The Tripartite Division of Indo-European Priestly and Magical Orders

Most magical orders which have their origins amongst the Indo-European peoples operate a tripartite system of 'degrees' which are levels of initiation which a candidate undergoes to demonstrate their advancement in the lore of the order and their understanding of increasingly complex concepts. Amongst the Germanic and Celtic peoples knowledge and lore were transmitted orally for two reasons; firstly those societies were largely non-literate by the modern understanding of the term and secondly the transmission of lore from one person to another-a master to an apprentice was to ensure that the said lore was restricted to only those who were deemed 'worthy'.

Stephen Edred Flowers comments on this system of 'education' in his Freemasonry and the Germanic Tradition (Lodestar, 2015), pointing out the tripartite division not only of local masonic lodges but amongst the Indo-Europeans generally. He remarks that "They jealously guarded the secrets of the various crafts-". The best way to do this of course is through a degree system. It should be remembered that despite the many conspiracy theories regarding masonry it does have its roots in the mediaeval European trade guilds. There were two main types of guilds-merchant guilds and craft guilds. The guilds were introduced into England from continental Europe following the Norman Conquest but guilds may in fact be traced back to ancient Rome, known as collegium. That is not to infer that there was any continuity between the Roman and the mediaeval guilds, only that the concept survived the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Interestingly guilds feature in one of Wagner's music dramas, Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg, the guild of Meistersinger (Mastersingers). Guilds consisted of only masters. A journeyman wishing to join a guild must produce a 'masterpiece' of his work and pay the necessary fee for joining the gild. Only a master craftsman was allowed to employ other workers but many masters chose to remain as employees or become sole traders. A journeyman was a fully qualified practitioner of his craft after having completed his apprenticeship to a master. An apprentice lived with his master and was bound to him for a number of years whilst he learned his craft, receiving lodging, food and clothing as payment. After completing his training and producing a work of quality the master would recognise him as a journeyman, granting him documents as evidence of this. He also had to pay a fee to his master for the privilege of being his apprentice. A journeyman was paid daily for his work-from the French  journee until he became a master. Of course the most obvious understanding of the term is that the craftsman would literally journey around. They would move from town to town to gain experience. Halfway through his journeyman years could a journeyman apply to a guild to become an apprentice master.

Dr Flowers informs us that in ancient times the guilds were dedicated to a specific God or Goddess who was regarded as the patron of the guild. With Christianisation these divine patrons were replaced with Christian saints. Indeed he argues that the practise of the craft itself became a form of worship. (page 26) Many of the rituals of the mediaeval craft guilds became incorporated within freemasonry and sadly many Jewish and Christian elements were interwoven with the heathen. One particularly interesting observation that he makes is that the gavel of freemasonry has its origins in the hammer of Thor and the gavel is of course used within American courts of law. We are told that in early Germanic times judges opened their courts with three distinct hammer blows. Again we have the Indo-European tripartite symbolism. Whilst English, Scottish and Welsh judges do not use gavels there is one exception. In the Inner London Crown Court a gavel is struck to alert parties to a case that the judge is entering court. However this is used by a Clerk of the Court and never used by the judge during proceedings. Why this is done only in this court I do not know. My understanding is that a gavel is used in the United Nations but its most ubiquitous use is by auctioneers.


Guilds ensured that crafts were carried out to a certain standard and often they had a great deal of political influence. To a certain extent one can see how trade unions developed from this concept. Karl Marx in his Communist Manifesto was greatly critical of the guild system because of its hierarchical structure. Whilst I am not an advocate or a supporter of freemasonry it must be recognised that its structure is most certainly Indo-European in nature as its emphasis on the transmission of lore from master to apprentice.

Another term for a journeyman is 'fellow'. Dr Flowers points out that this term is derived from the Old Norse felagi. One can see how the tripartite system of apprentice, fellow and master may be seen the orders of chivalry: page, squire and knight. (See Flowers) A page began his training to become a knight at around 7 years of age, learning how to look after himself, ride a horse and learning to fight. From about 14 years of age the page would become a squire and be sent to live with a knight, being his shield and armour bearer and learning in earnest the mediaeval martial arts. If after having proved himself in battle then the squire would be dubbed as a knight. Eventually the grade of squire would become a position in its own right-the Lord of the Manor. Incidentally the German term for a page or a squire is Knappe and is also used for a journeyman which demonstrates how engrained the tripartite system is in the Indo-European world. Knecht is an alternative term to Knappe but it can also mean 'slave' or 'thrall'.

The Indo-European tripartite system may be found amongst the Celtic druids. According to Diodorus Siculus and Strabo the druids appeared to be subdivided into three classes:- druids, vates and bards. The vates or ovates were associated with soothsaying whilst the bards were the poets. Modern magical orders such as the Rune Gild use the apprentice, fellow and master degrees along with drighten as their highest degree. The English Wodenist order, Woden's Folk in the past also used an apprentice, fellow and master grading system along with their highest grade, Einheriar which would roughly correspond with the level of drighten in the Rune Gild.

Guido von List (1848-1919) believed that the ancient priesthood of the Teutons, the Armanenschaft consisted of three degrees of apprentice, fellow and master (See The Occult Roots of Nazism. Secret Aryan Cults And Their Influence on Nazi Ideology, 1985, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke). Each degree had its own passwords and handgrips, a practice carried over into freemasonry. Apparently a novice would spend seven years in study of the Eddas and basic theosophy before being elevated to being a brother (fellow) and then like the journeyman of the mediaeval guilds he would travel to various Armanist centres in order to gain a varied experience in working as a priest, governor and teacher. After seven years in this grade he would be elevated to the grade of master. This learning process and division of responsibilities reminds me a great deal of what we know of the druids who were a professional caste of priests, leaders and teachers.

A Search For an Anglo-Saxon Alternative to the Term 'Priest'

I have over recent years pondered on the terminology that we should be using for the function of priest within our heathen rites. Priest is a universally understood term but I am a little troubled over the christian connotations and wish to explore alternative and more Germanic terms. Preost is a term used by the Anglo-Saxons (See A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary by J.R. Clark Hall]). However from my studies of the term it appears to originate with the christian priesthood via presbyter. This in my opinion would make it unsuitable for us to use. 

Our research is limited by the scant amount of original Anglo-Saxon literature, especially during the pre-conversion period as pre-christian Germanic society was largely a pre-literate one. Literacy was reserved for the rune masters and priests. Therefore we must also resort to exploring the terms used by other Germanic peoples. Before we do this we need to consider if there are any other Anglo-Saxon alternatives to preost. Aeweweard could be a suitable term but its pronunciation may be too difficult for some to to accept in everyday useage. Also strictly speaking the term is defined as law-guardian (Rudolf Simek, Northern Mythology). The astute observer will note the second part of this word-weard, a term which we already use for hearth and gemoot warders. If we recall the Icelandic example the priest was also a temporal chieftain although the situation was different among the non-Scandinavian Germanic peoples where the two offices were separate. 

Heargweard is a more interesting and in my opinion relevant term for the hearg was the sanctuary or temple and thus a heargweard was the guardian of the temple. In Iceland the priests were called gothar, the singular being gothi, the female gythja. The Gothic equivalent gudja corresponds closely to the Old Norse gudija. A temple priest in Icelandic would be a hofgothi. Clearly gothi's specific meaning is god man. Hofgothi is very similar to the Anglo-Saxon heargweard with similar connotations. On balance I am in favour of the use of the term heargweard as Anglo-Saxons and Saxons this is more likely to be term which our ancestors used and differentiates us from Odinism and Asatru. We do not need to be dependent on their terminology nor do we need to use terms that are christian in origin or connotation. I have decided to post this article on all three of my blogs as I wish this to have as wide a circulation as possible to encourage reflection and debate.