Rene Guenon (1886-1951) is undoubtedly one of the luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of recent philosophies. His oeuvre of 26 volumes is providential for the modern seeker: pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, at the same time it directs the reader to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization. Traditional Forms and Cosmic Cycles is a wide-ranging collection of articles that could just as well have been called Fragments of an Unknown History. Although they must remain fragments, as Guenon did not return to many of these themes again, it would have been regrettable to leave such fascinating articles buried in old journals, and so this posthumous collection is now offered to Anglophone readers for the first time. by two pieces on Atlantis and Hyperborea. Two sections follow, concerned respectively with the Hebrew Tradition and the Egyptian Tradition. The former comprises five articles concerned primarily with the Kabbalah and the Science of Numbers, and the latter includes three articles on Hermes and the Hermetic Tradition. Book reviews are inserted at relevant points. To lend the collection coherence, no other spiritual Traditions are here represented. A list of the Collected Writings of Rene Guenon has been provided for those who wish to investigate Guenon's metaphysical expositions on such topics as Christianity, Islam, the Greco-Latin Traditions, Celtism, etc.

Ren Gunon (1886-1951) is undoubtedly one of the luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of recent philosophies. His oeuvre of 26 volumes is providential for the modern seeker: pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, at the same time it directs the reader to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization. In The Esoterism of Dante, Gunon undertakes to establish that the three parts of The Divine Comedy represent a recital of the process of initiatic realization, and testify to Dante's knowledge of traditional sciences that are unknown to the moderns: the science of numbers, that of cosmic cycles, and sacred astrology. In this work Gunon also touches on the all important question of medieval esoterism. In his work Insights into Christian Esoterism, Gunon discusses the role of sacred languages and the principle of initiation in the Christian tradition as well as such esoteric Christian themes and organizations as the Holy Grail, the Guardians of the Holy Land, the Sacred Heart, the Fedeli d'Amore and the 'Courts of Love', and the Secret Language of Dante. The present book focuses more closely on the latter, drawing parallels with Hermetic, Rosicrucian, and Masonic symbolism. The Collected Works of Ren Gunon brings together the writings of one of the greatest prophets of our time, whose voice is even more important today than when he was alive. Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions, etc.