Greta Cicolari and olympic beach volleyball

Probably like a lot of people, I find the London Olympics to be a bit overwhelming. So many sports, over several weeks, ambiguous scheduling, and multiple channels covering it. So I have caught a few events here and there.

Yesterday I was watching the American womens beach volleyball team of May and Walsh against the Italian team of Cicolari and Menegatti. I didn't specifically watch it because they were playing "Italy." Beach volleyball, especially the women's game, has become very popular in recent years; and not only because they play in what amounts to bikinis.

May and Walsh are going for their third straight Olympic gold metals, and may be the best team in the history of woman's beach volleyball. Greta Cicolari was born, and lives in Bergamo; and amazingly, the 29 year old only started playing the sport three years ago. The other young woman, Marta Menegatti, is from the Veneto, and is only 21 years old. She grew up idolizing Misty May. Cicolari and Menegatti gave a pretty good account of themselves, but May and Walsh were always one or two steps ahead of them.

There are many great athletes from the Cisalpine north, and they always do very well in the Olympics; but it was still nice to see a Lombardian woman competing on the top level last night. It's also inspiring to see any person take up a new passion and quickly excel at it. May and Walsh appear to be headed for their third gold, but the Brazilian team and the other American team are very good.

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Ticino Specialty Meats

I noticed, while shopping at the new Grocery Outlet Bargain Market in South San Francisco, a brand of meat cuts from a company called "Ticino Specialty Meats." It may just be a name, but actually many Ticinese (Italian Swiss) descendants have deep roots in the area; so I thought it applicable to make mention of it. Camunians and Ticinese share the same Lombard language and Lombard/Alpine heritage.

While searching out the company name, I can easily see just from the names, the Cisalpine influence in the local meat industry. Back to the days when cattle was actually brought by train into the city of San Francisco. Cattle was actually marched down 3rd Street I think, to the slaughterhouses. We're not talking a century ago, but into the 1940s, even the 50s.

When looking into San Mateo County history books in local libraries, I often used to see old photographs of people who were generally of Ligurian and north Tuscan origin; as well as people who were described as "a native of Switzerland," who were Ticinese. In addition, there used to be a heritage society called "Societa Lombarda of South San Francisco"; so San Francisco and San Mateo Counties weren't short on Lombardian heritage. I wasn't even aware of that until very recently, so as I have long said... getting information regarding Lombardian-American history is like pulling teeth! Lombardi nel Mondo has done some work in this area, however they only publish it in Italian.

This company apparently has no website or anything promotional online. All I was able to find was the following:

Ticino Specialty Meats

493 Forbes Blvd.

South San Francisco, CA  94080

"Processing --- Bovine Porcine Avian"


1-30-13 Addition: I just thought I would add that I have now tried this product, and can recommend it. It's very good.

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Paradise Ignored

Paradise Ignored

Yosemite north of Hetch Hetchy offers solitude where few explore

Tom Stienstra - San Francisco Chronicle - July 19, 2012

At the brink of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, our first glimpse of Hetch Hetchy below set off sensations of awe, ghosts and thrills.

In early evening, a thick sky and refracted light tinted the canyon with a muted opaque glow. The air was warm and humid. Our packs felt lighter than in days, knowing the end of a 35-mile trek was a few hours off.

Across the lake, 5,772-foot Kolana Rock, like Half Dome's little brother, towered over the canyon. On the north rim, massive LeConte Point rose up like a second El Capitan. Ahead we could make out the feathered wisps of Wapama Falls, like a hidden Yosemite Falls.

Below was one of the prettiest lakes in California, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, owned and operated by the city of San Francisco. Before the 312-foot dam was constructed to provide water and electricity for San Francisco, the canyon was a second Yosemite Valley, one of the showpieces of the world.

John Muir lost the battle against the dam in 1913. Many say he died of a broken heart the next year.

As you descend into the canyon, you might feel the shadow of Muir's ghost looming over the lake, or that of the men who lost their lives when they built the linked pipeline, or perhaps the two backpackers who were swept off a hiker's bridge last spring by flooding outflows of Wapama Falls.

Hetch Hetchy and the nearby wilderness is the hidden Yosemite, where a handful of adventurous souls trek to little known lakes, ridges and valleys.

In the wilderness north of the lake, it's common to have pristine lakes all to yourself at small, intimate camps. Yet just over the ridge, in Yosemite Valley, more than 20,000 people can jam into 7.5 square miles every day of summer, with all the parking spaces gone by 9 a.m.

Five years ago, the Department of Water Resources completed a study that said it was feasible to drain Hetch Hetchy and restore a second Yosemite Valley. This month, the organization Restore Hetch Hetchy, supported by three former Yosemite superintendents, turned in signatures to put a measure on the November ballot that would require the City of San Francisco to come up with a plan to do that. If approved, another measure would then appear in 2016 that would require the plan be implemented by 2035.

Nobody argues with the need for the water. The premise is that it doesn't need to be stored in a national park.

Last week, a group of four of us took off on an expedition into the Yosemite wilderness above Hetch Hetchy and to descend into the canyon as if simulating the experience of the trailblazers of the 1800s. The Furniss clan of explorers, hydrologist Michael Furniss, son Liam, and nephew Chris, all with advanced science degrees, were eager to see the hidden Yosemite.

Call of the wild

The idea for the trek came years ago, the first time we hiked the John Muir Trail, from Mount Whitney to Yosemite Valley, and felt the shadow of Muir in many of our steps. Many on the JMT know this. It's something that doesn't go away.

That imprint was still fresh when the time was right last week. We secured a wilderness permit, limited to 25 per day for the trailhead, outfitted and readied our gear and backpacks, and then drove out and left my truck at the end of the trail.

We then shuttled to the Cherry Lake Trailhead in adjoining Stanislaus National Forest for our launch point, set at an elevation of 5,000 feet. With a huff and a puff near dusk, we were off to nearby Lake Eleanor and beyond, excited at what was ahead.

After a short first-day hike at dusk to Lake Eleanor, the first camp, we covered 17 miles and climbed 3,000 feet in two days with camps at Laurel Lake and Lake Vernon. In one 50-hour span, we saw one rattlesnake, two bears (they both scampered off), heard another at night (it took off when I called out, "We have company"), and here in a state with 37.7 million people, encountered no one on the trail except a sole ranger.

This is Yosemite? One of the most popular parks in the world? At peak season in July? That's right: two days and not a single other camper anywhere at three of the prettiest lakes in the Sierra.

At night at Eleanor, we heard the mating call of a Sierra spotted owl, then at Laurel, the haunting, extended hoots of a great horned owl. With no moon and a dark, clear sky, the plethora of stars - sparkling diamonds everywhere - made it difficult to identify constellations.

At dawn, about 20 yards downslope from my bivy, nestled on a forested peninsula at Eleanor, I heard the tale-tell click-click-click of a rattlesnake. Sure thing, about a 4-footer had set up its base station nearby. He clearly made his living here, most likely when the chipmunks showed up to raid any camper goodies that hit the dirt by accident.

We climbed up the foot of Moraine Ridge, then departed from the forest and walked into a vast, glacial-carved valley at 6,500 feet elevation. We found Lake Vernon tucked against a high ridge. Pristine and gorgeous.

"Some 20,000 years ago, the canyons of the Sierra were filled with ice nearly a mile deep," said Michael Furniss, whose highest expertise is in soils. "This and other ice ages carved out these awesome valleys. The ice was gone by about 10,000 years ago."

Muir, who graduated from the University of Nature, was the pioneer in glaciology who is credited as the first to determine that glaciers carved Yosemite's deep canyons.

Valley descent

We awoke at dawn at Lake Vernon. The air was cool and it was so quiet you could practically hear the flowers bloom. The morning trek climbed 1,100 feet for a stunning view of the granite valley, and then emerged on a forested ridge on the flank of 8,412-foot Mount Gibson.

Instead of a view, the trail burrowed through a grotto of waist-high bracken ferns and under a pine forest, and then ran aside a meadow adorned with thousands of wildflowers. Muir called such a meadow "a bee garden," with mule's ears, shooting stars, lupine, columbine, Indian paintbrush, milkmaids, parsnip and so many others. For an hour, it felt like 1868 when Muir first walked these mountains.

Suddenly, the trail broke from forest and extended to a sub-ridge that faced an open valley, and in the distance emerging in front of us, was the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne that led to the Hetch Hetchy Rim.

In a span of 5 miles, we dropped 3,000 feet to Rancheria Falls and its swimming holes, and continued through a notch in the north wall, on the precipice of paradise.

Within a mile, the first glimpse of Hetch Hetchy appeared ahead. The lake was still, and despite a faded sky, the water was indigo blue and seemed to hide secrets and mysteries.

The face of Kolana Rock rises up from water's edge and seems to poke a hole in the sky. Smith Peak, at 7,751 feet, towers directly across the lake.

The trail follows a thin line of conifers that runs along the foot of the north wall of the reservoir. In some spots, crews have blasted out rock and then carved and positioned rock steps like giant puzzles made out of granite.

Step by step, for 6.5 miles, you pass along the lake toward the dam and the end of the trail. Each moment provides a new glimpse of Hetch Hetchy and its landmarks, and you circumvent Kolana Rock in a curve on the far side. As you near Wapama Falls, you pass the base of 6,197-foot Hetch Hetchy Dome. Any moment, you might expect the specter of Muir to appear.

At the base of Wapama Falls, now reduced to thin summer flows, you can scramble below the hiker's bridge and scoop up some of the sweetest tasting water on the planet. It is the same water that makes its way to Crystal Springs on the Peninsula, and after treatment, to the faucets in homes in San Francisco, the Peninsula and many others in Santa Clara and Alameda counties.

From our rock perch, we drank all we could hold, amazed at its cold, fresh, natural sweetness, and then took in the view once again and scanned toward the dam: 2.4 miles and the trip would be over.

"You can see and feel deep time in this canyon," said Michael Furniss, "yet relatively few even know there is a second Yosemite Valley, and it's here under water."

Somewhere off in the distance, as we hoofed down the trail toward my truck, I felt the presence of Muir's words ring in the air.

"Hetch Hetchy Valley, far from being a plain, common, rock-bound meadow, as many who have not seen it seem to suppose, is a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples."

If you want to go

Park entrance fee: $20 per vehicle, good for a week.

Wilderness Permit cost: Free wilderness permits required for overnight stays in Yosemite Wilderness; for trailhead reservation through Yosemite, $5 per person plus $5 for confirmed reservation.

Wilderness Permit/Cherry Lake Trailhead: Reserve 24 hours ahead of time (Saturday for Monday) through Groveland Ranger District, Stanislaus National Forest, (209) 962-7825.

Wilderness Permit/O'Shaughnessy Dam Trailhead: Reserve up to 24 weeks in advance through Yosemite National Park; download PDF reservation form at nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wpres.htm, then fax to (209) 372-0739. Info: (209) 372-0740.

Bear-proofing food: Bear canisters are required for food storage in wilderness; rentals available at park entrance kiosks for $5 per week.

Trail map: "Hetch Hetchy Trail Map," $8.95, Tom Harrison Maps, tomharrisonmaps.com.

Contacts: Yosemite National Park, (209) 372-0200, nps.gov/yose; Stanislaus National Forest, Groveland Ranger District, (209) 962-7825, www.fs.fed.us/r5/stanislaus.

Bonus tips

A few things we did to make our trip easier:

Car shuttle: So we could hike a one-way trip and thus start and end at different points and descend into Hetch Hetchy, we left a vehicle at the end of the trail near O'Shaughnessy Dam, then drove to a trailhead on the east side of Cherry Lake.

Water purification: We used Steripen water purifiers, which use battery-powered ultra-violet rays, and thus were able to drink cold stream water in 90 seconds without pumping, chemicals or boiling.

No twisted knees: Three of four people in our party (not my thing) used hiking poles for additional stability on the trail.

Nearest drink: When you finish the trip, the nearest cold drink and snack is at the little store at Camp Mather (friendliest folks you ever met); (209) 379-2284; campmather.com.

Nearest restaurant: Evergreen Lodge, a short distance down the road from Camp Mather, has a top-notch restaurant and bar (buffalo burger with cheddar cheese borders on the awesome); (209) 379-2606, evergreenlodge.com.

Best breakfast on the road: The little cafe just past the top of Priest Grade on Highway 120 near Big Oak Flat is the best around (the scrambles are mouth-watering great); Priest Station Cafe, (209) 962-1888.

- Tom Stienstra

How to get there

From San Francisco to Groveland: Take the Bay Bridge (get in right lane) across to the split with Interstate 580. Bear right on I-580 East and go 46 miles to I-205 East. Take I-205 for 14 miles to I-5 North merge, and go 2 miles to the exit for Highway 108/120 to Manteca/Sonora. Take that exit and drive about 47 miles (stay on 108/120 at signed junctions when driving through towns) to the exit for Highway 120/Groveland. Bear right on 120 and drive (newer vehicles take shortcut up Old Priest Grade) through Big Oak Flat to Groveland.

Groveland to Cherry Lake Trailhead: Take Highway 120 east for 14 miles to Cherry Lake Road. Turn left and drive 24 miles (paved, but twisty and narrow in spots) to a junction at Cherry Lake. Turn right and drive 1 mile to the dam. Turn left (road turns to dirt), drive over dam for a half mile to another junction. Turn left and drive 1 mile to a signed trailhead (on right), and parking and primitive campsites (on left).

Groveland to O'Shaughnessy Dam/Hetch Hetchy Trailhead: Take Highway 120 east for 22.5 miles to Evergreen Road (signed for Hetch Hetchy). Turn left on Evergreen Road and drive 7.4 miles to Hetch Hetchy Road. Turn right on Hetch Hetchy Road and drive 9 miles to the dam and trailhead; at park entrance, ask ranger for overnight parking permit and location of backpacker's parking.

'Tom Stienstra's Outdoor Report' can be heard Saturdays on KCBS (740 and 106.9) at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 12:35 p.m. E-mail: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @StienstraTom

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Jägermeister makes Cernic/Listian themed commercial

The German-based liquor manufacteror, Jägermeister, recently produced a television advertisement ("A seat at the table") which appears very Cernic or Listian. Actually, the stag symbol for the company is based on a Christian/hunting theme. According to Wikipedia: The Jägermeister logo, which shows the head of a reindeer with a glowing Christian cross between its antlers, is a reference to the stories of Saint Hubertus and Saint Eustace, patron saints of hunters. Still, the pagan imagery was not lost upon me. Did you notice the "wheel of the year" at the end? The eight-pointed ice wheel, with the stag symbol in the middle, was a strong image. I mean, c'mon, that's practically spelling out the Witches Sabbath! Also, they're meeting on a winter night, in a rustic lodge, on what could have been Yule. The stag symbol--above the door at the entrance, on the wall, and on the bottle--felt very Cernic; and the imagery gave the appearance of a secret society (i.e. Freemasonic, Rosicrucic, Kabalistic, Listian/German Builders Guild, Cernic, Odinic, etc.; "A stronger bond"). I realize that it was just an ad, with a sports theme, and was just for fun--which is fine--but it just felt like it had a certain German/Cernic feel to it. It's almost as though they looked at everything discussed here recently, and based an ad on it. Anyway, I liked it.


8-13-14 ADDITION: I hadn't notice the Vehmic star--symbolically speaking--on the rodeo star's face. Perhaps that wasn't intentional, but so many symbols.

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Guido von List: Part 19

I think that I will wrap this series up for now, but I will add a part 20 to review another work that I'm looking at of which there is a copyright issue. I just wanted to clarify a few items. Regarding when I wrote that Wiccans didn't have any interest in von List, I should point out that it would not be an exaggeration to say that elements of "Celtic Wicca" have some overlap with some elements of those who call themselves specifically "Asatru"; and it may tie into aspects of "Norse witchcraft. I would think that von List would have approved of part of this direction.

Curiously, List isn't mentioned nearly as much as one would think among many Odinist concerns; and that may be because he focused on many magical aspects of heathen reconstructionism, of which they don't want to bother delving into. Part of the reason may be the perception of "political correctness." I say perception because, in this case, it isn't based on fact.

Often I think that I wasn't doing justice to 'The Secret of the Runes', but there's no way to really go "halfway" with it. There was an entire section at the end which went into the German baking tradition. It was very complex, and I wasn't able to really review it. I have noticed that most of those concerns who--despite clear evidence to the contrary--continue to demonize Guido von List, are either "single-issue zealots" or are what I would call "spiritual neuters." Their mythology is of the utmost importance; while all others are "demonic." They may even want to attack him as a "heathen," and not for anything else, but using other dishonest reasoning. Even beyond that, I have also noticed among religious extremists that they're actually afraid to criticize the other major religions, but attack the little ones.

It may be safer to turn a blind eye to the demonization of Guido von List. However, our very own ancestors in the Camunian Valley, only a few centuries ago, were demonized as well. Some were put to death as a result. Now isn't that worth at least considering first?

2-19-13 ADDITION: I had typed out some text from 'Secret of the Runes', which I misplaced. I wanted to add it here to shore this posting up, since it was a bit lacking compared to the others in the series.

Guido von List regarding the symbology of the fiddle:

This is the old skaldic magical instrument of awakening which introduced the song, and since “song” (bar) also means “life,” the fiddle was one of the many ideographs (hieroglyphs, symbols) of rebirth, and it is for this reason that it is often found in graves as a sacred gift. Therefore it is not necessarily so that the dead man in whose grave a fiddle is found was a fiddle player. “flutes and fiddles” enticed people to dance, to the excitement of its ascetic temperament—because they served as magical instruments to arouse the human fyr (fire) of awakening with the Christian symbol of awakening “the trumpet of judgement.”


Further clarification from Wotanist blogger Wotans Krieger on his posting regarding the Gibor rune: 

"Flutes and fiddles" enticed people to dance, to the excitement of love, and was therefore banned by the Church-with its ascetic temperament-because they served as magical instruments to arouse the human fyr[fire] of love.

So the Church replaced the Wotanic symbol of awakening with the Christian symbol of awakening "the trumpet of judgement".

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Guido von List: Part 18

Apparently, according to von List, the “German building lodges” have faded away. I would like to know if there is any history of them which has ever been conducted; whether in book form or documentary? One form of Wotanic occultism, which I will not be able to go into depth here, is in the various ways in which ancient Wotanist symbology was hidden inside of the accepted symbols of the day. For example, inside of various Christian crosses, or which at least had a Christian style to them. This was, after all, during the “burning times”; when those accused of “sorcery” (virtually anything non-Christian, or even the wrong kind of Christianity) were put to death in many places. These actions were not only committed by the Catholic Church, but also by some of the Protestant denominations.

As mentioned before, the Vehme-Star Rose (Pentagram) is mentioned throughout ‘The Secret of the Runes’, but I can’t seem to find any strong evidence of its usage in the Middle Ages. That is unless one looks into small secret pagan communities of the time. This sometimes makes me believe that Guido von List was as much into the hexological/magical heathen tradition, as he was interested in Wotanism. I guess he saw all of this as “one thing.” It's noteworthy that modern Wiccans seem to have no interest in List at all. The following quote from pages 86 and 87 continues to puzzle me:

The five-angled star, the Vehme-Star, the Truthenfuss (truh = turn, fuss = foot) is the hieroglyph of “revolving or turning generation,” of “rebirth”—one of the most important articles of faith in the Aryan religion. In its exoteric interpretation this sign simply says: “return,” and was therefore a favorite sign used at hostels and inns, in order to convey the meaning: “whoever is a guest here should come again.”

I would like to see examples, both ancient and modern, of this. An exact google search of “Vehme-Star Rose” comes back with very few results, and only two images. The following webpage has the symbol key from the book. The “concealed fyrfos” shows one simple example of how other symbols were concealed. Just to state the obvious, in the Middle Ages, they were concealed because the church condemned them. They were forced to become “occultic.” Some Christians find great meaning in stories of people in Communist countries where Christianity was banned, and a family had one single page from the bible (which itself was illegal apparently), and they treasured the one page.  I think you know where I’m going with this….

Symbols were also concealed on swords and weaponry; following a long tradition of which symbolism was proudly and openly displayed on swords, shields, etc. The builders’ guilds also influenced which of the various esoteric symbols would be associated with the various components of society. For example, the ruoth-cross (the solar cross) became the symbol of the court. The color red became associated with justice. That’s just tip of the iceberg in term of symbology just in the area of law; let alone in all of the other facets of society. I just can’t go into all of the symbology; you would need to buy the book.

The early Wotanist-underground placed a marker on every holy spot from the pre-Christian period. For example, red crosses were placed in remote forests where irminsuls had once existed before Charlemagne’s forces destroyed them. I suspect that the underground skalds took some of them down themselves. In fact, the recent discovery of an Asatru holy place in Scandinavia, was not destroyed; but was buried with care, perhaps in the hopes that it could one day be brought back into their everyday lives. Modern society rewarded their effort by demolishing it.

Just to backtrack for a moment, the Vehme-Star Rose may have referred to any five-pointed symbol, and not necessarily a Pentagram. I recall one symbol which had five arms coming from its center, like an asterisk or a starfish, but I don’t recall the name. It’s something to look into. The English translation of 'The Secret of the Runes' did not define this important point.

All “red courts” were constructed on spots which were once Wotanic holy places. For example, the red court in the eighth parish of Vienna.  Somehow it was a way to get the last laugh so to speak, but it’s clear that they attached deep symbolism to this. I’m just mentioning a few aspects to it. As List wrote: “these hieroglyphs are easily carried over into the highest theosophical and metaphysical realms of ideal conception.” As far as I can see, there is no practical reason that “Wotanism” couldn’t have been used in place of the Freemasonic and Kabbalistic spiritual traditions of the east within what I guess could be coined “mainstream Western occultism.” Wotanist spirituality includes a "tree of life" which developed separately, and displays a system which is every bit as complex as the ones from the east. The mainstream media completely ignores Wotanism, Odinism, Asatru—or whatever you want to call this—although there have been movies made about certain aspects of Norse mythology in recent years. As stated earlier, “the West” has drank out of every spiritual well but its own.

I wanted to take a moment, while I’m on this subject, to mention some of the names of Wotanism. It has been said that this religion had no name. I use Wotanism for my own reasons, stated earlier. Other names include the following: Odinism, Asatru, Wuotanism, Nordism, Irminism, Armanism, Troth, and Vanatru. The Langobards called Wotan “Godan,” and I’m sure there are many other regional names for Wotan and other aspects of the religion. I suppose that one could use other gods and goddesses for reference, such as "Thorism" or "Freyaism." Although von List mentioned “Wuotan” and “Wuotanism” often, I think he saw the quickening of the religion as “Armanism.” I think he wanted to include all aspects of what, in this case, could fairly be called “Northern European” spiritual traditions, including magical ones.

An excerpt, from pages 95 and 96, regarding symbols: A further condition for the correct understanding of these “holy signs,” “runes,” “symbols,” and “hieroglyphs”—and one which may never be ignored—lies in the clear comprehension of pre-Christian ethics, as well as pre-Christian morals. One can never forget that Wuotanism grew out of the intuitive recognition of evolutionary laws in natural life, out of the “primal laws of nature,” and that Wihinei (exoteric religious system) formed by Wuotanism spread a teaching and conducted a mode of living based on the laws of evolution.

I probably should inject, as the issue has come up many times in this series, that Guido von List used the term “Aryan” more-or-less for Indo-Europeans. Therefore, he referred to the “Aryans of Greece” or the “Aryans of Rome.” Words like “Teutonic” or “Germanic”—although somewhat vague—were used for Scandinavian and German-speaking peoples, and probably most of the cultural groupings of the British Isles. I can’t say the latter with absolute certainly. Although Austria (Österreich) in many ways seems different than say Norway, the “Germanic idenitity“ was very strong. The concept was, in some ways, seemingly “Nordicist“; although the Nordic Scandinavians haven’t had anything close to the tradition of science and technology, during the last last six centuries, that the Alpine-Nordic Germans have had. Germans are basically an Alpine people with Nordic traits. The “Alpine“ component, not the Nordic one, may account for the historically deep folkishness of Germans; in sharp contrast with the English or Scandinavians, who have little Alpine genetic influence.

I don’t wish to end this entry on a negative, but there is one issue I wanted to raise. It’s not really a criticism; but merely a suggestion for more research, or at least more definition. I have a large degree of respect for the Odinic Rite, and I think they have done some great things; however, there is one item which I respectfully disagree with. According to one of their flyers, it states: “The natural religion of Northern Europeans is Odinism.“ As we have gone over before, it was very likely the Alpine race which was at least the first widesprad culture in Europe, and they were not “Odinists.“ Nobody lived in Northern Europe during the peak of the last ice age 25,000 years ago. Gaul, for example, wasn’t “Odinist“; although there are many links. All this is covered during the last two months, but I just wanted to challenge anyone involved in this subject to at least define this further. The denial of the important Alpine race, especially in the area of spirituality, is no longer acceptable.

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Guido von List: Part 17

German Builders' Guild

As we were looking at earlier, with the involuntary advance of Christianity, a new "underground Wotanic rite" emerged. Over time, the strongest expression of this was within the highest initiates of certain "builders guilds." Therefore, Wotanist symbolism was incorporated into architecture. It probably should be noted that some of the origins of this symbolism could be traced back to earlier ancient Celtic traditions.

I just wanted to raise one question here, which may sound like a negative, and may not be popular; but I at least wanted to raise it as an objective question, and maybe even an intellectual challenge. That being, doesn't it seem at least somewhat strange that Freemasons--of basically Northern European ancestry--seem to have absolutely no interest in Odinist tradition? They only focus on "the East," and maybe they attach some small degree of importance to the little that we know about the Druidic tradtion. They latched onto the magical traditions for a period during the last century, which resulted in the foundation of "Wicca," which they botched up and then just walked away. The whole thing regarding them in relation to ancestral spiritual traditions just does not add up at all. Some of these builders guilds did remind me of some aspects of Freemasonry. I happen to agree with Steve McNallen that some people are compelled to drink out of everyone else's well... except their own.

Just for the record, List names the major building lodges as follows: The Minnesinger Order, the Heraldic Guild, the German Builders' Guild, and the Vehme. Symbolic, architectural, and word symbolism were developed in a very complex way; often with several layers of meaning of what List referred to as the "hidden Wuotanism." It's more than I wanted to try to interpret here, so you will just have to buy the book if you want to look deeper into this. Even just as individuals or private businesses, I think that we should place related symbolism into the things which we get involved in. Someone once told me that he admired Jewish businessmen for using their own surnames and other types of religious and heraldric symbols in their businesses. I recall once listening to Len Horowitz speak at a conference, and he was responding to one Globalist pundit who had said something like "religion is dead" or "culture is dead." He said that he was a direct descendant of the "Levi clan/tribe" and that they were "not dead." Within that same train of thought, I could say that I am a direct descendant of the "Camunni clan/tribe."

The ancient Wotanic knowledge was hidden under the guise of "guild secrets" in what sounds like the way that Freemasons kept "sacred geometry" secret. There are some big differences as well. Freemasons no longer work in the building trades that I can see, Wotanism is a native-belief system which was forced underground, and Freemasons are "universalist-believers." Also, the mainstream powers-that-be have shown no interest--even historical interest--in this hidden Wotanist cultural phenomena which occurred over centuries. I mean, List died 94 years ago; so where's the followup research? It can be pretty easily proven that some system has existed. For example, there are many poems from the Middle Ages which don't make a lot of sense until their true coded meaning is deciphered. The three-layered "heimliche Acht" codex followed the pattern of: 1) For the common uninitiated people; 2) The lower symbolism or the exoteric; 3) The higher symbolism or the esoteric.

Much of the "heimliche Acht" was hidden in older dialects not spoken today. Therefore they have been lost, or temporarily lost. I'm sure that many researchers have, and are working on deciphering many of these codes; we just don't hear much about it from the mainstream academic or anthropological communities. You would think that a direct unbroken spiritual/cultural line over thousands of years would be of more historical importance. An excerpt from page 81:

No less often do these symbols find their way into "speaking records," into legal antiquities and pieces of wisdom, into folk customs, folk beliefs and proverbs, then into alchemy and medicine, into astronomy, astrology, and into all disciplines related to the mystical endeavors of antiquity and the Middle Ages--right on up to the present day. That many of these signs were even, so to speak, popularized in the most everyday utilitarian objects and even determined the forms of such things is certainly conceivable with such a widespread tradition. Here, for example, we only have to mention the forms and names of our breads and baked goods. In brief, it is not easy to find an area in the life of the German folk which these hieroglyphs, holy signs, and symbols do not illuminate.

It should be noted that 'The Secret of the Runes' displayed two images which were not really of Germanic or European origin. The pentagram, which he called the Vehme-Star Rose; and the Masonic square and compasses, which he called the Fyroge, the Tapis, or the Tabula quadrata with the three great lights. What I find interesting about that is, A) a Medieval link to the magical traditions, or even to the pentagram itself, and B) a possible Masonic or Templar connection. Could there have been some Hexological-Wotanic overlap? I would say definitely at least some. Could there have been some Masonic-Wotanic overlap? Not likely beyond occasional friendships of individuals.

There are so many facets to this. The Wotanic-tradition of these builders spread over centuries, and they influenced various architectural eras; for example, Gothic architecture. So there is a hidden history of architectural style; layered from what the history books tells us about "Gothic style," to the exoteric, to the esoteric. Another facet is in the area of many sagas, folktales, myths, and poems. After they are fully deciphered, they often tell of the history of a particular region; apparently from the position of this Wotanic-underground.

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6-7-12 ADDITION: After writing this entry, I unintentionally came across an available book which actually covers the "Freemasonry and Wotanism puzzle"; and even better, it includes a work on the subject by Guido von List himself. This book is entitled 'Freemasonry and the Germanic Tradition' by Stephen E. Flowers. Flowers was the author who translated 'The Secret of the Runes' into English. From the webpage: 

Here we have a multifaceted study consisting of five essays or articles. The introductory piece is entitled "My Masonic (Mis-)Adventure" and details the author's brief interaction with a local lodge, then follows two articles: "Roots of Masonry in the Scandinavian Gild System" and "Reflections of Germanic Mythic Tradition in Masonic Ritual." These convincingly show the origins of the essence of Masonry not in the "Holy Land," but in Northern Europe. Appended is a translation of Guido von List's "Origin and Symbolism of Freemasonry" (1910). Finally there is a short concluding piece entitled "A Charge to All Worthy Brothers" in which the author calls on individuals to help restore the original spirit and mission of Masonry. 64pp.

As covered earlier, Runa-Raven Press also carries 'The Religion of the Aryo-Germanic Folk' by von List; as well as 'Rune Might: History and Practices of the Early 20th Century German Rune Magicians' by Edred Thorsson, which includes work by von List among others.

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