All-Hallows Eve 2019 - Part 3

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The Night of the Ancestors

The evening of October 31 is when the veil between our world and the world of the great Ur is at it's thinnest. The time when we can best connect with our ancestors. Not just to connect--we may be able to do that at other various points during the year--but to truly share feelings and love. Time and space may become one. Think of them, imagine the different time and place when they lived, especially at night. Concentrate on the landscape, the mountains, hills, trees, the moon, the water, whatever natural feature which is around you.

Think of one favorite ancestor, even one whom you have heard about but have never met. Don't be afraid to say their name out loud. Look upwards into the clear dark sky, into the stars, dance or just spin in the circle amid the beautiful darkness. Venerate them. There is no disconnect between folk deities such as Wotan, Hekate, Cernunnos, Freya, or Aradia, and your own favorite ancestors. Because you, your family, your clan, and your ancestors are all part of the same cycle of life... the same bloodline.... the same history.... separated only be time and space....


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"Comedy Horror"

Generally I have never been drawn much to the genre of comedy-horror, and then I thought about two films which have been aired this month, and I thought twice about it. One was the original 'Fright Night' from 1985, which appears to me to be the apex of comedy-horror; because it was definitely "comedy," and it was definitely "horror." Starring Roddy McDowell and Chris Sarandon. There was one sequel.

The other was 'Creepshow' from 1982, an anthology of creepy stories staring numerous well-known actors and directed by George A. Romero. The film gave the impression of being inspired by a comic book series. Actually it wasn't, but there was a special comic book later issued based on the film. During the 70s there was a large number of "mystery comics," which were deep and eerie.... often based on folklore or purportedly real experiences. Back then they were all in color, and cheap. There were two sequels, as well as the HBO series of the same name.

I get 'Creepshow' mixed up with 1983's 'Twilight Zone: The Movie', a very similar horror anthology film... almost comedy-horror.


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The gorgeous Anna Jimskaia

Little known actress who has appeared in a few racy Italian films, originally from Ukbekistan, but of Russian or Ukrainian descent. Under the Soviet Union, ethnic Russians and Ukrainians used to colonize all of these territories by design. Anyway, incredible beauty!

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Friday the 13th - Part III - Trailer
279,995 views - Jul 3, 2012

YouTube Movies
98.2M subscribers

It's spine-tingling horror in a whole new dimension as Friday the 13th Part 3-3D: Deluxe Edition comes to DVD! A carefree summer becomes a deadly nightmare for another group of naïve counselors who choose to ignore Camp Crystal Lake's gruesome legacy. They find themselves in a bloody game of cat-and-mouse with the maniacal Jason who stalks their every move...and ruthlessly kills them off one-by-one.


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Dana Kimmell - Friday the 13th: Part III

For some reason, "Part III" from 1982 stands out in the long Friday the 13th series. There was just something catchy about the characters. All of the guys were quite annoying, which was probably by design! One could be amused by all of the gruesome and humiliating manners in which they were knocked off... if you're into that kind've thing. The gals were all attractive, so you have all that along with a cabin in the remote woods, Jason in the shadows... you know the story.

23 year old Dana Kimmell seemed to be the featured actress. She did a lot of work throughout the 80s, and disappeared after that, probably by choice. Interestingly there's a YouTube video of her from 2012 at some horror film symposium, and she seems to have hardly aged after thirty years.

Dana Kimmell - Career


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Awesome Wolf Howling Compilation

9,273,047 views

HeartOfTheWilderness

http://heart-of-the-wilderness.blogspot.com/


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MAYHEM - Of Worms and Ruins (Lyric Video)
170,449 views - Premiered Sep 27, 2019

Century Media Records
1.98M subscribers

MAYHEM - Of Worms and Ruins (Lyric Video). Taken from the album "Daemon", out October 25th, 2019. Order now: https://MayhemBand.lnk.to/DaemonID

Video produced by: Costin Chiroeanu
Produced by: Tore Stjerna & Teloch
Mixed by: Tore Stjerna
Mastered By: Thomas Johansson
Music: Ghul
Lyrics: Ghul, arr. by Attila


Of Worms And Ruins

Deified decay
Prostrate and receive
Purified through waste
Baptised in disease

Horns of stench and tail of slime
Claws of fate and fang of time
Damp earth turns hope to death
Pulsating corpse feeds and shelters

Elementals of mirror spheres
Rise and unite
Make complete dissolution
Into nihil eternal naught

Of worms

Black soul
Arms to reach but not to feel
Black hole
Rot divine disused and spoiled
Black dope
Riddle of chrystal mind methods
Black sun
Paranormal triumph of thought

Skin outgrown
Promises to loss
Chimes begin the feast
Worms and ruin of the beast

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Stregheria, Goddess Diana, Aradia, and Evolutionary Struggle

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The one concept that I see that is sorely missing from Wicca and other similar religions or spiritual traditions is "evolutionary struggle"; that condition that very few of us are able to avoid in life to any comfortable degree. The struggle doesn't have to be something as overt as, for example, the film 'The Grey'. It could be fighting traffic to get to work, getting beat out've a job to someone for a bad reason (younger/better figure, the bosses friend, a major client's niece, etc.), betrayal, a false rumor, a health issue, someone unexpectedly interfering with your life, a bad neighbor, danger, a bad living condition, more month at the end of the money, the list could go on and on. It has been said that there are two types of people in the world, the predators and the prey. Certainly this would be true of animals and ocean creatures. I think for people, that statement is at least mostly true.

The below text are the words of the Goddess Diana, to her daughter Aradia, sometime prior to sending her to the earth to live as a mortal with a mission to fulfill. This text was translated by Raven Grimassi in 'The Book of the Holy Stega' (1981), from Charles G. Leland's 'Aradia: Gospel of the Witches' (1899). Clearly this would be in regard to the Catholic Church of the 14th century, and it's quite aggressive; some could obviously argue that's it's based on self-defense due to the Church's past actions and present conditions. Regardless of all of that, we all have enemies; there's no escaping it. Only the softest head-in-the-clouds suburbanite could possibly believe that they have no enemies. "Evolutionary" could be used in reference to many different considerations; however, probably chiefly the "evolution of the individual." We all "evolve"; for example, we may cringe a bit when pondering of some long-ago action or words that we offered.

The opposames called Capitalists and Socialists frequently brag about "progress" while engaging in their system-approved passive-aggression. "Progress" could be anything that anyone wants it to be. When Capitalists seek to obliterate a beautiful natural area or massively wipe out the view of mountains or a body of water for profit--forever--they would call it "progress." For that reason, I would argue that an individual or small collective keep their translation of the below text to themselves. Personally, I think it could regard numerous different things; along with a couple of personal items. It doesn't matter that much because evolutionary struggle (individual or a larger collective) is applicable to all. However, since this is a folk-based religion/spiritual tradition, it belongs to it's devoted adherents.

 

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"It is true that you are a spirit,
But you were created to become again a mortal;
You must go on earth
And become a Teacher,
To be a teacher to women and men
Who will receive your schooling
In the ways of witchcraft."

"You must not be like the ones of darkness,
And to the race that became
Wicked, infamous, because of their seed,
You shall not go among them."

"You shall be the first witch;
The first goddess to become a witch on earth.
You shall teach the secret knowledge of plants
To harm and to heal,
And you shall teach the ways of power
To bind and to slay the spirit of the oppressor."

"And where there is found to be a greedy peasant
That has come to wealth in this way,
Then you shall teach your witches, your pupils, how
To ruin all his harvest
With tempest, lightning and with thunder,
With hail and wind."

"And when a priest shall do you spiritual injury
By his benedictions, ye shall do to him
Double the harm, and do it in the name
of me, Diana, Queen of witches all!"

"And when the nobles or priests tell you
that you must believe in the Father, Son, and Mary,
answer them that serve only devils,
and say the true God is not your God,
and tell them to instead Diana,
The Queen of all witches!"

"You shall go on earth to teach this,
And to destroy the evil of these people.
Your poor people will suffer hunger
And work wretchedly,
And also suffer prison."

"But these are of one soul,
One good and true soul
And in the Otherworld they
Shall be happy
But their tormentors on earth shall discover
That an ill Fate awaits them in the Otherworld.

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'Carmina Burana' - Largely based on eclectic European pre-Christian spiritual folk traditions... and possibly of South Tyrolian origin: Part 2

Carl Orff - O Fortuna - Latin and English Lyrics

Metalius


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I think that it can be proven that 'O' Fortuna' at least, is based on The Goddess of The Old Religion. The other pieces in 'Carmina Burana', as well as the other two parts of Orff's 'Trionfi' musical trilogy, can be examined over time by any of us interested in examining the pre-Christian tie-ins to this great and famous musical art piece. I would encourage that, as I don't claim in any way that I have all of the answers here. Some of the musical pieces, in my perception, seem to correspond energetically to different times of the year. Much further examination of the poems will be the judge of that. Just the fact that the goddess Fortuna is a deity from Roman mythology is the first small clue, and the idea expands from there.

When examining the translated English lyrics (from the above video) along with the music... it gives a very different look at the intended meaning from the poetry.... as well as the music itself. This was a complaint about Fortuna, the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman and Greek mythology, and this anger was well demonstrated by Carl Orff's work. Most of the poems and songs appear to be the work of Goliards, clergy (mostly students) who satirized the Catholic Church. This brings up two groupings of questions:

1) How was it that they felt comfortable expressing criticism, in any form, towards an often vengeful Catholic Church?... and from within its walls? Does the possible location of origin, the South Tyrol, offer any intrinsic clue to any of this? Was the Church not as strong there? The "witch burnings" there occurred centuries later, so perhaps the Church had not gained a strong foothold there yet? Was there still a folk pagan element alive there, and expressed itself in occult poetry?... or even more explicitly a "folk-pagan occult underground?" (which may or may not have been a part of either the Christian heretical or later Satanic underground). Another possibility is that it was simply a criticism of the old folk-traditions, which--in this particular piece--was a fusion of Roman mythology with The Old Religion (aka Proto-European Witchcraft). That doesn't seem very likely; we already know that they had so often directed satire towards the Church.

Wheel of Fortune symbolism (Rota Fortunae)

2) What exactly was their motivation behind using clear ancient folk-pagan mythology? Was the exoteric meaning implied to be a simple secular reference to the Roman goddess Fortuna; with the real esoteric meaning being a reference to Diana/Hecate? The best question of all.... was this really a cleverly crafted esoteric invocation to the goddess Diana?.... with that "anger" actually being more of a powerful reverence towards her? Since the authors of 'O Fortuna' and other poems from 'Carmina Burana' are apparently unknown (perhaps by design), and there were scores of other poems (Orff only used a small handful), I can only guess. There's much work to do, digging through all of these works. The authors were from numerous locations in western Europe; were these "Goliards" some type of occult underground network? They did all end up together when they were found in deep storage apparently. The South Tyrol connection may not be of any particular importance, as all three possible locations of origin were in the same general south German cultural region, and it was retrieved apparently hidden away in a monastery in Bavaria.

I wanted to sift through all of this piece by piece, but I can see that I've gotten ahead of myself here. Therefore, lets just look at all of this as one big puzzle. In other words, I can't begin to do this justice at this time. It's at least very possible that this could be some sort've underground expression from the old folk traditions. If that was the case, then this could very well be considered a part of neopagan folk history.... and I suppose Car Orff's 'Carmina Burana' as well.... which certainly was not intended to be Christian. It seems almost too convenient that Carl Orff just puts some very old obscure poems to music and it's so perfect! Either he was part of some occult connection, or he's a genius who just happened upon these poems and had a eureka moment! I'll go with the latter at this time.

The Wheel of Fortune from Carmina Burana

The upside cross could mean something, or it may not. Knowing a little bit about how these occult societies work, I wouldn't doubt it. It's at least possible that a Saturnian cult had infiltrated the lower rungs of the Church. Certainly the Catholic Church uses Saturnian symbolism. Also, some of these secret societies have long used symbols of mythology and pagan traditions. Also, the above "wheel of fortune" looks a bit like an eight-pointed wheel of the year from the old Proto-European tradition.

 
'O' Fortuna' lyrics

O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
and waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;
poverty
and power
it melts them like ice.
Fate - monstrous
and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
well-being is vain
and always fades to nothing,
shadowed
and veiled
you plague me too;
now through the game
I bring my bare back
to your villainy.
Fate is against me
in health
and virtue,
driven on
and weighted down,
always enslaved.
So at this hour
without delay
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate
strikes down the strong man,
everyone weep with me!


 A clear conflation of the Roman Fortuna with the Proto-European Almother (aka Diana, Hecate, Mona, etc.):
O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
and waning

The first and last movements of the piece are called 'Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi' ('Fortune, Empress of the World') and start with the very well known 'O Fortuna.'The first and last movements of the piece are called 'Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi' ('Fortune, Empress of the World') and start with the very well known 'O Fortuna. The "Empress of the World" sounds very much like the many titles given to Hecate in particular. I would have dismissed that idea except for the additional reference to the Moon Goddess.... so lets face it, it's the Moon Goddess of ancient legend.... the Proto-European Almother! However, was the poem really a criticism of the Christian God?.... or of the Pagan Goddess?.... or, was it really just an esoteric invocation of the Pagan Goddess? Love and anger can work very well together symbiotically! The greatest deflation is often when we're let down by someone or something that we love and are devoted to. Also, the Latin text could easily have hidden some clues that were lost in the translation.

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"Breaking the Folk Spirit" - How folk cultures are easily subjugated after their gods are destroyed

 Cusco Cathedral

The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin, also known as Cusco Cathedral, is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cusco. The cathedral is located on the Plaza de Armas. Building was completed in 1654, almost a hundred years after construction began.

Kiswarkancha

The Incas built the temple known as Kiswarkancha on the main square in Cusco. It was the Inca palace of Viracocha, ruler of the Kingdom of Cusco around a century before the Spanish colonists arrived. The aboriginal name of this city was Qusqu. Although it was used in Quechua, its origin has been found in the Aymara language. The word itself originated in the phrase qusqu wanka ("Rock of the owl"), attending to the foundational myth of the Ayar siblings.

Near to the Kiswarkancha was the Suntur Wasi, an armoury and heraldry centre for the Inca royalty. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Cuzco, they decided to take down the temple and build their Christian cathedral in that prominent site.

Basilica Cathedral of our Lady of Assumption

The cathedral's construction began in 1559 on the foundations of Kiswarkancha. It is shaped like a Latin cross. The location of Viracocha's palace was chosen for the purpose of removing the Inca religion from Cusco, and replacing it with Spanish Catholic Christianity. Because 1559 was only 26 years after the conquistadores entered Cusco in 1533, the vast majority of the population was still of Quechua Inca descent. The Spaniards used the Incas as a labour workforce to build the cathedral.


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The Method

One of the greatest unsolved mysteries of all time; how did less than 200 Spanish soldiers defeat an Inca Empire in the millions? There were about 40,000 actual Incas who systemically ruled over many other tribal regions who were like Inca provinces. Ironically, the Incas were actually, in some ways, guilty of what I'm pointing out in this piece. Their god was put above all others, although I don't know if they actually suppressed other traditions. In any case, they were a powerful empire who could easily raise a standing army of a quarter of a million. Their capitol was Cusco, as well as the location of their main temple. It's interesting that the Spanish kept the name "Cusco," but the folk tradition had to go. Jesus was to have said "Conquer in my name," and they did it. No more Viracocha. In this way their actions were similar to the Romans' M.O.; to replace and/or smother out the old ways of a conquered people.

This Roman method was a relatively soft way of pacifying a defeated people. Sometimes it was even a way of pacifying sovereign allies, such as with some Germanic tribes. For example, they would conflate Wotan with their god Mercury; then recruit some of them into their own military ranks. The Spaniards of Peru seemed to use some of the tricks out of the old Roman game plan; only in this case they decided to explicitly bury the old Inca spiritual tradition. Since you can't eliminate "a place," they decided to replace/"smother" out the the temple. While Muslims used brutal methods, Christians often used deception. The developing theory is that the Spaniards benefited from a period of growing discontent within the Incan "provinces." Some of the tribal groups sided with the Spaniards, and that is probably "how the west was won" in South America; somewhat similar to how certain tribes sided with the British or French during the "French and Indian War."

Catholic or Protestant authorities have always wielded power from behind the scenes. The Vatican's actions in Croatia during WW2 was nothing short of stunning; the church was literally still killing people via proxy because of their religion in the 20th century! It was no accident that churches were built right on top of ancient Druidic temples, although the Christianizing of the Druids was a much less violent conflation and conversion than that of the Germanic peoples. Charlemagne used the most brutal methods; and during later periods, incoming Christian authorities cut off Viking trade routes if they refused to convert. Even people like St. Patrick weren't really who we may have thought they were. St. Patrick was an English Catholic who used conflation and deception to get the job done.

If we're totally honest, incoming pagan invaders sometimes did the same thing; such as when Olympian gods replaced the more ancient goddess Hecate. In the Val Camonica there is evidence of how, in certain instances, one goddess statue's head was knocked off and another god or goddess' statue was constructed next to it; then at a later point, that statue's head was knocked off, etc. Also, even in the still strongly pagan Val Camonica of the Middle Ages, the meaning of the name of the ancient goddess "Mona" was changed to "a whore" (ouch, that was difficult for me to type!). Everything about the ancient Camun culture was about the moon ("mon") and the moon goddess (Mona), and still this can happen when people forget their true folk past.

Huge multinational corporations from the United States, Western Europe, and elsewhere, used to work with Christian missionaries to first "soften up" the people whom they wanted to subjugate and/or "take their resources." Most often the grinning, well fed, perhaps drunken, and newly Christened people gave it away without a fight. I remember quacky Christian entrepreneur Bill Schnoebelen told a story once about how a newly arrived missionary, in rural Borneo, humiliated the local shaman to prove to the locals that Christ was really the way. In other words, that their own spirituality was a fraud and needed to go... permanently! Who knows if the story was even true, but this big business-missionary "dog and pony show" went on for centuries. The expanding Islamic program was more honest; it was either "convert"... or it was the sword.

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Why I Fear Neopagan "Liberation"

THE RISE AND DISCOVERY OF THE WlTCH IN 2018....

A Call For An Uprising


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Spiritual Warfare: Witches, Silicon Valley and The Occult Connection

Millennials Are Becoming Witches


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There's absolutely no question in my mind that the day is coming soon where every aspect of our controlled aka "mainstream" society will come out blazing with "Witchcraft!!" Just as they did with the transgender movement (a Masonic "Alchemical Marriage" ritual for the masses), our Masonic/Kabbalist overlords, in their special unique sardonic style, will blast what they will present as Witchcraft into the mainstream. In an instant, Hollywood and the entertainment industry, the mainstream media, education, government, the corporatocracy, the advertising agencies, etc. will all attack at once to present a false "liberation" of Neopagans and shove it down everyone's throats with a metaphoric toilet bowl plunger! Although it's being presented consistently now, it will be propagated to a higher level.

The main problem will be that what they will present will have little to do with the ancient European magical cultures, spirituality, or traditions... or for that matter even ancient Amerindian, African, or Asian traditions. It won't be the quiet charm of a folk, nature, and earth-based wisdom. It will be the sickening, loud, hypersexualized, masculo-femenist, transgender, transhumanist, pedo-baiting Ba'el worship that they have peddled for some years now. They're just laying in wait, ready for this major move. Even though we will see a Madonna or a Miley Cyrus as the front... in the background will be the usual Masonic/Kabbalist wealthy/privileged MALE suspects.

These are the same people who have placed very young children in hypersexualized advertisements, and peddled "art" in the form of Miley Cyrus' porn act to young impressionable children. These are the guys who, in many well-docemented  cases, have been responsible for genociding whole societies in the third-world in order to prep them for exploitation of resources, financial slavery, etc with one hand.... while with the other hand calling anyone who opposes them a "racist!" In short, they will make a major attempt to essentially destroy.... certainly any folk aspect to the magical traditions. That's why they have grappled with the small but growing Odinic folk community... attacking them, financing controlled opposition groups using the Odinic/Asatru name, and all the usual time-honored tricks that the wealthy politically-minded elites have engaged in.

Ironically, these male elites actually fear the true divine feminine; so they have propped up a false feminine in the form of what I call "masculo-feminism." The true divine feminine hasn't existed in Western societies for a very long time, and now we have this false liberation to deal with. At least the Christians and Muslims of past centuries were up front about what they were seeking. Can you see how obscene this is? For example, we have a blood-crazed Kabbalist like Hillary Clinton doing the bidding for these male global elitists--who financed and promoted her--in war after war so that Wall Street and the war profiteers can make more endless billions while waving the "feminist" flag! There have been covens of feminist black witches ("black magic") who have put curses on Trump..... why not both!!?

They will promote this false witchcraft for the masses, just like the Freemason Gerald Gardner crafted his fake witchcraft decades ago to get this thing started. "Liberation" can come in many forms. Sometimes even a two-faced scoundrel can liberate people on a certain level. Even feminism, to a certain extent, liberated women... even in hardcore Christian communities, where some of their strongest pundits are women. However of course, they would claim that feminism had nothing to do with it. Well, it probably did in a roundabout manner; just as Gerald Gardner, in a similar roundabout manner, did liberate Neopagans up to a point. The problem is that the intended long-term goals are hidden, dishonest, unethical, and sneaky. There's no proof that I know of that would show Gardner as a trained agent in the way that there is proof of someone like Timothy Leary was. My guess is that he was, although he did attempt to promote some type of folk aspect to it.

One time I read an article that referenced the 60s comedy TV program 'Gilligan's Island'. In the article, the author said--I think truthfully--that if people were really fighting to survive, and a person among them was subverting their efforts at every turn.... that they probably would get together, grab that person, drag him down to the beach, and drown him. In that vain, our Pagan/Heathen ancestors would probably see someone like Z Budapest in a similar manner. Why the hell is Z Budapest a "witch" anyway? She hates anything European, maturnalist, the true divine feminine, folk, family, ancient or otherwise. A lot of men were also put to death during the burning times, including those of an Odinic/Asatru culture. In fact, it was mostly men who resisted Christianity with force.

I am a folk Neopagan, and I do not want my enemies to "liberate" me.... at all... AT ALL. Don't represent me.... just go away.

[DISCLAIMER: I think that Wicca, mainly the people involved in it, have done a lot of good things; and also a few things not so good. I was mainly focusing on what I would call this Masonic-Kabbalist alliance/"cult of Saturn" milieu that runs our world; their deceptions and outright lies. It's a free choice that we all have, to either see though their Hegalian dialectics and "order of of chaos" dirty tricks... to oppose it or go along with it.... even if we may even marginally agree with some of its short-term directions. We're not fish; we can resist the bait and go in our own direction.]

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'Lady Moon' by Kellianna

Lady Moon

Kellianna - Topic


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www.kellianna.com


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Voices of Women with Host Kris Steinnes: Kellianna Girouard - Singing Your Warrior Song and Victory

Transformation Talk Radio

Published on Jan 3, 2017

Source:
https://www.spreaker.com/user/transformationtalkradio/voices-of-women-with-host-kris-steinnes-_731

In SpiritSong circle, Kellianna guides you on a journey of release and personal discovery as we delve deep down inside to seek out our greatest strengths and to honor those things that have helped us to be become the Warrior Women that we are today-strong, loving and resilient. We go inside and we claim her, then we give her voice, and then we sing her song. She, that Warrior inside each of us, will sing a song of undeniable power and individuality. Be it a battle cry or lullaby, we sing our Warrior Song.Victory Lonnquist has been at Standing Rock since August and shares her experiences working on the front line and with the medics and healers.

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Great 2009 interview of Dr. Stephen Flowers by 'The Phora'

Excellent interview lays out the history and current state regarding Heathen/Neopagan folk interests.

http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/


A Conversation with Dr. Stephen Flowers [aka Edred Thorsson]

By Michael Moynihan - The Phora - 2009 (republished in 2015 by Renegade Tribune)

One of dominant paradigms of modern society is fragmentation. In the world of popular culture this translates into dazzling distractions and endless ephemera, while in the world of academia it engenders over-specialization and an unspoken refusal to even attempt to understand the “bigger picture,” especially from a metaphysical perspective.

In this atomized environment, anyone extolling a cohesive vision that is marked by traditional values – not to mention high standards – automatically becomes an anomaly. So it is the case with Dr. Stephen Flowers, who is the rarest of breeds: a scholar with spirit, one who is single-minded yet open-minded. For more than a quarter-century he has dedicated his energies toward unraveling the mysteries not only of the ancient symbolic alphabet of the Runes, but also of the deepest realms of the Germanic myth and culture from which they arose. For Flowers, this quest is summed up in a single word, RUNA, which is the old Gothic language form of “rune” and was equivalent to the Greek term mysterion (“mystery”). It was in the early 1970s that Flowers heard this word audibly whispered in his ear, and since that time he has tirelessly pursued a path of understanding its implications.

Following graduate work in Germanic and Celtic philology under the esteemed professor Edgar Polomé (1920–2000), Flowers received his Ph.D. in 1984 with a dissertation entitled Runes and Magic: Magical Formulaic Elements in the Elder Tradition (later published by Lang, 1986). In the mid-1980s Flowers also began a more public writing career under the name Edred Thorsson. His books on the Runes and Germanic magic (Futhark, Runelore, At the Well of Wyrd, Rune-Might, Northern Magic, The Nine Doors of Midgard, and A Book of Troth) have become classics of sorts, and although they are aimed at the occult book market, they reveal a depth of understanding and degree of knowledge that is unusual to find in this genre.

Under his own name he also published less speculative material, for example Fire & Ice, about the German magical order the Fraternitas Saturni, and his translation of the Galdrabók, a medieval Icelandic grimoire. His interest in Germanic topics extends not only to the distant past, but also into more recent and controversial manifestations, such as the völkisch period at the turn of the 19th century or the esoteric aspects of the Third Reich, and his translations of Guido von List’s Secret of the Runes, S. A. Kummer’s Rune-Magic, or the writings of Karl Maria Wiligut (The Secret King: Himmler’s Lord of the Runes) all shed scholarly light on these topics. He has also written Lords of the Left-Hand Path, a lengthy study of darker occult currents, and an innovative analysis of ancient Greek magical texts entitled Hermetic Magic.

Unlike many who possess academic credentials, Flowers was never content to relegate his interests to a purely intellectual level, and thus he has long been active in the contemporary revival of Germanic heathenism, variously called Odinism or Ásatrú (a coinage derived from Old Norse, meaning “loyalty to the gods”). He was an original member of Stephen McNallen’s seminal organization the Ásatrú Free Assembly (which still exists today as the Ásatrú Folk Assembly), and in 1979 founded his own initiatory group, the Rune-Gild, dedicated toward the serious exploration of the esoteric and innermost levels of the Germanic tradition, as well as the greater Indo-European culture of which it is but one branch.

Underlying all of his work is a belief in the profound importance of traditional Germanic thinking and the eternal relevance of its mythological expression. After all, English is a Germanic tongue, and our society – fragmented or decayed as it now may be – owes its true origins as much, if not more so, to northern Europe than to Athens or Rome. Dismayed at the ongoing erosion of support for Germanic studies at most universities across the Western world, Flowers has recently unveiled his latest project: the Woodharrow Institute. This non-profit educational institution aims to maintain and foster the tradition of Germanic scholarship, offering courses and publications, and interacting with academic circles wherever possible. Besides administering the Institute, Flowers and his wife Crystal also direct the Rûna-Raven publishing house, which issues an ongoing catalog of titles concerning varied aspects of ancient Germanic culture, along with specialized language studies and works in related areas.
The Conversation

Michael Moynihan: Can you recall what initial event or events led to your setting out upon the path you’ve taken toward understanding the mysteries of the Germanic tradition?

Stephen Flowers: I started out my “career” in understanding the mysteries of the Germanic tradition as what I would later come to understand as an “occultizoid nincompoop.” I was interested in a variety of pretty nutty things. One of my first passions was monster movies. Perhaps Famous Monsters of Filmland was my first bible. My “favorite monster” was the one created by Frankenstein. There was simply something about the “Gothic,” Germanic origin of the myth that appealed to me. Before that I can remember being drawn to all things Germanic (and Scandinavian) the films The Vikings (which I saw during a childhood trip to San Antonio) and the Fall of the Roman Empire vaguely inspired me with certain scenes of Germanic “barbarism.” Later this slightly matured into an interest in the Morning of the Magicians/Spear of Destiny mythology, and culminated in my “hearing” the word RUNA in 1974. This was a catalyst for a quantum leap in my development. It caused me to delve into the scientific and academic basis of what it was that had so fascinated me from childhood. All of this experience laid the foundation of the nature of my own teaching, following this pattern: (irrational) inspiration, leading to (rational) objective study, leading to (subjective) internalization, which ultimately leads to objective enactment (= understanding/personal transformation).

Michael: What brought about your initiation into organized Ásatrú or Odinism, and how do you look back on this period now?

Stephen: Back in the mid-1970s there were only a very few individuals entertaining the idea of the revival of the old Germanic religion. My own individual journey started as early as 1972. However, I will say that it remained rather haphazard and undirected until 1974 when I heard the word RUNA whispered in my ear. But even then, with the inspiration from a higher source, the struggle to understand the full significance of it all was a significant one that had to be carried out in the earthly plane. I saw notices in places like Fate magazine for the Ásatrú Free Assembly and was intrigued, but for some reason I thought it unwise to contact this group until I had something significant to offer. By 1975 my work had taken the direction of being more guided by scholarly discipline. Once I had made significant progress in the reformulation of my runic philosophy (which found expression in the manuscript that became Futhark) and in my graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, I felt prepared to make contact with Ásatrú groups.

I first met the leader of the AFA, Stephen McNallen, at the first AFA Althing in the summer of 1979. Meeting Steve was a life-changing experience for me. He is an embodiment of a kind of Germanic spirituality that puts words into action. It was at that time that I was named a godhi [the Old Norse designation for a spiritual leader] in the AFA. It is now the only credential that I hold as being of any significance in the world of Ásatrú /Odinism. Despite whatever history might have passed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there can be no doubt that Stephen McNallen is the guiding light of American Ásatrú. I count Steve McNallen as a friend and colleague and very much value the fact that it was from him that I received my godhordh – or “authority as a godhi.”

Michael: You have often spoken about how essential disciplined scholarly training can be for understanding the esoteric aspects of the religion and how to most effectively put these into practice. Presumably, such an exchange also functions simultaneously in the reverse direction – in other words, what positive ways did your active involvement with the religion impact your academic work?

Stephen: The esoteric, spiritual aspects function as initial forms of inspiration to the mind. This is essential to the Odian approach to life. First there is an “irrational,” or supra-rational, impulse – a bolt out of the blue that sets the conscious mind on its mysterious course. That impulse can, for many, be a disorienting stroke from which they never recover. They simply sink deeper and deeper into a sea of subjectivity. For another group, the subjectivism is eventually re-balanced with rational work. Understanding of the inspiration is gained, without “explaining it away.” The allowance of subjective inner experience and insight to coexist with objective, rational analysis is essential to the process of truly understanding the tradition in a scientific way, as well as to the process of personal development based on the traditional symbology.

It was noted by outside observers, my mentors in the academic world, that I had an uncanny ability to make sense of obscure myths and to apprehend the hidden connections between and among various mythic structures. This ability stemmed from my inner experience which was constructed on a basis lying outside the purely rational models. If one is trying to delve into the mysteries of the symbolic culture of an archaic world – one very much separated from our own contemporary society and values – then obviously some key must be found which is something other than plodding logic or wild speculation. For me this key is the balanced openness to the mythic spirit of Odin. I was lucky enough to have academic mentors who supported me in this approach, who were themselves spiritual men. Without their inner support I could not have achieved whatever it is I have achieved.

Michael: Why is the notion of a scholar of pre-Christian religion who actually adheres to the spiritual ideas that he also studies such a radical one? Is this simply a byproduct of the situation in the West where any religious path outside of the “mainstream” monotheistic faiths is painted as cultic and marginal?

Stephen: I think this attitude stems almost entirely from two sources: 1) the antagonism of the materialist worldview toward the traditional spiritual one, and 2) the opportunity the adherents to the materialistic worldview have taken to attack the spiritual view based on historical events surrounding World War II. This materialist worldview is “monotheistic” in the sense that it allows for only one set of orthodox values. In this way it is really a secularized form of monotheistic religion. The Judeo-Christian system of thought has lent itself very well to being secularized in such a way that it can be turned into a model for modern political and economic theories. As a side-note, Islam has been much more stubborn in its adherence to its original values, which has caused it to be very much “out of step” with its monotheistic cousins.

Judaism and Christianity can be tolerated by the establishment scholarly world because they can be viewed as theoretical prototypes of the materialistic and positivistic model that now dominates thought in the West. Earlier traditional models are seen not so much as a threat to religion as they are seen as a threat to the monolithic political and economic order. The pre-Christian, traditional philosophies are too divergent and multivalent to be coerced into one single “market” of ideas. This points to the fatal hypocrisy of the current crop of modernistic “thinkers,” who spout off about “multiculturalism” and tolerance, but who exclusively support monolithic socio-economic models that enact the opposite of what they publicly espouse. Surely the ancient, traditional and pre-Christian world is more in line with what really sounds best to most people. Are not ancient, pre-Christian Athens or Alexandria more ideal models for the future over medieval Rome or Constantinople?

Clearly the animosity to those who see value in pre-Christian models stems not from the religious side of the debate, but rather from the secular challenge traditionalism poses to the current political order. What is needed is a campaign for the re-education of the academic world to show that the idealized future is one that is more likely to be based on the mosaic of pre-Christian traditions than it is to be based on the monolithic Christian model.

Scholars of pre-Christian tradition must indeed be sympathetic and even empathetic to the paradigms they are studying. If they do not have a subjective link to the paradigm they are seeking to understand, then they have categorically placed an insurmountable barrier between themselves and the “object” they seek to understand. Hence they have in fact disqualified themselves from ever being able to really understand the patterns of thought in question.

Michael: You have always tried to encourage those involved in neo-heathenism to uphold a higher intellectual standard, and whenever possible to actively pursue serious academic study. Have you noticed any significant number of people willing to rise to the challenge?

Stephen: To this point I would say that there has indeed been a significant number of people who have taken up the challenge to pursue academic goals as a way to put their inner, spiritual lives on a more firm foundation. The number may be significant, but not large. It is hoped that with the advent of the new Woodharrow Institute a greater number of people will “get” what it is I am trying to convey in this trend. The whole “neo-pagan” world has been made a part of the Bohemian “underground” sort of mentality of the Anglo-Saxon (this includes the imitative American) culture. What I am trying to do is simply call the Anglo-Saxon culture back to its more organic Germanic roots. This includes the way in which the idea of “neo-paganism” is approached.

As I outlined in my essay “How to Be a Heathen,” printed in the volume Blue Runa (Rûna-Raven, 2001), there was a time when “pagan knowledge” indicated something that was rigorous to begin with, and gradually evolved to higher realms of the ordinarily ineffable. “Christian faith” was something which opposed “pagan knowledge” and was characterized by subjectivism and infinite appeals to unverifiable authorities from the beginning to the end of the process. In this way it can be seen how the typical “New Ager,” or “wiccan” [sic] is in fact paradigmatically much closer to the original Christian model of thinking than is the average “Christian believer” today. Serious Christian seminarians would not think of ignoring the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, yet the many aspirants to the “priesthood” of Ásatrú today think that learning Old Norse is an unreasonable thing to require. It is remarkable to note how many people don’t even get the grammar of their supposed “Norse name” right!

The reasons for this apparent virtual hostility to learning are a part of the Anglo-Saxon “anti-egghead” mentality. By contrast it can be noted that some of the turn-of-the-century German revivalists were in fact professors, e.g. Jakob Wilhelm Hauer (Tübingen) and Ernst Bergmann (Leipzig). This inner cultural bias must be first recognized before it can be overcome. Do not think for a minute that I am extolling the great wisdom or character of the typical modern academic. The academy is presently in decay. However, the basic and systematic knowledge possessed by those who have spent decades in specialized studies, and who have been the traditional recipients of knowledge handed down from several previous generations of scholars is a resource that is indispensable to us.

Michael: While your focus is usually on traditional Germanic or northern European culture and religion, you have also addressed other areas in some of your work, such as with the book Hermetic Magic. What was your reason for doing so – and how do these seemingly distinct realms fit together or cross-fertilize?

Stephen: In Hermetic Magic I concentrated on the operations from the Greek magical papyri that made use of the symbolic power of language and the alphabet (i.e., the more Greek-influenced operations). Indeed there is a great deal of possible cross fertilization between the Germanic and Greek traditions of verbal and alphabetic magic. The book Hermetic Magic was an experiment in the use of the principle of RUNA in the decoding of a tradition other than the Germanic. It proved to be generally successful. Much of what Hermetic magic was all about has been lost in the Golden Dawn/OTO-style magic of the Victorian gents. Hermetic Magic is an attempt to go ad fontes, i.e., back to the sources of what Hermetic magic is, in order to arrive at a fresh and eternal perspective on the power of the human will. This is an exercise in the power of RUNA, Mysterion, as I see it. Hermetic Magic shows what can be done with the principle of RUNA/Mysterion. That it has been generally ignored by the run-of-the-mill “hermetic” crowd is a sign of just how esoteric the actual tradition is.

Michael: The work of Georges Dumézil, the French scholar of Indo-European comparative religion, has been a strong influence on your own outlook. What do you consider to be the most important aspects of his work, and why did they resonate with you to such a degree?

Stephen: First of all, I suppose I came to it as a matter of tradition. My own teacher, and Doktorvater, Edgar Polomé, was a (qualified) Dumézilian. Beyond what I learned in his classrooms, however, I saw that his objective studies (which involved making detailed dossiers of the various Indo-European Gods, etc.) coupled with his structuralist approach allowed for the beginnings of a contemporary and living synthesis of ancient ideas with those of Jung and others. The ideas of Dumézil are 1) accurate and objectively verifiable to a great degree, and 2) are potent tools for current self-transformational work.

Michael: In recent years there seems to be a consistent effort on the part of certain segments of the academic community to discredit Dumézil’s work, and especially his formulation of the tripartite/tri-functional model. Such attempts are reminiscent of those directed against Mircea Eliade and other scholars of religion and myth. Why this animosity, and what are these discreditors so afraid of?

Stephen: They are afraid of the resurgence of Indo-European culture. They have intellectually invested in the idea that internationalism is good and that anything that glorifies the non-European world is preferable to anything that seems to lend prestige to European culture. All of this is so ironic because the ideals from which they draw are entirely of European origin. Nevertheless, as a matter of ideology, but probably more as a matter of an intellectual fashion trend, the academic establishment frowns on anything that they see as “glorifying” the European culture. They would probably argue that their reasons for this vaguely have something to do with Germany in the 1930s. In conversations with German academics in runology I discovered that the same things are happening at German universities now as happened in American ones in the 1980s and 1990s – anything relating to ancient or medieval northern Europe is being dismantled.

There is also the fear that Europe will really be able to make peace within itself based on the Indo-European model, rather than the Christian and/or Marxist model. This would discredit their intellectual prejudices once more. Specifically on Dumézil and the tripartite theory, his theories have the potential of forming the basis of a pan-Indo-European cultural unity. They are the greatest challenge to Christianity and to materialistic positivism in the 20th century. So it is not without some justification that Dumézil has been so widely attacked. His theories do pose a challenge, and are not merely intellectual curiosities. They call for some sort of action and some sort of change on the part of the reader of his ideas.

The dirty little secret is probably merely that in academia the study of old languages and ancient history is hard, whereas what they are replacing all of this with is relatively easy. So that the “war on the Indo-Europeans” is really part of the general “dumbing down” of the academy.

Michael: Not so long ago you attended an international scholarly conference on runology in Denmark. What were your impressions about how this discipline is faring in today’s academic world?

Stephen: The academic field of runology, like any other academic discipline, is subject to the dictates of fashion and changing intellectual trends. (This is where an academic discipline differs from a Traditional discipline.) Most of the 19th and early 20th century runologists accepted the relationship between religion or magic and the runes as a given fact. They accepted this uncritically because it appeared to them (perhaps rightly) as the most obvious conclusion based on all prima facie evidence. Because they were uncritical in their acceptance, however, this left the door open to a subsequent generation of runologists to question the earlier generation’s assumptions. In the world of science this is a good thing. If those who did not question the “magical” nature of the runes had not been so uncritical, then a deeper and more insightful exploration of the idea of runes and magic might never have been undertaken.

I was very gratified to have younger individuals – many still students – at the runic conference discreetly approach me and tell me that part of the reason they came to the conference was to meet me, and that they had first been exposed to the wondrous world of the runes and the esoteric Germanic tradition through my more “popular” works.

The changing face of academia dictates that what is “in” today, will be “out” tomorrow. The seeds of the next generation of runologists have already been planted. On some level, perhaps, those who are foes of tradition have sensed this. Their strategy is perhaps to prevent the seeds from growing by not allowing the seeds to exist in fertile soil. The whole fields of runology, comparative religion, Indo-European studies, etc., are being systematically rooted out of academic institutions. Especially in America this is occurring with simultaneous impetus both from the “right” and from “left.” The international left sees the European tradition as being in power, and their myth of the dialectic determines they should seek to disestablish whatever is in power for “revolutionary” reasons. The right, on the other hand, is dominated in America by a Christian sentiment, which sees interest in our ancient traditions as being hostile to the Christian model. It is interesting to note that these apparently divergent interests of the “left” and “right” are, in America at least, in agreement that at least one of their common “enemies” is the organic national traditions of Europe.

This is occurring not just in America, but in Europe as well. Recently the position of Prof. Dr. Klaus Düwel at the University of Göttingen in Germany was terminated by the administration of the university. At the runic conference in Denmark the runologists signed a petition aimed at the university administration to ask that this prestigious position be maintained. The roots of the academic study of runes at that institution go back to the Grimms.

Michael: Is the founding of the Woodharrow Institute for Germanic and Runic Studies in some ways a response to the current situation regarding these areas of study?

Stephen: The Woodharrow Institute is not only a response to this current situation in academia, but also to shortcomings, as I see them, in the “esoteric subculture.” The Institute stands apart from the current “magickal subculture” in that it is informed by, and on its most basic level must conform to, all the legitimate rules and regulations of scientific procedure – all of which are beneficial to the overall process if kept in perspective. These methods infiltrate our way of approaching esoteric areas, or areas of inner work, as well. As has always been the case with the Rune-Gild – which in the future will be re-established within the context of the Woodharrow Institute – we start with what is objectively known and move from that base into an exploration of the darker corners of the unknown.

So the Woodharrow Institute is intended to meet a challenge from two ends of a pole: it is to bring an objective and scientific basis to the beginning of inner work, and to re-envision the final purpose or aim of intellectual work itself as a completion of the self. It is to bring objective standards to a morass of subjectivity (the occultizoid culture) and to bring inner purpose to the often sterile and pointless pursuits of academia. This is a formidable challenge, to be sure. Yet this is what makes it worth undertaking.

Michael: What role do you see the Institute ultimately fulfilling, and how might it interact with more established or formal academic institutions?

Stephen: It is clear from what has already been said that the academic discipline of runology, as well as those of older Germanic studies and Indo-European studies, etc., are in trouble. If scientific runology is left to its normal cycle of intellectual fashion, there is no harm done. The radical traditional runologist would be free as always to partake of the fruits of that intellectual labor and have his inner work enriched by it. However, if the traditional academic fields are uprooted and marginalized to extinction then this would no longer be possible.

The Woodharrow Institute is designed to be a refuge for the academic tradition – and to foster to some extent a sort of guerrilla scholarship. The basic work for the Institute must not in any way be compromised by “occult thinking”; it should be entirely historical and academic. We will “play the scholarly game” according to its rule and according to its standards. Then and only then can the Institute fulfill another of its major tasks: to act as a “think tank” for those interested in inner work. The fact that the word “academic” is used to describe only that kind of work which is “purely scientific,” is in a sense a misuse of the term. Plato’s school, the Academy, from which our modern use of the term is ultimately derived, did not have as its final aim the production of scientific data limited to what can be quantified and objectively known. That was only a stepping stone to the true purpose of the school, which was the transformation of the individual into a higher form of being – in other words, the final “product” was the completed soul. This whole ultimate purpose has been lost in the modern academic institution, except perhaps where secret pockets of scholars might preserve it unofficially.

The Woodharrow Institute seeks to restore the complete model of the old Academy in a Germanic context. As such its ultimate purpose is transformational, and not merely “scientific” as understood in modern parlance. Participants in, or members of, the Institute will, however, not be required to pursue this inner work as any sort of prerequisite for membership. The Institute will develop a full range of areas of interest and research.

It is hoped that the Institute will in the future be able to establish good relations with mainstream academia. We could offer practical programs in language study, experimental archeology and, most importantly, experimental or experiential ideology. Our mission in mainstream academia would be merely to restore traditional areas of study where they have been lost and to help retain them where they are in jeopardy.

The Institute then has two main purposes in the world:

1) to act as a refuge for displaced scientific work in the fields of runology, Germanic studies, and general Indo-European studies; and 2) to act as a think tank for individuals interested in making use of the scientific work as a basis for inner development. The Woodharrow Institute is a weapon in the struggle against both modernism and occultizoid subjectivism.

Michael: In the ancient Germanic cosmology, a cyclical dynamic exists where the old order collapses and is torn apart from both within and without, but this is a necessary step that precedes the unfolding of a new beginning. Is it a stretch to look at contemporary events in this light? And if not, what is the best way for the aware individual to approach the present situation?

Stephen: It is my contention that traditional views are eternally valid and ever-meaningful. The Germanic cosmology, ragnarök, which can actually refer to the beginnings, middle or end of the cosmological process, involves at the end of the process certain ages. These are referred to in the poems of the Elder Edda with terms such as the “Wolf Age,” which refers to the “greedy,” “covetous,” or “appetitive” nature of the age. Clearly the world as a whole is in a “Wolf-Age.” The individual, and certain groups of elect, can, as Julius Evola put it, “ride the tiger.” This means that certain individuals and groups can, exercising their will against the grain of consensus reality as informed by Tradition, lay the personal and transpersonal foundations for the next (inevitable) cyclical development. This next cycle will (naturally) be more imbued with Tradition, as the developmental wheel turns.

Michael Moynihan is a writer, artist, and publisher from New England. He is co-editor of the annual journal TYR: Myth – Culture – Religion, published in Atlanta, Georgia. He regularly contributes to cultural and music periodicals worldwide, and is also the North American Editor of Rûna.

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