New Study on John Michell, the "Radical Traditionalist"

Marleen Thaler has just published Albion’s Sage for the New Age: John Michell, Radical Traditionalism, and the Myth of Sacred England (Sheffield: Equinox 2026). It is beautifully written and highly readable, and covers Michell and his world very well—but leaves unanswered some questions regarding his “Radical Traditionalism.” Thaler previously published an article on Michell, for which see this post.

Thaler divides Michell’s life into two periods: an “early period… with the English counterculture… psychedelia, New Age, alternative archaeology, and Earth Mysteries,” and a “late period… as an antiquarian, devoted Traditionalist, and Neoplatonist.” In her view, Michell’s most important books were The Flying Saucer Vision: The Holy Grail Restored (1967), The View over Atlantis (1969), and City of Revelation: On the Proportions and Symbolic Numbers of the Cosmic Temple (1972). These all belong to his early period, as does his role in starting what became the Glastonbury Festival in 1971. Glastonbury’s status as the pagan capital of England, perhaps Europe, is lasting monument to him, and also belongs to the early period. The late period includes his stated admiration for Julius Evola and articles in The Oldie, a publication that lay somewhere to the right of the mainstream Conservative Party. This might seem a conversion, but Thaler argues it was not: being part of the counterculture, as Michell very much was, does not have to mean that one is left wing.

The book starts with two introductory chapters, one of which introduces Traditionalism for readers who do not know it, while the other introduces “alternative theories on sacred place and nature,” an understanding of which is crucial for understanding Michell’s work. Then comes a biographical chapter. This is followed by a chapter on Glastonbury, another on Michell’s “sacred place theory,” and then “Glastonbury as spiritual hub,” which brings the two preceding chapters together.

The book covers Michell, sacred place theory, and Glastonbury convincingly and in depth. Radical Traditionalism is less well covered. Thaler notes in her conclusion that the scope of her study “precluded examining… Michell’s involvement with political Traditionalism, particularly within the frameworks of the European and North American New Right.” This is true. The book also leaves unanswered certain questions about Michell’s religious Traditionalism. Certainly, he identified as a “radical Traditionalist” and admired Evola, but who was more important for him, Evola or William Blake? How much of Evola and of Guénon can be found in his work? In quite what way was he a perennialist? Thaler has advanced our understanding of Michell considerably, but more work still remains to be done.

Simone Weil and René Guénon

Nicolas Bommarito has just published some of notes on Hinduism of the French philosopher Simone Weil (1909–1943, pictured) as Dharma and Detachment: Writings on Indian and Tibetan Thought (Abingdon: Routledge, 2026). In a review of this book, Sunny Kumar notes “During her exile in Marseille in 1940, she [Weil] was introduced to the Gita by René Daumal, an Indologist. On Daumal’s suggestion, she also read René Guénon. Daumal’s and Guénon’s influence can be discerned in Weil’s reading of the Gita and other Hindu texts.” This seems to be Kumar’s own view, as Guénon is not mentioned by Bommarito. Daumal certainly knew and valued Guénon’s works, so Kumar is probably right. The review can be read in the Journal of Hindu Studies (2026) here.

Happy twentieth birthday, blog!

Hard to believe, but this blog is now twenty years old. The first post was dated June 14, 2006, and explained that it was time for the addenda I had been publishing on the companion website to Against the Modern World to take a new form. June 15, 2026 saw the first real post: a book announcement, welcoming Jean-Pierre Laurant’s René Guénon, les enjeux d'une lecture. Since then there have been 536 more posts, an average of about two a month, and 1,209 comments.

The blog has become more popular over time. It took nine years to reach 250,000 page views (in 2015), two more years to reach 500,000 page views (in 2017), six years to add a further 500,000 page views and reach 1,000,000 (in 2023), and finally three years to reach 2,000,000 (in 2026). This reflects both increased interest and the fact that as the years have passed there have been ever more pages for an interested visitor to view.

Over these twenty years, the blog’s audience has become more global. From 2006 to 2015, 45% of visits came from the US, UK and Canada, and from 2006 to 2017, 59% from the US alone. By 2023 the US share had fallen to 38%, and to 37% by 2026. Non-US interest came initially from the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, and Brazil, then (by 2017) especially from the UK and Russia, a pattern little changed in 2023. By 2026, Singapore came in second place after the US, followed by the UK, Brazil, Hong Kong, France, Germany, and Russia. Why the new interest in Singapore and Hong Kong? If you know, please leave a comment.

Traditional Studies in Contemporary Iran

Conference report by Youna Eskandari

An international conference entitled "René Guénon and the Revival of the Primordial Tradition" was held on February 17–18, 2026 at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy (IRIP) in Tehran. Originally founded by Seyyed Hossein Nasr in 1974, the institute still hosts enthusiastic readers of René Guénon, notably Babak Alikhani, the scientific secretary of the conference, who leads an annual seminar on Guénon for Iranian students, and Dr. Esmaeil Radpour, co-organiser of the conference and scholar of Chinese esoteric traditions.

Over two days, the papers explored a remarkable range of themes: the desacralisation of psychology, the symbolism of the Companions of the Cave, orientalism and orientality, counter‑tradition, Traditionalist political theory, initiation and socratic education, the symbolism of theatre, Iranian primordial tradition and Shi'a gnosis, the doctrinal function of Michel Valsan, Chinese esotericism, and even the symbolism of the traditional Iranian instrument, the santur. The full programme is available here.

What struck me most was not the thematic diversity but the epistemological attitude towards Guénon himself. In the Western academic world, any discussion on Guénon is typically marked by external critique, historical contextualisation, or outright dismissal. Scholars feel compelled to distance themselves from his "Traditionalist" positions, to deconstruct his claims, or to reduce him to a footnote of esoteric eccentricity. In Tehran, by contrast, Guénon was not studied externally or critically; his thought was accepted a priori, as a valid framework to be applied, developed, or revived.

As the organisers explicitly stated in the description of the conference published online: "Organizing a conference aimed at clarifying the contributions of the French metaphysician René Guénon is not born out of amusement, but of a deep sense of urgency and necessity." The intent was to "awaken and revitalize… the Iranian civilization by restoring its rightful stature among the diverse civilizations." This objective, they say, can only be realized through the revivification, commentary and elucidation of the works of René Guénon, described as a "great sage of our era." This is no small matter, for this exercise took place in Iran, the land where, as the organisers remind us, Suhrawardî, the master of illuminative metaphysics, expressed in his own terms the idea of the primordial tradition: al-khamîrah al-azaliyyah (the eternal leaven). As the conference organisers wrote: "It does not seem difficult to understand that the oriental metaphysics referred to by René Guénon is fundamentally one with the oriental metaphysics (al-hikmat al-mashriqiyya) of Avicenna—and especially with the illuminative metaphysics (ḥikmat al-ishrâq) of Suhrawardî." One could even say that this redeems the university, or rather elevates it to the true worth of its name, for universitas means "whole, totality, universe." In its very etymology, the university carries the ideal of universality. In Tehran, that ideal was realised, the university fulfilled its finality by being an echo of the primordial Tradition, that Knowledge which embraces the totality of all knowledges in their common principle.

One could thus say this was a profoundly "Oriental" conference, in Guénon's own sense of the word, meaning traditional, and it was accomplished in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The proceedings of the conference are to be published in 2027 in the Institute’s journal, aptly titled Sophia Perennis, additional proof, if any were needed, that Guénon’s thought remains alive in Iran.

Dugin as viewed from the American Left

Bruce Lerro, an adjunct college professor of psychology who describes himself as a libertarian communist, has written a long article on Alexander Dugin’s concept of the ethnos, which you can read here.  It is entitled “From Shaman to Heroes, From Prophets to Traders: Alexander Dugin’s A Russian Eurasian Perspective on Ethnogenesis.” Interestingly, it was published on a website called Socialist Planning Beyond Capitalism.

Lerro asks the question “Why Should You Care?” and answers: 

For socialists, a knowledge of the history of human societies is vital to understand the dynamics of why societies arise and break down. As historical beings we train ourselves to accept the torch of existing social conditions and pass the torch to the next generation to help plant better social conditions. The Atlanticist world of the West is falling apart. The Asian world is rising. While Western anthropology and macrosociology has made some important contributions it has been relatively neglectful of steppe people and has generally looked skeptically on the value of ethnicity and other forms of attachment. This is because capitalist societies need individuals, not groups to be the lowest unit for its economic advertising. Dugin’s work, as shown in this article, supports both ancient forms of attachment and the place of steppe people in social evolution. In the extent to which socialists wish to be Eurasian polarists, we owe it to the world and ourselves understanding of their picture of how societies evolved.

In principle Dugin sees himself as neither left or right, but in generally his reception in the West has very much been on the right, and Lerro's article was republished on Countercurrents (here), which is generally described as alt right. What is interesting is to see the American left taking an interest.