Hope & redemption

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Life always offers you a second chance.
 

It's called tomorrow.

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Wisdom for the Wolf-Age: Part 3

'How to Be a Heathen: A Methodology for the Awakening of Traditional Systems'

By Stephen E. Flowers/Edred Thorsson

The following paper was generated from a talk delivered to the Pagan Student Alliance of the University of Texas at Austin, November 22, 1991 and is dedicated to the memory of Edwin Wade, Óðinsgoði, who died on this date in 1989.

The above article is very interesting, but rather long. It's a little too long to post here. Again, I would suggest using FromTextToSpeech.com for anyone who may find long articles to be a bit tedious. Then you can just sit back with a cup of coffee and enjoy! Stephen Flowers is a great thinker and academic, who appears to have alienated some with his Temple of Set/Michael Aquino associations. Personally, especially in this modern socio/political/everything climate, unless someone is directly opposing your interests... then I believe differences like this should be overlooked.

While listening, and as interesting as it is, I found it difficult to pick out aspects of it that really stood out for mention here. There were two that I found especially curious though. One was that he briefly went into how Indo-European spiritual elements found there way down into India. There is a definite link there, already covered here numerous times. Also, Dr. Flowers spoke of the ancient schools of metaphysical knowledge in ancient Greece... which were taught openly in universities of that day, and certainly a big part of ancient Greek culture... and Pagan in nature! However, wasn't Greece the chief forerunner of "Western Civilization?" Can you see the potential greater implications of this on Western society today?

There clearly appears to have been "mystery schools" in the ancient world. They weren't specifically "secret." but were a generally open study of the metaphysical world and its energies. In other words.. "magic." I do have serious doubts that the Druids were part of the mystery schools of Egypt, Greece, and other places. I see ancient Druidism as a fusion of the proto-European magical tradition with incoming Teutonic spirituality. Some overzealous Christian researchers try to tie Druidism to Indian spirituality as part of the same "mystery school network." I think we should stay open-minded about that, but I doubt it. Teutonic spiritual concepts found there way to India via "the Aryans" who were partly Teutonic in ancestry and culture; while those same spiritual concepts found their way to into northwestern Europe. That seems the likely link there, albeit in hybrid forms.

Stephen Flowers (Wikipedia)

Stephen Edred Flowers (born 1953) also known by the pen-name Edred Thorsson, is an American Runologist and proponent of occultism and Germanic mysticism. He has over two dozen published books and hundreds of published papers on a disparate range of subjects. Flowers advocates "Esoteric Runology" or "Odianism", an occultist version of Germanic Neopaganism.


Early life

The Bonham, Texas-born author did his graduate work in Germanic and Celtic philology under professor and scholar Edgar Polomé at the University of Texas at Austin from 1973-1984. In 1981-1982 he studied the history of occultism at the University of Göttingen, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in Germanic Languages and Medieval Studies in 1984 with a dissertation entitled Runes and Magic: Magical Formulaic Elements in the Elder Tradition. From 1984-1989 he was a lecturer in the departments of English and Germanic Languages at the University of Texas and was last known to be teaching Classical Philology at Austin Community College.

 
History

Flowers was instrumental in the early establishment of the Germanic Neopagan movement in North America.[citation needed] and has also been very active in Left-Hand Path occult organizations.

Flowers joined the Church of Satan in 1972 though he reportedly never became involved with the organization beyond receiving their newsletter, The Cloven Hoof. On November 11, 1983 he founded a small group to explore what he saw as the dark, futuristic undercurrent of Odinism called The Order of Shining Trapezohedron or "O.S.T." which closed on January 13, 1984. The O.S.T. served as a segue into his involvement with the Temple of Set, an organization in which he currently holds the degree of Ipsissimus VI°. Within the Temple of Set he served as Grand Master of the Order of the Trapezoid from January 1987 until June 1996.

Flowers was one of the original members of the Asatru Free Assembly. In 1979 Flowers founded the Rune-Gild, an initiatory order focused on "the revival of the elder Runic" tradition, advocating runic magic.Flowers currently is the executive officer, or Yrmin Drighten, of the Rune-Gild. As a project of the Rune-Gild, Flowers founded the Ásatrú organization the Ring of Troth in 1987 (which is now simply called the Troth). Flowers is no longer affiliated with the Troth. Flowers has also had contact with the Armanen-Orden, the Order of the Triskelion and other occult orders.

Flowers is currently director of the Woodharrow Institute of Germanic Studies and the owner and operator of Runa-Raven Press.
 

Work

In addition to being a prolific writer, Flowers is known for translating obscure texts and manuscripts written in Icelandic, Old Norse and German into English, making many of them available to a wider range of readers.

 
Criticisms

In 1989, Flowers was expelled from the Odinic Rite following his Open Letter to the Leadership of the Asatru/Odinist/Troth Movement wherein he detailed his involvement with the Temple of Set.

Sweyn Plowright, a former member of the Rune Gild who resigned from the organization in 2000, has referred to the philosophy of Flowers as being "neo-Satanic" and antinomian.


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For a list of Dr. Flowers' written works, see the link above. It seems rather clear that Dr. Flowers has one foot in the Odinic camp.. and one "cloven hoof" in the Satanic camp.. and others, of which I could do another play on words. I don't know anything about "Esoteric Runology or Odianism" to give any opinion on it. One curious thing is that Flowers' "Rûna" symbol has been the subject of at least five of his books, always associated with a color (black, green, red, and blue). I have no real idea of either the meaning or the origin of this symbol. I thought that he has said that it represents the separation of at least some aspects of nature from the metaphysical... using my own words, not his. Either the circle or the pentagram represented "nature." Possibly it means blocking physical nature from the spiritual; as it at least appears to be only the "spirit" that protrudes from the box and connects with the circle of nature.. if you look at the symbol.

Dr. Flowers always mentions that he is a linguist, with focus on ancient Germanic/Norse languages. I know the rich history of words just through the hours that I have poured over the Camunian-Italian online translator. In fact, I have even found a few mistakes in Mauro Fiora's work, although we are indebted to him. Dr. Flowers was involved with both the Asatru Free Assembly and the Odinic Rite, as well as "the Armanen-Orden, the Order of the Triskelion and other occult orders."

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Remembering Evelyn Paglini: Part IV

I should have posted this earlier, since the auction began yesterday.. which was "A Full Moon on Friday the 13th." The next time that will happen will be in 2049!

From the Evelyn Paglini Estate....

The Paglini Collection Estate Sale and Auction:

As the loss of Dr. Evelyn Paglini is still setting in around the world, hundreds of her fans, friends and listeners have reached out to us inquiring about what is to become for her personal belongings. After much deliberation, it has been decided that select items from her personal estate including her collection of rare mystical items, antiques, ritual tools, wands, jewelry, crystals and many other items will be auctioned off with no reserve on eBay. Please visit www.occultauctions.com for complete details of the auctions including the items that will be listed, the starting dates and more.

There's a lot of interesting information on www.OccultAuctions.com, so I won't just repeat it. If we really think of it, Dr. Evelyn Paglini was one of the leading figures of Stregheria in the history of North America.. and possibly the most well-known. I mean top five. Dr. Paglini's website www.MysticalBlend.com is also still in operation as well. On her facebook page, under this most recent post, someone left the following comment: "I might bid just to own something from one of my heroes."

I wanted to add one of Evelyn Paglini's final entries, from last Christmas Eve....

A CHRISTMAS THOUGHT FOR YOU

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

 
"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed..

Nothing will be impossible for you"

Matthew 17:20


As you think about the story of the tiny mustard seed, Remember just a little faith is all we really need.

For, like that seed,our faith can grow and,as it does, we find the obstacles ahead of us removed and left behind.

And every new achievement is a cause for celebration.
As we greet each day,each month,each year with great anticipation
So may your Christmas be the start of plans you"ll see come true
As faith keeps growing, making all things possible for you.

Have a wonderful and safe Holiday.

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6-24-14 UPDATE:

New Paglini Items- Items and collectables/ tools from her estate will continue to be listed in groups for sale/ auction every Friday night at 8pm through July! The best listing are yet to come! Please share!

To view auction listings on ebay:
http://stores.ebay.com/Occult-Auctions?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

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Wisdom for the Wolf-Age: Part 2

Lords of the Left-Hand Path - a conversation with Stephen E. Flowers

This interview mainly focuses on the "left-hand"/dark side of his endeavors. Dr. Flowers has looked at many so-called "controversial" subjects. I'm mainly interested in the folk-spiritual part of his work. In other words, there are going to be some individuals who may have one foot in say the Odinic camp, while dabbling in other areas. Therefore, unless someone is really doing something directly contrary to the larger "movement," then disagreements are best avoided. At least that's my philosophy.

Again, I had no idea that Dr. Flowers was owner of Rûna-Raven Press, which has been covered here. Apparently there was some issue that caused the company to close. I'm guessing that he named it after a symbol called the "Rûna," a left-hand occult symbol of which I can't really interpret it's meaning. He does discuss the Rûna in this interview. I would like to see those books become available again.

This interview, from 2012, was upon the release of his book 'Lords of the Left Hand Path'. A couple of interesting observations by Dr. Flowers struck me. One was that he believed that the Italian Renaissance was a rebirth of Paganism and Hermeticism. Another was that he said that a true understanding of these subjects--I'm guessing general "occultism"--is not to be found in the New Age or metaphysical book stores, but in the local academic libraries. I take that as meaning the university level libraries.


Left-hand path and right-hand path (Wikipedia)

The terms Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path refer to a dichotomy between two opposing approaches found in Western esotericism, which itself covers various groups involved in the occult and ceremonial magic. In some definitions, the Left-Hand Path is equated with malicious Black magic and the Right-Hand Path with benevolent White magic. Other occultists have criticised this definition, believing that the Left-Right dichotomy refers merely to different kinds of working, and does not necessarily connote good or bad magical actions.

In more recent definitions, which base themselves on the terms' origins among Indian Tantra, the Right-Hand Path, or RHP, is seen as a definition for those magical groups which follow specific ethical codes and adopt social convention, while the Left-Hand Path adopts the opposite attitude, espousing the breaking of taboo and the abandoning of set morality. Some contemporary occultists have stressed that both paths can be followed by a magical practitioner, as essentially they have the same goals.

In the interview, Dr. Flowers described the right-hand path as being of the feminine, the goddess, and I'm guessing represented by the Moon. He described the right-hand path as being of the masculine, the male god, represented by the Sun. That right-hand description fits well with the artifacts found at Arkaim, or basically the roots of Teutonic spirituality. His description of the left-hand path fits into what we know about proto-European spirituality, back to Hekate, and maybe back to the very ancient ruins now being unearthed in Turkey and Bulgaria.

The following is another podcast interview from 2009: 'KHPR: Dr. Stephen Flowers on Runa'. I found this interview to be difficult to understand, but he goes into detail about "Runa." It appears to me that many of the left-hand path, or "Satanism" really, seem to give what at least sound like contradictory statements of what they believe.. beyond what may be merely different camps within it. Maybe that would be something to look at at some point, but I think I'll just let it rest for now.

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Maddalena Taluti: Daughter of Wisdom

Borrowed from www.stregheria.com:


Maddalena

In the history of Witchcraft there is perhaps no figure more mysterious than the Witch known as Maddalena. As described by folklorist Charles Leland in several of his books, Maddalena was an Italian fortune teller and Witch. She supplied Leland with a great deal of Italian Witch lore including the text Leland later published as the Gospel of the Witches in 1899. Maddalena was also known to folklorists Roma Lister and Lady de Vere (to who she was introduced as "Margherita").

New findings related to Maddalena have recently come to light through some research I conducted at the Library of Congress. At the Pantheacon conference, on February 17th, 2008, I presented a copy of a page from The International Folklore Congress: Papers and Transactions, 1891. On page 454, Maddalena's name appears as a contributor to an exhibit presented by Charles Leland. Her name is given as Maddalena Taluti. In the modern Pazzaglini translation of Aradia, contributing writer professor Robert Mathiesen wrote that he believed Maddalena's last name to be Talenti. In light of new findings he is incorrect, but he does state that her name was almost illegible in the document he examined.

According to Leland, in his book Etruscan Roman Remains, Maddalena was originally from the town of Rocca Casciano, which is now called Rocca San Casciano. It is located in the Province of Forli-Cesena in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. She reportedly traveled a great deal, making a living telling fortunes and selling charms.  According to Leland, Maddalena claimed to have been trained in a family tradition of Italian Witchcraft, which was passed on to her by aunts and by her step-mother.

The Aradia material obtained for Leland differs greatly from the material that Maddalena had previously supplied to him. In the book Etruscan Roman Remains, Leland describes the Witches of Italy as being both good and bad.  By contrast the Aradia material portrays Witches in a negative light. It is noteworthy that he describes a group that he calls the "beautiful witches of Benevento." Concerning Maddalena herself, Leland describes her as:

"a young woman who would have been taken for a Gypsy in England, but in whose face, in Italy, I soon learned to know the antique Etruscan, with its strange mysteries, to which was added the indefinable glance of the Witch.  She was from the Romagna Toscana, born in the heart of its unsurpassingly wild and romantic scenery, amid cliffs, headlong torrents, forests, and old legendary castles. I did not gather all the facts for a long time, but gradually found that she was of a Witch family, or one whose members had, from time to immemorial, told fortunes, repeated ancient legends, gathered incantations, and learned how to intone them, prepared enchanted medicines, philtres, or spells. As a girl, her Witch grandmother, aunt, and especially her stepmother brought her up to believe in her destiny as a sorceress, and taught her in the forests, afar from human ear, to chant in strange prescribed tones, incantations or evocations to the ancient gods of Italy, under names but little changed, who are now known as folletti, spiriti, fate, or lari - the Lares or household goblins of the ancient Etruscans."

After receiving material from Maddalena, which became the foundation for the books Legends of Florence and Etruscan Roman Remains, Leland made another request. In 1886, Leland asked Maddalena to try and locate a text that he had heard of that was a type of Witches gospel. Eleven years later she sent him some material that Leland published as Aradia; or the Gospel of the Witches.  It is noteworthy that Maddalena had fulfilled Leland's previous requests for material within a short period of time. The fact that it took her ten years to present the Aradia material strongly suggests that she was originally unaware of it. This further suggests that the tradition it represented was not the one she personally practiced.

The tradition that Maddalena most likely practiced is reflected in Leland's books Etruscan Roman Remains, Legends of Florence, and Legends of Virgil. The portrayal of Witches and Witchcraft in Leland's Gospel of Aradia does not reflect the same image as his earlier works. This is another indication that the material came from a system outside of Maddalena's own knowledge and experience.

A letter from Leland to his niece, which I presented a copy of at the Pantheacon conference, describes Maddalena performing a ritual in which she invokes a goddess and a god. During the invocation, Maddalena reportedly went into convulsions, and Leland had to send out for two pints of brandy in order to restore her back to normal. This speaks to Maddalena as a genuine practitioner of the Old Religion. Leland goes on in the letter to say that if ever there was a true depiction of the witch, Maddalena demonstrated it through her magic.

In the book Aradia, Leland notes that he lost touch with Maddalena after receiving a letter from her that she was marrying her shoemaker (Lorenzo Bruciatelli) and immigrating to America. As a result of this comment, the view has been held that Leland never heard from Maddalena again, and what became of her is unknown.  Fortunately, another recent discovery by me came in the form of a letter found in the archives of the Library of Congress (buried in a stack of old letters). The letter, written by Leland to his niece, mentions that Maddalena did not move to America, but left her husband and went to Genoa to make a living there on her own. She wrote to Leland letting him know what happened, and she asked him if he could send her ten francs as she was in a difficult financial situation. He complied, but it seems that the two never met again after this communication.

As the materials discovered in my research continue to be read and documented, many more interesting tid-bits no doubt await those who are interested in Leland, Maddalena, and Aradia.

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Wisdom for the Wolf-Age: Part 1

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'Wisdom for the Wolf-Age: A Conversation With Dr. Stephen Flowers' 

By David Jones - New Dawn Magazine - March 21, 2003 (Portions of this interview with Dr. Flowers have previously appeared in the British journal 'Rûna: Exploring Northern European Myth, Mystery and Magic')

This is an excellent interview from a decade ago, with one of the important figures in Germanic Heathen studies, and the Germanic Heathen movement, Dr. Stephen Flowers

In case you may not be aware, there is an excellent text-to-voice site which can read back large blocks of text for you. If you want to read a long article.. but are not really in the mood to sit and read it, you ought to try it. It is: http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/
If it is slow to respond, just back-click and try it again. I usually have no problems. Also, you may save it as an audio file if you wish.

Stephen Flowers is an academic, and his main area of interest is Germanic/Heathen studies... basically Odinism and the spiritual/occultic end of it. Also, he's an expert on Hermeticism, Western ceremonial magic, occult studies, and the "left-hand path"... which appears to be Satanic if I'm not mistaken. I think I could accept someone who dabbles into Satanism before I could tolerate the supremely intellectually and spiritually dishonest people who are anti-folkish regarding things which are clearly folkish in nature. The "right-hand path is based "white magic."

Of course, Dr. Flowers translated 'Secret of the Runes' into English, and as I found out... he apparently was the owner of Runa-Raven Publishing (now defunct). He translated 'History of the Aryo-Germanic Folk' which I purchased from that company. I also was not aware that he was one of the founding members of the Asatru Free Assembly in the 70s, later the Asatru Folk Assembly. He is the author of many books, articles, lectures, etc., and founded the Woodharrow Institute, which seeks to promote Germanic scholarship within mainstream education.. where forces have long been pushing it out. If I understand it correctly, to promote educational materials on the pre-Christian culture and spirituality of the Germanic cultures. Also it appears to be a focus on Indo-European studies in general.

There are many excellent points made in this interview. I would like to enter just one of the questions here. The interview as conducted by Michael Moynihan, the North American editor of 'Rûna: Exploring Northern European Myth, Mystery and Magic'.

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

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

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

Clearly the animosity to those who see value in pre-Christian models stems

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

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


Dr. Stephen Edred Flowers (from the Woodharrow Institute)
 
Dr. Flowers (b. 1953 in Bonham, Texas) is recognized as an expert in the field of early Germanic history and runology. He has authored over two dozen books and hundreds of papers on a wide range of subjects. Dr. Flowers did his graduate work in Germanic and Celtic philology under Professor Edgar Polomé at the University of Texas at Austin from 1973-1984. In 1981-1982 he studied both runology and the history of occultism at the University of Göttingen, Germany.  He received his Ph.D. in 1984 with a dissertation entitled Runes and Magic: Magical Formulaic Elements in the Elder Tradition. From 1984-1989 he was a lecturer in the Departments of English and Germanic Languages|at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the last quarter-century he has also written a number of well-received books on esoteric subjects under the pen-name Edred Thorsson. In addition to being a prolific writer, Dr. Flowers has translated a number of rare Icelandic, Old Norse and German texts and manuscripts into English, making them available to a wide range of readers for the first time. Dr. Flowers is currently the director of the Woodharrow Institute of Germanic Studies.

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A ritual hammer for our age

Asatru Folk Assembly

Bodi Mayo is finally offering his astounding ritual hammers for sale, just in time for yule. Bodi has donated these at our event auctions in the past and they always create a buzz. This is a true ritual hammer, not just a store bought hammer repurposed for ritual use. Each hammer is made from scratch, then shaped and welded using solid steel throughout. These are intended to be heirloom pieces, passed down for generations.

Contact Bodi today at southernheathen@gmail.com for more information.

Please share and support AFA Artisans this Yule!

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I am not an Odinist/Asatruar, but I thought that this was something that transcended "being an Odinist." This appears to be an finely crafted, American, hand-made item... made by an Asatruar in fact. An item related to honor and the folk spirit. I have an all-stainless steel hammer tool that belonged to my great uncle which I keep in plain view every day. It was made in the USA when items like this were made to practically last forever. To me, it's a proactive symbol of evolutionary struggle.

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Remembering Evelyn Paglini - Part III

I had been meaning to post this in some form, and one posting from Asatru Update sort've provided me with a basis for it.

Horg in the Himalayas
 
If you go to the AFA's Facebook page (image here)  you will find a picture of a makeshift horg, or altar, I erected to Thor.  If you look closely you can see my Thor's hammer necklace draped across the rocks.  There is nothing unusual in that; many of you have done the same.  What may be unusual is the location  -  a high Himalayan pass near the border between northern India and occupied Tibet.

See above link if you wish to read the whole story. Ironically, there is a strong historical and spiritual link with that region, covered here on The Arctic Home in the Vedas: Part 18 - "Arkaim"

On the evening of Sunday, April 6, we took a night trek into some trails at the

base of our mountain here. Beforehand, I printed a small photo of Dr. Paglini and placed it inside of a clear plastic baseball card holder and put it into my pocket along with a little candle, matches, and a small red solar cross which I had made. This symbol was one of her favorite symbols.

I had something of an idea for a temporary shrine. At one point making our way through a trail with tall, thin, but full trees... we finally reached our destination. It was a clearing surrounded by heavy brush, but with a good view of the mountain. It was a bit chilly, but clear, and with a half moon providing a bit of light. It was an active night astronomically, with Saturn rising... and we were just far enough away from the nearby urban lights to see some of it.

I placed the card down at the base of a lone standing tree with white bark. I placed the candle down in front of it, the red cross to the left of it, and a flowery tip which I had picked off of a nearby bush... and lit the candle. The shrine would only stand for just a little over an hour, but it resonated with positive energy I think. It was a perfect night in it's own way.

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MYSTICAL BLEND UPDATE:

Mystical Blend will be undergoing some changes. In the meantime, the website will be LIVE and all orders will be accepted. We've had an overwhelming response to continue providing supplies for all your ritual needs. The pleasure is all ours!

We would love to share the knowledge of Dr. Paglini. All orders placed on the Mystical Blend website will receive a Free Mind Dynamics CD along with a Free Essential Oil.

We are doing our best to complete and send out all pending orders. If you still have not received your order please contact us by:

Email: admin@mysticalblend.com
Phone: 818-700-9345 (Mon-Fri 9-5pm PST)
Web: www.mysticalblend.com

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The following was one of Evelyn Paglini's final postings on facebook from February 17...

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's weekend and was able to spend it with their loved ones.

Family, friends and loved ones always hold a warm spot in our hearts.

Cherish those special ones you have in your life and make memories that will last a life time.

Have a splendid week

Sending my love and positive energy...

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‘300’ (2006) – movie review

I don’t just review any movie. I try to stay somewhat on topic here, with either a cultural or spiritual tie-in. The Spartans had some strong similarities with the Langobards. Both were societies which were based on war and the warrior ethic… “Warrior Socities.” In both societies, boys were trained for war from an early age.

One difference is that the Langobards didn’t use “eugenics,” although it’s probably safe to say that the greatest Langobard warriors probably had more children than most. The Winnili/Langobards had no problem with “odds.” Their kill/loss ratio was staggering, and possibly unequaled in history. The better-known Spartans, however, produced the greatest single known battle effort in the history of warfare.

The movie was about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, where Spartan King Leonidas leading 300 Spartans against what was described as a Persian imperial army of millions.  Although exaggerated, the odds were in fact incredible. The battle has been described by some as “saving Western civilization,” which may cloud the harder reality that it certainly was part of saving Greek civilization at that time. The movie portrayed other items which were not accurate, of which I will avoid. Most of which are more-or-less obvious.

This battle was just a part of the “Greco-Persian Wars”(499-449 BC). YouTube has documentaries galore about these wars and the Battle of Thermopylae. It could also be noted that, along with the Langobard comparison, there is a clear comparison to the Samurai. The Samurai were another example of a “Warrior Society,” with similar traits to the Spartans. One trait that the Spartans and Samurai had in common was that they seemed to literally wish to die in the glory of battle. They actually would seek it, if the historical accounts are true. The Spartans at Thermopylae at least, must have had absolutely no fear of death.

King Leonidas

Battle of Thermopylae

A Greek force of approximately 7,000 men marched north to block the pass in the summer of 480 BC. The Persian army, alleged by the ancient sources to have numbered over one million but today considered to have been much smaller (various figures are given by scholars ranging between about 100,000 and 150,000), arrived at the pass in late August or early September. The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for seven days (including three of battle) before the rear-guard was annihilated in one of history's most famous last stands.

During two full days of battle the small force led by Leonidas blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could pass. After the second day of battle a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing a small path that led behind the Greek lines. Leonidas, aware that his force was being outflanked, dismissed the bulk of the Greek army and remained to guard the rear with 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, 400 Thebans and perhaps a few hundred others, most of whom were killed.

300 (film)

300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. Both are fictionalized retellings of the Battle of Thermopylae within the Persian Wars. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant. It was filmed mostly with a super-imposition chroma key technique, to help replicate the imagery of the original comic book.

The plot revolves around King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), who leads 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian "god-King" Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his invading army of more than 300,000 soldiers. As the battle rages, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) attempts to rally support in Sparta for her husband. The story is framed by a voice-over narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios (David Wenham). Through this narrative technique, various fantastical creatures are introduced, placing 300 within the genre of historical fantasy.

Queen Gorgo

The film has a certain cinematic quality that is difficult to describe, but it’s as though one is watching it through a dark fuzzy lens, into historical abyss. The Persian armies must have had segments which were not ethnic Persians, who were from other territories of the Persian Empire.. but that point was however much exaggerated in the film. The film starts out making it very clear how Spartan boys were raised to be fighting machines. R. Lee Ermey couldn’t have done a better job of creating killing machines. They were trained to engage in pure evolutionary struggle, to ignore pain, and were constantly tested to their limits. “Respect and Honor” was their slogan, according to the movie; which reminded me of “Strength and Honor” from ‘Gladiator’.

King Leonidas was basically the main protagonist, along with his wife Queen Gorgo. The two are engaged in a political conflict, not only with the invading Persians, but with “bought-off traitors” within Spartan politics. Another quote from the movie, I think from the narrator Dilios, the only survivor of the 300, retelling the story: “Only the hard and strong may call themselves Spartans.”

Before going to war, a Spartan King must go through a religious rite in which he seeks guidance from the wise men of Greek polytheism. The movie portrays them as diseased and “monster-like”; which is the only real item from the movie that I would criticize. I know some people were not happy about what was a similar portrayal from the cable tv series ‘Vikings’, in which the Odinic Skalds were shown to be hideous.

The only other Greek polytheist concept that I remember from the film was was a scene which showed Persian ships sinking in a storm of rain, thunder, and lightning before they could land. One of the Spartans credited the Greek god Zeus for this happening. The opening battle was the most dramatic scene, with the Spartans killing Persians soldiers (or Persian Emperor Xerxes' imperial troops) at will using amazing fighting skills and bravery. The historical record shows that they killed a minimum of ten-to-one! It really could have been twenty-to-one.

Prior to I think the second battle, the narrator Dilios says: “We do what we were trained to do, what we were bred to do, what we were born to do.” Unlike some historical exaggerations, this quote was literally accurate.

Slight spoiler alert beyond this point...

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'Battle of Thermopylae'

After Leonidas and the 300 sacrificed their lives down to the last man, which allowed for Sparta the time to gather themselves, the stage was set for the big battle. An army of ten thousand Spartan warriors were lined up to do battle with an army of thirty thousand Persians. The narrator Dilios, for the purpose of the movie speaking in real time, gave a short speech to the army. He finishes with the following: “Give thanks, men, to Leonidas and the brave 300! TO VICTORY!”

When viewing it, I thought he said “Take Leonidas and the brave 300 to victory!" Actually, that line would have worked too! Good movie.

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The Arctic Home in the Vedas: Part 18 - "Arkaim"

Although I find myself shifting a bit while looking at all of this evidence, it seems virtually certain that the "Aryans" were neither Germanic, Iranian, or Indian in the modern sense of those terms; but rather clearly were a special fusion of ancient true-Mediterraneans with south-migrating pure Teutonic people. When I say "pure," I mean that they were a little different than modern Germanic people who are basically a proto-European and Teutonic mixture. I think they probably would resemble each other though. It would be fair to loosely label them "ancient Persians."

Arkaim: a time when science and magic were one

Arkaim (Wikipedia)

Arkaim is an archaeological site situated in the Southern Urals steppe, 8.2 kilometres (5.1 mi) north-to-northwest of Amurskiy, and 2.3 km (1.4 mi) south-to-southeast of Alexandronvskiy, two villages in the Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, just to the north from the Kazakhstan border.

The site is generally dated to the 17th century BC. Earlier dates, up to the 20th century BC, have been proposed. It was a settlement of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture [probably speakers of the ancient Persian-Aryan language].

The evidence shows that the general territory which we now call Kazakhstan was likely one of the first Teutonic settlements after the last glacial movement. As to whether or not Arkaim itself was constructed by Teutons, Mediterraneans, or Aryans--I don't think is truly known, and may obscure more important questions. I would guess, based on it's northern location, that the population was "Aryan," with more of a Teutonic mixture.

Settlement

Although the settlement was burned and abandoned, much detail is preserved. Arkaim is similar in form but much better preserved than neighbouring Sintashta, where the earliest chariot was unearthed. The site was protected by two circular walls. There was a central square, surrounded by two circles of dwellings separated by a street. The settlement covered ca. 20,000 m2 (220,000 sq ft). The diameter of the enclosing wall was 160 m (520 ft). It was built from earth packed into timber frames, and reinforced with unburned clay brick, with a thickness of 4–5 m (13–16 ft). and a height of 5.5 m (18 ft). The settlement was surrounded with a 2 m (6 ft 7 in)-deep moat.

There are four entrances into the settlement through the outer and inner wall with the main entrance to the west. The dwellings were between 110–180 m2 (1,200–1,900 sq ft) in area. The outer ring of dwellings number 39 or 40, with entrances to a circular street in the middle of the settlement. The inner ring of dwellings number 27, arranged along the inner wall, with doors to the central square of 25 by 27 m (82 by 89 ft). The central street was drained by a covered channel. Zdanovich estimates that approximately 1,500 to 2,500 people could have lived in the settlement.

The six-pointed hexagram, sacred ancient symbol for Saturn

Surrounding Arkaim's walls, were arable fields, 130–140 m by 45 m (430–460 ft by 150 ft), irrigated by a system of canals and ditches. Remains of millet and barley seeds were found.

The 17th century date suggests that the settlement was about co-eval to, or just post-dating, the Indo-Aryan migration into South Asia and Mesopotamia (the Gandhara grave culture appearing in the Northern Pakistan from ca. 1600 BC, the Indo-European Mitanni rulers reached Anatolia before 1500 BC, both roughly 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) removed from the Sintashta-Petrovka area), and that it was either an early Iranian culture, or an unknown branch of Indo-Iranian that did not survive into historical times.


Arkaim: Russia’s Ancient City and the Arctic Origin of Civilization

This is a fascinating article, but long. I would recommend  http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/ for long articles. You can enter large blocks of text, and it will read it back to you... and you may even save the audio file. This important article both clarifies the bigger picture, as well as poses even more questions. Recent stunning archeological finds have added more credibility to these ideas. These very ancient sites were both cities, as well as "wisdom centers." They were constructed with magical properties aka "sacred geometry" based on ancient wisdom aka "science," with astronomical observatories. Their "Cult of the World Pillar" may have been the basis for the "World Tree" from numerous cultures.

Ancient symbols--such as the Swastika, the Triskellion,  the six-pointed Hexagram ("Star of David"), and the Pentagram--were a big part of this sacred geometry. Ironically, the Swastika (symbol of our "primary sun") and the six-pointed Hexagram (symbol of our once "second sun") were both once beloved sacred symbols of scientific geometry within this bio-astro-theology. Today, when the twin-spiritual infants--closed-minded religious supremacists and closed-minded scientific atheists--engage in debates, we can see just how far we have devolved spiritually.


Arkaim: Russia’s Stonehenge and a Puzzle of the Ancient World
 

Arkaim structure

Arkaim may have functioned as both a preemptive place of refuge, as well as centers of spirituality, science, and wisdom. A place where ALL FIVE POINTS of science were honored.


Arkaim Google images (must see!)

Saturn the dwarf star, once our "second sun"

The original Teutonic race first dwelt north of the Himalayas, and up to the north pole when Saturn was our active "second sun" in the north sky, and this region was daylight twenty-four hours a day. The Triskellion was likey their main pre-Aryan cultural symbol early on. Arkaim was one of the post-glacial cities, constructed within the science of sacred geometry. They lived in spiritual harmony with the Earth, and utilized its free energy. Magic and science were one. When Saturn became a dwarf star, this changed everything. The word "Satan" is really just another word for Saturn. There exists today, a strange "Cult of Saturn" which somehow believes that there is a competition between the suns, and the mere existence of the ancient Saturnian sun is something which must be kept from us... as an unfortunate part of "this fetish."


Arkaim swastika city 1 (video)

These videos are based on the above article, and are from a Slavic-nationalist view of the world. I think this outdates the world of 4,000 years ago by a lot, and we shouldn't be rushing to conclusions. Mainstream Western historians and archeologists, in usual fashion with things they cannot explain, for the most part... have simply chosen to ignore it. 

The Teutonic sky god Odin

Arkaim swastika city 2 (video)

Arkaim

Arka = "Earth"

Im = "Sky"

"The place where the sky touches the Earth"

The city was constructed in the model described in ancient text of Troy in Homer's 'Iliad', in Plato's "Atlantis," Electris in "Hyperborea," and Asgard in the Norse 'Edda'.


Arkaim swastika city 3 (video)

Arkaim was a shrine dedicated to the Aryan Sun religion. yet the roots of its dedication would have lain ultimately in the far older cult of the Pole star (Saturn). 

Swastikas are featured prominently among the many artifacts unearthed in Arkaim. It should also be mentioned that there are other ruins connected to Arkaim in the surrounding area.

It is the oldest religion known to us and goes back to the most remote antiquity when men saw the heavens as revolving around the axis of the Pole Star. Only later did the Sun, as the center of the revolving stellar system, replace the Pole Star as the supreme deity of the Pillar cult and lead to the elevation of the Sun God of the Indo-European peoples.

There it is. The "Pole Star" Saturn fizzled out thousands of years ago, and was replaced--at least in the northern hemisphere--by the Sun as the "supreme deity."

"Troy towns" like Electris--and Arkaim--were built as stellar observatories. Their function was to unite earth to the starry cosmos above according to the principle of "as above so below" by means of a central axis symbolized by a stone pillar.

Now it gets into some of the roots of early Paganism, some of which exists to this day; as well as early astro-theology and the "electric universe" mentioned in earlier sections. Just the fact that some of the concepts survived in forced underground schools of knowledge--or even within family lines!--is amazing just in itself.

Arkaim swastika city 4 (video)

Some "Slavic nationalist" types have taken this pretty far, as you may see here with their history of "Slavic script." I think this should be pondered, but it seem pretty clear that this civilization predated modern ethnic groups as we may know them today.


Arkaim swastika city 5 (video)

The various types of Swastikas and sun wheels found in Arkaim and with the Tarim mummies brings up the inescapable question of... what did the National Socialists really know about this ancient region? These finds were not known to the world then, yet some of these symbols were used by the Third Reich. One major symbol associated with some of those former Teutonic territories was the Triskellion, a symbol not used by them.


Arkaim swastika city 6 (video)

It should be stated again that Arkaim has much to do with the old "Golden Age" covered earlier. A time when two suns were present in our sky. As far as where "Atlantis" or "Lemuria" fit into this, that's more than I'm willing to cover here due to lack of evidence and continuity. But that doesn't mean that it's not possible. Also, the many large and very long-skulled remains found on different continents likely fit into this somehow.


Tracking the Aryans 2011 , with Bettany Hughes ,Arkaim swastika

There really shouldn't be "political implications" to ruins and artifacts. The "Aryans" were not Iranians, Indians, Germans, Scandinavians, Semites, or Slavs. They were the fusion of ancient Teutons from north of the Himalayals, who migrated south after the last glacial movement, and ancient true-Mediterraneans. There's almost a neuro-psychological fear of the world "Aryan," who were merely ancient Persians... and those who eventually migrated outward. Arkaim and its allied cities may have been a northern flank of the Aryan civilization. There may not be a single word in existence which makes so many people, so stupid, so quickly!

Archeologist David Anthony--much like any religious zealot--clearly is horrified at the mere thought of a northern origin of the ancient Aryans... so he apparently has decided to play what I would call the "willful ignorance card." He's playing it off as if modern demographics are the same as they were 4,000 years ago... and the perceptions of the average person would tend to go along with his train of thought. On the other hand, archeologist Bettany Hughes is open-minded and follows what the evidence shows... and is much more worthy of the title of the profession, as well as the spirit of exploration.

The gods and goddesses of this northern flank culture seemed to resemble those of Asatru. There was a chief deity, a sky-god. Well, Odin is/was a "sky god." There was a god of "war and thunder," which sounds a lot like Thor. There is evidence that the native spirituality of the Teutons seems to have had a great impact on the Aryan civilization, and as it migrated elsewhere. Indians, who tend to be ethnocentric, don't like ideas like this; yet we are still presented with the question of why the Icelandic and Sri Lankan languages are in the same language family? The only explanation seems to be 1) that the world population was comparatively low; 2) that the basic root of the Indo-European language family was from the early Teutonic language; 3) that most of those Teutons--over thousands of years--migrated westward into Europe and strongly influenced those languages; and 4) that other Teutons migrated south into ancient Persia, where they strongly influenced what was to become the Aryan language... which later migrated and dispersed into India. The mainstream theory is one of politically correct paranoia and nationalist megalomania; the ideas here project something of a shared world heritage, and the facts support it.

Again, I feel the need to clarify yet again. This has nothing to do with Teutonic supermen founding civilization. Civilization overwhelmingly was a product of ancient true-Mediterraneans. These migrating Teutons must have been fascinated by the Mediterraneans they encountered. The Teutonic symbol may have been their symbol for the Sun, the Swastika; however, the evidence is still unclear as to the origin of the Swastika. For the Mediterraneans of that time and place, at least one of their chief symbols was the six-pointed Hexagram, the symbol of Saturn. Quite ironic, in light of the projected "controversy." Just the fact that modern society isn't even aware that this Hexagram is in fact the symbol of Saturn, says so much about the superstitions and paranoia of the modern world. Modern scientific careerists might look down at the superstitions of some tribe in the South Pacific, yet many display an equal array of paranoiac quirks. In a hypothetical "fair world," both the Swastika and the six-pointed Hexagram should be renamed and only associated with the ancient cultures from which they sprang. There aren't very many things more immature than protesting against ancient symbols.

Arkaim

Arka = "Earth"

Im = "Sky"

"The place where the sky touches the Earth"

Odin, the Teutonic "sky god"

Arkaim: "The place where the sky touches the Earth"... "The place where Odin connects with his people"... long ago... on that vast central Asian plain... which may have been a woodland. Unlike the Saturn-worshiping Sumerians, Arkaim was a temple of the Sun.

An understanding of the forces which have shaped human history is predicated not only on facts to be learned, but also on secrets to be discovered.
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