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In the 60's, certain circles interested in the idea of
an Order turned
to Julius Evola to ask him to give a
broad outline of it: 'L'Ordine della Corona di Ferro',
whose content, it should
be emphasised, is strictly
meant for the potential members of an elite and NOT AT
ALL for others, was published in 'Arthos'
at the
beginning of the 70's.
THE ORDER OF THE IRON WREATH
At the downfall of the Roman empire, the first
ascetic
Orders were born of the need to maintain and defend
spiritual values in the middle of the political chaos
and
the moral disintegration of the time.
With the appearance of a similar situation, the deep
crisis that has been
affecting the modern world, it
seems appropriate to set up something similar, and the
Order of the Iron Wreath has been
proposed. This
designation is not related to the ancient Italian
wreath. It was suggested by the idea of a sovereignty
to
be defined in spiritual terms, and with reference
to the metal that is the best symbol of strength,
temper and inflexibility,
which must be features of
character of the men of the Order for the defense of
Spirit.
1. The men of the Order
have the duty, first of all,
of being living testimonies to the values of pure
Spirit, understood as a transcendent
reality, above
any merely human value, any naturalistic, 'social' and
'individualistic' bond, and of defending and asserting
them
in appropriate forms.
2. The devastations that characterise the modern world
impose on the men of the Order the
responsibility for
the assumption and the assertion of such values as
distinct from more or less historically conditioned
institutions
and forms. The men of the Order, noting
that at the present time there is no political or
social system of a legitimate
nature, true to higher
principles, keep aloof from all these. They could be
present, and even accept offices or positions,
in such
institutions, but for the sole purpose of exerting an
influence of a transcendent nature, whether
direct
or indirect. As for the distance to be kept
from every particular religious form, since the
growing decay and secularisation
of these forms is
self-evident, any such participation must be justified
by the acknowledgment of basic values free
from any
conditioning.
3.Leaving this aside, the most important thing is that
the men of the Order act on an
existential level
through their presence, through absolute adherence to
truth, uprightness, ability to subordinate the
person
to the work, inflexibility and rigour of the idea,
indifference towards any outward recognition and any
material
benefit. Recognising the correspondence
between the interior and exterior human form, it is
desirable that the men of
the Order be chosen from
among those without physical defects, and even from
among those of imposing mien. Besides,
this was often
a rule in the knightly orders.
4. There are distortions specific to modern society,
and to take
a stand against them is a natural and
essential premise of adherence to the Order.
What is to be criticised above all
in this connection
is any form of democracy and egalitarism, to which
must be opposed a spiritually founding principle
of
authority and hierarchy.
Any proletarian and collectivist 'social' myth must
be fought even more. Contempt
for the so-called
'working classes' is an essential point (1). The men
of the Order oppose any cronyism, any climbing
of
inferior forces to power and any concept of rank,
privilege and power defined in terms of money and
wealth. The
task of the men of the Order is to assert
the supremacy of heroic, aristocratic and traditional
spiritual values against the practical materialism,
petty immoralism and utilitarianism of our times.
On every occasion they will stand up for these
values and oppose and unmask what is in
contradiction with them.
5.
The Order recognises Truth as the most powerful
weapon for its action. The Lie, the ideological
falsification, the suggestion
and the anaesthetising
action exerted on every ability of higher sensitivity
and recognition are actually at the root
of the
general work of subversion and distortion in the
present world.
6. The center of gravity of the Order
lies neither in
any particular religious confession nor in any
political movement, and moreover, in its spirit, the
Order
stands aloof from all that pretends to be
'culture' in the modern, intellectualistic and profane
sense. The foundation
of the man of the Order is on
the contrary, in the first place, a way of being ; in
the second place, a given vision
of life, as its
expression ; in the third place, the elements of
style for a personal attitude of rectitude and
coherence in life, together with a norm for
the mastery of action.
7.
Currents and bodies of ideas may be supported,
inspired or favoured, according to their opportune
nature in relation
to any given situation, by the
Order, but without its identifying itself with them.
It will only aim at acting on the
plane of causes, not
on the plane of effects and exteriority.
8. The whole Order will be behind each man of the
Order.
Each member will have the duty of supporting,
by any means, any other member, not as an
individual, but as an exponent
of the organisation.
Each member of the Order should turn himself into a
center of influence in any given circle, and
the unity
of the Order will express, confirm and strengthen the
natural harmony potentially existing between these
elements,
cells or centers of action equally
internally orientated, shaped by the same idea.
About qualifications
1.Only
men of an age not less than 20, free from
physical defects and from anything that could be
prejudicial to natural prestige
on the psycho-somatic
plane can be admitted in the Order.
2.The Order presupposes individualities who, having at
least
potentially the same inner qualification,
vocation and mentality, are already at various stages
along the same line
of spiritual awareness.
Belonging to the Order, however, requires a precise
and sworn pledge, attesting to
readiness to put in the
front line, in any field, the idea of the Order's aim,
as opposed to any sentimental, emotional
and familial
bond, to personal preferences, to material interests,
or to social ambitions. The men of the Order are
asked for no renunciation, but for an inner detachment
- that is to say an inner freedom - regarding their
own situation
in the outer world, whatever it may be.
3.Belonging to a given religious community or
denomination is not incompatible
with belonging to the
Order, provided that the latter is guaranteed primacy
in case of conflict.
4. It is wished
that, in the formulation of higher
principle, the men of the Order aspire to concordant
realisations, in the sense of
seeking contacts
with superior states of being that have constituted
the object of operative disciplines of initiatic
nature.
About
distinctions of rank and organisational form
1.The Order has two aspects, an internal one and an
external one. With
reference to the first aspect, all
the members of the Order take on an equal dignity
corresponding to the denomination
or title of 'Men of
the Order of the Iron Wreath'. Organisationally, the
Order is ruled and led by a Council of the
Masters of
the Order, composed of seven members, with a 'Grand
Master of the Order'. General tasks of directive,
realisatory
and disciplinary nature, to be gradually
defined during each session of the Council, are to be
shared out among such
members.
2.The internal side of the order corresponds to the
purely doctrinal domain and consists of three degrees,
to
be related to the state of spiritual fulfillment of
each individual. This articulation does not
necessarily have a bearing
upon the domain we have
just referred to in the previous point, apart from the
clause that at least four of the members
of the
Council of the Masters must also take on the
highest degree of the internal hierarchy. This and the
work on
the plane of knowledge and distinctions of
rank according to traditional criteria will be dealt
with in a separate chapter.
3.
It is up to the Council to decide any admission to
the Order, with the choice and the direct investiture
of distinguished
elements that are judged worthy. 'Ex
officio' memberships are not to be excluded: given
personalities can be declared
as belonging to the
Order in every respect, even though they have no
apparent relation to it.
4.Belonging to
the Order does not entail financial
obligation. Bequests and donations will be allowed.
The Council will have them at
its disposal, with
exclusive reference to the impersonal aims of the
Order.
5.The
title of 'Man of the Order' is potentially
hereditary in the sense that whoever possesses it can
decide that it can
be transmitted to the firstborn of
his family, the ambition being that the tradition of
his blood be also that of a
given spiritual form and
influence, in the continuation of the same action.
6.The members of the Council are the
founders of the
Order. The Council itself will decide on the succession
in any case where a death or incompatibility occurs
regarding any member. Each of them has the right to
propose to whoever he wishes to transmit his function
and to be the continuator of his work. The Council will
decide on this point.
7.The Council has essentially the features of
a
'Society of Men' (Mannerbund). It has thus no sympathy
for all that belongs merely to the realm of the
family.
8.The
members of this society can follow a line of
sexual freedom, provided that this does not mean
subservience to sex.
9.Though
women cannot belong to the Order as members,
young women could constitute a 'third-class' formation
at the disposal
of the men of the Order, for communitarian
and not possessive, use (see what Plato considered, in his
ideal State, for the warlike caste), measures being taken to
prevent fecundation(2).
(1)In order to fully understand the meaning
of this
declaration, the reader is advised to compare it to
what Evola recently wrote in the appendix to the
latest
edition of 'Gli Uomini e le Rovine', Roma,
1972, IV: 'Tabu dei nostri tempi, 2: la classe
lavoratrice', ('Taboos of
Our Time, 2: The Working
Classes'), pp. 279-282: "Today, the worker appears to
us only as a 'seller of manpower', a
sale from which
he tries to draw all the profit possible, without
scruples, aiming only at a bourgeois life."
(2)
These assertions may appear odd or at least
surprising to most readers. However, the signification
of sex in the past
in a non-'profane', but normal,
context closely akin to the principles of tradition,
should be borne in mind in this
respect. In
particular, the author certainly refers here to the
operative sexually-based magic that occurred in
Antiquity
or even in recent times in groups such as
the Myriam of Kremmerz or Crowley's O.T.O. We also
refer interested readers
to Chapter VI of Evola's
'Metafisica del Sesso', 'Il sesso nel dominio
dell'iniziazione e della Magia'.
Copyright © 2003 Thompkins &
Cariou
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