This is bound to be a controversial topic, and it is one that I had hoped I would not have to address. But recent events and the increasing campaigns of disrespect and censorship against Runes and other Heathen symbols have largely forced my hand.
The more we are promised that things will improve, the more they seem to worsen. The more we are promised a fair and just society, the more we witness censorship and brutality silencing freedom; we are but simple barbarians, but are told we must dance the part of docile bots. The holy symbols of the Aesir, the Runes and the solar symbols which often accompanied them in esoteric ritual, are slowly being censored, and retconned by people who do not believe in religious freedom as "hate symbols".
*Norway's government
pressured its Norwegian Olympic athletes and their tailoring firm to dump their traditional Rune-decorated
Norwegian clothing, allegedly after a
faceless,
unaccountable, and
manufactured social media "outrage" in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
*Sweden's government
secretly forced its archaeologists to
destroy thousands of
ancient Viking-age Swedish artifacts for years "to discourage looting" and because it was "too expensive" to store and preserve them - instead of donating them to foreign museums - until archaeologists Johan Runer and Lena Homquist
blew the whistle in 2017.
*Norway's government forced construction workers to
destroy a
priceless ancient Heathen temple site in Ranheim dating back to 400 CE, to make way for "housing" in 2011.
*Sweden's government (specifically the triple-portfolio minister for Home Affairs, Justice, and Migration/Asylum Policy, Morgan Johansson)
proposed the idea of expanding
previous legislation to target its own native Runes as illegal "racist and other symbols", thus making them subject to a criminal ban, in 2019 - but the subsequent investigation (fortunately)
failed to find any legal need for the
draconian measure - against the ever-expanding will of Johansson.
*And all over mainstream social media, the Continental Germanic
Sonnenrad or "Black Sun" is being
censored and posting images of it (as well as of the
Othala or
Odal Rune) is
punishable by account suspension or termination, as of 2016.
*Meanwhile, YouTube celebrities are making
misleading and unsourced claims about such symbols, that they are "not pagan" and were "invented in the 20th century" by unpopular political movements (as if the Armanen clans or the ancient Alemanni never existed, or as if ancient symbols never evolved in form) - which can only be music to the ears of those trying to censor Indo-European culture and erase/deconstruct history.
And the "hate symbols" allegation couldn't be further from the truth. Most of us had no political motive whatsoever when seeking out the Runes, and certainly no negative or "hateful" motivation in doing so. We were drawn to an ancient spiritual path and stream of sacred symbols that worked for us, simply because the "one size fits all" mainstream religions were not speaking to our souls. Instead we found Runes and related Heathen symbols that speak potently through Immanence and even blood-memory, to Indo-European souls (though they are not the only symbols to do so, nor did they emerge in a vacuum). Most of what you have been told about
Armanen Runes, the
Sonnenrad, the
Fylfot, and certain other symbols like the
Odal Rune, is simply
false. But dare you tell the truth about them? Dare you risk infamy, against the reactive herd stampedes of the modern world?
These are strange times. What you may be about to read below will doubtless anger some people, but the easily scared and offended probably shouldn't be getting into any sort of serious magickal symbols, Runic or not, in the first place. Those who seek understanding, will examine their previously held beliefs carefully: who implanted those previous beliefs about Runes into our heads? Who crafted the message of unquestioning fear and loathing associated with them in the media today? Who benefits from re-defining them as "hate symbols", when prior to the 1970s and the ensuing wave of identity politics paranoia, they simply were never seen as such? Only better information can arrest the decline. May the brave proceed.
They smell your mouth,
To find out if you have told someone:
“I love you, flower of mine tree”.
They peer at your heart, and always guilt
they see!
And punish love, in the streets, by
clubs and knives;
Disfigure freedom, slaughter art, and
mangle lives
These are strange times my dear.
We must hide Love in the closet.
In this crooked dead end of a bitter
cold,
They keep their fire burning
By scorching all songs and sagas of
nobility returning;
Do not place your life in danger by
thinking innocent thoughts!
These are strange times, my dear.
He who knocks at midnight, would bring
your Leuchter to naught.
We must hide Light in the closet.
Behold! Butchers are on guard at the
main roads,
With their bloodstained cleavers and
chopping boards;
Wishing to flay you of both radiant Runa
and Solar Garduna!
These are strange times, my dear.
They cut off smiles from lips, shred
sweet song into lacuna.
We must hide Happiness in the closet.
A canary roasted on a pyre of roses and lilacs!
Circled by the burnt toes of Kharkiv
and Sanandaj;
Generously garnished with the blood of
Hermann and Aryaraj.
These are strange times, my dear.
And the demons, drunk with wrath,
Enjoy a feast upon our love's cenotaph!
We must hide the Gods in the closet.
Lest you doubt this nightmare could ever become reality...
Keep in mind that the screws are increasingly tightening on Indo-European heritage and culture - regardless of the specific color, nationality, or ethnic group. What are we supposed to do? We are "imperialist" if we are Christians, "homophobic" if we are Muslims. If we adopt things from African, East-Asian or Native American cultures, or attempt to blend in with them, it is "cultural appropriation". Yet if we seek out nothing but our old ancestral roots, traditional Indo-European practices and Asa-Arya religions, we
are “racist and fascist Nazis”. All miraculously accomplished without any political affiliation necessary, and without effort made to actually harm anyone (but if you admit as much, you'll probably be accused of claiming to be an Übermensch to boot!)
You simply can’t win with postmodernist PC
fundamentalists.
Let us now get to know a few of the sacred symbols which are being lied about in the media and by various dishonest bloggers and social media influencers. Let us seek the facts, and not the unsubstantiated hype of B-movies and poorly sourced mass-media "consumentaries". This is not an attempt to glorify or demonize any nation-state or period in history, or preach any political ideology or dogma; in keeping with
previous policies, this blog is and will remain non-political - and if history has taught us anything, it is that politics will fail and even betray you when culture and ethics are the things truly in short supply in Mittegard. What follows, is simply the facts, stripped of all hype, however unpleasant the unfamiliar may find them. Each lie will be laid bare, and the truth will follow. You will even see exposed, the reasons
why certain political or paramilitary factions used Germanic Runes as insignia (even when done inaccurately), and why
none of this usage historically had a "hateful" interpretation behind it, regardless of what you think of National Socialism or any other modern political ideology as a whole. And no symbols shall be censored whatsoever; we need to know what is what, warts and all, and covering up any form of the items in question wouldn't do anyone any favors.
So let's finally expose the truth about these symbols that paranoid PC textbooks (and now, YouTubers) have been covering up for the past seven decades... and debunk the lies which have assailed Heathen ears unchallenged for far too long. May collective guilt end, and wise enlightenment start anew.
1. The Armanen Runes.
The Lie: "Armanen Runes were invented in the 20th century by "Nazis" to justify aggression and race wars."
The Truth: The
Armanen Runes were not "invented" by any one man - they were only
revealed to the public by Meister Guido von List in 1907 at the latest - a full 12 years before even the formation of the National Socialist party happened, and 7 years before the First World War.
Meister Guido himself learned the Armanen tradition from hereditary clans of masters such as Clan Lauterer, who initiated him into Armanenschaft (source:
Aus den Traditonen der Laf-Tyr-Ar-Sippe
der 'Lauterer'), and claimed both ancient Odinic origins to the 18 Armanen Runes (corresponding with the 18 Rune-verses in the
Hávamál, no less!) and a centuries-long heritage as a crypto-Heathen order in the shadow of church persecution. In addition, most of the Armanen Runes are identical to many of the Runes in the Elder, Younger and Anglo-Saxon systems. Nothing in the Armanen Runes suggests any sort of political party affiliation, and the beliefs of the Armanen and other Heathen revivalists were actually dismissed and denounced by Hitler in
Mein Kampf. The angle pursued by Meister von List and the Armanen in improving Germanic society was cultural, not political; Armanenschaft itself was non-political and never endorsed any political party or candidate. (Sources:
Das Geheimnis der Runen, pp. 60-69;
Die Unbesiegbare, more or less the entire book;
RUNEN: The Wisdom of the Runes, preface).
The Runes used by the Waffen-SS, which are sometimes intentionally confused with Armanen Runes by dishonest mercenary writers and YouTube celebrities, were actually taken from Karl Maria Wiligut's personal 24-Rune "Teut-onic" Rune row, which copied Runes from the
Elder and
Younger Futharks, along with the
Medieval Runes of Healing, a few Greek letters, and Stone-age glyphs. Any similarity of some of Wiligut's runes to the Armanen Runes is purely coincidental, as the quasi-Christian Wiligut personally
despised the Armanen tradition and even
attempted to exterminate its practitioners (Anthonijsz, 2004; Camp, 2009), and any such coincidence is due to nothing more than the
Elder and Younger Futharks having Runes that resemble Armanen Runes (in case you haven't guessed, all of the
4 major Futharks are closely related and share many of the same Runes in common). Ironically, Hitler actually condemned Heathen revivalists multiple times in
Mein Kampf (pp. 204-206), and more than half of Wiligut's Runes were copied from symbols that have no Armanen equivalent whatsoever.
 |
A few of Karl Maria Wiligut's 24 "Teut-onic" Runes.
Notice that he copied several symbols NOT FOUND in the Armanen system, such as a long-tailed Odal, Wolfsangel, Opfer-Rune, Ger-Rune, etc. Also notice he slanted the Sig Rune to have a horizontal center bar (a change which contradicts the traditional use of all 4 major Futharks, including the Armanen), and a few of his Runes are entirely horizontal - a feature that is anathema to traditional Rune-Masters including both Viking-age Norse Vitkar and the Armanen. Wiligut also used the spelling "Hagall" with double "l" for the H-Rune, which is the Younger Futhark spelling, NOT the Armanen one.
Also note that Wiligut's idea of a "Sonnenrad" was NOT the many-spoked version that exists at Wewelsburg Castle today, but rather, only a curved-arm variant of the basic Swastika (Hakenkreuz). This brings us to our next topic... |
2. The Sonnenrad or Schwarz Sonne (Black Sun).
The Lie: "The
Sonnenrad, or at least its popular 12-spoked version, is a hateful 20th century invention of "Nazis" in Wewelsburg Castle with no basis in historical pagan symbols". (Some well-known "pop-pagan" celebrities have mad this claim; a true Heathen
Vitki or even archaeologist,
should really know better).
The Truth: there are MANY historical forms of the
Sonnenrad, including some that had 12 spokes, and some that even contain a fylfot (swastika) at the center. These are known from Germanic (mainly Alemannic) bronze brooches from the late Bronze age or early Iron age, well before Christianity reached the Alemanni or other Germanic tribes - hence they were
indeed ancient "pagan" or Heathen symbols. Not only that, but the Sonnenrad also has equivalent solar symbols in other Indo-European cultures such as the Slavic
Kolovrat and
Svetoch, and the Armenian
Arevakach.
 |
| Sonnenrad or Sunwheel Zierscheiben (brooches) from the Alemanni (a northern German tribe); early Iron age. |
 |
| Arevakach - an Armenian Sunwheel. |
 |
| Kolovrat - a Slavic Sunwheel |
 |
| The Sonnenrad in Wewelsburg Castle's north tower |
The claim by some modern celebrity YouTubers that the 12-spoked Sonnenrad was not pagan, or was invented by the Third Reich, simply does not hold up to scrutiny. No proof is ever presented for that claim, though it's a popular rumor in sketchy B-movies and "Nazi UFO" conspiracy novels. The claim that the famous stone
Sonnenrad mosaic in the floor of Wewelsburg Castle's north tower was put there by Heinrich Himmler and the SS, is also unproven and questionable. While Himmler is known to have leased and repaired the dilapidated Renaissance-era castle, intending to re-purpose it as an SS officer school, there is no photographic or textual evidence of this pristine floor mosaic ever having existed in the Third Reich period, and it is highly unlikely that it did, given that the north tower's renovation was stopped in 1943. Precisely how much of the north tower was rebuilt during Himmler's tenancy is also in question, as Himmler ordered the remnants of the SS general staff to
blow up Wewelsburg with dynamite in March 1945 to prevent the Allies from taking it intact. Though the demolition was incomplete, the SS men set the remains on fire, after which the castle's smoldering wreckage was looted. (Reinhardt, 2005).
Long story short, we simply do not know for sure if the
Sonnenrad mosaic at Wewelsburg dates to the Third Reich or not. It may be newer, it may be older. Perhaps the Himmler-era floor of the north tower was destroyed in Himmler's own 1945 demolition and the current floor mosaic is a modern construct; perhaps not. Perhaps the floor and the mosaic date back to even before Himmler began his renovation, and somehow survived the demolition in 1945; perhaps not. There simply isn't enough evidence to be sure either way. Indeed, images of the Wewelsburg mosaic
were only first published in a book in 1991, under the pseudonym “Russell
McCloud” in the political thriller “
Die Schwarze Sonne von Tashi
Lhunpo” printed by Arun Verlag; no photographs of the mosaic exist from before 1990!
Likewise, no actual evidence has turned up for the popular rumor that Himmler specifically wanted to turn Wewelsburg into an "Arthurian" or "holy grail" pilgrimage site (though SS-Ahnenerbe archaeologist Otto Rahn
probably did get funding from Himmler to investigate the possibility of a grail being hidden in southern France near the former Cathar fortress of Montségur).
The only thing known for certain about the
Sonnenrad mosaic is that it must have been installed at Wewelsburg some time before 1979 (when the Paderborn City Council took over the castle), but no further details are known (Young, 2017, p.203). It's entirely possible that the
Sonnenrad mosaic was not installed until well after the end of World War II, as the castle was effectively in private hands both before and after the war - Himmler never owned it, he simply signed a 99-year lease on it, which became null and void after his death and the disbandment of the SS itself by the Allies. No "mainstream" historian has ever managed to produce any authentic SS documents depicting the Sonnenrad mosaic, and there is no invoice from the Third Reich period for the labor and materials, so there is literally
no proof of its existence until long after the end of the war.
Nobody has ever proven beyond reasonable doubt that the Third Reich officially used the
Sonnenrad for anything (it was
never depicted on their flags or insignia, and the supposedly SS-designed sterling silver signet rings depicting it are un-stamped, un-marked, and often of dubious authenticity). What we do know, however, is that its design is very similar to ancient Germanic Sun-wheels, and that other 12-spoked versions were used by the traditional Armanen and Irminen (Wotanist) Heathen societies which were already publicly active in Germany decades before the existence of the Third Reich. Some Heathen mystics speculate that
if Himmler or his spiritual advisor Wiligut did design the Wewelsburg mosaic, then they likely ripped off the design from the versions used by the Armanen Masters, and then modified it. Alternatively, it is possible that the postwar trustees of the castle were Armanists or Wotanists and installed the current
Sonnenrad mosaic as part of the postwar rebuild, to replace whatever Himmler had put there, with the symbol of the Heathen faith the SS had persecuted.
 |
| No way to tell if this is from the 1930s, or a modern fake. |
Interestingly, almost immediately after Himmler acquired his lease on Wewelsburg in 1934, he began ordering the arrest and torture of the leading Armanen Rune-magicians of the day (upon their denunciation as "heretics" by Wiligut), including Siegfried Kummer and Ernst Lauterer, as well as Rune-Masters of other Heathen schools such as the Frisian
Vitki Friedrich Marby. The kangaroo charges that Wiligut leveled against them, according to Armanist researcher Günter Kirchhoff, ran the gamut from "bringing our holy Aryan heritage into disrepute" (ironic, since Wiligut himself rejected the old Aryan Gods and promoted monotheist ideas derived from Christian and Masonic beliefs), all the way to "spying for the British" (allegedly only because Lauterer allegedly had a few Scottish relatives; Meister Guido von List himself, who died in 1919, apparently had some Irish blood on his mother's side).
The
real reason for the persecution was probably Wiligut's bitter jealousy toward the ancient spiritual lineage and tradition of the Armanen Masters, which he had harbored since the early 1920s, and his refusal to allow the existence of any rival Rune schools in Germany, now that he had Himmler's ear. Having had far less success in propagating his own far more eclectic (and likely stolen) beliefs on Runes in the 1920s, Wiligut now marked those Rune Masters more legitimate and respected than himself for death. Kummer and Lauterer both died in SS camps without trial. Marby survived the war, but all his books and decades of research notes were destroyed, and he died in 1966 without finishing his rewrite of his lost works on his ancestral Frisian Rune-magick system. Kirchhoff's testimony about these events, reprinted in the esoteric journal
Irminsul, was corroborated as accurate by other German mystics, such as Adolf Schleipfer and Manfred Lenz (Flowers and Moynihan, 2007).
In addition, the claim by certain Youtubers that the Wewelsburg mosaic was based on 12 repeated Armanen
Sig Runes is also spurious; the Wewelsburg "Black Sun" contains curved lines in all 12 spokes, while no version of the
Sig Rune (Armanen or otherwise) has ever contained curved lines. In addition, the spokes are actually bent the wrong way to be
Sig Runes! And as mentioned earlier, Wiligut
was no fan of the Armanen Masters, and his version of the
Sig Rune was quite different from theirs.
In any case, none of this Wewelsburg hubbub has any effect on the ancient origins of other
Sonnenrad variants, such as the Alemannic brooches or the small-centered Armanenshaft or Irminenschaft versions (which some Youtube celebrities
refuse to discuss, confusing Heathen Alemanni with Christian Merovingians and hiding the facts about the pagan origins of the "Black Sun"). The Sonnenrad simply means "sunwheel"; is a pagan symbol with
deep initiatory and self-transformative meanings, not a "hate symbol". It has never meant anything hateful to Indo-European cultures (neither in is Germanic/Alemannic forms, nor its Slavic
Kolovrat or Armenian
Arevakach forms) and to imply otherwise is to slander our cultures of Solar spirituality as meaningless. No sane and honest person would call it a "hate symbol", any more than you could call the centuries-old Kaiser-eagle a "hate symbol" or the centuries-old Persian Lion-and-Sun emblem a "hate symbol".
The Black Sun reminds us that we are
bound by the laws of Nature and we should show respect for it by
living according to the principles of Natural Law so that we too can find our true
inner strength and Cognizancy from the Natural Order. It is most certainly not a
hate symbol. Only hateful or misguided people would seriously claim that the symbol is hateful. It is not the visible yellow sun, but a deeper Sun that we can't see - the one that gives us the spiritual light, the invisible light of the
Wisdom-God, Wili-Wé-Wotan
(Vairîm-Vayu-Vata),
the light of the Immanence of holy Aša and Arya ancestors - it's
a primordial symbol which represents infinite circle of life and death, the
nexus of the flow of the Od or life-force (which other cultures know as Prana or Chi) through these polar states,
through both earthly and cosmological seasons and cycles, and it also
represents the persisting consciousness of Wotan as Allfather, as the incarnated creative energy of Order in the Cosmos.
3. The Fylfot (Swastika).
The Lie: "The Swastika is not Germanic or Heathen, and it is now "tainted" by war crimes so you shouldn't use it anyway".
The Truth: The
Swastika was indeed used by ancient Germanic Heathens, among many other Indo-European peoples; it was called the
Fylfot or
Fyrfos (alternately translated as "four-foot" or "fire-foot") in Germanic languages, long before the NSDAP used the modern term
Hakenkreuz (hooked cross) to refer to it. Interestingly, the theory of the Third Reich version (which hooks clockwise and stands tilted on one corner) being "evil" or "dark" is purely a modern speculation, both in Europe and in post-colonial India. The truth is that both clockwise and counterclockwise swastikas were common in various Indo-European civilizations, and though to esoteric priesthoods (such as the Armanen, the Magi, and the Hvushmandan) the two forms had different meanings, neither one was seen as "evil" or "demonic".
 |
Clockwise and tilted Fylfot on the Snoldelev Rune-Stone -
- over a THOUSAND years older than the Third Reich. |
The Fylfot or Swastika is present on the ancient
Snoldelev Runestone in a clockwise form, standing on one corner; it is present in the same configuration in old Saxon brooches and enameled sculptures, in gold bracteates from Denmark, and many other finds that predate the arrival of Christianity. It has been associated with both Odin and Thor, in the latter case as a "thunder cross" formed by the spinning of Thor's hammer in one direction. It is a sacred symbol of the Aesir or Asuras, and not the property of any political party. The oldest example is on a bird figurine from Mezine, Ukraine, made of mammoth ivory (~13,000 BCE). The second-oldest Swastika (several of them, actually) is usually considered to be from a golden necklace found in Iran (~4000 BCE) where it was known as
Garduna-Thuragna (the Cyclone of Thor). Many other early artifacts of this widespread symbol are known, from the swastika seals of the Indus Valley Suryavanshi culture, to the Roman
Gammadion, to the angular Slavic
Gromovik, to the
Tetraskelion found on Greek coins. These were all considered sacred symbols of creation and spiritual evolution, none of their contexts carrying any "hateful" meaning.
 |
| Iranian necklace. (~4000 BCE) |
 |
| Mezine bird figure (~13,000 BCE) |
 |
| Saxon brooch (5th-6th Century CE). |
 |
| Danish bracteate (gold foil pendant, 5th-6th Century CE) |
 |
| Indus Valley culture Swastika seals (~2700 BCE) |
 |
| Roman Gammadion brooch. Silvered Bronze (4th Century CE). |
Furthermore, no symbol is ever objectively "tainted", regardless of what it may have been used for. Unless you personally have suffered physical pain, starvation, or the loss of a loved one at the hands of someone bearing such a symbol as their standard (in which case emotion is deeply involved), there is no reason to view it with a meaning other than its culturally intended one. A symbol is a symbol, plain and simple; different meanings in different contexts. The Mongolians continue to venerate the
Totem of the Nine Tails - the battle standard of Genghis Khan, who has gone down in history as the very Emperor of rape and genocide. Around three-fourths of the population of Greater Iran alone was snuffed out (some 15 million civilian deaths) at the hands of Genghis Khan and his army, either through direct murder, man-made famines, or biological warfare... to say nothing of the devastation the Mongols wreaked on eastern Europe, or the Three Kingdoms of 13th century China. Arguably the best of my people were exterminated by Genghis Khan, and the ghastly Stalin-magnitude body counts that hit Indo-European peoples in general on account of the Mongol invasions, are all too often brushed under the rug today for the sake of political correctness. But you don't see me trying to ban the use of the Nine Tails worldwide simply because it's a part of the Mongolian shamanism that Genghis Khan believed in, or claiming that nobody has the right to wear its image or use it in religious ceremonies. Nor is anyone telling
western Yurt enthusiasts to stop the recent fad of buying and building
Yurts as they are "tainted" by a bloody history of Mongol genocides in many countries, both east and west.
Closer to current times, the British Empire's elder statesmen in India - particularly
Lord Lytton and
Winston Churchill - have been implicated in the
forced starvation and death of some 11 million Indians during the rule of the British Raj (around 3 million in 1943 alone); Both the Raj and its predecessor, the British East India company, were complicit in exacerbating the
Bengal Famines of 1770, 1866, 1877, and 1943, allegedly to reave India's population in the name of 'Social Darwinism'. Yet the British flag (Union Jack), an amalgam of Christian saints' crosses that represented the Empire in India during all these famines, has never been banned or labeled as "tainted", not even in India itself. While on one hand it could be argued that a Christian-derived wartime victors' flag is simply unassailable in the global public discourse today, any honest person must admit that collective censorship or banning of any national flag makes very little sense in the first place, considering the millions of people in the British Commonwealth with vastly differing views and characters, that said flag represents. Censoring an ancient solar symbol without national boundaries makes even
less sense.
 |
| Create food, not famines. |
The supreme irony here is that for thousands of years, the victors writing the history have "appropriated" and re-purposed the symbols of the enemies they conquered (including the swastika), and never considered them as hateful, even if the losses were high on both sides. Mongols copied the Chinese 'Yin-Yang' symbol into their later
Soyombo national emblem. Arabs copied Sassanid Persian coinage, mathematics, and architecture. Hittites copied Mesopotamian cuneiform. Early Siberian Turkic tribes copied the style of Scythian "Runes" to create Orkhon script, as well as their animal imagery. Brahmins copied (and re-defined) the Swastika everywhere after utterly destroying its native Suryavanshi (Indus Valley Aryan) culture. The Han Chinese copied it from the defeated Chu Chinese, who had retained it from their distant Aryan Shennongshi ancestors. And Romans copied it from the Greeks (along with pretty much everything else they had). Even images of Mao and Che have perversely become "chic" t-shirt fashion in capitalist republics. So the
Hakenkreuz or Swastika of the Third Reich is technically Allied war booty. It could have been re-purposed, along with all other symbols of defeated nations.
 |
Pre-modern COMMON SENSE:
Even when the vanquished DID hate the victor, their symbols weren't shunned or misinterpreted as the cause of hate.
If illiterate medieval Mongols could figure this out, why can't modern "educated intellectuals" in NATO states? |
Why then are NATO governments breeding a modern culture of such cowardice with regards to the symbols of the Third Reich? This attitude appears
designed to foster a climate of fear that lends itself to criminal gangs and terrorists using the swastika for infamy's sake. Russian pagans haven't shied away from using their own swastika variants since the fall of Communism; but the US and UK governments never lived under the Iron Curtain's extreme censorship of enemy symbols, nor did they lose anywhere near as many lives in the war as Russia did; why then are western schools raising such squeamish and paranoid postwar generations?
Could it be because Indo-European symbols, and solar ones in particular, pose a challenge to their ideas? Instead of allowing Europe to heal and learn the lessons of one of the bloodiest wars in history, why are they promoting reactive
hatred of symbols, to keep everyone seeing "symbols of hatred" everywhere under the Sun? Do consumer societies built on debt notice the mystical effects of such symbols to stir Indo-European souls, while the low-quality fuel of pop-culture monotony simply cannot? Is it perhaps not hate they truly fear, but Indo-European solidarity and an end to the bloody and counterproductive divisions and alienation between the "eastern" and "western" children of the Sun? An answer finally, after centuries of silence, of "no more"?
Calling the
Fylfot a "hate symbol" (or worse yet, being stupid enough to try to turn it into one) is either a sign of confusion, fear, or an intentional persecuting agenda. For Indo-European pagans, Germanic or otherwise, it has always meant creative energy and the remaking and ennobling of the soul; the will to evolve and persevere unconquered through any difficulty, or even a thousand of them. If it offends someone without Indo-European Immanence and ancestral memory, then they have no innate link to its true meaning, and the "offense" they take is
their problem, their weakness, which could stem from either their social programming or any number of historic genetic occlusions or tribal myopiae.
It is strange then that so much bigotry today seems to be directed against Indo-European pagan symbols alone.
4. The Hagal Rune.
The Lie: "It's an evil racist SS rune, so don't use it!"
The Truth: The
Hagal,
Hagall, or
Hag-
All Rune is simply a primitive single-stave form of
Hagalaz, or the hail Rune. It has additional esoteric meanings contrary to a hailstorm, such as
heilung (healing) and protection (
hael) from hail, fire, and other calamities. It also represents, on a far higher metaphysical level, the 3-dimensional superstructure of the World Tree,
Yggdrasil itself - with the three roots mentioned in the Eddas, and three branches as well. For Armanen, at least, there are a whole host of further mystic meanings and resonances connected to this level of understanding.
Like the
Sonnenrad, this Rune has esoteric meanings relating to understanding and harmonizing with Natural Law, except that Hagal directly pertains to internalizing it, inhabiting its every level with your Cognizancy, and channeling its power; to "hedge" the All within oneself; to quote Meister Guido, "
Encompass the All within yourself, and you shall control the All!"
Hagal is found in both the Younger and Armanen Rune rows, which means...
it existed long before the SS or the Third Reich, and therefore could NOT have been invented by them. Nor is there any evidence that they interpreted the Rune itself in a hateful way against any ethnic group. It was merely copied by Wiligut from the Younger Futhark, for he used its Norse Younger Futhark spelling,
Hagall.
Some people try to make the case that since the
Hagal-Rune was eventually also copied by the Waffen-SS 6th Mountain Division
Nord, it should be "abandoned" and not used by modern Runers or Heathens; to this I can only say that you might as well ban ambulances too, since nearly all of them in the USA are decorated with a Hagal-shaped motif (the "Star of Life"), as vehicles of rescue and healing, which is precisely in line with this Rune's common meaning in the Armanen system. And of course, using that sort of paranoid and spineless "logic", Red Cross ambulances would also have to be banned, since crosses have been associated with so many murders and forced conversions worldwide. Again, the symbol itself does not have a hateful meaning; though there are not many details of precisely
what the SS actually though about the symbol when they adopted it for Mountain Division Nord, it's a fair bet that most of the Finns and Hungarians who joined this division, wouldn't have been recruited by any sort of ethnocentric argument, given their non-Germanic ancestry. *
As a side note for WWII history buffs - Nord was actually one of the more ethnically diverse of the pre-Stalingrad Waffen-SS divisions, inclusive of large numbers of Hungarians, Finns, and other non-Indo-European ethnic groups.
 |
| Nord insignia. |
 |
| The "Star of Life" healing symbol used on most USA ambulances. |
The traditional
Hagal Rune is simply a sacred Heathen symbol of holiness, health and protection from disasters. Its occult meanings pertain generally to "hedging" or shielding from calamities. It has no political or racialist meaning whatsoever to traditional Heathens.
5. The Odal (Othala) Rune - with or without tails.
The Lie: "It's an evil racist SS rune (or the version with "tails" or "wings" is anyway), so don't use it!"
The Truth: Both versions of the
Odal Rune, with and without "tails", are much, MUCH older than the SS or the Third Reich. The standard version without "tails" is from the Elder Futhark. The version with "tails" is from the
Medieval Runes of Healing, a set of non-divinatory Runes from southern Germany used in folk-magick spells by crypto-pagan village healers in the Middle Ages. It was known as the
Eppel Rune (derived from
Odal or
Aethel, meaning "inheritance", "noble") and the
Erda Rune (after the goddess of the Earth,
Erde or
Jord). This Rune was believed to help reintegrate human actions (
garma,
karr) into the physical world, represented by the goddess
Erde.
 |
| The Medieval German Runes of Healing - on the bottom right is Erda, or "Odal with tails". |
The "
Odal with tails" symbol has also been found in ancient artifacts outside Germany, such as a 5th-century carved stone inscription in Bulgaria showing possible Goth or Rugii influence, and a similar symbol is present with upcurved "curl tails" on a church in Georgia that was once a pagan temple. It has also appeared with extensive "tails" on some Slavic Lunula pendants and replicas from Kievan Rus. Like the
Hagal Rune, the
Odal Rune with "tails" or "wings" was merely copied by Wiligut and the SS from these older sources.
Interestingly, the version of
Odal used by the Waffen-SS 7th Mountain Division
Prinz Eugen, has very long "tails" but very short "legs", so it is easy to tell apart from the medieval version of "Odal with tails". Richard Walther Darré, Reich Minister of Agriculture, published a German
farming-related magazine named
Odal, and therein associated the Rune with environmental conservation, a return to the land, and ancestral roots. Neither Darré nor the SS claimed this Rune to mean anything negative about a specific race. But let's take a hard, straight look at it.
 |
| Waffen-SS version |
 |
| Traditional Medieval version |
The traditional
Odal Rune (both with and without "tails") is simply a sacred Heathen symbol of estate and inheritance, usually of physical land or property - hence its alternate name of
Erda in southern German contexts as a medieval healing Rune. Neither form is a "hate symbol". Its occult meanings pertain to honoring the ancestors and the Odinic gifts. It has no political meaning whatsoever to traditional Heathens.
6. The Sig Rune.
The Lie: "It's an evil racist SS rune invented in the 20th century to mock the
Sowilo Rune, so don't use it!"
The Truth: The real
Sig Rune was not "invented" and it has never been used to "mock" anything. The
Sig Rune IS the
Sowilo Rune - they are one and the same; it's just a different name for the same symbol. It exists in all four major Futharks, so therefore has very ancient origins.
The Rune for the "S" sound in Germanic languages has always been essentially the same, whatever its name. And the name
Sig is actually more attested than "
Sowilo". The modern reconstructed names of the
Elder Futhark may call it "
Sowilo", but this is only due to academics' speculative attempts to reconstruct the long-dead Proto-Germanic language. Its attested names are "
Sól" (
Younger Futhark), "
Sigel" (
Anglo-Saxon Futhorc), and "
Sig" (Armanen Futharkh). The latter two are clearly related.
Note how the pronunciation seems to neatly change as you go from north to south in Germanic lands, from the Scandinavian
Sól, to the Saxon (North German)
Sigel, to the South German and Austrian
Sig. This Rune meant at least two things to all of these cultures: (1) the Sun and its life-sustaining rays, particularly at its zenith in the sky, and (2) victory over foes and obstacles, hence, the unconquerable Sun which melts away the fog and frost (a warrior motif very ancient to all Indo-European cultures, such as the Roman
Sol Invictus). Hence, the ancient German greeting "
Sal und Sig" (Solar-health and Victory!) relating to this Rune (
Das Geheimnis, p. 14).
Interestingly, the "SS Lightning bolts" which are sometimes mistaken for the
Sig Rune, were originally much thicker, more slanted, and hardly had any center line. Later versions had a nearly horizontal center line - which does not appear in any traditional versions of the
Sig Rune, including the ancestral Armanen version as published by Guido von List and Rudolf Gorsleben (
Hoch-Zeit Der Menschheit, pp. 447-450). Horizontal lines were generally unheard-of in Runes, at least before the influence of Christianity. The "SS lightning bolts" were actually derived from the earlier SA stormtrooper logo, which simply took the Latin-German letter "S" and made it more angular to look like a lightning bolt icon. Only later did Wiligut note the logo's superficial similarity to historical
Sig-Runes and use them in his SS officer ring designs.
The evolution of the SA lightning bolt into the SS ones can be traced back even further, to medieval shields and coats of arms for ancient German cities. Let's take a closer look at how they evolved.
 |
| Schoenthal municipal coat of arms (bolts with an arrow at the tip) |
 |
| Töging am Inn municipal coat of arms (again, the bolts have arrows) |
 |
SA logo, with the same sharp tilt on the center bar as the aforementioned heraldic lightning bolts
(note the arrow at the end of the "S") |
 |
Original SS lightning bolts logo
(same sharp tilt on the center bar as the SA symbol, but much thicker upper and
lower diagonals and thinner center bar, and this time no arrow at the end) |
 |
| Later "classic" version of the SS lightning bolts with full-thickness horizontal center bars |
Are these really
Sig Runes? Hard to tell. It looks more like they were originally derived simply from heraldic lightning bolts or a stylized Latin "letter S" in the SA and early SS forms, and only given a more even-thickness center bar in the later SS version to look more like a rune - but this version still doesn't match the slimmer and more vertical form of the Armanen
Sig Rune, let alone the
Sigel from the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc or
Sól from the Younger Futhark, or even the "
Sowilo" Rune of the Elder Futhark. Heathen Runes (those from Futharks without any Christian influence) are far slimmer and do not have horizontal lines, which were traditionally avoided by all skilled Rune-carvers - but almost every version of the SS lightning bolts has them. So it's impossible to be sure whether the SS lightning bolts were derived from Runes at all.
We do know one thing however; that this basic lightning bolt symbol is far older than the SS and still continues to be used long after its demise, and for non-political purposes - in everything from the logo of the band KISS, to the unofficial emblem of the Scout Snipers of the US Marine Corps.
 |
Wait, is that a Raidho Rune and an Ehwaz Rune underneath double Sig Runes???
Oh wait, it's just regular Latin-based English letters for "ARMY" written in angular lines to look edgy. |
 |
While they form just a tiny part of the Marine Corps, the Scout Snipers have used the Lightning Bolts
for decades as a symbol of strength and toughness; a non-political sign of striking like thunder. |
But still, regardless of the meanings they take on now, none of these bold, slanted symbols are true
Sig Runes. True
Sig Runes do not have horizontal lines and are much slimmer, as Runes in general were always traditionally
carved - not printed or cast - symbols. The very act of carving them, combined with
Galdr, was a form of sacred ritual. Extremely thick symbols made by die-casting, sandblasting, or water-jet, simply lack the living human and magickal potential of the sharp, slender hand-carved lines of
traditional Germanic Rune-rows - whether Gothic, Nordic, Anglo-Saxon, or Armanen.
The traditional
Sig Rune is simply a sacred Heathen symbol of the Sun's power. Its occult meanings pertain generally to the Sun, health, and success against all odds. It has no political or racialist meaning whatsoever to traditional Heathens.
7. The Tyr Rune.
The Lie: "It's an evil racist SS and SA brownshirt hate symbol, so don't use it!"
The Truth: The
Tyr Rune is actually one of the holiest ancient Runes. It is the only Rune directly named for a god, and perfectly represents his attributes. Tyr is a god of battle, justice, and self-sacrifice; honor and loyalty, true to the end. The "true north" of Heathen Ethics, is symbolized by the upward-pointing arrow shape of this Rune - as is the symbolic, esoteric content of the Rune, which relates to turning seemingly impossible situations around. The
Tyr Rune, sometimes known as
Tiw or
Tiwaz, is found in all four major Futharks, and most of the lesser Medieval Rune-rows as well. In the Eddas, Tyr sacrifices his hand so that the other Gods may chain up the giant wolf Fenrir, son of Loki, who threatens the destruction of their realm. The Gods are indeed in an impossible situation with the wolf, outmatched in strength and unable to bind the wolf without resorting to deception, and Fenrir knows this, refusing to test their final chain without someone pledging their hand as "security" lest it be a trap. Tyr willingly makes the sacrifice, the loss of his hand allowing the Gods to chain Fenrir, hold off
Ragnarök for a time, and avoid all being eaten. The
Tyr-Rune is thus a Germanic symbol of the warrior struggling to victory against a seemingly hopeless situation.
 |
| The Tyr Rune was traditionally a Rune of sacrifice. |
So why sis the SA use it in the first place? The SA (
Stürmabteilung) was the militant wing of early National Socialism, and they used an unusually thick version of this Rune on some of their officer insignia, most likely due to its traditional German connotations of sacrifice and salvaging impossible situations, because in the early 1920s they were literally in one - with Bavarian police hunting them for treason and rival militias on the Communist side, prowling the streets for blood, their Führer in prison, and many of their local leaders having fled; in desperation they turned to this ancestral Germanic Heathen symbol of long-odds victory for protection, despite Hitler having openly denounced Heathenry in
Mein Kampf. German patriots of all stripes invoked the
Tyr-Rune for protection, not just National Socialists or the SA. Likewise, the 32nd Waffen-SS Grenadier division "30 Januar" (the only SS division to ever use the
Tyr-Rune) was formed in 1945 as a desperate last-ditch measure to protect Berlin from the Soviets; hence this Rune appears to have been used as visual morale boost in a fight against impossible odds - no more, no less. The Rune itself was treated as more of a good luck charm by these units than anything else - it was a only ever worn as a little embroidered patch around 2 inches long, or inscribed on a ring; it is not found in period propaganda, and there is no evidence anyone even in the Third Reich government interpreted it to connote "hate" of any sort (they had newspapers for that).
 |
| SA Leadership School patch |
 |
| Waffen-SS Grenadier division '30 Januar'. |
The traditional
Tyr Rune is simply a sacred Heathen symbol of sacrifice, victory, and reversal of fortunes. Its occult meanings pertain generally to victory in battle, noble sacrifice, and the nature of the god Tyr himself. It has no political or racialist meaning whatsoever to traditional Heathens (and indeed, it didn't even have one for the SA or SS in those two rare instances where they did use it).
8. The Man and Yr Runes (a.k.a. "Life" and "Death" Runes).
The Lie: "more evil Nazi symbols, used by the SS, run away, blah blah."
The Truth: The
Man (or
Madhr) and
Yr Runes are found in the Viking-age Younger Futhark of Scandinavia, as well as the Armanen Futharkh of Continental Europe. Their meanings usually depend on the local context.
For the Vikings (at least judging by the later Norwegian and Icelandic Rune poems),
Man or
Madhr literally refers to man, and organic growth ("augmentation of the earth") whereas
Yr can refer to either the Yew tree, the Yew-bow, or more ominously, to flawed weapons and downfall.
For the Armanen,
Man refers to man as well, and also to organic growth of his abilities, both material and magickal; whereas
Yr, though loosely associated with the Yew tree, also pertains to woman, female mysteries, passion, seduction, and on the negative level, confusion and error - all these being Edda-attested attributes of Freyja, the goddess typically associated with Yew trees and
Yr.
The SS (probably at Wiligut's cue) actually
invented their own modern meanings for this pair of Runes, which were not related to the Armanen meanings at all, and only very loosely connected to the attested Younger Futhark meanings from the medieval Rune Poems. They referred to the Man-Rune as the
Leben (life) Rune, and to
Yr as the
Toten (death) Rune, and used them to mark the birth and death dates of their slain members on grave markers. This usage has long since transcended the SS, however, and is actually quite common now with civilian graves in Germany, having no political connotations at all. It's become as much a part of everyday life as Hugo Boss, Volkswagen, and Bayer aspirin... and the "Star of Life" ambulance symbol for that matter.
Though unrelated to the traditional meanings of these Runes, this convenient use of
Man and
Yr as "life" and "death" Runes, didn't actually symbolize anything hateful towards any group. The similar looking
Algiz Rune from the Elder Futhark is sometimes said to be the real origin of the SS
Leben Rune (rather than
Man), as
Algiz symbolizes protection, at least in its Anglo-Saxon form of
Eolh.
The traditional
Man and
Yr Runes are simply sacred Heathen symbol of man and woman (or Yew-tree). They are extremely ancient, and the
Algiz Rune shares the same form. Their occult meanings pertain generally to the growth of personal skill and facility in multiple abilities (hence, multiple branches). These Runes have no political or racialist meaning whatsoever to traditional Heathens.
9. The Wolfsangel (Wolf's Hook).
The Lie: "another evil Nazi rune used to justify hate."
The Truth: The
Wolfsangel was not even a Rune in the first place - at least not a Futhark symbol, which is the traditional definition of a "rune". However, it does resemble a number of Runes like
Eihwaz, and it is integrated into the later
Medieval Runes of Healing. It is actually a symbol derived from an ancient wolf-trap device that was placed in trees to kill wolves and keep them away from humans. A large crescent-shaped or bow-shaped anchor secured it to a fork in a tree, and the Z-shaped double hook dangled from this on a chain. Larger versions of the
Wolfsangel did away with the chain and anchor, and simply had a crossbar in the middle of the Z-shaped hook to help it sit directly between the lower-forking branches of a tree without slipping. The hook itself had chunks of raw meat skewered on both ends. A wolf would smell the meat and jump up to bite it, and if it succeeded, it would be pierced and possibly killed by the sharp hook, as its full weight would be suspended on the hook lodged in the roof of its mouth.
Some Continental Heathens today use the
Wolfsangel as a symbol of the god Vidar, Odin's silent son, who is known as "the Ripper of the Wolf" due to the prophecies about him in the Poetic and Prose Eddas, which state he will tear apart the giant wolf Fenrir at the end of
Ragnarök.
The
Wolfsangel is actually very common as a heraldic symbol in Germany to this day, among city coats of arms. It is not a "hate" symbol and never was. While a couple of Waffen-SS units like the "
Das Reich" division had insignia symbols roughly based on a
Wolfsangel, they still differ markedly in shape from the original metal object, and even the SS is not known to have associated them with any hateful meanings. At most, they may have had a defensive or counter-insurgency meaning based on the original wolf-hook's use as a medieval town's defense against wolf attacks.
There are some alleged rumors that the
Wolfsangel symbol was used (ironically) by an alleged postwar SS insurgent group called "
Wehrwolf", much-vaunted in German radio broadcasts by Joseph Goebbels in late 1944 when the war was effectively lost. Conspiracy buffs have speculated that
Wehrwolf remained active for several years in Germany after the end of WWII, tasked with low level guerrilla activity to foil the Allied Occupation as much as possible. However, the efforts of Goebbels to incite an insurgency did not result in any large-scale, organized guerrilla movement. American strategic think tanks have concluded after decades of research that
Wehrwolf had
never amounted to a serious threat. By the close of the war in 1945, any German guerrilla activity had been effectively suppressed and the rumors of a massive
Wehrwolf "alpine fortress state" had proven to be false, though the fear of possible
Wehrwolf activity was used to justify many atrocities against German civilians during and immediately after the war (Kershaw, 2011).
The only country that officially continued to push a belief in the existence of a large
Wehrwolf network years after the war was the Soviet Union, mainly as an excuse to arrest thousands of German boys and send them to their deaths in NKVD prison camps (Fruth, 2010); their parents were never notified of the whereabouts of their sons, spreading the dread of possible arrest at any time among the terrified east German populace. The boys were typically as young as age 15, and were accused by NKVD chief Lavrenty Beria of all being "Wehrwolves" without trial; Beria reported to Stalin that 359 "Wehrwolf cells" has been arrested and liquidated (Weber, 2000.) Conservatively it is estimated that around 10,000 boys were detained by the Soviets on suspicion of being "Wehrwolves", and at least half of them
never returned home.
Today, rumors are still rife over the internet that
Wehrwolf was a far bigger phenomenon than it ever turned out to be - and it's been associated with the
Wolfsangel symbol time and again - but just like the exaggerated rumors of its size and effectiveness, no proof has ever turned up for the guerrillas ever using or displaying this symbol on any item.
 |
One of several modern concepts for the alleged Wehrwolf pennant circulating on internet conspiracy forums.
The truth is that Wehrwolf was never able to become a formal military unit, and never had any official insignia. |
There are no actual historical insignia for the
Wehrwolf group, assuming that a single unified organization by that name truly existed at all. A number of speculative logos and "unit flags" have been invented for it by modern day reenactors and alternative history buffs, nearly all of which feature a
Wolfsangel. But none of them are anything more than modern speculation; no authentic
Wehrwolf flags or insignia from 1945 have ever turned up. Indeed, it seems more than a little unusual that a guerrilla group named after a wolf (or "werewolf") would even dream of using the symbol of a baited trap used to
kill wolves - but then again, postwar propaganda has always been about fear, not accuracy. Scary-looking sharp hook symbol; no historical proof of its use in the pseudo-historical organization alleged to have used it.
In fact, the
Wolfsangel, in both its horizontal and vertical forms,
has a long and storied history as a German heraldic symbol from early medieval times. Far from being a National Socialist-invented symbol, it's actually a very common visual element in many German municipal or city coats of arms from the Middle Ages up to this very day:
 |
| Just a few of the German cities to use a Wolfsangel in their civic Coat of Arms ever since medieval times. |
Conclusions:
There are many Germanic Runes and other symbols which are known to date back to pre-Christian (that is, Old Heathen) times, which modern Heathens use today. Many of these symbols have been falsely slandered and censored based on reckless anti-Heathen bigotry masquerading as political sensitivity - often selectively pinpointed to favor Abrahamic ends. This is not unusual, as minority religions always face mistrust and opposition from larger and more political faiths. Exacerbating the problem are modern "useful idiots" who buy into the deceptive B-movie propaganda narrative, wearing Runic clothing while committing crimes for 15 minutes of media fame, buying us more humiliation and more censorship. None of them have demonstrated any real knowledge of the Runes.
These symbols were usually not the same ones used by the Third Reich, let alone its modern imitators - but rather, came from an otherworldly fount of Cognizancy, a holy script of the Aesir which was tried and tested true for centuries in magick, and had already become legend by the time of the Viking Skalds.
Critically, the Armanen Runes are in the same situation as the Elder, Younger, and Anglo-Saxon ones - NONE of them are the boldface, blocky, mass-produced "runes" used by the Waffen-SS, nor is there any evidence connecting the
Sonnenrad to any verified SS insignia or unit flags.
The rumors alleging that the Armanen were somehow connected to the SS are pure disinformation, as the SS (at the behest of Wiligut, who was made a General in the organization by Himmler himself) ended up censuring Armanism and torturing and killing several Armanen masters at Dachau and other concentration camps (including S.A. Kummer and Ernst "Tarnhari" Lauterer).
The
Sonnenrad mosaic in the floor of Wewelsburg castle is of unknown age, and there is no documentation of its existence before the 1990s - there is no evidence that Himmler or Wiligut installed it, and it is also substantially different from the version used by the Armanen whom Himmler persecuted (though it may have been "inspired" by it).
The
Fylfot, as a
primal sign of creation and rebirth for Odin/Wotan/Vayu-Vata, symbolizes everything that is noble, improving, and hopeful in creation, and everything that makes life worthwhile or possible. Its arms point in different directions, but always turning whatever comes at it into a harmonious arising rotation. It says in times of sorrow, "Life must go on", and in times of joy, "Life is worth living". The same idea is expressed in the Sanskrit (and ultimately, Old Aryan Prakrit) word
Swastika, which literally means "well-being" or "well-offered and done" (
Svaha-asti-ka).
The
Wolfsangel had been used for centuries as a device to keep wolves out of settled areas, and has been used as a heraldic symbol in coats of arms from medieval times up until today, as well as a variant of it being present in the Medieval Runes of Healing. Though not attested from Old Heathen artifacts or sources, it is nonetheless a part of Germanic cultural heritage and continues to be used for the historic symbolism of many European cities.
The
Fylfot or Swastika does indeed have an ancient presence in Germanic cultures, with no end of Bronze Age and Iron Age artifacts showing its esoteric use as a solar symbol, and probably also a symbol of Odin and Thor - this historically was not taken as a sign of "racial supremacy" but rather of shared ancestry and cultural archetype, one that extends ultimately to all Indo-European peoples. It was not invented by the Third Reich, nor did they themselves interpret it in a negative way. Modern celebrity authors and film-makers might
claim that they did - but there simply is no evidence to prove it. There is
no instruction in any official Third Reich publication that the
Fylfot or Runes should be taken to mean "
hate Jews, hate Gypsies, hate all those who fall foul of the Führer". Quite the contrary; what little we do know for sure about
official National Socialist and SS training manuals, indicates they probably saw Runes (and esoteric symbols in general) merely as tools to be used to augment one's power - an unhealthy attitude to be sure, but not something that reads any racialist commandments into the Runes. Their racial policies actually came from very human and decidedly non-magickal sources; namely, Alfred Rosenberg (
The Myth of the Twentieth Century) and Hermann Göring (the
Nürnberg Laws). The emotional race rhetoric on the other hand was mostly supplied by tabloids like
Der Stürmer - in which you would be hard-pressed to find any depictions of Runes. Based on the written evidence, the Swastika was viewed within the Reich as primarily a symbol of creation and victory over banality (
Mein Kampf, pp. 496-497) - not some coded sign for hate or anger.
The same was more or less true of all the Runic symbols that were copied by the SS - there is no evidence that any of them were ever viewed as a source of hateful feelings by the SS themselves. Whoever claims the contrary, not only lacks proof, but also has opened the door to censorship and persecution of Runes, Sun-wheels, and other sacred symbols of pagan religions; when you can fool people, step by step, into believing that a symbol is "tainted", that there was no history before 1933, that thousands of years of culture and heritage do not matter (which is, after all, the inevitable
end result of the typical postmodernist social programming in 21st century academia) - then this makes it possible to ban all symbols from a particular culture, rewrite its beliefs against its will and without its consent, and criminalize religious freedom - and then you have become the Inquisition.
Equipped with this knowledge, you
should now be better able to explain the sacred meanings of these
symbols to those who do not know better. Unfortunately,
today all sorts and shades of Indo-European people are steeped in
ignorance of our origins, heritage, and holy symbols, including the
Swastika,
Fylfot,
Fyrfos,
Gammadion,
Gromovik, Garduna, or
Tetraskelion, by
whatever name it is called. Fewer still know the truth about the
Sonnenrad, or related symbols in other Indo-European branches, like
the
Kolovrat or the
Arevakach, let alone the rich array of symbols incorporated into medieval Rune rows, like the
Wolfsangel. We should not blame them, but educate them about their their rightful
inheritance. While I have refuted some popular misconceptions here, I must emphasize that this daunting task can only be
achieved if we act with tact, discretion and wise words. The
Fylfot
and
Sonnenrad, like the Runes, assume a secretive and self-protecting
nature, helpful to noble, wisdom-seeking individuals, confounding to
the ignorant masses.
A symbol means, after all, different
things to different people based on their personal associative experience of what they understand it to mean. This is why we must understand the context of our audience. If for the WWII veteran the Swastika means
the enemy he fought, or if for the war widow it means the cause of
her loss, then that is what it personally means (and likely always
will mean) to them, regardless of what it objectively means to
Armanists, Wuotanists, Odinists, Ásatrúars, Heathens, or Rune-seekers. Their
grief is seared deep, you will not change their hearts let alone their minds, and the feelings they now associate with such
symbols often cannot be undone. War is vicious and heartless, and changes its combatants and their families irreversibly. Arguing with them will only make you appear vicious and heartless, and only help internet nithlings mark out Heathens as social pariahs.
However, if a person has not suffered any personal loss or tragedy
arising from a situation that somehow involved one of these symbols,
and shows signs of seeing through the deceptive identity politics of the modern
world, there is always a possibility that they could come around to
our understanding, if approached wisely and presented with the facts
in a friendly and respectful manner; that Runes, the Fylfot, the
Sonnenrad, and other such symbols are the inheritance of a
long-persecuted noble culture and religion; that every person has the right to choose their faith and practice their
ancestral traditions unmolested by party politics or unaccountable
bullies or vigilantes; and that if you have even partial
Indo-European ancestry, then part of the Immanence
of the Aesir/Asuras, the Runes (Ravanan) and the sacred
Sun-wheels, is also yours.
But only with the love and compassion rightfully due to any ancestral re-awakening, can these points truly be driven
home, past the lies of the media and the unsourced arm-waving of
arrogant YouTube celebrities and social engineers. And at every turn, there will be
unscrupulous people who make their miserable living by harassment,
agitation, and shutting down free expression of traditional cultures they have no intent of understanding – waiting to pounce on your slightest blunder, accuse you of political extremism, or worse.
Thus, to wave these symbols around
heedlessly in hoarse public rage-fests, instead of quietly teaching curious folk to understand their original
meanings and spiritual significance, will only alienate those whom we
wish to win over, and play right into the hands of those who wish to
bait Heathens into a trap and bring our path to naught. It is better to make culturally authentic Heathenry readily available to those who are ready for it, and do not get helplessly triggered by symbols they do not understand. The rest need to be identified and avoided - which is not hard, given how much they wear their own pastoral prejudices on their social media shirtsleeve.
I advise you, Loddfáfnir,
that you take advice;
You would benefit, if you took it,
to you will come good, if you get it:
Exchanging words,
you should never do,
with a stupid fool...
...For from a bad man,
you can never
get reward for good;
But a good man,
can surely make you
well-liked through praise.
(Translated by Cyrus Gorgani)
Let's step wisely, teach those who
truly want to learn, stand our ground against attacks, but avoid
pointless screaming matches with programmed trolls. With a well measured effort, a few years can see a vast change, and a stark increase in the number of people who are with us and do not demand us to shove the Old Ways in the closet. Perhaps then, we will be strong enough that we will never have to. But in order to make that happen, we must focus our message selectively at the right people, and make sure our deeds and character do justice to our sacred symbols.
REFERENCES:
Armanist and Esoteric:
A.D. Mercer.
RUNEN: The Wisdom of the Runes. Aeon Sophia Press, 2016
Guido von List. Das Geheimnis der Runen. Gross-Lichterfelde/Berlin: Paul Zillman Verlag, 1908.
Guido von List.
Der Unbesiegbare. Ein Grundzug germanischer Weltanschaaung. Vienna, 1989.
Larry E Camp.
A Handbook of Armanen Runes. Sandusky, OH: Heidentor Hall, 2009
Rudolf J. Gorsleben.
Hoch-Zeit der Menschheit.
Das Welt-Gesetz der Drei oder Entstehen-Sein-Vergehen in Ursprache - Urschrift - Urglaube. Aus den Runen Geschopft. Leipzig: Koehler & Amelang, 1930.
Steve Anthonijsz.
Which Rune Row is Best (For Esoteric Uses)? [Revised]. 2004.
Academic:
Dobbins, James, McGinn, John G.,
et al.
America's Role in Nation-Building, from Germany to Iraq. RAND Corporation, 2003.
Flowers, Stephen E., and Michael
Moynihan. The Secret King: The Myth and Reality of Nazi Occultism.
Feral House Press. 2007.
Fruth, Pia.
Die Lüge vom
Werwolf Warum Tausende Jugendliche in Sowjetischen Lagern landeten. Südwestrundfunk Zweites Wissen -
Manuskriptdienst, 2010. (
transcript of radio interview with survivors and witnesses of the false-flag "anti-Wehrwolf" NKVD operations).
Kershaw, Ian.
The End: Hitler's Germany 1944-45. Allen Lane, 2011.
Reinhardt, Nila. Wewelsburg: SS-Kult und KZ-Terror. NDR, 2005
Weber, Petra.
Justiz und Diktatur: Justizverwaltung und politische Strafjustiz in Thüringen 1945–1961. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag. 2000.
Young, Karl.
Third Reich Pilgrim, 2nd Ed. Hermitage Helm Corpus, 2017.
Primary NS Sources: (yes, you'll need to jump into the primary sources to know what these people were
really about).
Bormann, Martin (Ed.)
Hitler's Table Talk. Fully indexed. Translated by Ostara Publications (2nd Ed.), 2016
Hitler, Adolf.
Mein Kampf. Eher Verlag, 1925.
Translated by Michael Ford. 2010.
Göring, Hermann Wilhelm. The
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Führen und Folgen (the SS Leadership Guide).
Rosenberg, Alfred.
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