The Tarim mummies, in the bigger picture, were merely the last breath of the proto-Norse peoples in north-central Asia. I would place the original home of these proto-Norse peoples in about what is modern Kazakhstan; and if we were to follow Bal Gangadhar Tilak's true hypothesis in 'The Arctic Home in the Vedas', then it may have even existed along the Kara Sea in northern Eurasia. It's even conceivable that the ice cap covered part of this northern sea, and some people may have lived above above it. At the least, some people could have lived along this northern coast and would have literally lived slightly above the Arctic Circle. If this were true, then Tilak's hypothesis surrounding the Vedic hymns could be proven true scientifically.
The ice sheet (see map), even at the height of the last ice age, covered the British Isles and about half of central Europe. However, when it reaches about Russia, it directs northward and the Eurasian ice cap ends in the middle of the north coast of Asia. It's very possible that people could, as Tilak hypothesized, have lived up there. Also, the last glacial movement was about fifteen-thousand years after the height of the last ice age. It's very likely that it was comparatively even more habitable then.
Another possibility is that they were trapped up there. Look at the map again, there's quite an uneven ice sheet. Regions far north were more habitable than regions further south, and it's possible that an ice sheet may have left a large "island of habitable land" which was enclosed by ice sheets. When the book was published a century ago, many people probably dismissed it because it was too groundbreaking for it's time. In other words, the Tarim mummies were not from northern Europe; they were home. They were the last remnants of the ones who stayed behind. Fifteen or twenty thousand years ago, the proto-Norse or proto-Germanic people may have all lived in a habitable region in northern Eurasia, enclosed by sheets of ice. The Eurasian ice sheet to the west, and the Himalayan ice sheet to the south.
If they did live way up there, then we need only to look at the Eskimos for some idea of how they could have survived. Also, there is a lot of meat and fur on a woolly mamoth, a woolly rhinoceros, or a yak; and they were roaming all over that tundra back then. I would guess that those pure proto-Norse were tall, strong, white-skinned, had very light blonde hair, pale blue eyes, straight noses, and generally the physical Scandinavian stereotype. Only much later--amid the melting ice of post-ice age Europe--when they encountered the native Alpine peoples, did more slightly tanner, ash blonde haired, basic-blue eyed people come about; and of course, combinations closer to the Alpines. Still today, we can occasionally see people who are extremely-fair "throw backs."
During the 1938–1939 German expedition to Tibet, I believe that they were looking for "The Arctic Home in the Vedas." The Tibet Autonomous Region, which is twice the size of modern Tibet, may have seemed like the most logical area to look at. That highland region was probably largely covered by the Himalayan ice sheet or at least a harsh landscape up to about ten-thousand years ago. I believe that ancient Kazakhstan, and probably north of it, is the logical location of the age old question of where is the location of the original homeland of the Aryan people. However, they weren't "Aryan" then.
The Aryans came about in ancient Persia, when some of the migrating proto-Norse encountered native or migrating true-Mediterranean (not Semitic) peoples. Among many technological advances and spiritual concepts, the Sanskrit language and text developed from these Aryans of ancient Persia. The ancient Swastika, which was originally a solar symbol and spiritual symbol of geometry and mathmatics, was brought by the true-Mediterraneans into ancient Persia. Similar symbols developed in different locations, so I think this is still an unanswered question. It's pretty easy to see how all of this has been so confusing, to so many, for so long.
To make it easier to understand, this "Aryan hypothesis" seems to have basically involved only three racial/sub-racial types. Two who were collectively to become "European" at a later incarnation, proto-Norse and true-Mediterraneans, and the native people(s) of India. This was at a time long before Mongol, Semitic, and Turkic expansion. Civilization was founded by true-Mediterraneans in Sumeria, and expanded around the general area of the ancient Middle and Near East. When some of them migrated to the high mountainous plateau of ancient Persia, they encountered some of the proto-Norse migrating from the north. They blended into a special kind of civilization. The science and technology of the true-Mediterraneans, and the language and earth-based spirituality of the proto-Norse.
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Above: '1-5 Tarim Mummies - Indo-Europeans in China'; posted by alisonpita
2-5 Tarim Mummies - Indo-Europeans in China
3-5 Tarim Mummies - Indo-Europeans in China
4-5 Tarim Mummies - Indo Europeans in China
5-5 Tarim Mummies - Indo-Europeans in China
Tarim mummies (Wikipedia)
The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1900 BCE to 200 CE. Some of the mummies are frequently associated with the presence of the Indo-European Tocharian languages in the Tarim Basin, although the evidence is not totally conclusive. Victor H. Mair's team made the conclusion that the mummies are basically Europoid, likely speakers of an Indo-European language.
So how would the people who were to become "the Tarim mummies" fit into this hypothesis? Well, even today--four-thousand years later--it's pretty evident that they are very Germanic-looking in appearance. Their DNA shows that they were, at that point, slightly mixed with Mongols. The bulk of the Mongols showed up in the region about three-thousand years ago. Again, the Aryan hypothesis we were looking at was long before Mongol, Semitic, or Turkic expansion.
Roman accounts (Wikipedia)
Pliny the Elder (Chap XXIV 'Taprobane') reports a curious description of the Seres (in the territories of northwestern China) made by an embassy from Taprobane (Ceylon) to Emperor Claudius, saying that they "exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking", suggesting they may be referring to the ancient Europoid populations of the Tarim Basin:
"They also informed us that the side of their island (Taprobane) which lies opposite to India is ten thousand stadia in length, and runs in a south-easterly direction—that beyond the Emodian Mountains (Himalayas) they look towards the Serve (Seres), whose acquaintance they had also made in the pursuits of commerce; that the father of Rachias (the ambassador) had frequently visited their country, and that the Seræ always came to meet them on their arrival. These people, they said, exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking, having no language of their own for the purpose of communicating their thoughts. The rest of their information (on the Serae) was of a similar nature to that communicated by our merchants. It was to the effect that the merchandise on sale was left by them upon the opposite bank of a river on their coast, and it was then removed by the natives, if they thought proper to deal on terms of exchange. On no grounds ought luxury with greater reason to be detested by us, than if we only transport our thoughts to these scenes, and then reflect, what are its demands, to what distant spots it sends in order to satisfy them, and for how mean and how unworthy an end!"
This occurred two-thousand years ago, so apparently at least some of them were Germanic in appearance even at that point. It should be pointed out that while the Tarim mummies are constantly referenced as being "in China," it was not yet "Chinese" three-thousand years ago. Also, just because it is a desert now doesn't mean that it was a desert at the end of the last glacial movement ten-thousand years ago.
Tocharians (Wikipedia)
The Tocharians or Tokharians were ancient speakers of Tocharian languages in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The Indo-European language of the Tocharians was supplanted by the Turkic languages of the Uyghur tribes about 800 AD.
The Afanasevo culture is a strong candidate for being the earliest archaeological record of speakers of the Tocharian languages.
Tocharian languages (Wikipedia)
Tocharian or Tokharian is an extinct branch of the Indo-European language family, formerly spoken in oases on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (now part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China) by the Tocharians. Two branches of Tocharian are known from documents dating from the 3rd to 9th centuries AD:
* Tocharian A (Agnean or East Tocharian; natively ārśi) of Qarašähär (ancient Agni, Chinese Yanqi) and Turpan (ancient Turfan and Xočo); and
* Tocharian B (Kuchean or West Tocharian) of Kucha and Tocharian A sites.
Prakrit documents from 3rd century Kroran on the southeast edge of the Tarim Basin contain loanwords and names that appear to come from another variety of Tocharian, dubbed Tocharian C. All these languages became extinct after Uyghur tribes expanded into the area.
The Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses ties closely into the "Arctic Home in the Vedas" theory, but the time frames don't quite line up, and I don't think it goes back far enough. It's too convenient. I think that Bal Gangadhar Tilak proved that this goes back further in time, and further north. The Kurgan hypothesis (see map) is the one which seems to tie in a lot of loose ends, especially in the area of the Indo-European languages, but I would still agree more with Tilak.
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From the Scottish Wildcat Association:
Pound for pound the Scottish wildcat is one of the most impressive predators in the world; intelligent, fearless, resourceful, patient, agile and powerful they are genuine superpredators and until as recently as the 1950s were believed to be man killers.
Surviving human persecution for five hundred more years than the British wolf and over a thousand more years than the British lynx or bear, they inspired and terrified the same Highland clans that defied the Roman and English empires. Today the wildcat continues to receive the respect of Highland farmers and gamekeepers, many of them happy to recount the tale of the wildcat mother killing herself to kill a golden eagle attacking her kittens, or stories from childhood of wildcats evading teams of watching keepers to snatch lambs from their father's fields.
Although wildcats look similar to domestic cats, these are no feral or farm cats run wild; they're Britain's only remaining large wild predator and have walked this land for millions of years before mankind arrived or domestic cats appeared. Every inch a cat in every sense of the word the Scottish wildcat epitomises the independent, mysterious and wild spirit of the Highlands like no other creature.
"They'll fight to the death for their freedom; they epitomise what it takes to be truly free I think."
Mike Tomkies
'Last of the Scottish Wildcats' DVD at CoffeeFilms.com
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This is some remarkable raw footage of a volcanic eruption in Chile on May 24, 2010. At first it shows the smoking-smoldering during the light of day; and then at 33 seconds it shows the part which I found facinating--the actual eruption--at twilight. Chile, as part of the "cone of South America," is not at all tropical, and has a climate similar to the northern hemisphere. Try to imagine the ominous feeling if this happened where you live and you were witnessing it live. This may be one where you click the full screen and turn off the light to view.
From YouTube channel migfoxbat
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Vehmic Court: Part 3
I didn't put the name and description of the above video because the creator of it obviously thought that the Vehmic Courts were, hands down, a good thing. With the German countryside broken up into maybe 300 different states, the Vatican gave the courts borderless authority to administer justice in their name. "The Vehm mostly judged in cases of witchcraft, sorcery, rape, theft, robbery, manslaughter, and murder" --The History of Medieval Europe, Lynn Thorndike, 1917. So, for example, the crime of "being an Odinist" seemed to have been considered worse than murder, and the person was hanged for having the wrong religion. Also from the book: "The only penalty of these criminal courts was death. If three or more members of the Vehm caught a criminal redhanded in the act, they killed him on the spot without further trial." So if they caught someone "in the act" practicing a different religion, those people would be killed on the spot.
"This impressive method of intimidating the criminal classes, which reminds us of lynchings and vigilance committees, but whose self-help and summary procedure were to a large extent a survival of primitive German custom, was favorably received by the society of the time as the Vehm was better than any other court at controlling crime, no matter who did the crime." --Lynn Thorndike
"The pentads: The holy Fem (five), the five known elements (fire, water, air, earth, ether or aether), the five recognized senses, the pentagram, the five brother, the five maidens, the five men, the five nights, the five sons, the five winters, etc." --Guido von List, page 31 of the 2005 translation of 'The History of the Aryo-Germanic Folk, 1909 or 1910
From pages 33 and 34 of the book:
"Five (5, V) fem, fim, fimf, funf, fünf. Fem means that which is homogeneous, therefore even today it indicates the guild or corporation in the Dutch word veem. It had its origin in the five correlated fingers of the hand, in the correlated five senses that form man and it signified the elven cross or the witches' foot (Drudenfuss) also signified by the pentagram (femsteor). The homogeneity also belongs to the Feme, that part of the Armanenschaft devoted to the cultivation of the law. It was the Femanen who, after the forceable Christianization under Karl, King of the Franks--or the Saxon-slayer (Slactenaere)--came more into the forefront in the defense of everything that was indigenous (homologous) in opposition to that which was foreign; asserting indigenous law against Roman (in)justice in the high secret tribunal (Acht). The symbolic holy-sign of the homologies was this very five-pointed star and it remains so in the secret script even today, just like all other things grouped by fives (fem), from which the numerical value was derived. Just as One was born frm itself, Two from One, Three and Four also from One, five--which grows out of 1 + 4--is the second odd number. From the One (Ginnungagap) grows the Four (Muspellsheim, Adhumbla, Ymir and Niflheim) which then form the Five--the homogeneous One. When we consider the Feme as a court of law we find numerous examples, e.g. the so-called Fünfe ("fives") at Nuremberg, in the Council of Five in Venice, and in our contemporary Five-Judge Colleges which have come down to us as a compilation of single courts of law. The frequent occurrence of the number five in symbolism, as well as mysticism, makes this highly meaningful."
One more time, from 'History of the Aryo-Germanic Folk':
In the administration of justice, too, the old Aryan tripartition is naturally found again as (1) arising or law (Rita), (2) the existing, ruling (justice), and (3) the passing away to renewed arising (the court). Because law and justice culminate in the decisive pronouncement of the court (and consequently, as the third level, this provided the final result) the holy sign of the court was the ruoth-cross, rod-cross, or rowel- (wheel) cross which was therefore also known as the Vehme cross, consisting of a fyrfos whose hooks were bent in the circular shape of a wheel rim. As the Vehme cross it appears engraved on the blade of the great Vehme-sword as an equilateral cross enclosed by a circle. At the cross point the letter "V" appears and furthermore in the quadrants between the arms and letters "S.S.G.G." were engraved. These letters probably displaced the formerly used runes [Fehu symbol] and [Sol and Gebo symbols] (doubled), which signified: "Vehme" and the old passwords: "Strick (string), "Stein" (stone), "Gras" (grass), "Grein" (branch?), i.e., "wyd" ("white") = law; "brick" = secret; "rage" = thunder = doing = ar = right-doing; greyen = to uphold; that is: "Through law and secrecy (heimliche Acht) right-doing is upheld." In abbreviated form this is: tue gege (two s's and two g's).
Now from the 'The History of Medieval Europe':
It was the duty of the first member of the Vehm who met him to hang him to the nearest tree, leaving by his side a knife marked with the cryptic symbols, "S.S.G.G.," to show that the Vehm had done its work.
The Vehm, or Fehm, were murdering Heathens for four or five hundred years for the crime of practicing the wrong religion--while operating as Vatican-proxies--and operating under the very symbolism which was developed by the Heathen Skalds in their secret meetings many centuries earlier. Even the secret initiation rites of the Vehm are drowning in Heathen symbolism: "They were then initiated into the secret signs by which members recognized each other, and were presented with a rope and with a knife on which were engraved the mystic letters S.S.G.G., supposed to mean Stein, Strick, Gras, grün (stone, rope, grass, green)."
It's the same irony as American patriots being persecuted by our justice system---which legally operates today as a branch of International Maritime-Admiralty Law or International Corporate Banking Law---all the while pretending that their sole loyalty is to the United States and the Constitution. It would be my guess that the members of the Vehm, or its leadership, were not aware of the irony of the symbol of the court.
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Vehmic Court: Part 2
Vehmic court (Wikipedia)
The Vehmic courts, Vehmgericht, holy vehme, or simply Vehm, also spelt Feme, Vehmegericht, Fehmgericht, are names given to a "proto-vigilante" tribunal system of Westphalia active during the later Middle Ages, based on a fraternal organisation of lay judges called “free judges” (German: Freischöffen or French: francs-juges). The original seat of the courts was in Dortmund. The proceedings were sometimes secret, leading to the alternative titles of “secret courts” (German: heimliches Gericht), “silent courts” (German: Stillgericht), or “forbidden courts” (German: verbotene Gerichte). The courts took jurisdiction over all crimes
during the Late Middle Ages, and those condemned by the tribunal were
done away with by secret means. After the execution of the death
sentence, the corpse was hung on a tree to advertise the fact and deter
others.
The peak of activity of these courts was during the 14th to 15th
centuries, with lesser activity attested for the 13th and 16th
centuries, and scattered evidence establishing their continued existence
during the 17th and 18th centuries. They were finally abolished by
order of Jérôme Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, in 1811.
The Vehmic courts were the regional courts of Westphalia which, in turn, were based on the county courts of Franconia. They received their jurisdiction from the Holy Roman Emperor, from whom they also received the capacity to pronounce capital punishment (German: Blutgericht)
which they exercised in his name. Everywhere else the power of life and
death, originally reserved to the Emperor alone, had been usurped by
the territorial nobles; only in Westphalia, called “the Red Earth”
because here the imperial Blutbann was still valid, were capital sentences passed and executed by the Fehmic courts in the Emperor's name alone.
Etymology
The term's origin is uncertain, but seems to enter Middle High German from Middle Low German. The word vëme first appears in the Middle High German literature of the 13th century as a noun with the meaning of "punishment". A document dated to 1251 has the reference illud occultum judicium, quod vulgariter vehma seu vridinch appellari consuevit. ("It is hidden justice, that by common fashion is habitually referred to as vehma or vridinch.")
The general meaning of "punishment" is unrelated to the special
courts of Westphalia which were thus originally just named "courts of
punishment". But as the word entered the Southern German dialects via
Saxony and Westphalia, the word's meaning in Early Modern German became attached to the activities of these courts specifically.
Jacob Grimm thought that the word is identical in origin to a homophonous word for the raising of pigs on forest pastures (Hutewald), just as the more familiar German Zucht can mean both breeding and discipline. Grimm considers the spelling with h unetymological in spite of its early occurrence in some 13th century documents, and hypothesizes a "lost root" "fëmen", connecting with Old Norse fimr and conjecturing a Gothic "fiman, fam, fêmun?".
During 18th to 19th century Romanticism, there were various misguided
attempts to explain the obscure term, or to elevate it to the status of
a remnant of pagan antiquity, scoffed at by Grimm's entry in his Deutsches Wörterbuch. A particularly fanciful etymology, suggested by James Skene in 1824, derives the word from Baumgericht (Lit. 'Tree law'), supposedly the remnant of a pagan "forest law" of the Wild hunt and pagan secret societies.
Origin
The Westphalian Vehmic courts developed from the High Medieval “free courts” (German: Freigerichte), which had jurisdiction within a “free county” (German: Freigrafschaft). As a result of the 14th century imperial reform of the Holy Roman Empire (Golden Bull of 1356), the Landgraviates lost much of their power, and the Freigerichte disappeared, with the exception of Westphalia, where they retained their authority and transformed into the Vehmic court.
The seat of the Vehmic court (German: Freistuhl) was at first Dortmund, in a square between two linden trees, one of which was known as the Femelinde. With the growing influence of Cologne during the 15th century, the seat was moved to Arnsberg in 1437.
Membership and procedure
The sessions were often held in secret, whence the names of “secret court” (German: heimliches Gericht), “silent court” (German: Stillgericht),
etc. Attendance of these sessions was forbidden to the uninitiated, on
pain of death, which led to the designation “forbidden courts” (German: verbotene Gerichte). A chairman (German: Stuhlherr) presided over the court, and lay judges (German: Freischöffen) passed judgment. The court also constituted a Holy Order.
Any free man "of pure bred German stock"
and of good character could become a judge. The new candidate was given
secret information and identification symbols. The “knowing one” (German: Wissende)
had to keep his knowledge secret, even from his closest family (“vor
Weib und Kind, vor Sand und Wind”). Lay judges had to give formal
warnings to known troublemakers, issue warrants, and take part in
executions.
The organization of the Fehme was elaborate. The centre of each jurisdiction was referred to as a “free seat” (German: Freistuhl), and its head or chairman (German: Stuhlherr) was often a secular or spiritual prince, sometimes a civic community, the archbishop of Cologne being supreme over all (German: Oberststuhlherren). The actual president of the court was the “free count” (German: Freigraf, chosen for life by the Stuhlherr from among the Freischöffen, who formed the great body of the initiated. Of these the lowest rank were the Fronboten or Freifronen, charged with the maintenance of order in the courts and the duty of carrying out the commands of the Freigraf. The immense development of the Fehme is explained by the privileges of the Freischöffen;
for they were subject to no jurisdiction but those of the Westphalian
courts: whether as accused or accuser they had access to the secret
sessions, and they shared in the discussions of the general chapter as
to the policy of the society. At their initiation these swore to support
the Fehme with all their powers, to guard its secrets, and to
bring before its tribunal anything within its competence that they might
discover. They were then initiated into the secret signs by which
members recognized each other, and were presented with a rope and with a
knife on which were engraved the mystic letters S.S.G.G., supposed to
mean Stein, Strick, Gras, grün (stone, rope, grass, green).
The procedure of the fehmic courts was practically that of the ancient German courts generally. The Freistuhl was the place of session, and was usually a hillock, or some other well-known and accessible spot. The Freigraf and the Schöffen
(judges) occupied the bench, before which a table, with a sword and
rope upon it, was placed. The court was held by day and, unless the
session was declared secret, all freemen, whether initiated or not, were
admitted. The accusation was in the old German form; but only a Freischöffe
could act as accuser. If the offence came under the competence of the
court, meaning it was punishable by death, a summons to the accused was
issued under the seal of the Freigraf. This was not usually
served on him personally, but was nailed to his door, or to some
convenient place where he was certain to pass. Six weeks and three days'
grace were allowed, according to the old Saxon law, and the summons was
thrice repeated. If the accused appeared, the accuser stated the case,
and the investigation proceeded by the examination of witnesses as in an
ordinary court of law. The judgment was put into execution on the spot
if that was possible.
The secret court, from whose procedure the whole institution has
acquired its evil reputation, was closed to all but the initiated,
although these were so numerous as to secure quasi-publicity; any one
not a member on being discovered was instantly put to death, and the
members present were bound under the same penalty not to disclose what
took place. Crimes of a serious nature, and especially those that were
deemed unfit for ordinary judicial investigation, such as heresy and
witchcraft, fell within its jurisdiction, as also did appeals by persons
condemned in the open courts, and likewise the cases before those
tribunals in which the accused had not appeared. The accused, if a
member, could clear himself by his own oath, unless he had revealed the
secrets of the Fehme. If he were one of the uninitiated it was
necessary for him to bring forward witnesses to his innocence from among
the initiated, whose number varied according to the number on the side
of the accuser, but twenty-one in favour of innocence necessarily
secured an acquittal. The only punishment which the secret court could
inflict was death. If the accused appeared, the sentence was carried
into execution at once; if he did not appear, it was quickly made known
to the whole body, and the Freischöffe who was the first to meet
the condemned was bound to put him to death. This was usually done by
hanging, the nearest tree serving for gallows. A knife with the mystic
letters was left beside the corpse to show that the deed was not a
murder.
It has been claimed
that, in some cases, the condemned would be set free, given several
hours' head start and then hunted down and put to death. So fearsome was
the reputation of the Fehme and its reach that many thus
released committed suicide rather than prolonging the inevitable. This
practice could have been a holdover from the ancient Germanic legal
concept of outlawry (Acht).
Legend and romance have combined to exaggerate the sinister
reputation of the Fehmic courts; but modern historical research has
largely discounted this, proving that they never employed torture, that
their sittings were only sometimes secret, and that their meeting-places
were always well known.
They were, in fact, a survival of an ancient and venerable German
institution; and if, during a certain period, they exercised something
like a reign of terror over a great part of Germany, the cause of this
lay in the sickness of the times, which called for some powerful
organization to combat the growing feudal anarchy. Such an organization
the Westphalian free courts, with their discipline of terror and
elaborate system of secret service, were well calculated to supply.
The spread of the Fehmic courts
The system, though ancient, began to become of importance only after the division of the duchy of Saxony on the fall of Henry the Lion,
when the archbishop of Cologne, duke of Westphalia from 1180 onwards,
placed himself as representative of the emperor at the head of the
Fehme. The organization now rapidly spread. Every free man, born in
lawful wedlock, and neither excommunicate nor outlaw, was eligible for
membership.
Princes and nobles were initiated; and in 1429 even the emperor Sigismund himself became “a true and proper Freischöffe of the Holy Roman Empire.” There is a manuscript in the Town Hall of the Westphalian town of Soest, which consists of an original Vehmic Court Regulation document, along with illustrations.
By the middle of the 14th century these Freischöffen (Latin scabini),
sworn associates of the Fehme, were scattered in thousands throughout
the length and breadth of Germany, known to each other by secret signs
and pass-words, and all of them pledged to serve the summons of the
secret courts and to execute their judgment.
Decline and dissolution of the Courts
That an organization of this character should have outlived its usefulness and ushered in intolerable abuses, such as corruption was inevitable; from the mid-fifteenth century protests were raised against the enormities of the court.
With the growing power of the territorial sovereigns and the gradual
improvement of the ordinary process of justice, the functions of the
Fehmic courts were superseded. By the action of the Emperor Maximilian
and of other German princes they were, in the 16th century, once more
restricted to Westphalia, and here, too, they were brought under the
jurisdiction of the ordinary courts, and finally confined to mere police
duties. With these functions, however, but with the old forms long
since robbed of their impressiveness, they survived into the 19th
century. They were finally abolished by order of Jérôme Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, in 1811. The last Freigraf died in 1835.
Modern use of the term
Following the abandonment of the Vehmic courts, the term acquired a connotation of mob rule and lynching. In Modern German, the spelling of Feme is most common. Other variant forms are: Fehme, Feime, Veme. The verb verfemen
is in current use and means "to ostracise", i.e. by public opinion
rather than formal legal proceeding. A noun derived from this is Verfemter "outlaw, ostracised person".
Within the politically heated turmoil of the early Weimar Republic, the media frequently used the term Fememord to refer to right-wing political homicides, e.g. the murder of Jewish politicians such as Kurt Eisner (1919), Matthias Erzberger (1921), or Walther Rathenau (1922) by right-wing groups such as Organisation Consul. In 1926, the 27th Reichstag commission officially differed the contemporarily common Fememorde from political assassination in such that assassination was by definition exerted upon open political opponents, whereas a Fememord
was a form of lethal vengeance committed upon former or current members
of an organization that they had become a traitor of. This definition
is also found in the common pseudo-archaic, alliterating right-wing phrase, "Verräter verfallen der Feme!"
("Traitors shall be ostracized!", i. e. killed), as it was often quoted
throughout the 1920s in mass media reports regarding violent acts of
vengeance among the German Right.
The Vehmic courts in fiction
Vehmic courts play a key role in the novel Anne of Geierstein or, The Maiden of the Mist by Sir Walter Scott
in which Archibald von Hagenbach, the Duke of Burgundy's governor at
Brisach (Switzerland), is condemned and executed by the Vehmgericht.
Scott drew his inspiration from Goethe's play Goetz von Berlichingen which he had translated, incorrectly.
In William Makepeace Thackeray's novel 'Vanity Fair' "Was Rebecca guilty or not?" the Vehmgerich of tho servants' hal had pronounced against her.
A character in the Dorothy L. Sayers novel Murder Must Advertise
appears at a fancy-dress party as a member of the Vehmgericht, which
allows him to wear a hooded costume to disguise his identity.
In Fritz Lang's M, the locals criminals of an unnamed city (probably Berlin) capture a child murderer and hold a vigilante court.
In The Illuminatus! Trilogy, the Vehmic courts are mentioned as being connected to Nazi Werewolves as well as the Illuminati.
In A Study in Scarlet, a novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, the retribution of the Mormons is compared to that of the Vehmgericht.
The Vehmgericht also appear as antagonists in The Strong Arm, an 1899 novel set in the Holy Roman Empire by British-Canadian author Robert Barr.
Geoff Taylor's 1966 novel, Court Of Honor, features the Fehme being revived by a German officer and Martin Bormann
(a featured character in other semi-historical novels with post-war
'Nazi underground' themes) in the dying days of the Third Reich.
The Freischoeffen also provided the subject for Berlioz's unfinished opera Les francs-juges,
the overture to which provided the signature tune for 'Face to Face',
the well-known early series of British television interviews, conducted
by the Rt Hon John Freeman MBE.
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Vehmic Court: Part 1
First I should state that Runa-Raven Press has gone out of business, so I believe that I am no longer binded to the copyright of their translation of 'History of the Aryo-Germanic Folk'. They had one or two other List books translated into English, but I didn't get a chance to purchase them. I don't think the word really got out that they were translating some of his works other than 'Secret of the Runes', and works by other author-researcher-historians like him. I'm disappointed because a publishing company is power, media, or at least a voice. There are other publishing companies with a similar foundation I believe, so we'll have to be on the look out.
No, the above image was not put there in regards to the publishing company going under. I wanted to look at one of history's great ironies: "The Vehmic Court." As stated many times in earlier sections, at the time of the rise of Christianity and the systematic and violent destruction of anything non-Christian, secret meetings ("heimliche Acht") took place among the Heathen Skalds across the German countryside in order to decide what to do. It was decided first that they must form an underground Wotanic rite, and they formulated a complex esoteric system to be attached to every aspect of society.
This system was largely based on the German-Wotanic spiritual concept of the cycle of life: "1) Birth, 2) Life, and 3) Death and to a new arising"; therefore it's symbolism was three-fold: 1) Exoteric for the unknowing, 2) Esoteric for the initiated, and 3) Deeper Esoteric. Remember, they had to do this unless they were to disappear forever without a trace. This was a form of cultural-spiritual genocide they were facing. They were forced to be "Occultic," which simply means "hidden."
Although it would be a powerful symbol to imagine the Wotanic Skalds all meeting at one place, at one time, in some candle lit cellar at midnight; but it didn't happen that way. I would guess that they probably had all-day meetings deep in the forests and on high mountain locations, where they could stand and speak their minds, and that this took place over years. Imagine the great locations, dates, names, and speeches which we will probably never know a bit about. However, we can honor and redeem them by occasionally imagining them--for the final times as leaders of their culture--standing and speaking their ancient wisdom upon the great thrones of mountains, trees, suns, and skies. In that way, they will never die.
From pages 86 and 87 of 'The Secret of the Runes':
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."
And from pages 89 and 90:
In the administration of justice, too, the old Aryan tripartition is naturally found again as (1) arising or law (Rita), (2) the existing, ruling (justice), and (3) the passing away to renewed arising (the court). Because law and justice culminate in the decisive pronouncement of the court (and consequently, as the third level, this provided the final result) the holy sign of the court was the ruoth-cross, rod-cross, or rowel- (wheel) cross which was therefore also known as the Vehme cross, consisting of a fyrfos whose hooks were bent in the circular shape of a wheel rim. As the Vehme cross it appears engraved on the blade of the great Vehme-sword as an equilateral cross enclosed by a circle. At the cross point the letter "V" appears and furthermore in the quadrants between the arms and letters "S.S.G.G." were engraved. These letters probably displaced the formerly used runes [Fehu symbol] and [Sol and Gebo symbols] (doubled), which signified: "Vehme" and the old passwords: "Strick (string), "Stein" (stone), "Gras" (grass), "Grein" (branch?), i.e., "wyd" ("white") = law; "brick" = secret; "rage" = thunder = doing = ar = right-doing; greyen = to uphold; that is: "Through law and secrecy (heimliche Acht) right-doing is upheld." In abbreviated form this is: tue gege (two s's and two g's).
In the heimliche Acht or kala all this signifies "present in the hidden," which exoterically refers to the watchfulness of the Vehme, esoterically to the omniscience of God as the highest judge. For this reason the "ruoth-cross" was the symbol of the court, and it is for this reason that the crucifix on the bench of the modern judge should be seen--not as a symbol of religion--but rather as a substitute for the "ruoth-cross." Wherever the words "Rothenkreuz" (red-cross), "Rothenburg" (red-castle), or even "roth" (red), "Rad" (wheel), "Ratt" (rat), etc., occur in place names, there is where there was at one time "marked steads of the Vehme," as, for example, near Hochroderd in the Viennese Woods. All "red crosses" that stand in lonely forests were at one time Irminsuls or Roland-columns, i.e., "mark-columns," which designate such "marked steads,"* and all "red courts" were at one time the property of the Wise of the Vehme.
*E.g., The Red Court in the eighth parish in Vienna (at one time the town of Josephstadt).
It goes on in more finite details, but I will cut it off at this point as far as 'The Secret of the Runes' on this subject. I'm just focusing on one aspect of this occult Wotanic codex, but it's quite something to ponder that all of these things were deliberated and eventually decided upon by the Heathen Skalds in one final important and long-enduring action over a period of time. Remember, these wise men were not accustomed to "hiding." Their culture was THE culture of the German people prior to that. They didn't want to just forget the holy Wotanic spots--often the former locations of Irminsuls--and they marked them in one form or another with probably the full intent that their ancestors would someday redeem them. This all sounds like a script out of some fantasy move.. only it's real!
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The Arctic Home in the Vedas (Wikipedia)
The Arctic Home in the Vedas is a book on the origin of Aryans by Lokmanya Bâl Gangâdhar Tilak, a mathematician turned astronomer, historian, journalist, philosopher and political leader of India during 1880 to 1920. It propounded the theory that the North Pole was the original home of Aryans during pre-glacial period which they had to leave due to the ice deluge around 8000 B.C. and had to migrate to the Northern parts of Europe and Asia in search of lands for new settlements. In support to his theory Tilak has presented certain Vedic hymns, Avestic passages, Vedic chronology and Vedic calendars with interpretations of the contents in detail.
The book was written at the end of 1898, but was first published in March 1903 in Pune.
Background
Man was believed to be post-Glacial and the theory of Asiatic Home of Aryans prevailed. The age of the oldest Vedic period, however, was carried back to 4500 BC by scholars including the author himself after scientific astronomical research in correlation with the evidence found in the Vedic hymns.
The Author held the view that further study of Vedic hymns and Avestic passages might reveal the long vista of primitive Aryan antiquity.
Summary of Tilak’s polar theory
* Neolithic Aryan race in Europe cannot be regarded as autochthonous, nor European Aryans descended from the Paleolithic man. Hence, question of the original Aryan home is still unsettled.
* In the early geological ages, the Alps were low, the Himalayas not yet upheaved, Asia and Africa were represented only by a group of islands and an equable and uniform climate prevailed over the whole surface of the globe. In those days, however, a warm climate prevailed in the Arctic region.
* The close of the Pliocene and the whole of the Pleistocene period were marked by violent changes of climate bringing on what is called the Glacial and Inter-Glacial epochs. A succession of cold and warm climates must have characterized these Glacial and Inter-Glacial periods which were also accompanied by extensive movements of depression and elevation of land, the depression taking place after the land was weighed down with the enormous mass of ice.
* Thus a period of glaciations was marked by elevation, extreme cold and the invasion of the ice-caps over regions of the present Temperate zone; while an inter-glacial period was accompanied by depression of land and milder and congenial climate which made even the Arctic regions habitable.
* According to the latest geological evidence, the last Glacial period must have closed and Post-Glacial must have commenced at about 10,000 years ago or 8,000 BC. There were at least two Glacial and one Inter-Glacial period, and the geographical distribution of land and water on the earth during the Inter-Glacial period was quite different from what it is at present. It was the coming on of the Glacial age that destroyed this genial climate and rendered the regions unsuited for the habitation of tropical plants and animals.
* At the North Pole, one sees the heavenly dome above seems to revolve around one like a potter's wheel. The stars will not rise and set but move round and round in horizontal planes during the long night of six months. The Sun, when it is above the horizon for six months; would also appear to revolve in the same way but with some difference. The Northern celestial hemisphere will alone be visible spinning round and round and the Southern half remain invisible. The Sun going into the Northern hemisphere in his annual course will appear as coming up from the South. Living in the temperate and tropical zones, however, one sees all heavenly objects rise in the East and set in the West, some passing over the head, others traveling obliquely.
* The long dawn of two months is a special and important characteristic of the North Pole. As we descend southward, the splendor and the duration of the dawn will be witnessed on a less and less magnificent scale. But the dawn occurring at the end of the long night of two, three or more months will still be unusually long, often of several days duration.
* All these characteristics of an Arctic home are clearly recorded in several Vedic hymns and Avestic passages and they come to us sometimes as the description of the prevailing conditions or the day-to-day experience or stories told by the earlier generation and sometimes as myths.
Chronology of the post-glacial period
* 10,000 to 8000 BC – The destruction of the original Arctic home by the last Ice Age and the commencement of the post-Glacial period.
* 8000 to 5000 BC – The age of migration from the original home. The survivors of the Aryan race roamed over the northern parts of Europe and Asia in search of lands suitable for new settlements. Tilak calls it as ‘Pre-Orion Period’.
* 5000 to 3000 BC. - The Orion period, when the vernal equinox was in Orion. Many Vedic hymns can be traced to the early part of this period and the bards of the race seem to have not yet forgotten the real importance of the traditions of the Arctic home inherited by them. It was at this time that first attempts to reform the calendar and the sacrificial system appear to have been systematically made.
* 3000 to 1400 BC – The Krittika period, when the Vernal equinox was in Pleiades. The traditions about the original Arctic home had grown dim by this time and very often misunderstood, making the Vedic hymns more and more unintelligible.
* 1400 to 500 BC – The Pre-Buddhistic period, when the Sutras and the Philosophical systems made their appearance.
Contents
The book has about 500 pages containing a Preface by the Author and thirteen chapters.
1. ‘Prehistoric Times’
2. The Glacial Period
3. The Arctic Regions
4. The Night of the Gods
5. The Vedic Dawns
6. Long Day and Long Night
7. Months and Seasons
8. The Cow’s Walk
9. Vedic Myths— The Captive Waters
10. Vedic Myths— The Matutinal Deities
11. The Avestic Evidence
12. Comparative Mythology.
13. The Bearing of our Results on the History of Primitive Aryan
Culture and Religion.
* At the end, a General Index and Index of Vedic and Avestic
Passages are given.
Evidence in support of the theory
1) Vedic Evidences
* Particulars of Hymns and Verses in ten Mandalas of Rigveda are given.
For example Hymn 1, Verse 2, Page 459.
* Particulars of Passages in Taittiriya Samhita are given.
For example Passage I, 3, 9, 2, Page 91.
* Particulars of Hymns in Vajasaneyi Samhita are given.
* Particulars of Sama Veda Samhita are given.
* Particulars of Atharva Veda Samhita are given.
* Particulars of Aitareya Brahmana are given.
* Particulars of Kaushitaki Brahmana are given.
* Particulars of Taittiriya Brahmana are given.
* Particulars of Shatapatha Brahmana are given.
* Particulars of Tandya Brahmana are given.
* Particulars of Shadvimsha Brahmana are given.
* Particulars of Taittiriya Aranyaka are given.
* Particulars of Upanishads are given.
2) Avestic Evidences
* Particulars of Vendidad passages are given.
* Particulars of Yashts passages are given.
* Particulars of Yasna passages are given.
Influence
The Arctic Home in the Vedas has been cited in the works of Julius Evola and Savitri Devi.
References
The Arctic Home in the Vedas by B.G. Tilak, edition 1925.
External links
Text of The Arctic Home in the Vedas
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"As we have already shown, the symbol of the zero is likewise derived from the holy-sign of the circle, which symbolizes the unrevealed God, and also the other numerical symbols--falsely called "Arabic--were developed from the circle combined with the sign of multiplication, the gibor-rune: X which resulted in this matrix...... The series of these holy number-runes which appear in the following manner in a 13th century manuscript in the Royal Imperial Library in Vienna, the so-called Imperial Chronicle...... whence the old linear formations can still rather closely be made out. That these numerical signs have been referred to as "Arabic-Indian numerals" in more recent times, proves that belief in Aryanism is finally beginning to break through. Certainly the same thing is true for Sanskrit, but it should not be thought that Sanskrit is the root, but rather it is but one of the older branches of the Aryan World-tree, which was derived from the proto-Aryan, like our Germanic languages. Therefore, it shares a common origin and is of the same age as our Germanic languages in which Old Aryan still lives." --Guido von List, 'The Religion of the Aryo-Germanic Folk'
World tree
From Wikipedia:
The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions, Siberian religions, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the world, and, through its roots, the underworld. It may also be strongly connected to the motif of the tree of life.
Specific world trees include világfa in Hungarian mythology, Ağaç Ana in Turkic mythology, Modun in Mongolian mythology, Yggdrasil (or Irminsul) in Germanic (including Norse) mythology, the Oak in Slavic and Finnish mythology, and in Hindu mythology the Ashvattha (a Sacred Fig).
Norse mythology
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree. Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central and considered very holy. The Æsir go to Yggdrasil daily to hold their courts. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the harts Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór, an unnamed eagle, the squirrel Ratatoskr and the wyrm Níðhöggr. Scholarly theories have been proposed about the etymology of the name Yggdrasil, the potential relation to the trees Mímameiðr and Læraðr, and the sacred tree at Uppsala.
Other cultures
Remnants are also evident in the Kalpavriksha or "wish-fulfilling tree" of the South Asian religions.
In Brahma Kumaris religion, the World Tree is portrayed as the "Kalpa Vriksha Tree", or "Tree of Humanity", in which the founder Brahma Baba (Dada Lekhraj) and his Brahma Kumaris followers are shown as the roots of the humanity who enjoy 2,500 years of paradise as living deities before trunk of humanity splits and the founders of other religions incarnate. Each creates their own branch and brings with them their own followers, until they too decline and splits. Twig like schisms, cults and sects appear at the end of the Iron Age.
A reoccurring daydream
For as long as I can remember, I have had a daydream--maybe a night dream as well--of being at low elevation and traveling in a straight line towards a very high point far in the distance. As I travel along, I keep climbing towards higher and higher elevation. From grassy lowlands, I travel through rocky highland forests, with the sun still beating down from a clear sky. Soon it becomes cloudier as I start to see sparse pockets of snow, and I can no longer see where I started from. I picture myself in an automobile, because that makes it easier to imagine. Eventually it's overcast and windy, with less tree cover as I climb up steep mountains in a slow ascent. Finally, usually after a blizzardy phase, it's somewhat clear again, and I just keep climbing upward towards a peak that I never reach. I don't want to look back. I know that this road leads to the "roof of the world." THE top of the earth.
Perhaps it's the result from the genetic memory of possibly thousands of years of living in the pre-Alps, and always seeing the endless ascent to the sky. Maybe it could be from some ancient memory from Teutonic ancestors who lived in a strange, harsh, very far off unrecognizable place, with strange animals abound, many thousands of years ago. Perhaps it was within view of an ominous, mile high sheet of ice. Some of my ancestors were known as the "Winnili," which is similar to the word "Wihinei"--a word which List used for esoteric religion. Sometimes I imagine the location of my reoccurring daydream; Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, the Sierra Nevadas, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps... but maybe somewhere very deep in my genetic memory... maybe it could be the Himalayas, "the roof of the world." I feel the same as I do during winter hikes when I reach a peak or high point, and feel invigorated by the cold wind.
The republication of 'The Arctic Home in the Vedas' (2011)
'The Arctic Home in the Vedas' was written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and first published in India in 1903. Ironically, his biography sounds similar to Guido von List. The only difference was that Tilak was knee-deep in revolutionary resistance, while List merely knew nationalists as he was not directly "political."
Book Description
The idea of a lost ancient civilization located at the North Pole at a time when its climate was friendlier to human habitation is suggested in many of the world's oldest myths and sacred scriptures. Drawing upon his vast knowledge of the Hindu Vedas and the Zoroastrian Avesta, Tilak makes a painstakingly detailed analysis of the texts and compares them with the geological, astronomical and archaeological evidence to show the plausibility of the Arctic having been the primordial cradle of the Aryan race before changing conditions forced the Aryans southward into present-day Europe, Iran and India. Although this theory has never gained widespread acceptance among mainstream scholars since it was first published in 1903, Tilak has made a compelling case which is not easily refuted.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920), who was given the honorary title Lokmanya ("chosen leader of the people"), was one of the fathers of India's independence movement in opposition to British colonial rule. He was imprisoned several times for his vocal advocacy of violent revolt against the colonial authorities on the basis of Vedic scripture. His time in prison gave him time to work on his more scholarly projects, such as the present book. Although he did not live to see the ultimate victory of the movement he had helped to establish, he is widely acknowledged as having been one of the main driving forces behind it due to his influence on Gandhi and the other leaders who saw his mission through to its end in 1947.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Lokmanya Tilak, born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), was an Indian nationalist, journalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyer and independence activist who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called him "Father of the Indian unrest". He was also conferred with the honorary title of "Lokmanya", which literally means "Accepted by the people(as their leader)".
Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of "Swaraj" (self-rule) and a strong radical in Indian consciousness. His famous quote, "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!" is well-remembered in India even today.
One more look at climate, timeline, demographics, and geography
Actually, the 45 degree latitude for the northern ice sheet was accurate in some places, such as North America. However, in Europe, the ice sheet covered the British Isles, Belgium, the Netherlands, northern Germany, before taking a slight southernly direction at Poland and through eastern Europe; then a sharp northeastern direction in Asia. The Alps were covered in ice, and there seemed to be a harsh region north of it, likely preventing northern passage for a long period. What this all boils down to is that the region of ancient Iran was probably more like modern British Columbia in terms of climate, while India was perhaps something similar to Oregon and California.
Also, the last ice age seemed to end about 12,000 to 13,000 years ago, which fits perfectly into this "Ice Age Iran/proto-Norse" theory. I would guess that there were proto-Norse tribes living north of the mountains of Iran, probably all around the Caspian Sea at this time. Remember, this was long before Semitic, Turkic, and Mongol expansion. These more northern tribes were more than likely the ones who migrated across northern Europe, and they would explain the mummies of the Tarim Basin in what is today far western China. They were the ones who remained. Archeologists just assumed that they migrated from northern Europe. In other words, psychologically, they can't seem to geographically divorce "Nordics" from northern Europe.
I would theorize that at the end of the last Ice Age twelve thousand years ago, Europe was about 60% of its current habitable land, and was populated by Alpine peoples of which the Basques are a modern survival. Smaller early bands of proto-Norse, probably over thousands of years, migrated across northern Europe and most of Spain and intermingled with the native Alpine peoples. This cultural fusion formed the various Celtic cultures over a large area. When the bulk of the proto-Norse finally did arrive later on, they swarmed over Scandinavia and northern Germany, but were checked at Gaul and southern Germany. Only much later did they finally overrun south Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, driving many Celtic tribes into Italy.
The original Mediterranean peoples stayed in the Middle East and founded the earliest civilizations. They also migrated across southern Europe and north Africa, up into France, and into the British Isles, and fused with the various Alpine and Celtic peoples. I'm oversimplifying it. The earlier westward proto-Norse migrations into Europe probably overlapped the westward Mediterranean migrations. I'm only considering the time frame from approximately 13,000 to 5,000 years ago.
The ancestors of the people who we today call "Arabs" were true Semites who lived at the southern part of the Saudi peninsula and perhaps the horn of Africa. At this time, they would have looked very different than the ancient Middle Easterners. This was the Ice Age. Everything in the world would have been pushed south! The contact we're looking at is between these Mediterranean/proto-Norse "Aryans," and the dark skinned Dravidian race in India. I don't see any other explanation for this "Aryan and Indo-European language" quagmire that so many people have pondered and deliberated about for so long.
Before the Aryan culture, could the "Arctic Home in the Vedas" have been the Ice Age proto-Norse who lived around the Caspian Sea; a region which would have been "Arctic" prior to 13,000 years ago? Some could have migrated over the mountains to the south and settled in a warmer climate and merged with the very ancient Persian Mediterraneans, whose homogenized descendants were the Aryans! You need to force your mind to see the world at it existed then... not now. It's possible that the early proto-Norse occupied a larger region north of the Himalayas.
According to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the last post-glacial period occurred between eight and ten thousand years ago, which easily fits the above hypothesis. In part six, you can see that Tilak was presenting a theory which was largely different than this one. However, it's not entirely impossible that the two ideas could tie-in closely. In other words, these proto-Norse may have migrated southward into the region around the Caspian Sea from far northern stretches at an earlier time; and then some eventually moving southward over the mountains of northern Iran, and settling in the high interior plateau, which may be more-or-less be the same basic theory. It should be added that the bulk of the proto-Norse migrated across most of northern Europe, which again would be fairly consistent with Tilak's book.
It would seem that the ancient Mediterraneans--in a world with only a tiny fraction of todays population--would have remained in the lowlands of the Near East, which would have been green and comfortable then. It's not likely they would have been especially interested in living in the harsher mountainous conditions of ancient Iran until well after the weather cooled down. When they eventually did, it probably then resembled modern Colorado.
12-14-12 ADDITION: All individual storehouses of knowledge and solutions to problems (not mere dead memorized data!) are thus evaluated. Such storehouses are not lost upon death, but rather they are preserved in death and once more brought back to the world of men upon the next reincarnation. People call these spiritual storehouses that the reborn individuals bring to the earth "natural abilities," "talent" or "innate genius," which has already been established and discussed above. But just as the unrevealed God is only able to reveal himself in matter and become the world-spirit (First Logos), and just as the revealed God has to activate himself in creation generatively (Second Logos), in order to come to a vision and knowledge of himself, and finally just as the human spirit (Third Logos) had to attain this through an apparent descent from divinity for the sake of awareness of divinity itself, i.e. his own selfhood, so too the human being can only rediscover the divinity within himself (the divine inwardness) after he has lost it, after he has searched for God unseccessfully outside himself "up there in heaven," in temples and churches, finally only to rediscover his God within his own heart on the painful detour through atheism--and this time he does so in a way that God will never again be lost. And here we recognize in the world-ash, Yggdrasil--the imagematic tree of knowledge--the holy tree Zampuh of Tibetan myth, the Assyrian tree of life, and the other similar tree in Indian, Persian and other mythologies. Thus we find our way back to Yggdrasil again. --Guido von List, 'The Religion of the Aryo-Germanic Folk', from pages 45 and 46 of the Runa-Raven Press translation.
List was explaining what he called the "Garma" of the soul, and it's ascent over many incarnations. He mentions here "The Tree of Life," and it's existence in Germanic, Tibetan, Assyrian, Indian, and Persian spiritual traditions. Although so much of the technology from the "cradle of civilization" came from ancient true-Mediterraneans, the spirituality seemed to come from the proto-Norse people migrating south from their trans-Himalayan homeland... and ultimately from their very ancient Arctic homeland. It sounds like just a fanciful notion until you really look at the evidence. Aside from ancient Persia and later the Indus Valley, some of these proto-Germanic people may have migrated to other locations--like ancient Assyria--where they spread those spiritual traditions... such as "The Tree of Life."
In Greater Tibet, I would guess that the migrating proto-Norse were small in number, and their characteristics disappeared with later expansion from the Far East. Only their spirituality remained, and could be symbolized by the triskelion motif, a symbol they left behind, which is still popular in the region today. The triskelion probably went all the way back to the Arctic homeland. It was brought by very early migrating proto-Norse into Europe, where it manifested into the Celtic cultures. Today, the same symbol is present on the flags of the Isle of Man, Sicily, and places that I couldn't pronounce in the Caucasus, and far east into the Russian administrative territories; as well as in symbolism and arms from Greece, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, etc.
It probably should be pointed out again--despite the genuine and fascinating lore of the early proto-Norse migrations--they were not "the Aryans." The Aryan civilization was the result of east-migrating true-Mediterraneans and south-migrating proto-Norse, culturally and genetically merging together in ancient Persia. Technology from true-Mediterraneans merged with deep spiritual traditions of the proto-Norse, which developed into one of the great civilizations of the ancient world. This spirituality was not exactly the same as what later became known as Odinism or Asatru. These spiritual traditions were constantly evolving, mainly due to contact with other peoples. For example, Odinism may have been influenced by earlier Alpine peoples.
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The Aryans came about in ancient Persia, when some of the migrating proto-Norse encountered native or migrating true-Mediterranean (not Semitic) peoples. Among many technological advances and spiritual concepts, the Sanskrit language and text developed from these Aryans of ancient Persia. The ancient Swastika, which was originally a solar symbol and spiritual symbol of geometry and mathmatics, was brought by the true-Mediterraneans into ancient Persia. Similar symbols developed in different locations, so I think this is still an unanswered question. It's pretty easy to see how all of this has been so confusing, to so many, for so long.
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