In 1884 the French occultist Saint-Yves d’Alveydre (1842-1909) decided to take lessons in Sanskrit. Having just published his definitive work on the secret history of the world, called Mission des Juifs (“Mission of the Jews”),2 he was anxious to deepen […]
Joscelyn Godwin
Antarctica in Myth, Fantasy & Reality
From New Dawn Special Issue Vol 11 No 1 (Feb 2017) At the Bottom of the World Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), in his book about the subterranean world, compares the earth to a human body. It drinks in the oceans at […]
Understanding the Traditionalists
From New Dawn 147 (Nov-Dec 2014) Traditionalists, for present purposes, means the loosely-constituted group inspired by René Guénon (1886-1951). Many of them also revere Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947). Later Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998) became central to the group, while the work […]
When Does the Kali Yuga End?
From New Dawn 138 (May-June 2013) The widespread belief that an age is ending and a new one dawning is part of a cyclical concept of time common to most philosophical cultures. The best known versions are the Four Ages […]
Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of Marvels
The museum of Athanasius Kircher (1602 – 1680) in the Jesuit College of Rome was an obligatory stop for high-class tourists, from John Evelyn the diarist to Queen Christina of Sweden, but they never knew what to expect. The college […]