| |
home > books
> magazine reviews >
 TYR
Thomas Wiloch reviews the new periodical edited by Joshua
Buckley, Collin Cleary and Michael Moynihan.
Tyr: Myth, Culture, Tradition
Volume 1, 2002
Joshua Buckley, Collin Cleary and Michael Moynihan, editors
Ultra Publishing (P. O. Box 11736, Atlanta, GA 30355 USA)
2002
ISBN 0-9720292-0-6
ISSN 1538-9413
$16 US/$25 UK
Tyr, a new annual publication named after the Germanic sky god,
"celebrates the traditional myths, culture, and social institutions
of pre-Christian, pre-modern Europe." The journal's preface explains
that Tyr rejects "the modern, materialist reign of 'quantity
over quality,' the absence of any meaningful spiritual values, environmental
devastation, the mechanization and over-specialization of urban life,
and the imperialism of corporate mono-culture, with its vulgar 'values'
of progress and efficiency. It means to yearn for the small, homogeneous
tribal societies that flourished before Christianity - societies in which
every aspect of life was integrated into a holistic system."
Anyone who rejects the modern world and its various forms of corrosive
materialism will find kindred spirits in Tyr. Which is not to
say that some of the ideas expressed in Tyr are not on the extreme
edge of things. But whether you agree that the Unabomber's manifesto has
merit or that paganism is a suitable religious tradition is really beside
the point. What the editors are trying to do is draw together several
different strands of underground thought into a single, not-yet-coherent
position. As such, Tyr serves as a meeting place for those who
see intriguing commonalities between the environmental, pagan, alternative
music, and occult communities, and between certain political ideas of
both the left and the right. What this gathering of communities may someday
become is still an open question. But the development is well worth watching,
and Tyr will be the place to see it chronicled.
This first issue presents a wide range of fascinating essays by
some of the leading esoteric writers of our time. Among the highlights
are: Michael Moynihan of Blood Axis
writing on 'Divine Traces in the Nibelungenlied', Joscelyn
Godwin, author of Arktos: The Polar Myth, with
an excellent introduction to Italian occultist Julius Evola, Runic
scholar Stephen Edred Flowers on 'The Idea of Integral
Culture', Markus Wolff of Crash Worship
introducing German nature poet Hermann Lons, and Collin
Cleary with an insightful look at Patrick McGoohan's television
masterpiece The Prisoner. Add to this roster some intelligent
pieces by French intellectual Alain de Benoist,
occultist Nigel Pennick, and Annabel Lee
of Blood Axis, an interview with Ian Read of the
group Fire + Ice, and over 80 pages of book and
music reviews. Tyr delivers not only a bountiful supply
of absorbing reading material, but a look at a future in which the
natural order may well become the social order as well.
THOMAS WILOCH - 20 December 2002
|
|
