Wotan-the Archetype of the Awakened Aryan Man

Wotan/Woden/Odin represents the archetype of the questing and awakened Aryan man, in particular the questing and awakened Germanic man.

Whilst it is clear from our studies of Germanic mythology that Wotan was not the original primary God of the Germanic pantheon – that honour rests with Tiw/Tyr/Ziu  – nevertheless, Wotan represents that questing and awakened part of the Aryo-Germanic soul more than any other deity.

In this article I wish to focus in particular on Wotan’s sacrifice of his eye and the way in which he has been presented as a wandering and questing God, especially in the Wagner’s music dramas contained within Wagner’s magnum opus, Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wotan appears in only the first three of these music dramas: Das Rheingold, Die Walkuere and Siegfried. He is conspicuous by his absence from Goetterdaemmerung. In Das Rheingold and Die Walkuere he is known by His primary name of Wotan, but in Siegfried, where the emphasis switches to the God-man Siegfried and the world of Middle Earth, He appears in His guise as Der Wanderer – the Wanderer.

It is in this human guise that he interacts with the world of men. Der Wanderer makes his appearance in Act One, Scene One and is described by Wagner as follows: “The Wanderer (Wotan) enters from the forest through the door at the back of the cave. He is wearing a long, dark-blue cloak; he carries a spear as a staff. On his head he wears a hat with a broad, round brim, which hangs down over his face.”

Clearly Wagner is drawing an association with Wotan as the Wild Huntsman who emerges from the forest. It is in the forest that we as His followers may more effectively communicate with Him. He is known in other forms and in particular in England as Herne the Hunter. His purpose as the Wanderer is two-fold: to obtain wisdom and to impart it.

It is surely no coincidence that all the great advances in technology and learning throughout history have been made by Aryan man and in particular by Germanic man. Within the psyche of Aryo-Germanic man there is a thirst for learning and the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom, not for the sake of acquisition, but in order that we may advance to the next stage of our development – the God-man. Aryo-Germanic man is the Sun Initiate who, having come from the stars, seeks to return there.

It is no coincidence that the modern space age is the direct result of the achievements of German scientists, many of whom were used by both the USA and the USSR after WWII to further their quests for the exploration of outer space. During the Third Reich, Germany experienced an explosion of knowledge and technological development which coincided with the Wotan archetype being unleashed in the collective mind of the German people through His avatar Adolf Hitler.

Germanic man is by his very nature an explorer, an explorer of new worlds, whether on this planet or in outer space, even the world of the human psyche and I think in particular of the Swiss-German founder of Analytical Psychology, Carl Gustav Jung, who has done more than anyone else to reveal once again the great Aryan soul-lore of our pre-Christian ancestors, knowledge that has been suppressed by the alien desert creed of Christianity.

Wotan represents for us the supreme Aryo-Germanic man (or woman). He encapsulates everything that we are – or should be. Jessie L. Weston, in her Legends of the Wagner Drama, defines Wotan as “the embodiment of the spirit of the Germanic peoples.”

In order to obtain wisdom Wotan sacrificed his eye for a drink from Mimir’s well, which is where He resorted to to gain wisdom and knowledge. His eye now dwells in the depths of the well. The Eddas do not reveal which eye He sacrificed. By sacrificing His eye He gained wisdom and in many ways this should, like his hanging on the world tree, be viewed as an initiation. His sacrificed eye is associated with wisdom which cannot be acquired through personal experience but that which is granted to the individual, that which in a sense is inherited just as we inherit wisdom and knowledge via the Collective Unconscious from our ancestors. This type of wisdom is deep as represented by the depths of Mimir’s well and must be associated with the right side of the brain which is the storehouse of images and symbols – the means by which the Collective Unconscious communicates with us – whilst the left side of the brain is more analytical and concerned with the human Ego.

Christianity and its associated secular creeds have temporarily detached the Germanic peoples from the Wotan archetype. It is only by responding to His call, the Call of the Blood, that we can realise both individually and collectively our supreme destiny.

'Aryan', Essentially a Racial or Ethnic Term According to L. Austine Waddell

An extract from LA Waddell's A Sumer  Aryan  Dictionary:

"The title Aryan is the Anglicized form of the Sanskrit Arya, the 'noble or exalted', a term which is employed in Indian literature, ancient and modern, solely in a racial sense to designate the fair ruling and civilizing race as opposed to the dark aboriginal subject people, and India itself was called the 'Land or Region of the Aryas'  (or Aryans). It is also used in its proper racial sense by Huxley in the heading in designating the fair long-headed people, now mainly represented in Europe by the British and Norse or Scandinavians, the so-called "Nordics" of modern anthropologists.

It is similarly used in a racial or ruling sense by the Sumerians, Akkads, Amorites, and Hittites in its earlier form of Ar, Ara, Ari, Har or Harri, also meaning "exalted or noble" (see Ar, Ara, etc in Dictionary), and similarly with a like meaning in Ancient Egypt (see Hari, Heri under Ar in Dictionary); and ancient Greek name of Aeria or Harie for Egypt, probably designated that country as the 'Land of the Ari or the Aryans'. The Medes, as Herodotus records, were formerly called Arii; and 'Ariana' or 'Land of the Ari'  was a title of Persia and the source of the modern name Iran for that land. The title Harri is used by the Mitani or the Early Medes, on their records about 1400 B.C.  Darius-the-Great calls himself on his tomb 'an Ariyo of Ariyo descent'. It is the Her title of the Ancient Goths, in their great epics, the Eddas, and the source of the modern Herr or 'master' of the Teutons and Scandinavians, of the Irish Celtic Aira, a 'chief' or 'nobleman', and of the Ar in aristocratic (see Ari 'Aryan' in Dictionary).

This title Ar, Ari, Arya, or 'Aryan' , appears, as I have shown, to have originally designated the Early Aryans as "The Ploughmen" from the Sumerian Ar, Ara, 'plough', which is now disclosed as the source of the Old English ear, "to plough, to ear the ground" and of 'ar-able', etc. (See Ar, "plough" in Dic). The Aryans are now seen to have been the traditional inventors of the plough and of the Agricultural Era of the World; and the sense of Ara or 'the exalted ones' appears to have been used for this title when this gifted race became the rulers of the various aboriginal tribes-the Sumerian also gives the plough sign the meaning of 'raise up, exalt' as the secondary meaning of ploughing as 'the uplifting' of the earth (see Ara, exalt, in the Dict)."

Mr Waddell in his Makers of Civilization in Race and History writes:

"The title Arya, Englished into 'Aryan', is the usual term employed for the white race, now called from its western stock 'Nordic', from the very earliest Vedic period by the eastern or Indian branch of that race who have uniquely preserved its early traditional history and records; and the same race is similarly so termed by the Ancient Persians who also belonged to its eastern branch. And the title was and is solely used by them in a racial and in no other sense; and especially it is never used by them in a linguistic sense as is popularly supposed-a useage which was only introduced by European philologists a few generations ago. That title Arya literally means in both the Indian Sanskrit, the old classic language of India, and in the Ancient Persian language 'the exalted or noble one'; and it is derived as I have shown from the Sumerian Ar, Ara 'exalt, lofty, shining, glory' which is also disclosed as the remote Sumerian root of our modern word 'Aristocrat' or 'noblest or most excellent governor', derived through the Greek, a word which well defines the older ethnic meaning of the word 'Aryan'. For the civilizers of the old world are now disclosed to have been more or less exclusively of this Aryan stock, which was essentially an aristocracy of master-men, the ruling race who established Civilization and who civilized the aborigines by their enlightened rule and science; just as in the Greek classic period of Europe, Greek Civilization reached its zenith under a military aristocracy of this same Aryan race, and weakened and became practically extinct with the weakening and practical extinction of this Aryan  racial element from the population there. Indeed the later Sumerians do appear also to have used this title in a racial sense in the aspirated form of Ha-ra, which is defined in the bilingual Assyrian glossaries as 'The host of the nation or people.'

The title Ara, Arya or Aryan is found as a designation of rulers or masters to run throughout the whole family of the  Aryan languages, including the Egyptian, presumably because the early rulers and masters were of this race. Thus it is in aspirated form the Her, Hera, Hearra or Herr, 'lord or master' of the Goths, Scandinavians, Germans and Anglo-Saxons, the Aire 'chieftain' of the Irish Scots and Gaels and so on. It is the Arios, Harios or Harri of the Medes, and Arya and Airya of the Ancient Persians in a similar exalted and racial sense; and it is thus proudly used by Darius the Great on his tomb where he calls himself 'An Arya of Arya (n) descent', and Xerxes called himself a 'Harri'. The early sea-going branch of the Sumerians, the Morites or Amorites who have left many "prehistoric" inscriptions in the British Isles, whilst calling themselves Mur, Gut or 'Goth' and Kad(forms of Khatti, Catti or 'Hittite'), also called themselves Ari, which now appears to be a dialectic form of this title 'Aryan'." 

Aryaman/Airyaman/Ariomanus/Eremon/Irmin-the Divine Concept of Aryanness

Within the various Indo-European mythologies there exists a God who encapsulates within Himself the very nature and essence of Aryan man. Aryaman (Indo-Aryan), Airyaman (Iranian]) Irmin (Germanic), Ariomanus(Celtic-Gallic) and Eremon (Celtic-Irish) are all cognates of the same deity which must hearken back to Proto-Indo-European times. Apart from the linguistic similarity, these Indo-European peoples are spread over different parts of the globe making linguistic borrowing highly unlikely. Therefore the undivided Aryans must have had a common name for this God.

Aryaman is a solar deity and represents the spirit and very essence of Aryan society. Jaan Puhvel interprets His name " 'Aryanness', the deified embodiment of social self-identification." (Comparative Mythology). He draws a link between Aryaman and the Iranian Airyaman. It should be noted the especial closeness between the Irish Eremon and the Gallic Ariomanus. Indeed Mr Puhvel states Eremon is "etymologically the equivalent of the Gaulish Ariomanus." He then goes on to draw further connections between Eremon/Ariomanus and Aryaman/Airyaman. He states that the names reflect the "same personified 'Aryanness' " and he uses the Proto-Indo-European term for this; *aryomn.

The Celtic Eremon and Ariomanus and the Indo-Iranian Aryanman and Airyaman represent the two geographical extremes of the Indo-European world and yet the names are consistent. These Celtic and Indo-Iranian deities are all connected amongst other things with road building and marriage contracting. Furthermore Mr Puhvel links these four deities with the Germanic Irmin who is specifically a Saxon God. The Irminsul, which is the West Germanic equivalent to the North Germanic Yggdrasil, a world pillar or tree contains the name of this deity, signifying that like His cognates He is a solar deity. The Old Saxon word irmintheod means mankind and by extension 'Irmin's people'. Again we have the same sort of meaning as found in the name Aryaman.

We can draw further links with the Indo-Aryan Manu or the Germanic Mannus. Mannus is the divine ancestor of the Germanic peoples. Manu has a similar position amongst the Indo-Aryans. The 'manus' in Ariomanus and the 'mon' in Eremon may be indirectly linked to this Indo-European divine ancestor. *Aryomn, the reconstructed PIE word for this deity indicates that His presence is to be found not only amongst the Indo-Iranians but to the chagrin of the Aryan-hating liberal multiculturalists He is present amongst the Celts and Teutons as well indicating once more the appropriateness of the term Aryan as a self-designation for all native Indo-Europeans. It is also an indication that aryanness is a concept worth cherishing and protecting. It is the spiritual and physical essence of who we are as Aryans.

Thus the Ar-man is the son (ar) of light; he is the son of the Aryan Gods and Goddesses as we have long known and felt within us. His totem is the eagle, the aar and his rune is the ar rune: " The 'ar', the 'urfyr' (primal fire, god), the 'sun', the 'light' will destroy spiritual as well as physical darkness, doubt, and uncertainty. In the sign of the Ar the Aryans-the sons of the sun-founded their law (Rita), the primal law of the Aryans, of which the earn, or eagle(Aaar), is the hieroglyph." (Guido von List, The Secret of the Runes/Das Geheimnis der Runen).

The Descent of Spirit into Matter and its Subsequent Ascent

In Listian Armanen lore there is the concept of arising to becoming to passing away to new arising which I have discussed before in various articles. This is a form of reincarnation which is limited to the race, the tribe and the clan which one can find evidence for from a careful study of the literature from and about the pre-Christian Germanic and Celtic peoples.

This concept is discussed in detail in Das Geheimnis der Runen by Guido von List (English translation and introductory and biographical material added by Stephen E. Flowers, PhD in The Secret of the Runes). This concept was further developed by Karl Maria Wiligut (see Secret King by Stephen E. Flowers, PhD). His concept is illustrated in the "Irmin-cross" used by Wiligut which shows sprit descending in to matter. This is the vertical movement. The horizontal movement shows the impulse towards form and life. Where these two movements intersect consciousness, form and life arises. This idea is also represented in the Not Rune-the turning of Need. Aryosophy and Theosophy recognise that the destiny of the Aryan Fifth Root Race is to evolve back into pure spirit. Spirit descends into matter in order to experience, learn and develop and then to return back to pure spirit.
This is the destiny of our race and the individual man-god who is part of that race. 

The descent in to matter and the subsequent ascent in to spirit is codified in the mediaeval Wendhorn rune, the Anglo-Saxon Eolh and Calc runes and the Armanen Man and Yr runes.

The All-Father and His Subdivision

All the Gods and Goddesses are but aspects of the All-Father who is Himself a revelation of the Absolute, the unknown, unknowable, unrevealed, impersonal and immaterial God. This Urgott is androgenous but in order to experience He/She/It must first divide Him/Her/Itself into male and female, to become a divine dyad. Spirit must condense and become spirit/matter, soul/body, light/darkness, day/night, heat/cold, fire/water etc.

We find that the Gods obtain their divine consorts (Wuotan/Frigga,etc).
The dyad subsequently becomes the triad. Throughout the Eddas we find that All-Father Wuotan/Wotan/Woden/Wodan/Odin is often accompanied by two other Gods:
Wuotan-Wili-We
Wuotan-Hoenir-Lodur
Wuotan-Hoenir-Fricco
Wuotan-Thor-Fricco
Har-Jafnhar-Thridi

The Aesir gives form to humanity and lower intelligence but it is Wuotan alone who grants spirit, soul that imparts to them the divine ray. This triad is also present in the three Norns-Urda, Verdandi and Skuld. We also see this replicated in the Listian concept of Arising-Becoming-Passing Away to New Arising.

The three most holy ones subdivide into the heptad, represented by the 7 planetary spirits:
Sun-the Urfyr (primaeval fire), All-Father symbolised by the empty circle, representing not only the sun but eternity. This is the central and most important celestial body, without which there can be no life in this physical and material plane of being and becoming.


Moon-Mani/Mannus/Manu-the progenitor of Aryan humanity-the only true humanity which originates on the moon which is considerably older than the earth.
Mars-Tiw
Mercury-Wuotan
Jupiter-Thor
Venus-Freya
Saturn-Surtur
This system replicates itself in the days of the week-
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

All the Aryan peoples have a continual reminder about the legacy of their ancient and ancestral Gods in the days of the week. There are of course seven colours in the spectrum of the rainbow but we must remember that three of these-blue, yellow and red are the most important and only true colours. The other four merely mark transitional phases in the spectrum. We find this concept also in the idea of the three most important Gods-Wuotan and the other two (who of course vary in identity). Ariosophy speaks of seven elements-fire, water, air, earth and aether. The sixth and seventh elements will not be revealed until the emergence of the sixth and seventh Root Races.

There are 7 Goddesses of love-Gefion, Snotra, Siofna, Loba, Wara, Syna and Fene. The seven must be viewed as the division of the white light into the seven-levelled spectrum of the rainbow. Also in music tones rise along seven levels to a higher octave.

There are also seven Root Races and humanity is currently at the end of the fifth Aryan Root Race and is preparing itself for its higher spiritual evolution into the sixth Root Race. Man will start to ascend back into spirit, away from matter. The heptad further divides into the twelve High Holy Gods of the North, referred to in the Eddas and respresented by the 12 signs of the zodiac, the twelve months of the year and the twelve halls of the Gods.