¶7 There are others who wish to attach themselves to ‘Celtism’,1 and, because they thus appeal to something that is less distant from us, it may seem that what they propose is less unrealisable; yet, where will they find today ‘Celtism’ in a pure state, still endowed with sufficient vitality for it to be possible to use it as a point of support? For we are not speaking of archaeological or merely ‘literary’ reconstructions, such as we have seen some; something quite different is involved. That very recognisable and still usable Celtic elements have come down to us through various intermediaries is true; but these elements are very far from representing the entirety of a tradition,2 and, surprisingly enough, in the very countries where it once lived, it is now even more completely ignored than those of many civilisations that were always foreign to those same countries; is there not something here that should give one pause, at least for those not entirely dominated by a preconceived idea? We shall go further: in all cases like this, where one is dealing with the vestiges left by vanished civilisations, it is possible to understand them truly only by comparison with what is similar in traditional civilisations that are still alive;3 and the same can be said of the Middle Ages themselves,4 where so many things are encountered whose meaning is lost for modern Westerners. This contact with traditions whose spirit still subsists is even the only means of revivifying what is still capable of being revived; and this is, as we have already indicated very often, one of the greatest services that the East can render to the West.5 We do not deny the survival of a certain ‘Celtic spirit’, which can still manifest itself in diverse forms, as it has already done at different epochs; but when we are assured that there still exist spiritual centres preserving integrally the druidic tradition,6 we await proof of this, and, until further notice, this seems to us very doubtful, if not altogether implausible.
Summary
Guénon examines attempts to attach themselves to ‘Celtism’. Although this seems less unrealisable than Atlantis, he asks where today one can find a pure and still living Celtism. He is not speaking of archaeological or literary reconstructions. Recognisable Celtic elements have indeed survived, but they are far from representing an entire tradition, and this tradition is now more completely ignored than foreign civilisations. Guénon argues that the vestiges of vanished civilisations can only be understood by comparison with still-living traditions, and that contact with these is the only way to revivify what can be revived — this is a great service the East can render to the West. He does not deny the survival of a certain ‘Celtic spirit’, but doubts that there still exist spiritual centres preserving the druidic tradition integrally.
General notes
- « celtisme » — Rendered as ‘Celtism’. By ‘Celtism’, Guénon means not the academic study of Celtic antiquities, but the claim to restore or revivify a properly Celtic (druidic) tradition as a complete spiritual path. In the occultist and neo-pagan circles of the 19th and early 20th centuries, various groups (such as the ‘Gorsedd’ of Welsh bards or certain Félibrige circles) attempted to reconstruct a ‘Celtism’ often tinged with romanticism and nationalism, without any real initiatic transmission. Guénon, in The Spiritist Fallacy (1923) and Oriental Metaphysics (1939), denounces these artificial reconstructions, while recognising the authentic value of Celtic elements surviving in fragmentary form in folklore, medieval Christian symbolism, or certain Masonic rituals. ↩︎
- l’intégralité d’une tradition — Rendered as ‘the entirety of a tradition’. Guénon distinguishes between ‘traditional elements’ (myths, symbols, rites or isolated customs) and a complete ‘tradition’, which rests on a central metaphysical principle, a coherent doctrine, an initiatic method and a hierarchical social organisation (priestly caste, sacred royalty, etc.). A fragmentary element, even if authentic, cannot by itself revivify a traditional body without being reinserted into its original context, which requires a living transmission and not mere erudition. ‘Archaeological or literary reconstructions’ therefore remain dead for lack of this organic plenitude. ↩︎
- les civilisations traditionnelles qui sont encore vivantes — Rendered as ‘traditional civilisations that are still alive’. Guénon refers here primarily to the Hindu (through sanātana dharma), Islamic (especially in its Sufi esotericism), Far Eastern (Taoism, Confucianism and Chan/Zen Buddhism) civilisations and, secondarily, to certain Jewish (Kabbalah) or Eastern Orthodox Christian (Hesychasm) currents. These civilisations have preserved an unbroken initiatic chain and a pure metaphysics, which makes it possible to ‘decipher’ by analogy the vestiges of extinct traditions (Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Celtic, etc.). Guénon calls this method ‘symbolic comparison’ or ‘analogical reading’; it rests on the transcendental unity of all orthodox traditions (sophia perennis). ↩︎
- le moyen âge lui-même — Rendered as ‘the Middle Ages themselves’. Guénon considers the Western Middle Ages (before the rupture of the 14th century) as a period still impregnated with the traditional spirit, despite its progressive decay since the end of the Satya-Yuga. Gothic architecture, scholasticism (especially Thomas Aquinas and Meister Eckhart), medieval alchemy, chivalry and cathedrals bear an integral symbolism that moderns no longer know how to read. However, this medieval tradition was already a ‘derived’ form ‘adapted’ to a particular sub-cycle; its authentic understanding therefore also requires illumination by the still-living Eastern traditions. Guénon criticises both ‘Neo-Thomism’ which freezes scholasticism into an immobile dogma, and ‘medieval romanticism’ which dreams of a nostalgic and literary return without initiation. ↩︎
- l’Orient puisse rendre à l’Occident — Rendered as ‘the East can render to the West’. Guénon does not speak here of an empirical geographical ‘East’ (China, India, Japan), but of what he sometimes calls the Eternal East or the Spiritual East, that is, the civilisations that have preserved the connection with the transcendent principle. The service that the East renders to the West is not to provide it with exotic doctrines to consume, but to offer it a mirror in which the West can recognise its own forgotten tradition. This service does not consist of an ‘Orientalisation’ of the West, but of a restitutio: giving back to the West the interpretive keys (symbolic, metaphysical and initiatic) enabling it to reintegrate its own Christian and medieval tradition. Guénon develops this thesis in The Crisis of the Modern World (1927) and in Insights into Christian Esotericism (1954). ↩︎
- des centres spirituels conservant intégralement la tradition druidique — Rendered as ‘spiritual centres preserving integrally the druidic tradition’. Guénon here targets the allegations of certain occultist circles (notably those issuing from British ‘Neo-Druidism’, from Eirwen’s ‘Brotherhood of the Druids’, or from certain Continental ‘Celtisant’ circles) which claimed to possess an unbroken transmission from the ancient druids. For Guénon, genuine druidic initiation disappeared with the forced Christianisation of the Celtic lands (6th-9th centuries), even though symbolic elements may have taken refuge in certain craft guilds or in folklore. He demands effective ‘proof’ of this transmission (initiatic chain, coherent doctrine, living rites), which he judges ‘very doubtful’ in the absence of any convincing evidence. ↩︎