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Part 5 of 5 (Part 1 here, Part 4 here)
It must have been in the spring of 1962 that I received a message one afternoon asking me to call at nearby Bow Street Police Station. (“What has she done now?” I thought.) It was a telephone call (I had no telephone in London) from the Immigration Department at Newhaven; they had my friend Maximiani Portas there; she had only £9 in money and had come from India with very odd luggage, and they were not disposed to allow her in. (more…)
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Part 4 of 5 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)
The two rooms on the other side of my landing had stayed empty since I came; sometimes I thought of taking them also, but the 15/- rent deterred me. Now, suddenly [in 1945 or, more likely, 1946], I had a new neighbour; the vanguard of Savitri Devi Mukherji, Veronica Vassar.
When I opened my door to her knock the interior voice — which has spoken to me often — said, “You are going to be very nice — or very nasty.” She was austerely passable in looks, and her clothes were unremarkable. (more…)
Muriel Gantry at Moira Cottage
Photo courtesy of Beryl Cheetham
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Part 3 of 5 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 4 here)
I decided to return to London and chance the bombs; things were quiet enough. An agent in Bow Street handed me the keys of two rooms in Drury Lane.
180 Drury Lane is still there; its six two-room gas-lit tenements are now three expensive flats, but the old shoe-repairer shop, S. Krantz and Son, Est. 1904 is still on the ground floor. (more…)
Muriel Gantry
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Part 2 of 5 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)
I went to Maidenhead; it was probably safe, not far from London, and Ivor Novello lived there.
Since autumn 1937, when he opened in London with his third Drury Lane musical Crest of the Wave, I had seen him at least once a week from the (2/-) gallery and waited for him at the stage door every evening I could. I was not alone, but lived conveniently near, in New Row off St. Martin’s Lane, so it was easy. I was established as a fan by now and he knew my name. He was most kind and considerate to his fans and really seemed to like us. (more…)
Muriel Gantry
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Part 1 of 5 (Part 2 here)
Editor’s Note: The following text is an unpublished “curriculum vitae” by Muriel Gantry (1913–2000), which she prepared in 1995 for Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, who was then writing a biography of her friend Savitri Devi. Goodrick-Clarke also recorded an audio interview with Gantry that has been published at The Savitri Devi Archive. The cover page of this text reads “Curriculum Vitae of Muriel Gantry: All You Ever Wanted to Know and a Great Deal You Probably Didn’t,” and is dated April 19, 1995. (more…)
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The second half of the latest broadcast of Counter-Currents Radio is an Ask Me Anything with Greg Johnson and Gaddius Maximus, and it is now available for download and online listening. (more…)
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Savitri Devi was a philosopher, a religious thinker, and a tireless polemicist and activist for the causes of animal rights, European pagan revivalism, Hindu nationalism, German National Socialism, and — after the Second World War — pan-European racial nationalism. She also sought to found a religion, Esoteric Hitlerism, fusing National Socialism with the Traditionalism of René Guénon and Julius Evola. All told, she was one of the most extraordinary personalities of the 20th century. (more…)
Painting by Charles-Philippe Larivière of the Battle of Montgisard in 1177 (ca. 1842)
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If there ever was a civilization that deserves the name of Renaissance, this was the civilization of the Middle Ages. In its objectivity, its virile spirit, its hierarchical structure, its proud antihumanistic simplicity so often permeated by the sense of the sacred, the Middle Ages represented a return to the origins. — Julius Evola[1] (more…)
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The howling of wolves is one of the most evocative and unsettling sounds on earth, awakening something primordial in the human soul. Among the most intelligent and graceful of terrestrial animals, wolves have been an object of fear and fascination throughout history. While many early societies venerated wolves for their skill at hunting and ferocity in battle, as the world grew tame and domesticated the wolf became a hated vestige of wild nature, an outlaw whose ruthless elimination was necessary to the safety and progress of mankind. (more…)
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From Esotericism, Religion, and Nature (Studies in Esotericism), ed. Arthur Versluis, Claire Fanger, Lee Irwin, and Melinda Phillips (Mankato, Minnesota: North American Academic Press, 2010).
Savitri Devi (1905–1982[1]) was born Maximine Julia Portaz in Lyons, France, of English, Italian, and Greek ancestry.[2] She was a highly gifted and eccentric child. Early on, she embraced vegetarianism and animal rights out of a strong aesthetic revulsion to slaughter and other forms of cruelty to animals. (more…)
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It seems appropriate to announce the rebirth of the Savitri Devi Archive on Savitri Devi’s 116th birthday. The Savitri Devi Archive is a repository for information on the life and work of the philosopher, religious thinker, and activist Savitri Devi, born Maximine Portaz (1905–1982).
Savitri Devi was a unique and brilliant personality. When I first heard of her in 2000, almost none of her books were in print or available at any price. After her death, many of her unpublished writings and letters were lost due to carelessness, indifference, and hostility. (more…)
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Savitri Devi was a philosopher, a religious thinker, and a tireless polemicist and activist for the causes of animal rights, European pagan revivalism, Hindu nationalism, German National Socialism, and — after the Second World War — pan-European racial nationalism. She also sought to found a religion, Esoteric Hitlerism, fusing National Socialism with the Traditionalism of René Guénon and Julius Evola. All told, she was one of the most extraordinary personalities of the 20th century. (more…)