Why does the alt-right seems fascinated with Savitri Devi, a fascist devotee who made a strong contribution to the development of esoteric fascism? Esoteric fascism is a subject that has long been shunned by serious studies (except few). However, in light of the recent revival of spirituality among the alt-right – for example, esoteric Kekism, the Cult of Kek, Shadilay, and alt-right figures ( such as Greg Johnson) promoting the legends of Savitri Devi – esoteric fascism can no longer be considered trivial in terms of understanding the true depth of the contemporary radical right.
The key bastions of the radical right (such as the dark web Chan sites, conspiracy theories such as QAnon, and WWG1WGA) are clearly based on emotional dynamics that cannot be grasped through a cognitive-rational understanding of human experience. The reason for this is the unsolvable conflict which Taylor explains as ‘the objective metaphysical structure of the mind-independent world’. The conspiratorial dynamics of the radical right are being laid bare through the arcane fascinations of the alt-right with its newly created political spirituality; on a positive note, such spiritual fascinations allow empirical analysis of their belief systems and rational purposes.
Savitri Devi, often photographed wearing traditional Indian attire, is the pseudonym of Maximiani Portas, a woman born in France to an English mother and a French father of Greek descent. At the University of Lyon, she wrote a thesis on the ideas of Theophilos Kairis, a Greek revolutionary who fought against the Ottoman Empire. She was a gifted scholar but fell into what could be called an eccentric (and ultimately problematic) quest to find deeper meaning in life. (more...)
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