Editor’s Note

Introduction to Magic is a complex book that presented numerous hurdles for both translator and editor. A primary example of this can be seen in the Italian title Introduzione alla Magia quale scienza dell’Io (literal translation: “Introduction to Magic as a Science of the I”). The fundamental theme of the book concerns the training and development of this “Io,” a term for which it is difficult to find a suitable English equivalent. The word ego is not an appropriate choice, in part due to connotations from modern psychoanalysis. Use of the English first person “I” as an impersonal noun is awkward, and therefore the best solution was to utilize the term Self, capitalized as a proper noun.

Other obstacles in translation arose from the unusual nature of the book’s contents. The contributors came from various backgrounds and their individual writing styles reflect this. It would be inappropriate to reduce them to one homogeneous prose; the reader will therefore notice inconsistencies among the authors and articles, especially with regard to unique preferences for capitalization, punctuation, and emphasis. We have generally left these idiosyncrasies intact, in order to convey accurately what the original readers of the journal Ur had in front of them.

When dealing with foreign documents (e.g., the Tantric and Buddhist texts, or the Mithraic Ritual) we have not referred to modern translations of these works, but instead have returned to sources closer to those texts that the UR Group used when preparing their own translations.

We have introduced some clarifications to aid the modern reader. Translations are given for most of the Latin words and phrases, and we have also provided transliterations of ancient Greek terms when this serves to illuminate the author’s message (notably in the essay “Knowledge of the Symbol” by “Pietro Negri”).

The footnotes throughout the book are either from the author of a given essay or, when indicated, by the UR Group as a whole (although, as Renato Del Ponte points out in his preface, these notes were most likely written by Evola). We have provided some additional footnotes, which are always indicated as “Editor’s notes.” The precedent for some of these notes comes from the German edition of Introduction to Magic, edited and translated by Dr. H. T. Hansen, to whom we are indebted for allowing us to draw from his work. A grateful acknowledgment is also given to Joscelyn Godwin, who made an immense amount of contributions toward revising and refining the English translation of Introduction to Magic. The degree to which this edition reflects the subtleties of meaning originally invested into the material by the UR Group is largely due to his input.

A piece of advice offered by Dr. Hansen to German readers of the book is equally valid for the present edition: Although much effort has been expended in making this translation as clear as possible, we recommend that it be read using the “ears of the heart,” for a certain freedom of the translation was unavoidable.