Foucault's Pendulum

Rating:
Summary: The Occult Tradition Unveiled!
Review: Superstition brings bad luck. - Raymond Smullyan, _5000 B.C._

The conspiracy theory of society . . . comes from abandoning God and then asking: "Who is in his place?" -Karl Popper, _Conjectures and Refutations_.


_Foucault's Pendulum_ by Italian semiotician Umberto Eco is a fascinating novel which combines elements of mystery and suspense with occult knowledge and traditionalist philosophy. I first read this book in high school in the nineties and it has remained one of my favorite books ever since. The story involves several main characters, all intellectuals, who work for a publishing house, Garamond Press. The main character and narrator begins as a student in Italy working on a Ph.D. thesis on the Knights Templar, the medieval society of crusading knights who became very powerful and wealthy bankers and eventually were accused of heresy along with engaging in ghastly rituals and the worship of a human head called the Baphomet. The other two principle protagonists are employed by Garamond Press, and one is a foundling who believes himself to be of Jewish parentage and is extremely fascinated by the Kabbalah, the interpretation of the Torah, and numerology. Eco gently mocks the leftish intellectual scene in Italy during the late sixties and seventies as well as the Marxist and post-modernist philosophies which were popular at the time among intellectuals. One day a mysterious gentleman shows up at Garamond Press and offers his book to be published. This man relates a wild tale involving a secret manuscript he has discovered and which he believes to preserve a hidden tradition from the Knights Templars carried up to the modern day. He argues that a secret society is behind this event, providing many occult links to stonehenge, the Holy Grail, the Druids, ancient heresies, the medieval church, and modern day secret societies. However, the next day this individual shows up dead. This begins a drawn out sequence of events which occur over several years eventually leading to the concoction of a secret Plan by the three principle characters as part of their publishing company's newfound interest in "Diabolicals", self-publishing authors who write on occult and conspiracy topics.

Eco's novel combines elements from African and Brazilian syncretistic religion, Christianity and gnosticism, occultism, Rosicrucianism, secret societies, esoteric political beliefs, legends about the immortal Comte de Saint-Germaine, Satanism, Blavatskian theosophy, freemasonry, the writings of Count Joseph de Maistre and Cretineau-Joly, esoteric conspiracy theories regarding the Jews and Nazism, theories of telluric currents and subterranean realms, the science of Foucault's pendulum, as well as much more. Eco is clearly influenced also by two principle sources, including the book _Holy Blood, Holy Grail_ by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln written in the late 1980's which alleged that Jesus and Mary Magdelene were married and gave birth to a secret bloodline. In addition, Eco is clearly influenced by the traditionalist school of philosophical thought founded by Rene Guenon and politicized by Julius Evola. Finally, Eco's book reveals a unique esoteric political philosophy operating behind the scenes through an organization known as Tres, referred to as synarchy. This system is revealed in the hidden Masters of the World who rule the world through a system of underground tunnels, residing in the center of the world in the subterranean kingdom of Aggartha. This philosophy shows the influence on Eco of the writer Saint Yves d'Alvedrye and also Ferdinand Ossendowski. Synarchy is the secret system by which the Masters of the World seek to control all worldly governments.

As an intellectual adventure story, Eco's novel is very fascinating. It's meaning is revealed on many levels, indicating the fact that Eco's specialization lies in the field of semiotics, the science of the sign. Indeed, all conspiracies and occult doctrines converge in "the Plan" which reveals itself through this novel. Much in this book is true, although it requires special interpretation. That interpretation can only be known by those who are well grounded in philosophy and esoteric tradition.


Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Antidote to the 'DaVinci Code' mania
Review: I was lucky enough to bring this book along through a trip to Paris, Italy, and several of the novel's settings. Visiting sepulchres and reliquary exhibits got a jolt of eerie resonance as I avidly read this book.

Purely captivating, utterly beguiling, and a perfect antidote to all the WalMart pseudo-intellectuals now raving about "The Da Vinci Code" as if such a book had never been written; Eco is always amazing.