John Michell, Radical Traditionalism, and The Emerging Politics of The Pagan New Right. - Amy Hale - Academia - Edu

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by Amy Hale
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[The Pomegranate 13.1 (2011) 77-97] doi: 10.1558/pome.v13i1.77
ISSN 1528-0268 (Print) ISSN 1743-1735 (Online)
Hale_John_Michell.pdf
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John Michell, Radical Traditionalism, and the Emerging Politics of the Pagan New Right
Amy Hale
amyhale93@gmail.com
Abstract
Although the legacy and work of John Michell is frequently associated with a culturally liberal neo-tribalism, certain aspects of Michells thought can be, and have been, interpreted as an esoteric extension of more explicitly right-wing political positions, ones which are currently convergent with the political subcultures surrounding the European New Right both in Europe and also among newly emerging right-wing groups in the US. This essay examines the ways in which the work of John Michell is resonant with many of the philosophies of the European New Right, and how in his nal years and after his death new markets for his work are emerg ing in the various subcultures associated with right-wing Paganism.
The current Earth Mysteries movement in the United Kingdom has been popularly associated with neo-tribalism, New Age travelers, environmentalists, hippies, Pagans, and eccentrics. Many people would consider these groups to be broadly leftist in political orientation, and in fact, John Michell, the man responsible for popularizing British Earth Mysteries in the 1960s and 1970s has long been portrayed as the champion of the free -loving, free-thinking hippies. 1 However, upon closer look, many aspects of Michells thought can be and have been interpreted as an esoteric extension of more explicitly right-wing political positions, ones which are currently convergent with the political subcultures surrounding the European New Right both in Europe and also among newly emerging right-wing groups in the United States. That this convergence should occur should not be a complete surprise, as some features of the British Earth Mysteries movement have a foun-
1. Paul Screeton, John Michell: from Atlantis to Avalon (England: Alternative Albion Press, 2010), 16, 68.
Equinox Publishing Ltd 2010, 1 Chelsea Manor Studios, Flood Street, London SW3 5SR.
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of the East, in Hinduism or Islam or in Orthodox Christianity. Traditionalists critique modern society as deeply degraded, chaotic, and corrupt, and argue that only through a return to traditional social structures, values, and belief systems can the world be redeemed and returned to the state of divine order. Traditionalism, however, has a number of different iterations; it is hardly monolithic. The philosophies of Gunon and Evola, for instance, diverge in terms of their political applications. Gunon, for example has been much more inuential in the development of modern Islam, while Evola has provided many of the intellectual seeds for the European New Right and other more overtly fascist subcultures, probably as a result of
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John Michell, Radical Traditionalism, and The Emerging Politics of The Pagan New Right. - Amy Hale - Academia - Edu

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[The Pomegranate 13.1 (2011) 77-97] doi: 10.1558/pome.v13i1.77

ISSN 1528-0268 (Print) ISSN 1743-1735 (Online)

The Pomegranate 13.1 (2011)