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The Initiate #2

Well over three years ago I heard about the first “The Initiate”. However my review is quite critical, my memories about the journal are positive. I did not hear about a second issue and especially when the website became defunct and later also the publisher Integral Tradition, I no longer expected a new issue. I do not know what I was looking for a few months back, but I ran into Arktos where I noticed the second “The Initiate” on their list. The second volume has Evola on the cover (at least, I think it is Evola) and Arktos sells Varg Vikernes, Alain de Benoist, a range of radical political titles and the covers often raise an eyebrow. Where issue 1 already had quite some politics in it, my first thought about volume 2 was it might be some sort of “Radical Tradition“. Ordering the journal (together with RĂ»na! I finally found an easy way to get that journal) had some difficulties, but paging through it when I finally got it, dropped most of my prejudices. “The Initiate” appears to be a real and serious Traditionalistic journal. No xenophobic focus on Germanic traditions, but Hindus and Sufis and other Traditionalists that take heed of the real Tradition and not just the anti-modernistic and new-right-political tendensies of modern “traditionalism”. The opening article with its “revolt against the arm-chair Traditionalist” is one to my heart. The (too) lengthy Sufi article comparing Frithjof Schuon and Javad Nurbakhsh is interesting and thought-provoking. I am less interested in the articles about Wicca, Evola’s tiny article about witchcraft and the article about “music and magic”, but Troy Southgate’s lengthy reply to an article that featured him in the first issue and another critical letter make this second volume nicely complete. Of course I should not forget to mention music reviews (no neofolk or related for a change) and the closing “War Protocols” which manages to be both thought-provoking and very annoying. “The Initiate” #2 is a good initiative counterbalance against the growing number of pseudo-Traditionalism (however interesting in itself), that seems to be on a continuous rise. Many of the images used would benefit with better printing though.
2010 Arktos Media, isbn 9781907166051

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