Julius Evola et al. - Introduction to Magic

BOOKS OF RELATED INTEREST

Meditations on the Peaks
Mountain Climbing as Metaphor for the Spiritual Quest
by Julius Evola

Original Magic
The Rituals and Initiations of the Persian Magi
by Stephen E. Flowers, Ph.D.

The Mirror of Magic
A History of Magic in the Western World
by Kurt Seligmann

Lords of the Left-Hand Path
Forbidden Practices and Spiritual Heresies
by Stephen E. Flowers, Ph.D.

Egregores
The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny
by Mark Stavish

The Fraternitas Saturni
History, Doctrine, and Rituals of the Magical Order of the Brotherhood of Saturn
by Stephen E. Flowers, Ph.D.

The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism
Origins, Magic, and Secret Societies
by Patrick Lepetit

Pagan Magic of the Northern Tradition
Customs, Rites, and Ceremonies
by Nigel Pennick

INNER TRADITIONS BEAR & COMPANY
P.O. Box 388
Rochester, VT 05767
1-800-246-8648
www.InnerTraditions.com

Or contact your local bookseller

Electronic edition produced by

Digital Media Initiatives

About the Author

JULIUS EVOLA was one of the foremost authorities on the worlds esoterictraditions. His other works available in English include The Hermetic Tradition, The Yoga of Power, Revolt Against the Modern World, Eros and the Mysteries of Love, The Doctrine of Awakening, The Mystery of the Grail, Meditations on the Peaks, and Men Among the Ruins.

About Inner Traditions Bear & Company

Founded in 1975, Inner Traditions is a leading publisher of books on indigenous cultures, perennial philosophy, visionary art, spiritual traditions of the East and West, sexuality, holistic health and healing, self-development, as well as recordings of ethnic music and accompaniments for meditation.

In July 2000, Bear & Company joined with Inner Traditions and moved from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it was founded in 1980, to Rochester, Vermont. Together Inner Traditions Bear & Company have eleven imprints: Inner Traditions, Bear & Company, Healing Arts Press, Destiny Books, Park Street Press, Bindu Books, Bear Cub Books, Destiny Recordings, Destiny Audio Editions, Inner Traditions en Espaol, and Inner Traditions India.

For more information or to browse through our more than one thousand titles in print and ebook formats, visitwww.InnerTraditions.com.

Become a part of the Inner Traditions community to receive special offers and members-only discounts.

Pietro Negri

Sub Specie Interioritatis

(From the Inner Point of View)

Coelum... nihil aliud est quam spiritualis interioritas.

(Heaven... is nothing other than spiritual inwardness.)

Guibertus, De Pignoribus Sanctorum, IV, 8

Aquila volans per aerem et Bufo gradiens per terram est Magisterium.

(The eagle flying in the air and the toad crawling on the ground is the Magistery.)

M. Maier, Symbola Aureae Mensae duodecim Nationum, Frankfurt, 1617, p. 192

M any years have gone by since I first had an experience of immateriality. But despite the passing of time, the impression I derived from it was so vivid and powerful that it still lingers in my memory, as far as it is possible to transfuse and retain certain transcendent experiences there. I will attempt now to convey this impression humanis verbis (in human terms), evoking it again from the innermost recesses of my consciousness.

The sensation of immaterial reality suddenly flashed in my consciousness, without prior warning, apparent cause, or determining reason. One day about fourteen years ago I was standing on a sidewalk of the Strozzi Palace in Florence, talking with a friend. I do not remember what we were talking about, though it was probably about some esoteric topic: in any event, the topic of the conversation had no bearing on the experience I had. It was a day like many others, and I was in perfect physical and spiritual health. I was not tired, excited, or intoxicated, but free from worries and nagging thoughts. All of a sudden, as I was either talking or listening, I felt the world, all things, and life itself in a different way. I suddenly became aware of my incorporeity and of the radical, evident immateriality of the universe. I realized that my body was in me, and that all things were inwardly within me; that everything led to me, namely to the deep, abysmal, and obscure center of my being. It was a sudden transfiguration; the sense of immaterial reality stirring in my field of awareness, and connecting with the usual sense of everyday, dense reality, allowed me to see everything in a new and different light. It was as when a sudden opening in a thick ceiling of clouds lets a ray of sun filter through, and the ground or the sea below is suddenly transfigured in a light and ephemeral brightness.

I perceived myself as a dimensionless and ineffably abstract point; I felt that inside this point the whole was contained, in an entirely nonspatial manner. It was a total reversal of the ordinary human sensation. Not only did the Self no longer have the impression of being contained, or localized in the body; not only did it acquire the perception of the incorporeity of its own body, but it felt the body within itself, feeling everything sub specie interioritatis (from the inner point of view). It is necessary to understand the terms I am using here: within, inner, interior are meant in a non-geometrical sense, simply as the best terms to convey the sense of the reversal of the position or relationship existing between body and consciousness. But then again, to speak of consciousness contained in the body is just as absurd and improper as to speak of the body contained in consciousness, considering the heterogeneity of the two terms.

It was a powerful, sweeping, overwhelming, positive, and original impression. It emerged spontaneously, without transition or warning, like a thief in the night, sneaking in and grafting itself on the usual commonplace way of perceiving reality. It surfaced very quickly, asserting itself and then remaining in a clear fashion, thus allowing me to live it intensely and to be sure of it; then it vanished, leaving me dumbfounded. What I heard was a note of the eternal poem, wrote Dante; and in evoking it again, I still feel its sacred solemnity, its calm and silent power, and its stellar purity floating in my inmost awareness.

This was my first experience of immateriality.

I have tried to describe my impression as accurately as possible, even at the cost of being criticized for not having obeyed the norms of a precise philosophical terminology. I will readily admit that my philosophical competence was not, and still is not, equal to these spiritual experiences, and also that, from the point of view of philosophical studies, it would probably be better if only those who have great philosophical merits could be told of such experiences. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that the point of view of philosophical studies is not the only admissible one, and that the spirit bloweth where it listeth (John 3:7) without regard for anyones philosophical competence.