Now to a book that I would have liked to have written myself, because it shows the really important foundations for the Italian tradition, which I consider so valuable and instructive. Although no great discoveries are to be expected in the book, it simply brings the grandiose overview that you can’t find anywhere else. Fortunately, the book has been published in English and not in Italian.
Pantano brings an almost complete overview of the myths and main figures of the Italian tradition of antiquity, from the Renaissance into the present. It begins with Aeneas, Orpheus and the myth of the Golden Bough, leads through the historical foundations of ancient Rome and includes the Pythagoreans, Virgil, Cicero, and Ovid. The path then leads to Dante, Marsilio Ficino, Francesco Colonna and the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Giordano Bruno, and finally lands at Evola’s great discovery, Cesare Della Riviera, which has provided him with so many foundational insights into magic and alchemy. One chapter is devoted exclusively to the initiatic groups of the Renaissance, such as Cagliostro and the Egyptian Rite, or in the wake of Giambattista Vico, whom Evola also adored, attends to the Neapolitan school of Kremmerz’s predecessors (Domenico Bocchini and Giustiniano Lebano) as well as influencing Kremmerz himself and the Fraternity of Myriam. Finally, Pantano writes of Evola and the UR Group as well as the later magical organizations around Marco Daffi and Giammaria. Excerpts from Kremmerz’s works complement this important and high-quality volume. Excerpts from Kremmerz’s works complement this important and high-quality volume. Perhaps there will be someone who translates it into German in order to make this tradition better known to us.
– Dr. Hans Thomas Hakl, Excerpt from Gnostika Magazine Fall 2019, translated from German.
David Pantano, The Magic Door: A Study on the Italic Tradition Myth, Magic and Metamorphosis in the Western Inner Traditions, is available here or order via Amazon.
