Friday, April 28, 2023

Walpurgisnacht 2023 - Path of Solitary Gnosis, Demystifying Occult Knowledge, and a Life-changing Travel

by Sean Jobst

 



   Without any conscious thought, something in my soul has stirred me towards the magical, liminal night of Walpurgisnacht: 30th April. Sure, there is the ethnic connection I have to a night rooted in German folklore and traditions, but I know from my initial deep analysis that began this yearly tradition for me, just how scattered the knowledge (much less the awareness) is around the entire subject of Walpurgisnacht. This path of solitary Gnosis, seeking the mysteries within as much as those outside, is a path of intensive studying and piecing together from scattered resources - and an even-greater level of intuition. 

   It was in that first article that I developed my firm conviction that Walpurgisnacht is a unique German celebration rooted in the hybrid Celtic/Germanic regions of Germania - thus it being on the eve of Bealtaine (1st May) - overlaid with certain "Christian" imagery to preserve this auspicious night under the watchful eyes of Church and State.(1) "We know that our forefathers very generally kept the beginning of May as a great festival, and it is still regarded as the trysting time of witches, i.e. once of wise-women and fays [fairies]; who can doubt that heathen sacrifices blazed that day?"(2)    

   Sacrifice is simply to be understood as the Animistic understanding of reciprocal exchange (also known as the "gifting cycle") with various spiritual beings and energies. It has always been accepted as a basic fact worldwide that we cohabit this world with various unseen spirits and spectres at different dimensional levels. It was the same for Germanic and other ancient Europeans, despite the tendency to only see Animism within distant tribal "others", whether from a dismissive or paternalistic lens depending on the observer's intent. Walpurgisnacht has many supernatural elements, with the veils thinnest between worlds. 

   One example abounds when we study the Hexentanzplatz, a plateau in the Harz mountains surrounded by many Walpurgisnacht legends about "Frau Holda and her witches dancing away the snow." This marked the changing of the seasonal tide, as one of the rites was washing one's face with the morning dew of May - an homage to the Spring Goddess Ostara, whom I view as the seasonal counterpart of Frau Holle. The local Saxons honored the spiritual energy of those forests and mountains, whom they named Hagedisen, especially around the night leading into 1st May. Then there is the German tradition of Ankenschnitt, an offering of bread covered in butter and honey, left out on Walpurgisnacht as a offering to ensure that the "howling hounds" of the winds would not damage one's homestead during the year.(3)




   Bonfires were ritually lit that night - the physical fire being a reflection of the internal spiritual fire (a subject for a future article). Jacob Grimm made a priceless contribution to keeping alive those fires of German folklore that speak far more to me personally than the Eddas or other Norse sources ever could. As if to kindle my own internal spiritual fire, I have also been able to see the Heathen soul amidst the outwardly "Catholic" traditions practiced in my ancestral regions. In the process, I navigated through Abrahamism in general back into the calling of my ascended Ancestors that reside within my blood down to the cellular level.  

   Each year I learn more about Walpurgisnacht which reflect other aspects of my life, so these articles are also a way of taking stock of life, my personal tradition of spring introspection although that is most saved for journaling. 2020 was a year of darkness but for many of us it was a great opportunity for growth and introspection, as I deepened my spiritual studies and became very productive in writing. As if to signal my initiation through this Hermit phase, my Walpurgisnacht 2021 article coincided with another contribution for the excellent Black Front press: "Evola: Initiation and Transcendence of the Pagan Anarch". 

   This came a full decade after I wrote another article for Black Front about Evola and other Traditionalist ideas from a Sufi perspective(4), so my journey has come full circle back to the primal Pagan and Animist which is the Natural State of Being. Likewise, truly grounding my Anarchism within Natural Law, Occult knowledge, and the decentralism of tribes and local communities. If the events these last few years haven't made the case for building parallel societies - all based on free will, non-coercion, and mutual agreement - than I don't know what can. Taking it away from merely discussing economic theory, just as Paganism is moribund if not grounded and activated by the necessary Animism. 

   So the 2021 revision was then followed up in 2022 with more research into the folklore and etymology of Walpurga, and a basic introduction to true Magic vis-a-vis what's often termed "Dark Occult".(5) I devote this current effort to the magical power within each of us and the necessity to demystify the mental shackles that bind people under the spell of the Narcissistic and Psychopathic control-freaks who presume their "right" to dominate others. I know only too well from my personal life that spiritual awakening is closely bound up with cutting off the Narcissists surrounding us. Because its all about energy, there are naturally some humans of various mind viruses who feed off the energies of others. 



Top: North America as the Turtle Island of Cree and
other Native American traditions...
Bottom: Drawing "América Invertida" (1943) by the 
Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres García, which 
shows the North and  South can be 
a matter of perception depending on 
how the observer sees it. I will discuss more
about this following my travels there.



   By the time Walpurgisnacht arrives this Sunday, I will be in the Southern Hemisphere on the most life-changing journey. Its foremost about Amor, but it won't be lost on me the difference in polarities. Being more sensitive to energy and electromagnetism in relation to the two poles, which most who remain within one or the other tend to take for granted. Aside from the well-known difference of the seasons, what flows clockwise in the North flows counterclockwise in the South. How the polarities flow around a central point which peoples worldwide knew as an axis mundi or World Tree. What does it practically mean in relation to what others have said about Ascension and the 5D shift, or Sophia's Correction

   This will be my introduction to the various travel articles and setting the stage for yet more articles on the more esoteric level. Everything is connected. Although apparently they are solely materialistic in their focus, those who seek mastery over others are actually engaging in a spiritual attack which has been increasingly clear to me as I've delved deeper into learning about Archontic intrusion, Wetiko and other mind-viruses, and Mass Formation Psychosis. So it is that many articles to come will demystify the "Dark Occult" from true Occult wisdom that is actually inseparable from our personal power and self-awareness. From the Grounding also comes the Ascension. Holle....Huul....Huar



"Gaia" by Colombian visual artist Dora Alis Mera




Notes:

(1) This is not to deny there were specific traditions lost with the centuries, or that Christianity didn't leave some traces on how Walpurgisnacht is perceived. Yet I cannot stress my guiding principle along this journey: The Pagan/Heathen tradition of a people is not completely lost but survives even after their conquest/conversion in various residual forms through folklore, folk magic and folk medicine; as well as unconsciously through archetypes and symbols. Each of us first need to reclaim our Indigeny and Animism to decode the various layers built upon these traditions over centuries of imposed social conditioning.

(2) Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, Vol. II, p. 614.

(3) A direct connection with the Wild Hunt, about which I wrote a series of articles from late 2020 onward. The last article of that series will be upcoming later this summer. 

(4) Just within the last couple of months, an article which has suddenly been brought to my attention again by some interested people who discussed it. Learning as I have to read the language of synchronicity, a dialogue between the unconscious mind and the higher self, and with the spirit world, I know this is no coincidence.

(5) An important distinction that has nothing to do with the simplistic division between "white" and "black" Magic. Rather, its more about an illusion of power vs. authority - which is why Dark Occultists want to keep knowledge for themselves since that knowledge would empower others against their mental control over others. Mental because the mind is inseparable from consciousness. Mind should also be distinguished from the cognitive processes of the brain, including the presumption that every thought allegedly comes from us.

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Pagan/Heathen Origins of Swabian Fastnacht Celebrations

By Sean Jobst

23 February 2023

[Published simultaneously on my Swabian Paganism/Folklore blog, alongside an animistic article]


The various pictures here are public photos of Fastnacht
celebrations. So my Gratitude towards each photographer.


   I used to ask my late Oma about our paternal ancestors and their traditions, collecting all the information I could no matter how small (even daily habits). I felt the importance of Ancestors, knowing we each come from a continuous line of successive generations who made us the individuals we are. Not just the gift of life our Ancestors gave to us – for we are alive exactly because of their choices, love, and overcoming challenges – but even in the subtle qualities we may not even be conscious about. We should cultivate that Gratitude to truly know ourselves. The health and psychological benefits of a relationship with one’s Ancestors is well-known – and second nature to we who reclaim its spiritual implications.

   My great-grandparents and Oma were from Bad Cannstatt, now a part of Stuttgart that I personally visited back in July 2016. But my great-great-grandparents and as far as we could recount, were from two villages in the Ostalbkreis region of the Swabian Alps (on the administrative border of Wurttemberg with Bayern, but in the heart of Schwaben) – Ellwangen and Bopfingen/Baldern. (One of my family lines, the Vaas, were originally from northern Spain but settled in Ellwangen sometime around then. My Schneider line was from Baldern while my Neuner line I found some links to the Swabian part of Bayern). Among my prized possessions are family pictures from the 19th century of our farm, wirtschaft (inn/guesthouse), and the always-looming Schloss Baldern.

   One of these traditions I learned is Fastnacht, which this year coincided with the New Moon on 20th-21st February. Ostensibly a cultural tradition of our “Catholic” faith, seeing with the deeper perception of a Pagan/Heathen I find remnants of our indigenous faith borne from our ancestral landscape. These were absorbed into the Church but did not originate with them. As readers of my articles are aware, its my firm contention that Paganism was not completely “lost” but has survived continuously in the various folklore, folk medicine, and folk magic traditions; and also embedded in the collective Unconscious, surfacing through various symbols and archetypes – such as occurs in much of the imagery around Fastnacht.



Jesters of baroque Italian style - Wolfacher Schellen- und Röslehansel


   General Thesis. Although it broadly shares many features with the Carnival traditions of other regions and countries, enough distinctions exist from those foreign traditions and common features with each other to identify a distinctive Schwäbisch-Alemannischen Fastnacht throughout all historic lands of the Suebi and Alemanni: Schwaben, Alsatz, Schweiz, and Vorarlberg. That it extends despite artificial divisions between Katholisch and Evangelisch further illustrates pre-Christian Heathen traditions and customs before Christianity was imposed by the Frankish conquerers. 

   Etymology. Fas(t)nacht and its dialect variations (Fassenacht, Fasnet, Fasent, Fasching) seem to originate with fasten “to fast” as celebrations preceding the Lenten time of fasting (Kalchthaler and Sigmund, 8). This leads most academics to presume Fastnacht originated in the civitas diaboli tradition of the Catholic Church (Beitl, Sund, et. al., 15). They operate under the false presumption that fasting arrived as a Christian tradition, whereas there is evidence of fasting as a Pagan tradition: For example, in the 700s the Archbishop of Canterbury Theodore reported in his Paenitentiale Theodori that Anglo-Saxon Pagans were fasting to honor the moon, cure illnesses, and generally for good health. As for Germany, around 932 Bishops outlawed fasting because they identified it as a lingering Heathen practice of divination. 

   That fasting existed within both the Vedas and Hellenic philosophers leads us to recognize it similarly within Germanic Heathen practice given the common Indo-European roots with those other traditions. That Fastnacht expressed some Pagan origins can be seen in the Church's claims of "excess" as with other Carnival traditions, ultimately choosing to appropriate and infuse it within their confines as they did with other folkloric celebrations that couldn't be completely suppressed. A good rule of thumb for anyone reclaiming an indigenous faith amidst the official religion is to see what those religious hierarchies prohibited.



"The Fight Between Carnival and Lent" (1559) by the Flemish painter
Peter Bruegel the Younger. An homage to my maternal Vlaam heritage.




   Lent as Seasonal. That Fastnacht is a surviving remnant of the traditional lunisolar Germanic calendar is proven exactly by its link to Lent. Rather than being created by the Catholic Church (much less a Latin term), Lent was simply the Anglo-Saxon term for “spring” and even today the Dutch/Flemish term Lente means “spring”. Its for the same reason that native Germanic words like “Easter” – from the Spring and Dawn Goddess Ostara – prevailed over the Hebrew term “pascha” that expressed a link to Passover. The Christian Frankish chronicler Einhard, in his Vita Karoli Magni (circa 830, Chapter 29), listed the third moon of the Frankish year as Lentzimanod (Lengthening Moon/Month), preceding Ostarmanod as the fourth moon. “The church is more Heathen than those using the equinox to date ‘Ostara;’ as the church, like the Frankish and Anglish Heathens dated their Eostre to a Full Moon. The first day of Lentzinmanoth (a new moon) is about six weeks before the full moon of ‘Ostar’ (and also about six weeks before Easter Sunday). Hence this six week period sorta matches the church's six weeks of Lent” (Sass).

   Liminal time between Winter and Spring. Fastnacht with its elaborate mix of “dark” and “light” elements, expresses the liminal time between Winter and Spring. Its well known that St. Valentine’s Day shares more features with the Roman Lupercalia than anything Biblical, so we can use the same logic to many other festivities of this time. As midpoint between Yule and Ostara, Fastnacht is part of the broader tradition of February festivities like Candlemas and Imbolc that were symbolic of “when the pre-spring moon announces that winter is losing its strength and the ‘sun buck jumps” (Storl, 54), devoted to the Celtic Spring Goddess Brigit/Brigantia. Common in Celtic lands, Candlemas is “the Christianized version of the old Celtic pagan Imbolc” with its observable Pagan traditions like caroling and wassailing (Emerick, 54; Owen, 247).

   One of the distinctions to Fastnacht is exactly because our Suebi and Alemanni ancestors absorbed the pre-existing Celts who also form part of our bloodlines. Nor is it any accident, as argued by scholars such as Philip A. Shaw, that the veneration of Ostara thrived exactly in those regions with earlier Celtic veneration of the Matronae. So that Fastnacht is uniquely Alpine going back to the most ancient times. For example, the similar features between Perchta with the Befana figure of northern Italy – through the medium of the Celts who were indigenous to all the Alpine regions.



Hooriger Bär (hairy bear) of the Poppelezunft Singen



   Observing the Shamanic Bear Spirit. In his explanation of Fastnacht, Wolf-Dieter Storl traced its masks and costumes to representations of spirits of the forests and mountains. He even theorized that Groundhog’s Day is a survival of the time when one observed the bear coming out of hibernation in a cave as an omen for whether spring would come or not. Pennsylvania Deutsch Heathens called Urglaawe similar make a connection between Fastnacht (which they called Fawesenacht) and Groundhog’s Day (Schreiwer and Eckhart, 23). There are shamanic qualities to such bear symbolism, including to rebirth and solar cycles, Germanic warriors wearing bear skins to carry on the “ecstasy” (wode) personified by Wodan, and the related Germanic concepts of inherited “luck” and a “guardian spirit” that was often the bear. The Fastnacht processions of costumed and masked “spirits” are mock representations of the Wild Hunt.

   Purification and Rebirth. Fastnacht has other shamanic and fertility connotations through the figure of Perchta, whom I discussed elsewhere in greater detail. Fastnacht festivals use birch – considered her material as the one who presides over the spirit of witches roaming across this time of year (leading up to Walpurgisnacht). “During the Alemannic carnival, the archaic, colorful festival at which many costumed and masked people parade as various ‘spirits’ in February, the witches still carry a birch broom, occasionally ‘riding’ it and symbolically swooshing it around to cleanse the atmosphere. The role of the witches is usually played by men because it is believed that women are more receptive in nature and more likely to be possessed by the spirits represented on the masks” (Storl, 70-71). Similarly, the Pennsylvania celebration is marked by such practices as a cackling and crowing called “Du bischt die fawsenacht” (Shoemaker), and a folkloric figure named Butzemann who is honored by taking “vanquished habits and negative energies with him in fire on Allelieweziel” (Schreiwer and Eckhart, 24). The element of fire was understood as purifying, so that bonfires were a common feature of all these liminal festivals that marked the changing of seasons – its about the release of spiritual energies.

   Fastnacht Guilds. The last noteworthy aspect to me is that of competing Fastnacht guilds: “Swabia is the region for the ‘Narrenzünfte’ (in English Narr means ‘Fool’ but it would be wrong to use it; Zunft means ‘guild’, so let’s call it Fasnacht guild). Almost every village and city has its own Narrenzunft in the region of the South-West to the Northern part of Switzerland. Every member of a Narrenzunft has its own costume and mask that is called ‘Larve’. They are made out of wood, fabric, ceramic or wire. Every costume is hand made and shows the specific theme of the Narrenzunft.” To me this harkens back to the decentralized socio-political structures of the Suebi/Alemanni called pagi or cantons. It also expresses the creativity and imagination nourished out of friendly competition. Each one creates something unique and distinctive, together making Fastnacht the vibrant, living Swabian tradition it is.


Rämässer Narrenzunft from Ringsheim, Schwarzwald


References:

Beitl, Klaus; Horst Sund; et. al. Fas(t)nacht in Geschichte, Kunst und Literatur. Konstanz: Universitätsverlag Konstanz, 1984.

Emerick, Carolyn. European Christmas Lore: Collected Works. CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2018.

Kalchthaler, Peter and Sigmund, Hans. Hexen, Lalli, Flecklehäs. Freiburg: Herder Verlag, 2007.

Owen, Trefor M. “The Celebration of Candlemas in Wales.” Folklore, Vol. 84, No. 3, Autumn 1973, pp. 238-251.

Sass, Robert. “The REAL Origins of Lent vs. Historical Sigrblot. Modern Paganism vs. Historical Heathenry”. Feb. 27, 2020. < https://www.aldsidu.com/post/the-real-origins-of-lent>.

Schreiwer, Robert L. and Ammerili Eckhart. A Dictionary of Urglaawe Terminology. 2012.

Shaw, Philip A. Pagan Goddesses in the Early Germanic World: Eostre, Hreda and the Cult of Matrons. London: Bristol Classical Press, 2011.

Shoemaker, Alfred L. Eastertide in Pennsylvania. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000.

Storl, Wolf-Dieter. The Untold History of Healing: Plant Lore and Medicinal Magic from the Stone Age to Present. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2017.


Fire-themed Fastnacht mask

Fasnacht in Willisau (2012)



Saturday, February 18, 2023

Seek the Mysteries! Some Meditations on the Othala and Tiwaz Runes, Wodan-Vili-Ve, and the Journey to Know Ourselves

by Sean Jobst

18 February 2023




   “Seek the Mysteries!” A simple phrase of three words containing all that is within us, including the entire cosmos. Depending on the source, its either an ancient expression of esoteric wisdom or creation of a modern guild of Rune initiates – perhaps that’s the point for a mantra beyond the bounds of time. When I first came across this saying, it inspired me immediately as a Germanic equivalent to the Hellenic maxim famously inscribed on the Temple of Delphi: “Know Thyself”(1), with much the same meaning and implications.

   The phrase itself comes from the Old Norse Reyn til Runa, literally “Seek toward the Mysteries!” As might be expected, reyn has a direct root to “rain” which can be viewed esoterically as the cleansing energy descending from the skies percolating within the soil to ascend again as the nourishing mist and dew. We can understand our initiation within this animistic cycle through a shamanic technique called Huul Breath(2): The primordial energy of Hagalaz comes down to regenerate the world, melting into the energy-filled water of Uruz flowing as conduit through our bodies, coming out the feet to become the grounding Earth energy of Laguz.

   A possible Proto-Germanic reconstruction can be *Sokijana “to seek” + *werthaz “toward” + *Runa “secrets, mysteries.” Not surprisingly given the close connection between these two kindred peoples (especially in my ethnic regions), Runa carries the same meaning in Celtic languages.(3) Runa is the sense of seeking what is hidden within ourselves and the world, the sacred mysteries imbuing all Nature. Another meaning of Runa is "whisper", indicating the importance of contemplation and the fact that esoteric workings occurs in silence. The appreciation and awe at knowing mystery is in the journey itself, knowing that no matter how much we become initiated to it there is still beauty in the mysterious.





   Runa stems from Proto-Indo-European *rewHn “to roar, grumble, murmur, whisper”, the primal recognition of sounds and vibrations that birthed the universe and will continue to create the universe.(4) This is to be known energetically, as expressed by the third Hermetic principle of The Kybalion (which expresses Natural Law inherent in all Indigenous spiritualities): “Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” It continues: “Every thought, emotion or mental state has its corresponding rate and mode of vibration. And by an effort of the will of the person, or of other persons, these mental states may be reproduced.” Even emotions are energy in motion - we can be empowered even with our thoughts.

   This includes the human will to seek the mysterious, encoded through Germanic traditions about the primordial giant Ymir (*Jumjaz/Jumjos) whose name literally means “screamer” and simply affirms that everything manifests from life-force energy and consciousness.(5) These resonate at varying levels of vibrations and frequencies as encoded throughout language. I defer to Natural Law teachers, including this concise yet comprehensive introduction which points out even the word Universe means “one song” (the principle of Mentalism), whose different “notes” are individual stories and experiences: “The universe is both a playground and a school.” As he brilliantly sums up: "You are in motion - animation - and breathing in life-force energy." 

   Our soul is "experiencing itself through a limited subjective experience" coming from the primordial: "The consciousness of the universe created an illusion that separated itself in order to have an experience; an object and subject to have that experience." That coming from separation provides the depth, width, meaning, and complexity of the universe. Even through our individual purpose (life itself being an ongoing process to discover and live that mystery), there is this universal purpose to expand consciousness by forging and creating our experience with none of the false separation between spirit and matter exhibited in the religions (and their secularist variations): "Spirituality is the human experience of living as matter imbued with consciousness exploring itself."



Wodan through His example inspires with His
favor the Journey at all levels of Consciousness,
so we may Seek the Mysteries and balance our
ravenous Thought and Memory into Individuation.


   The soul command-mantra of Seek the Mysteries is so instinctive and beyond words that it can be best expressed through those ultimate Mysteries – the Runes. Not mere letters forming words, the Runes are vibrations that reverberate on all levels of conscious and unconscious thought and action. They contain the animistic interconnectedness of all life being spirit and consciousness manifesting at various levels. They are tied to the folk-soul of a distinct people emerging from a specific landscape, but are truly primal so similar equivalencies can be found within other cultures (i.e. Celtic Ogham, Turkic Runes, Chinese Daoist Bagua, Mayan Glyphs, etc.) - these are all spiritual concepts expressed through the vibrations of language where the creative process of Imagination is also paramount. “Seek the Mysteries” is charged in a Bind-Rune combining Othala and Tiwaz.

   Othala is Rune of both the spiritual inheritance from genetics and the Ancestors, and the material inheritance of land or possessions. As with its shape, Othala relates to the enclosure which can be understood on various levels: Our place within the enclosure of this world (Midgard/Mittilgart “middle enclosure”), 3D reality of space-time through which our souls experience life. Othala also relates to enclosure of a clan or tribe, our resonance to a specific landscape – even more broadly our responsibility to something greater than ourselves. On a more cosmic level, it’s the enclosure of the electromagnetic field holding everything in their proper balance and measures. Othala is the transformative awareness that the psyche is not so much within us but that we are within its enclosure.

   We understand our personal boundaries through various levels of enclosures. The electromagnetic field enclosure holds all the energies preserving our physical bodies down to the cellular level so our soul may experience; without it there would be no personal identity which can only come through differentiation. What is life but a continuous journey to discover our identity? Contraction and expansion occur in a continuum – hence Othala is enclosed on top while its “legs” extend outward. Boundaries are what allow us to assert our identity. Much evil results from not knowing or respecting boundaries; even the concept of evil (the very inverse of "live") stems from ignorance about one's boundaries.(6) As noted by Mark Passio, respect comes from Latin re “again” + spectare “to see, to look at”, so “we re-examine ourselves, our worldview, our mindset, our beliefs, and our behaviors. Then, in light of seeing ourselves with new eyes, we willfully decide to change these things about ourselves, and in doing so, re-create who we are in this world.”  





"The Cycle of Birth and Death" by the artist Jadurani Dasi



   Othala is also the Rune of “Home” – knowing ourselves in relation to the world. It’s the sense of peace and safety coming from the sense of “home”, simultaneous to the necessity to go outside our “comfort zone” to seek new experiences for growth without the delusion that we can only find it in the external.(7) This is the whole-ness of Individuation - a grounding in individual identity that also expresses itself through concentric circles of healthy, balanced social interactions. We were never born as a tabula rasa but carry on conscious and unconscious memories from our genetic lines and past incarnations. To Seek the Mysteries is to unveil our own “veil of forgetfulness” – its no accident Wodan / Óðinn fears most the raven “Memory” would not return.(8) The deeper wisdom is that perception itself is only the act of processing in the moment the memory of our experiences every preceding second - so the past and present operate in a continuous cycle.

   Othala overcomes the various external control and internalized programming that perpetuates that veil. Othala is the enlightenment grounded in Ancestral wisdom, including the responsibility we have in co-creating a better world for not only ourselves but our Ancestors who will be reborn into our descendants. After our mortal death we will leave some impact and legacy upon the world – it’s within our power how that will manifest: “Cattle die, kindred die. Every man is mortal: But the good name never dies of one who has done well.”(9) Or as expressed by Athenian military leader Pericles: “The sepulchre of famous men is the whole earth, not only the epigraph engraved on the columns in their own country, since also in foreign lands there dwells the unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts and minds of men.”(10)

   The second Rune in this combination is Tiwaz, which is inseparable from balance and interconnectedness: A center pillar, the World Tree (Irminsul / Yggdrasil), as a conduit of energies flowing upward with the sky as its canopy and grounding downward into the Earth. This Rune stirred within and spoke to me especially on the hiking trails that are paths to my “temple”: Nature. Applying the Hermetic principle of Correspondence, the World Tree parallels our bodies as the physical vessel for souls to experience life in this reality; and the spine which channels the electromagnetic/spiritual energies (kundalini) that reflect the terrestrial Maha Kundala. Tiwaz contains metaphysical truths of the entire universe, reflecting the Sky Father (Ziu) joining in a continuous union with Mother Earth which is the primal cosmology of all Earth-based traditions.

   There is a basic format shared across cosmologies as diverse as Daoist, Vedic, Germanic/Norse, and various Indo-European traditions. A primal nothingness out of which arose one – not “oneness” of the monotheists but the undifferentiated pure potential creating all life-force energy. Out of one arose two, the polarity of masculine and feminine energies, the Ying/Yang balance personified as Ymir in the Germanic tradition. From that two arises three, an Indo-European “trinity” that has absolutely nothing to do with that of the Christians which only arose later. We have each of the three within ourselves. Out of those three arise the five, which are the five elements. And out of the five elements flows infinity since it’s all a cycle of eternal recurrence. How can we decode and apply the patterns to ourselves?



The Ginnungagap / Ginunga "gaping abyss" of Nothingness, the
ginn- prefix represented a sacred, "magical (and creative) power-
filled space" as noted by Jan De Vries. Hence, the ginn-heilagr
and ginn-regin (the Gods) and ginn-runa (the Runes). 


"Ymir being slain by the gods" by the German artist Franz
Stassen (1869-1949) for the 1920 edition of the Eddas.
This is not a literal portrayal but should be seen as allegory.


   The name Ymir, one of the “giants” (unknown chaotic forces of the universe and within), means both “screamer” (primordial vibrations) as I decoded earlier, and the “twin” (literally “hermaphrodite”) of masculine/feminine energies – or as expressed by The Kybalion: “Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine principle; Gender manifests on all planes.” This is a spiritual energy not material gender contained in varying measures within everything. In terms of the psyche, Carl Jung termed it the Anima and Animus – adopting both names from the same word for “breath” (life-force energy) and “animism”. The Sacred Feminine includes the heart-based intelligence, creativity, intuition, imagination, empathy, nurturing, and caring about what is right and true. The Sacred Masculine includes the logical mind, reason, drive, power, will, analytical thinking, and figuring out solutions. We need these qualities within ourselves and manifesting outward. Much evil has resulted from imbalance between masculine and feminine. 

   What we know as our three-dimensional reality and thus ourselves, is the interplay of three separate spiritual/psychic qualities (one of whom is also a Deity). So it was that Ymir was “killed” by the three figures of Odin/Wodan, Vili, and Ve, meaning they took the unmanifested energy of the cosmos (Ymir’s “corpse”) to delineate and differentiate the three-dimensional reality – just as we create and manifest our reality every second. Only one of these is also a Deity who appears throughout the Myths, which is why the last two are sometimes interchanged with the names Hönir and Lodurr as a metaphoric formula as decoded by Norwegian scholar Maria Kvilhaug. It is through these three functions within us that we experience the universe as ambient life-force energy manifesting our reality; and that we may know ourselves and our Journey.    

   Vili, whose name comes from the Proto-Germanic *Wiljo (itself from *wiljana “to want”), represents the power of will and desire. He personifies the intent, desire, and passion to will into existence. Our intention and desire determine our actions and most often manifest their results. As Lodurr in the myth of the “first” human beings Ask and Embla(11), he is the vitality who gave them blood, heat, and hue (Völuspá, Stanza 17). In other versions Vili is Loki, “the fiery one” and “mover of stories” whose role is always as a catalyst – a neutral force creating the conditions sparking others to actions they know are necessary but held back by their own fears or complacency; he holds the unconscious mirror up to their conscious awareness. Its no accident he most often accompanies Wodan, the wisdom, spirit and awareness, or Donar, the life-force energy.(12) Vili is the passion creating motion, the internal spiritual fire that includes the intensity to alter our consciousness. We need passion to inspire us and develop that awe of life – but it needs grounding in our reason and logic. Yet without passion we become stagnant and mechanical, not growing into our potential that only becomes from the Mysterious.  

   Ve, whose name comes from Proto-Germanic *Wihaz “sacred, holy” (itself from Proto-Indo-European *weyk “to choose, separate, set aside, consecrate as sacred”), represents the awe that comes from a sense of the sacred within and without. This is why the same root can be seen in Germanic words for sanctuary, witchcraft, and village. The sacred heart-center and “hearth”, the numen or spiritual power imbued throughout the entire external world (Animism). That spiritual energy concentrated into some sense of “space” so we can relate to it – Ve personifies the Will-Power without which our Soul could not experience life. He is the Hönir who “gives” sense to Ask and Embla. As noted by Kvilhaug, this name means “chicken”: “a humorous way of referring to the chattering, clucking, cackling sounds of thoughts in our heads.” This is why he is “quick” and “long-legged” - an allegory for the speed of our thoughts, which are dynamic and not passive, just as passion creates emotions. Other Myths express how he is "advised in all matters" by Mimir “Memory” – exactly how the Mind works as it processes the Soul. 

 


Suche die Geheimnisse! He is a multifaceted God of wisdom,
shamanic journeys, higher awareness and initiation, and the
Wild Hunt. He is the "Wode/Od" of ecstasy and frenzy,
the "swaying" (literal meaning of his spear, Gungnir)
wind of storms and Kundalini.



   Out of the three, Odin / Wodan is the only one who is a God and thus appears in all variations. Odr or Wode means “spirit, frenzy, fury, ecstasy, inspiration, poetry” – all of these qualities come from the same energetic properties, whether the passion to seek higher awareness, the concentrated rage and fury to overcome challenges, or the ecstasy that inspires deep transformation. Od bears some relation to Othala. The -in/-an suffix has dual meanings of “the one” and “death” – for He has relation to a specific kind of death (as survives in His folkloric role as leader of the Wild Hunt) as well as the ancestral memory that is paramount to any individual whole-ness. As Spirit, Wodan is multifaceted as we can only expect with a God who travels across all the worlds and dimensions – all contains a spiritual energy of its own. It is He who offers the Soul and Breath to Ask and Embla – to breathe is to animate and respire, so is synonymous with spirit and anima.

   Wodan is the archetypal(13) power of self-awareness, grounded in our spirit and essence but able to expand beyond limitations – just as He travels across all worlds in a tireless quest for more knowledge and wisdom. It’s a quest not just for more knowledge for the sake of it, but to truly transform and raise consciousness, to know oneself better. This is why His two “brothers” – Vili (desire, intention, passion) and Ve (sacred space, mind, thought) – are actually aspects of Himself. Just as we need the Soul as the sacred space to contain self-awareness, the Mind to process what the Soul experiences, and the will, intention and passions to inspire and guide that Journey. All these range of emotions are the companions and guides on our internal journey, often manifesting outwardly what is within our internal state. Yet none of that is static – we have that Wotanic energy to inspire, empower and propel us to Seek the Mysteries and experience transcendence into our higher awareness.

Footnotes:

(1) γνθι σεαυτόν - gnothi seauton. Despite efforts by some philosophers to attribute it to previous philosophers, traditional Hellenic folk-faith understood it as a greeting by Apollo. As with Wodan, Apollo is well-wisher to those seeking the mysteries, knowing ourselves through an initiation both internal and external.

(2) A powerful technique created by the spiritual teacher Thunder Wizard (Michael William Denney) related to the Goddess Holle, who most personifies Mother Earth within my continental Germanic Pagan/Heathen perspective. Known as Frija in other contexts, she is the Goddess most connected with Wodan, archetypal God of seeking the Mysteries. These two sacred masculine/feminine Deific energies are both connected to the Wild Hunt, with its dual chthonic and airy connotations.

(3) Runa is also self-identifier for the Quechua for whom it means “man, person, human being” (hence Runakuna “the people”) – it was common around the world for tribes to identify themselves with names indicating their human status, such as Alemanni “all-men”. I agree with the many Indigenous American oral traditions that indicate ancient Transatlantic cultural diffusion. In the Andean context, I see similar traits between the wisdom-bringer Viracocha and his serpentine power, and the energetic qualities of Wodan and serpent symbolism within Germanic Mythos.



Comparison of image of Viracocha
from the gateway at Tiwanaku in
Bolivia (top) and Bronze pendant
of Odin found at Uppland, Sweden
(bottom). These are simply stylized
not literal representations of Deities.




(4) As with other tribal cultures, the Germanic expressed a cyclical view of time. They even lacked a future tense – only past and present as documented by Paul C. Bauschatz in his book, The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982). We can visualize the World Tree whose branches extend into the skies and trunk grounds deeply into Earth: Above-ground is manifestation, while below is unmanifested potential and the past – hence the relation to the Underworld as realm of Ancestors. We move as a circle accumulating lessons and experiences along the way within this Cosmic Web of Wurt/Wyrd/Uurd. Bauschatz argues that the Norn Skuld, whose name is often translated as “future”, properly means “debt, obligation”. This is the Natural Law of Karma (which our Ancestors would have known but under a different name) – our choices in the present moment will have consequences, and the patterns from which the present comes into being at every moment. Incidentally, Skuld is related to the word "should", expressing this sense of obligation and action.

In one of her podcasts (which first brought this book to my attention), Carolyn Emerick notes how the Germanic past-facing culture meant our Ancestors were impervious to apocalyptism, thus from the fears and anxieties used to easily control people. Our concept of Time was subverted so the salvationist mind-virus could fester gradually making us ripe for conquest. In his talk "What It Means To Be A Human Being," the late Santee Lakota poet John Trudell gave an excellent overview of the Indigenous concept of Time (also shared by indigenous Europeans): "We are in time and space, but we're from beyond time and space." Venerating Ancestors for help and guidance is understanding that "we were borrowing today from the past and the future." There is incredible personal power in knowing we are creating and manifesting our future in this moment. On a personal level, many self-help thinkers advise the wisdom of treating every day as separate from the one before - truly inculcating a sense of the moment. Magic practitioners stress the importance of putting out one's will and intention without obsessing about the outcome.

(5) Decoding the Voluspa’s emergence Myth, Maria Kvilhaug explains the passage Ar var Alda – “In the beginning was a big wave.” Alda means waves, rivers, streams – part of the primeval forces of the universe. Another form later used is “little waves”, so it’s a poetic metaphor for movement and vibrations. Ymir “Screamer” has his body “divided” – it’s the waves and vibrations of the cosmos experiencing differentiation.

(6) To put it simply, all control systems are ultimately founded upon blurring these personal boundaries so there becomes a “need” for their own “boundaries”. People who do not know their own boundaries will not demand more for oneself and so will cede their responsibility and power to these authorities. These control systems are often in a nation-state, but efforts to erode these physical boundaries and consolidate them into some broader Globalist institutions, perpetuate and intensify this erosion of personal boundaries (i.e. “You will own nothing and be happy,” certain mandates restricting free will and medical choices, etc.). From my Anarchist view, Othala as Rune of inheritance is intertwined with personal boundaries which flow and thrive through decentralism. Political concepts of boundaries shouldn’t be confused with the natural boundaries arising organically between tribes and clans.

(7) A perfect example of this is travel. I experienced and benefited much from my own travels, whether reconnecting with my heritage (thus truly knowing Myself) in Stuttgart/Swabia and Madrid/Castilla; the hospitality and welcome I received from locals in Turkey and Albania; the warmth and friendliness I felt in Cape Town from South Africans and other African peoples; the poetic and artistic sense of “Saudade” I discovered in Portugal; learning more about this continent of Turtle Island and my own place within this world among the Oglala Lakota of Pine Ridge. All the while also coming to better appreciate my sense of “home” as something both grounding and dynamic - its truly where the Heart is. Its no coincidence Wodan is The Traveler, for He awakened the enlightenment within after accumulating growth and experiences from travels across the various worlds. 

(8) Grímnismál, Stanza 20. The various mythologies and traditions making up the lore should be seen as the sacred living spirit with many levels of allegory and symbolism, rather than as a “holy, revealed” literalist scripture. 

(9) Havamal, Stanza 76.

(10) From his Funeral Oration for fallen Athenian warriors, as quoted by Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, II.43.3.

(11) This should be understood as allegorical and not a literal “creation” such as exists in Abrahamic religions. The Myth simply states they were the Ash and Elm trees who lacked Orlog/Urlag, “fate, destiny” – they already contained sentient life. Their emergence from the water indicates the originating role of the Mother Goddess, who is also a river or sea Goddess in Mythology. This is a continuation of the earlier Myth that mentions waves (see footnote 5) - its about primal movements and change in the cosmos. This Goddess is none other than Mother Earth, a co-emergent creation as old as She whom morphed into the Earth. Ask and Embla are inseparable from the same Nature that imbues all the elements of life. Even now we breathe in oxygen from trees while they breathe in our carbon in a harmonious mutual exchange of spirit and consciousness. 

(12) Since there is no duality between “good” and “evil”. Yes, sometimes our actions result in negative consequences, but we learn and grow most from challenges - we accept responsibility for our actions while having the capacity to rise above and correct errors. The mischievous trickster represents a spark inspiring others to take action and evolve to their potential. This often results in the Gods “discovering” their powers, such as Donar (life-force energy) and his Hammer (the heart-beat). Loki is not a deity himself – he doesn’t exist in continental Germanic lore and is barely attested outside Scandinavia. Rather, he is a neutral energetic force bound up with action, similar to the Greco-Roman figure of Lucifer: an agent of change who is that potential spark of self-illumination through the quest for knowledge and awareness. The “children” of Loki personify one’s lower instincts and unhealed traumas – not considered “evil” but simply what needs to be put in check lest we allow those aspects overtake us. One of these is the World Serpent Jormungandr.

(13) If the Divine holds inspiration and reflects into the human psyche at various levels; if our stages of growth are subject to the Web of Wurt/Wyrd; then there is no reason to dismiss seeing the Deities as Archetypes. It doesn't make them any less "real" - a presumption many still hold on to from Abrahamic dualistic thinking. It takes stepping outside the conditioning and into a deeper perception to realize that Animism expresses how everything (including Archetypes) have their own spirit and consciousness. There are multiple layers of meaning and relation to ourselves and the Deities.