Fundamental Symbols - The Universal Language of Sacred Science
by Rene Guenon
1962

This long awaited volume is presented here in English for the first time; and since it constitutes one of Guenon's greatest works, its publication must be counted as one of the great literary events of this century. To glance at the chapter headings is to be impressed by the wealth and the variety of the contents - The Science of Letters; Symbolic Weapons; The Wild Boar & the Bear; The Language of the Birds; The Bridge and the Rainbow - are but a few of the 76 chapters. A striking aspect of the book is that it gives a new significance to so many of the objects, natural and man-made, with which we are inescapably surrounded in our daily life. Sensitive readers will be enriched by the immense perspective which is here offered them, both in time and space; and they will see that the book above all as an introduction to the spiritual life, an introduction which fascinates and compels. For some souls it will open doors which no other key could unlock.

In this work, probably the most significant in a modern Western language concerning symbolism, Guénon deals with the metaphysical and cosmological meaning of symbols drawn from traditions as far apart as the Greek and the Buddhist, the Druid, and the Islamic.