Studies in Freemasonry and the Compagnonnage

Rene Guenon (1886-1951) was one of the great luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of intellectual fashion. His extensive writings, now finally available in English, are a providential treasure-trove for the modern seeker: while 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, they direct the reader also 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. Studies in Freemasonry and the Compagnonnage is both an attempt to rediscover the lost roots of Masonry and a fascinating look into the many controversies swirling around the subject of Masonry in serious intellectual circles during the first half of the twentieth century. It must also be classed, along with Symbols of Sacred Science, Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power, Traditional Forms and Cosmic Cycles, The Esoterism of Dante, Insights into Christian Esoterism and Insights into Islamic Esoterism and Taoism-not to mention related sections in many of his other books-as one of Rene Guenon's masterful excursions into esoteric myth, symbolism, and secret history. Freemasonry may indeed be, as Guenon ultimately concluded, a largely degenerated and thus no longer strictly 'operative' offshoot of a true initiatory lineage; yet its symbolism, like that of the original Rosicrucians, remains profound, traditional, and therefore ultimately legitimate. And given that the 'Spirit bloweth where it listeth', it is always possible that symbolism of this order may awaken in a receptive soul intimations of the Truth and the Way, which can be of inestimable of value in 'the path to the Path', the quest for a living initiatory spirituality.

Review :
"Guénon established the language of sacred metaphysics with a rigor, breadth, and intrinsic certainty that compel recognition as a standard of comparison for the twentieth century." -Jean Borella "Guénon gave proof of a universality of understanding that for centuries had had no parallel in the Western world." -Frithjof Schuon "It was Guénon who taught me to seek and love the truth above all else, and to be unsatisfied with anything else." -Fr Seraphim Rose "Encountering Guénon's work is akin to being struck by lightning: a dazzling initiation into a hitherto unknown way of seeing reality that reclaims the original integrity of the human condition." -Samuel Bendeck Sotillos "Guénon's mixture of arcane learning, metaphysics, and scathing cultural commentary is a continent in itself, untouched by the polluted tides of modernity." -Jocelyn Godwin "Guénon was an unsurpassed master of the science of symbolism." -Martin Lings "Guénon reaffirmed the values that constitute the only sound basis for living a life with dignity and purpose, or forming of a civilization worthy of the name." -Philip Sherrard "Guénon was one of the greatest prophets of our time, whose voice is even more important today than when he was alive." -Huston Smith "No modern European writer was more significant than René Guénon, who expounded the universal metaphysical tradition that is the indispensable basis for any civilization deserving to be so called." -A. K. Coomaraswamy "Guénon's works are such potent metaphysical attacks on the downward drift of Western civilization as to make all other contemporary critiques seem half-hearted by comparison." -Jacob Needleman