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.[7] Evola rapidly expanded his influence on the Group's magazine,[4] 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.[8]
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.[9]
The UR Group in fact 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,[10] whose
anthroposophy undoubtedly inspires most of the members of the Group.[11]
The purpose of this group was to attempt to bring the members' individual identities into such a superhuman state of power and awareness that they would be able to exert a
magical influence on the world.
They aimed to provide a "soul" to the burgeoning
Fascist movement of the time through the
revival of
ancient Roman religion, and to influence the fascist regime through esotericism.[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]
The magazines
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.[8]
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 members
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]
^
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.
^
abcdRenato Del Ponte, Evola and the magical Group of UR. Studies and documents to serve the history of «Ur-Krur», Borzano (Reggio Emilia), SeaR, 1994, cf. Maurizio Martucci (2018).
"Il magico Gruppo di Ur-Krur" (in Italian).
(in Italian) AA. VV. 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, Ed. Rebis, Viareggio, 2021
(index).
(in Italian)Claudio Mauri, La catena invisibile. Il giallo del fascismo magico, Milano, Mursia, 2005. ISBN 8842533319.
(in Italian)Renato Del Ponte, Evola e il magico Gruppo di Ur. Studi e documenti per servire alla storia di Ur-Krur, Borzano, Albinea, Sear Edizioni, 1994.
(in Italian)Gianfranco De Turris, Esoterismo e fascismo: storia, interpretazioni, documenti, Edizioni Mediterranee, 2006.
(in Italian) Marco Rossi, Neopaganesimo e arti magiche nel periodo fascista, in Storia d'Italia, Annali 25, "Esoterismo", ed. Gian Mario Cazzaniga, Einaudi, Turin, 2010, pp. 599–627.