The Armanen Runes-Based on the Younger Futhark?

"Table of Armanen Runes with names and sound values", by Jugydmort, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0  Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armanen_runes This image has not been changed and the image owner does not endorse this blog.
















The Armanen Futhorkh/Futharkh is a curiosity in the sense that unlike the Elder (Common Germanic) Futhark, the Anglo-Saxon (Northumbrian/Anglo-Frisian) Futhorc and the Younger Futhark it is not an historically attested rune row although that does not invalidate its occult and esoteric utility. Indeed the Armanen Futhork was devised for specifically esoteric purposes but Guido von List does not elaborate on these practices in any detail. This work is left for others who came after him. Von List focused on the meanings of the individual rune staves and other such matters. He provided the bedrock for Armanism. It was for other runologists such as Friedrich Bernard Marby and Siegfried Adolf Kummer to devise workable systems such as Runic Yoga and other magical practices.

Interestingly the Armanen Futhorkh closely follows the Younger Futhark in terms of the choice of runes. Some however do differ in form. For instance the Fa rune is truncated at the bottom part of the stave although its branches still fork upwards. The Os rune is reversed with the branches on the left side. Apart from this they are remarkably similiar. He even chooses the Younger Futhark version of the Hagall rune for his Hagal. Hagal is the mother rune of the Armanen Futhorkh and I can see why this version is used rather than Elder and Anglo-Saxon versions which resemble the Roman capital letter H. Two additional runes were used; Eh and Gibor. Eh does not resemble the Ehwaz or Eh equivalents of the Elder and Anglo-Saxon rune rows. Instead it resembles a reversed Nauthiz or Nyd rune. Gibor is unique and does not appear in any of the other rune rows and appears to be based upon the Fylfot and the Wolfshangle rune.

Apart from the similarity in form to the Younger Futhark the Armanen Futhorkh does incorporate quite an eclectic mix of rune names, some taken from the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, ie Ur, Thorn, Os, Is, Yr, Man and Eh. From the Younger Futhark we have Ar and Tyr. Fa, Rit, Ka, Hagal, Not, Sig, Bar, Laf and Gibor are unique variants specific to the Armanen Futhorkh, especially the Gibor rune.

People tend to associate the Armanen Futhork with National Socialist Germany but the National Socialists did use other runes as well, most notably the Wolfsangel and Erda mediaeval runes. Even today the Armanen Futhorkh is a very popular rune row in Germany, rivalling the traditional Elder Futhark. Most of the available literature on the Armanen runes remains untranslated from the original German but attempts have been made in recent years to rectify this and a number of works have been published recently in English. Once I have worked through these books I will provide a review on this blog.