The Magic Door is a study on myth, magic, and metamorphosis in the Italic (Italian) branch of the Western Inner Traditions. The Magic Door surveys a wide spectrum of esoteric traditions and explores the heroes, schools, and teachings that have provided the foundations for initiation in Italy, from Roman times to the present, in the broader context of an Occidental Tradition.

The overarching themes that constitute this tradition include a perennial Western Empire (Hesperia), Atavistic Resurgences, Heroic Spirit, and internal practices specific to the Ars Italica: Magia, Amatoria, Memoria, Imaginatio, and Insomnium. Initiation in this context, from the Latin initiatus, refers to the individual inner journey to identify and integrate with the Principle (Self, Soul, Numen) and the corresponding Tradition (Olympia, Heroi, Aeneades). In this sense, initiation - like Aeneas’ quest to reveal his future by finding the roots (principle) - refers to a process of self-discovery, identity, and tradition.

Summary:

Aeneas (archetypal hero of initiation) Heroic Initiation through the River Mnemosyne Spiritual Kingship Hesperia Myths and Symbols of Ancient Rome Vestal Virgins & the She-Wolf Golden Bough and the Italic Tree of Life Return of the Nostoi (Olympians) Pythagorean Brotherhoods and the Underground Basilica of Porta Maggiore Cicero and the Art of Dreaming Magical Realism of Virgil Ovid’s Ars Amatoria Apuleius and the Art of Metamorphoses Symmachus, Last of the Olympians Macrobius’ Commentary on the Dream of Scipio Dante and the Fedeli d'Amore Revival of the Platonic Academy in Renaissance Florence Marsilio Ficino on Divine Love Pico della Mirandola on the Christian Cabbala Julius Pomponius Laetus and the Roman Academy Francesco Colonna and the Strife of Love in a Dream Hermes Redividus in Ludovico Lazzarelli and Giovanni Mercurio Correggio Renaissance Origins of the Tarot Giordano Bruno on the Art of Magic Tommasso Campanella on the Practice of Philosophical Ecstasy Cesare Della Riviera on the Magical World of Heroes The Magic Door of Rome Chiron the Centaur Cagliostro and the Arcana Arcanorum Giambattista Vico and the Restoration of Ancient Italic Wisdom Domenico Bocchini, Giustiniano Lebano, and the Neapolitan Mysterio Sophic School Giuliano Kremmerz and the Fraternity of Myriam Julius Evola and the UR Group Ekatlos and the Great ORMA Viennese Circle of Kronos Marco Daffi and the Rite of Andromeda Giammaria and the Body of Peers Commentary on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras Recapitulation of Orphic and Bacchic Initiation