Armanen Runes and the Black Sun in Modern Heathenry Volume 1-a Review

Recently Aelfric Avery published a three volume set on the Armanen Runes. Some time ago I completed my first reading of volume 1, published by Lulu Books. I have not yet purchased the other two volumes in the set but I will do in due course.

Mr Avery is better known for his works on Gothic mythology and religion so it is good to see him turn his hand to the more esoteric works of the early 19th century. There is very little material which has been translated into English on the Armanen Rune masters. Thus far the most noted translators and reinterpreters have been Dr Stephen Edred Flowers (Edred Thorsson) and the 55 Club. I have occasionally translated some extracts of the more obscure literature on my blogs, most notably by Friedrich Bernhard Marby.

Mr Avery sets the groundwork for Armanism in volume 1 by giving a history of it and its main thinkers and pioneers, being Guido von List, Friedrich Bernhard Marby, Rudolf John Gorsleben, Siegfried Adolf Kummer, Karl Maria Wiligut and Peryt Shou as well as post war rune masters such as Karl Spiesberger, Adolf Schleipfer, Karl Hans Welz and Edred Thorsson. It may be argued that Marby was not an Armanen rune master as he did not work with the Armanen Futhorkh but the Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Frisian Futhorc but nevertheless he was a rune master and had a deep influence on the Armanen tradition and was the originator of rune yoga or rune gymnastics, later developed by Kummer. Mr Avery does emphasise this point in his book. So for these reasons it is valid to include this great man within a work on Armanism.

Mr Avery discusses the relationship between Wotanism (von List) and Armanism, the thorny subject of National Socialism and the Armanen runes, the use of the term 'Aryan', Irminism, Aryan Kristianity, Hyperborea, Atlantis, the Midnight Mountain, ancient civilisations, Root Races, Vril, alchemy, the Holy Grail, Isais, the Black Sun, the Swastika and even  Zoroastrianism. As far as I know Mr Avery is the first and thus far only published writer to link the Black Sun with the runes and to introduce the religion of Zoroastrianism in connection with Armanism. It should be noted that in recent years Dr Flowers has researched Zoroastrianism and published several books on how this religion may be adopted by modern day Indo-Europeans and magical practises within this tradition.

Volume 1 contains a great deal of hitherto untranslated material which is essential reading for all latter day Armanen and I have to say that Mr Avery's work is both old in the sense of the source material but at the same time refreshingly new with his ingenious interpretation. With this 3 volume set and his recent translation of Siegfried Adolf Kummer's Heilige Runenmacht (Holy Rune Might) this young man has established himself as someone to follow in the coming years. It is very rare to find a modern writer who is not shackled by false notions of political correctness and who is both a practicing heathen and an Armanen. This book may be purchased on Amazon, Lulu Books and ebay. Without the least hesitation I wholeheartedly endorse and recommend this incredible book to my readers.

Reincarnation and Time According to Guido von List

In Listian teaching Germanic time was not a simple matter of past, present and future. Our ancestors did not think in such simplistic terms and linear time was not an Aryo-Germanic concept. Today many of us are used to thinking in linear time but this is no doubt a left-over from our unfortunate enforced Christianisation. As anyone who has studied the bible will be aware the Semites in general and the Jews in particular do think in linear time and frame their prophecies in this way.

In contrast according to the most ancient sacred texts of the Aryan peoples Aryan man conceived of time as being a progression of cycles, not in the sense of going round in a circle for things and events to repeat themselves incessantly but as a series of cycles moving forward like the waves on the ocean, moving forward rather than round and round. According to the works and teaching of Guido von List man repeatedly incarnates. There is nothing new in this doctrine for this was a well known teaching in the ancient Aryan world both in the East and the West but what makes his teaching slightly different is his use of cyclical time within this concept, i.e.

Entstehen>Werden/Wandelns>Vergehehen zum Neuerstehen

Arising>Becoming/Change> Passing Away to New Arising

This formula can be applied to not only humanity but the entire organic world. All creatures, all things animate and inanimate go through this tripartite process.

One can see this reflected in the three Norns:

Urd Verdandi SkuldUrd=Became, Verdandi=Becoming, Skuld=Blame[result of Karma or to use the Listian term, Garma].
The German verb warden (to become) is used rather than sein (to be) because it conveys the feeling of continuing change and evolution. This continuing change, development and evolution is to be strived for in a progressive sense. Our aim in essence is to rediscover the" lost master word":

"Dieser Name wird als das `verlorene Meisterwort`, der `verlorene Name` in den Mysterien bezeichnet, das der Meister suchen soll, denn dieser Name gaebe ihm alle Macht und Kraft der Gottheit selbst."

My translation:

 "This name is described as the `lost master word`, the `lost name` in the mysteries, that the master should seek, because this name would give him all power and strength of godhood itself."

 In other words we are to rediscover the key to our own divinity, to realise the god within, that we are god-in the making or becoming. The tripartite formula generally is to be discovered in many aspects of the pre-Christian Indo-European world, in the caste systems of the Indo-Europeans and even in the ancient triune representation of deity which undoubtedly was plagiarised by the Christian church. This tripartition is expressed by von List as dreieinig-dreispaeltige Dreiheit or the trifidic-triune triad as translated by Dr Stephen Flowers (Edred Thorsson) in The Secret of the Runes (Das Geheimnis der Runen).

In Die Religion der Ario-Germanen in Ihrer Esoterik und Exoterik Guido von List explains that we are in effect our own ancestors and our own descendants being reincarnated continually within the same race, nation, tribe and clan.

"Darum errichteten sie Familien und Familiengueter, da sie wussten, dass sie ihre eigenen Nachkommen sein werden...…"

My translation:

 "That`s why they established families and family goods, because they knew, that they will become their own descendants........"

The Aryo-Germanic Legal System According to Guido von List

According to Guido von List in his Die Rita der Ario-Germanen the pre-Christian Germanic peoples held their courts or Things outdoors under the open sky in places that were considered sacred to our ancestors such as sacred stones (heilige Steine), sacred trees (heilige Baueme) etc and only during the hours of daylight.

"Mit Sonnenaufgang wurde das Gericht eroeffnet mit Sonnenuntergang geschlossen, denn, `nur bei steigender und scheinender Sonne durfte getagt werden` und der Richter eroeffnete den Stabgang mit den Worten `uppen Tag`, d.h. `die Tagung ist eroeffnet.` `Sonnenzeit` galt darum fuer alle gerichtlichen Handlungen, sowohl fuer die eigentliche Gerichtspflege wie fuer das Warten der Vorgeforderten als auch fuer gerichtliche Ladungen; ja es wurde selbst darauf Ruecksicht genommen, dass Richter, Schoeffen und die sonstig Beteiligten noch vor Sonnenuntergang heimkehren konnten.

Vor Sonnenuntergang musste auch das Gottesurteil, der gerichtliche Zweikampf oder die Strafe vollzogen oder auf einen anderen Tag verschoben werden, wenn die Sonne schon zum Untergange neigte, da besonders bei Ordalien ein Sieg zur Nachtzeit als durch den Beistand der Dunkelmaechte erzielt angesehen worden waere." [Page 79]

My translation:

"The court was opened at sunrise and closed at sunset, because only with the rising and shining sun may the court sit and the judge opens the process with the words `uppen Tag`, because of that `the session is opened`. The suntime was the right time therefore for all legal dealings, both for the maintenance of the court and for waiting for the accused and for judicial charges; indeed it was taken into consideration that judges, jurors and the others taking part could still return home before sunset.
The trial by ordeal, the judicial duel or the punishment had to be completed by sunset or moved to another day, if the sun was already setting, because a victory at nighttime would have been credited to the assistance of dark powers."


Furthermore the whole legal process was viewed as a kind of combat.

" `Jeder Prozess`-sagt Grimm-`ist ein Kampf. Der Klaeger greift an, der Verklagte wehrt sich. Die Vorladung ist eine Kriegsankuendigung. Die Gemeinde schaut zu und urteilt, wer unterlegen sei. Zeugen und Mitschwoerende helfen auf beiden Seiten. Zuweilen loest sich das ganze Verfahren in das Gottesurteil eines leiblichen Zweikampfes auf` " (pages 79-80).

My translation:

" `Every process`-says Grimm-`is a battle. The plaintiff attacks, the defendant defends himself. The summons is a declaration of war. The community observes and judges who is to be defeated. Witnesses and others under oath help on both sides. Occasionally the entire proceedings dissolves into a trial by ordeal of a physical duel."

In pre-Christian Germanic times our ancestors held a Thing three times a year in accordance with the threefold division of time, castes and hierarchical structures. The number three was clearly sacred to our ancestors. Since the forced Christianisation of our ancestors the Things were held four times a year.

The Thing would have taken place on a Tuesday in honour of the Germanic god of justice, Tyr or Tiu. Hence the German name for Tuesday, Dienstag from Dingstag-literally Thingday.
This association with Tyr/Tiw or the Thing is echoed throughout the Germanic languages:

English-Tuesday
Old English-Tiwesdaeg
Swedish-tisdag
Norwegian-tirsdag
Danish-tirsdag
German-Dienstag
Dutch-Dinsdag

Guido von List goes into great detail about the significance of the staff wielded by the judge and how this symbolic item survived and transmuted into the baton held by Field Marshalls and how the word itself carried over into expressions such as general staff (Generalstab). It should be pointed out that the Marshall was a very important figure in post-Armanen times and it is believed that he represented a survival of the office of the head of the Armanenschaft.

"Der Vorsteher der Armanenschaft eines Landes oder Gaues-der spaetere Marschall, den Tacitus als Priester bezeichnet-uebte in Namen des Koenigs die hoechste richterliche Gewalt aus, sogar in Heere. So berichtet Tacitus[Germania, cap . 7]: `Zum Koenig bestimmt der Geburtsadel, zum Heerfuehrer die Tapferkeit. Aber die koenigliche Gewalt ist unumschraenkte und auch der Heerfuehrer ist mehr Vorbild als Befehlshaber." (pages 64-65)

My translation:

The head of the Armanenschaft of a country or district-the later Marshall, who Tacitus described as a priest exercised in the name of the king the highest judicial power, even in the armies. So reports Tacitus[Germania chapter 7]: the king is determined by noble birth, the army commander by bravery. However the royal power is unlimited and also the army commander is more of an example than a commander."

"Das richterliche Abzeichen war der Stab, welcher mit dem Koenigsstab, dem Szepter und dem Bischofsstab, dem Krummstab, eines Ursprunges ist." (page 68)

My translation:

"The judicial insignia was the staff, which with the royal staff, the sceptre and the bishop`s staff, the crozier is of one origin."

In pre-Christian times the Armanenschaft embodied three concepts into one body, the royal, the judicial and the spiritual. The coming of christianity caused these three functions to be removed from the Armanenschaft which in itself was suppressed and the three functions were separated but many of their traditions and customs can be traced back to the Armanen. The staff wielded by the king, the bishop and the judge is a survival of this tradition in visible form.

Another visible symbol of judicial authority was the throne.

"Wie der Koenig auf dem Throne, so sass der Richter auf dem `Stuhl`[ahd. stuol, goth.stool,langobard.stolesazo[Stuhlsasse,Richter],stuol: sat-ul=Sitz des Geistes oder der Weisheit],....." (page 72)

My translation:

"As the king on the throne, so sat the judge on the throne.................Seat of the spirit or of wisdom,"

The Concept of 'God' According to Guido von List

The following extract from Gott als Giboraltar, die Welt als Makrokosmos, der Mensch als Mikrokosmos, part 3 of Die Armanenschaft der Ario-Germanen.

My translation immediately follows the German original.


" `Der unaussprechbare Name Gottes` kann wohl erkannt, niemals aber ausgesprochen werden; jeder muss ihn selber fuer sich finden und erkennen lernen.

Dieser ungeoffenbarte Gott aber offenbarte[materialisierte] sich, und die Formel sagt: `Gott hat die Welt erschaffen.`

Der weitere Lapidarsatz aber lautet: Gott hat zwei Ebenbilder von sich erschaffen: die Welt und den Menschen.

Da Gott selbst Eins ist, so hat er die Welt-nicht die Erde, sondern das All!-als ein Einiges erschaffen;

da Gott selbst ewig ist, so hat er sie als ein Ewiges erschaffen; ewig in ihrem Grundstoff, vergaenglich aber in der Form;

da Gott selbst in seiner geoffenbarten Form veraenderlich ist, hat er der Welt eine wandelbare Form gegeben;

da Gott die Vollkommenheit selbst ist, hat er der Welt die vollkommenste Form des Sphaeroides[Kugelform] gegeben;

da Gott unermesslich ist, so hat er sie als das Groesste von Allen, als das-Unmessbare-erschaffen:

da Gott das Leben selber ist, so hat er die Welt lebenszeugend geschaffen;

da Gott allmaechtig ist, so hat er sie allein durch seinen Willen und aus sich selbst geschaffen."



`The inexpressible name of God` can indeed be discerned but never be pronounced; each must find and recognise it himself.

This unrevealed God however reveals (materialises) himself, and the phrase says: `God has created the world.`

The next succint sentence says; God has created two likenesses of himself: the world and mankind.

Because God himself is One so he has created the world-not the earth, but the All!-as a unity;

because God himself is eternal, so he has created it as an eternal thing; eternal in in its raw material, temporal however in form;

because God himself in his revealed form is variable, he has given the world a changeable form;

because God is perfection itself, he has given to the world the perfect form of the sphere;

because God is beyond measure, so he has created it as the largest of all, as the unmeasurable;

because God is life itself, so he has created the world as life-generating;

because God is almighty, so he has created it alone through his will and out of himself.