Julius Evola: The Hermetic Tradition

Symbols and Teachings of the Royal Art

Inner Traditions, 1995 (La tradizione ermetica, 1931)

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From the Back cover:

Translated into English for the first time, this important survey of alchemical symbols and doctrines lays bare the mysterious worldview and teachings of the practitioners of the “Royal Art”. One of the leading exponents of the hermetic tradition, Julius Evola draws from a host of sources in the western esoteric tradition – works on alchemy, theurgy, magic, and mythhology from the Neoplatonic, Arab, Gnostic, and medieval sources – to demonstrate the singularity of subject mater hat lies behind the words of all adepts in all ages. He shows how alchemy – often misunderstood as primitive chemistry or a mere template for the Jungian process of “individuation” – is nothing less than a universal secret science of human and natural transformation.

The first part of The Hermetic Tradition outlines the symbols and teachings of the Art, while the second part is concerned with the techniques and effects of the practice. Throughout the exposition of this sacred tradition the reader is encouraged to listen with the “ear of the heart”; a leap of consciousness is required to leave our time-bound and analytical world and enter the timeless realm of nature’s continuous creation…[Evola’s] Hermetic Tradition is among the clearest works of alchemy ever written.