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Guido von List
I
Von List
Profound dualities are central to the dynamic of the Will; as Jung recognised, "the conflict between the realm of ideas and life, between Wotan’s' dual nature as a god of storm, and a god of secret musings: Wotan is a restless wanderer who creates unrest and stirs up strife, now here, now there, and works magic. He was soon changed by Christianity into the Devil."
It is worth noting here that the so-called Occult arts, like alchemy for example, are concerned with the working of the magician's Will. Similarly, those 'possessed' by 'Wotan' identified their own Will with that of the god, and like the berserkers of the Viking Age, were reputed to have performed deeds of miraculous strength and courage;
"Wotan is not only a god of rage and frenzy who embodies the instinctual and emotional aspect of the unconscious. Its intuitive and inspiring side also manifests itself in him, for he understands the runes and can interpret fate."
An important figure in the Germanic revival of the late 19th/early 20th centuries was the Austrian magus Guido von List. His book of 1908, Das Geheimnis der Runen ['The Secret of the Runes', translated by Flowers] gave a historico-mystical version of the Viking rune-row by way of Odin's Rune Song in the Poetic Edda. His commentary on the rune called Is ['Ice] for example, illustrates this peculiarly Germanic concept of 'Will'. The stanza in the Edda he refers to has Odin describing his power to calm the seas;
"Through the 'doubt-less consciousness of personal spiritual power' the waves are bound - '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' [this is related to the 'aegis-hjalmer': the helm-of-awe or terror, which was a part of the Nibelungen treasure won by Sigurdhr] of Wotan such as the 'Gorgon's Head' of the Athenians, all the way down to the hunting lore and practice of causing an animal to 'freeze' [the magic of 'making something freeze' in hunting lore and practice is substantiated as 'hypnosis'], are all based on the hypnotic power of the forceful Will of the spirit symbolised by this rune. Therefore; 'win power over your self and you will have power everything in the spiritual and physical world that strives against you'."
The Will as a self-overcoming and its ability to impose Being on Becoming, as in Nietzsche's will to power and eternal recurrence of the same.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Odin's self-initiation was certainly a near-death experience. Guido von List suffered an eye disease which led to a period of temporary blindness prior to his own initiation in the runes; Hitler too was blinded by mustard gas in WWI which may have opened his third eye.
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II
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II
Runes
I find that the runes rarely lie, if ever.
I usually throw a daily rune or three and find that they set me up for the day, keep me in contact with the gods.
Often they comment on what has been, othertimes on what is, and even sometimes on what will be.
They are like the advice of an old, wise friend.
I find certain bind-runes haunting, and for protection I am constantly confronted by the wolfs-hook; not a rune as such, I know, but then I believe that the runes can be extended by bind-runes and related symbols at will.
I usually throw a daily rune or three and find that they set me up for the day, keep me in contact with the gods.
Often they comment on what has been, othertimes on what is, and even sometimes on what will be.
They are like the advice of an old, wise friend.
I find certain bind-runes haunting, and for protection I am constantly confronted by the wolfs-hook; not a rune as such, I know, but then I believe that the runes can be extended by bind-runes and related symbols at will.
They are a good discipline.
They keep your wyrd in line.
They also keep in contact with the runic system itself, and you keep in contact with the gods which is no bad thing.
I use a wide range of sources, having runes in all kinds of media.
When using the Anglo-Saxon futhorc the Old English rune poems are invaluable, of course.
Llook at the dark side of the runes, the Uthark.
The runes are multiversial!
They keep your wyrd in line.
They also keep in contact with the runic system itself, and you keep in contact with the gods which is no bad thing.
I use a wide range of sources, having runes in all kinds of media.
When using the Anglo-Saxon futhorc the Old English rune poems are invaluable, of course.
Llook at the dark side of the runes, the Uthark.
The runes are multiversial!
On the 'dark-side' of the runes.
The Anglo Saxon rune poem contains some dark meanings;
Ear byþ egle eorla gehwylcun,
ðonn[e] fæstlice flæsc onginneþ,
hraw colian, hrusan ceosan
blac to gebeddan; bleda gedreosaþ,
wynna gewitaþ, wera geswicaþ.
In Modern English:
EarThe grave is hideous---to every man
When steadily---the flesh begins
The body cools---and chooses the earth black
To bed with---Fruits fall
Joys pass away---truths are broken
That the runes were used for divination cannot be doubted on historical grounds [Tacitus and Caesar et al have already beeen referred to]. That this is the case, then we would expect the runes to follow the same patterns of divination shared by other systems the world over. This would include taking notice of whether the runes fell in their stave position or were reversed. Divinatory systems find these things to be significant.
On the question of 'historical evidence' for such things, it is obvious that a lack of historical evidence does not always mean that an historical event did not take place. It can just mean that the evidence ... has not survived [sorry to state the obvious!] ... However, history is always combined with reconstruction.
The Rune School states:
Or is there a historical precedent [for reversed runes]? While there is no historical/literary material to suggest ancient runecaster paid attention to reversed runes, equally there is nothing to prove they did not. Since the rune glyphs are designs with symbolic and magical importance in their own right, it would arguably be strange if they gave absolutely no import to a rune displaying the opposite to its normal shape."
http://www.runeschool.org/courses/intro_02/17_orientation.htm
The runes were used in all kinds of ways which depends upon an understanding of the right way up of the runes, and shows that reversals were taken into consideration:
http://arild-hauge.com/esecreter.htm
The Anglo Saxon rune poem contains some dark meanings;
Ear byþ egle eorla gehwylcun,
ðonn[e] fæstlice flæsc onginneþ,
hraw colian, hrusan ceosan
blac to gebeddan; bleda gedreosaþ,
wynna gewitaþ, wera geswicaþ.
In Modern English:
EarThe grave is hideous---to every man
When steadily---the flesh begins
The body cools---and chooses the earth black
To bed with---Fruits fall
Joys pass away---truths are broken
That the runes were used for divination cannot be doubted on historical grounds [Tacitus and Caesar et al have already beeen referred to]. That this is the case, then we would expect the runes to follow the same patterns of divination shared by other systems the world over. This would include taking notice of whether the runes fell in their stave position or were reversed. Divinatory systems find these things to be significant.
On the question of 'historical evidence' for such things, it is obvious that a lack of historical evidence does not always mean that an historical event did not take place. It can just mean that the evidence ... has not survived [sorry to state the obvious!] ... However, history is always combined with reconstruction.
The Rune School states:
Or is there a historical precedent [for reversed runes]? While there is no historical/literary material to suggest ancient runecaster paid attention to reversed runes, equally there is nothing to prove they did not. Since the rune glyphs are designs with symbolic and magical importance in their own right, it would arguably be strange if they gave absolutely no import to a rune displaying the opposite to its normal shape."
http://www.runeschool.org/courses/intro_02/17_orientation.htm
The runes were used in all kinds of ways which depends upon an understanding of the right way up of the runes, and shows that reversals were taken into consideration:
http://arild-hauge.com/esecreter.htm
http://www.beowulftranslations.net/glossary.shtml
http://englishheathenism.homestead.com/textrunemagic.html
More dark stanzas from the Anglo-Saxon Rune poem:
(Thorn) Thorn is extremely sharp,
Painful to any thane that grasps it,
Immeasurably fierce to any man,
That rests among them.
(Eolhx) Elk-sedge is usually found in the fens,
Growing on the water, Grimly wounding,
Staining with blood, any man who grasps it.
1.
First off, I believe that it is irrefutable that the runes were used in magical practice in ancient times [just as they are so used today].
The evidence is there in runic finds, amongst ancient historians and ancient literature.
The Eddas, Sagas and rune poems point to this, for example.
This magical practice took the form of [but was not exhausted by] divination.
2.
My "argument" as regards the specific use of the runes in divination is quite "critical" and "rational", and it was made in the above post.
To restate it in syllogistic form:
a) the runes are an ancient form of divination.
b) divination methods include reversals.
c) ergo (therefore) runecasters must have used reversals in divination in the past just as they do today.
Indeed, it is the stubborn and narrow-minded refusal to accept that reversals were used that stretches the credibility. Especially when you consider the evidence that the runes were used in complex codes, meaning that the level of runic sophistication was such that it could easily encompass reversals.
However, if you want to disbelieve that is your prerogative.
History always includes some aspect of reconstruction: indeed, it is impossible to see the past 'as it really was' just as we ourselves can never be the same as we were five years ago, nor can we recapture that in its totality.
Anglo-Saxonism therefore, and its related runic practice, is a living thing of today which follows the traditions by reliving them.
3.
As to the dark aspects of the runes, this too can be a syllogism:
a) life includes the positive and the negative, the dark and the light.
b) the runes are meant to reflect life
c) ergo (therefore) the runes have dark and negative aspects.
If you want to reject reversals for whatever reasons, that is up to you, but I have already shown that the Anglo-Saxon rune poem has dark stanzas [as do the Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems - the Eddas and Sagas also advert to this].
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