Hermetická tradice – Evola Julius (2026)

This Czech-language book is Julius Evola’s most important work devoted to interpreting the traditional sciences. The term “hermetic tradition” is understood here in the particular sense in which it was used during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when Hermeticism was closely connected with the alchemical tradition. For Evola, alchemy is the Royal Science: a coherent, all-encompassing system that opens the way to the highest levels of spiritual realization. His understanding of Hermeticism and alchemy as an independent, unified and universal system differs from the views of authors such as Titus Burckhardt and René Guénon, who regard alchemy essentially as a cosmological science that can be integrated into various metaphysical teachings and traditional Christian or Islamic conceptions of the world. Evola also firmly rejects the views of those who reduce it to chemistry in its early stages or to mere psychology, as C. G. Jung does. He insists that alchemy is essentially a spiritual art concerned simultaneously with the soul and the cosmos, with the relationship between the inner and outer worlds, rather than merely with the material substances processed by “blowers” and later by modern chemists. This comprehensive interpretation of Hermeticism and alchemy is organized according to the traditional division of the sciences into doctrine and method. The first part discusses Hermetic symbols and teachings, explaining both elementary and more complex doctrines as well as the meaning of many fundamental symbols. The second part examines the Work itself, or the “Hermetic operations.” Drawing on a thorough knowledge of Western and Eastern alchemical literature, Evola sheds light on the obscure, cryptic instructions concerning alchemical work and transmutation. He guides readers through the stages of the alchemical Work and finally opens the door to those who truly wish to enter and become, in his words, “one of the links in the hidden golden royal chain of the tradition of the sons of Hermes.” In this sense, the book represents a summation of Hermeticism and offers a key to understanding the most important aspects of the Western esoteric tradition. It may become a key for those who long to understand the art of inner spiritual transformation.