Revolting Julius Evola and the Blood Axis Fascists

Revolting Julius Evola and the Blood Axis Fascists

[with special reference to the work of M. Moynihan and J. Godwin]

William H. Kennedy

December 2002

[Updated November 2004]

The ultimate concern of this examination is to demonstrate that the fascist thinker Julius Evola does not belong in the Traditionalist school of thought along with the 20^th century pioneers of this perspective Rene Guenon and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. In this regard a close examination of the work of two contemporary Evola promoters - Michael Moynihan and Joscelyn Godwin - will be undertaken. It will also illustrate how neo- fascists have utilized Evola's ideology to promote social unrest and international terrorism. The motivation for this study stems from scholar and novelist Umberto Eco's assertion in his essay "Ur-Facism" which appeared in his recent collection of essays entitled Five Moral Pieces (Harcourt, 2002) that the Traditionalist school foments fascism and violence. It will be demonstrated that Professor Eco is incorrect in his allegation.

Baron Julius Evola was born on May 19, 1898 in Rome to a family of Sicilian aristocrats. After completing initial training as an industrial engineer he entered the Italian Army and served in the closing days of WW1. With a keen interest in art and literature Evola became a leading member of the Dadaist school [a forerunner of surrealism] and contributed paintings and poetry to this bohemian community of artists and writers. After becoming disenchanted with the commercial aspects of the art world Evola began to study religious and political thought which eventually led him to the writings of French spiritual thinker Rene Guenon. Although Guenon and Evola maintained a long friendship their ideologies were extremely different. [1]

Evola became Guenon’s Italian translator and carried on a lengthy correspondence with the Frenchman who lived in Egypt for the greater portion of his life. For many years Evola even traveled to Cairo to visit Guenon. However, Guenon did not realize that there was a sinister aspect to the kindly Italian nobleman who translated his works and was a frequent houseguest.

What Guenon did not realize, and what modern Evolians avoid talking about, was Evola’s relationship to fascism in general and to Himmler’s SS in particular. Evola entered the political world of Italian politics via his involvement with the weird UR group – a brotherhood dedicated to reviving Roman Imperial Paganism and ousting Christianity as the Faith of Rome . With the rise of Mussolini’s Fascist State in Italy the UR group hoped that Ill Duce would adopt their program of pagan revival and militant state worship. In a sense Evola and the UR group were more fascist than Mussolini in that they had little use for any aspect of Italian culture that did not fit their Pagan Imperial purview. [2]

Mussolini was, however, a political realist and rejected the neo-pagan agenda of the UR group instead signing the Lateran Treaty of 1929 making Roman Catholicism the official religion of Fascist Italy . The neo Imperial Pagan hopes of Evola and the UR group were dashed in the realpolitic of Ill Duce’s regime. [3]

Evola did not remain idle during the 1930’s and produced an Italian version of German Nazi Race Theory in which he proffered the ideal of an ‘Aryan-Roman’ race defined by a strong social hierarchy and a volatile anti-Semitism. Mussolini adopted Evola’s racial guidelines as the official policy of the Italian Fascist State in 1938. [4]

Rene Guenon was a religious philosopher who contended that all of the great spiritual belief systems of the World emanated from a single Transcendental source and that the major Faiths were merely different expressions of the same metaphysical order. Along with this contention came Guénon's harsh critique of the modern world which he believed had degenerated from Divine Revelation and authentic spiritual civilization.

Guenon’s co-worker in this perspective was art historian and philosopher Ananda K Coomaraswamy longtime curator of the Asian collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Coomaraswamy shared Guenon’s belief in a transcendent unity of religion and was equally critical of modernity which he believed had corroded authentic spiritual revelation as it found expression in various civilizations. Guenon and Coomaraswamy produced a plethora of books and articles which expressed their perspective.

Feeling under valued in his native Italy, Evola sought political and ideological refuge in Hitler's Nazi Germany. As a means to appease his new masters Evola reworked his political theory with his 1942 essay Against the Neo-Pagans. In this study Evola denounced his earlier Pagan Imperial views and revamped his his theory to conform to the secret occult initiations favored by Himmler. This was done purely as a means to satisfy the German Nazis. The Baron's strategy worked and he was invited to join Hitler's inner circle at the Third Reich's Eastern headquarters in September of 1943. The SS had earlier rejected Evola as a major player in the War effort but now his revamped theory fit their agenda. At a meeting with Hitler, Himmler and a recently liberated Mussolini, the Baron was awarded a top level appointment to the SS and was assigned two important functions.

Headquartered in Vienna, Evola worked translating Freemasonic documents seized by the Gestapo from various temples which were raided by the SS. [5] The Freemasons were a major target, along with Jews and Communists, of Hitler’s wrath. Seeing this fraternity as a threat to their power Hitler and Himmler persecuted Masons and over 80,000 were sent to Concentration Camps with many being gassed. When the Allies began to overtake Austria the Gestapo destroyed a great many of their documents. Consequently, there is no way of knowing the extent of Evola’s collaboration with the actual internment and execution of Masons but it is not unreasonable to conclude that he must have had detailed knowledge of the persecution of this fraternity.

Evola was also hostile to Jews during the War writing that the assassination of Romanian Fascist leader Corneliu Codreanu was the work of the ‘Judaic Horde’ and that the possible Communist take over of Romania was ‘the fithiest tyranny, the talmudic, Israelite tyranny.’ [6]

Despite the fact that contemporary Evolians claim that Evola had friends who were Masons and Jews does not detract from the fact that the Baron had a shadowy hand in their persecution during the War.

Evola’s contemporary defender Dr. Hansen noted that Evola was evasive about his wartime work stating:

"As we have already reported, at least in the later war years Evola lived in Vienna while probably going through the archives of various secret societies. His exact intentions are not known, since he never wanted to talk about them." [7]

Evola’s second wartime function was even more sinister. Working with fascist leaders throughout Central Europe Evola performed liaison services for the SS seeking to recruit a pan European army which would operate under the Waffen SS to expel the invading Allied armies. [8] Evola worked as a recruiter for Himmler’s SS in a last ditch effort to save the Reich from Allied invasion. In this regard Evola was a pawn of the SS in that leading Gestapo officers saw the war was lost and sought to fend off the Allies as long as possible as to plan their escape from Europe. As the Russian Army entered the outskirts of Berlin , it was the non-German SS - called the Legion of Charlemagne - who defended the Führer to the bloody end. At this juncture many leading SS officers had fled Europe and avoided prosecution for war crimes.

Near the war’s end Evola was caught in an Allied bombing raid and lost the use of both of his legs and was wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. The Baron returned to Rome a broken man both in body and spirit. With most of the Austrian SS documents destroyed the International Military Tribunal never went after Evola for prosecution which turned out to be a fatal mistake. As will be demonstrated, Evola became embittered and began to encourage post war neo-fascists to undertake acts of terrorism until his death in 1974.

Why Evola is not a Traditionalist

During the war years Rene Guenon lived quietly in Cairo writing and editing his essays and books. There is no evidence that he was aware of Evola’s vile activity during the War. Even though the two remained in contact and Evola even published articles by the Frenchman in the newspaper he founded in the post war years, it was highly unlikely that Guenon knew of Evola's strong fascist ties. There is no documentary evidence [letters, journal entries] that reflects the possibility that Guenon was aware, in any way, shape or form that Evola was such a high level SS recruiter. As Hansen noted Evola just did not like to discuss his wartime work and intentions. Consequently, this frees Guenon from the charge of fascist sympathies and isolates Evola from the Traditionalist perspective as espoused by Guenon and Coomaraswamy.

Nor did Guenon or Coomaraswamy share Evola's enthusiasm for a revival of Roman Imperial Paganism. There are few references to Roman antiquity in Coomaraswamy's or Guenon's writing. Guenon was actually hostile toward Imperial Rome believing that the Roman concepts of liberty and individuality were contrary to Tradition. In the Traditionalist purview Islam constitutes the Seal of the Prophets and any religious system which died out completely - like Roman Paganism - before the Koran was composed were considered moot and defunct. There is no place for the revival of extinct metaphysical belief systems in the work of Guenon and Coomaraswamy.

Coomaraswamy rejected both European Fascism and the work of Julius Evola. In an exchange of letters Coomaraswamy and Guenon concluded that European Fascism was devoid of Traditional Principles and was, consequently, a corrupt political order. In Coomaraswamy's 1942 publication, Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian theory of Government, Coomaraswamy states that he is disappointed in seeing Evola's potential wane and chides him for reversing the Traditional hierarchy in his political theory. Evola suggested that the warrior class should lead the Ideal State instead of a sacred monarch which was called for in Traditional Religions. By doing this, claimed Coomaraswamy, Evola's political theory was a degenerate product of the modern world and did not reflect the Traditional order.

Guenon endorsed the book and consequently must have accepted Coomaraswamy's rejection of Evola. The fact that Guenon remained in contact with Evola after the war only reflects Guenon's continued belief that Evola was redeemable and worth having as a possible Italian representative of the Traditionalist school. If Guenon had been aware of Evola's wartime activities it is unlikely the Frenchman would have continued his friendship with the Baron. After Guenon's premature death in 1951 Evola became the de facto representative of the Italian Traditionalist school. Coomaraswamy had died in 1947 so there was no one to dispute Evola's claim. With the advent of the Cold War Evola's memory quickly faded from public consciousness especially after he was acquitted of inspiring neo-fascist parties in his famous trial held in Rome during 1951.

Evola’s Real Legacy: Neo- Fascist Terrorism

On August 2, 1980 at 10:25 AM a timed bomb exploded at Bologna central railway station killing 85 people and injuring over 200 others. The explosive was planted by operatives of Italian neo-fascist leaders who were directly inspired by Julius Evola. As Italian authorities questioned possible suspects Evola's writings kept popping up in police interrogations as being the ideological justification for the explosion. [9]

Evola's connection to international terrorism can be traced to the early 1950's when he began to call for violent action against the post war authorities. This fact has been confirmed by Guiliani Salierni an Italian neo-fascist who recalled Evola's violent suggestions while Salierni was a young member of a right wing Italian group who regularly sought the Baron as a speaker. [10] Adriano Romauldi - a major leader of a neo-Fascist party - claimed in 1971 that Evola was the intellectual hero of the militant right wing in Italy because of the Baron's call for a policy of 'total war' against the Establishment. Italian neo-fascist terrorists such as Franco Freda and Mario Tuti frequently reprinted Evola's essays in their propaganda tracts. [11]

It is clear then that Evola himself overtly called for terrorist actions in the 1950's which led to bombings, political assassinations and robbery by neo-fascist activists. The embittered Evola saw his dreams of Imperial Revival smashed by the emerging Italian democratic regime during the Cold War. The rise of American influenced commercialism especially irked Evola as he saw the Untied States as the harbinger of democracy - a political concept which the Baron just could not tolerate. Julius Evola was, for lack of a better term, a sore loser. His only way to redress the evils he saw around him was to call for 'active nihilism' - Evola's euphemism for terrorism, murder and unchecked violence against the authorities and civilian populations. One cannot conceive of an ideological system as far away from the good intentions of the non-violent Ananda Coomaraswamy and the harshly lamenting but essentially pacifist social critiques of Rene Guenon.

Evola’s Real Legacy: Neo- Fascist Terrorism

On August 2, 1980 at 10:25 AM a timed bomb exploded at Bologna central railway station killing 85 people and injuring over 200 others. The explosive was planted by operatives of Italian neo-fascist leaders who were directly inspired by Julius Evola. As Italian authorities questioned possible suspects Evola's writings kept popping up in police interrogations as being the ideological justification for the explosion. [9]

Evola's connection to international terrorism can be traced to the early 1950's when he began to call for violent action against the post war authorities. This fact has been confirmed by Guiliani Salierni an Italian neo-fascist who recalled Evola's violent suggestions while Salierni was a young member of a right wing Italian group who regularly sought the Baron as a speaker. [10] Adriano Romauldi - a major leader of a neo-Fascist party - claimed in 1971 that Evola was the intellectual hero of the militant right wing in Italy because of the Baron's call for a policy of 'total war' against the Establishment. Italian neo-fascist terrorists such as Franco Freda and Mario Tuti frequently reprinted Evola's essays in their propaganda tracts. [11]

It is clear then that Evola himself overtly called for terrorist actions in the 1950's which led to bombings, political assassinations and robbery by neo-fascist activists. The embittered Evola saw his dreams of Imperial Revival smashed by the emerging Italian democratic regime during the Cold War. The rise of American influenced commercialism especially irked Evola as he saw the Untied States as the harbinger of democracy - a political concept which the Baron just could not tolerate. Julius Evola was, for lack of a better term, a sore loser. His only way to redress the evils he saw around him was to call for 'active nihilism' - Evola's euphemism for terrorism, murder and unchecked violence against the authorities and civilian populations. One cannot conceive of an ideological system as far away from the good intentions of the non-violent Ananda Coomaraswamy and the harshly lamenting but essentially pacifist social critiques of Rene Guenon.

The Baron's policy of terrorism took on an international scope after the 1980 Bologna bombing when an Evolian terrorist cell fled Italy to avoid the crackdown on extremist groups by the Italian police and security services. Roberto Fiore and his associates - all followers of Evola's student Mario Tuti - arrived in London not long after the railway explosion and quickly formed an alliance with members of Britain 's right wing National Front [NF] which later changed its name to the British National Party [BNP]. Young British NF extremists like Nick Griffin, Derek Holland and Patrick Harrington embraced Fiore and his Evolian teachings feeling that Italian Fascism could act to revive their waning membership. With Fiore's help they developed a new philosophy based on the 'New Man' - a mystical teaching which focused on the development of 'Political Soldiers' who would act with harsh violent protest against all those who opposed their destructive stance. [12]

As with all such movements inner bickering led to splinter groups. However, such break away movements kept the Baron's vision of terrorism alive and well. One such spin off organization was called Combat 18 [C-18]. William Sargent was an active NF member who earned his living training pit bulls for illegal dogfights. His younger brother Paul 'Charlie' Sargent became bored with the rhetoric of the NF and formed his own terrorist cell C-18 [a reference to Hitler] and began a campaign of bombings, intimidation and murder. A C-18 spin off member was arrested for planting timed nail bombs in various London minority areas and a gay pub. Charlie Sargent engaged some Danish neo-Nazis to send letter bombs to prominent British athletes who married non-white women. The cabal was exposed and while authorities sought to indict the C-18 leadership Charlie Sargent helped their cause by killing a fellow C-18 member and getting caught. Sargent is currently serving a long prison term for murder. [13]

Neo-Nazis in the United States have only recently discovered Evola's Fascist teachings. This is most apparent in the work of writer/musician Michael Moynihan of the band Blood Axis. Born in Massachusetts in 1969 Moynihan has had a varied career within the extremist right wing. Moynihan began his political activities as a Nazi skinhead in Boston 's Kenmore Square and Cambridge ’s Harvard Square where he sought fascist recruits from members of the local punk rock scene. Soon he moved to the West Coast where Moynihan became a High Priest in Anton LaVey's Church of Satan . During this period he joined Boyd Rice's musical group called NON. After working for several years as a NON member, Moynihan had a falling out with the multi-talented Rice and the two men bitterly parted ways. Part of this break came with Rice's ultimate rejection of Fascism and Paganism - two systems dear to Moynihan's heart. Rice continues with his pioneering musical arrangements and has adopted Christian Gnostic beliefs. Moynihan went on to form Blood Axis - which is a merely cheap version of NON - and began promoting Evola's neo-Fascism in the 1990's.

Oftentimes Moynihan denies being a Nazi or Fascist of any kind insisting that he is merely an entertainer and that his politics are anarchistic in nature. However, when one closely examines Moynihan's work a clear and distinct Fascist and even Evolian ideology emerges.

Moynihan is best known to the general public as the author of Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground [Feral House: 1999]. This study- co-authored with Norwegian writer Didrik Soderlind - examines the development of the Black Metal music youth sub culture especially in Norway . This counter cultural group combines Nazism with Satanic ritual religion and the blaring sounds of Heavy Metal music to form a distinct philosophy of life which devotees have dubbed 'Black Metal'.

This tome won the Firecracker Alternative Book Award in 1999 and received critical acclaim from a variety of quarters including an endorsement from the Denver Post, a rave review from scholar Jeffery Kaplan and praise from radio evangelist Bob Larson. All reviewers contended that Moynihan's research was solid and the book was extremely well written. However, something very nefarious surfaces when one examines Moynihan's central thesis contained in chapter 9 entitled Resurgent Avatism. Moynihan and Soderlin borrowed a concept from biology called "avatism" which denotes the reappearance of a physical trait that existed in a species remote ancestors.

In Lords of Chaos the authors contend that avatism has a spiritual and psychological component, namely, the emergence of unruly old Norse gods into the minds and bodies of Black Metalists. In their reckoning such recently reported occurrences of Black Metalists committing acts of destruction and violence can be attributed to the integration of Norse deities into individual Nazi-Satanists. This process is catalyzed by a combination of ritual Satanism, Nazi indoctrination and the harsh rhythms of Black Metal music. [14]

Sometimes this dark world view leads to even harsher forms of criminal activity. Such is the case of Varg Vikernes - a Norwegian Satanic Metalist who was convicted for a variety violent crimes and is currently serving a long prison sentence for arson, manslaughter, grave robbing and treason in Norway. The authors contend that Vikerne's violent actions are the result of psycho/spiritual/biological avatism in which the pagan Norse wolf god emerged within him and conducted these evil acts. "Varg" is the Norwegian word for wolf - a name Vikernes adopted - and thus the Norse wolf god took possession of Vikernes via resurgent avatism. For the Lords of Chaos Varg Vikernes is innocent of any crimes - it was Varg the metaphysical Norse wolf god who committed those heinous acts. In any case neither of these two "Vargs" will be released from prison any time soon.

Vikernes has spent his prison time producing Black Metal music CDs in which he claims Varg the Wolf God possesses him and actually does the singing and playing. He has a fairly large following as hard as that is to believe. His CD Burzum features a burning church on its cover – remember that one of the many crimes Vikernes was imprisoned for was church arson. However, his defense for this offense was possession by the Wolf God Varg.

Moynihan further states that the entire Third Reich was a manifestation of the ancient Norse god Wotan in the German masses. The Germans became involuntarily possessed by the archetypes of the gods in question due to avatism - a theory he borrows in part from Carl Jung. [15] In his chapter on avatism Moynihan seems almost sympathetic with the violence generated by avatistic possession. This is how he explains neo Nazi terrorism in that he sees resurgent avatism as being a perfectly normal and natural occurrence.

If Moynihan's racial violence theory were not bad enough, he has published the writings of James N. Mason – a neo-Nazi ideologue who was an original member of George Lincoln Rockwell’s American Nazi Party. In 1992 Moynihan, under his Storm publishing imprint, released a complete anthology of Mason's articles from the Fascist magazine Siege which included a piece which called for terrorist violence on the "Jewish power structure of the Untied States." Tom Metzger – director of the Nazi group White Aryan Resistance - has also endorsed this book on naational TV here in the United States . Mason is admittedly a lesser figure in the American radical right and few serious neo Nazis follow his ideas but any promotion of terrorist acts in our time can become dangerous. One need only think of Timothy McVeigh's literal interpretation of William Pierce's The Turner Diaries, which led to his bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building , to see the consequences of promoting the idea of neo Nazi terrorist acts among the general public. James N. Mason was sent to prison for attacking a racially mixed couple not long after Moynihan's publication of his essays. Even after this conviction for racist assault Moynihan continues to sell Mason's essays on the Blood Axis commercial site [16]

Moynihan's musical career involves his use of Nazi like outfits and Fascist symbols in his Blood Axis concerts. For one who claims to be an anarchist, Moynihan does not hesitate to employ National Socialist like flags and giving a version of the Nazi salute at all of his shows. Even if Moynihan considers this to be merely an exercise in jest, many of his young and impressionable followers will none-the-less take it the wrong way and see clear Fascist connotations in these concerts. Moynihan has also made some statements that can be taken as confirming his fascist sympathies. [photo photo]

For example, Moynihan stated in a 1998 interview “I have no problem with being called a fascist. If fascism will restore some sense of order, discipline and responsibility to the world, I am all for it.” [Compulsion #3 1998]. In a 1995 Esoterra [#5] interview Moynihan describes his musical collaboration with Thomas Thorn of the Electric Hellfire Club in the following manner “The concert itself was extremely noisy and fascistic. Quite a few suspicious types showed up, because the propaganda for the show looked incredibly fascist. We were both skinheads at the time.” When asked what he thought of the atrocities conducted by the Third Reich Moynihan stated “It's not as if I'd be upset to find out the Nazis did commit every atrocity that's been ascribed to them - I'd prefer if it were true.” And when asked if he would like to gas Blacks and Jews Moynihan responded, “If I were given the opportunity to start up the next holocaust I would definitely have far more lenient entrance requirements than the Nazis did.” [No Longer a Fan Zine see: http://www.diaboli.com/bloodaxis/frameset.htm ]

It is apparent that Moynihan seeks to be possessed by the spirits of Viking gods via resurgent avatism as is demonstrated in a concert review of a Blood Axis concert which appears on the Dagobert's Revenge web page

"Finally, in 'Reign I forever', another exceptional track, Michael Moynihan takes on the persona of Thor, announcing that 'This is my hammer... there are my gauntlets... This is my girdle. Whenever I brace it, strength is revealed.' (I almost expected him to say “here is my handle, here is my spout”, but of course that’s a different song entirely.)" [see: http://www.dagobertsrevenge.com/index.html?ae/musick/bloodaxis ]

Julius Evola's work has dominated much of Moynihan's time recently as he edited the Baron's Men Among the Ruins [Inner Traditions: 2001]. This book contains Evola's post War reflections and heartless lamentations concerning the state of the West after the fall of his beloved Italian and German Fascist states. In his series of essays Evola bemoans the development of democracy in Europe, the rise of corporations as economic generators and calls for a United Europe to deflect the effects of American Capitalism and Russian Communism - a clear extension of his efforts to raise a pan European army to expel the invading Allies in the closing years of WW2. Moynihan also produced a CD which featured a musical salute to Evola and named it after the Baron’s famous essay Riding the Tiger. It was in this essay that Evola called for ‘active nihilism’ [aka terrorism] against the State.

Under the influence of both Evola and the Asatru Alliance [a neo-pagan sect which seeks to restore Norse religion combined with racist doctrines] Moynihan recently founded a journal entitled Tyr [after the pre-Christian German sky god] which is billed as a journal of Myth, Culture and Tradition. Its first issue features an article on Evola and contains other pieces which focus on the revival of Pagan Norse religion. As mentioned, revivals of defunct religions have no place in the Traditionalist perspective consequently making Tyr a journal which is incompatible with the works of Coomaraswamy and Guenon. [17]

Joscelyn Godwin Colgate's Evola Fan

Moynihan's cohort in promoting Evola as a worthwhile political theorist is Colgate University professor of music and occult historian Joscelyn Godwin. Godwin has been promoting Evola's ideas for years now in various occult journals like Gnosis and has written positive introductions to several of Evola's recently translated American editions which were edited by Moynihan. Although he openly denies being a fascist, it is hard to believe that Godwin is not a Nazi sympathizer as he has stated that aspects of Evola's work are of great value. Evola's corpus cannot be taken piecemeal as Godwin must know. Consequently, it is hard to understand how and why such an astute and highly cultured Englishman like Godwin could promote Evola's theories without subscribing to the Baron's dark and sinister vision.

Moynihan's Magazine

Godwin even has gone as far as to published a pro-Evola article in the inaugural issue of Moynihan's Fascist/Pagan journal Tyr. It is somewhat startling and upsetting that a full professor of Godwin's high academic standing would write for such a clearly fascist publication run by a neo-Nazi who started out as a skinhead on the mean streets of Greater Boston. Why Colgate University tolerates Godwin's fascist work is a great enigma. Perhaps the Colgate Board of Overseers is unaware of Godwin's support of Evola and Moynihan's fascist vision. There is no reference to the Tyr article on Godwin's C.V. which appears on his official web site even though the journal has been out for over a year. Nor is Evola's name mentioned at all anywhere on Godwin's official Colgate site. Why doesn't Prof. Godwin want his university colleagues to be aware of his relationship with Evola's work and the Neo Nazi Moynihan?

And what advice does Prof. Godwin offer those who do not share his enthusiasm for Evola? What can Godwin offer the brave US and British WW2 veterans, some of whom were wounded by Evolian recruited SS men, who are becoming enraged that he is openly promoting Evola as a great thinker? What does he have to say to the families of US and Russian servicemen who were killed in the final days of the Second World War by the non-German SS troops who Evola recruited? I will let Godwin speak for himself:

"Those who react to Evola's text only on an emotional level are, unfortunately, beyond such assistance; it would be better for them to save their blood pressure by not reading him at all." [18]

Perhaps, like a bigamist, Godwin hides the existence of his fascist family from that of his university family. Having been at Colgate for so long and having produced masterful academic works on musicology and esotericism, perhaps no one at the university has bothered to check the political nature of Godwin's most recent publication. If the academic deans of Colgate ever do bother to check on Godwin's work they may notice that their esteemed professor of music has quietly become a neo-Nazi ideologue.

When one looks at Godwin’s past actions, one may be able to explain his strange alliance with Moynihan. His obsession with such things as occultism, paganism and neo-Fascism go back along way in his career. His article in Tyr - with Varg the Norse Wolf God on the covver - is nothing new in Godwin’s corpus. In the same year as Moynihan’s birth and long before Vikernes was born, Godwin was experiencing a form of resurgent avatism and seems to have been possessed by the metaphysical Wolf God Varg. Like Vikernes Godwin’s encounter with the Viking Wolf God Varg eventually led to musical expression as evinced in the below newspaper clipping from Cornell University. Even if it is not a case of resurgent avatism it is a very, very strange coincidence that Godwin was involved in this sort of 'Wolfman' performance art as far back as 1969. It appears that Dr. Godwin is the granddaddy of Wolfman Black Metal music. Guenon and Coomaraswamy would definitely not want anything to do with Godwin's weird 'Wolfman' business if they were alive today as it has nothing to go with Traditional religion as they define it. Perhaps after his retirement from Colgate Godwin will resurrect this act and join Moynihan on one of his Blood Axis concert tours or, perhaps, join forces with Vikernes and record a Wolfman duet!

Photo of Goodwin as Werewolf

It should be made clear, therefore, that those who wish to understand the Traditionalist perspective should not confuse the violent teachings of Evola and the neo-Evolians with the work of Coomaraswamy and Guenon. In this sense Evola should not be considered a valid theorist along side these two peaceful Traditionalist thinkers.

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