Of Cosmogonic Eros by Ludwig Klages is one of the great metaphysical works on Eros as a world-shaping power. In this visionary monograph, Klages seeks to recover the true nature of Eros: not as sentiment, romance, or personal longing, but as an elemental force of ecstasy, intoxication, cosmic participation, and daemonic awakening.
For Klages, Eros is not confined to human attraction. It is a power that breaks the shell of ordinary consciousness and joins the individual to the living depths of the cosmos. Through Eros, the world is no longer perceived as dead matter, but as ensouled, radiant, dangerous, and alive with hidden powers. The erotic becomes a path of gnosis: a way of knowing through rapture, surrender, and participation in the greater life of the cosmos.
This work also reveals the deep relation between Eros and Thanatos. Klages shows how erotic ecstasy, death-consciousness, ancestral memory, and the cult of the Dead belong to a shared metaphysical field. In this sense, Of Cosmogonic Eros speaks not only to philosophers and historians of ideas, but also to practitioners of esoteric traditions, ancestral cultus, death mysteries, and erotognostic spirituality.
Long admired by artists, thinkers, and esoteric circles, Klages’ work exerted influence far beyond conventional philosophy. His vision of Eros as a daemonic and cosmogonic force touched figures such as Walter Benjamin, Alfred Kubin, Hermann Hesse, Anagarika Govinda, and later occult thinkers, offering a radical challenge to modern disenchantment and the reduction of life to mechanism.
This revised second edition is the only authorized English translation of Of Cosmogonic Eros and the definitive edition for English-speaking readers. Prepared in collaboration with Professor Paul Bishop of the University of Glasgow, it presents a carefully established translation supported by substantial scholarly context. The volume also includes the first English translation of selected passages from Alfred Schuler’s esoteric talks on the Telesmatic Light, illuminating the wider visionary world from which Klages’ work emerged. Schuler — magician, mystagogue, and central figure of the Kosmiker-Kreis — provides an important key to the symbolic and occult atmosphere surrounding Klages’ thought.
Of Cosmogonic Eros is intended for readers interested in metaphysics, esotericism, eros, ecstasy, ancestral mysteries, German mysticism, and the living powers of the ensouled cosmos. It is a demanding but deeply rewarding work for those seeking to understand Eros not merely as desire, but as a force of revelation, enchantment, and cosmic life.
Bibliographic details:
- 272 pages, 165×235 mm.
- printed on wood-free high quality paper (115gsm).
- b/w illustrations and photo reproduction.
- Surbalin endpapers.
Cloth Hardcover Edition (In stock)
- Bound in ruby red fine cloth.
- Gold embossing on front and lettering on spine, headbands, silk ribbon.
- Limited to 870 copies only.
Cloth hardcover copies are in stock and shipping.
Special Edition (In stock)
- Half-leather binding with bonded leather on spine, marbled paper on cover boards.
- Gold lettering on spine, ribbon, headbands, solid slipcase.
- Limited to 115 copies only.
Special Edition copies are in stock and shipping.
