Sacred Web will cease publication after issue 50
Sacred Web 50
Editorial:
On Sovereignty and Stewardship
By M. Ali Lakhani
The passing of Queen Elizabeth and the accession of her successor, King Charles, have occasioned public discussion about the meaning and relevance of the monarchy.The Editorial considers this issue from the perspective of the metaphysical origins of the Monarch’s role as the Earthly Sovereign and Vicegerant of the Heavenly Sovereign. It also explains how all authority is rooted in the sovereignty of the Spirit, and in its concomitant obligations of stewardship, arguing that their linkage is vital for addressing the challenges of our times. Read more...
A Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II
This Tribute is excerpted from private correspondence with the Editor. Read more...
Note on the Cover Illustration: The Symbolism of the Crown
By Nigel Jackson
Articles
René Guénon’s The Crisis of the Modern World Revisited
By Patrick Laude
The publication of The Crisis of the Modern World in 1927 set the parameters of traditionalist thinking. Since then, this book has been a reference for those who strive to understand the darkening of the horizon of our world, as it moves away from Guénon’s ‘metaphysical principles’. The matter, however, is not simply to be reflexively ‘against the modern world’. This, according to Guénon’s principles themselves, would be allowing the modern world a ‘reality’ it does not hold, since it is ultimately an ‘illusion’. It would be forgetting, moreover, that some of its components may function, sometimes against the grain of its own delusions, as seeds of spiritual regeneration in the unfolding of cosmic and human history. So,what can we learn from this book almost a century after its publication? The essay addresses this. Read more...
Stairway to Heaven: Sacred Art, The Middle Ages, and The Threefold Spiritual Function of the Gothic Cathedral
By Adib Faiz
This article explores the transformative impact of sacred art, with specific reference to the Gothic cathedral. It argues that the Gothic cathedral’s spiritual function operated on three levels or ‘modes’: didactic, non‐ didactic and experiential. While the didactic mode communicates easily intelligible stories and concepts, the non‐didactic mode crystallises complex doctrines into concrete forms. The experiential mode is closely tied to the notion of pilgrimage, with artistic elements being arranged to generate inner transformation. The article examines these three modes within the socio‐historical context of the British Isles in the High Middle Ages, with particular attention being given to Canterbury and Lincoln Cathedral. Read more...
My Last Lecture
By James S. Cutsinger
As a professor struggles to write a lecture for his students, something he thinks of as ‘a professorial last will and testament,’ he receives a welcome imaginary (or perhaps not so imaginary) visitor in the form of his own intellectual mentor — Socrates.This piece was penned by Professor Cutsinger in 2014, years before the diagnosis of the illness to which he recently succumbed, and it now has a poignancy greater than he might have anticipated. It displays the qualities that made Cutsinger such a beloved teacher — his playful charm, wisdom, analytic and teaching skills, and, like Socrates, his intellectual ‘midwifery.’ Read more...
Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah’s Aphorisms: Some New Translations
By Mohammed Rustom
The Egyptian Shadhiliyyah Sufi master, Ibn ‘Ata’Allah Al‐Iskandari (1259 – 1309), is best known for his Book of Wisdom (Kitab al-Hikam), a treatise on the Sufi Path, conveyed largely through an accessible aphoristic style that has made it a much‐treasured text through the centuries. In these new translations of selected aphorisms by a modern‐day Sufi, the reader can rediscover their wisdom and appeal. Read more...
The Wisdom of Sidi Mansur
By Fatima Jane Casewit
Sidi Mansur was an Australian associate of Martin Lings. For many years he was a horticulturist who lived in Ourika Valley, south of Marrakesh in Morocco. Fatima Jane Casewit, who knew Sidi Mansur in Morocco has excerpted some of his writings on metaphysics, traditional psychology and epistemology. Read more...
In Memoriam
Marty Glass (1938–2022)
A tribute by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, and a poem by Charles Upton
Book Reviews
Charles Upton: The Way Forward for Perennialism: After the Antinomianism of Frithjof Schuon
Reviewed by Joseph Fitzgerald
Patrick Laude: Surrendering to the Self: Ramana Maharshi’s Message for the Present
Reviewed by Fatima Jane Casewit
Poetry
A Suite of Six Poems based on Works of Art
By M. Ali Lakhani
A View of Mount Fuji (After Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’, from ‘Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji’)
The Tower of Babel (After a Painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger)
Judith and Holofernes (After the painting ‘Judith I’ by Gustav Klimt)
Christ and His Betrayer (After ‘The Betrayal of Christ’/‘Kiss of Judas’ fresco by Giotto)
Chiaroscuro (After Caravaggio’s ‘The Incredulity of Saint Thomas’)
Pietà (After the Vatican sculpture by Michelangelo)
Closing Note
A Closing Note and Appreciation from the Editor
