UR Group was an Italian esotericist association, founded around 1927 by intellectuals including Julius Evola, Arturo Reghini and Giovanni Colazza for the study of Traditionalism and Magic.[1][2] They published monthly series of issues in UR (1927–28) and KRUR (1929) journals, reprinted in the three volumes of the book Introduzione alla Magia quale Scienza dell'Io [Introduction to Magic as Science of the Self] in 1955 and 1971.[3]
Julius Evola was the first editor of the magazine UR. The size of the Group has remained hidden but it is estimated between twelve and fifteen people.[8] Evola rapidly expanded his influence on the Group's magazine,[5] to the point of ousting Arturo Reghini and his disciple Giulio Parise from the management at the end of 1928. Strong personal disagreements with Parise had in fact led to a split in the group itself, after which, in January 1929, Evola founded a new magazine called KRUR.[9]
Reghini's support for Freemasonry would prove a bone of contention for Evola, who accused him of wanting to put the magazine under the direct control of the Grand Orient of Italy.[10]
The UR Group declared itself independent of esoteric schools or tendencies formed in modern and contemporary times, referring, if anything, to a universal Tradition prior to particular doctrinal forms. In addition to Hermetists and Kremmerzians, were also accepted within it some Catholics and a significant component of Steinerians,[11] whose anthroposophy undoubtedly inspires most of the members of the Group.[12]
The name of the group comes from the phonetic expression u-r, existing in the Chaldean and in the Runic with the meaning of fire and bull or ram respectively, as well as a prefix "ur-" in German to indicate something primal, ancestral.[15]
In the magazines, expressions of the works within the Ur Group, the authors of the articles signed themselves with a pseudonym, because they preferred to spread their thought rather than advertise their own person. The magazine's director was Julius Evola as it appears on the 1927 cover; together with the "curators" Pietro Negri (alias Arturo Reghini) and Giulio Parise in the cover of 1928; again and only Evola in 1929, when the magazine's name was changed to KRUR.[9]
Each of the three publication years corresponds to one of the three volumes of the work Introduction to Magic as Science of the Ego reprinted in 1955 and 1971.[3]
Several hermetic-alchemical texts such as the Turba philosophorum, or Gichtel's Theosophia practica were published in the journals of UR and KRUR, and others of a philosophical and ritual nature from various sources.
The pseudonyms behind which the members of the Ur Group hid were partly revealed by the researches of Gianfranco de Turris,[16] and Renato Del Ponte.[17]
Below a list of those who collaborated with the magazines of UR and KRUR (in brackets their symbolic name used to sign, according to the idea of 'active impersonality'):[18]
Other people, whose identity is unknown, signed with the pseudonyms of: Alba, Apro, Arom, Nilius, Primo Sole, Zam.
Another enigmatic name, Ekatlos, is attributable to a lady, or perhaps to Leone Caetani.[21]
In the magazine Krur also wrote Agnostus, behind which the French esotericist René Guénon is probably hidden.[16]
Evola, Julius; The UR Group (2001). Moynihan, Michael (ed.). Introduction to Magic: Rituals and Practical Techniques for the Magus. Vol. I. Translated by Guido Stucco. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions/Bear. ISBN978-0-89281-624-8.
Evola, Julius; The UR Group (2021). Hakl, Hans Thomas (ed.). Introduction to Magic: Realizations of the Absolute Individual. Vol. III. Translated by Joscelyn Godwin. Rochester, VT: Simon and Schuster. ISBN978-1-62055-720-4.
^ abFabrizio Giorgio (October 2018). "Le vicende editoriali di "Ur" e "Krur""(PDF). Speciale Julius Evola (1898–1974) (in Italian). Vol. X, no. 10/98. Milan: la Biblioteca di via Senato. pp. 37–41.
De Turris, Gianfranco (2006). Esoterismo e fascismo: storia, interpretazioni, documenti (in Italian). Edizioni Mediterranee.[ISBN missing]
Del Ponte, Renato (1994). Evola e il magico Gruppo di Ur. Studi e documenti per servire alla storia di Ur-Krur (in Italian). Borzano, Albinea: Sear Edizioni.[ISBN missing]
Godwin, Joscelyn (2010). Atlantis and the Cycles of Time: Prophecies, Traditions, and Occult Revelations. Inner Traditions/Bear. ISBN978-1-59477-857-5.
AA. VV. (2021). La Dimensione Magica del Gruppo di Ur. Atti del Simposio Internazionale svoltosi a Napoli nel 2017 in occasione del 90º Anniversario della costituzione del Gruppo di Ur (in Italian). Viareggio: Edizioni Rebis. (index).
Hakl, Hans Thomas; McIntosh, Christopher (2014). Eranos: An Alternative Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century. Routledge.
Mauri, Claudio (2005). La catena invisibile. Il giallo del fascismo magico (in Italian). Milano: Mursia. ISBN88-425-3331-9.
Rossi, Marco (2010). "Neopaganesimo e arti magiche nel periodo fascista". In Cazzaniga, Gian Mario (ed.). Storia d'Italia, Annali 25: Esoterismo (in Italian). Turin: Einaudi. pp. 599–627.