The articles that comprise Symbols of the Sacred Science appeared in a number of French journals and were only collected after the author’s death. Though many of his themes, such as those of the Grail, the Tree of Life, and the Center of the World, are dealt with in other books, the present volume constitutes a kind of ‘bibliography’ of books Guénon found neither time nor pressing call to write, for nearly every article is so pregnant with meaning that it could have been expanded into an independent work. But the same thread of symbolic exegesis woven here into so rich a tapestry does also run through many of Guenon’s other books, including Traditional Forms and Cosmic Cycles, The King of the World, and The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times. As traditionalist scholar Roger Maridort writes: ‘The traditional cosmological knowledge to be found in these works constitutes a sum-total of such knowledge that has no equivalent in any language.’ And we might add that, drawing upon a wide-ranging knowledge of mythology and religious symbolism, and a profound grasp of metaphysical truth, Symbols of the Sacred Science moves at a different level than most of the works Robert Graves, Joseph Campbell, and Carl Jung and his followers, whose commentaries are restricted largely to psychological and socio-historical themes.

Symbols of Sacred Science-Table of Contents
Traditional Symbolism and Some of Its General Applications
1 The Reform of the Modern Mentality
2 Word and Symbol
3 The Sacred Heart and the Legend of the Holy Grail
4 The Holy Grail
5 Tradition and the ‘Unconscious’
6 The Science of Letters (‘Ilm al-huruf)
7 The Language of the Birds

Symbols of the Center and of the World
8 The Idea of the Center in the Traditions of Antiquity
9 Symbolic Flowers
10 The Triple Precinct of the Druids
11 The Guardians of the Holy Land
12 The Land of the Sun
13 The Zodiac and the Cardinal Points
14 The Tetraktys and the Square of Four
15 A Hieroglyph of the Pole
16 The Black Heads
17 The Letter ‘G’ and the Swastika

Symbols of Cyclic Manifestation
18 Some Aspects of the Symbolism of Janus
19 The Hieroglyph of Cancer
20 Seth
21 The Significance of Carnivals
22 Some Aspects of the Symbolism of the Fish
23 The Mysteries of the Letter Nun
24 The Wild Boar and the Bear

Some Symbolic Weapons
25 Thunderbolts
26 Symbolic Weapons
27 The Sword of Islam (Sayf al-Islam)
28 The Symbolism of Horns

The Symbolism of the Forms of the Cosmos
29 The Cave and the Labyrinth
30 The Heart and the Cave
31 The Mountain and the Cave
32 The Heart and the World Egg
33 The Cave and the World Egg
34 The Exit from the Cave
35 The Solstitial Gates
36 The Symbolism of the Zodiac Among the Pythagoreans 37 The Solstitial Symbolism of Janus
38 Concerning the Two Saint Johns
The Symbolism of Building
39 The Symbolism of the Dome
40 The Dome and The Wheel
41 The Narrow Gate
42 The Octagon
43 The Cornerstone
44 Lapsit exillis
45 Al-Arkan
46 Gathering What is Scatterred
47 The Black and The White
48 Black Stone and Cubic Stone
49 Black Stone, Hewn Stone

Axial Symbolism and Symbolism of Passage
50 Symbols of Analogy
51 The World Tree
52 The Tree and The Vajra
53 The Tree of Life and The Draught of Immortality
54 The Symbolism of the Ladder
55 The Eye of the Needle
56 Traversing the Waters
57 The Seven Rays and The Rainbow
58 Janua Coeli
59 Kala-mukha
60 Light & Rain
61 The Chain of the Worlds
62 The Roots of Plants
63 The Symbolism of the Bridge
64 The Bridge and The Rainbow
65 The Chain of Union
66 Frameworks and Labyrinths
67 The ‘Sign of Four’
68 Bonds & Knots

The Symbolism of the Heart
69 Radiating Heart and Flaming Heart
70 Heart and Brain
71 The Sacred Heart Emblem in an American Secret Society
72 The All-Seeing Eye
73 The Mustard Seed
74 The Ether in the Heart
75 The Divine City

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