ABSTRACT
Following the post-1945 fall of state-institutionalised fascism, a segment of the remaining faithful who refused to change skin sought to reconcile the expectations of fascism's infallibility with experienced reality by turning inwards into a world of esoteric mysticism. This chapter explores three articulations of occult Nordicism seminal to the wider political landscape of Nordic radical nationalism after 1945: (1) the Ario-Hindu pathworks of Miguel Serrano, the sage of hitlerismo esoterico, and Savitri Devi, “Hitler's Priestess”; (2) the retrotopian heathenry of racist Norse paganism; and (3) the dark undercurrent of extreme, black, occult pagan metal. The first two are esoteric ideologies, construing the Nordic through esoteric teachings and practice, while the third is an unruly scene of dark culture in which the Nordic is construed through arts and music. Beyond its empirical explorations, this chapter seeks to contribute to the conversation of comparative fascism studies by reflecting theoretically on populism, elitism, and the role of “the People” in fascist thought and practice.
