The Teutons and how they view their gods

The way in which the Aryan peoples view and have viewed their gods over the millenia is radically different to that of other peoples, most notably the semitic peoples.
A study of the ancient literature of the Germanic, Celtic, Greek and Roman peoples gives us a glimpse, albeit a distorted one of how our ancestors thought of the gods and related to them.
The great problem with the later Germanic literature, ie the Eddas and sagas is that they have been compiled by christian scribes who too often have had an agenda in portraying our gods in a particular way. Therefore we must be careful as to how we interpret the literture and keep in mind that often it will have a christian gloss or that the gods may be portrayed in ways that can open them to ridicule, blasphemy or censure.
Two works however are largely free of misinterpretation on religious grounds, ie Tacitus `Germania`, composed in 97CE and Julius Caesar`s `de Bello Gallico` from the first century BCE.
However even with these works we have to understand that the Roman writers would have had their own prejudices concerning the Germanic peoples who they regarded as barbarians.
The Teutons of the later pre-christian age[round about the end of the first millenium CE] appeared to think of their gods in human terms, the gods having a human form, albeit with incredible powers. At the time of Tacitus and Caesar it would appear that they thought of their gods in more elemental ways.

"As for gods, Mercury is the one they worship most, and on certain days they think it right to propitiate him even with human victims.
Hercules and Mars they appease with lawful animals. Part of the Suebi sacrifice also to Isis; I have not ascertained the source from which this foreign rite originates, but the fact remains that the image itself, fashioned in the form of a light ship, proves that the cult is imported.
In other matters, they judge it not in accord with the greatness of the gods to confine them with walls or to liken them in appearance to any human countenance. They consecrate woods and groves, and the mystery they see only in their awe they call by the names of gods."
[Germania 9.1 and 9.2]

This idea is brought out much more strongly by the earlier work by Caesar:

"The customs of the Germans are very different from those of the Gauls. They have no druids to preside over religious matters, nor do they concern themselves with sacrifices. The only things which they do count as gods are things they can see and which clearly benefit them, for example, the Sun, Vulcan, and the Moon. They have not even heard rumours of any others."
[The Gallic War, 6.21]

It should be noted that where Tacitus and Caesar speak of `Mars, Hercules, Isis` etc that these are the Romans` own names for the Teutons` gods which are known by different names.
The ancient Teutons viewed themselves as children of the gods and their royal dynasties in particular counted their descent from them, especially from the god Woden/Odin/Wotan.
They claimed a certain equality with the gods:

"As a complete man with his honour unsullied, the honest Indo-European stands upright before his God or Gods. No reliosity which takes something away from man, to make him appear smaller before a deity who has become all-powerful and oppressive, is Indo-European."
[Chapter 2 of `Religious Attitudes of the Indo-Europeans` by Hans FK Guenther]

The Teutons like the other Aryan peoples had no rigid dogmas or doctrines or even a recognised priesthood for much of their history. However the later literture indicates that by the coming of christianity in Scandinavia the northern Teutons did have quite elaborate temples, rites and a priesthood.

"All Indo-European forms of belief, so long as they maintained the pure, traditional Nordic spirit, have remained free from any rigid doctrine of belief or dogma and from the worship of a revealed word. Hence it follows that under the original Indo-Europeans there arose no teachers to instruct the people in their beliefs, no theologians, and no priesthhod holier and more elevated than the rest of the people.
The Brahmanism of the Aryan Indians like the Druidism of the Celts, is an exception among the priesthoods of the Indo-European peoples, but it only developed as such over the course of the centuries, reflecting alien admixtures, customs and influences."
[Chapter 5 of `Religious Attitudes of the Indo-Europeans` by Hans FK Guenther]

Present day Germanic heathens tend by and large to think of their gods as `archetypes` that are present in the racial Collective Unconscious. This is how Carl Gustav Jung described the emergence of Wotan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the Germanic lands, especially the German speaking countries.

"A mind that is still childish thinks of the gods as metaphysical entities existing in their own right, or else regards them as playful or supersticious inventions. From either point of view the parallel between Wotan redivivus and the social, political, and psychic storm that is shaking Germany might have at least the value of a parable. But since the gods are without doubt personifications of psychic forces, to reassert their metaphysical existence is as much an intellectual presumption as the opinion that they could ever be invented. Not that "psychic forces" have anything to do with the conscious mind, fond as we are of playing with the idea that consciousness and psyche are identical. This is only another piece of intellectual presumption. "Psychic forces" have far more to do with the realm of the unconscious."
["Wotan"[1936] by CG Jung]

Modern heathens as well as conceiving the gods as archetypes of the Collective Unconscious also consider the gods to be encoded in our DNA and passed down from generation to generation.

"The dual nature in which the Gods affect our lives is through the personal bonds we forge with them, affecting us in a personal way by shaping our personalities. The other way is rooted in the genetic, collective group we belong to. We are members of an ethnic group or nation-a folk. Each of us has a personal and group destiny. The former is the course that our individual lives take, the latter are how the fate of the group we belong to, affects us. The Gods reside within, in our blood, genes or DNA. This link also bonds us together as a people. It is the life-force of the folk. What we do as individuals will affect the Gods, but what we do collectively as a folk, will have a profound effect on the Gods."
[Chapter 2 of `The Book of Balder Rising` by Robert Blumetti]

Pagan Resurrection by Richard Rudgley

Amazon Review


Synopsis
"Pagan Resurrection" puts forward a fascinating and controversial idea - namely that it is the pagan god Odin and not Christ who is the single most important spiritual influence in western civilisation. Far from being just a New Age fad, paganism is fast becoming a major spiritual, intellectual, ecological and political force across the globe. Rudgely is an Oxford trained anthropologist and critically acclaimed author of "Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age", who has since presented three series on Channel 4. He takes the reader through the strange world of modern pagan cuts, the pagan beliefs that underpin important parts of modern culture, such as "Lord of the Rings" and the highly pagan counter culture that sprang up in the sixties and now offers an attractive alternative spiritual vision to millions alienated from Christianity. He explains the ancient idea of the Web - a cosmic field of energies that encompasses time, space and the hidden potentials of the human organism, and shows that this is a pagan equivalent to the eastern tradition of Tao. Our civilisation, our belief systems and attitudes indeed our psyche have been formed by Odin. The influence of Christ, he says, has been relatively recent and shallow. Paganism, like Christianity, can be a force for good or evil. At this turning point in history we need to choose between the dark and destructive paganism that gave rise to Nazism and modern right-wing movements in American and, on he other hand, the green paganism of ecology and alternative spirituality. Every decade or so a new generation is inspired by a controversial classic of alternative history/spirituality - The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Fingerprints of the Gods... The time now is just right for Pagan Resurrection!

From the Publisher
Controversial study of the rise of paganism suggesting that the pagan god Odin and not Christ is the single most important spiritual influence in western civilisation


From the Inside Flap
Pagan Resurrection is the biography of a god. The old pagan deity Odin, dethroned by Christ, has rised again to play a powerful role in human affairs in the modern era.

The pagan myths and gods are ancient blueprints that are still very much alive in the modern mind, influencing both thought and action. The author explores this revival in its various manifestations - from Victorian science-fiction, to the proto-hippies of early twentieth century Germany, from the Nazis to the ideas of the psychologist Carl Jung.

After the Second World War, paganism spread across the English-speaking world. Its diverse power and influence can be found in the writings of Tolkien, the hippie movement of the sixties, the actions of serial killers in the US, in neo-Nazi terrorism, and in occult circles.

The new paganism is an increasing power in modern culture not only in Europe and America but across the globe. It has manifested in both creative and destructive ways and, if the positive an conscious power of the Odin myth is drawn upon, then our civilisation can be transformed for the better. The new paganism provides a living philosophy for the twenty-first century. Pagan Resurrection is not just about the modern crisis in western spirituality, it also suggests a way forward

About the Author
Richard Rudgley:
Richard Rudgley was born in 1961. He completed a BA in Social Anthropology and Religious Studies and went on to do a M. St. and M. Phil. in Ethnology and Museum Ethnography at Oxford. He is currently doing a D. Phil. and specialising in historical and contemporary uses of psychoactive substances by the native peoples of Canada and Alaska. He has done much field work in China and Canada, and written and lectured on the usage of hallucinogens and intoxicants. He is married and lives in London.

The Mythical Origins of the Germanic Peoples

Viktor Rydberg in his `Teutonic Mythology` states that "The human race, or at least the Teutonic race, springs, according to the myth, from a single pair, and has accordingly had a centre from which their descendants have spead over that world which was embraced by the Teutonic horizon."
He goes on to relate how the story of the creation of the first Teutonic man and woman from trees[Ask and Embla-ash and elm] has its origins in Aryan creation myth. The first humans were plants before they became human.
Odin, Vili and Ve[or Odin, Hoenir and Lodir] gave them breath, soul and intelligence. They transformed these `tree` humans into god men. No doubt the `tree` is symbolic of non-intelligent existence. The gods made man a thinking and creative being.
It is significant that the first Teutons were cited as dwelling upon the seashore. From this particular location their descendants branched out. But where was the seashore to be located?
There is a vital clue to be found in the myth of Scef, the pregenitor of the Anglo-Saxon and related Germanic peoples.
"One day it came to pass that a ship was seen sailing near the coast of Scedeland or Scani, and it approached the land without being propelled either by oars or sails. The ship came to the seabeach, and there was seen lying in it a little boy, who was sleeping with his head on a sheaf of grain, surrounded by treasures and tools, by glaives and coats of mail. The boat itself was stately and beautifully decorated. Who he was and whence he came nobody had any idea, but the little boy was received as if he had been a kinsman, and he received the most constant and tender care. As he came with a sheaf of grain to their country the people called him Scef, Sceaf.
[The Beowulf poem calls him Scyld, son of Sceaf, and gives Scyld the son Beowulf, which was originally another name of Scyld.]"[`Teutonic Mythology]
The Danish royal family according to Beowulf were descended from Scef through his son Scyld]Skjold.
He was a dininely born patriarch and according to Matthaeus Westmonast Scef ruled in Angeln.
The Anglo-Saxon chronicles indicate that the dynasty of Wessex came from Saxony and their progenitor was Scef.
Teutonic man therefore according to his own creation myths was conceived on the shores of the German Ocean or the North Sea in the area of Angeln in southern Scandinavia. From there all the Germanic peoples migrated south and gave birth to the modern Germanic nations of northern Europe.

Dragon Slaying Myths and Cosmic Order

Joyce Tally Lionarons in "The Medieval Dragon. The Nature of the Beast in Germanic Literature" aserts that "the Indo-European dragon myth is essentially concerned with the establishment of cosmic order and/or legitimating a prevailing cosmic regime."
This can be seen in the battles between Beowulf and the monster Grendel and Grendel`s equally monstrous mother and Beowulf`s final battle with the dragon.
The struggle between Grendel and Grendel`s mother can be interpreted as a struggle for mastery over those forces who opposed the ruling regime. Perhaps the Grendel monster is a metaphor for the very real human forces that opposed the reign of Hygelac? Perhaps Hygelac was a recent interloper as the origin myth of the arrival of the orphan Scyld Scefing in the opening verses of the Beowulf poem indicates? Quite possibly Grendel and his mother represented a displaced royal dynasty.
History and indeed even the contemporary world is replete with examples of the demonisation of political and military enemies. I am positing the theory that Grendel was just such a `demonisation` of a very human enemy. The fact that Grendel has no previous pedigree within Germanic myth and appears solely in this particular poem seems to reinforce this idea.
Lionarons makes the valid observation that Grendel is pictured as an `anti-king` who reigns over Hygelac`s hall of Heorot during the nightime hours. Grendel`s mere is also viewed as a type of `anti-hall`. Whilst Grendel could be viewed as the `host` of Heorot during the night hours Beowulf likewise is the unwelcome and hostile `guest`. In turn Grendel can also be viewed as the unwelcome guest whilst Hygelac or his champion, Beowulf is the host.
The author explains that the Old English word gaest can be interpreted as `guest`, `ghost` or `stranger`. The word is compounded in various places of the poem to indicate the notion of an unfriendly, an unwelcome or hostile guest, eg waelgast[murderous guest], inwitgaest[malicious guest] and nidgaest[hostile guest].
The shifting roles of host and guest as evidenced in the battles initiated in Heorot by first Grendel and then his mother and in the final conflict between Beowulf and Grendel`s mother in the mere. Beowulf and the monsters exchange the roles of host and guest, all in a struggle for mastery and the maintenance or creation of a new order.
Beowulf`s encounter with the dragon occurs at the end of his life when a dragon ravages Beowulf`s kingdom. The dragon represents a threat to the social order established in Beowulf`s kingdom. The dragon or monster representing the `anti-hero` is fated to lose the encounter whilst the hero must inevitably encounter and defeat the anti-hero to either establish or maintain his power and authority. Beowulf on all three occasions succeeds in his struggles against his adversaries although in the last encounter it costs him his life.
Even Grendel`s mother`s role as the avenger is typical of pre-christian Germanic society with the notion of the blood feud. In short the monsters depicted in `Beowulf` are reminiscent of human adversaries demonised by the reigning and victorious political elite.
Is there a lesson in this for us today in 2006?

The Rigsthula or Germanic Caste System

Within the sacred works of the myths of the Germanic peoples there is a myth of the caste system.
This is to be found in the Rigsthula.
The Rigsthula tells the story of how the Germanic god Rig came to earth and visited three couples who were childless. He stayed three days with each and begets a child on the wife of each of the three couples.
Here is the story:-


"Once walked, 'tis said, the green ways along, mighty and ancient, a god most glorious; strong and vigorous, striding, Rig.
Ever on he went in the middle of the way, till he came to a house with door unclosed. He entered straight; there was fire on the floor and a hoary couple sitting by the hearth, Great-grandfather and mother in ancient guise.
Well knew Rig how to give them counsel, he sat him down in the middle of the floor, with the home-folk twain upon either side.
Great-grandmother fetched a coarse-baked loaf, all heavy and thick and crammed with husk: she bore it forth in the middle of the dish, with broth in a bowl, and laid the board.
Thence Rig uprose, prepared to rest; -- well he knew how to give them counsel -- he laid him down in the middle of the bed and the home-folk twain upon either side. Thus he tarried three nights together, then on he strode in the middle of the road while thrice three moons were gliding by.
Great-grandmother bore a swarthy boy; with water they sprinkled him, called him Thrall. Forthwith he grew and well he throve, Bur tough were his hands with wrinkled skin, with knuckles knotty and fingers thick; his face was ugly, his back was humpy, his heels were long. Straightway 'gan he to prove his strength, with bast a-binding loads a-making, he bore home faggots the livelong day.
There came to the dwellings a wandering maid, with wayworn feet, and sunburned arms, with down-bent nose,- the Bond-maid named.
She sat her down in the middle of the floor; beside her sat the son of the house: they chatted and whispered, their bed preparing -- Thrall and Bond-maid -- the long day through.
Joyous lived they and reared their children. Thus they called them: Brawler, Cowherd, Boor and Horsefly, Lewd and Lustful, Stout and Stumpy, Sluggard, Swarthy, Lout and Leggy. They fashioned fences, they dunged the meadows, swine they herded, goats they tended and turf they dug.
Daughters were there, -- Loggy and Cloggy, Lumpy-leggy, and Eagle-nose, Whiner, Bondwoman, Oaken-peggy, Tatter-coat and the Crane-shanked maid. Thence ate come the generations of thralls.The Birth of Churl
Ever on went Rig the straight roads along till he came to a dwelling with door unclosed; he entered straight; there was fire in the floor; Grandfather and Grandmother owned the house.
The home-folk sat there hard a-working; by them stood on the floor a box; hewed the husband wood for a warp-beam; trim his beard and the locks o'er his brow, but mean and scanty the shirt he wore.
The wife sat by him plying her distaff, swaying her arms to weave the cloth, with snood on her head and smock on her breast, studs on her shoulders, and scarf on her neck.
Well knew Rig how to give them counsel; he sat him down in the middle of the floor, and the home-folk twain upon either side.
Grandmother set forth plenteous dishes; cooked was the calf, of dainties best. Thence Rig uprose prepared to rest. -- Well he knew how to give them counsel -- he laid him down in the middle of the bed and the home-folk twain upon either side.
Thus he tarried three nights together, then on he strode in the middle of the road while thrice three moons were gliding by.
A child had Grandmother, Churl they called him, and sprinkled with water and swathed in linen, rosy and ruddy, with sparkling eyes. He grew and throve, and forthwith 'gan he to break in oxen, to shape the harrow, to build him houses and barns to raise him, to fashion carts and follow the plough.
Then home they drove with a key-hung maiden in goat-skin kirtle, named Daughter-in-Law. They wed her to Churl in her bridal linen: the twain jade ready, their wealth a-sharing, kept house together, and joyous lived.
Children reared they thus they called them: Youth and Hero, Thane, Smith, Yeoman, Broad-limb, Peasant, Sheaf-beard, Neighbour, Farmer, Speaker and Stubbly-beard.
By other names were the daughters called: Dame, Bride, Lady, Gay, and Gaudy, Maid, Wife, Woman, Bashful, Slender. Thence are come the kindreds of churls.The Birth of Earl
Still on went Rig the straight roads along till he came to a hall whose gates looked south. Pushed was the door to, a ring in the post set: he forthwith entered the rush-strewn room. Each other eyeing, the home-folk sat there -- Father and Mother, -- twirling their fingers. There was the husband, string a-twining, shafting arrows and shaping bows: and there was the wife o'er her fair arms wondering, smoothing her linen, stretching her sleeves. A high-peaked coif and a breast-brooch wore she, trailing robes and a blue-tinged sark. Her brow was brighter, her breast was fairer, her throat was whiter than driven snow.
Well knew Rig how to give them counsel; he sat him down in the middle of the floor, and the home-folk twain upon either side.
Then took Mother a figured cloth, white, of linen, and covered the board; thereafter took she a fine-baked loaf, white of wheat and covered the cloth: next she brought forth plenteous dishes, set with silver, and spread the board with brown-fried bacon and roasted birds. There was wine in a vessel and rich-wrought goblets; they drank and revelled while day went by.
Well knew Rig how to give them counsel; he rose ere long and prepared his couch: he laid him down in the middle of the bed, and the home-folk twain upon either side.
Thus he tarried three nights together; then on he strode in the middle of the road while thrice three moons were gliding by.
Then a boy had Mother; she swathed him in silk, and with water sprinkled him; called him Earl. Light were his locks, and fair his cheeks, flashing his eyes like a serpent's shone.
Grew Earl forthwith in the halls and 'gan to swing the shield, to fit the string, to bend the bow, to shaft the arrow, to hurl the dart, to shake the spear, to ride the horse, to loose the hounds, to draw the sword, and to swim the stream.
Forth from the thicket came Rig a-striding, Rig a-striding, and taught him runes, his own name gave him, -- as son he claimed him, and bade him hold the ancestral fields, -- the ancestral fields -- and the ancient home.
Then on rode Earl through the murky wood, through the rimy fells till he reached a hall. His shaft he shook, his shield he brandished, his steed he galloped, his sword he drew; war he wakened, the field he reddened, the doomed he slew, and won him lands -- till alone he ruled over eighteen halls. Gold he scattered and gave to all men treasures and trinkets and slender-ribbed horses; wealth he strewed and sundered rings.
Along dewy roads his messengers drive till the hall they reached where Ruler dwelt. A daughter owned he, dainty fingered, fair and skilful, Erna called.
They wooed her and brought her home a-driving; to Earl they wed her in veil fine-woven: husband and wife lived happy together, their children waxed and life enjoyed.The Birth of King
Heir was the eldest, Bairn the second, Babe, Successor, Inheritor, Boy, Descendent, Offspring, Son, Youth, Kinsman; Kon the kingly was youngest born.
Forthwith grew up the sons of Earl; games they learned, and sports and swimming, taming horses, round shields bending, war shafts smoothing, ash spears shaking; but King the youngest alone knew runes, runes eternal and runes of life. Yet more he knew, -- how to shelter men, to blunt the sword-edge and calm the sea: he learnt bird language, to quench the fire flame, heal all sorrows and soothe the heart; strength and might of eight he owned.
Then he strove in runes with Rig, the Earl, crafty wiles he used and won, so gained his heritage, held the right thus Rig to be called and runes to know.
Young King rode once through thicket and wood, shooting arrows and slaying birds, till spake a crow, perched lone on a bough: "Why wilt thou thus kill birds, young King? 'Twould fit thee rather to ride on horses, to draw the sword and to slay the foe.
"Dan and Damp have dwellings goodlier, homesteads fairer than ye do hold; and well they know the keel to ride, the sword to prove and wounds to strike."



Rigsthula explains how Rig[or Heimdall as he is elsewhere identified] institutes the Germanic caste system of nobles, peasant-warriors and producers/slaves. This loosely follows the Indo-European or Aryan caste system of priests, nobles/warriors and producers. The Germanic peoples did not have as far as we can tell a seperate priestly caste but it is thought that the priestly and royal functions were combined in the person of the king or chieftain. The Celtic equivalent being Druides, Equites and Plebes. The Roman-Flamines, Milites and Quirites. The Indo-Aryan Brahmas, Ksatriyas and Vaisyas.
Jean Haudry in his book `The Indo-Europeans` states "This society[ie Germanic society] was divided into three classes: the Jarls or nobles; the Karls, free peasants, and the Thralls, servants.. These latter are confined to the servile tasks of the third function. The Karls are peasant soldiers, subordinate in each of their functions to the Jarls; the religious function is not the property of a class, but of one particular Jarl, the king."

The lack of a seperate and distinct religious caste can be explained in terms of a functional shift within the caste system brought about by social upheaval. Is the clue to this upheaval to be found in the the conflict between the Aesir and the Vanir gods, the conflict between the lunar and solar religious systems that was brought about by the ancient movements of the Aryan tribes?

Rudolf Simek in his `Dictionary of Northern Mythology posits the theory that the role of Rig or Hemdall better fits the picture of the wandering god Odin.

By contrast the modern `western` world with its socio-economic `class` system has largely abandoned the notion of a caste that one is born in to and in which one remains and one`s descendants. Instead the rule of the modern age is not blood and descent but money, gold.

Julius Evola has this to say about the function of what he calls the `Doctrine of Castes`:

"The castes, more than defining social groups, defined functions and typical ways of being and acting. The correspondence of the fundamental natural possibilities of the single individual to any of these functions determined his or her belonging to the corresponding caste. Thus, in the duties toward one`s caste[each caste was traditionally required to perform specific duties], the individual was able to recognise the normal explication as well as the development and the chrism of his or her own nature within the overall order imposed "from above". This is why the caste system developed and was applied in the traditional world as a natural, agreeable institution based on something that everybody regarded as obvious, rather than on violence, oppression, or on what in modern terms is referred to as "social injustice". By acknowledging his own nature, traditional man knew his own place, function, and what would be the correct relationship with both superiors and inferiors;...."[Revolt Against the Modern World]

How well does the Bhagavad Gita state

41." O Khrishna, from the predominance of unrighteousness, the women of that family become corrupt; and women being corrupted, there arises intermingling of castes.42. This intermingling of castes leads the destroyers of the family to hell, as also the family itself; for their ancestors fall, being deprived of the offerings of rice ball and water.43. By these misdeeds of the slayers of the family, bringing about confusion of caste, the immemorial religious rites of family and caste are destroyed."
[Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1]


Let us not forget that it is the gods who have ordained the order of castes in recognition of the fact that nature is hierarchical. To overturn this order is to overturn the cosmic order instituted by the gods.

It is the duty of the king to maintain the integrity of the caste system:

"If men persist in seeking intimate contact with other men`s wives, the king should brand them with punshments that inspire terror and banish them.
For that gives rise among people to the confusion of the classes, by means of which irreligion, that cuts away the roots, works for the destruction of everything."
[Laws of Manu, Chapter 8 352-353]

The Ingvaeones-Ing`s Folk

In Tacitus` Germania 2.2 it says

"In ancient lays, their only type of historical tradition, they celebrate Tuisto, a god brought forth from the earth. They attribute to him a son, Mannus, the source and founder of their people, and to Mannus three sons, from whose names those nearest the Ocean are called Ingvaeones, those in the middle Herminones, and the rest Istvaeones."

The Roman historian Tacitus writing in 97CE categorised the Germanic peoples in to three distinct groups. For the time being we are going to focus on just one of these groups-the Ingvaeones.
So who were the Ingvaeones?
According to Pliny the Ingvaeones included the Cimbri, Teutones and the Chauci, all of which were coastal tribes.
These tribes occupied the Danish and north German coastal areas and it is from this area that the Germanic tribes of the Angles and Jutes joined with the Saxons, Frisians and Franks in their invasion and colonisation of southern Britain, the direct ancestors of the modern English.
John Grigsby in his ground-breaking work, `Beowulf and Grendel` states that "these tribes had been settled in Denmark and northern Germany for at least 2,000 years before Tacitus mentioned them by name." [Chapter 1-`Clans of the Sea Coasts`] .
This would mean that the ancestors of the English had a common cultural and genetic heritage with the Danes.
It is in this area of Old Angeln[Old England] that the poet of the Anglo-Saxon classic `Beowulf` sites the hall of Heorot, the scene of the climatic action between Beowulf and the `monster` Grendel.
The Beowulf poet refers to the `Ingwine` or `friends of Ing`. Hrothgar, the lord of Heorot is referred to as `Lord of the Ingwine`.
Could this mean that the Ingvaeones were descended from the god Ing? Was Ing originally their primary deity? If so then why was he later eclipsed by Woden?

"Ing waes aerest mid Eastdenum
gesewen secgun, oth he siddan est
ofer waeg gewat; waen aefter ran;
thus heardingas thone haele nemdun."

"Ing was amongst the East-Danes first
seen by men, till later east
he went over the wave; his wain followed after;
the Heardings named the hero so."

[Louis J Rodrigues translation from "Anglo-Saxon Verse Runes"]

The rune Ing or Inguz is the 22nd rune of the 3rd aett or the Tyr aett of the Common Germanic Futharc or the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc and represents the god Ing. It is aso associated with the god Frejr and is symbolic of fertility.
Indeed it has been argued that Ing is a manifestation of the
Vanir god of fertility Freyr. Freyr and his sister-wife Freyja are children of the coastal god Njorthr and Nerthus, also a brother-sister fertility pairing.
Ing is associated with the Swedish Yngvi-Freyr which is the name that Snorri gives to the god Frejr in his Ynglinga Saga. The Swedish Yngling kings counted him as their ancestor and founder of the Yngling dynasty.
According to Rudolf Simek Ing`s association with the Gothic name of the yew-rune enguz points to the great age of the god Ing.
Simek states in his "Dictionary of Northern Mythology" "Yngvi could as a result be a derivation from *Ingwia-fraujaz `lord of the Ingaevones` whereby a great age for the construction Yngvi-Freyr must be assumed".
Mr Grigsby argues in `Beowulf and Grendel` that Beowulf was more than just a folk tale but was also based in history and in myth. Whilst there is no direct evidence to support the existence of an historical Beowulf he argues that the story of his killing of Grendel and his mother represents the acting out of an ancient Vanic fertility rite and mystery in the same way the Grail myth is a Celtic representation of this same ancient northern rite.[See his `Warriors of the Wasteland`.]
At the time of the written composition of the Beowulf poem the cult of Odin/Woden/Wotan and the Aesir pantheon had already supplanted the older Vanir gods but the Vanir held out longest in northern Germany and Denmark because of their relative isolation from their more southern Germanic cousins. Being a coastal community the Ingvaeones had a deeper and longer held connection to the Vanir, being gods of the sea and fertility.
Again as before in his earlier work[`Warriors of the Wasteland] he draws a direct connection between the Danish bog sacrifices and the ancient re-enactment of the sacrificial rites of the Old Europeans.
The story of Beowulf`s struggle with Grendel and his mother represents the struggle between the Aesir and the Vanir which is referred to in Snorri`s `Younger Edda` or `Prose Edda` and the Ynglinga Saga.
The worship of the fertility goddess Nerthus singled out these English tribes as being different from their Germanic neighbours.
Tacitus says this of Nerthus:
"There is nothing noteworthy about them individually[ie the Ingvaeones], except that collectively they worship Nerthus, or Mother Earth, and believe that she takes part in human affairs and rides among the peoples.
On an island in the Ocean is a holy grove, and in it a consecrated wagon covered with hangings; to one priest alone is it permitted so much as to touch it. He perceives when the goddess is present in her innermost recess, and with great reverence escorts her as she is drawn along by heifers. Then there are days of rejoicing, and holidays are held wherever she deigns to go and be entertained.
They do not begin wars, they do not take up arms; everything iron is shut away; peace and tranquillity are only then known and only then loved, until again the priest restores to her temple the goddess, sated with the company of mortals.
Then the wagon and hangings, if you will, the goddess herself are washed clean in a hidden lake. Slaves perform this service, and the lake at once engulfs them: there is as a result a mysterious fear and a sacred ignorance about something seen only by those doomed to die.
[Germania, 40.2-40.4]

The Aryan Grail-a Quest for Wholeness

John Grigsby in his 2003 book `Warriors of the Wasteland` posits the theory that the Aryan quest for the Grail is actually a quest to reintegrate the rational, logical left side of the brain with the more mystical and intuitive right side.
With the coming of the Arya into northwestern Europe in around 2700BCE there was a distinctive change in the way in which the dead were buried, a move away from communal burial to the more individual burial and a more warrior-like, virile solar spirituality replaced the lunar spirituality of the Old European population. Lunar symbols were replaced with solar ones, the chief of these being the sunwheel and swastika. There appears to have been a deliberate displacement of the myths of the Old Europeans with that of the Arya.
Mr Grigsby has no hesitation in referring to these invading incomers as `Arya`.
"The Indo-Europeans-or Arya[not Aryans, as is commonly thought], a name they sometimes used in reference to themselves-are believed to have had a common cultural make-up, which was carried with them to the various lands where their languages are now spoken. Part of this make-up was a threefold division of society into priests, warriors and herders/cultivators: in India the Brahamas, Ksatriyas and Vaisyas; in Rome the Flamines, Milites and Quirites; and in Celtic Gaul, according to Caesar, the Druides, Equites and Plebes."[Chapter 14, "The Arya"].
He goes on to say "The principal holy symbols used by the Arya/Indo-Europeans were the horse and the sun."
He contrasts this with the principal religious symbol of the ox of the Old Europeans.
"The horse was the Indo-European animal par excellence and took the place of the ox as a symbol of divinity in their religion. The horse was what made them swift and deadly in battle; it pulled their chariots and provided them with victory and new land-for they claimed as their own the very soil over which their horses travelled[indeed gabar, the Irish word for horse, forms the basis of the word for `invasion`]." [Chapter 15 "The Dragon Slayer"]
He believes that the bog men of Denmark, Ireland, Britain and other parts of northwestern Europe were not merely sacrifices to appease the gods but actually were willing participants in an ancient mystical rite, a self-sacrifice in which via a triple death they acted out the death of the `dying god`, an attempt to heal the rift that occurred in the European psyche when the lunar spirituality was abruptly replaced by the solar.
Traces of an hallucinogenic toxic grain called ergot has been found in the stomachs of the well-preserved bog men which along with their `triple death` indicated a ritual death, not merely a sacrifice to the gods.
He draws a direct link between the bog men and rituals contained within the Grail myths.
The pagan Indo-European myth of the Grail which was not committed to written record until the Christian era is a myth that is concerned with reintegrating the predominant Aryan left brain with the right, not a simple return to lunar spirituality but an integration of the left and the right, the lunar and the solar. This in essence is a form of `awakening`, the achievement of spiritual and psychological wholeness in which the Arya can realise and achieve a state of being at one with the gods, of being god in man in this lifetime.
This may be likened to Carl Gustav Jung`s `Collective Unconscious` and `Individuation`, the process of reintegrating the two halves of the human mind.

The Coming Aryan Avatar

"Was a Mighty One born, matchless in strength, he was nursed and grew on the sap of the ground; most high-minded he ‘mongst the hallowed gods, in sib with all sires and sons of Earth.”The Poetic Edda - the Short Seeress’ Prophecy 16.This prophecy foresees the appearance of Hama (Heimdall) on Earth. That this is Hama is clear from the text, for he is the God nursed on the sap of the ground and he is the sib of all sires and sons of earth. Heimdall manifests to recreate the Divine Social Order of Caste. He is the penultimate avatar - not the last avatar, and he appears near the end of the Age of Pisces. He prepares the way for the appearance of the Last Avatar.“ ‘A god will come then, an even greater one: I dare not speak his dreaded name. Farther forward few can see now Than Woden fighting the Fenris Wolf.”The Poetic Edda - The Short Seeress’ Prophecy 17.This is the prophecy of the appearance of the Last Avatar and incarnation of Woden on earth. The manifestation of the Divine Fool - The Hooded Man. Two events heralded the appearance of the Last Avatar - the Hale-Bopp Comet (1997) and the Solar Eclipse (1999); these two date dates bind the year 1998.The Last Avatar is Rudra Kalki (Tibet) or Kalki Avatar (Hindu) - in Germanic Lore this is HelgiH (Helgi the Wulfinga - Thrice-Born). In the Robin of Sherwood series of the 1980s we find three heroes - Ailric, Robin of Loxley, and Robert of Huntingdon, just like we have Helgi Hjorvathsson, Helgi Hundingsbane, and Helgi Haddinga all whose names have the sequence H-H. Helgi Haddinga is wed to the Valkyrie, Kara whose name is the Germanic equivalent of Kali of the Hindus. The Haddingas are the Heardingas mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Rune poem under Ing.“In the Year 1999 and seven months, from the sky will come the great King of Terror. He will bring back to life the Great King of the Angolmois. Before and after Mars reigns supreme.”Prophesies of Nostradamus.Due to a calendar alteration the month of August would have been nearer to the mark. This prophecy can thus be rendered -In August 1999 from the sky will come the Great King of Terror (Solar Eclipse). This will bring back to life great King of the Angols (English - i.e. Ing). War will reign before and after.The Solar Eclipse of August 11th 1999 will bring back to life the Divine King of the Angles (English) who s Ing. This makes more sense than making Angolmois an anagram of “Mongols”. The Solar Eclipse and the appearance is prophesied in Revelations where it appears to have been taken from Voluspa -“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened (Solar Eclipse) and the stars fall from the heavens (Perseid Meteor shower)...and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man (Son of Mannus = Ing) in heaven.Contrast this with Voluspa 56 -“...the Sun dimmeth, from the heavens fall fair bright stars...”On August 11th 1999 the Solar Eclipse took place and was followed on August 12th by the Perseid Meteor Shower. Perseid is the constellation Perseus who is the Greek equivalent of the Divine Fool (The Hooded Man). The Ing-Rune in the heavens heralded the Age of Ing for Ing is the ruler of the New Age. His archetypal appearance is that of a Crowned and Conquering King, crowned with a Golden Crown, holding a sickle - for his role is to sort the wheat from the chaff. He is the Wild Huntsman in his role as The Destroyer (Rudra-Shiva of the Hindus), who destroys the Old Order to pave the way for a New Order.The Last Avatar - HelgiH - is of the Divine Race of the Wolsunga - Wulfinga - Haddingas who are descended from Woden. These are the three Wolf Tribes of Woden; the “Caesar” arises from the Wuffingas (Wulfingas) as is shown in their Royal Lineage.The Hooded Man.“ ‘In the days of the Lion, spawned of the Evil Brood, The Hooded Man shall come to the Forest. There he will meet with Herne the Hunter - Lord of the Forest - to be his Son and do his bidding. The Power of Light and the Power of Darkness shall be strong within him. And the guilty shall tremble!”The Hooded Man Prophecy - Horam, Sussex October 31st 1993.This is an altered version of the Prophecies of Gildas which is the new and true version for the New Age. There are certain points that must be considered here in light of the events of the past decade or so. The Lion spawned of the Evil Brood is Osama Bin Laben who declared Jihad on the West in August 1998. The name “Osama” means “lion”. The appearance of this figure heralds the appearance of the Hooded Man who will arise in the White Island - Albion (England) as prophesied. The Hooded Man is the Son of Herne the Hunter (Woden as the Wild Huntsman) - this is Thunor (Thor) who is the Divine Fool. Richard Wagner foresaw this in his rendering of Parsifal who is the Divine Fool. Unlike the last wave (Siegfried) the figure of Parsifal brings a renewal of Nature.The terrorist attack upon the Twin Towers (9-11) was the significant change in the world-order, the “Blasted Tower” of the Tarot Pack shows the falling tower which represents the destruction of the order of things. The Twin Towers symbolised the Age of Capitalism, whose destruction heralded the Age of the People (Masses) which is the last - and the worst - era of the Dark Age. This is the era foretold by the seers long ago, the age of disintegration and destruction before renewal.As Above - So Below : the Earth is a mirror-image of the Heavens: the Twilight of the Gods is the War of the Gods in the heavens which is mirrored on Earth by the Ragnarok. The Mirror-image of RAGNAROK is KORANGAR.KORAN-GAR = spear of the Koran.“ ‘The Stormy sea to the stars is tossed, overwhelms the land - the heavens rive. Thence comes great snows and sweeping blasts. Then are doomed to die the drooping Gods.”By Fire and Flood is the world destroyed and renewed - and the Last Battle for Middle-earth has begun.The Hooded Man is coming and the guilty shall tremble!
http://www.wodensfolk.org.uk/secondindex.htm

A New Religion for a New Age

Wodenism is the most ancient religion of the English Folk. This religion is the religion of our English Ancestors. Through constant repression by the Judaeo-Christian Church our faith was forced underground. Although, to some, it seems that it disappeared forever, this was never the case: the secrets were hidden in legend, fairy tales and within the words of the poets. These hidden secrets were preserved that some day they would be once again understood, and the ancient faith would again arise and renew itself, though in a new form suited to the new era.

Hidden in Norse mythology is the secret of Ragnarok. The Ragnarok is the Doom of the Powers, an end of a world-age when the gods go down in a Final Conflict, to be reborn as the Sons of the Gods. There is no actual ending-merely a new beginning. Woden, in yet another typical shamanic initiation, is swallowed by the Wolf`s jaws, to be reborn in the guise of his son, Widar the Avenger.

Woden`s Folk is one of the very few groups who have recognised that the new archetype for the New Age is the Crowned and Conquering Son. No longer is Woden worshipped as The Hanged God, for he has stepped down from the Tree of Woe to be "reborn" as The Avenger. His image today is that of an Aryan Warrior wielding a Flaming Sword and riding a White Horse; he is crowned as the supreme archetype of the age of Ing. The name we give to this archetype is Ing.

Woden`s Folk Activists & Supporters must realise that today we are founding a new religion; yes, this is based upon the essence of our most ancient English Religion, but in a new form suited to the New Age. This is why we differ from Odinism & Asatru, and all the other forms of our ancient faith, for ours is a new religion in that the archetypal god-form of the age has changed. We have already recognised that the Age of Ing has dawned, and that this is the Age of the Son. Our aim today is to spread the word of the New Age, and to earth the new archetype through ritual work and magical work.

The new archetype runs counter to the era of equality, humanitarianism, pacifism, meekness & weakness in which we experience today. It stands for inequality, heroism, self-sacrifice and self-overcoming. In an era of mediocrity this stands for the great, the noble, and the heroic ethos of the past. In a short time the past will take root in the present in order to create a new future. It is now down to our own folk to forge this new religion, and to gather together the Elect of Woden into the Folkish Brotherhood that will guard the Holy Blood of our Folk. Ours is no new faith for the masses, but a new faith for the Elect of the Folk. Not through birth but through worth will the Elect of Woden be formed; this is the criteria for the age of Ing.

[Taken from "Sword of Wayland" series 2 number 6, published by Woden`s Folk, see their web site http://www.wodensfolk.org.uk/ ]

The Baltic Origins of Homer`s Epic Tales

Felice Vinci,a nuclear engineer with an extensive background in Latin and Greek studies in his ground-breaking work, `The Baltic Origins of Homer`s Epic Tales. The Iliad, The Odyssey, and the Migration of Myth` puts forward the theory that the Homeric tales have their origins in real historic events in the Baltic area of northern Europe, not in the Mediterranean as scholars for centuries have presumed.
Vinci uses the tools of myth, literary criticism, etymology and topography to build an argument that the events of the Odyssey and Iliad could not have taken place in the Mediterranean.
For one thing the topography of Greece and Asia Minor does not lend itself to the geographical locations and climate outlined in the two tales.
The only place in Europe where the climate and the topography seems to fit is in northern Europe. The present day etymology of many of the places referred to in Homer`s work are to be found in present day Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and neighbouring northern countries.
Clearly the adventures and battles described in the Odyssey and the Iliad where there are frequent references to stormy,wet and cold weather, short days and long nights point to a climate radically different to anything known in southern Europe but rather typical of the very northern areas of Europe. He has found that places names referred to in Homer`s works can be found almost unchanged in the far north. Furthermore the distances between these places and their descriptions fit perfectly his northern scenario. He uses Homer`s `Catalogue of Ships` to convicingly show that the events of the Iliad could not have taken place in Asia Minor and the Mediterranean but only in the Baltic.
The nature of the Homeric heroes, their dress, customs, manners, behaviour and physical characteristics fit better with a Nordic and Germanic culture than a Mediterranean one.
Vinci not only provides page after page of evidence to support his theory from place name, climate and geographical/topographical evidence but also comparisons from Hyperborean myths and comparative Indo-European mythology.
He uses the same methedology to establish that the events of the Iliad could not have taken place on the site of Heinrich Schliemann`s Troy.
Homer`s tales are tales of a migrating northern European people who took their myths and history with them when they migrated south, probably as the result of climate change. Their influence on classical myth and culture is to be felt to this day.
The only discipline which has not been used to establish his theory is archaeology. Final and definitive evidence for his theory will only be found when the necessary archaeological excavations are eventually[if ever] carried out.
In the meantime his book gives us all food for thought!

The Aryan Expulsion and Return Formula

JG von Hahn, a 19th century scholar outlined in his 1876 work, `Sagwissenschaftliche Studien` a concept known as `Arische Aussetzungs-und-Rueck-kehr Formel`[Aryan Expulsion and Return Formula].
Von Hahn identified 14 cases of mythical or legendary characters from different Aryan nations of instances where a principal hero more or less conformed to his concept. Examples from Aryan myth that conform to the formula include Perseus, Romulus and Remus, Siegfried and Parsifal.
Alfred Nutt added 8 more characters to von Hahn`s list from Celtic myth and legend in an article in `Folk-Lore Record,volume IV`. In his `Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail`[chapter VI] he tabulates the formula as follows:-

I. Hero born

a] Out of wedlock.
b] Posthumously.
c] Supernaturally.
d] One of twins.

II. Mother, princess residing in her own country.

III. Father.

a] God. }
...............} from afar.
b] Hero. }

IV. Tokens and warnings of hero`s future greatness.

V. He is in consequence driven forth from home.

VI. Is suckled by wild beasts.

VII. Is brought up by a childless couple, or shepherd, or widow.

VIII. Is of passionate and violent disposition.

IX. Seeks service in foreign lands.

a] Attacks and slays monsters.
b] Acquires supernatural knowledge through eating a fish or other magic animal.

X. Returns to his own country, retreats, and again returns.

XI. Overcomes his enemies, frees his mother, seats himself on the throne.

Jessie L. Weston in her `Legends of the Wagner Drama` states:

"It seems, therefore, practically certain that, whatever the cause which led to the first moulding of the legend into such a shape, the sequence of incident is of extreme antiquity; and the nations who possess the story, by whatever name they may elect to call its hero, really hold it as part of their original Aryan inheritance."

Nietzsche and the unknown god

Did the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche[1844-1900] have an encounter with the Germanic god Wotan?
In either 1863 or 1864 Nietzsche composed the following poem :-

"To the Unknown God"

I shall and will know thee, Unknown One,
Who searchest out the depths of my soul,
And blowest through my life like a storm,
Ungraspable, and yet my kinsman!
I shall and will know thee, and serve thee.


Twenty years later he wrote:

"The Mistral Song"

Mistral wind, chaser of clouds,
Killer of gloom, sweeper of the skies,
Raging storm-wind, how I love thee!
Are we both not the first-fruits
Of the same womb, forever predestined
To the same fate?

And from "Thus Spake Zarathustra" we have:-

"Ariadne`s Lament"

Stretched out, shuddering,
Like a half-dead thing whose feet are warmed,
Shaken by unknown fevers,
Shivering with piercing icy frost arrows,
Hunted by thee, O thought,
Unutterable! Veiled! horrible one!
Thou huntsman behind the clouds.
Struck down by thy lightning bolt,
Thou mocking eye that stares at me from the dark!
Thus I lie,
Writhing, twisting, tormented
With all eternal tortures,
Smitten
By thee, cruel huntsman,
Thou unknown-God!


According to the Swiss-German father of analytical psychology, Carl Gustav Jung in his 1936 essay "Wotan" Nietzsche had an experience of meeting the hunter god Wotan at the age of 15 in Pforta. This is described in a book by Nietzsche`s sister, Elizabeth Foerster-Nietzsche, "Der werdende Nietzsche"
Jung goes on to say: "As he was wandering about in a gloomy wood at night, he was terrified by a "blood-curdling shriek from a neighbouring lunatic asylum", and soon afterwards he came face to face with a huntsman whose "features were wild and uncanny".
Setting his whistle to his lips "in a valley surrounded by wild scrub", the huntsman "blew such a shrill blast" that Nietzsche lost consciousness-but woke up again in Pforta. It was a nightmare.
It is significant that in his dream Nietzsche, who in reality intended to go to Eisleben, Luther`s town, discussed with the huntsman the question of going instead to "Teutschenthal"[Valley of the Germans]. No one with ears can misunderstand the shrill whistling of the storm-god in the nocturnal wood."

Did Nietzsche have an actual encounter with Wotan? And if so what effect did that have on his philosophy ,especially his concept of the Aryan Superman and his rejection of Christianity?
Is the choice between Eisleben and the Teutschenthal symbolic of an inner struggle in Nietzsche`s Unconscious at such a formative age? A struggle between Christianity and the ancient pre-Christian religion of his Germanic ancestors?
Did this encounter or inner struggle with Wotan determine the path that his life was to take thereafter?

Richard Wagner, Aryan Prophet of Bayreuth

Wilhelm Richard Wagner[1813-1883], born in Leipzig, the ninth child and son of Carl Friedrich and Johanna Rosine Wagner. His father was a Police actuary of some social standing and it is rumoured that his mother was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Constantin of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
Significantly Wagner was born during the war of liberation against Napoleon. He enjoyed a close friendship with the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the composer Franz Liszt and Liszt`s daughter, Cosima eventually became Wagner`s second wife. Wagner is frequently villified over his numerous affairs with other women and his misuse of his friendships over the years. However much one may find cause to criticise or condemn Wagner for his profligate lifestyle and alleged anti-Semitism I believe that it is faulty to judge great men, men of genius such as Wagner by the petit-bourgeois morals of the the `Underman`. Different `rules`, different standards must apply.
As Nietzsche wrote, "the demand for one morality for all is detrimental to precisely the higher men, in short that there exists an order of rank between man and man, consequently also between morality and morality".[`Beyond Good and Evil`]
Adolf Hitler in `Mein Kampf` wrote, "World history is made by minorities......it is never the masses or the majority who create but always the individual....."
And was not Wagner just such an example of the `higher man`, the Overman, der Uebermensch?
Wagner at a crucial time of German history during the early days of the 2nd German Reich created a myth for Germany, and not only for Germany but the entire Aryan race.
Through his music dramas he resurrected old Germanic and Celtic myths which were replete with Aryan archetypes. Through his music Aryan man can spiritually connect with the Volksgeist[the race soul] and commune with the archetypes, the gods in other words.
Close study of his music dramas, especially Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal reveal prophetically the course of Aryan history for the centuries ahead.
We will make these individual works the object of a close study in the coming days and weeks.

Prometheus the Archetypal Aryan

Prometheus was the son of Iapetus who was one of the Titans. He tricked the gods into eating bare bones instead of good meat. He stole the sacred fire from Zeus and the gods. Prometheus did not tell Zeus the prophecy that one of Zeus's sons will overthrow him. In punishment, Zeus commanded that Prometheus be chained for eternity in the Caucasus. There, an eagle (or, according to other sources, a vulture) would eat his liver, and each day the liver would be renewed. So the punishment was endless, until Heracles finally killed the bird.

According to Friedrich Nietzsche in `The Birth of Tragedy`:

The Prometheus saga is a primordial possession of the Aryan population collectively and documentary evidence of their talent for the profoundly tragic. In fact, it could be the case that for the Aryan being this myth has the same defining meaning as the myth of the Fall has for the Semitic peoples, and that both myths are, to some degree, related, as brother and sister.

The pre-condition of this Prometheus myth is the extraordinary value which a naïve humanity associates with fire as the true divine protector of that rising culture. But the fact that man freely controls fire and does not receive it merely as a gift from heaven, as a stirring lightning flash or warming rays of the sun, appeared to these contemplative primitive men as an outrage, a crime against divine nature. And so right there the first philosophical problem posed an awkward insoluble contradiction between man and god and pushed it right up to the door of that culture, like a boulder. The best and loftiest thing which mankind can share is achieved through a crime, and people must now accept the further consequences, namely, the entire flood of suffering and troubles with which the offended divine presences afflict the nobly ambitious human race. Such things must happen — an austere notion which, through the value which it gives to a crime, stands in a curious contrast to the Semitic myth of the Fall, in which curiosity, lying falsehoods, temptation, lust, in short, a row of predominantly female emotions are look upon as the origin of evil.

What distinguishes the Aryan conception is the lofty view of an active transgression as the essentially Promethean virtue. With this, the ethical basis of pessimistic tragedy is established together with the justification of human evil, that is, human guilt as the penalty for that sin. The impiety in the essence of things — that’s what the thinking Aryan is not inclined to quibble away. The contradiction in the heart of the world reveals itself to him as the interpenetration of different worlds, for example, a divine and human world, each one of which is right in its separate way but which must suffer for its individuality as the two worlds come close together.

Parsifal, the Aryan `Christ`

Some of us involved in voelkisch Wotanism believe in the concept of avataras, human beings possessed by a deity who descend upon the earth in order to accomplish a mission amongst humanity.
This concept is deeply rooted in the ancient Aryan Hindu scriptures.The Bhagavad Gita has this to say about the returning Aryan Avatar: "When righteousness is weak and faints and unrighteousness exults in pride, the my Spirit arises on earth.
For the salvation of those who are good, for the destruction of evil in men, for the fulfilment of the kingdom of unrighteousness, I come to this world in the ages that pass."[4:7-8]
The Kalki Avatara will bring an end to the age of the Kali Yuga in which we are presently living through and usher in a new Aryan Golden Age.
For those who want to understand this avatara figure I suggest you follow the libretto of Wagners last and greatest music drama-Parsifal.
To many this is another christian passion play but to those who understand the sub text it is anything but. It is entirely heathen in nature and the figure of Parsifal is a type of Aryan christ or more correctly-avatara.
He is sent to the kingdom of Monsalvat to redeem the land, the Knights and the people from the curse of miscegenation which has poisoned the blood of the people and their king, Amfortas.
By rejecting the advances of the seductive Kundry who represents both a fallen woman and the wandering Jew he is able to bring racial salvation to the kingdom.
The real message of Parsifal had to be concealed from the wider public due to the times-the 1880s and the inevitable hostile public reaction. Wagner was not undergoing a spiritual conversion in his old age. On the contrary he was perfecting his art and the voelkisch message that he intended to convey. This was left for Parsifal, the most voelkischly overt of all his music dramas.

Nietzsche contra Evola

I realise that this subject has been touched upon before but I wish to explore this using primarily the writings and thoughts of Julius Evola and Friedrich Nietzsche, although hopefully not exclusively.
It is common knowledge that Nietzsche held in disdain the idea of "god" and sought the deification of a certain type of man into a new being, the Superman.
"Could it be possible! This old saint in the forest hath not yet heard of it, that God is dead![Zarathustras Prologue, part 2, Thus Spake Zarathustra]
Nietzsches conclusion that God is dead inevitably leads to the conclusion that man and man alone is the pinnacle of earthly existence. However within the species of man it is necessary to differentiate by both race to race and man to man. In short a hierarchy is called for.
"God hath died: now we do desire-the superman to live."[Chapter 73, Thus Spake Zarathustra].
Nietzsche saw the Superman as the meaning of the earth and everything accordingly must be subordinated to his awakening and arrival.
In essence he is the function of the Will to Power and domination.
Evola criticises this approach. "One can see from this that Nietzsches nihilism stops halfway. It sets up a new table of values, including a good and an evil."[Ride The Tiger]. There is the dichotomy. In the elimination of "god" and the affirmation of the Superman concept Nietzsche far from going "beyond good and evil" creates a new Weltanschauung with its own set of values, in essence a form of "good and evil".
Evola added "A true nihilism does not spare even the doctrine of the Superman."[Ride The Tiger].
Yet Evola in his way was proposing his own form of "Superman" through his "Doctrine of Awakening". Yet Evola did not reject the concept of "god" at all but through his Awakened One sought a synthesis between the human and the divine.
Are both doctrines of the Superman irreconcilable?
Is the concept of the Superman something to be desired, rejected or something that we should dread?

Gibor rune

Ge, gi, gifa, gibor, gift, giver, god, gea, geo, earth, gigur, death, etc:


"Gibor-Altar"-God the All-Begetter!-God is the giver, and the Earth receives his gifts. But the earth is not only the receiver, she is also in turn a giver. The primal word is "gi", or "ge"; in it lies the idea of "arising"[to give], but it also indicates "being" in the idea of the gift, and "passing away to new arising" in the idea of go-ing. This primal word "gi" or "ge" can now be connected to other primal and root words, a few examples of which follow.
In connection with the primal word "fa" as: gifa, gefa, gea, geo, it indicates the "gift-begetting" earth, and with "bar" or "bor"[burn, spring], the "gift-burn" God.
As "gi-ge-ur"[the gift goes back to "Ur"[primal existence], in "Gigur", the "gift-destroying" frost-giant, who becomes a personification of death and later of the devil, appears to be named.
By the idea word "gigas"[gi-ge-as: the gift goes out of the mouth[as], out of the source the fiddle[Geige] is understood. This is the old skaldic magical instrument of awakening which introduced the song, and since "song"[bar] also means "life", the fiddle was one of the many ideographs[hieroglyphs, symbols] of rebirth, and it is for this reason that it is often found in graves as a sacred gift. Therefore it is not necessarily so that the dead man in whose grave a fiddle is found was a fiddle player. "Flutes and fiddles" enticed people to dance, to the excitement of love, and was therefore banned by the Church-with its ascetic temperament-because they served as magical instruments to arouse the human fyr[fire] of love.
So the Church replaced the Wotanic symbol of awakening with the Christian symbol of awakening "the trumpet of judgement".
The personal names "Gereon" and "Geretrut"[Gertrud] are rooted in the primal word "ge", meaning rebirth, and the hieroglyph of this, the "Head of Gereon", appears as an equilateral triangle made of three human profiles. But this Gereon is, in turn, the god incarnate in the All as the All-,World-, or Human-spirit. And for this reason the meaning of the "ge-rune" is closest to that of the "fyrfos". The difference between the two interpretations lies in the fact that the idea of the "ge" or "gibor"-rune seeks esoterically to approach the comprehension of the idea of the divine from below upward-in a certain sense from the level of humanity outward-while the explanation of the fyrfos seeks knowledge of God esoterically in the innermost level of man himself-and finds it. Thus it is known, as the spirit of humanity, to be unified with God from the standpoint of the "bifidic-biune dyad", and it will attain certain knowledge from inside out, as well as toward the inside from the outside. Here again the exoteric and the esoteric are clearly distinguished, and the fyrfos is recognised as an esoteric secret sign of high holiness which is represented exoterically by the "ge-rune". So, while the exoteric doctrine teaches that "man emerged from God and will return to God", the esoteric doctrine knows the "invisible cohesion of man and divinity as the `bifidic-biune dyad` "-and so it can be consciously said: "Man-be One with God!"

Fyrfos

Fyrfos, hook-cross.


The eighteenth I will eternally never
tell to a woman or maid;
it forms the best end to the lays-
which only One of All knows,
except for the lady who embraces me in marriage
or one who is also a sister to me.


In this eighteenth song, the skald again recedes from view; he lets Wuotan sing and speak in order to indicate that this highest knowledge of the primal generation of the All can be known and comprehended uniquely and alone by the nuptually bound divinities of the biune-bifidic dyad of united spiritual and physical power, and that only these, uniquely and alone, understand the thrice-high-holy secret of constant generation, constant life, and uninterrupted recurrence, and are able to perceive the mysterious[eighteenth] rune of these.
However, certainly worthy of note is the fact that the eighteenth rune which is actually present is a-doubtless intentionally incomplete- fyrfos, and that it hearkens back to this sign in both name and meaning-without, nevertheless, exhausting it. In this the intention of the skalds to guard vigilantly the fyrfos as their exclusive innermost secret, and as the sigil of that secret, can be seen. Only after yielding to certain pressures did they reveal another sign which partially replaced the fyrfos.
This sign, which can to a certain extent be seen as a "substitute" eighteenth rune, is:

Eh rune

Eh, marriage,[Ehe], law, horse, court, etc.


A seventeenth helps me with a lovely maid,
so that she will never be able to leave me.


The seventeenth, or "eh-rune" plays off against the sixteenth. While that one warns against frivilous transitory love affairs, the "marriage[Ehe]- rune" confirms the concept of lasting love on the basis of marriage as the legal bond between man and woman.
This is symbolically indicated by a later "eh-rune" in that the "laf-rune" is doubled in it, therefore symbolically saying: "two bound together by the primal law of life!"
Marriage[Ehe] is the basis of the folk, and therefore "eh" is again the concept of law, for according to an ancient legal formula marriage is the "raw-root"[Rauwurzel], that is, the law-root of the continuence of Teutondom. Therefore: "Marriage is the raw-root of the Aryans!"

Between the seventeenth and eighteenth rune the skald included the following verse:


These songs will be, to you, Loddfafnir,
for a long time well-nigh unlearnable,
rejoice, if you experience them;
take note, if you learn them,
use it, if you understand them.


After this interlude-strophe, he begins with the mysterious eighteenth rune which follows as he again lets Wuotan speak:

Yr rune

Yr, eur, iris, bow, rain-bow, yew-wood, yew-wood bow, error, anger, etc.

A sixteenth I speak to a coy maiden
to get me goodness and luck:
that changes and turns the wishes and mind
of the swan-white armed beauty.

The "yr-rune" is the inverted "man-rune", and as it designates the bow, so too does it present the waxing and waning moon in contrast to the full moon of the "man-rune", and so in the first instance it refers to the mutability of the moon, in the second instance as the "error-rune"-referring to the lunarlike mutability of the feminine essence, portrayed in later verses of the "Havamal" [Rules of Life] in the following way:

Do not trust the true words of a maid,
do not trust the woman`s true words,
her heart was shaped on a spinning wheel
the feminine heart is the home of fickleness.

The yr- or error-rune[Irr rune], which causes confusion, whether through the excitement of the passions in love, in play, in drink[ intoxication], or through pretexts of speech[ sophistry] or by whatever other means, will perhaps conquer resistance through confusion.
But the success of a victory gained by such means is just as illusory as the victory itself-for it brings anger, wild rage, and ultimately madness.
The "yr" or "error-rune" therefore also contrasts with the "os-rune", since it tries to force the conquest of an opponent with mere pretext instead of with real reasons. Therefore, it teaches: "Think about the end!"

Man rune

Man, mon, moon[ma=to mother], to increase; empty or dead].

A fifteenth I tell, which Folk-rast the dwarf
sang before the Doors of Day
to the Ases[Aesir] for strength, to the Elves for might,
to myself to clear my mind.

In another sense, as in that of the well-known folk-tale, "the Man in the Moon" reveals himself in the fifteenth rune as a sanctified sign of the propagation of the human race. The primal word "ma" is the hall-mark of feminine generation-"mothering"-just as the primal word "fa" is that of the masculine. Therefore, we have here "ma-ter"[mother] just as there we have "fa-ter"[father]. The moon mythico-mystically serves as the magical ring Draupnir[Dripper], from which every ninth night an equally heavy ring drips[seperates itself], and which was burned with Baldr; that is, Nanna, the mother of his children, was burned at the same time as Baldr. According to mythico-mystical rules, however, nights always means months, and to the "nine nights" mentioned above indicate the time of pregnancy. While the concepts of man, maiden, mother, husband[Gemahl], wife[Gemaehlin], marriage, menstruation, etc, etc. are rooted in the primal word "ma"[just like the concept "moon", with which they are all internally connected conceptually], they nevertheless symbolize individual concepts reconnected into an apparent unity according to the principle of the multiune-multifidic multiplicity. So too is the conceptual word for this unity rooted in the primal word "ma" and expressed "man-ask" or "menisk", that is: man[Mensch]. Therefore-as a concept of unification-the word "man" is only of one gender[masculine], while the derogatory concept belongs to the third stage as a neuter, to which we will return later. The fifteenth rune encompasses both the exoteric and esoteric concept of the high mystery of humanity and reaches its zenith in the warning: "Be a man!"

Laf rune

Laf, lagu, loegr, primal-law, sea, life, downfall[defeat].

A fourteenth I sing to the gathered folk
by naming the divine names
for all of the Ase[Aesir] and Elven kind
I know as well as any.

The intuitive knowledge of the organic essence of the All, and therefore of the laws of nature, forms the unshakeable foundation of Aryan sacred teachings, or Wihinei[religion], which was able to encompass and comprehend the All and therefore also the individual in its arising, working, and passing away to new arising. Such esoteric knowledge was communicated to the folk in symbolically formulated myths, for the naive popular eye, unaccustomed to such deep vision and clairvoyance, could no more see the primal law than the physical eye can see the whole ocean, or the unschooled inner, spiritual eye the endlessness of life in the All. Therefore the fourteenth rune says: "First learn to steer, then dare the sea-journey!"

Bar rune

Bar, beork, biork, birth, song[bar=song], bier, etc.

A thirteenth I name, I sprinkle the son
of a noble in the first bath[pre-Christian baptism]
when he goes into battle, he cannot fall,
no sword may strike him to the ground.

In the bar-rune the spiritual life in the All, the eternal life in which human life between birth and death means but one day, stands in contrast to this day-in-the-life in human form, which goes from bar[birth] through bar[life as a song] to bar[bier, death], and which is sanctified and charmed by the "water of life" in the baptism. This[day-in-the-] life is bounded by birth and death, and even if destiny has not at once appointed a sword-death for the bairn-he is still exposed to this and many another danger. For in spite of the determination and dispensation of destiny, dark chance rules, based in the free will of men, and it is against such a maleficent decree of chance that the sacred blessing is supposed to work. The Germanic people did not recognise any "blind fate". They did believe in a predestination in the greatest sense, but they intuitively saw that many restrictions[chance accidents!] stand in the way of the completion and fulfillment of predestination in order to fulfill and steel personal power. Without these accidents, for example, every pine tree would have to be strictly symetrical in all its parts; one would have to be the same as the next, while in fact no two can be found that are exactly alike, and so too it would have to be in human life; all without difference, uniform and equal. For this reason the newborn should be consecrated with the "water of life" against impending accidents. Therefore: "Thy life stands in the hand of God; trust it in you."

Tyr rune

Tyr, tar, tur, animal[Tier], etc.[Tyr, the sun-and sword-god; Tiu, Zio, Ziu, Zeus; "tar"-=to generate, to turn, to conceal; thus Tarnkappe[cap of concealment], etc.

A twelfth I have: if on a tree there hangs
a man throttled up on high;
then I write some runes
and the man climbs down and talks to me.

The reborn Wuotan, i.e., the renewed Wuotan who has climbed down from the world-tree after his self-sacrifice, as well as the renewed "fanisk"[phoenix], which flies up out of the ashes, is personified in the young sun-and sword-god Tyr.
According to the rule of mysticism, every magical belief moves parallel to mythology, in that the mythic pattern is adopted in analogies to human-earthly processes, in order to reach results similar to those given in the myths.
While esotericism on the basis of the well-known bifidic-biune dyad recognises the mystic One in the mystic Many-and therein it sees the fate of All and hence of every individual-in eternal change from passing away to rebirth. As Wuotan returned after his self-sacrifice-which is to be understood not merely as his death, but rather as his whole life-in a renewed body, so also does every single person return after every life in human form with a renewed body through a rebirth-which is equally a self-sacrifice.
For this reason, "tar" means to generate, to live, and to pass away-and therefore Tyr is the reborn young sun. So too is the twelfth rune at the same time a "victory-rune", and hence it is carved into sword blades and speaheads as a sign to give victory. It shall be said: "Fear not death-it cannot kill you!"

Sol rune

Sol, sal, sul, sig, sigi, sun, sal-vation, victory[Sieg], column[Sauele], school, etc.

An eleventh still I also know in the fight,
when I lead the dear one:
I sing it into the shield and he is victorious in battle
he fares hale hither and hale home again
he remains hale everywhere.

"Sal and sig!"-sal-vation and victory-[Heil und Sieg].
This millenia-old Aryan greeting and battle-cry is also again found in a variant form in the wide-spread call of inspiration: "alaf sal fena!" This has become symbolised by the eleventh sign of the futharkh as the sig-rune[victory-rune]: "The creative spirit must conquer!"

Ar rune

Ar, sun, primal fire, ar-yans, nobles, etc.

I use the tenth, when through the air
ghostly riding-women fly:
when I begin that magic, they will fare
confused in form and effort.

The "ar", the "urfyr"[primal fire, god], the "sun", the "light" will destroy spiritual as well as physical darkness, doubt, and uncertainty. In the sign of the Ar the Aryans-the sons of the sun-founded their law[Rita], the primal law of the Aryans, of which the earn, or eagle[Aar] is the hieroglyph. It sacrifices itself, as it consecrates itself in a flaming death, in order to be reborn. For this reason it was called the "fanisk" and later "phoenix".
Therefore it is read as a symbolic hieroglyph when an eagle is laid on the funeral pyre of a celebrated hero to indicate that the dead hero rejuvinatingly prepares himself in death for rebirth in order to strive for a still more glorious future life in human form in spite of all the restrictions of the powers of darkness-all of which crumble before the "ar": "Respect the primal fire!"

Is rune

Is, ire, iron[Eisen].


A ninth I grasp, when for me need arises
to protect my ship on the ocean:
then I will still the storm on the rising sea
and calm the swell of the waves.

Through the "doubt-less consciousness of personal spiritual power" the waves abound-"made to freeze"-they stiffen as if ice. But not only the waves[Wellen] [symbolic of the will[Wille]], all of life is obedient to the compelling will. Countless examples of the "ag-is-shield" of Wuotan, such as the "Gorgon`s Head" of the Athenians, the "Ag-is-helm"," all the way down to the hunting lore and practice of causing an animal to "freeze", and modern hypnosis, are all based on the hypnotic power of the forceful will of the spirit symbolised by this ninth rune.
Therefore: "Win power over yourself and you will have power over everything in the spiritual and physical worlds that strives against you."

Nauth rune

Nauth, noth[need], Norn, compulsion of fate.

An eighth I have, surely for all
most needful to use:
wherever discord grows among heroes,
since I know how to settle it quickly.

"The need-rune blooms on the nail of the Norn!"
This is not "need"[distress] in the modern sense of the word, but rather the "compulsion of fate"-that the Norns fix according to primal laws. With this, the organic causality of all phenomena is to be understood. Whoever is able to grasp the primal cause of a phenomenon, and whoever gains knowledge of organically lawful evolution and the phenomena arising from it, is also able to judge their consequences just as they are beginning to ferment.
Therefore, he commands knowledge of the future and also understands how to settle all strife through "the constraint of the clearly recognised way of fate." Therefore: "Use your fate, do not strive against it!"

Hagal rune

Hagal=the All-hedge, to enclose; hail, to destroy.

A seventh I know, if I see a fire
high around the housing of men
however wildly it may burn, I will bring it to rest
with taming magical songs.

Hagal!-Introspective awareness, the consciousness to bear his God with all his qualities within himself, produces a high self-confidence in the power of the personal spirit which bestows magical power, a magical power which dwells within all persons, and a power which can persuade a strong spirit to believe in it without any doubt. Christ, who was one of those rare persons-as was Wuotan-said:"Verily, verily, I say to you, if someone were to say to this stone:
move yourself away!-and he believes in it-then this stone would lift itself away and fly into the sea."
Borne by this doubt-less consciousness, the chosen one controls the physical and spiritual realms, which he contains comprehensively, and thereby he feels himself to be all-powerful. Therefore: "Harbour the All in yourself, and you will control the All!"

Ka rune

Ka, kaun, kan, kuna, kien, kiel, kon, kuehn[bold],kein[none], etc.

A sixth is mine, if a man hurts me
with the root of a strange tree;
the ruin he threatened me with
does not hurt me but consumes him.

The "world-tree" Yggdrasill serves in the narrower sense as the Aryan tribal tree, beside which the tribal trees of foreign races are seen as "foreign trees". The runic concept "kaun", "kunna"[maid, eg., in [the name] Adelgunde] demonstrates the feminine principle in the All in a purely sexual sense. The tribe, the race, is to be purely preserved; it may not be defiled by the roots of the foreign tree. If it were nevertheless to happen, however, such would be of little use to the "foreign trees", because its "foreign scion" would grow to become its raging foe. Therefore: "Your blood, your highest possession."

Rit rune

Rit, reith, rath, ruoth, rita, rat[rede], roth[red], rad[wheel], rod, rott, Recht[right], etc.

A fifth I heard, if from a happy flight
a shot flies into the host;
however swiftly it flies, I will force it to stop
if I can only catch it with my gaze.

The thrice hallowed "Rita", the solar-wheel, the "Urfyr"[primal fire, God] itself! The exalted introspective awareness[Innerlichkeitsgefuehl] or subjectivity of the Aryans was their consciousness of their own godliness, for "internity" is just "being-with-one`s self", and to be with one`s Self is to be with God. As long as a people possesses unspoiled their entire original "internity" as a "natural people", it also has no cause to worship an external divinity, for an external divine service bound by ceremony is only made obvious when one is not able to find God in one`s own innermost being, and begins to see this outside his "ego" and outside the world-"up there in the starry heaven". The less internal the person is, the more outward his life becomes. The more a people loses its internity, the more pompous and ceremonialized its outward manifestations become-in the character of its government, law, and cult[all of which will begin to emerge as seperate ideas]. But they should remain one in the knowledge: "What I believe, is what I know, and so I also live it out." For this reason, the Aryan divine-internity is also the basis for a proud disdain for death among the Aryans and for their limitless trust in God and in the Self, which expresses itself gloriously in the "Rita",[cosmic order,law] and which has the fifth rune as its symbolic word-sign. Therefore, this rune says: "I am my rod."