In February 2025 Volume II of Passages was published. Again it is an almost 400 page journal. 12 Authors contributed their essays. Many have been translated to English by Prav owner Jafe Arnold.
The authors include familiar names such as Evgeny Nechkasov (Askr Svarte) and Alexander Dugin. The only other name that is familiar to me is Veleslav Cherkasov. Of the rest I may or may not have read something before.
The theme for Volume II “the language of Tradition”, a subject familiar to Nechkasov and Dugin, but obviously also to other authors. Another theme is contemporary Traditionalism. In more than one essay critique is expressed on Traditionalism as it was presented a century ago (but also praise), so you not only get repetitions of familiar themes, but also ‘updates’ of Traditionalistic thinking so to say.
As with most Prav publishers, the level is academic, subjects often difficult yet mostly interesting. Symbols, language, music, theology, but also native faith, metaphysics and critique on the modern world. It is all here. Less ‘political’ than the first volume too.
Certainly an interesting publication, but not exactly easy reading.
Another Prav book. Shinzhensky wrote an academic book about Slavic paganism “between ideas and practice” in Russian and Prav director Jafe Arnold translated it to English, so that also the non-Russian-speaking audience can learn about the current state of academic interest in “Rodnoverie”.
The book is fairly dry and academic, especially towards the end. Sure, you will learn about the many different heathen groups in Russia, their founders, their histories, some of their ideas, their sizes and celebrations, but often academics seem to be more interested in statistics. How many attendees of a “Kupala” festival see which God as their main God? How many are members of other groups than the organising party? How do they explain certain terms?
Shinzhensky often summarises the findings of colleagues, refers to all kinds of academic inquiries, but he also sifted through the sometimes voluminous bibliographies of some of the big names of the “Rus” scene. You get histories, learn about umbrella organisations (the World Congress of Ethnic Religions is frequently mentioned) and not just in contemporary Russia, but also in countries such as Lithuania and Baltic countries.
What annoys me a bit is that (this is the same in other Prav books btw.) the author quite forcibly tries to avoid using the same words too often, so when a chapter is about a certain person, he is one time mentioned by name, then a “our author” (or some similar term), “Volkhv”, but also a word such as “polytheist” is often used, while it is clear that not all pagans are polytheists. Also the term “proselyte” is used too often in my opinion.
All in all the book gives a nice look into (larger) Russian paganism. It is interesting to see how many things are similar to Western countries, while other things are much different. The book is not a handbook to learn about “Rodnoverie” from, but if you are interested in an academic approach of the ‘scene’, this book might be of interest.
I was looking what other books Askr Svarte‘s publisher Prav Publising has available and I ran into Eschatological Optimism. The name of the author did not yet ring a bell.
From the introduction of translator and owner of Prav, Jafe Arnold, it soon became clear to me: here we have a book of Darya Aleksandrovna Dugina (1992-2022), the daugher of Alexander Dugin (1962-) who died in a car crash before she turned 30. The book is introduced by Arnold and Alexander Dugin himself.
Daria had studied philosophy and was so ‘Plato minded’ that she used the pseudonym “Platonova”. Obviously she was massively influenced by her father and the circle around him. I see several similarities with the writings of Askr Svarte (or would that be because they have the same translator?).
Dugina appears to have been an avid writer and lecturer and the book is a collection of lectures and essays. The book is divided in four parts. Two first two are -even though very philosophical- quite interesting. The last two interest me less. These last to parts are -very shortly- about the political side of Platonism and later philosophy.
The first part gave the book its title:
eschatological optimism is the consciousness and recognition that the material world, the given world which we presently take to be pure reality, is illusory: it is an illusion that is about to dissipate and end.
“Eschatology” is the acknowledgement that the material world is finite. The “optimism” part of the concept is not so much the being happy about that, but more the ‘riding the tiger’ attitude of Julius Evola: we are going down, let us make the best of the time that is left (but also: “live a life of unhappiness”).
Julius Evola represents an authentic revolt within Postmodernity. Guénon is even more fundamental. They show us the paths we can take. For myself, this path is, without a doubt, Orthodoxy and Edinoverie.
Explaining the latter term later in the book.
I belong to Edinoverie. This Edinoverie Church is somwhere between the Old Believers’ Rite and the ruling Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
So quite like her father, Dugina is interested in philosophy, Traditionalism, politics and Russian Orthodoxy. Different from her father, Dugina was also a feminist, but I must say: of a very specific type that is completely different from our Western view of feminism and so we see that Dugina was also a thinker of her own.
Just like Svarte, Dugina’s writing frequently goes over my head, but it makes an interesting and often non-Western way of thinking inspite of being too philosophical for my liking. She sure was a thinker with great potential, so her early passing is certainly a shame. With an afterword of Daria’s mother Natalya Melentyeva the book has a tragic opening and closing, but it is good that also the Western audience now has a chance to read this young philosopher.
Another 340 page book with essays by Askr Svarte / Evgeny Nechkasov. The full title goes: Towards Another Myth: A Tale of Heidegger and Traditionalism. Thematically this book continues with the last book of Svarte that I reviewed.
In 25 longer and shorter texts, Svarte investigates the relationship between Heidegger and Traditionalism. To do that he makes side steps into Northern mythology, poetry and of course philosophy and language and all that to come to “another myth”.
In recent years, more and more Traditionalists and right-wing thinkers have been trying to incorporate the thought of Martin Heidegger into theirs. Critical notes have already been made in Passages. Svarte takes this a step further. He dissects Evola’s erroneous critique on Heidegger, investigates the common and diverting points between the philosophy of Heidegger and that of Guénon and in order to do so, dives into Northern mythology, Advaita Vedanta.
As all of Svarte’s work, the present title is not an easy read, but he does once again come with interesting observations and explanations.
Amidst his general empathy and sympathy for mythos as an ontological principle of extreme importance in culture and thinking, Heidegger’s program nevertheless does not propose returning to one or another mythology, even the Greek, as a form of identity, state religion, or system of values. Instead, he speaks of the non-metaphysical, groundless (Ab-Grund) and poetic refounding of the whole of mythos and the holy on the horizon of Another Beginning. For Traditionalism, this means being compelled to seek out and tell forth Another Myth.
Looking for contemporary Traditionalistic writings, I ran into a recently published (December 2023) first volume of a new journal. The editors have seen the coming and going of journals such as Luvah, Sophia, Sacred Web, Tyr and The Initiate. None of them is currently active, so it was high time for a new journal.
The foreword seems to promise a contemporary, spiritual approach to Traditionalism. The content is actually more political, Evola-like in approach with a lot of philosophy, mostly that of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), some psychology even.
The contributors are mostly from the Slavic and Italian ‘spheres’. Even though the chief editor is American and we run into Collin Cleary and Troy Southgate, most essays had to be translated to English. There are familiar and unfamiliar names (to me). Alexander Dugin is probably the most famous name, but we also find a text by Askr Svarte / Evgeny Nechkasov (not unexpectedly).
There is a lot ‘against the modern world’, Heidegger (philosophy), the social/political side of the ideas of Guénon and Evola and similar subjects. Not uninteresting, but I would not have minded to read more from and about Traditionalism today and/or the more religious side of it.
The journal has almost 400 pages. It makes an interesting read, it does indeed fill a gap, but I would like a wider (other?) approach to Traditionalism in a future volume.
So, Polemos was initially a 1000-page book written in Russian by an author born in 1991. First published in 2016, at the age of 25! Also the translator, Jafe Arnold, is a young author and the man behind the Prav publishing house. I also ran into his name in an academic Traditionalistic work.
Part II is another massive work, over 500 pages. The ‘pagan perspectives’ are sometimes not that obvious. There are lengthy chapters are subjects such as the “creationism” of Abrahamic religions, the left hand path, dualism, more or less obscure currents within Eastern religions or within Islam. Sometimes interesting, sometimes a bit too ‘off path’ with only here and there references to “pagan traditionalism”. Often quoted is Evola, but Svarte also refers to less known authors such as Troy Southgate. Obviously, politically Svarte is not in the corner of the masses, but he is critical to both ‘left’ and ‘right’. He is also critical towards Traditionalists such as René Guénon.
The red thread of this volume is:
Paganism is opposed by the creationism in the face of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as their offspring – Modernity and Postmodernity.
and:
For a full-blooded revival of the true pagan worldview in modern conditions, the philosophy of Traditionalism is a categorical necessity.
To make that point, Svarte goes at great lengths displaying his extraordinary well-readness. Also he frequently manages to shortly explain some difficult writings or authors, so he not only read it all, he understands it as well.
Interesting, thought-provoking, but not very much to-the-point. You can read both Polemos volumes for an introduction into modern Traditionalism, the Russian and foreign pagan ‘scenes’, the woes of modernity and the Abrahamic religions. The second volume is even more theoretic than the first one.
I found this book when I was browsing the Kindle store to see what Traditionalist books are available. So there are more writers writing about Traditionalistic paganism. Svarte does it a lot better than I did, though, and way more lengthy. The book is over 400 pages! Moreover, Svarte refers to other Traditionalistic pagan authors.
Oddly enough, the author (whose name is an pseudonym of Evgeny Nechkasov (1991-)) is a Russian. For some reason Russia and Russian thinkers gravitate towards me recently.
It seems that Svarte has published extensively in Russian and now English versions of both Polemos books have appeared (as there is a second part). The present title was first published in 2016.
The book goes from Guénon, Evola, Dumézil and Eliade to different kinds of paganism. Svarte proves to be very well acquainted with paganism in his own country, but also abroad. The book sets off wonderfully with Traditionalism, comparative mythology, initiation, etc. Things get a bit less interesting when he continues with endless descriptions of the woes of modernity, currents that Svarte calls “pseudo paganism”, “counter initiations”, etc. Quite like some books of Guénon actually. In these parts Svarte can display his wide knowledge of groups and thinkers all over the globe. Of course there are many references to groups and thinkers in Russia, so you can learn a thing or two about the Russian heathen and Traditionalistic scene(s) too and he even sheds some light on the events in the Serebrov books that I am reading.
We have defined polemos as the nerve of being, as that which according to the myths and teachings of traditions creates and orders the world.
Especially the first part of the book is good. I may not agree with each and every statement of the author makes, but is not necessary. Even though Svarte is about as strict a Traditionalist as Guénon, he (like myself) has to bend things a little in order to (for example) disapprove of Northern European paganism in Northern America while he is a Northern European heathen in Russia. The overly intellectual second half is a bit tiring at times, but overal this first part makes a descent read. The second volume is even larger, but I will give it a try too.
