hands of the Italian Resistance Movement , Evola moved to Rastenburg, Germany , where he spent the remainder of World War II as a guest of Adolf Hitler 's Nazi regime, working as a researcher for the SS . In 1945, toward the end of the War, Evola was employed by the Nazis to research the Freemasonry archive in Vienna , apparently in an attempt to find support for the Anti-Semitic theory that Freemasonry was controlled by Jews . It was Evola's custom to walk around the city during bombing raids in order to better 'ponder his destiny' and during one such raid in March or April of 1945 he was injured and became Paralyzed from the waist down, remaining so throughout his life. According to Mircea Eliade he was injured in the "third Chakra ". Post War After World War II, Evola continued his work in esotericism. He wrote a number of books and articles on sexual magic and various other esoteric studies, including '''' (1961), and his autobiography '' Il Cammino Del Cinabro '' (1963). In the post-war years, Evola took an apolitical stance, but he made himself available to like-minded, especially young, individuals who turned to him for spiritual guidance. His writings were held in high esteem by members of the Neo-fascist movement in Italy, and because of this, he was put on trial in 1951 for the crime of “Glorification of Fascism” in Italy. He was acquitted because there was no evidence that any of his writings after the war “Glorified Fascism” (Hansen 2002). Death Evola died on June 11 , 1974 in Rome; his ashes were deposited in a hole cut in a Glacier on Mt. Rosa . He never married, and never had children. OCCULT PHILOSOPHY Tradition Evola's primary influences came from such thinkers as Oswald Spengler , Friedrich Nietzsche and Meister Eckhart . He also drew heavily on ancient texts such as those of Homer , Plato , and certain Catholic thinkers. The two most important influences, however, were the Traditional School author René Guénon and the ancient Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita . Like Guénon, he believed that mankind is living in the “Kali Yuga,” the dark age of the Hindu tradition. The Kali Yuga is the last of four ages, which form an endlessly repeating cycle from the “Satya Yuga” or Golden Age through the Kali Yuga. This concept of time is therefore both cyclic and devolving. Evola held that ancient societies were aware of this cycle — as modern societies are unaware — and developed or were able to "see" the true paths for living and achieving transcendence in the Kali Yuga. These paths were traditions which correspond to the Truth that is Tradition. For Evola, the word Tradition had a meaning very similar to that of Truth. The doctrine of the four ages and a broad characterization of the attributes of Tradition, and their manifestations in traditional societies compromised the bulk of Evola’s major work '' Revolt Against The Modern World ''. Paths to Enlightenment The path to enlightenment is the chief subject of a number of Evola’s works. He felt that, despite the dire circumstances of life in the Kali Yuga, especially in the modern era, there are “ways” which have been revealed or passed on, which allow for a man to survive spiritually intact and to achieve a sort of transcendence. In his book '''' Evola discussed Mountaineering as a possible initiatic ascesis in which heroic action is combined with specialized knowledge and training culminating in an initiation — the climbing of the mountain. In this way, and not as a sport or a recreation, mountaineering can be a “spiritual quest,” as the subtitle of the book suggests. Ascesis and Initiation Evola's Tradition encompassed asceticism, which he described in '''' as a teaching or discipline. He believed that there are two basic types of asceticism — that of action and that of contemplation. The asceticism of action is personified by the warrior and that of contemplation by the monk; he described Buddhism as an asceticism of contemplation. Evola saw Traditionalist ascesis as exclusive and initiatic in character, opining that one who wishes to learn must undertake an apprenticeship and rigorous tests followed by a ritual initiation. He exemplified this by comparison with Buddhist monks who undertake years of training in meditation and various other skills before they are initiated into the order in a ritual often involving the climbing of a mountain. Sex magic In '''', Evola described the practice of sexual magic as an asceticism of action that allows one to achieve transcendent states through physical action, primarily sex. Evola postulated and described a hidden relationship between South Asian Tantric rituals and the politics of power in Europe, citing numerous historical European instances of what he believed to be ritualized sexual practices, including the Cathars , Medieval Alchemy , European knighthood, the Troubadour s, and the Knights Templar , as well as in the fictional works of Dante Alighieri and various romances about the Holy Grail . As a practitioner of sex magic, he seems to have taken a phallocentric or possibly Sadistic viewpoint, for he wrote that, “The young woman who is first ‘demonized’ and then raped, ... is essentially ... the basic motif for the higher forms of tantric and Vajrayanic sexual magic”. Politics Evola held that politics, like everything else in life, should look upward and beyond the Self . His political philosophy was influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche , Herman Wirth , Otto Weininger , Arthur Moeller Van Den Bruck , Ernst Jünger , Gottfried Benn , René Guénon , Oswald Spengler , and Bal Gangadhar Tilak . Evola's earliest endeavors in politics occurred in the late 1920's, when he took an active and public role in the anti-democratic and Jew -hating political currents that swept Europe in the early to mid 20th Century . He participated in the promotion of Mussolini 's National Fascist Party Dictatorship in Italy , albeit as a wary supporter of the regime. He saw in Fascism the barest trace of what he believed to be the true path that the country (and Civilization ) should follow. He therefore attempted to influence the party in the direction he believed it should go — in the direction of archaic ethnic Traditionalism; away from the Christian Church , the Bourgeoisie , and the masses. His efforts to influence the regime were a failure, and he believed that by not following his advice, Mussolini's party had sealed its own fate. He would maintain the view that a revolutionary movement, similar to Fascism but following his own Traditional School ideology, was necessary for the future of civilization. In the decade immediately following the war Evola wrote two books which fall loosely into the categories "asceticism of action" and "asceticism of contemplation" in their prescriptions for political action. In Men Among The Ruins Evola described a Traditional and aristocratic movement — a reactionary revolution — like what he had hoped Fascism would be. This movement is a sort of asceticism of action calling for political action to reform current society in a more Traditional direction. As in his experience with Fascism, Evola would later distance himself from this work. It is unclear whether he felt that the views he espoused were no longer true, or if he felt that they merely were impossible to implement in the modern world. He expressed disillusionment with the idea that a revolution and subsequent return to a more enlightened state of civilization was possible, and his political views took on a Sorelian flavor. On the other side of the equation, Ride The Tiger prescribed an apolitical asceticism of contemplation in which a man is advised to take part in the modern world, while remaining intellectually and spiritually detached from or above it. Evola argued that in order to survive in the modern world an enlightened or "differentiated man" should "ride the tiger". As a man, by holding onto the tiger's back may survive the confrontation, so too might a man, by letting the world take him on its inexorable path be able to turn the destructive forces around him into a kind of inner liberation. Evola described this attitude as "apolitea." It was in accordance with this attitude that Evola never joined a political party nor participated in the voting process. Racism Evola called his work “racist”, and indeed a number of his articles and books deal explicitly with the subject of race. In ''Revolt Against the Modern World'', he said that considered himself to be a critic of the “racist worldview” by which he meant the anti-Semitic theories of the Nazis and others of his contemporaries; however, his complicated intellectual characterizations of his views on race are undercut by the simple fact that he wrote an introduction to an Italian Language version of the Russian tract called '' The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion ,'' a notorious Anti-Semitic hoax alleging a Jewish Conspiracy to run the world through control of the media and finance, and replace the traditional social order with one based on mass manipulation. Like his contemporary, the Nazi Mystic writer Savitri Devi , Evola believed that a race of "Nordic" people from the North Pole had played a crucial role in the destruction of Atlantis and that this Aryan race, migrating into Europe from a polar Hyperborea , had practiced a Solar religion ennobled by a warrior ethos. In order to describe the “lower” races, he frequently made use of the term “Southern” whereas to him “higher” races were “Northern.” This is a view that — despite the fact that he included modern Italy as “southern” — conformed to the racist doctrines of his time. While characterizing race as something hereditary and biological, Evola also claimed that race was not defined by skin color and the various other hereditary factors which modern day usage connotes. To him race implied something akin to “caste” or Friedrich Nietzsche ’s conception of Slave and Master morality. Evola wrote, “ the supernatural element was the foundation of the idea of a traditional patriciate and of legitimate royalty.” He believed that a man was not, despite the fact that race is hereditary, restricted to the race in which he was born, but that a “higher” race could be “activated in individuals by the right of initiation” (Evola 1995).Thus he divided races, not among Africans, Asians, Europeans etc., but among royalty, aristocracy, plebeians and slaves, believing that the factor that divides the various groups is spiritual in nature. INFLUENCE Evola's writings have continued to have an influence in both the Occult and political realms in Europe. Some say that he not only influenced Italian Fascism and/or German Nazism , but has also had an effect on post-War Neo-Fascism . He has specifically influenced GRECE , '' The Scorpion '', the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), Gaston Armand Amaudruz 's Nouvel Ordre Européen , Pino Rauti 's Ordine Nuovo , Alain De Benoist , Michael Moynihan , Giorgio Freda , and the ARN . Giorgio Almirante referred to him as "our Marcuse — only better". In 1998 , a Goth / Darkwave compilation CD entitled ''Cavalcare la Tigre'' was released to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Evola's birth. Along with the occult writings of the Chilean "esoteric Hitlerist" Miguel Serrano and the French "Indo-Aryan" author Savitri Devi , Evola's works are cited as one of the sources of a specific form of Nazi Mysticism as well as some post- War Aryan master race beliefs and Nazi escape scenarios, including conspiracy theories about reptilian humanoids, hollow earth civilizations, Hitler's status as an Avatar of the god Vishnu , and the existence of shadowy new world orders. Some even claim to see in Evola's attempts to link Vajrayana Buddhism with Fascism a pattern for an influence that, through the works of his follower, Serrano, has had a philosophical impact upon the thinking of Tenzin Gyatso , the 14th Dalai Lama . Evola's considerable body of work has made almost no impression upon occult, hermetic, tantric, and Magical philosophies or practices in the United States. This is probably due to American rejection of his anti-modernist, Fascist, Racist , and Anti-Semitic political writings, which run counter to the generally liberal and inclusivist viewpoints held in the esoteric sub-cultures of the U.S. In the 1996 book "Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival," the scholar Joscelyn Godwin discussed Evola's occultist writings in the context of late 20th century pseudoscientific theories regarding "Nordic" races and surviving Nazi elements in Antarctica . "Arktos" presents material from sources currently unavailable elsewhere in English-language translation, including much about Julius Evola's mysticism. SEE ALSO BOOKS AND SELECTED ARTICLES Books listed with titles in English are available in translation. # '' Arte Astratta, Posizione Teoretica '' (1920) # '' Le Parole Oscure Du Paysage Interieur '' (1920) # '' Saggi Sull'idealismo Magico '' (1925) # '' Teoria Dell'Individuo Assoluto '' (1927) # '''' (1928) # '''' (1929) # '' Fenomenologia Dell'Individuo Assoluto '' (1930) # '''' (1931) # '''' (1932) # '''' (1934) # '' Three Aspects Of The Jewish Problem '' (1936) # '''' (1937) # '' Il Mito Del Sangue. Genesi Del Razzismo '' (1937) # '' Sintesi Di Dottrina Della Raza '' (1941) # '' The Elements Of Racial Education '' (1941) # '' Die Arische Lehre Von Kampf Und Sieg '' (1941) # '' Gli Ebrei Hanno Volute Questa Guerra '' (1942) # '''' (1943) # '''' (1949) # '' Orientamenti '' (1950) # '''' (1953) # '''' (1958) # '''' (1961) # '' Il Cammino Del Cinabro '' (1963) # '' Il Fascismo. Saggio Di Una Analisi Critica Dal Punto Di Vista Della Destra '' (1964) # '' L'Arco E La Clava '' (1968) # '' Il Taoismo '' (1972) # '''' (1974) # '' Ultimi Scritti '' (1977) # '' The Path Of Enlightenment According To The Mithraic Mysteries '' (1977) # '''' (1981) # '''' (1984) # '''' (1993) REFERENCES
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