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Everything on Culture and related to the Maier files series. A cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings

Gudrun's sacred woods

The mysterious German forests

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...
norns

The Norns in Old Norse Mythology

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,...
Kiss Klimt

The paradox of the love mystery

The writer Aventinus stated that the Minne and the Minnesingers did not have anything to do with love and constant courting. That’s not entirely true. There are many enigmas and paradoxes concerning the Troubadour movement and their theme “LOVE” in the middle ages. They propagated the quest for selfhood, the birth of the individual. And the individual’s love is discriminative, personal and specific. You will have heard the old legend of how, when God created the angels, he commanded them […]...
Albruna rune sequence

The Power of the Runes

From his seat in Asgard, Odin, observed the Norns at the base of Yggdrasil, and envied their skills and their foresight. The god twisted his will toward the undertaking of coming to know the Runes. The native home of the runes is the Well of Urd with the Norns and since the runes do not reveal themselves to any but...
Sheela na Gig carving

The power of the Vulva

From the earliest historic age, there are references to goddesses who are whimsical, erotic, and ferocious. The first texts of this sort have their provenance in the Near East; the female figures described in these texts are erotic, but they do not appear in the “magical” crouching or dancing positions evinced by their Neolithic predecessors. Anasyrma is literally “the exposing...

The rape of Lucretia

The rape of Lucretia …Leibniz, the founder of optimism, and a great poet as well as a profound philosopher, writes somewhere that in a temple at Memphis there was a great pyramid of globes placed one on top of the other. A priest, who was asked by a traveller what this pyramid of globes represented, replied that these were all the possible worlds and that the most perfect of all was at the summit; the traveller, who was curious to […]...
runen

The Rune Row

The rune row or runic alphabet is not an alphabet comparable to the Greek or Roman alphabets. The rune row begins with another set of letters—f, u, th, a, r, k—and thus the rune row is called the Futhark. The order of the runes in this rune row was found on Gotland. On the Kylver stone, and on other items...
Rotas Opera Tenet

The SATOR A REPO formula

The sator a repo formula was well known throughout the ancient and medieval worlds, and in fact, known as the “Devil’s latin” or the “Devil’s Square”. It remained quite popular in Scandinavia into the 19th century as protection against theft and various illnesses. The magical effect of the formula lies in the fact that if properly spelt and laid out,...
Picasso's Parsifal

The secret occult works of Picasso

Picasso, the impressive artist-magus of modernism, constantly had an intense feeling for the intrusions of the spirit realms. As a kid he was considered by several of his mates to possess supernatural capabilities, such as mind-reading as well as prophecy. When he travelled to France, Apollinaire,  Georges Bataille, Eric Satie, Max Jacob, Jean Cocteau among others initiated him into a sophisticated occult tradition. Occult Picasso Picasso widely used esoteric themes in his work. From time to time he painted himself […]...

The Secrets of Emerald

Emerald. Above all, the glitter of gems has enchanted us and held us hostage. Despite their secret birth underground, they live a rather public life among us, admired, bought, sold, and hoarded. They have become ours in a way a hunk of raw granite never can. Gems have studded ears, adorned fingers, encircled arms, and emblazoned belly buttons. Bits of...
Raven T-shirt design

The secrets of the Crow

Hrafn The Bird Goddess is believed to be the earliest and best-documented deity. During the Paleolithic period (Old Stone Age), carved figurines and cave paintings began to appear in a vast area that stretched from the Pyrenees of France to Lake Baikal in Siberia, just north of Mongolia. Crows are mentioned in the mythology of many cultures throughout the world...
Minnesinger at court

The Secrets of the Minnesinger

The writer Aventinus stated that the Minne and the Minnesingers did not have anything to do with love and constant courting. Minne means “memories”. The sonnets render last honors to old lords, to the proud history of a folk and their secrets. In these songs one can find a hidden knowledge … Troubadours or Minnesingers such as Wolfram von Eschenbach proclaimed Sibilla a prophetess, a pythia of the Grâl and she dwelled inside a magical mountain. Apollo A pythia was […]...
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