The German forest is immense, vast, dense, dark, and impenetrable. It is the refuge of the exiled and of outlaws. A site of lairs for terrifying and often monstrous animals. The dwelling place for brigands and marginal individuals. The woods thereby forms a natural frontier. The Bohemian Forest (or Nemus Boemicum) to the south connects with the Bavarian Forest and...
The petals don’t radiate outward from a centre the way a child draws a flower. They spiral. Each one turns from the one before it at a precise angle — 137.5 degrees, if you measure. The result is that no two petals ever perfectly overlap, and the space between them follows a ratio that mathematicians call phi: 1 to 1.618....
The nornir or norns were a group of female supernatural beings closely related to ideas about fate in Old Norse tradition. Karen Bek-Pedersen provides a thorough understanding of the role played by norns and other beings like them in the relevant sources. Although they are well known, even to people who have only a superficial knowledge of Old Norse mythology, this is the first detailed discussion of the norns to be published amongst the literature dealing with Old Norse beliefs. […]...
Hella, Hel, known to all Germanic peoples, including the Goths as Hellarunester. A Gothic word for “witch” was Haljoruna. The name itself stems from a root meaning “to hide”. The word Hellirunar describes people who ‘rune’ (Speak, sing, whisper) with Hel/Helja, the goddess and realm of the underworld. “Hell”, in its original meaning is the hidden realm, the dark and...
772 AD. A military campaign pauses. Charlemagne’s army doesn’t press the advantage — it tears down a wooden post. Why? You don’t stop a war to demolish something unless that something is the war. The Column That Carries Heaven Around 850 AD, the monk Rudolf of Fulda wrote down what the Saxons had believed before the conquest. He described a...
In almost all myths all over the world the same theme reoccurs. The twelve knights, twelve tribes, twelve heroes etc. In his last and longest dialogue (Laws), Plato teaches: There are twelve feasts to the twelve Gods who give their names to the twelve tribes. Also in early christianity, the image of twelve disciples with the Godman figure at their center echoes the twelve constellations which revolve in the heavens around the pole star. Are the twelve knights the zodiac? […]...
Valkyrie which is composed of two words: the noun valr (referring to the slain on the battlefield) and the verb kjósa (meaning “to choose”). Together, they mean ‘chooser of the slain’. The Old Norse valkyrja is cognate to Old English wælcyrge. A malevolent female demon, a sorceress or a female witch. Among the Anglo-Saxons the valkyries were female spirits of...
November brings a veil of enchantment to the Northern Hemisphere. Ancient traditions and winter lore weave a rich tapestry of myth and celebration, starting with Saint Martin’s Day, or Martlemas, on November 11th. In Dutch, Germanic, and Celtic lands, this day is more than a feast; it is a gateway to the mysterious winter season, filled with both heavenly and...
Last week we followed the initiatory roots of the man who founded Germany’s most influential ‘Germanic’ esoteric society. Those roots pointed to Turkey, to Sufi orders, to a Jewish Rosicrucian merchant — anywhere but the tradition the organisation claimed to be recovering. This week: why that pattern wasn’t unique to Sebottendorf. And what genuine Northern transmission actually looks like. Related: The Man Behind the Germanic Robes There is a difference between a teacher who is the destination and a teacher […]...
With unflinching gaze and uncompromising intensity Julius Evola analyzes the spiritual and cultural malaise at the heart of Western civilization and all that passes for progress in the modern world. As a gadfly, Evola spares no one and nothing in his survey of what we have lost and where we are headed. At turns prophetic and provocative, Revolt against the...
The anima as a friend or soror mystica (mystical sister) has always played a great role in history. In the “cours d’amour” (courts of love) of René d’Anjou she even takes precedence over the wife. The term maîtresse actually means mistress or master. In the Middle Ages, for example, the worship of the anima led to courtly love, in which...
Today, most of us think of the self as having two or three parts: a body, a mind, and perhaps – depending on your own religious convictions – a soul. The Vikings, too, thought of the self as having different components, but they believed in more and different components than we do. The Viking self was an integral being; all of the parts added up to a more or less cohesive whole, as they do in our view of the […]...













