The Left-hand of Odin

By Äsruþr Cyneaþsson

Copyright © 2016 Äsruþr Cyneaþsson

All rights reserved. All work remains the intellectual property of Äsruþr Cyneaþsson. Reproduction may only occur with express permission of the author, other than referenced quotation. The author may be contacted via: AAsruthr.cyneathsson@gmail.com. The author accepts no responsibility for the misuse of any information contained herin.

Cyneaþsson, A. 2016

The Left-hand of Odin

I. Occult, II. Philosophy, III. Mythology Bibliography and Indexed

ISBN: 1530792371

ISBN-13: 978-1530792375

DISCLAIMER: The information and philosophies contained within this book are for information purposes only. The author takes no responsibility for individuals whom employ the techniques or ideology discussed within this work. Application of the processes described within this work the remit of the individual and at their own risk. The author is not responsible for any persons who use the information or ideas contained within this book for illegal activities or if any person is injured or harmed by the information contained herein.

Raing tisa

Dedication & Acknowledgements

This work is dedicated to my wife and daughter for their continual support of my work. My time is given to philosophy and the subsequent writing or research work. When otherwise engaged, it is usually within some action related to my goal of self-deification. I thank them as they have the patience necessary to live with me.

I of course give thanks to my tutors—Odin, Amon, Han and Crg. Sincere thanks to Ignatius Erebius of the Order of Apep for his guidance and editorial assistance. All of them continue to tutor me. Each day carries a new experience and insight. Without these, we have no possibility to grow. I also give huge credit to the work of my philosophical heroes, Friedrich Nietzsche and Carl Gustav Jung. So much of their work opened my mind, made me realise that many of my thoughts and ideas were indeed valid, and had been present in one of the greatest minds ever to exist. Credit also to Ihsahn and Grand Magus. Their music has fuelled many a session of work.

Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................. 11

What is the Left-hand Path?..................................................... 17

The Herd upon the Right-hand Path........................................ 35

The Individual.......................................................................... 52

Those that have walked the path .............................................. 56

Cultural Representation of the Path.......................................... 70

Markers upon the Path............................................................. 74

Walking the Path of Odin: ....................................................... 81

Odin-the Grey: ....................................................................... 116

Why Odin is the iconic tutor upon the Left-hand Path .......... 116

The Other Gods, Goddesses and Wights .............................. 132

In conclusion.......................................................................... 142

The Nine Worlds................................................................... 151

The Path of Yggdrasil ............................................................. 158

Magic on the path................................................................... 166

Runic hours ............................................................................ 247

The Yggdrasil Array ............................................................... 251

Transmission of energies ........................................................ 262

The Ethics of Magic ............................................................... 268

Bibliography ........................................................................... 278

About the author .................................................................... 295

Table of Figures

Figure 1 Aegishjalmur of Fafnir/Sigurd………….…………..…114

Figure 2: map of Yggdrasil…………………………………………..156

Figure 3 Alignment of the eight realms…………………………252

Figure 4 alignment of the runes for intonation……………….253

Figure 5 Aegishjalmur with ritual attribution of runes……..255

Figure 6: Example of the Gibu Auja bind rune………………264

Introduction

Is Odin an archetypal god of the left-hand path? This question provides the basis for the investigation that comprises the first part of this work. In order to assess this question and form an answer, it is necessary to understand its components. As such, we need to clarify what the left-hand path means. Likewise, we then need to analyse the mythology of Odin. The objective of this analysis is to assess whether he is a form of the archetype to which the question refers.

Once an answer to the principal question is given, then the question arises: How can the individual embrace this archetypal being, Odin… and to what benefit? This question forms the bases for the second part of this work, with its focus upon the Odinic runes and the utilisation of magic for the development of the individual.

The original intention was to tackle these two questions as separate works. Throughout the initial drafts of these texts, it became clear that the content of each was required in order for the other to be coherent.

In order to comprehend the value of the runes as an initiatory process and the act of manifestation of the individual will the result of a magical manipulation of the energy flows of Being^1, then the individual needs to understand the archetype known as Odin. Subsequently, the combination of the works occurred in order to produce a more cohesive philosophical text.

The intended audience for this work is those with an interest in either Odin or the left-hand path. Those with academic or philosophical interest in the left-hand path will gain some insight into the view of Odin in these terms. Those of a heathen or pagan theistic background may find their conception of Odin insulted, altered and clarified, in a way such as they will disapprove. The views expressed herein are of a subjective nature and are intermingled with interpretations of other authors and great minds.

It is a common experience to seek validation for our thoughts and beliefs. We seek confirmation that we are right through the validation of peers for our thoughts. This need for validation is often the resultant by-product of the institutionalised pedagogical subjugation that promotes the need for peer approval. A good philosophical text has no prerequisite requirement to be wholly in agreement with the individuals own ideology. It is a sign of a weak character that borders on fundamentalism when an individual or group is unable to accept other contrary views without criticism of them as weak or incorrect. One of the greatest pieces of advice I learned long ago was that when told to avoid a book or text, to ignore such advice and instead immediately read that work and form an independent evaluation of it. It is the sign of intolerant hooliganism to criticise or decry the ideas and beliefs of others without an appreciation and first-hand knowledge of their views. One should seek to understand completely an ideology before one decides to incorporate it into one’s own system, or, whether to critically analyse and deconstruct it. A full knowledge of their allegories, philosophy, and pedagogy will afford sufficient ability to reason for or against their adherents; or in defence of one’s own theology.

1 There is a differentiation between ‘Being’ and ‘being’ throughout the text in accordance with Martin Heidegger’s discussion of the terms (Introduction to Metaphysics, 2014). The capitalised form, ‘Being’ refers to an emergent process that Heidegger links to that of ‘becoming’. The non-capitalised form denotes manifest individuals in accordance with Heidegger’s treatment.

The left-hand path begins with individuation. Only an awakened mind thinks and evaluates for itself. If you are new to this approach, awaken… Approach this book with an open mind. It is important here to clarify the elitism of the author.

The author holds no racist beliefs and harbours no religious, homophobic or xenophobic hatreds. Although an elitist and supremacist, such is only with regard to the belief that select persons are superior to the chattel that constitute the majority; that they and their superiors have no ethnic or religious requirement which denotes an automatic superiority.

The awakened elite have no restriction upon ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, or social status. No one people can be entirely superior. Every nation and society contains elements that represent the base levels of humanity. Every hive has its workers and soldiers. Unchain the mind and open it to new thoughts. Ignore what you think you know and prepare to consider ideas anew. When one is the first person to have an idea or thought and for it to be right, then the common view is that the individual is wrong.

Part One: The Left Hand

What is the Left-hand Path?

The left-hand path is an alternative philosophy in the approach to life, religion, and magic. The common approach to religion and life is some variant of the right-hand path, such as subservience to a god and the desire to become one with said god in the afterlife via subjugation, abstinence, and pity. Alternatively, the left-hand path is one of free will, antinomianism, and selfdeification. The dualistic nature of the approaches of the left and right-hand path is intrinsic within human nature. The tendency of the human mind is to interpret all data and thought in terms of a relative nature. The subjective base for assessment is how similar or dissimilar to known standards a thing is. As such, that assessed as hot is not equal with that known as ice, yet both have the potential to burn. Such is applicable to all in relative and polarised dichotomies. Thus, we define cold is the absence of heat. Darkness is the absence of light. The polarisations of the essences of these notions ensure that they may never be confused. The polarisation of the data is however subjective in terms of both qualification and quantification. The child raised in sub-Saharan Africa has a different measure for the notion of ‘cold’ than the child raised inside of the Arctic Circle. What is one person’s pain may be another’s pleasure.

Stephen Flowers, in his book The Lordsofthe LeftHand Path (2012), defines the left-hand path as a path of nonunion with the objective universe. The individual forces the objective universe to harmonise with their will. In contrast, the right hand path is where the subjective universe of the individual must harmonise with the objective universe and thus annihilate the individual, as they become one with it. Flowers describes the right hand path as theocentric or alleocentric 2whereas the left-hand path is psyche 3centric (Lords of the Left-Hand Path, 2012). The Jungian process of individuation embodies some aspects of this approach, as does the Gurdjieffian acts in pursuit of an awakened state. Both the processes of Gurdjieff and Jung require the

realisation and definition of what is the ‘I’, and what is ‘other’.

Jung employed the term ‘self’ to describe the totality of the ‘I’ in combination with the collective unconscious mind and we need to be mindful of any confusion caused accordingly^4. The terms of magical application, posited by Flowers, where we can use the terms white magic and black magic, provides a clearer conceptualisation of the morality of the left-hand path. Morality here denotes the subjective notions of good or evil, beneficial or harmful. Ethics is societies agreed set of moral values to which the chattel are expected to adhere.

Carl Sagan presents a detailed overview of the linguistic associations of the left-hand and right-hand in TheDragonsof Eden(Sagan, 1978). Sagan summarises the common linguistic association of the ‘right’ with correct behaviour and masculinity. Conversely, ‘left’ links linguistically with weakness, evil, and

2 Other centred.

3 Self or soul centred.

4 Jung gave a definition of the ‘self’ as part of his lecture series on Nietzsche (Jung's Seminar on Nietzsche's Zarathustra -- abridged edition, 1998). Jung describes the ‘self’ as a borderline concept of that beyond our total knowledge. Jung equates man’s ego consciousness to that of the Earth and its orbit of the sun, where the sun represents the unconscious. Jung provides the psychological definition of: “the self is the totality of consciousness and unconsciousness” (Jarrett, 1998, p. 130). Jung further elaborates upon this notion in his suggestion that the total personality, inclusive of the ego or ‘I’, is the self (Jung C. G., Aion - Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, 1981).

femininity. The Latin origin of the term ‘sinister’ is the Latin word for ‘left’, thus the association of left and evil or wrong is furthered through the employment of the term ‘sinister’ to denote intentions deemed ‘evil’ by the user.

Further research into the physiology of the human brain reveals the left hemisphere is responsible for conscious thought and language skills, whilst it controls the right hand side of the body. The right-hand side is responsible for more intuitive thought and artistry and controls the left-hand side of the brain.

Given these physiological traits, the historic association of mediumship and magic such as the Norse Seidras feminine and passive would mark them as of an origin in the brains righthemisphere, subsequently the left-hand. As we will later examine, Odin combines the masculine left-hemisphere of linguistic magic in the Runes with the feminine arts of Seidr. In this combination of both hemispheres of the brain, Odin combines the masculine and feminine, the conscious and unconscious, and subsequently utilises the fullest potential of his brain.

It is possible to link the Western conceptual left-hand path to that of V mam rga, the Hindu tantric practice. This practice includes actions aligned to those of the Western left-hand path such as the inclusion of practices contrary to the morality of commonplace society (the consumption of beef for a Hindu), the use of sexual ritual, and the emphasis on the feminine power. Practitioners of vama margaare referred to as vamacharin’s (Hurley, 2012, p. 6), perhaps a connotation of interest to many on the left-hand path, especially those with an interest beyond moral philosophy who dare to examine the realms of magic. The

5 A type of magic/sorcery generally held to be the magic of females and dishonourable for males to engage in. 6 A Sanskrit term denoting the left-path. See also V m c ra with its meaning of “left-handed”.

7 Trans. Magicians

vamacharin’s conduct antinomian acts within the sphere of Tantra. Leigh and Philip Hurley (Tantra Yoga of Ecstasy, 2012) trace the reference to the left-hand path in Tantric terms to times when lefthand dominant people were also viewed as sinister or evil by their communities.

Hurley and Hurley’s outline of Tantra for the vamacharin almost perfectly summarises the totality of left-hand path practice. In their analysis of the Hindu form of the left-hand path, Hurley and Hurley describe how the practitioner of Tantra, the sadhaka, must proceed beyond the confines of popular morality and asceticism which are designed to restrain the lesser individuals as the cages of a zoo enclosure protect the animals from the outside world and vice versa. The internal yoga meditations and philosophies of the left-hand path practices are touched upon, as are the externally objective actions such as the consumption of sacrilegious meat and the performance of sexual acts outside of the procreation of marriage.

Despite these similarities, the Western left-hand path has its roots elsewhere. The Western left-hand path is a syncretic system that includes Yezidi devil worship, Templar practices, existentialist philosophy, and rejection of Christian influenced morality.

Whilst it is commonplace to think of white magic as natural or good magic and black magic as evil, this view is a simplistic interpretation of white magic as of the right hand path and black magic as of the left-hand path. The key variance between white magic and black magic is the presence, or absence of, what constitutes prayer. Regardless of form, prayer is prostate plea of subjugation. To kneel before a mighty being and plead for assistance or forgiveness is to deny one’s responsibility. In the act of prayer, one remains in a state similar to that of a puppy. Only through self-reliance and responsibility does the puppy become the wolf. The adherent to the left-hand path worships no deity – other than whom it is they may become. The individual acknowledges the potential inherent within the self as the inner god-force, capable of the manifestation of reality in accordance with the quantum psychology of Robert Anton Wilson. As the later examination of the morality of Odin demonstrates, there is the necessity to possess the strength of will to act outside of common moralistic conventions and independently judge what the correct action is. The individual then seizes full-responsibility for their actions, rather than ever beg for forgiveness.

8 Trans. Magician.

9 A Kurdish community with religious links to Zoroastrianism who worship Melek Taus, a Peacock Angel commonly equated with the Abrahamic Satan.

On Good and Evil

Before we examine the common perception of black and white magic, it is appropriate to discuss ideals of good and evil. As such, we will provide some perspective upon the views of magical and philosophical systems within the context of each.

The term ‘good’ is almost entirely subjective and relative. What is deemed ethically ‘good’ by society is typically derived from popular opinion. In respect to socio-ethical ‘good’, it is notable that society once deemed slavery ethical and ‘good’. The common reference is to that which is desirable.

An Abrahamic theistic approach holds good to be that which is in accordance with the divine decree of God, or more specifically Yahweh. Another definition for ‘good’ is that which is beneficial to the self. Socrates equates it to that which is pleasurable in Plato’s Protagoras(Plato, The Portable Plato, 1977) and desirable in the Symposium. Even an act of charity benefits the self in the sense of superiority generally created. In all actions, those, which ultimately benefit the individual whom undertakes such actions, are good. Where the individual deems an act good in that it benefits the whole rather than themselves, then such selfsacrifice is ethically good despite its possibility to harm the individual. Such sacrificial acts of good are those such as the actions of soldiers whom offer their lives in defence of their country as they are deemed beneficial in the wider context of society. It is the needs of society that thus form the basis for the ethics of socially ‘good’ behaviour. The application of a relativistic polarisation is required where there is a conflict as to what is good. The actions of a bank robber ultimately benefit the criminal in the fiscal gain and are as such morally good for the individual, yet they are counterproductive in relation to others and social ethics, and to the civic freedom of the criminal if caught. Here is where we find the measure of ‘good’.

The individual deems that which benefits the self, good. Conversely, the individual deems that which degrades or takes away from the self, ‘evil’. To gain is good, to lose is evil, – therefore, Gordon Gekko 10 was correct in the statement that “greed is good”. It is however important to note that what is good for an individual may indeed be that which is in the interests of the greater good. Thus, it may be in the interests of the bank robber to cease criminal activity. The result may be an immediate detriment to the individual wealth, yet the long-term gain in welfare is possibly of greater value. The actions of a criminal may be good in perspective of the criminal; however, the society that ultimately loses as a result deems the actions wrong or evil accordingly.

Complex situations such as when the criminal ultimately benefits the majority of society as in the story of Robin Hood and the redistribution of wealth across the poor of society are thus relatively an act of good and evil. It is essential to acknowledge that the common view, the ethical view, of that which is ‘good’ is that which is in the interests of the majority. Through a collective of the common morality, we create the ethics of society. It is this table of ethics that provides the common basis by which we may judge which is ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Where society benefits, it judges an act ethically good. Where the individual deems an act to be good, then their morality may be in conflict with the ethics and thus the law of the society that they inhabit.

10 A character in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987, 20th Century Fox.)

Socrates consented to the death penalty for his views, which were contrary to the socially accepted ones. Such may seem a consent to evil in the immediate effect, yet Socrates evaluated beyond this immediacy and foresaw the potential to gain true knowledge of that which no man knows – that which awaits beyond death^11.

Morality occurs on at least three levels. The personal subjective morality determines what is ‘good’ by immediate or long-term gain for the self. The socially approved morality is a variation of ethics and contains a consensus as to what is moral behaviour (i.e., with a view towards the benefit towards the whole of society).

Ethics may infringe upon what is good for an individual in order to benefit the majority. There is also the application of political morality wherein leaders act in accord with their own morality, which may ultimately lead to a revaluation of ethics. The leader is at times required to act beyond their own morality in a manner that is in conflict with social ethics in order to bring forth a change that is for the overall good. Such would be the case with a leader such as George Washington whom acted firstly as a revolutionary (contrary to the social norm) and then later as an exemplary leader that defined the ethics of a country and form of government.

11 “… I ought to be grieved at death, if I were not persuaded in the first place that I am going to other gods who are wise…” (Plato, The Portable Plato, 1977, p. 199). Here we find Socrates in debate as to the existence of the soul. Socrates here explains his philosophical approach to death “…the real philosopher has reason to be of good cheer when he is about to die, and that after death he may hope to obtain the greatest good in the other world” (Plato, The Portable Plato, 1977, p. 200)

“One holds that what is called good preservesthe species, while whatiscalled evil harms the species. In truth,however, the evil instincts are expedient, speciespreserving, and indispensable to as high a degree as the good ones; their function is merely different.”(Nietzsche F., 1974, p. 79)

In order to describe ‘evil’, the common tendency is to reference events or actions that the individual or society holds to be undesirable or cause a loss of some sort, a moral evil. The other general form of ‘evil’ is that of natural evil. The tendency is for the personification of natural evil in order to assign blame for death and destruction by natural events. Such is the common blame for evil laid at the foot of Satan^12in order to excuse God from omnipotent incompetence. A Darwinian view on society however negates the issues of natural evil and ascribes benefits to the evolution of stronger species through the survival of disasters and disease.

The application of the term ‘evil’ does cause issues when viewed in terms of theology. For the Abrahamic 13 faiths, the application of the term ‘evil’ is fraught with obstacles and issues. To hold the faiths to the strict description of Yahweh^14, is to deny that Yahweh is the omnipotent, omnipresent, and good god described in their holy books.

12A title with the original translation of “adversary”. See further discussion within In conclusion,p.147.

13The Abrahamic faiths are those who claim lineage to Abraham (e.g. – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). 14 Derivative of YHWH, the Hebrew name of God.

No omnipotent god can preside over our being whilst allowing ‘his people’ to suffer in natural disasters, plague, starvation, and war unless that god cares only for his own good and little for the good of the people. In order to uphold the view of Yahweh as omnipotent, it is needful to accept that Yahweh is also inherently other than good, thus he would be evil in equal measure as evidenced by the number of natural disasters, wars, plagues, and famines visited upon the world (i.e., in stark contrast to the number of documented miracles). The dilemma is thus: is Yahweh other than the omnipotent creator god he has led many to believe; or, is he actually evil as well as good?

Evil and Mysticism

Given the common attribution of evil within mystical and magical texts, it is appropriate here to look into the representation of various beings and approaches to morality within esoteric study. The study of the Qabalah of Judaic mysticism provides a further complication to the definition of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Thomas Karlsson 15(Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic, 2012) outlines five forms of evil:

Positive/Negative evil

15 Thomas Karlsson, PhD, is a Swedish occultist whom heads the Ordo Draconis et Atri Adamantis, commonly known as the Dragon Rouge.

The duality of good and evil at polar extremes, where negative evil manifests as the absence of good.

Dualistic/Monistic evil

The existence of a dualistic combination of deific beings, where one is good, and the other is evil; as in the typical Abrahamic faiths (e.g., ideas of God and Satan); or, a monistic view that the extremes are both aspects of the same deity. An idea that is difficult to accept for many followers of Abrahamic faiths.

Material/Spiritual principles

The idea of material evil is that the possession of materialistic objects is in contrast to the level of the divine. As the divine is spiritual, then that which is manifest is opposite. If the spiritual is good and holy, then the manifest world is evil and unholy.

Personal/Impersonal evil

The personification of evil as a being, such as Satan, who bears a personal vendetta against man as Yahweh’s chosen species. The apportionment of blame to Satan for acts deemed evil is the belief in a personified evil. Impersonal evil removes the idea of free will and has evil as a force of the universe, which acts without intellectual guidance.

Necessary Evil

The existence of evil is required in order to identify the opposite as that which is good. Within the Qabalah, we find the fall of Da’ath (Lilith) from the nature of Yahweh, thus we find a necessary evil. This fall gives rise to the new Sephiroth, or Tree of Life and the Qliphothic Tree of Death. The structure of the Qabalistic Tree is worthy of study given its usage in divine alchemy^16 and the application of its design to the map of Yggdrasil for the magus below in the later section on The Path of Yggdrasil. The fall of Da’ath results in the emergence of the submissive Eve as Malkuth. In a contemporary alteration of the tale, we would portray Yahweh as a dictator whom portrays himself as ‘good’ to his people through manipulation of media and the creation of false flag incidents in order to create an ‘evil’ from which people flee. It is outside the scope of this work to detail the Qabalah and Qliphoth. Concise works on this subject exist elsewhere for the interested reader.

Thomas Karlsson in Qabalah, Qliphoth&Goetic Magic (2012) provides an excellent analysis of the Qabalah in terms of the Tree of (immortal) Life and the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. It is the forbidden fruits of the Tree of Knowledge that ultimately lead to the banishment from Eden and the loss of immortality that arises as a punishment. What knowledge is Yahweh so fearful that man will learn?

Within the practice of magic and its media portrayal, the typical perception of white magic as good and black magic as evil. A similar bias occurs within the mythic tales of chivalric knights who battle an evil black knight for the hand of the fair maiden. White magic is little more than a mix of herbal medicine, meditation upon candles and prayer. The act of prayer is its key ingredient (regardless of if it gods or demons that are invoked or evoked and asked to perform deeds). This magic is external to the magus or witch, rather than derived from within their self. They rely upon pre-existent energies or a powerful being to do their work, placated by worship and prayer; or, the threat of harm against the being via a more powerful being. It is notable that it is ‘white’ magicians who typically perform the goetic evocations. Typically, skilled ‘black’ magicians utilise their own will power rather than unduly coerce etheric entities.

16 Divine or personal alchemy is the development of the individual towards unity with the totality of deity. Such is in contrast to the practice of practical alchemy, which focuses upon the transmutation of metals and other substances.

A quick analysis of a goetic ritual (from a typical grimoire) result in the identification of the following elements:

Coercion of a daemon into manifestation through the usage and threats on behalf of the Abrahamic God.

Entrapment of the entity within a triangle of entrapment, whilst the magician shields himself within a circle marked with varied divine names derived of the Tetragrammaton.

Threats that employ divine names derived of the Tetragrammaton as a weapon to force the demon to consent to the demands of the magician.

Threatened banishment of the demon.

In mundane life, we would deem similar actions as those undertaken in such a ritual as either blackmail or coercion (i.e., forcing an individual to act against their will). Even the grimoires of Aleister Crowley are comprised of similar goetic rituals; and, thereby indict Crowley, the Great Beast, himself as a practitioner of right hand path white magic.

Further investigation into the origins of many ancient grimoires shows that their authors claim to be devout practitioners of Judaism or Christianity: included amongst these is the Clavicula Salomonis^17(written in Catholic France in the 12th Century), and the Lemegeton, 18 which includes the infamous Goetia (that claims King Solomon as its author).

17 Trans. The Key of Solomon the King

Indeed, the Book of Abramelin refers to its author as Abraham the Jew and has integral references to Judaic mysticism throughout its content. Aaron Leitch provides an exceptional analysis of these works in his work Secrets of the Magical

Grimoires (2013) .

His analysis outlines an argument that the classical grimoires drew their authors from the lower ranks of Judaic rabbi’s or Catholic priests whom were surplus to requirements of scholarly work and justified their existence via dedicated service to the literary arts . He also has the courage to suggest that similar scholarly priest wrote many of the Satanic grimoires for shock value. However, such an accusation was then heretical and even now is generally unthinkable by orthodox religious authorities. It is therefore important to note that these grimoires, although attributed to others of legendary status above persecution through status and historicity, were authored by Christian monks and Judaic rabbis rather than an historic form of Satanist 19. The common masses certainly had no access to such heretic texts. Likewise, they lacked the requisite literacy to produce such works. It is tradition to deem that these works are the work of literate and wealthy nobles, as suggested by Leitch. His analysis identifies the Christian tendency towards pseudepigrapha^20and the benefit upon sales which results from association with the name of a deceased person of renown.

18 The Lesser Key of Solomon

19 See section on Medieval Magic (Leitch, 2013) where Leitch the reliance upon Judaic magic as a basis for early Christian mysticism and the grimoire’s reliance upon access to churches, along with the similarity in ritual structures as the basis for the thesis that “ the mage either has close connections inside, or is perhaps employed in the Church itself”, (Secrets of the Magical Grimoires, p. 9).

20 The false association of a work with a person other than the author.

There are also grimoires with sufficient literary evidence to place their origins amongst the highest echelons of the Abrahamic faith. Indeed, the Enchiridion of Pope Leo III is a manuscript purportedly given to Charlemagne by the pope upon his coronation (Cecchetelli, 2011). However, it is clear that the Goetic texts of the greater and lesser Key of Solomon, along with other infamous grimoires such as the Grimorium Verum and the Dragon Rouge, all have origins in the Abrahamic faiths.

In order to coerce a summoned spirit into an agreement, the magician must employ threats of god. Such an approach is evidently that of the right hand path given its reliance upon coercion of another being rather than the magicians own energies. An adept of the left-hand path utilises a practical methodology: they would either manifest their will by sheer force (i.e., they have no need of daemonic assistance); or, they would endeavour to work with and learn from the daemon (rather than attempt coercion).

It is religious arrogance at its finest for a magician to expect such a coercive business deal to work in their favour. When a daemon inspires such fear that a protective circle and a confinement triangle are required to protect the magician, then it is of no wonder the course of latter events. Whereupon there is no longer a circle of protection the daemon inevitably turns upon the magician, punishes the fool for their impudence, and affirms the malevolent reputation of daemons. Black magic relies less upon the invocation or evocation of deity or demonic entity. Authentic black magic focuses upon the will of the magician to shape the world to their will.

The followers of the right-hand path, especially those of the Abrahamic faiths, are all too readily prepared to lay slanderous allegations of abuse upon practitioners of the left-hand path (some would argue that such is a result of their own guilty conscience). A prudent study of the medieval witch-hunts or the devil-worship pandemonium of the late 20th century quickly outlines the unfounded nature of these allegations. Such instances say more about the intolerant self-righteous nature of the right-hand path than it does left-hand path practioners. Flowers provides an overview of the devil-worship panic in Lordsof theLeft-hand Path (2012) , as does Michael Aquino who found himself a victim of the modern witch-hunt The Temple ofSet: Volume I, (2014).

The left-hand path is one of no-nonsense personal responsibility and willed self-evolution. Its use of black magic focuses upon the power inherent within the magus as opposed to the mechanical structured combination of energies utilised by a magician of white magic. In respect to the cultivation and use of the deific potential within the individual, this work bears a great similarity to theurgist alchemy. It is possible to deem the right hand path magic as corresponding to the Vanic^21 based nature magic of Norse lore ( e.g., of the use of crystals, herbs etc. and energies external to the magician). Likewise, the magic of Odin corresponds to that of the mind, the individual, and the flame of inspiration: i.e., it is Ansuz. This approach corresponds to the Norse form of the left-hand path. Odin combines his mastery of the mental magical arts with that of the natural based properties he learns from Freyja.

Despite what many feel about the art of Seidr, it is originally a Vanicand feminine magical art (Edred, Witchdom of 21 Vanic denotes the attributes of the Vanir – a group of gods and goddesses representative of the natural manifest world and widely seen as fertility gods. 22 Ansuz is a rune of the Elder Futhark. See the later chapter Magic on the Path: Runes for a detailed analysis and interpretation. 23 Seidr – a form of magic associated with Freyja and represents a form of Dionysian state of where the performance of sorcery is through the channelling

the True, 1999, pp. 36-37). The instruction of the Vanic art of

Se idr to Odin, by Freyja, reflects its vital importance to the pursuit of true wisdom and the infringement of cultural norms. Here we need to reference the Jungian definition of the self.

Jung describes the self as the sum of the ego consciousness, the individuals unconscious, and the collective unconscious. This view the consciousness is as the Apollonian of Nietzsche and the interaction with the collective unconsciousness as a Dionysian experience. The Apollonian emphasises the conscious control, thus it is the art of galdr and the enforcement of will upon external realms. The galdr is the magic of the Aesir and of Odin. The Dionysian embraces a rapturous inspiration sourced from the collective unconsciousness; they open their minds to the archetypes and relinquish their conscious control. This experience is akin to the magic of the ancient Delphic oracles as well as the trances of shamanism (the Norse Seidr). Within the embrace of the art of Seidr, Odin combines the conscious with the unconscious, “… to designate the totality of man, the sum total of his conscious and unconscious…” (Jung C. G., The Essential Jung, 1998, p. 42) in accordance to his will in Jungian terms.

“It is ind ipensable that consciousness and the unconscious come together, that the superior or differentiatedfunction comes together with the inferior or undifferentiated function… Without that clash or synthesis, there is no new creation…” (Jarrett,1998)

energies and gods. Historic reference to it as a magic are as being shameful for men to practice given its feminine nature.

The form of Seidrwork done in the today’s world is likely to resemble a form of Shamanic practice: e.g., some form of journey through the worlds, visits to the spirits of ancestors and the use of herbs in some form to aid the journey. Since Seidrincludes no aspect of initiatory experience (i.e., the associated development of the practitioner), and is reliant upon that which is external to the self, it may be classified as an art of the right hand path. It is possible to define the gods of the Vanir as gods of the natural cycle and world, thus the causal plane of manifestation, with the Aesir as gods of ordered consciousness, the acausal plane, respectively. The Jotun^24tend towards the Aesir in that they are external to the causal natural cycle: moreover, they can arouse chaos and destruction, yet they are also extremely intelligent. Odin and his brothers separated themselves from their Jotun-kin via their conscious awareness: – of action and reaction, the need to bring forth order over the chaos, and to create a new order of worlds. Thus, we have the three forms of magic to correspond to three forms of divinity: chaos, natural and mental (or the magic’s: chaos, white and black).

“Magick is the Sc ience and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with the Will” Aleister Crowley, (Magick: Liber

ABA, Book 4, 1997, p. 126)

Where the common religious practices of the Abrahamic faiths trust in their God to help them with all issues, the left-hand path individual embraces self-reliance in their lives. This individual utilises tools (such as magic, education, and psychology) to obtain their goals and development, rather than beseech a god for assistance. Friedrich Nietzsche addressed the developmental existence of man in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Nietzsche F. , 2003) . Nietzsche describes man as the rope between two towers, the bridge between where we are and where we may venture to if we are brave enough, “between animal and superman” (Nietzsche F. , Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 2003, p. 43). However, there is no guarantee that one’s bravery or valour is sufficient: for skill is required. Even so, death is failures recompense.

24 Jotun – a race of giants, the primal beings that personify both great wisdom and might. Many of the Aesir gods are half-Jotun such as Thor.

A key fundamental of this approach is that the individual gain a full appraisal of their own abilities and limits. Once we know our abilities, we are then able to expand upon them: as such we may become more than whom we know ourselves to be. There exist varied opinions about how one may gain this insight: abstinence from food, physical exertion and endurance, sleep deprivation, etc. These methods test the body to its limit and allow the individual to assess their will. At what point do you quit? How far can you push yourself before you quit? On the other hand, will your body shut itself down before you yield?

Suggested Reading

Flowers S. E., Lordsof theLeft-Hand Path, 2012

Kelly, Apophis, 2009

LaVey, TheSatanic Bible, 2005

Webb, Uncle Setnakt’s Essential Guide To The Left Hand Path, 1999

Karlsson, Qabalah, Qliphothand Goetic Magic, 2012

Regardie, ThePhilosopher's Stone, 2013

Regardie, The MiddlePillar, 2007 Jung C. G., Aion - Researchesinto thePhenomenology of theSelf, 1981

The Herd upon the Right-hand Path

The public largely follow a right hand path approach: for, too often the masses ask for assistance. Like the sheep that wait for the farmer to feed them (i.e., lazy and dependent), they usually never develop the skills to seek food and freedom for themselves. We can find such sheep as the paragon of the Abrahamic faiths: where the acknowledgement of sin and submission to God is the foundation of belief and the beginning of wisdom. This model is the inspiration for the modern welfare state wherein the state is the Shepherd and its sheep exist solely upon its welfare: with no desire whatsoever to find employment; to be responsible for their lives; or, of self-betterment so that they may change the course of their lives.

With an idea of salvation from sin, heavenly paradise, etc., it is possible to argue that the Abrahamic faiths and their variants are at cause in the derogation and erosion of society’s honourable values and morals. It would seem that, given the large numbers of elderly people who attend church later in life, that although their omnipotent, vengeful God may judge them, they may turn to their saviour Jesus Christ in order to seek salvation from their sins. A donation here and some penance there can atone for all past sins, so why adhere to a code of honour or moral behaviour. Live freely in the knowledge that forgiveness is attainable for all sins and one’s actions have no detrimental effect upon the present and future situation. Somewhat amusingly in view of the conceptual term of ‘the herd’, is the description of the Christian church congregation as the ‘flock’ and The Lord Jesus Christ as its ‘shepherd’. As such, the foundation of the church is based upon submission, control, and subjugation of the masses (i.e., the herd of sheep) to their superiors.

“…to attackpassions at th eir roots means to attack life at its roots: the practiceof the Church is hostile to life…”(Nietzsche F. , Twilightof the Idols andThe Anti-Christ, 2003, p. 52)

“Religion is a power, a political engine, and if there was no God, I would have to invent one’ said the great Napoleon.” (Redbeard,2013, p.19)

Insecure and weak minds naturally seek solace and comfort amongst the masses: where their power is greater and their failures are hidden or obscured. Algae present a formidable collective mass, yet are insignificant as an individual. We find lesser examples of the chattel behaviour in those that use the ‘most popular lists’ or ‘top ten lists’ of films, books, and music etc. to dictate what they read, view, or listen to. Why would anyone wish to adhere to what the majority of people think especially when the very definition of ‘common’ is the majority and is likewise a pasture of mediocrity? There are of course the traits of fashion and popularity that younger people are more inclined to follow, yet some of the greatest artists in any field were often wildly unpopular in their time – only now held in reverence posthumously. The construction of society is such as to suppress individuality. Fashion, bestseller lists, and peer pressure conspire to make social outcasts of those whom are none conformant.

“ …itistheinstinctofmantheherdanimal that thinks it knows, that glorifies itself and calls itself good whenever it allots praiseor blame.” (Nietzsche F. , Beyond Good and Evil, 1998, p. 89)

A schoolchild will know the pressure to wear the latest cool trainers or have the current status object. Individuality most often leads to victimisation. Thus, conformity with the herd offers protection. Schools in England attempt to reduce this element of social behaviour through the enforcement of a uniform. The reality is that the uniform is none other than a school enforced herd identity. Furthermore, schools have an increasing tendency to be ever more intrusive on the 'individual' as they seek to restrict or decree the clothes, hairstyles, jewellery, and facial hair allowed for students. The suppression of individuality in terms of aesthetic is the basic conditioning state of the herd mentality within the developing mind. The individual is suppressed and becomes an adherent component of the system

We see herd indoctrination at work within the syllabus used to ‘educate’ children today. With an ever-increased focus upon the examination results, the requirement is for teachers to teach strictly the answers that the examiner expects in order to award the best marks. There is no room for subjective answers and opinions in the modern education system. In practical applicability, maths requires straight answers; all other ‘knowledge’ is subjective and up for discussion. Once a basic grasp of the fundamental tools and principles of rational thought are acquire, then students should be allowed to table their own interpretations of what was meant by Shakespeare in a certain play or question the validity of a historical account. Religion and philosophy should be the focus of debate and free thought once the basics of what the beliefs and types of worship are established. Where is the encouragement to allow students to identify their own beliefs? Art critique in schools is limited to the teacher’s aesthetic merits. They could be a complete artistic idiot with responsibility for the critique of others.

“…man is, relatively speaking, the most unsuccessfulanimal, the sickliest,theone most dangerously strayed from its instincts”(Nietzsche F. ,Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ,2003,p. 136)

“ In the nursery, at school, andat college, plastic brain-pulp is deliberately forced into the pre-arrangedmould.” (Redbeard, 2013, p. 7)

Society is quick to accept the ‘facts’ presented by scientists. We easily forget that so much of science is mere theories and as such, science is simply another form of religion where its scientists place blind faith in the theories and equations until they either prove them or replace them. It is comical to see the science ‘fact’ once studied, rewritten with new qualifications for planets that cause an alteration to the solar system as we know it and the big bang theory constantly subject to change and evolution. The pedagogical presentation of any aspect of scientific theory ought to have clarity and should as such be taught as theory, rather than fact. It should instead be covered under the syllabus of religion and philosophy as it really is the largest religion in the world today and yet is never questioned by the herd that place blind faith in the words of scientists. If conspiracy theories are true and the Americans never did land on the Moon, then the reason the lie has survived so long is that if NASA puts scientists on television to explain the science behind the mission or discovery. The common person accepts instinctively what the priest in the scientists white laboratory coat provides as an explanation without cynicism.

Common sense is often other than the best course of action, as it is simply what the consensus would be as to the course of action to take. It is possible to say such of common law, based upon precedent and those who find themselves the first to commit a specific crime can often escape punishment if such acts occurred previously and ruled against the law of the land. Common sense and common law are often ineffective and fallible for the very reason that they are indeed ‘common’ and ‘general’ rather than an application of rational judgment on the specific case and individual.

The failures of the 'common view' are exactly why democracy is untenable as a system of government. When one seeks to ask as to the frequency one should feed the cattle, does one ask the farmer, the sheep or poll them all? In a dictatorship, the farmer responds. Communism would like to ask the sheep. In reality, it is the dictator perceived as the spokesperson for the sheep whom responds. In a democracy, we ask everyone and give their vote’s equal weight, with the non-contributional masses of lesser intellect given the same power as the superior farmer and by weight of numbers has the greater say. A society built upon the will of the masses will of course cater for that mass-a weak and parasitic mass will therefore seek the protection of their stasis and the downfall of the superior beings or higher classes in our society. Those individuals who work hard and reap financial reward are then a target for higher taxes. The parasitic masses demand that the successful people should pay to ensure they never have to undertake any task other than to survive other than take their financial handout. The result here is that democracy rewards the weak parasite in the allowance of it to control the overall organism through massed numbers. In no other field of life except government, does the rational view deem to allow the proliferation of a parasite to the extent that it controls the host. We face the invasion of the body snatchers on a socio-political scale. A democratic system ultimately allowed Adolf Hitler to rise to power and so democracy is as susceptible to fault as any system.

Our ancestors knew of this inherent fault. Feudal kingships gave rise to great states, leaders and empires where democracy played little or no role-the British Empire and Victorian England, Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire, Henry VIII, Napoleon, the Egyptian dynasties, the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire, the Han Dynasty, the Russian Empire, Alexander the Great and even the Roman Empire (the Emperor was elected by the elite rather than the populace) and of course the Holy Roman Empire which enslaved millions into guilt and subjugationall accomplished more than most of democracy has done so with perhaps the Greek Senate the only democratic system of merit. Democracy works in times of peace and plenty. The need is for strength to pull a country through a tough situation and great people and nations have a tendency to rise to the forefront because of conflict.

The great United Kingdom coalition government of World War II saw Winston Churchill raised to the position of Prime Minister despite his previous reputation as too bullish and of a loose cannon persona. The Allies needed that bullishness with his self-belief in his knowledge of what was required and the acceptance that tough decisions were necessary and people would die as a result. The contemporary view of Churchill is now as the United Kingdom’s greatest Prime Minister. The National Health Service was the work of others, rather than Churchill. Neither was the emancipation of slaves or the equality of rights for all his achievement. He led the country against insurmountable odds and came out victorious through his will and belief, which in turn solidified the will of the troops and country behind him. Churchill's use of Aleister Crowley's “V for victory” symbolism (Churton, 2012) was merely the public tip of his value to the country as someone to rally behind.

The vilification of Margaret Thatcher was such that the parasitic masses that they held parties when she died. How they would react if someone held a party at the death of their loved ones clearly never entered their minds and betrays their lack of individual judgment. The truth is that the herd never mourns the death of the farmer. Thatcher is second only to Churchill in terms of our great Prime Ministers. She crushed the unions (herd protection of herd interests) that had crippled the country, cemented the idea that a woman could do any job traditionally thought of as a man’s (contrary to common perception) and she also brought prosperity to the country for the first time since the two World Wars. It was a time of boom driven by finance and new technology, made possible by her actions. Only the financial sectors and business leaders appreciated the strength of leadership displayed by Thatcher. The bankers in this instance are the farmers above the parasitic herd and she became a deification of their will. Thatcher's demand for a refund of the United Kingdom’s contribution to the European Union funds is legendary and defines her will and power over weaker souls. Both Churchill and Thatcher are examples of the harsh medicine that is required, yet deemed undesirable by the herd. Although as individuals, it is unlikely they were on the left-hand path, they had the will to achieve the task they undertook and could easily have made great strides upon the path.

Indeed, since the advent of democracy we have seen the fall of the great old powers in Europe and the brief rise of the great democratic United States of America. With a superpower built upon the financial income garnered from loans to a post war Europe, the USA flew the flag for democracy worldwide, with a reign as the major superpower both financially and military wise for some 70 years. At one point, the American Dream was almost the complete embodiment of the left-hand path. An individual can rise above mediocrity by sheer determination alone. Sadly, like Victorian London, the mundane herd ultimately came to outnumber the elite and by way of democratic equality, the elite became the outcasts in favour of the ‘everyman’. Ultimately, the likes of Homer Simpson replaced Sylvester Stallone as the poster boy for the ‘American Dream’.

The ideal of democratic government is one contrary to the goals of the left-hand path. Whilst the freedoms enjoyed within our democracies are worthy of praise, they do come at a price. The freedom to practice the religion (Atheism included) of one’s choice is ultimately that which allows such a text as this to exist. There is a need to separate the ideas of a liberal society from the idea of a democracy. A democracy ultimately destroys the liberal idea. The herd will cast out and destroy those that threaten its existence. A philosophy contrary to the goals or ideals of the herd is subject to imminent destruction. A liberal society can exist under any form of government, if the form of government supports it. The moment a tyrant, king, elite government, or democratic lobby decides that they will no longer tolerate liberal thought, and then the removal of freedom is instantaneous. The singular tyrant or king is at least likely to be of higher intelligence. The elite oligarchy will also likely of be above average intelligence given that they, or their families, have risen to positions of prominent wealth and influence. The democracy however lays the majority of power for decisions and influence in the hands of those with average or lower intelligence. The sheep truly run the farm and object to the presence of wolves.

Such criticism of democratic government is historic, yet equally relevant to contemporary society. Socrates identified five forms of government in Plato’s theRepublic,(The Portable Plato, 1977). He outlined the approaches and realisations of these governmental styles and gave a hierarchy of descent from ideal leadership into chaos. Socrates began with aristocracy as the foremost form. Aristocracy is rulership under a king or queen, whose ancestry typically traces back to a god to infer divine authority to rule. Amongst great aristocratic leaders, we may count King Joseph II, King Frederik II of Prussia, Queen Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Peter the Great of Russia, Queen Cleopatra, Queen Victoria, Sulemain I of the Ottoman Empire, King James I, King John III of Poland, Emperor Meiki of Japan, Rameses II, and Louis XIV of France. These monarchs and aristocrats all embody intelligence and the promotion of great advances under their reigns. Some are renowned for their gifts in politics, warfare, or revolutionary ideas. Certainly, none gave heed to the influence of the plebeians whom knew so little in comparison.

“Monarchy represents the belief in one man who is utterly superior, a leader, saviour, demigod. Aristocracy represents the belief in an elite humanity and higher caste. Democracy represents the disbelief in great human beings and an elite society…At bottom we areone and allselfseeking cattle and mob.”(Nietzsche F. , The Will to Power,1968,p. 397)

The natural successor to aristocracy is that of timocracy. In a timocracy, the natural leaders emerge from heroic acts, revered as semi-divine leaders by the herd. Here we find the rise of the left-hand path individual. It is non-essential for the heroic leader to be born into leadership, as with an aristocracy. Warriors rise to leadership by way of their heroic deeds. A man whom many would follow into war, is the same man that many would then follow in times of peace. Mythic heroes who became leaders are such as Moses and Beowulf. Napoleon Bonaparte is a great example of a leader whom rose to power without aristocratic descent. Genghis Khan is another. Great leaders in a timocracy have great military minds, yet they also have the wisdom to inspire great advances in the civilisations they oversee.

Where there are no natural heroic characters to lead a herd, the oligarchy arises. Those who have land and wealth, inherited from their heroic ancestors, utilise their position of power and purported greater knowledge of how a government should function to lead the country. This situation is the rise of the elite. Those that make use of their position within society, lead that society. Many great politicians have risen to power enabled only by their inheritance, or even minor aristocratic status. Winston Churchill was born into an aristocratic family, and although never likely to ascend to the throne, he did become one of history’s great leaders. A number of great political families, such as the Kennedy or Bush families, are examples of oligarchic dynasties. In the United Kingdom, the historic House of Lords assigned seats through inheritance rather than election and oversaw the actions of the House of Commons, elected by the public to represent the herd. The alteration of the hereditary rite to a seat in the House of Lords typifies the fear of the herd when they perceive government to contain elite persons. Rather than aspire to raise themselves from the herd, it is easier for the plebeian to eliminate the minority elite and reduce all to the base level. Given the aristocratic background of Churchill, it is likely that he would today find himself vilified by the herd rather than appreciated as political correctness insists upon equality rather than acceptance of natural superiority. When the system will no longer tolerate the idea that some may be inherently superior, then it resorts to the reduction of everyone to the lowest denominator and democracy is the means to such an end.

“ …the herdseeksto preserve one type and defendsitselfon both sides, against those who have degenerated from it (criminals, etc.) and those who tower above it.” (Nietzsche F., The Will to Power,1968, p. 162)

Eventually, the herd outnumber the elite. The subsequent revolution leads to the overthrow of the bourgeois. The French revolution saw such an occurrence. The replacement of the oligarchy by a democracy takes place. Here the power is with the plebeian masses. Knowledge, experience, and reason no longer play a role in government. The desires of the masses rule. What the majority desire is what occurs.

Trade unions are a key example of the lower ranks of intelligence and will, closely related to that of government and a model of socialist herd empowerment, where the will of the majority is often against the course of action designated for the greater good. Unions, representative of the labour forces and majority of employees in a company, fight for the rights of the labour force itself and have no interest in the operation of a company other than that it continues to exist and pay the labour as they wish. Trade Union action in the 1970’s, protected the jobs and salaries of coal miners when British Coal supplies were in decline. Ultimately, this action led to the procurement of coal elsewhere by the electricity generators. Thus, the Union action both took salary from its members with unpaid strike action and forced the ultimate closure of British Coal. The same outcomes are evident in the steel and car industries throughout Europe and the United States. It is essential to remember that the Unions were born out of protection rackets, designed to raise money from union fees with little interest in work conditions and job security for the members. Only the demands of members led to actions that are effective in the protection of job security. The organisers of the original unions were clearly pursuant of their own interests and exploited the workers. Perhaps the unions are a left-hand creation.

“Pity on the whole thwarts the law of selection. It preserves what is ripe for destruction; it defends life’s disinherited and condemned…” (Nietzsche F. , Twilightof the Idols andThe Anti-Christ, 2003, p. 130)

“Wh en the socialistwithafine indignation demands “justice,””right,””equal rights,” he is merely acting under the impress of hisinadequate culture that cannot explain whyheissufferng…”(NiezscheF.,The Will to Power,1968, p. 202)

Given that the majority are from the embodiment of the foremost minds in any field by mere definition, then the consequence is one of a ‘dumbed down’ society. Such a society ultimately endeavours to facilitate the survival of the weakest at the expense of the strongest. Such is contrary to nature and led to the great conflict of Darwinism, with its ultimate consequence in the experiment of social Darwinism and its evolution into the field of eugenics in attempt to redress the unnatural subjugation of the elite by the plebeian. Once eugenics is applied, the process of assessment and qualification is subject to corruption and degeneration into racism. As such, eugenics is never an applicable policy for redress. The answer is however simple and natural. The herd protects those who have no desire to provide for themselves. The abusers of the welfare state are no more than a virus. To qualify this analogy, a virus destroys host cells until the host animal is deceased. A virus acts without concern for the result of its actions. The elite may well act as parasitic entities. The advantage is that a parasite recognises its existence is dependent upon the host and as such, acts to ensure the survival of its host. The magus of the left-hand path must strive to be such a parasite and utilise the herd for his or her own benefit. What then is the role of archetypal deity if they are above the parasite? Does the ultimate goal of self-deification present the role of designercultivator?

The decline of society under democratic rule, such as that which is evident today, ultimately leads to the rise of a tyrant. The tyrant seizes power upon the wave of chaos. The herd turns to the tyrant to save them from themselves. Once all-powerful and established, the tyrant ultimately claims the status of deity and proclaims a divine right to rule. The subsequent ancestral lineage then sees the return to aristocracy.

The role of the media in the subjugation of the herd plays a significant part and thus warrants discussion. In an age when information is more widely and freely available to those that seek it than in any other time, the media has become the tool of the shepherds – mass media outlets of news, film and video games occupy the free time of the herd and preach a doctrine that convinces the herd they are free. When the consumer based society urges the herd to want to play video games that take hours upon hours of practice and time to master. Despite the promise of a sandbox world of open play where players can do as they wish and build their own character, there is no gain within the artificial world that is superior in measure of achievement to an act in the physical world.

The origins of sport also have their roots in the subjugation of the herd. Like the emperor engaged in the placation of the masses of Rome, society feeds the herd upon a diet of sport. Fans purchase replica kits and so spend small fortunes upon tickets to affect their support, and dedicate hours of their weekly lives to the mere observation of others engaged in sport. The supporter often lacks physical interaction with the sport that they watch and there is no physical exercise to benefit the individual. The financial cost for supporters of a sports team alone could easily pay for a form of education to further the mind of the individual. Hours spent in observation of a sports team’s performance and the latest sports news each week would easily be sufficient to study. Yet rather than better themselves, the sports fan finds themselves absorbed into the world of mega-rich sports teams and players. The sports stars are now elevated above the world of the sports fan, have risen above the role of gladiators, and present the role of modern day heroic knights.

When the herd devotes most of its time to its work within the capitalist system and then devotes its free time and finances towards false achievement in an artificial world, then what time remains to educate oneself in pursuit of the deific state? In order to truly succeed, one must free oneself from the lure of mass media-be it games or films, television, or sport. To do so is a real test. The drug is sweet and the herd will cast individual rebels out for denial of their addictions.

“Morality is the herd instinct in the individual” (NietzscheF. ,1974)

Nietzsche argued that the herd defined societies ‘table of values’ or ethics. As such, it defines the morality and thus the law of society. If the herd, by popular vote, declare it unethical to earn more cash than they do, then the government puppets in their role as herd elected shepherds, raise taxes against those who have the will and intellect to better their own lives and essentially force them to pay for the ineptitude and laziness of the herd. Nietzsche's message was that the common herd view defines morality and ethics of a society, rather than the laws and ethics as defined by superior people.

For a period of time, which culminated in the 1980s, every product of the American media that took the form of a fictional television programme of film depicted the enemy as the Soviets. The Soviet crime against the Americans was none other than to have a different philosophy on how society should function. A difference of ethics and morals creates rivalry within the herd effect. The reality is that both societies were very similar. The Soviet people believed that they possessed a common goal and all worked together, whilst in reality under the rule of superior intellects and the people had no real choice in their leader. The American people believed themselves to be free to elect their leader, yet in reality only elected the public puppet of the real intellectual superiors who run the government. Americans also believed themselves to be free to better their own lives. The reality is that they are now, as then, allowed to think such because government knows they are too lazy to actually act against it and cherish a belief in the ‘American way’ which makes them happy with their trailer park life, because they chose it. In herd terminology, the battery hen and the free-range hen are both hens who exist to produce food on a farm. Neither hen deserves the right to define what is right or wrong for the farmer to do.

What to do with the herd? The only answer is – that there is no action required. The members of the herd will change their ways when they awaken their minds. There is no requirement to convert or awaken anyone. The ideal is to be there to guide him or her when they seek the left-hand path out as they awaken. They remain as to their will until they choose otherwise. If we were to raise the intelligence of the herd, then we would raise them to the level of the enlightened and higher man. It is better to soar high above the herd. The appropriate course of action is to allow and promote the maintenance of structures such as the mass religion and unions that placate their angers and frustrations in order to keep the herd occupied and calm. Such leaves those who seek a greater level of existence to move on and leave the herd behind. Those within the herd yet unable or without sufficient will to awaken in the Gurdjieffian sense, are best left in situ. A mass herd awakened to a new level of awareness and knowledge merely creates a new herd. We must endeavour to continual rise above the norm as we pursue the Nietzschean Superman.

The focus is upon the self. The individual must define their own moral wrong and right, and set their own goals. Only through definition of our own progression markers can we assess our achievement of goals. A life without regrets is one of achievement. Die with the knowledge that you have no regrets and that you would happily relive it all again-exactly the same. The embrace of Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence is the goal. The purpose of life is to live it and die. The physical existence is separate from the consciousness and the body is merely a larval stage of development for the individual consciousness. Only through ascension of the consciousness can the individual break through the causal planes of Yggdrasil and ascend along the acausal plane of consciousness 25. Avoid the negation of the physical life in mere anticipation of what may wait after life. The realisation and individualisation of the Jungian self is only possible through the embrace of both the conscious ego that exists here and now, and the spiritual nature of the unconscious. The existentialist realises the keys to life. Their truth is other than the denial of religion. It is in the realisation that religion is wrong in its denial of life. The goal of man is to live and die until he defines his own essence and becomes it.

25 See later section: The Path of Yggdrasil, for further detail as to the causal and acausal planes of Yggdrasil and the development of consciousness.

Suggested Reading

Gasset, TheRevolt of theMasses, 1993

Nietzsche F. , The Gay Science, 1974

Nietzsche F. , Human, All TooHuman,1994

Nietzsche F. , Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 2003

Nietzsche F. , Twilight of theIdols and The AntiChrist 2003

Hyatt, ThePsychopath'sBible, 2003 Wilson, PrometheusRising, 2012

The Individual

“ Every exceptional personinstinctively seeks out his fortress,hissecrecy,where he is delivered from the crowd, the multitude, the majority,where he is allowed to forget the rule of ‘humanity’, being the exception to it”, (Nietzsche F. ,

Beyond Good and Evil, 1998, p. 27)

Personality traits viewed by the public as undesirable can often be an advantage to those on the left-hand path and may indeed be typical of the path-which is self-centric. Nietzsche defined some of these in Thus Spoke Zarathustra;sensual pleasure, lust for power and selfishness. A major key trait is that of selfishness. Frowned upon by society as a negative trait, yet this selfish instinct is the motivator behind survival and selfdevelopment. The selfishness referenced here is other than that of a materialistic nature, it is realistic. The individual has a responsibility to look after their self. The world existed prior to the individual and will continue beyond their physical death. Other people should also focus upon themselves. Charity and environmental activists, amongst other fundamentalists, are merely in denial of the reality of the purpose of their existence – to further themselves. Selfish people seek to improve their situation as they wish, to survive a given situation, and have no issue when they take action as they see fit for their interests. The sacrifice of others in order to ensure their own survival is action they are able to consider. Animalistic though this approach may be, the selfish person’s instinct for self may lead to their survival of an incident, whilst heroes stop to help the weak and ultimately risk themselves. The selfish people will save money and relocate themselves into better accommodation rather than donate money to charities to help the cattle.

“Self-preservation first, foremost, above all things, and AT WHATEVER COST; is the law of the jungle. Somust it be among human carnivores. So it is, for societyis ajungle.”

(Redbeard,2013, p.103)

“ Never has a man done anything that was only for others and without any personal motivation. Indeed, how could he do anything that had no reference to himself, that is, withno inner compulsion? How couldthe ego act without ego?” (Nietzsche F. , Human, All TooHuman, p. 92)

The design of life is such that there is no intention for it to be easy. Those that can emerge out of a situation by their own actions elevate themselves and grow stronger and more self-reliant as a result, thus they undergo a kind of initiatory experience. In

Apophis (2009) , Michael Kelly suggests that to beg assistance from a god when they have already given every tool an individual requires to control their own life and resolve a situation is the equivalent of the rejection of a gift and is as such, likely to anger them rather than elicit a helpful response. Kelly presents a relative and applicable analogy. If we are the children of the gods, then why would we seek help from our parents once they have taught us to read, write, run, hunt, speak and given us the house? Have we no shame in when we relentlessly ask gods for assistance with petty problems? Does your mother still do your laundry when you are 30 years old and have left home? If you answer ‘yes’ to that, then close the book now and hand it over to an adult.

Other personality traits that may be typical, yet commonly frowned upon by society are the loner/hermit or socialoutsider. A defined sense of self and morality can isolate friends and family. It is frequently the case in many tales that the magician that the hero must seek is a hermit-like character whom lives on the fringe of society. The freethinker or artist, the inventor, the sceptic who questions all, the rebel who dislikes orders and would rather find the right actions for themselves and those for whom the dark aspect of the occult and religion holds an attraction. These are of course typical rather than pre-requisite requirements.

“ Only a very fewpeople can be independent: it is a prerogative of thestrong”, (Nietzsche F. , Beyond Good and Evil, 1998, p. 30)

The ultimate goal of the magus would be that of the Nietzschean superman: to live every aspect of your life by your will in order that you would be happy to live this life again-exactly the same. Live dangerously, regret no action and know that your morality empowers your and defines your joy. Soar high above the herd and achieve true wisdom. Master your thoughts and your body as tools that you use whilst in this form-then progress to the next manifestation and create yourself anew.

Suggested Reading

Nietzsche F. , The Will toPower, 1968

Nietzsche F. , Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 2003

Hyatt, The Pyschopath’sBible, 2003

Ouspensky, The Psychology of Man’s Possible Ebvolution,1974

Jung C. G., Aion Researchesinto thePhenomenology of theSelf,1981

Leary, Your Brain is God, 1982

Those that have walked the path

There are elements of the left-hand path approach found within the works of Nietzsche, Gurdjieff, and Crowley. Whilst none of these individuals would have described themselves as upon the path, their work has a clear slant towards the focus on and the development of the self. Nietzsche emphasised such through the concepts of the will to power, morality, and the superman. Gurdjieff's work on the fourth man defines a means for the individual to awaken without need for the asceticism of other means. Crowley of course both wrote and acted in manners that are classifiable as partially of the left-hand path. Certainly, he embraced the antinomian aspect when viewed in terms of the cultural environment in which he lived.

With Nietzsche's atheistic nature, Gurdjieff's approach to active control of one’s own life rather than a mere passenger on a ride, and Crowley's use of Satanic imagery and name in his own religion, then it could easily be argued that these were the modern Western pioneers of the current left-hand path prevalent in the Western world. It is possible that they would likely have found philosophic homes within the left-hand path schools of thought embodied by the likes of the Church of Satan and the Temple of Set. Nietzsche and Crowley certainly would have found similar ideologies to their own. Stephen E. Flowers (Lords of the LeftHand Path, 2012) provides a concise overview of all that have influenced the left-hand path and those that are possibly worthy of the title Master. Whilst there is no requirement for a total review of these personalities and systems, there are a few additional notes worthy of addition to Flowers work. What follows is only supplementary to Flowers work.

Anton Szandor LaVey

Anton Szandor LaVey is perhaps the most immediately and widely recognisable contemporary icon of the left-hand path in the Western world. As founder of the Church of Satan, he personified what is most immediately adversarial to the mainstreams of society other than the image of Satan. A serious study of LaVey requires the student to firstly begin with his own core works – The Satanic Bible (LaVey, 2005), The Satanic Rituals (LaVey, 1972) , and The Satanic Witch (LaVey, 2003) .

All of these are widely available as LaVey avoided the option of a restricted publication that results in a scarcity of available copies and artificially drives prices. LaVey instead chose to publish cheaply and make his works widely available. Such demonstrates the vision that LaVey had and ensured availability of his works to all that had an interest. Such a move is likely responsible for his cult popularity in the 1970’s. Unfortunately, there exist many occult authors without the will to replicate the bravery of LaVey. It is easy to hide behind a limited press of a text and then watch copies sell for thousands of pounds with no negative reviews or opinions formed of the author. Those who obtain a limited copy of the text either value it and retain it or cannot devalue their investment when they wish to sell it on and so no negative review ever presents. LaVey had the strength of character required to embrace his antinomian nature as so many contemporary occultist’s lack.

Further study of LaVey is complemented excellently in works by Dr. Stephen E. Flowers (Lords of the Left-Hand Path, 2012) and Michael Aquino (The Church of Satan: Volume I, 2013). Regardless of LaVeyan Satanism’s atheistic philosophy, or the suggestion that the portrayal of atheism was only at lower ranks of the Church of Satan^26, there is no denial of LaVey’s importance within the modern Western left-hand path. For even the atheistic amongst the Church of Satan, the implications of ritualistic psychodrama performed to engender autohypnosis of the ego have theistic resonance. Within the field of quantum mechanics, the formation of reality-tunnels (Wilson, Quantum Psychology, 2011) requires that effective application of the psychodrama effect the creation of such a reality that the conscious observer effectively creates the Satan of their auto-hypnotic ritual. The Satanist may be the only god as far as they are concerned, but if they have talent for their psychodrama, then Satan effectively exists.

Michael Aquino

Flowers (Lords of the Left-Hand Path, 2012) provides an excellent account of Michael Aquino, founder of the Temple of Set. Aquino himself provides a great insight into his philosophy within his seminal works: TheChurch ofSatan vol I &II (2013) and The Temple ofSet vol.I & II(2014) . Both works are readily available from print on demand publishers and Aquino has emulated LaVey in an effort to ensure that his work is available as a free download from his website as a pdf file.

Aquino differs from LaVey in a number of key aspects. Whereas LaVey’s work has a focus upon the employ of lesser black magic, or psychological manipulation, Aquino leans more towards the mastery of greater black magic. Aquino’s greater black magic develops the will of the individual, in a Nietzschean sense, to the level where it may shape the subjective universe in accordance to the desired result. The application of Robert Anton Wilson’s reality tunnels to this idea, along with the implications of quantum theory, lends support to the basis for Aquino’s work and forms the basis for what is described as Greater Black Magic, although Black Alchemy may be a more appropriate term. The Temple of Set differs greatly to the Church of Satan in approach to theism. Whereas the Church of Satan has always promoted itself as atheist, the Temple of Set acknowledges Set as a conscious entity, without a necessarily manifest form.

26 See The Church of Satan: vol. I, (Michael Aquino, p.33).

Given his military career, Aquino’s public presence as an eminent mind and leader of the Western left-hand path is both antinomian and brave. A quick Google of Aquino will reveal some of the overt, inherently Christian, panic aimed towards him. It seems that the combination of Aquino’s philosophy, his role in the Church of Satan and later in the Temple of Set, along with his military career in psychological warfare is indeed enough to terrify the herd.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche is responsible, although inadvertently, for the refinement of thought at the base of what is the current Western left-hand path. It is possible to employ the ideals of Nietzsche as the foundation for a multitude of left-hand path beliefs. Anton LaVey based much of the philosophy of the Church of Satan upon two sources. Clear elements of Nietzsche’s philosophy surface within the SatanicBible(LaVey, The Satanic Bible, 2005) .It is quite clear to anyone who has read Ragnar Redbeard’s Might is Right (Redbeard, 2013) ,that LaVey largely plagiarised this work into his own philosophy. We find Nietzsche within LaVey’s work, either as a directly synthesised ingredient or it as part of Redbeard’s work. Redbeard’s philosophy contains large elements of the work of both Machiavelli and Nietzsche. Where Nietzsche philosophised ‘with a hammer’, Redbeard did so with a shotgun.

Nietzsche would have had much in common with LaVey. It is likely that had he been born ninety years later, then Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan would have proven compatible and attractive for the mind of Nietzsche. Nietzsche’s body of works shows hints of conflict with an atheistic view. Suggested respect for the pagan beliefs of northern Europe and references to Odin are within his texts and make clear his respect for the original blonde beast. Carl Gustav Jung also held the view that Nietzsche had a religious experience with the ‘old man’ archetype. Jung held that it was the form of Zarathustra that inflated Nietzsche with an archetypal god whilst he wrote Thusspoke Zarathustra(Jarrett, 1998). It is noted elsewhere by Jung however than Nietzsche’s poems referred to encounters with a figure which may easily have been that of Odin in the archetypal form of the ‘old wise man’. Nietzsche had exposure to the early Germanic Romantic revival through his friendship with Richard Wagner. As a product of his environment and his philosophy, Nietzsche would have found it difficult to promote the embrace of a character such as Odin. Although the arianosophy movement was in full flow at the time, Nietzsche’s abhorrent rejection of herds would have deterred his interest in liaison with them. A different environment would possibly have seen Nietzsche embrace the same freedom of belief and expression that LaVey did. Nietzsche could easily have been the co-founder of the Church of Satan.

Nietzsche’s The Anti-Christ(2003) also translates as the Anti-Christian.Whilst LaVey would have chosen the former for its antinomian value, subsequent publicity would also have been a factor; Nietzsche would likely have agreed that the work itself is more a statement of anti-Christianity. Nietzsche takes greater issue with the betrayal of the doctrines of Jesus by the Church than he does with the idea of religion itself. His frustrations with religion centre upon the herd mentality where people fail to question what information they receive and believe as guided to do so. It is this abhorrence for the sheep mentality in religion that would have aligned Nietzsche with the Church of Satan. Definition of one’s own beliefs and possession of the strength to embrace all that goes

with them is a trait that Nietzsche would have respected and encouraged.

Themes that run throughout both Nietzsche’s work and LaVey’s philosophy are:

The triumph of strength over weakness

Interrogation of the laws of man and their subsequent merits

The revaluation of moral codes by the individual

The need to live each day to its fullest, so that one is happy to repeat it repeatedly in the same manner without regrets.

The key conflict between the Church of Satan and Nietzsche would have been that through its formation, the Church gave rise to a new herd. Without selective criteria, the Church of Satan is open to all. Whilst this approach is equally an exploitation of the weak minded by the strong at the higher echelons, it also allows the weak of society to seek a refuge within an alternative where they believe themselves to be superior and feared by the mass herd. The reality is somewhat different. The twenty-yearold whom lives with his parents who paints his face with eye liner and dies his hair black because he is a rebel against the populist society he finds outside has yet to awaken sufficiently to walk the left-hand path. The rebellious youth is merely a black sheep engaged in a search for a flock of black sheep, so that he may find what he perceives to be ‘cool’ value within his difference to those that are superior within the mainstream. To truly walk the lefthand path as a master, one must be able to manipulate the mainstream to the will. To be a chief executive officer of a company, a professor, a general in the military—these are the mainstream recognitions of one’s power and might. They also provide a platform for one to steer the herd. The master of the left-hand path seeks to rule over it as a means to his own ends, rather than seek refuge from society.

It is possible to find many of the keys to the left-hand path within the works of Nietzsche. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche defined the evolution of man to his full potential. The work functions as an aphorism of self-deification for those able to decipher it. Thus Spoke Zarathustrabegins with the idea that even gods have need of lesser beings.

“ Great star! What wouldyour happiness be, if you had not those for whom you shine!” (Nietzsche F. , Thus Spoke Zarathustra,2003)

The human mind works in terms of relatives, as does all language. To understand a concept, we must reference it to an equal or opposite. To put this idea simply: think of the sun. It is hot and bright. In order to think such is to think of it as other than cold and other than dark. If one were to say that one loves a person or object, then we can equally express this concept as an absence of hatred towards it. There is only one mental state that has no opposite—fear. To fear a situation or person is other than to hate it. It is unequal to the emotion of dislike. To feel fear when one peers into the abyss has no opposite emotion or state to which it is relative and polarised. It is the triumph over this fear that Nietzsche termed ‘the will to power’. All else is relative. Nietzsche uses relativity in description of the need of a god for worship. If a god has no lesser beings to worship them, then in no terms are they a god. A god is essentially a superior being. Without inferiors, there are no superior states to define a god.

Here we must cast aside all Abrahamic biased ideas as to a god as omnipotent, omnipresent and a creator of the world. We may recognise gods such as Set, Loki, Thor, Apollo, and Poseidon etc. dependent upon mythological preferences. None of these embodies any of the omnipotent traits of the Abrahamic god and yet we still think of them and describe them as gods. Jesus Christ was a man, now worshipped as a superior being within Christianity, and many Christians view him as equal to god, rather than as a prophet. Supremacy of Being is thus equal to godhood in the context of Chrisitanity. Immortality and omnipotence are nonexistent as pre-requisites for the achievement deific status, both in terms of the mythic gods of non-Abrahamic cultures and given the deification of the Christ. With this indoctrinated bias defeated and removed, what remains is the possibility of self-elevation to the status of a god. Mortality and non-omnipotence may no longer preclude the classification of deity. Thus, Nietzsche gives us the goal of self-deification. Nietzsche calls upon man to realise that he is yet to achieve his potential of evolution in the statement:

“Man is something that should be overcome”. (NietzscheF.,Thus Spoke Zarathustra,2003, p. 41)

It is all too apparent that humanity has stagnated in his evolution. No physical or mental advancement is evident in the last 10,000 years since modern man, agricultural man, became dominant. Man has stagnated on the evolutional scale as he solves problems by way of invention rather than adaption. Man’s mind and body are muscles—without use, then atrophy will set in. ‘Use it or lose it’ is all too appropriate a phrase here. If the modern magus seeks to enquire how someone from legend would have mastered the arts of magic and manifestation of their will to such an extent, then a clue is possibly within their lack of technological advancement. With no choice other than to rely upon our one’s own abilities and will power, the only resort is to one’s own focus and determination. The idea that man is a vessel rather than the final goal is vital to the advancement of the person upon the lefthand path. Whereas those in mainstream religion happily seek subjugation, the left-hand path practitioner seeks advancement and empowerment as they seek to complete the process of selfdeification, the Jungian individuation. These are Timothy Leary’s goals of exo-psychology as man must seek to advance beyond the embryonic state in which he currently resides (Leary, Exopsychology, 1977). The practitioner seeks no subjugation to a god; rather they attain to become one. In becoming a god, the practitioner advances beyond the state of Being a man and becomes.

“ Whatisgreatinmanisthatheisabridge and not a goal” (Nietzsche F. , Thus Spoke Zarathustra,2003, p. 44)

Core to the lessons of Zarathustra is the idea of the staged evolution of man. Nietzsche here defines the three stages that a man must pass through in order to empower himself. What is important to note here is that although Nietzsche references the individual in this process, these also applicable to the organisation of society as per those instigated by Heimdallr in Rig’s Saga. Nietzsche begins with the idea of man as a camel— the man whom undertakes the burdens of his workload. This camel is the common man, the worker in society. At some point, the camel becomes a lion when it finds the inner strength to rebel against its master. This strength is that of the revolutionary, the rebel, the usurper to the throne and the elite of society who have enough willed momentum to influence society if they wish. The final evolution is that of the lion becoming the child. The child is the final stage, as it knows the courage to do as it wishes regardless of the instruction of other. The child is the fool of the tarot, Loki in Norse mythology, Snake Plissken in Escape from New York, the rebellious anti-hero so popular in modern stories, the king on the throne whom is bold in action—Henry VIII in his rebellion against the Catholic Church when it would acquiesce to his will. Through these stages, the practitioner knows burden and hardship yet overcomes this struggle. The strength to assert their own will is found when one turns against societies plans and fashionable actions—the embracement of antinomianism. The childish confidence to embrace one’s own desires and put full trust in our own abilities to manifest one’s own will is the final stage. Odin embodies all of these traits, from his pursuit of wisdom, to the murder of Ymir and the structural composition of the nine worlds.

The traits of the man whom is ready to evolve in the Nietzschean sense are:

Strength

Courage

Belief in oneself

These are the traits of the magus or Vitki 27. These are the markers on the path to self-deification. Selfishness is the term that embodies all of these, a term often used to denigrate someone. To be selfish is to assert oneself over others. Selfish people survive in disasters.

27 Vitki – an Old Norse linguistic term in reference to a magician (Thorsson E. , Futhark, 1984)

In addition to the Nietzsche quotes interspersed throughout this work, there follows here other quotations of interest in the overall field of the work, yet without a clear and natural section in which they should be cited.

“ Luredby my style and tendency, you follow and come afterme? Follow your own self faithfully – Take time – and thusyou follow me”

(The GayScience,1974, p. 43)

“The other man comes always from a height

A ndliveswhere praisecan never get – Beyond your sight!” (The GayScience,1974, p. 67)

“Prayer has been invente dforthose people whoreally never have thoughts of

their own and who do not know any elevation of the soul”

(The GayScience,1974, p. 184)

"perhapsman will rise everhigher as soon as he ceases to flow out into a god.”

(The GaySc ience,1974, p. 230) "...every living thing does everything it can not to preserve itself but to become more" (Nietzsche F., The Will to Power, 1968,p. 367)

“ …to realize in oneself the eternal joy of becoming…” (NietzscheF.,EcceHomo, 2004,p. 51)

“One pays dearly for bein g immortal: one has todie severaltimes while alive…” (Nietzsche F. , Ecce Homo, 2004, p. 75)

Stephen E. Flowers

Dr. Stephen E. Flowers as someone whom, still alive and engaged in work of merit, will in time be referenced as a major contributor to the work of the western occultism, the left-hand path, and is a true Ipsissimus.

Flowers work has never conformed to social expectations and he has faced his share of criticism because of his refusal to adhere to that which others deem correct. Flowers has produced seminal works on Runology, Asatru^28and numerous translations of medieval texts, which would otherwise be unavailable without his efforts. Initially held in high regard for the efforts to translate and provide this lore to the Germanic Heathen community, his interests in the pursuit of experience of and knowledge of other magical and mythological systems, along with his membership of the Temple of Set, have and continue to upset a number of Heathens/Asatruar^29. It seems that even modern revivals or reconstructions of ancient religions have those closed mentalities more commonly found in the Abrahamic faiths.

28 Asatru – a belief in the Aesir gods of Germanic mythology.

There are objections to Flowers association with a lefthand path group and interest in Hermetic magic as well as the traditional northern mysteries. Because of these objections, many Heathens view Flowers as both a neo-Nazi and a Satanist. The former because he dared to research and write about the use of runes and magical symbolism by the National Socialist party in order to capitalise in a resurgent interest in Germanic faith and history prior to World War Two. The later shows a lack of knowledge of the Temple of Set whom hold the Egyptian god Set in regard as the first historic antinomian example of the left-hand path. In the case of the allegations of neo-Nazism, these reflect more of the fragile mental state of some within Heathen organisations that would ignore the associations between Heathenry, arianosophy and the subsequent Nazi use of runic imagery. A more scholarly approach, such as Flowers employs, easily dismisses the idea of Nazi’s and Heathenism (Flowers & Moynihan, 2007). Likewise, Flowers’ refusal to constrain his own study to the fields of Germanic occultism have led him to investigate Hermetic systems, Sufi Freemasonry and the left-hand path approach of the Temple of Set. It is Flowers association with the Temple of Set that has led to his label of Satanist within Heathen groups.

29 A common term within American followers of Asatru. Denotes a person whom would classify themselves as Asatru. As Christian is to Christianity.

The Temple of Set is a philosophical home for many scholarly minds upon the left-hand path and was a natural course for Flowers. Many Satanists are atheist and hold Satan as merely a symbol for their approach to life. The Temple of Set’s approach is theistic and academic. The best explanation of the Temple’s approach is found in both The Lords of theLeft Hand Path (Flowers S. E., 2012) the works of Michael Aquino that concern the Temple (Aquino M. A., The Temple of Set: Volume I, 2014).

Flowers is the founder of the Rune Gild, as well as the Ring of Troth^30, which became overly PC and changed name to 'the Troth' after his departure. Through the Rune Gild, Flowers promotes the study of the Runes. It has also enable him to form his masterpiece of the left-hand path -- the Odian philosophy, as found in the seminal work The NineDoorsofMidgard(Edred, 2003). Here Flowers, as Edred Thorsson, provides a practical magical system for runes, galdr, and meditation. He has also created a system of initiation along the left-hand path of Odin -the path of the Odian.

30Translated as ‘honour/trust’, commonly used to denote the beliefs of Asatru/Vanatru (loyalty to the Vanic gods).

Cultural Representation of the Path

Contemporary culture has its fair share of symbolic characters and narratives that encapsulate the left-hand path it in a number of ways.

Snake Plissken

Snake Plissken is the lead character in two films— Escape fomNew York(Carpenter, Escape from New York, 1981) and Escape from L.A (Carpenter, 1996) . Both films are by John

Carpenter and star Kurt Russell as the iconic Snake character. The choice of the name Snake is significant. A snake is widely associated with the devil in Christian mythology. Within the lefthand path, the snake is that of Apep or the wyrmFafnir in Norse mythology. Snakes and dragons are possessors of knowledge and consciousness. The snake led Eve to the tree of knowledge (also known as the Tree of death because of the price paid for its fruits), rather than the Tree of Life. The price for knowledge was the loss of immortality.

31 A term used historically to reference serpentine creatures. Such may take the form of snakes or dragons with mythology and historic sagas.

Snake Plissken is an ex-special forces soldier. At some point after he receives the highest honours possible for an American soldier, he turned to crime and became a legendary outlaw. Here we see the embodiment of the camel becoming the Nietzschean lion. Throughout both films, Plissken is the embodiment of selfish and antinomian action. He is only concerned with his own survival and he deliberately upsets the stability of mainstream society. This destabilisation is his childish Nietzschean aspect that rises to the forefront. In EscapefromNew

Yo rk,Plissken deliberately switches a taped speech that could avert a war and replaces it with one that merely contains music. Plissken then proceeds to nonchalantly destroy the tape that the President of the United States desired. This act is a reaction to the realisation that the world valued the contents of that tape more than the lives of anyone in the film. Plissken’s true mission is the recovery of the tape rather than the President himself. In the sequel, Escape from L.A., Plissken deliberately shuts off all electronic systems in the world and sends the world back to a state before electricity. His words embody the rebalanced game field that he has rendered: “Welcome to the human race”. As per the depiction of Plissken as the ultimate soldier, he has no ambition to lead anyone as king or ruler. He knows that the strong will now rise above the mediocre and his strength and skill will make him valuable and powerful whilst he ensures his safety to live his life alone should he wish. Plissken shuns society and seeks no friends. He relies only upon himself and his own wits and abilities.

The Matrix (1999)/ Neo (character)

Behind the technologically obsessive aesthetic gloss of the plot, there is a left-hand path mythology in Neo’s journey in The Matrix(Wachowski & Wachowski, 1999). The core tale is one of Neo’s entrance into an awakened state of mind. The technological gloss of computer codes and programmes is a mere mask for the deeper philosophical references to metaphysics and scepticism.

The key aspects of the left-hand path are evident in the antinomian behaviour of the counter-culture hacker community to which Neo belongs. The group of awakened hackers have exceeded mere antinomian behaviour within the perceived world; they have physically left the herd. The ejection of awakened individuals from the herd is more than the ejection of faulty components, it is an act undertaken to protect the herd mentality through the removal of disruptive influences. The film clearly references that it is impossible to reinsert those extracted from the matrix, thus the herd is safe from those whom have seen outside of the cave. The mission to awaken Neo to grasp the ‘truth’ is more than a philosophical quest. In the belief that Neo is ‘the One’, the film itself suggests that Neo has the ability to function as deity, with full control over both the perceived world and the real.

Wanted

Wanted (Bekmambetov, 2008) is perhaps the clearest representation of the left-hand path and a Nietzschean evolution of the self ever portrayed on film. A worker (Zarathustrian camel) finds himself the recruit led into a secret organisation of assassins. Through a series of physical assaults that see him beaten and stabbed, followed by a symbolic process through which he heals, he finds himself remodelled (remanifest) as an assassin above society (the lion of Nietzsche’s Zarathustra) and he works to kill those identified by the weave of the looms within the assassin’s base. The symbolism and reference to both the Hashassins (the original Middle Eastern sect of assassins) and the weave of fates upon a loom (the Norse Norn’s/Greek Fates) is clear for anyone well versed in the mythology. His final development as a lion comes with the realisation that his new masters are deliberately engaged in manipulation of the translation of the woven fates— assassinations now sold for profit rather than an act of the blade of Skuld as per their original philosophy. From this lion stage of strength in rebellion, the hero proceeds to the stage of the Zarathustrian child. Here we see him develop sufficient self-belief to conduct a lone attack upon the base of the ‘weavers of fate’. He destroys the society in a further act of antinomianism. This time he acts against the elite who pull the threads of mainstream society. By the end of the film, the hero embodies a fierce will and belief in his own ‘supernatural’ ability to achieve impossible feats at will. He has become self-deified. He is an agent of the fates, a god of death to those whose time is up.

Markers upon the Path

The goals of the magus shall be those of Nietzsche. The embrace of the Odinic Grar element is essential. Grar here means grey; rather than as in Karlsson's grey evils of man. Here it is as a reference to the idea of action ‘beyond good and evil’. It is the assimilation of both, the black and white as indeed Odin's actions are. Odin as ‘the grey one’ blurs the polarisation between good and evil and eschews clear association with either. The magus must equally know both poles of the moral axis and operate accordingly to their situation and goals rather than by socially defined polarisation of dualistic morality. The Nietzschean goals of the magus then shall be:

Eternal Recurrence of every event that occurs, has happened, and will happen again (aligned with the Germanic nonlinear time model) and one must be happy to repeat one’s life over again – free of regrets.

The Will as the tool and method in order to elevate oneself to

The role of the Superman (Vitki, magus-deified god) as the goal.

The magus must awaken themselves in line with the goals of Gurdjieff’s fourth man – be the cause rather than a mere sum of the effects of that which happens to oneself. As with the fourth man, the magus has no need to enter upon the path of ascetic retreat. The magus, as with the lessons of Gurdjieff, may wholly interact and function within society and appear as one of the herd. The surface remains merely a mask, as the magus will aspire to the activation of the higher circuits of mental function as per Timothy Leary’s model. The intention must rather be that through an awakened state of freedom and awareness, the magus must be the cause of events, become potent and immortal in transcendence of the physical bounds. Michael Kelly outlines the responsibility of those on the left-hand path undertake this process in his text

Apophis (2009) . Kelly suggests that Set has given man the power of free will. Denial of the gift and a reluctance to use it to help oneself, instead one prays for godly assistance. Such may actually incur the wrath of the gods.

In order to be a Lord of the left-hand path and obtain the goal of self-deification, there are key achievements defined by Flowers (Lords of the Left-Hand Path, 2012), that also outline a key syllabus of achievements for the magus to attain:

Self-deification

Individualism – the enlightenment of the individual

Initiation – the strength to achieve the state of evolution through stages

Magic performed through the will of the magus to force the universe to conform

Antinomianism – to question the norm through a revaluation of good and evil, right and wrong

The similarities to the core themes of Nietzsche are quite apparent. If we combine both sets, we end up with the subsequent principles for the magus to adhere to:

Live a life free of regrets in which one does as one believes is correct-defy the norms of society where one sees their morality is insufficient.

Strive for continual levels of new enlightenment. Never cease one’s own evolution for to stand still is to die.

Master one’s own will and the energy that resides within the self to enforce it upon the universe.

The process is also within the work of Timothy Leary (Exo-psychology, 1977) and Robert Anton Wilson (Prometheus Rising, 2012). Leary outlined eight neurological circuits that defined the evolution, as well as the potential, of human consciousness. Leary’s circuits are:

The Vegetative-invertebrate circuit is the Bio-survival circuit. Here the mind is merely concerned with primal instincts such as fight or flight, friend or foe, food or poison. This circuit is response for manifest survival.

The Emotion-locomotion circuit is responsible for the ability to migrate in search of food and safety.

The Laryngeal-manual symbolic circuit is where the ability for language is located. This circuit set man apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. The ability to convey messages to other members of the tribe via art, language, signals, and the written word presented the very first steps upon our pursuit of immortality.

The Socio-sexual circuit defines our social order. This circuit defines our need to reproduce and the tribal instinct for an ordered society.

It is here important to note that Leary defined the fourth circuit as that in which the herd man currently finds himself. It is the subsequent four later circuits that Leary deemed to contain the potential evolution of consciousness:

The Neurosomatic Circuit is where we find aspects of the sub-conscious, which control bodily function. Mastery of these aspects allow Hindu Yogi’s to control their heartrates, stem blood flow from wounds, and walk over fire pits amongst other feats.

The Neuro-electric Circuit is concerned with control over the body’s nervous system. The ability to control brain activity is an aspect of deep and focussed meditation.

The Neurogenetic Circuit allows access to the secrets of our DNA. Given that all known organisms share the majority of DNA, then this circuit provides access to all life. Further mastery of this circuit may allow access to the currently unused sections of DNA. Leary suggests that these sections may contain the effective blueprints of man’s potential.

The Neuro-Atomic Metaphysiological Circuit holds the potential for quantum consciousness. As the latest research in quantum mechanics continues to defy the constraints of classical and Einsteinian physics, the potential for the achievement of quantum consciousness is vast. Quantum entanglement experiments suggest the ability of a quantum link to transmit state changes faster than the speed of light. Quantum physics also requires a consciousness in order to collapse into existence the manifest state of matter at the creation of the manifest universe. These implications then suggest the possibility that quantum consciousness may have need to incorporate Jung’s collective unconscious and consider an omnipotent consciousness. Achievement of this circuit is therefore that of self-deification.

Robert Anton Wilson further refined Leary’s eight-circuit model (Prometheus Rising):

The Oral Bio-survival Circuit is again concerned with food or poison assessments and the basic urge for survival.

The Anal Emotional-Territorial Circuit is the mastery of bodily motion. Such mastery allows the mobility required for survival and migration.

The Time-Binding Semantic Circuit defined by Wilson as that which classifies the environment. The system of symbols defined as language is such a classification.

The “Moral” Socio-Sexual Circuit is the circuit where morality, social class and ethics, and the need for sexual reproduction reside.

The Holistic Neurosomatic Circuit allows complete control over the body and nervous systems. As Yogi’s manipulate it, it is also the same system responsible for reactions to faith-healer techniques, reiki, hypnosis, and other non-chemical medicinal techniques.

The Collective Neurogenetic Circuit is where we find the Jungian archetypes within our DNA. Mastery of this circuit unlocks our ancestral knowledge and, if Leary is correct, our potential.

The Meta-programming Circuit is identified by Wilson as the circuit which allows the willed alteration in programmes for the prior six circuits. The implications here are that the master of this seventh circuit can shape-shift at will, effectively a way of open access to all that is contained within their DNA blueprints and to alter the manifest form in accordance to an aspect of the DNA. Given that we undergo a complete recapitulation in both psychological growth and embryonic form, then all aspects of this idea of shapeshifting are within our DNA and therefore available to the seventh circuit master.

The Non-Local Quantum Circuit is the level of consciousness at which the master detaches from the manifest form. Wilson suggests this circuit activates in experiences of neardeath and out of body situations. The quantum implications again allow for the complete time-space transcendence of the consciousness at this level.

The application of these processes is comparable to the mysticism of the Qabalah and presents an approach to internal spiritual alchemy. As such, it is also transferable to the model of the nine realms of Yggdrasil as a path of self-deification. The chapter The Path of Yggdrasiloutlines this path for the magus . Suggested Reading

Leary, Exo-Psychology, 1977

Wilson, PrometheusRising, 2012

Wilson, Quantum Psychology, 2011 Ouspensky, The Fourth Way, 1971

Walking the Path of Odin:

Philosophy and morals within Norse Lore

Within the body of texts that comprise the Poetic Edda (Larrington, 2008), we find a number which describe the actions of Odin that uphold the philosophy of the left-hand path.

The Havamal (Sayings of the High One) is a significant text in that it represents the wisdom of Odin as a direct speech rather than an allegory. Significantly, the wisdom of Odin contains much practical wisdom as well as that which deemed esoteric. Here the Larrington translation is analysed in terms of the philosophy of the left-hand path where a verse is significant. The full text is widely available in a variety of forms and translations. Verses reproduced here in italics are from the Larrington translation.

6. About hisinte lligencenoman should beboastful, Rathercautiousofmind;

Whenawiseand silent man comes toahomestead seldom does shame befall the wary;

For nomoretrustworthy a friend can any man get than a storeof commonsense.

The inference here is that it is beneficial to be deceitful where ones knowledge is concerned. The practioner of manipulation is more effective when the subject is unaware of their position as the prey. As if an application of the strategies of war and poker, the wise man weakens his position through a reveal of his mental abilities. Restraint is called for in order that those in whose company one finds oneself remain unaware to the possible manipulation of the individual. Further, to boast of ones prowess is to invite challenge. Challenges to one’s ability may result in the diminishment of ones hierarchal position or a physical threat to one’s health.

7. Theca reful guest, who comes to a meal, Keeps silent with hearing finelyattuned;

Helistens withhisears, andlooksabout with hiseyes; So everywise man informs himself.

Here we find counsel to observe and orient oneself to one’s environment – both social and physical. Observation allows the collection of data as to whom and what surrounds oneself. Such observation allows for an assessment of physical threats, proximities to escape routes and possible weapons, and a psychological read of social hierarchy. The orientation phase allows the discernment of further detail as to social norms, psychological traits for other persons, and an assessment of one’s own position in terms of intellectual and, or physical superiority. Such initial environmental data collation forms the basis of the OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) strategic process developed by USAF Colonel John Boyd and is the basis of all good military tactics and strategies.

12 . It isn’t asgood asit’s saidto be, Ale,forthe sonsofmen;

For themorehedrinks, theless heknows About thenatures of

17 . The fool gapes whenhecomes on a visit, He mutterstohimself orkeepssilent;

But it’s allup with him ifhegetsa swig of drink; Theman’smind isexposed.

13 7. I advise you, Loddfafnir, to takethisadvice, It wilbe useful if you learn it,

Do you good, if you haveit:

Whereyou drink ale, choosethepower of earth! For earth is goodagainst drunkenness, and fireagainst

s ickness,

Oak against constipation, anear of corn against witchcraft, The hallagainsthouseholdstrife, forhatred themoon

should beinv oked –

Earthwormsfor a bite orsting, and runesagainst evil; Soilyou should use against flood.

The verses state clearly the importance of the retention of cognitive ability and rational thought. No adept on the left-hand path should ever require intoxication to the point that they are subject to impaired physical and mental abilities. Control is of paramount importance to the adept of the left-hand path. Without control, one descends to the level of a herd animal and reacts instinctively to the situation around them without a full set of faculties to do so. Although there are numerous studies as to the advantages of intoxication such as the work of Leary and Aldous Huxley et al., there remains a risk through such incapacitation that one descends into the realms of Dionysian ecstasy and abandons all Apollonian control over the experience. To surrender control to a chemical substance is to surrender unconditionally. To achieve controlled effect through other means such as Tantric yoga is the way of the left-hand path. Indeed, the very key to the lessons of Odin is the combination of the Dionysian ecstatic inspiration of the Delphic-oracles and Freyja’s Vanicmagic, with the control of the Apollonian Galdrof Odin. Thorsson equates this act of the combined conscious and unconscious states of mind with the process of Jungian individualisation and the combination of both hemispheres of the brain (Edred, Blue Runa, 2001, p. 29).

The second reference to incapacitation in verse seventeen concerns the ability to retain secrets. Where we place such importance upon the ability to refrain from displays of knowledge, the loss of mental control through alcohol or other intoxication poses a great risk to the adept’s ability to control a conversation. A stream of thought readily verbalised poses a twofold risk. The initial risk is that of the divulgence of information that best kept from the ears of the present company. The second, and perhaps more immediate risk, is that the intoxicated individual reveals their limits in terms of intelligence and subsequently becomes the victim of their company. We find the revelation of intellectual excellence or stupidity referred to a few verses later:

27 . Thefoolish man in company

Does bestif hestays silent;

Noonewilknow that heknows nothing, Unless hetalkstoo much;

But theman who knows nothing doesnot know Whenheis talking too much.

Furthermore, amongst a host of common remedies and magical defences, we find within verse one-hundred and thirtyseven, advice against drunkenness. The advice, though simple enough in that it urges the consumption of food with ale, is effective in prevention of the intoxication effect of ale somewhat longer than an empty stomach.

The Havamal then sees a change in tract away from the issues of stupidity and intoxication, towards honour and independence.

36 . A farm of your own isbetter, evenif small, Everyone’s someoneathome;

Though he has two goatsand a coarselyroofed house, That is better than begging.

37. A farm of your own isbetter, evenif small, Everyone’s someoneathome;

A man’sheart bleeds when hehas tobeg

Forevery single meal.

The issue of independence is central to the philosophy of the left-hand path. If we take the maxim ‘as above, so below’, and apply it to an independent state, then the individual must endeavour to be so throughout their manifest life upon this Earth. In expression of ones independence from society and selfsufficiency, then an individual can also pursue their own spiritual independence. In Jungian terms, this individuation is the process by which one defines oneself. To set the boundaries against society and survive without recourse to sustenance obtained by the charity of others is to become an individual from the herd. The individual survive has no need of assimilation with or assistance from an omnipotent God. To pray for food is to beg for food – an act that the words of Odin here identify as a last resort. It is better to have rejected the right-hand path and only have begun the process of the left-hand path than to remain. Although the lefthand path is the more difficult, as denoted in Qabalah also, the strength and pride that result are more honourable.

In The Satanic Bible,(LaVey, 2005), Anton Szandor LaVey suggests that the adept of the left-hand path should treat enemies as such: “Whyshould I not hate mineenemies”(p,32),

“…if a man smite you on one cheek, SMASH him on the other…forself-preservation isthehighest law!”(p.33), and we find similar guidance within the Havamal:

42 . To his friend aman should bea friend And repaygifts with gifts;

Laughtera man should givefor laughter And repaytreacherywith lies.

43 . To his friend aman should bea friend And tohis friend’s too;

But a friend noman shouldbe

To thefriend of his enemy.

12 7. I advise you, Loddfafnir, to takethisadvice, It willbe useful if you learn it,

Do you good, if you haveit:

Whereyou recognize evil, speak out against it, And givenotrucetoyour enemies.

The guidance here is one of acceptance for enmity. There is no room for the Christian ‘love one another’ within the words of Odin. Odin counsels the friendship of friends and the enmity of enemies and rightly so. In order to ensure the survival of oneself, one must be prepared to acknowledge enemies as such and prepare for an encounter with them accordingly.

Once more, the guidance found within the Havamal alters its topic. From verse fifty-three, we find guidance as to the pursuit and gain of wisdom.

53 . Of smallsands, of smalseas, Small are the mindsofmen; For allmen aren’tequallywise, Meneverywhereare halfwise,halfnot.

Here we see the inferred judgment upon the intelligence of the herd. There is no equality of men within this verse from Odin. It holds that if men are unequal in wisdom, then there is no necessity to expect equality in other aspects. The final line carries an important statement – that either men are half-wise or completely lack measurable wisdom. There is a clear expression of the inequality of wisdom amongst men and the implication that no man is wholly wise. Here we find the Havamal on the verge of the realms of Socrates, “…ifindeedIweretoclamtobewiserthan

anyone in anything, it would be in this, that, just as I don’t adequatelyknow about thenext world, I alsothink I don’t know” (Plato, Apology, 1997, p. 67 (29 b)) . If the great Socrates looked forward to his death sentence in respect that it allowed him to finally encounter what lay beyond the manifest realm, then it holds that as men, we may know something or nothing as stated by Odin. In order to be truly wise, we must know what lays beyond this world for our soul in order that we have complete knowledge of both the physical and spiritual realms, thus such a journey or ascension allows us to define knowledge of both.

54. Averagely wise a m an ought to be, Nevertoowise;

For helives thebest sortoflife, Theman who knowsa fair amount.

55. Averagely wise a m an ought to be, Nevertoowise;

For a wise man’sheart isseldomcheerful, If hewho ownsit’stoo wise.

Odin here counsels the ascension of man to awakened states, although warns against the pursuit of wisdom beyond what is needed in pursuit of a happy existence. The caution here may be against the devotion and realisation of metaphysical ideas. Perhaps the likes of Nietzsche failed to heed such a caution, thus he succumbed to insanity as a result. Nietzsche warned that the pursuit of the Overman was fraught with risks and to fear staring into the abyss. In Nietzschean terms, perhaps the majority should aspire to awaken from the herd and become higher men rather than pursue the Über(over) man for such knowledge may be contrary to the pursuit of happiness. For the adept on the lefthand path, the strength to peer into the darkness and illuminate that which dwells within it is essential to the path of self-deification. In order to truly know, one must be prepared to dislike what one finds and accept that what which of which one acquires knowledge, cannot be unknown.

58 . He should get up early,theman who means totake Another’slife orproperty;

The slumbering wolf doesnot get theham,

Nor a sleeping manvictory.

59 .He shouldget upearly,themanwho has fewworkers, And goabouthis workwith thought;

Muchhe neglect,the man whosleepsinthe mornings, Wealth is half-wonbythevigorous.

Again, we find reference to the level of dedication and hard work required by the left-hand path within verses fifty-eight and fifty-nine. The choice is difficult and is far from the easier option. To seek the assistance of others and a god is the easy path, the path of subjugation and servitude. To work for oneself is to undertake the harder work, yet the rewards are one’s own. The counsel of Odin here is that the lazy reap no reward, where those who push harder and further in their work reap their rewards in the end. Such guidance is perfectly matched to the approach of the left-hand path, that of self-sufficient empowerment through one’s own effort and guile.

The Havamal also provides the guidance of Odin against the restrictions of physical form.

7 1. Thelamemanrides ahorse,thehandlessman drives herds,

The deaf man fightsand succeeds;

To be blind is better than to beburnt;

A corpse is of nouse toanyone.

We find anti-discriminatory ideas that support the ability of all, regardless of physical impairment, to be able to achieve things and contribute to a society. With the focus of the left-hand path upon the ascension of consciousness and the refinement of the will, the physical ability to act is non-essential.

76 . Cattledie,kinsmen die,

Theself must alsodie;

But glorynever dies,

For theman who isable toachieveit.

77 . Cattledie,kinsmen die, Theself must alsodie;

I knowonething whichnever dies; The reputation of each dead man.

In verses seventy-six and seventy-seven, Odin glorifies those who live their lives with honour. Although the verses clearly state that the “self must also die”, it must be noted that the self of Norse soul-lore is that of the lykeself – the physical form (Edred, The Nine Doors of Midgard, 2003, p. 24). As such, Odin references the demise of the physical form rather than the individuated consciousness. Norse lore holds two options for the aspects of the individual soul that we deem the self or ego. Those called through their glory ascend to the realm of Asgard and dine with the heroes of the gods. The alternative is a restful death under the care of the goddess Hel.

It is important to state that Hel’s charge is to take care of those deceased because of old age, disease, and other natural causes. Hel’s domain is the abode for the majority of those whom die ingloriously. Indeed, it is the inglorious death of Baldr that confines Odin’s son to Hel’s realm because of his seemingly treacherous murder. It is noteworthy that Baldr’s afterlife domain ultimately shields him from the events of Ragnarok, evidently an aspect of Odin’s willingness to act now in relatively immoral terms in order to benefit later. Baldr returns to Asgard when the gates of Hel’s domain open and the dead march forth. Baldr’s resurrection paves the way for the reestablishment of the Aesir in the post-Ragnarok realms. Whilst we never truly know what words Odin whispered into the ear of Baldr as he lay upon the funeral pyre, we may only reason that they concerned this path.

From verse one-hundred and thirty-eight, the Havamal sees Odin recount the act of self-sacrifice that won him the wisdom that sets him apart from all others.

138. I know that I hun gon a windy tree Ninelong nights,

Wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin, Myself to

On that treeof which noman knows Fromwhereits roots run.

13 9. Nobread did theygiveme nor a drinkfroma horn, DownwardsI peered;

I tookup therunes,screaming I took them,

Then I fellback fromthere.

140. NinemightyspelsIlearntfromthefamoussonofBolthor, Bestla’sfather,

And I got a drink of theprecious mead,

Pouredfrom Odrerir.

14 1. ThenI began to quicken and bewise, And togrow and to prosper;

One word found another word for me, One deed found another deed for me.

In verse one-hundred and thirty-eight, we find the act of self-sacrifice. In the act of self-sacrifice, himself to himself as the god of knowledge and death, Odin is able to reach beyond his present state and gain knowledge beyond. We find a similarity here to the anticipation of Socrates upon the verge of a realisation of what lays beyond the mortal realm. The adept must also sacrifice the self. The personality of the self is a required sacrifice. The personality is by the ideologies of the society in which the adept lives as they interact with the ego. Such personality develops through indoctrination (public school systems), laws, social ethics, the mainstream media, and the need to find one’s place within the social structure of our tribal base. The adept must question all acts and define their own morality as opposed to mere acceptance of the social ethical guidance of the herd. The adept must understand the social ethics and laws in order to utilise them to their advantage, without constraint by them. Likewise, the adept must realise the way in which their reality takes shape.

A study of quantum mechanics, transactional psychology, and epistemology is essential if the adept is to appreciate the perception of reality and the subsequent limitations. The application of this knowledge allows the adept to alter their perception of manifest reality. It is this grasp of the mysteries of manifestation and ontological existence that Odin grasps in verse one-hundred and thirty-nine. The word Rune derives etymologically from the word Runaand means mystery. As Odin gains knowledge of the mysteries, he gains true knowledge. The sip of mead taken by Odin and poured forth in verse one-hundred and forty is from Odrerir. The container Odrerirholds the mead of wisdom and poetry, and thus it is the cup of inspiration. The next verse, one-hundred and forty-one, outlines the acceleration in wisdom and acclimation of prosperity that follows. The adept can take from this verse that the knowledge gathered through selfsacrifice will result in wisdom. Furthermore, it is clear that the result of true wisdom does translate into prosperity. The realisation of true wisdom carries a mandate of rulership over the plebeian herd as a philosopher king.

The call of Odin to the adept is clear in verse onehundred and forty-two.

14 2. The runesyou must find and themeaningful letter, A verygreat letter,

A verypowerful letter,

Which themighty sage stained

And thepowerful godsmade

And therunemaster of thegods carvedout.

Odin here calls for the adept to seek out the runes, to pursue the mysteries. It is within the mysteries that the adept will find true knowledge. Further, Odin refers to a letter of immense power within this verse. The pursuit of this letter is subjective to the adept. The letter may have the form of a Rune-stave, thus it may represent the key to all mysteries. It is just as likely that the key mystery will differ from one adept to another.

144. Doyouknowhowtocarve,doyouknowhowto interpret,

Do you know how tostain, do you know how totest out,

Do you know how toask, doyou know how tosacrifice,

Do you know how to dispatch, do you know how to slaughter?

Verse one-hundred and forty-four outlines the importance of applicable knowledge. Odin makes clear that knowledge of the runes is insufficient. The adept must know how to stain, test, ask, sacrifice, dispatch, and slaughter. From these we may decipher that in order to have true knowledge, the adept must also be able to manifest and energise actions into the world, how to reason, and how to act without expectation of reward when required. The need for strength of character and conviction in action is essential if one is to define one’s own existence. Here we approach the concept of Nietzsche in acts done that are beyond the mundane conception of good and evil. It is deficient to be an armchair occultist or philosopher. Adepthood on the left-hand path requires phenomenal manifestation of results.

14 5. Better not topray, thantosacrifice too much, Onegift alwayscalls for another;

Better notdispatched thanto slaughter too much. So Thund carvedbeforethe history ofnations, Whereherose up, whenhecame back.

Verse one-hundred and forty-five contains the proclamation of Thund, one of the many names for Odin. Here we have Odin’s instruction to avoid prayer. A prayer or sacrifice is cognate to a gift. In the society of pre-Christian Europe, a gift was part of an exchange. Some aspects of this tradition survive today in the exchange of Christmas gifts, the presentation of a bottle of wine when in attendance to a meal at another’s home etc. Odin requests that man avoids prayer. In compliance with tradition, Odin would therefore be obliged to return a gift in exchange for the prayer or sacrifice. Thus, the act of prayer is none other than an effective form of selfish blackmail akin to the cries of a toddler who demands that its parents purchase yet another toy. The population of the world around of the time that the Havamal would have been around three-hundred million^32. Prayers from that many people alone would be excessive. The population of the world now nears the eight-billion point. If eightbillion people all pray for mundane assistance and gifts, then it is no wonder that the god of death and war has caused such great amounts of death within the last few hundred years. It is imperative that the adept utilise the intellectual gift that they possess and seeks to be fully independent. To pray is to admit weakness and seek assistance. In order to progress beyond the state of the herd, the adept must firstly be independent.

The Havamal is one of many mythological texts where we find acts or words of Odin that are clearly adversarial. We find equal traces of left-hand path philosophy and guidance for the adept within other texts such as Harbardzljod(Harbard’s Song) (Larrington, 2008) where we find Odin in disguise as the ferry man Harbard engaged with his son, Thor, whom requests passage across a fjord.

32 Estimated range at 1000 AD is between 254-345 million. (http://www.ecology.com/population-estimatesyear-2050/)

The tale begins as Thor insults the ferryman for he is a lesser physical might than Thor himself. Given the tales of Thor’s strength pitted against Jotun and the world-serpent Jormungandr elsewhere, it should be a normal occurrence for Thor to find himself physically so superior. Here we have a representation of the alpha-male typical of the herd society. Physical dominance carries a high value with Thor, and the plebeian, and as such, he holds no restraint as he insults the ferryman Harbard, without consideration as to what advantage Harbard may hold over Thor.

1.“Who is thatpipsqueak who standson that side…” (Thor)

The retort from Harbard, whom we know to be Odin in disguise, sets the frame for the superiority of Odin over Thor by means of intellectual wisdom.

2. “Who isthat peasant…” (Harbard)

Harbard here sets the measure of differential between Thor and himself. Thor may possess superior physical might, yet he is intellectually inferior to Harbard (Odin). Latter recollection of this idea occurs in the identification of Thor as a god whom receives the servants deceased in battle, whilst Odin receives the nobility.

24. “…Odinhasthenobles whofall in battleandThorhasthe breed of serfs.” (Harbard)

Odin identifies Thor as a god of the lower class, the servants, and is their protector. Odin is the god of wisdom and poetry, death and war – hence he lays claim to the nobles who die and are his charge. The royal histories of Europe have many lines that claim Odin as an ancestor.

The tale proceeds to find Harbard and Thor engaged in dialect and one-upmanship of acts which each hold in high. Thor recalls victories over great Jotun foes, where Harbard recalls the seduction of females through magic and charm, with a brief reference to war. A later exchange holds a curious reference from Harbard:

42. “I’ll compensate you for that with a ring for the hand…” (Harbard)

Whilst the reference is unclear as to what Harbard offers to Thor, this offered ring may be a poetic kenning in reference to the anus, thus a homosexual slur against the epitome of herd masculinity in Thor^33. It is notable that Norse lore is replete with references to events and texts of which we have no record. The homosexual slur would have been extremely powerful at the time. It is however important to note that Odin is subject to many such accusations.

In pursuit of true wisdom and power, Odin learnt the art of Seidrfrom Freyja. Seidr, in its surrender to Dionysian ecstatic trance, is the feminine magic. The importance of Odin’s knowledge of the feminine aspects of knowledge is twofold. The decision to shun conventional views as to the femininity of such knowledge is a clear action of one’s defined own opinions and morality, rather than acceptance of the social norms. Further, the left-hand path and the typical association with the feminine energies are acceptable to Odin, rather than a reason for dismissal. As outlined above in the definition of the left-hand path; in combination of both the masculine and feminine arts, Odin also combines both hemispheres of the human brain and makes connections between these that allow for great leaps of intuition because of the assistance of the creative right-hemisphere (feminine) to the logical left-hemisphere (masculine). Odin has the strength of character to withstand the attacks of characters such as Loki who may jibe him in reference to his embrace of the feminine magical ways. Such jests are heavily ironic given the tendency of Loki to shape-shift into the forms of various animals. One such occasion is where Loki takes the form of a mayor in order to woo a stallion. Loki’s subsequent return saw him gift Odin the great stead Sleipnir, child of Loki. Odin, as we will see elsewhere, is quite prepared to pay any cost for the gain of wisdom,

33 See notes on Harbard’s Song (Larrington, 2008)

Lokasenna (Loki’s Quarrel) (Larrington, 2008) sees Loki engage in heated dialogue with a variety of gods and goddesses. In his role of Jungian Shadow archetype to Odin’s wise sage/father archetype, Loki ignores the advice of Odin within the Havamal that concerns how to behave when amongst company and mead is in flow. After verbal attacks upon a host of gods at the feast, Loki engages Odin.

2 3. Odinsaid: “Youknow, ifIgavewhat I shouldn’t havegiven, Victory, tothe faint-hearted,

Yet eight winters you were, beneath theearth,

A woman milking cows,

And thereyou borechildren,

And thatI thought thehallmark of a pervert.”

2 4. Lokisaid: “But youoncepractised seidon Samsey, And you beat on the drumas witches do,

In thelikeness of a wizard you journeyed among mankind, And thatI thought thehallmark of a pervert.”

Here we find Loki as he brings forth the accusations of Seidrand feminine witchcraft. Odin’s association and knowledge of Seidrand the feminine arts is likely the result of Gullveig’s treatment at the hands of Odin and the other Aesir gods. Gullveig, as mentioned earlier, may well represent the proto-witch should we view the Gullveig-Freyja-Frigg trinity as cognate with the Maiden-Mother-Crone one. We hear of Gullveig and her torment within the Voluspa (Seeress’ Prophecy) (Larrington, 2008).

21 . Sheremembers thefirst war in the world,

Whenthey buttressed Gullveig with spears

AndinOne-eye’shall they burnedher;

Three times theyburnedher, three times shewas reborn, Overand over, yet shelives still.

22. Bright One theycalled her, wherevershecame tohouses, The seerwith pleasingprophecies, she charmed them Withspell;

She mademagicwherevershe could,withmagic she playedwith minds,

Shewas always thefavorite of wickedwomen.

Here we hear of the treatment of the non-Aesir witch Gullveig. After the third rebirth, the interest of Odin would surely have been peaked as to what power the witch possessed. Verse twenty-two’s claim that Gullveig, now known as Heidr (Bright One), is the favourite of the wicked women suggests a matronage to witches. It is important to read ‘wicked’ as ‘ wicce’, with wicce reference to a female practioner of witchcraft. Such was likely an easy gloss for translation and a slight against the old ways that required portrayal as sinister and evil. Stephen Flowers (Edred, Witchdom of the True, 1999) explains the origins of wiccealong with the etymology of the word and its modern reflection in the usage Wiccaand Wiccan.

A major source of Norse lore is within Snorri Sturluson’s Edda (1995) .Given Sturluson’s Christian faith, there are aspects of Christian faith and mythology that are clear additions within the Norse mythological tales. Whilst Sturluson’s intentions are unclear, the result is that he managed to document and preserve the oral lore of his native Iceland and that of Norway. It is equally possible that either he intended to Christianise the pagan beliefs or that he knew the only way to ensure the preservation of them was to Christianise them in such a way that they would avoid destruction by devout zealots of Rome.

Sturluson’s introduction to the Edda frames the subsequent mythological tales against a Christian gloss. The introduction begins with God’s creation of the world, quickly introduces the great flood and the subsequent loss of life, and then explains that the survivors had forgotten God’s name. The world is then divided into three realms and near the middle of these was constructed a great and splendid land. Sturluson identifies this land as Turkey and claims the city of Troy as the land of the Aesir. Sturluson describes a process whereby Odin leads the Aesir out of Turkey and into Norther Europe where they settle lands and instigate a system of hierarchal rulership and kingdoms in a similar manner to that they knew from Troy. Given Sturluson’s description of Odin’s possession of the gift of prophecy, it may well be that he infers Odin to be a philosopher king whom tricked the people of northern Europe into the belief that he was a god. If such is accurate, then Odin at the very least is a philosopher king of the left-hand path whom manipulated the plebeian herd, gained supreme wisdom, and achieved a form of self-deification.

The first tale of the Eddais that of Gylfagganing.This tale is perhaps one of the most important in Norse mythology as it describes the coming into being of the gods and the manifest world we call Midgard. The tale sees King Gylfi, a ruler of Sweden, ventures to Asgard to question the gods. He finds three thrones, positioned one above the other, and occupied by three men whom identify as High, Just as High, and Third. Interestingly, the man known as Third later explains the many names of Odin:

“Odin is ca lled All-father, for heis thefather of all gods… Val-father [father of theslain]… Hanga-god [god of thehanged[… and hecalled himself byvarious other names… Third… High… Just—as-high…”

The suggestions within the tale are that all three men that Gylfi finds himself in conversation with are actually Odin. An analysis of Odin in the terms of Jungian archetypes may indeed suggest that Odin has a triple-aspect of father-shadow-warrior that is cognate with the gods of Odin-Loki-Thor. In order to investigate this potential archetypal nature within the ontology of Odin, a much greater level of analysis is required and as such, is beyond the scope of this text. The archetypal nature of Odin and its metaphysical implication is the subject of another work, Yggdrasil Theory, by myself.

Third recounts how the conflagration between the cold waters of Nifelheim and the hot sparks of Muspell produced a mildness that brought forth the primal ancestor and proto-being Ymir. When asked by Gylfi, who has announced his name to be Gangleri to conceal his kingship and motives, as to the nature of Ymir, High refutes the suggestion that Ymir was a god:

“Notat all do we acknowledge himtobe a god. He was evil and allhis descendants.”

The implications of this rebuttal are many. High, whom we know to be Odin, refutes that Ymir was a god. As the protobeing, Ymir’s existence has no conscious agent as a means of causation. Ymir’s existence bears a greater similarity to the nonecreated Yahweh than to any other god whom then has ancestors. The second major implication of the statement is that all descendants of Ymir are evil. The Jotun descended from Ymir are largely the enemies of Odin’s Aesir gods, although the Aesir do turn to the Jotun for wisdom and wives throughout the whole of Norse mythology. Given the prevalence of Jotun brides for Aesir gods, the descendants of the Aesir are all also descendants of the Jotun, thus it is implied that they are evil. Thor, the sworn enemy of all Jotun, is himself the son of a Jotun maiden named Jord and Odin. A clear similarity is notable in the origin of Ymir and his role as creator of other beings with the role of the Hindu Brahma, the creator. After the conflict between Brahma and Vishnu, Shiva declares that Brahma, despite the role as creator, is unworthy or worship. The similarity between Shiva and Odin is clear and looked at in detail by Wolf-Dieter Storl in Shiva:the

WildGod of Power and Ecstasy(2004).

The tale describes the ancestry of Odin in depth. A second being comes into existence from the icy waters. The primal cow, Audumbla, comes to produce milk from which Ymir gains sustenance. The Hindu tales also tell of the primal cow Surabhi. Audumbla feeds upon the salt of the rime-stones of Nifelheim. The process of Audumbla as she licks the stones brings forth a hair, which protrudes from them. Continued licks reveal a man’s head and finally, upon the third day, a man. This man is Buri and eventually has a son named Bor. The appearance of Buri again bares similarities with the emergence of Vishnu into the void where once there was only Brahma within the Hindu myths. Egyptian mythology also provides a similar tale in the emergence of Nun the uncreated and Mehet-Weret, with Atum indeed a similar emergent being to Buri, the cosmic cow who brings forth Re. Although the mother of Bor is unknown, it may only be that she was a Jotun bride and thus, the descendant of Ymir. Bor finds a wife named Bestla – again without a description as to the ancestry of Bestla. The three sons of Bor and Bestla are Odin, Villi, and Ve.

The implications of the family ancestry are that Odin is likely to be the great-grandson of Ymir. The family lineage makes Odin part-Jotun at the least. Interestingly, Odin is the descendant of both proto-beings – Ymir and Buri. Given the primal might and chaotic natures of the Jotun, it is reasonable to suggest that the Jotun descended from Ymir are the primal forces of the universe. These forces of chaos embody both destruction and manifestation. Could it therefore be that, in an act of balance, the universe also brought forth a counter-part to Ymir’s might in the form of Buri? If we apply a simply polarisation of the physical supremacy of the Jotun, then the logical opposite would be that of conscious intellect – is Buri the primal consciousness to counter the might of Ymir? Such a polar ancestry combined within the sons of Bor would explain the next stages of the tale.

When questioned as to which group was more powerful, High recounts the death of Ymir at the hands of the sons of Bor. Odin and his brothers, Here the sons of consciousness raise forth the body parts of Ymir into the manifestation of the earth:

“Theearth was madeof theflesh and therocks ofthe bones and screetheymade out ofteeth….out of theblood…they madethesea…took his skulland madeoutofit thesky…”

Described here is a conscious act that renders an order of the manifest realm. Parts of the proto-being Ymir are utilised in accordance with their natures. The process describes the destruction of a non-ordered manifestation and the subsequent reordered manifestation of it in accordance with the will of Odin and his brothers. For the adept on the left-hand path, the mastery and transcendence of pure physical existence by means of an application of conscious intelligence is paramount. To merely exist is to stagnate and deny ones potential. The adept must take control of their manifest existence and restructure it in accordance with their desire.

The field of quantum mechanics suggests that such a conscious mind is required in order for the universe to have the structure that we understand it to. For those not versed in quantum theory, scientific experiments such as the double-slit show that observation of an object or action alters the outcome. In quantum theory, an object can be in multiple states and locations until observed, at which point the potentiality collapses into actuality. Quantum theory describes this action as the collapse of wave potential into being upon the presence of a conscious observer. Measurement devices may technically observe a state and record it, yet without a conscious observer, the device merely records multiple possible measurements. Quantum entanglement further extends this aspect of observance as any particle that has interacted with another remains entangled. Thus, observation of one particle that subsequently collapses its potentiality into being will also collapse any particle entangled with it. Even greater mystery then occurs, as this entanglement is able to convey change in state between entangled particles at speeds that exceed the speed of light. The implication of quantum theory for metaphysics is profound. The conscious observer creates manifest reality through observance. Scientists agree this on a micro scale. As the manifest universe is ultimately comprised of atomic particles, then in order for the Universe, as totality of all matter, to exist, there is a requirement for a conscious observer that is not manifest. Whilst many scientists ignore this implication, Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner tackle it excellently in

Quantum Enigma(Rosenblum & Kuttner, 2011).

We then have a further description as to the rational intelligence and the order of the manifest realm.

“They took moltenparticles and sparksthatwereflying uncontrolledand hadshotoutof Muspell andsettheminthe middle of thefirmament of thesky both aboveand below to illuminate heavenand earth.”

High also describes the events that led to the development of man:

“As Bor’ssonswalkedalong theseashore,theycame acrosstwo logsand createdpeople out of them. The first gave breath and life, thesecondconsciousness and movement, thethird a face, speech and hearing and sight”;

In terms of Aristotelian causation, the description here is the material cause of man as a carbon based life form. A formal cause is given is given through its features and faculties of the senses. The efficient cause of man is therefore the sons of Bor. The final cause however is absent. Here we have the existential dilemma – if man has a material, formal, and efficient cause, then what of the teleological imperative?

In the gift of consciousness, man receives an aspect that fits no other aspect of the Aristotelian causes. Consciousness is no requirement of man’s material nature, as the human body would function equally well as a non-conscious automaton. The form of man, with respect to Cartesian Duality, has no need of consciousness in order for the body to exist and function. The gift on consciousness is inexplicable other than it is our telos.

Like the myths of Prometheus and Set, the myth describes the rebellion of a god of consciousness, Odin, and the gift of that same ability to man in order to set him apart from the non-sapient animal world. Although the tale identifies Odin as the one whom gives “breath” to man, it is vital to recall that the triad of brothers that is Odin, Ville, and Ve (Odin, Hoenir, and Lodur elsewhere) also includes possible hypostases of Odin. The actions of Odin throughout the body of lore suggest that Odin is indeed a god of evolved consciousness (the Troth, 2006, p. 174). His function as the giver of Wodis essential to the presence of the Nietzschean Will to Power present in both the inspired artist and battlefrenzied warrior.

Here the relation of Odin to the other gods requires further clarification. Odin is no Norse equivalent of Zeus—a name linked etymologically to the Norse god Tyr. Tyr is the original sky father of the northern Europeans. The name shares its derived root with Zeus, the Roman Jupiter, the Hindu Dyaus, and others. Tyr is also a generic word for ‘god’ and there is ample evidence for Tyr’s position as ruler king amongst the gods^34. Such has no alteration or effect upon the status of Odin as the All-father.

Within the analysis of Zoroastrianism by Carl Gustav Jung (Jarrett, 1998), Jung describes the existence of a spiritual god present in the form of Ahurawithin the all-powerful deity AhuraMazda, where Mazdameans ‘the one’. Jung outlines the existence of the Ahuraas the highest god and different in form and concept from that of the deva. Interestingly, Jung explains the relation of Deva to the same root as Tyr. Tyr represents the gods of visible and manifest being, whereas Jung describes Ahuraas the god within. Without a physical representation, Ahurabecomes the god of consciousness. Jung’s analysis of Ahura Mazda has further interest to our analysis. Like Odin, Ahura Mazda presents a confusion between what that the herd deem good or evil. Jung’s analysis also sees the reference to Ahura Mazda as the archetypal wise old man. Odin’s numerous appearances as such an archetypal form immediately draw comparison.

It is within the analysis of Ahura Mazda as the god of the unseen consciousness that Jung’s analysis proves most insightful in our view of Odin. Tyr may indeed have been ruler of the gods ‘of what is’ at one point, yet Odin is the god of that which is and is not

– the consciousness that continues to cause complex debate for science. Like Ahura Mazda, the mythology of Odin outlines his role as all-father. Without the individuated consciousness, the actions of Tyr and other gods are merely actions of the physical world and the results of Newtonian mechanics through causation. Odin is the god of that which allows the choice of the conscious observer seen within the field of quantum mechanics. Interestingly, the excellent tables of magical correspondence by Stephen Skinner (Skinner, The Complete Magician's Tables, 2006) show a correspondence between Ahura Mazda and Wotan. The tables also show links between Odin and the Egyptian god Ptah, the magical rank of Ipsissimus, the Hindu Lord Shiva, the Celtic Lugh, Lucifer, the demon Bael , and alchemical Mercury. A study of comparative mythology, demonology, and alchemy will further benefit the diligent and dedicated student. Only true knowledge will reveal if Odin is Ahura Mazda , or Ahura Mazda is Odin.

34 See Tyr and Zisa – Origins. (the Troth, 2006)

The Zoroastrian interpretation of Ahura Mazda is against such a view. Zoroaster (Zarathustra) taught that the great evil in the world came forth as Ahriman . The dualistic approach suggests an inability to accept necessary of those darker aspects of existence and thus they were characterised as evil. It is the weakness of the Zoroastrian that they cannot accept the Ahura as the totality, the good and evil as aspects of the one. It is within the concept of the satanic Ahriman that we find many of the pre-existent gods such as Shiva and Odin. Wolf-Dieter Storl suggests that the Indian

as urahas an etymological link to the Sanskrit asu(air/divine) and the Norse asir (Storl, 2004, p. 193). The link between the asuras and the Aesir is thus established. Storl further examines how Ahura Mazda leads the asuras in the eyes of Zoroastrianism and the Abrahamic faiths that took this approach into their own. It is here that we see how Shiva or Odin is as the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda. Clearly, this contradicts the analysis of Jung that suggests a similarity between the Ahuraaspect and the god that is all. It is then vital to acknowledge that the characteristics of Odin (or Shiva) are both morally grey.

In both mythologies, we find evidence of the ambiguity of the god’s morals. Shiva is both a wise and compassionate god, yet also the great destroyer. Odin is the god of wisdom and death. Both the Odin and Shiva forms of the archetype have aspects of wisdom, shamanism, sexual lust, magic, and destruction. These aspects link the archetype to that of Ahriman .Yet we also know of Odin as the All-father, the god of gods. Similarly, we find Shiva explained as “God of gods” and that in his form of Mahadev, “he is all… Shiva is pleased by all cults… no matter under what name or in what tongue they call upon him… for they are all Shiva.”, (Storl, 2004, p. 175). What is clear here is that the complexity of the consciousness that is the archetypal form known by many names, Odin and Shiva included, is bi-polar in nature. We find dualities of nature, the creator and destroyer, the ascetic and the lusty, the good and the bad. The goal is to balance these aspects so that neither consumes oneself. Only those capable of the greatest evil may produce the greatest good.

It is essential to clarify that as discussed earlier, there are various interpretations of evil and its required presence and function such as that of Karlsson’s analysis above. Within his analysis of Ahura Mazda , Jung suggests an origin for the Persian Ahriman that bears resemblance to the fall of Da’ath within the Judaic Qabalah as discussed previously as a necessary evil in order that the singular may provide moral polarity manifested as the good and evil dichotomy. Jung suggests that Ahura Mazda originally contained both Vohu Mano(the spoken word of good) and Angro Mainyush (the original name of Ahriman and the counterpart dark, evil spirit) (Jarrett, 1998). Without too much effort, it is possible to see how Odin corresponds to Ahura Mazda. Thor, as the son of Odin and protector of the manifest world and mankind is comparable to Vohu Mano. Furthermore, as Vohu

Mano is the effective manifest form and word of good, a direct comparison is possible to the role of Jesus as personification of the word. A comparison of Jesus and Thor as protector of the common man would certainly explain some of the forms of heathen worship that bare a close similarity to Christianity that are currently practiced. Angro Mainyush then exists as a counterbalance to the actions of Thor and we may later investigate the likely role of Loki as this aspect of Odin. It is important to note that there are those on the left-hand path who hold Ahriman as their left-hand path deity and Satan. Satan here used as the term which means adversarial spirit rather than the name of a specific entity as is common within contemporary Christian thought. It is important to note Ahriman /Angro Mainyush in the terms discussed by Jung. Ahriman exists, as does Loki. A full discussion as to the importance of Loki’s role as an agent of Odin’s will is later discussed.

As a creation myth, Gylfagganing has a level of detail and clarity that refutes atheist criticism. In the description of the events prior to the rise of the Aesir, the text describes a series of occurrences that successfully support the refutation of atheism by Peter Kreeft (Summa Philosophica, 2012, p. 69)

Kreeft outlines that usage of the term ‘universe’ is in reference to the totality of all matter and energy. The common theory within science holds that the universe began around 14 billion years ago with the big bang. The application of standard Newtonian physics requires that the big bang has a cause as to have occurred otherwise would refute the laws of physics. It is also essential that we note here that the sudden appearance of matter out of nothing is both unfeasible and ridiculous. The probability therefore is that the ‘big bang’ does indeed have a cause that lead to the creation of the universe, as we perceive it. Within

Gy lfagganing, we see the primal matter of Nifelheim in combination with the raw energy of a spark from the fires of Muspell and thus the universe of matter and energy forms. Only a basic grasp of physics and chemistry is required in order to appreciate the construction of all manifestation is of atoms (matter) and energy, regardless of physical state or the presence/absence of life. Without energy, matter simply reverts to its base constituent components on an atomic level.

Where the last paragraph merely outlines the physics of Gylfagganingand their applicability, the refutation of atheism requires the existence of deity. Gylfagganing proceeds to explain the emergence of the proto-beings without ancestry that are the Jotun, Ymir, and the proto-Aesir, Bor. As uncreated beings, both Ymir and Bor embody the potentiality of matter and both proceed to merely exist within the chaos of Ginnungagap. It is only with the conscious decision of Odin, Villi, and Ve (Odin, Hoenir, and Lodur in other sources), that we see a conscious mind effectively structures the manifestation of the world. When Odin and his brothers slay Ymir and compose the sky, mountains, rivers, and all other aspects of the manifest realm from his remains, we have the manifestation of their deific will – the manifest realm is realised as matter and energy with a teleological order. Kreeft suggests that as the universe requires a cause for ‘the big bang’, that cause is separate from the totality of material existence within the universe. Creation of the universe by any entity, matter, or energy from within the universe is impossible and so ‘big bang’ theory requires the existence of a particular that is external to the universe. In order for a particular to be other than a part of the universe, Kreeft reasons that what is external to the universe is non-manifest and is therefore immaterial. Kreeft labels what is immaterial “spiritual”. The spiritual cause of the ‘big bang’ is therefore the deity that provided the teleological design and caused the creation of the universe. Gylfagganingshows this deity to be Odin, Villi, and Ve.

As if the usage of science to refute atheism, as employed by Kreeft, is insufficient, the implications of quantum physics also require a conscious observer in order to collapse the potentiality of matter from a wave state into a state of actuality or being. Again, we have scientific attestation of the need for a consciousness external to the manifestuniverse in order to explain the existence of matter. The vital stress is upon the term manifest. The realms of Yggdrasil interact to produce the potentiality of being, yet it is the Odinic consciousness that structures this potential into Being. Somewhere, Richard Dawkin’s has just fallen over.

Sturluson’s Skaldskaparmal(Edda, 1995) presents a significant text for the interpretation of Odin in a left-hand path philosophy. Within Skaldskaparmal,we hear of Odin’s desire for the mead of poetry. The blood of Kvasir forms the mead of poetry, blended with honey by the dwarfs Fialar and Galar. Kvasir is important his description as the wisest of the Vanir and significantly is named as one of the hostages exchanged in the peace truce to end the war caused by the Aesir’s treatment of Gullveig. Here, we once more have Odin in pursuit of knowledge at all costs.

35The void of Norse mythology within which Yggdrasil hangs.

Odin takes the name of Bolverk (evil-worker) and proceeds to engineer situations that allow him access to the mead of poetry. Odin begins with the slaughter of the nine slaves of Baugi and then makes Baugi the offer of his labour in exchange for access to the mead. The manner in which Odin slays the nine slave (note the symbolic usage of the number nine) is a triumph of intellect over the masses. As Odin throws aloft a whetstone, desired by the serfs to sharpen their scythes, Odin causes the serfs to scramble for the whetstone and thus they slit each other’s throats in the chaos that ensues. A representation of this act was later depicted within John Carpenter’s EscapefromL.A.where the lefthand path hero that is Snake Plissken (again, the snake symbolism is present) employs the same tactic to overcome superior numbers of gunmen.

Although Odin, as Bolverk, upholds his bargain with Baugi, Suttung refuses to allow Baugi and Bolverk access to the mead that is in his possession at the time. Bolverk persuades Baugi to bore a hole into the mountain where the mead is stored. Upon completion of the hole, Bolverk takes the form of a snake and enters into the mountain through the hole. Bolverk then seduces the daughter of Sutting, Gunnlod, whom protects of the mead inside of the mountain and he lays with her for three nights. Gunnlod agrees to allow Bolverk to take three-draughts of the mead. Bolverk promptly drains all of the mead into his mouth and assumes the form of an eagle. As discussed earlier, the forms of the snake and eagle bear immense significance. Odin’s flight as an eagle results in droplets of the mead that fall down to Midgard and the resultant inspiration for the poets and skalds. The flight of Odin as an eagle clearly signifies his heightened wisdom as the eagle form is assumed after he gains possession of the mead of inspiration, formed from the blood of the wisest Vanic god, Kvasir. The ascension of Odin’s wisdom reaches new heights and the droplets that fall inadvertently share the wisdom amongst man.

The tales of Sigurd (The Saga of the Volsungs, 1999) outline Odin’s influence over and treatment of his heroes. Odin exercises great influence over Sigurd and the family line of the Volsungs. Indeed, the ancestry of Sigurd traces back to a man named Sigi. The saga names Odin as the father of Sigi. The interaction of Odin extends beyond ancestry as Odin guides Sigi’s life and aids the fertility of Sigi’s son Rerir. Volsung was the son of Rerir and he was king after his father. Thus, Odin establishes the royal line of the Volsungs, descended from himself. As with the construction of events in order to ensure that Baldr survives Ragnarok, Odin again employs a long-term strategy and here fosters a line to create the heroes he seeks and steer the fates of men to his will.

A pivotal moment of the saga will be readily familiar. At the feast between the groups of King Volsung and a rival King Siggeir, the saga tells of the arrival of an unknown man. The man’s description is as a man whom wears a hooded and beaten old cape, with no shoes upon his feet. Most symbolically, he is very tall, grey with age, and he has only one eye. It is clear to all that the man is Odin. He carries a sword into the hall, which he then thrusts into the tree trunk in the centre of the hall. The man declares that he whom can draw the sword will receive it as a gift. The similarity to Arthurian mythology is explicit and there are many similarities between the tales, as well as Odin and Merlin. It is Sigmund, son of King Volsung, whom draws the sword and becomes Odin’s chosen warrior. Odin here elects to embolden the ego of Sigmund, rather than simply bestow the sword upon him. The sword also signifies the transference of an aspect of Odin’s hamingja, an idea suggested by Flowers in his discussion of Norse

soul lore and the Sigurd mythology (Flowers S. E., Sigudr: Rebirth and the Rites of Transformation, 2015). Such strategy ensures that Sigmund believes he has earnt his prowess. Importantly, the dramatic scene both fosters some egoistic self-belief in other warriors and ensures their fervent support of Sigmund as the chosen and mighty one. Such political theatre is a masterpiece of Machiavellian strategy by Odin.

Within the saga, we find numerous manipulations of events by Odin. Odin even appears, unnamed, in his form as psychopomp ferryman of the dead and takes the dead Sinfjolti from the arms of the grief stricken King Sigmund. Odin and King Sigmund meet again, when Odin calls and end to the Kings service in Midgard and takes him forth to Valhalla to join the Einherjar. In the heat of a furious battle, a man appears before the seemingly invincible King Sigmund, clothed in a black cloak and wide brimmed hat. With only one eye and armed with a spear, the man is clearly Odin. In a foolish attempt to cut down the man, the King breaks his sword upon the man’s spear and knows that his luck has gone. Upon his death, King Sigmund states “Odin does not want me to wield the sword since it is now broken. I have fought battles while it pleased him”, (The Saga of the Volsungs, 1999, p. 54). The broken sword is gathered and stored. The recipient of the broken sword, known as Garm, is Sigurd.

The pivotal section of the saga describes the slaughter of the dragon Fafnir by Sigurd. We find the intervention of Odin and Loki in construction of the spite and hatred between Regin and Fafnir over the gold hoard paid as penance for the slaughter of Regin and Fafnir’s brother Otr by Odin, Loki, and Hoenir. Once more, we find Odin involved with events that will directly steer the fate of his chosen hero. In order to aid Sigurd in the theft of the gold from his brother Fafnir, Regin re-forges the broken sword for Sigurd. The sword, named Garm, is consequently so powerful that it can carve the smiths anvil in half.

36 Hamingja: an Old Norse term descriptive of an aspect of the soul that carries a store of luck built upon the individuals actions. The Hamingja, or a portion of it, is transferable to another. Inheritance of such from an ancestor provides some aspect of the orløg upon which honourable deeds may build.

Rather than face the dragon Fafnir in a fierce battle, Regin advises Sigurd to dig a ditch and slit the abdomen of the beast as it slithers over. Sigurd fears what may result if the blood of Fafnir drips upon his flesh, yet proceeds anyway. It is whilst the ditch is in the process of excavation by Sigurd, that Odin appears as an old man with a long beard. He advises Sigurd to dig several ditches in order to drain away the blood. An aspect of Odin’s advice is that he offers no caution for Sigurd against contact with the blood; as such, it is possible that Odin desired Sigurd to have limited, nonfatal, contact with the blood. Once more, Odin directly influences events for Sigurd. After the successful slaughter of Fafnir, Regin requests Sigurd cook the heart of Fafnir so that Regin may consume it. When Sigurd uses his finger to check if the heart is ready, he inadvertently thrusts his burnt finger into his mouth.

The consequence of his consumption of Fafnir’s blood is that he gains the ability to understand the word of the birds. The birds advise Sigurd to eat Fafnir’s heart for himself and then slay Regin before he becomes Regin’s victim. Such happens that Sigurd slays Regin and finds the lair of Fafnir. It is in the lair that Sigurd finds the Helm of Terror, described by Fafnir as “(blowing) poison in all directions, so that none dared come near me, and I feared no weapon”, (The Saga of the Volsungs, 1999, p. 64). This helm is the origin of the iconic Aegishjalmur– the Helm of Awe/Terror. The ability to understand the speech of birds conveys knowledge upon Sigurd that is occult in nature.

The symbolism of the birds and the serpent-dragon is in clear reference to the archetypal forms as discussed above. Fafnir is the primal instinct, the serpentine instinct for survival on the physical plane. The birds represent the heightened awareness. In flight, they are metaphorically closer to the gods and represent the ascent of the mind of man, or specifically that of Sigurd in the frame of this myth. As such, the Helm of Awe is both a sign of protection, like the poison of Fafnir as it points in eight directions, and it is a mark of the ascended, sapient mind. The eight-fold directionality of the Helm also reflects in the alignment of energies from the eight etheric realms into the central man. Thus, the allegory of Sigurd has direct magical reverence for the left-hand path.

Figure 1 Aegishjalmur of Fafnir/Sigurd

Sigurd latter finds the Brynhild asleep, whom is effectively comatose because of the prick of a sleep thorn. Odin puts Brynhild, one of his Valkyrie to sleep as punishment for the death of one of Odin’s chosen kings in a battle. Brynhild teaches Sigurd the sacred runes of Odin. It is likely, given Odin’s manipulation of the Volsung lines fate that such was his plan for Brynhild and her actions would always have led to this event.

Further evidence of Odin’s manipulation of the events in the lives of his heroes occurs in the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (1998). Amongst the adventures of King Hrolf, we hear of the mysterious farmer Hrani, whom shelters and arms the King and his men. Hrani provides wise counsel to the King in typical Odinesque manner. A subsequent reappearance of Hrani sees Hrani offer weapons to the King and his men. King Hrolf’s rejection of the weapons as “hideous” offends Hrani and his hospitality is withdrawn. The refusal of a gift, any gift, is a sure cause of offence, yet King Hrolf unwittingly refuses a gift of Odin. Shortly after, the Kings advisor and champion, Bodvar, realises the error that will ultimately cost them. The King agrees and states, “I suspect the same, because that must have been Odin the Old. Certainly the man had but one eye”, (The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, 1998, p. 69). The fall of King Hrolf comes soon after against an enemy seemingly invincible to the blows of swords.

Odin-the Grey: Why Odin is the iconic tutor upon the Left-hand Path

It is necessary to clarify the definition of Odin as the iconic tutor upon the left-hand path. Such an identification is nonexclusive and without exclusion of any other deity associated with the left-hand path, such as Set, Lucifer, Ahriman, or Shiva. What is here proposed is the hypothesis that Odin is merely one of many forms of the archetypal left-hand path god. In review of comparative mythology, there is limited possibility for all theistic systems and myths can be concurrently true. With masses of contradictory theistic mythologies, evolution, ‘big-bang’ proponents, and the requirement of quantum physics for a conscious observer to render any matter into manifestation then we must resort to the application of Ockham’s razor^37. We then render the archetypal god form the simplest reduction of ideas and such can avoid conflict between various gods and mythologies.

37 A philosophical tool that denotes the more complex a theory, then the greater the possibility for error. As such, the simplest theory is less likely to be erroneous.

The archetypal god here discussed is the form of Odin, yet without exclusion of other acts and myths with which the archetype is associated. The purpose here then is to assess Odin as a form of the left-hand path initiator within the relevant mythological sources. Before we progress to the discussion of Odin’s role in left-hand path philosophy, it is essential to define Odin’s role overall. Odin, like all gods, functions as an archetypical form. If we think of Plato’s forms in the same terms as a Jungian archetype, then we can equate any god as such. Carl Gustav Jung almost perfectly described the nature of Odin:

Wotan is the noise in the wood, the rushing waters, the one who causes natural catastrophes, and wars among human beings. He isthe great sorcerer. Quite rightly, the Romans identified him with Mercury – of course not as the god of merchants, but of sorcerers, of the people who go in the dark, who are surreptitious in a way, who are moved by dark purposes; and he is also the psychopompos, the god of revelation. Therefore one can say he is very similarto the Thracian Dionysus, the god of orgiastic enthusiasm. (Jarrett, 1998, p. 196)

In an application of the theory of forms to Odin, we treat the Norse gods in a manner similar to that which the ancient Egyptians applied to their gods or neter^38. The neterof the ancient Egyptians were the acausal forms of consciousness from which the entire manifest world ultimately has as its efficient cause. Such forms of consciousness, existent externally to the manifest cave of Plato, provide the acausal consciousness external to the causal Big Bang, thus they fit the requirements of quantum physics for such a consciousness in order to enable the manifestation of a eventuality. In allusion to the forms of Plato, it is important to keep in mind Plato’s initiation at the age of 49 in the Great Pyramid where he learnt the mysteries of ancient Egypt (Hall, 2003, p. 162). Such an initiation into the Hermetic mysteries could provide a link between the non-manifest god forms and the realm of forms.

As a form, Odin exists outside of our realms of experience. We may perceive the magician king in terms of his influence only. The physical descriptions we have of Odin, or any god, only suffice as physical manifestations of the god in order to interact with mankind. There are numerous examples of individuals that it is possible to describe as Odinicor Odin-esque. Assessment of these is later in this chapter, as well as in some of the earlier icons of the left-hand path. Odin provides an archetype or form of the god of wisdom, scholarship, consciousness, magic, and will. It is possible to find this form in other pantheons if we look at the god-forms such as Set and Shiva.

Despite the high regard for Odin, or any form of the wiseman archetypal god, as both a god and tutor, the magus is to refrain from prayer to him, or any god, for assistance in the magus’ everyday life. Like the child that is afraid to let go of its parents and walk alone, we must use the gift of focused consciousness and will to develop and grow by ourselves. If we choose otherwise, then we will ultimately fail because of our dependence, as will the herd that seeks to assign blame for its own failures upon one who is able to break free of their ranks. The persistent request for the assistance of Yahweh is symptomatic of the herd mentality fostered within the ranks of the congregation of many religions. The church immediately acts to quell and remove the instance of an awakened state. An educated herd will cease to adhere to the words of the shepherd and no longer accept blind faith.

38 See (Aquino M. A., The Temple of Set: Volume I,

2014)for a clear discussion of the religious applications of ancient Egypt and the processes of neter. Aquino’sl text is essential reading for for the concise nature of its explanation of the Egyptian neter in relation to Plato’s Forms..

Odin is more than simply the Allfather. He is also the stirrer of inspiration and rage as per his name Wodannaz – with Wodas the inspiration or rage felt equally, although with varied effect, by his chosen be they poet or berserker. There are many gods and goddesses and there are those closely associated with the left-hand path-Odin, Set, Lilith, Shiva, Typhon, and Tiamat.

Various left-hand path groups worldwide hold these gods in high as models and progenitors of the left-hand path – the selection of key deity based variously upon personal preference, cultural reference point, and historic foundations of the group and recorded age of the god in question.

Don Webb suggests that the form taken by the Prince of Darkness, His Infernal Majesty (HIM), is determined culturally. Thus, Webb suggests that a Christian society dominated by Right Hand Path ideology will perceive HIM as Satan (Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to the Left-Hand Path, 1999, p. 12). Webb also suggests that where the left-hand path magician is revered, then the subsequent perception of HIM is in such forms as Odin. Such interpretation of HIM through the dominant psychology of a people is also applicable to the form chosen as the figurehead of many left-hand path groups. For instance, the Temple of Set holds the Egyptian god Set as the archetype of the left-hand path due to the fact the historic documentation of Set pre-dates that of any other left-hand path god. Other groups make use of Ahriman, Tiamat based upon the Zoroastrian, and Sumerian origins- these forms likely pre-date all other religions as these gods originate in the birthplace of religion.

The coherent traits of varied mythologies do however create an issue that requires attention. It is contradictory to believe in two different gods as separate entities and believe the creation myths associated with both gods. The law of contradiction applies here. Concurrent work with gods of varied mythologies will at worst offend the gods, yet contradictions in the mythologies of the gods will undermine the work of the magus. Only one can be true and if we cannot agree with a mythology, then we have to consider the core mythology and gods as aspects of the archetypal forms. The cross-pantheon blend of gods utilised by neo-pagans in particular, is likely to offend at least one god. Whilst contradiction may limit the combination of mythologies, the view of a god as an archetype somewhat negates this conflict between god forms. Such an approach also allows for the archetypal nature of mythologies to set forth the means by which aspects of certain deities and mythological stories crossover between mythologies. It is also necessary to keep in mind that a god of consciousness that employs deception in order to obtain a desired goal will manipulate his appearance as required. Any archetypal form of the god of consciousness, self-will, deception, and manipulation of the manifest will therefore employ deceit and varied forms of appearance to best connect with the audience.

The myths of Odin contain many references to shape shifting, deceit and hundreds of names. Gylfaginning(Sturluson, Edda, 1995, p. 22) states that Odin has different names amongst all the peoples of the world. The environmental influence upon our lives, our reality tunnel shapes our interpretation of the archetypes. A person in sub-Saharan Africa will look for different criteria in a god than those in countries upon the Mediterranean Sea, in China or in North Western Europe. Ultimately, it may be that Odin is a name and appearance of another god such as Set and for those with northern European origins, Odin is the name by which many know the god.

The realm of the form or archetype remains largely beyond objective experience. It is easy for our interpretation of the shadows to take shape in accordance with our manifest environment. A Jungian application of archetypes, when viewed with a mixture of Gurdjieffian idea of many ‘I’’s and the necessity for a first individuated consciousness within quantum physics, then we arrive at the idea that we are all egos within the mind of a higher consciousness. As such, the interaction of each ‘I’ within this mind is shaped directly by the pre-eminence of higher ‘I’’s. Should the higher form of consciousness wish to alter its own manifestation between the forms of Odin and Set, then this ability would account for the variance in mythological descriptions

Odin is the embodiment of the ‘grey’ principal-the blurred lines between the 'black and white' morals and magic’s. He utilises techniques generally thought of as either white or black magical traditions and his morality is clearly only defined by himself and he is beyond the judgement of those that would deem his actions ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as he acts only as Odin would. The magical practices referred to as those of white magic, which are typically little more than the prayer to deity for assistance embodies the herd’s reliance upon others for assistance, the subjugation to a deity. The aspects of morality aligned with the arts of black magic are those of self-reliance, self-preservation, a self-defined morality, and ultimately the deification of one’s self.

Odin crosses lines, practice arts generally thought of as forbidden, learn the feminine magical arts, raise the dead, and even to break an oath. Odin plays the long game and has the master plan that only he is privy to the details of. This game manifests in a series of acts that are beyond judgment as in the terms of Nietzsche, "acts done in love are beyond good and evil". Decisions to blur the lines of good & evil, black & white magic are taken by the Allfather in the knowledge that it is for the greater purpose and he has no care when he is confronted on these matters or the moral judgement handed to him by others. Ethics are little else than a table of values handed out by the herd in which they expect everyone to abide by their values of good as Nietzsche surmised. The magus shall seek to embody this sense of selfpurpose and self-judgement.

Odin is the high god of the Aesir, the sacral king of the gods, and he fulfils roles of both priest and magician. The Aesir, as gods, represent directed consciousness over the primal chaos represented by the Jotun-this focussed consciousness is what separates the Aesir from their kin. When Odin, Hoenir, and Lodur (Odin, Villi, and Ve in some sources) slay their primal grandfather Ymir and used his remains to form the worlds-they took actions directed by their will. Regardless of if Hoenir and Lodur exist separately or are hypostases of Odin (the Troth, 2006, p. 174), the fact is that the slaughter of Ymir was one of will enacting a consciously derived order over chaos. The events evidence a conscious and pre-meditated action, played out in order to create the new from that which existed- an act of initiation for the Aesir and a sacrificial gift through Ymir. The assassination is akin to Cain’s biblical act of the first murder of his brother Abel. Cain is the Abrahamic first murderer and enacts the first act of witchcraft (defined as an of his will in defiance of his God – effectively an act of Satanism as described by Michael W. Ford in his book Liber HVHI(2005). The act of Ymir's murder and dismemberment is essentially an antinomian act that defied the current order, as well as a sacrifice that if we were to describe the total act as a sacrifice of one of their own in order to raise new worlds to existence, would read as per a typical Hollywood depiction of a Satanic ritual! Although the act was in no way as such, the basic outline of the ritual has components of LaVeyan Satanism, Hermeticism, and Golden Dawn-esque Ceremonial rites. The key themes of sacrifice and own will are more prevalent today amongst the practitioners of the left-hand path as they involve an act of becoming, in terms of the Temple of Set, from which there is no return to the previous status.

Odin as a name etymologically links to Odinn, Woden, Wotan, and Wodannaz- Wod is the spark of inspiration, or the Black Flame. Wodis that which floods mind and body and manifests within the artists inspiration and the battle rage of the warrior (the Troth, 2006, p. 169). Odin, as the source of this current, uses it to conduct an act of his will against his kin. He also raises himself above Jotun kind through mastery of his directed consciousness. There are many Jotun who are Odin like in their knowledge and mastery of magic. Odin does more than merely elevate himself on an intellectual level above his kin.

Edred Thorsson describes Odin in this threefold form of Odin-Villi-Ve as “the first individual being with these three qualities: Transcendental Consciousnesspossessed of Willand able to Discriminatebetween “this” and “that”.” (Blue Runa, 2001, p. 19)39. Thorsson further elaborates upon the consciousness of Odin and its consequences in his awareness of his own limitations. On a very basic level, it is this ability to define that which is ‘I’ and that which is ‘other’ which allows for the individuation of the self. Only with true knowledge of the self, can one act upon the other with absolute moral certainty. The moral philosophy of Odin is what separates him from his Jotunfamily-he wants to create new worlds and seeks new challenges rather than merely accept the status quo and these are the acts of a left-hand path magus. The many tales of Odin, assessed later, outline the ways in which Odin acts only by his morality. Odin has clear separation from the other gods and Jotun. He will transgress his own laws and will break oaths where required for what he deems to be the greater cause.

A personal view here is that Odin, through his wodor black flame, is the first to travel the left-hand path. The idea that unites the Aesir is that of the control of the primal chaos of the

Jotun and Thursesthrough use of their directed consciousness – order out of chaos. The Jotunwould destroy the Aesir and their creations in Midgard in order to return to the bleakness of

Ginnungagap and be the sole occupants of that space. The might of the collective wills of the Aesir stem the efforts of the Jotun in their aim.

39 Emphasis by myself.

The work and development is never complete. As Odin ever seeks further knowledge and skill, so must we. The goal of the magus is to find themselves in a self-centric state of non-union with the gods. Odin has no desire to one with the individual; rather he will accept one into his ranks if one makes oneself worthy of a seat amongst the Aesir (separate from the Einherjarwho are men of great spirit and combat ability). The Rune Ansuz is where we find the key to the goal. Ansuz is the divine inspiration of Odin and bestowed on a range of his faithful that includes poets, berserkers and his priests, but is extendable to include musicians, artists, filmmakers, military heroes, sports heroes, and those magi who would deem themselves Grar magus. We may view Ansuz, as the key to the left-hand path. It is Odin's gift of individual inspiration to act, cognate with the black flame. Light happens, darkness is ever present, and Odin's gift is the black flame. Through a gift, Odin bestowed life, function, and wod upon man and we should make use of these gifts. The purpose of wod, the black flame or Ansuz, is that we have the potential to alter the world as we wish as we combine both black and white as the Grar. Our will manifest.

The mythology of Odin is exemplary for the left-hand path-from the very start he seeks to overcome primal and natural chaotic energies through a focused action that is no more than the triumph of a conscious awareness over chaos. It is no easy path that Odin pursues in the quest for knowledge and neither should anyone whom seeks to follow his example. Life should be hard and sacrifices are required in order to gain from all aspects of it. View man as a vessel on our journeys. Take the left-hand path approach that seeks to overcome hardships though our own powers.

Nietzsche encapsulated this doctrine within Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the reference to man as a bridge between where we were and where we may aspire to reach. Nietzsche also perfectly summarised this idea within the phrase "man is

so mething tobeovercome. Life is a challenge. Become strong through the triumph of one’s own will. Odin and the other archetypal gods will respect an individual more if they are strong and independent than if they pray to them every single day in request of assistance from them to simply live one’s life. The nature of Odin is almost perfectly summarised in the idea that where a god gives all in pursuit of the greater goal, then it is only to be expected that to share in Odin’s wisdom, one must share in the terror and distress also (the Troth, 2006, p. 173).

Odin has many physical forms within historical texts. The most common form is that of a one-eyed man, with a long beard and a wide brimmed hat. The easiest way to imagine this appearance is to think of Gandalf as depicted in Peter Jackson’s

Lord of the Rings (Jackson, 2001) trilogy. The reason for Gandalf’s appearance as such is that Tolkien was foremost a scholar of Norse mythology and much of the source material can be identified within the northern sagas. Odin often appears in the form of this miserly or poor old man. His spear, Gungnir, may be in the form of a staff. The cloak and hat are likely to be dark grey or dark blue in colour and other times it is almost black. The subdued and apparently impoverished appearance of Odin in many myths is likely a deceitful one. Appearance as a radiant and gold clad king or god would clearly identify Odin and negate his ability to employ espionage and subtle manipulation of events within the mythology.

Other appearances detail the battle clad Odin—armour clad upon the back of Sleipnirand brandishing Gungir. Odin is capable of the assumption of more than altered human forms. He may also take animal forms such as the eagle or snake described within the sagas. The myths urge caution in deals with any person that may be Odin. Whether heroes refuse weapons from a poor farmer or mistreat an elderly man that comes to seek sanctuary, Odin, in these guises of farmers and old men, has tested his chosen men and duly punished those that have failed his tests. The harsh care of his chosen ones is evident throughout the body of Norse lore. Given the focus of Odin upon Ragnarok, his desire for great men to be at his side requires the veritable iron will forged upon experiences of fire – stirred by the great stirrer of strife himself. Where Odin has sacrificed and undergone hardships in order to further himself and his own power, his chosen ones can expect to do so also.

Odin has remained a god who is widely feared. It is possible to trace the etymological routes of the names for days back to the Aesir. In Germany however, the fear of Odin was such that his name is prohibited from utterance in some regions post conversion to Christianity and the name for Wednesday (Woden’s Day) is given as simply Mittwoch (mid-week) whereas other gods such as Thor (Donar) retained their day, Donnerstag (Flowers S. E., 2012, p. 80). Whilst accounts of other Norse deities cease post-Christian conversion, visions of Odin continued. These later appearances typically foretell the arrival of war and disaster (the Troth, 2006, p. 172).

The animals associated with Odin are also significant to the view of the god in terms of the left-hand path. The foremost animals associated with Odin are the raven and the wolf. Odin has two ravens, named Huginn and Muninn, names that mean thoughtful and mindful respectively. Often interpreted as the thoughts and memories of Odin, he refers to them directly and expresses concern at the loss of memory:

Hugin and Munin fly ev eryday, Over the wide world;

I fear for Hugin that he will not come back,

Yet I tremble more for munin. Grimnismal, verse 20(Larrington,2008)

The presence of ravens, as well as their relation the crow, amongst the dead of the battlefield certainly reinforces the link with Odin and his role as the ‘chooser of the slain’. The historic tendency for ravens and crows to be present around the site of hanging gallows, where they would feast upon the dead, also reinforces their association with Odin as the ‘hanging god’ given Odin’s act of self-sacrifice whereby he hung upon Yggdrasil for nine days and nights. The common portrayal of the raven as a morbid creature within art such as Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven forged an eternal association with the gothic. The gothic association of the raven and the crow gained resurgence with the popularity of the graphic novel and Brandon Lee film theCrow (Proyas, 1994) ,where the crow is a spirit guide (Norse Fylgja)that resurrects the dead Eric Draven in order to avenge his murder on Halloween. It seems that the archetypal raven/crow and the inherent link with death continues to be prevalent within all cultures and remains so to this day.

Geri and Freki (both translate as ‘greedy’)40 are Odin’s wolves. As Odin consumes only mead, he gives food to his wolves instead. Norse poetry employed the feeding of the wolves as a kenning for the death of men at the hands of another man. Given Odin’s psychopomp role as the chooser of the slain, then those who fall in battle are, in poetic terms, feeding Odin’s wolves.

40 See (the Troth, 2006, p. 185) for a concise overview of the animals associated with Odin.

“ National crests are selected, not as a rule from doves, lambs, goats, magpies, and hares; but from lions, tigers, she-wolves, serpents, dragons, bears,eagles, and the FightingMan.”

(Redbeard,2013, p.92)

The mighty eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, is the child of Loki. Sleipnir is the swiftest horse that can travel the nine worlds of Yggdrasil. The colour of Sleipnir is grey and bears symbolical significance given the prevalence of riders of grey horses as omens of evil within Norse lore. The biblical depiction of the four horsemen of the apocalypse also has the rider named Death upon a grey horse. The depiction also appears within the Saami mythology where their god of death, Ruto, rides a horse and whose appearance bears more than a brief similarity to that of Odin as described elsewhere. This deity description is somewhat unexpected given that the Saami tribes have no horses. Again, we find an almost archetypal presence of the rider upon a grey horse who signals death and reinforces association with Odin as the god of death.

The association of Odin and animals extends beyond his animalistic companions. The myth of Odin’s theft of the mead of inspiration from Suttung is found within Skaldskaparmal (Sturluson, Edda, 1995), discussed above, amongst other myths in the chapter Walking the Pathof Odin, depicts the transformation of Odin into both a serpent and an eagle. The form of the serpent links Odin further to the symbolism of the left-hand path. The prevalence of the serpent within world mythologies always carries links to those antinomian beings and actions that are reference points for the philosophies of the left-hand path.

In Greek mythology, there is both Ladon and Ophion. Ladon is the serpent that lays around the tree that bears the golden apples and ultimately overcome by Heracles. Ophion is the snake that incubates the world egg from which all is born. The most commonly known myth of the serpent is that of the Garden of Eden. The chthonic serpent acts as the tempter for Adam and Eve and urges them to rebel against the commands of god and take the forbidden fruits of the tree of knowledge. The myth is core to the Abrahamic faiths and is the foremost tale of the devil’s actions. Within Egyptian mythology, we find the rebel god Set. Whilst Set has no form of a serpent, he is later associated with the serpent Apep. Further suggestive of Odin and the links to the serpent form is that two of the names by which Odin is known throughout the world also appear as the names of two wyrms(serpent/dragon forms) that gnaw upon the roots of Yggdrasil (the Troth, 2006, p. 187).

The forms of the eagle and the snake also appear within the significant work of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra (2003). Here we find the sage Zarathustra accompanied by the two animals. Jung interprets the animals as symbolic of the natures of man (Jarrett, 1998). His interpretation of the serpent is that it represents the physical aspects of man. The vital physical needs and carnal natures are evident through the prevalence of the serpent in creation myths, such as those of Greek, Aborigine, and Egyptian mythology. The eagle is symbolic of the spirit that inspires and excites the mind as it soars near to the sun that represents higher consciousness in Jung’s analysis of

Nietzsche’s work (Jarrett, 1998).

The symbolic nature of the serpent and its relation to the manifest realm is also significant in the aspect of the Midgard Serpent, otherwise known as Jormungandr. When Odin threw down Loki’s child Jormungandr into the ocean that encircles the manifest realm of Midgard, the serpent bites its own tale and becomes the great Midgard Serpent. These events, described in

Gy lfagganing (Sturluson, Edda, 1995) , outline how the Jormungandr becomes the world serpent – a symbolic representation of the limitation of the physical realm. The mythic battles between Thor, as protector of Midgard and thus the manifest, against the circle that constrains it, therefore represent the rise of man and the struggle to know the metaphysical. Thor protects the world from increased limitation of the physical by the actions of Jormungandr. The serpent, in turn also protects the realm of forms from incursion by physical man. Here we have the hidden intention of Odin in assignment of Jormungandr to this station. The great dual of Thor and Jormungandr is the balance between the realm of shadows and that of the forms. As Thor protects the manifest realm of mankind, the great serpent constrains man to this realm. Thor battles against this restrictive serpent, as the mind of man ever seeks to know what lays beyond the cave in pursuit of the truth of metaphysical questions.

Suggested Reading

Kelly, Aegishjalmur, 2011

Flowers S. E., Lordsof theLeft-Hand Path, 2012

The Troth, OurTroth - Volume1:Historyand Lore, 2006

Edred, BlueRuna, 2001

The Other Gods, Goddesses and Wights

There do exist other exemplary models of the left-hand path within Germanic mythology. These gods, whilst eminent within the mythology of northern Europe from the Viking era, appear elsewhere in their archetypal forms. Their natures occur within the mythology of every belief system.

The primary archetype in addition to that of the wise man, Odin, would be Gullveig- the witch who arrives in Asgardand is killed and burned. Her subsequent re-emergence and return means that after her triple murder by the Aesir three times, in a manner typical of the later witch trials of Europe, Gullveig demonstrates that there exist powers and knowledge that are beyond control by the wisdom of Odin. She also demonstrates the aspect of remanifestation in her return. Her treatment because of her power and different nature signifies Gullveig as an embodiment the antinomian spirit that rebels against the order. Through her persistent re-emergence, she ultimately causes the war between the Aesir and the Vanir. It could be suggested that Gullveig is a necessary role and the deaths she undergoes are actually initiations that lead to her rebirth or renewal under a new name-that of Freyja.

Freyja is referenced as the sister of Freyr and daughter of Njordr and she is one of the Vanir, yet it is never explained how she comes to reside in Asgard. There is no reference to her inclusion amongst the hostage exchange. Further to this absence of origin myth, Freyja is the witch with powers that even Odin must seek to learn from her. She is the progenitor of all witchcraft even down to her position as a sexual deity and symbol of fertility, her affinity with cats and her associations with battle and death. Indeed, the division of the dead between Freyja and Odin and Odin's lust for her when no other god can look at her because of her beauty suggests that Freyja again undergoes another change in name. Freyja likely becomes Frigg through marriage to Odin and motherhood.

We find evidence in support of this notion in Freyja’s marriage to Odr, a god who takes a leave of absence, subsequently presumed lost and dead. The name Odin is derivative of the noun Odr and there is a suggestion that there is a probability that Odr and Odin is indeed the same god (the Troth, 2006, p. 367). Given the shared origins of Indo-European mythology with that of the Hindu gods, we also find a precedent for the Gullveig-Freyja-Frigg hypostases thesis. The goddess Parvati, companion to Shiva (Odin) also has three forms. As Parvati, she is the wife and mother, the Frigg archetype. Her hideous and aggressive form is that of Kali, a demonic witch form that holds similarity with that of Gullveig. The Freyja archetypal form manifests in the aspect of Durga. Like Freyja, Durga also rides into battle as a warrior goddess and has affinity with cats (Storl, 2004, p. 117). Thus, we find the Hindu trinity of Kali-Durga-Parvati that reinforces the possibility for the Gullveig-Freyja-Frigg thesis.

Stephen E. Flowers argues against the link between Frigg and Freyja (Edred, Witchdom of the True, 1999). Flowers attributes their similarity to a collapse in the use of the names at the time of the Christianisation. In Flowers analysis of the name Frigg however, he suggests a possible link. There is no reference to Frigg as one of the Vanir; instead, we find her named as amongst the Asynjur – the feminine of Aesir. Perhaps the question should be if the Vanicof origin of Frigg at some point known in the past. Flowers traces the etymology of Asynjur to ans-winjonand suggests a meaning of ‘consort of an ancestral god’. Flowers likens this term with the possible etymology for the word Vaniras meaning ‘companions’. The similarity in etymology here suggests some common link. Freyja is identified with the Proto-Germanic root

frauj onby Flowers, with the meaning of female ruler. It is here that we find the origin of the common perception of Freyja’s name as that of ‘Lady’, whilst her brother Freyr has the masculine fraujaz , a Proto-Germanic root which means ‘ruler’, thus we have the ‘Lord’. Flowers proceeds to identify Frigg as a derivation of the Proto-Indo-European root preih,‘love’. The evolution of this term into frij-joprovides the interpretation of ‘dear or loved one’ in Flower’s analysis.

What is absent from the analysis of Flowers is the discussion of how the Lady, Freyja, becomes the beloved queen and mother, thus we get the evolution of Freyja into Frigg. Flowers later suggests the origins of Freyja to be none other than Gullveig. Flowers traces the myth of the Voluspaand outlines the fate of Gullveig. Gullveig means ‘greed for gold’ and we know that Gullveig is latter known as Heith, ‘the shining one’. The tears of Freyja shed for her lost husband Odr are also a known kenning for gold – thus, she is the shining one. The mythic pursuit of the Brisingamen necklace by Freyja, which sees her offer sexual gifts in order to obtain it, also links Freyja with the Gullveig aspect of gold-lust. The analysis of Flowers, supports rather than contests the transition of Gullveig-Heidr-Freyja. The question is then as to why if Odin may have a hundred names by which he is known, then why is it difficult to see the transition of Freyja into Frigg once her role becomes that of beloved queen and mother? Indeed, it is the possession of magical abilities inclusive of that of prophecy, which further link the two as names of one goddess. The role of Frigg as female ruler and mark of kingship is a later discussion in this text, yet Flowers also suggests Freyja represents the embodiment of royal power.

We may therefor reason that Odin invites Gullveig into the realm of Asgard because of his lust for her beauty and her magical knowledge. It is at this point that Gullveig has the title Freyja, which in turn becomes Frigg through her status and role as Queen of Asgard, wife of Odin. She maintains her association with the traditionally feminine magic’s of Seidr, her origins in the Vanir and her control over the natural world as evidenced through Frigg's acquisition of assurances that nothing in the worlds will harm Baldr. Here we have a goddess who goes against the precedence in an act of antinomian excellence, remanifests herself on many occasions, and embodies knowledge of magic and divination rivalled only by that Odin. Gullveig is of course a prime example of initiatory development and the power of her own will through her thrice murder and rebirth as Gullveig. The decision to use her knowledge of the fates of all gods to step in and seek the means to prevent the death of Baldr, further shows her will to break her own rules in pursuit of a desired goal. Here is notable that Frigg knows the fate of all gods yet never reveals this knowledge.

Gullveig-Freyja-Frigg is therefore the likely lady of the lefthand path, the archetypical Scarlet Lady of Babylon upon the lefthand path. Her beauty and power is so attractive that none other than Odin can stand to look at her. She is temptation. She is the ultimate feminine. She is destruction. She is rebirth. She is Gullveig-Freyja-Frigg. Gullveig, to use the her first known name and to hold both Freyja and Frigg as indicative titles suggestive of her role at that point, has control over all feminine aspects of magic: prophecy, Seidr, reincarnation or renewal and all natural magic’s.

There exists a third deity within the Germanic mythology that is a key role model for the left-hand path – Loki. Loki is easily associated with the Hagalazrune. Out of what can seem chaotic destruction, new life arises from a hailstorm. Great gifts such as Thor's Mjolnir are the result of Loki's mischief. Like the hail that both flattens the crops, yet provides much needed water to the field, Loki’s gift is often beyond a veil of dramatic trickery.

There exists no other god as antinomian as Loki after Ymir’s slaughter. As blood-brother to Odin and accepted as one of the Aesir is sufficient to deem him one of the Aesir gods rather than a Jotun and the precedent for such is set by the reference of all of the god’s wives known as Aesir despite their Vanic or Jotun origins. The common reference to Loki as ‘Laufey’s son’ breaks with the Norse tradition of children to their father. Thor is thus Thor Odinsson and this naming tradition continues today in Iceland. In reference of Loki as ‘Laufey’s son’, the reference is to his mother rather than his father, Farbauti. The inference of such usage of the mothers name as opposed to the fathers suggests the presence of an anomaly in association with the parentage and to infer illegitimacy of inheritance (the Troth, 2006, p. 204). There is even a possibility that Loki may be the later forgotten brother of Odin in the creation tale of Gylfagganingthat is Lodur (the Troth, 2006, p. 195) and that Loki may be the individual referred to as both Lodur and Villi. It is also noteworthy that Sturluson lists the triad of Odin, Loki, and Hoenir as travel companions in his Skaldskaparmal, (Edda, 1995). Sturluson also refers to Loki as the “trier of Haenir’s mind”, a term which also describes well Loki’s relations with Thor. In addition and to further confuse matters with the Christian influence of Father-Son-Holy Ghost, the triad of Odin (father), Loki (shadow/ghost), and Thor (earthly son) also form a common band of travellers whom venture out to explore the worlds. With multiple theistic, linguistic, and historic influences upon the lore, both in its original and latter literary forms, we may never know the true relation of the triad and identity of these three.

Such is likely to cause dissent amongst those of a Heathen right-hand path persuasion. Many modern Heathen groups have memberships who fail to distinguish between Loki and the Christian interpretation of Satan and have formally banned the toasting or reverence of Loki within their religious rites. There is no basis for such ideology in concern of Loki. The arguments for the ideology include such misinformed ideas as Loki as a Jotun rather than a member of the Aesir. It is apparently easy to forget that Thor is half Jotun given that he is bar far the most popular god in contemporary heathenism. Further argument against Loki is offered in the suggestion that there is no evidence for the reverence or worship of him as a deity amongst the archaeological remnants of past heathen communities. Consideration is required of the number of place names across Scandinavia that begin with “Lok” (the Troth, 2006, p. 196) as these may indicate a past association. Unfortunately, the individuals upon the Heathen right-hand path are often as ill-informed and stubborn as their mainstream counter-parts. The interpretation of Loki alludes to similarities with the Christian view of Lucifer and Satan and such betrays the Christian indoctrination that is so very common and difficult to break.

Loki does as he wishes at all times, regardless of what passes as socially accepted behaviour. Others such as Michael Kelly (Kelly, Aegishjalmur, 2011, p. 14)have suggested that Loki may be an aspect of Odin. Such an interpretation requires a degree of knowledge about the form of hypostases and the Jungian theory of archetypes. The idea that one god has multiple hypostases is common within Catholicism, within the holy triad, and within Hindu beliefs. Jungian archetypes also offer the suggestion that gods may assert influences upon the core persona by the archetypal natures. In order for such to manifest, then the concept of an over-mind is required in which all individual beings essentially function as the Gurdjieffian ‘I’’s and the dominant mind or “I”, would actually be that of Odin. Certainly, a Jungian analysis would find the anima (Freyja), the animus (Freyr), the shadow (Loki) and the wise man (Odin) within the core self of the overmind. A full investigation of this theory is the subject of a separate work termed the Yggdrasil Theoryby myself.

Loki is certainly Odin's closest ally and confidant. It is reasonable to suggest Loki's involvement in the death of Baldr was actually part of Odin's plan to ensure Baldr survives Ragnarok. There is no better place than Hel to ride out the twilight of the Gods and the subsequent reordered worlds. Given the evidence for the collaboration of both Odin and Loki to achieve the desired end at all costs, then this idea concerned with Baldr is certainly a possibility. Whilst Loki may lack the magical prevalence of Odin and Freyja, he certainly is the master of shapeshifting, cunning and persuasion-his every adventure serves as an initiatory development of his personality and power through the results whether they are they gifts to the other gods or the children he sires. Loki is the godly version of a spy. He has the abilities, both shapeshifting and of speech, to achieve all required tasks through either deceit or persuasion. Loki has no fear when he undertakes the darkest and most dangerous works. His affinity with Odin is reflective of the need for a great king to have a great spy. It is non-permissible for a king to assassinate enemies or stir trouble in order to manifest a desired result — this task is the work of a spy.

Given the relative importance of the gods Villi and Ve, or Hoenir and Lodur dependent upon sources, then the roles of Odin’s brothers or possible hypostases warrants further detailed analysis. As documented later in this analysis, Gylfagganing (Sturluson, Edda, 1995) references the brothers Odin, Villi, and Ve as the sons of Bor who structure the manifest from the remains of Ymir. Sturluson references the sons of Bor in the order: Odin, Villi, and Ve. Where the dialogue later recounts the tale of man’s creation, it is the first of the brothers that gives man breath and life. It is only implicit that the giver of breath to man would therefore be Odin/Wodannaz. The second brother bestows the gift of consciousness, with the final gift of movement left to the third and final brother.

As the Proto-Germanic form of Odin is Wodannaz, then we may infer from its root of wodthat it is likely to have been Odin that bestowed consciousness upon man. Wodmeans voice/noise and links to the Old Norse noun odr, which translates as voice/poetry (the Troth, 2006, p. 169). We however find no suggestion within the body of lore that is so. It is Villi whom is most likely to have been the referential giver of consciousness. If we accept the widely promoted notion that Hoenir is Villi, then the god is attributed acts that clearly relate more to the aspect of Odin than the others. Hoenir/Villi is the giver of Wodas discussed above, yet after the demise of the gods in Ragnarok, he is also destined to “choose wooden slips for prophecy” within the Voluspa(Larrington, 2008, p. 12) . This quote is clearly a reference to the act of divination through use of what is likely to be rune-staves akin to those described by Tacitus (Agricola and Germania, 2009).

It then becomes essential to recall that Odin is the giver of life/breath without which the form is useless and the gift of consciousness is unable to exist. Here we have a complex issue: the name Wodannaz suggests a role as the giver of inspiration whereas the lore suggests that such is more likely to be Villi. Such a complexity of roles and gods has led to the development of the idea that Odin-Hoenir-Lodur, or Odin-Villi-Ve, are triadic hypostases of Wodannaz. Stephen E. Flowers, as Edred Thorsson, suggests that the three represent the Odinic triad (Runelore, 2012, p. 169) . Flowers also references the gift of Odin, that of the vital breath or ond, as the “divine spark” and “the foundation of all runework”, and even links it to the concept of

prana.

The mythology of the triadic brotherhood continues to evolve in its complexity elsewhere. We later find the notion that in the absence of Odin, the brother Villi and Ve share his possession, his wife Frigg included, whom retains her role as queen beside the ruler of Asgard. Unfortunately, the lore that contains specific relevance to the mythology and tales of Villi and Ve, Hoenir and Lodur is relatively sparse. It is likely that many tales like those of other gods such as Tyr, now are lost in the transition from oral to written lore, or were unknown to the Christian preservers of the Odinic lore. The mythology is convoluted and seems either ignorant of other sources or chooses to ignore them as Sturluson clearly does so. The debate as to whether Villi is Hoenir or Lodur is equally as lively as that as to whether the triads form Odinic hypostases. Given the application of Jungian archetypes to the mind of Odin, then we may dare to err and count the brother Villi and Ve, Hoenir and Lodur as aspects of Odin.

Suggested Reading

The Troth, Our Troth - Volume1:Historyand Lore, 2006

Crossley-Holland, The Penguin Book of Norse Myths, 2011

Larrington, The Poetic Edda,2008

Pollington, The Elder Gods– the Otherworld ofEarly England, 2011

Sturluson, Edda, 1995

In conclusion

The question that we have asked and investigated is then: Is Odin an archetypal god of the left-hand path?

The first objection to this position is that science has disproven the existence of god. There is no objective evidence for the existence of any god. Myths that relate stories of gods are mere stories devised by man when he had neither the equipment nor knowledge to explain the universe other than in terms of gods.

The second objection to the position is that Satan is more likely to be the archetypal god of the left-hand path. Satan is the symbolic anti-god and is a more recognisable figure around the world.

The third major objection, rather than the final objection, is that Odin is a Pagan god. As Pagan’s are peaceful and nature loving, then it does not fit that Odin is a dark god and archetype of the left-hand path.

On the contrary, Vladimir Propp and Joseph Campbell demonstrate the recurrent themes of mythology and narrative devices in their work. Carl Gustav Jung provided the explanation of how the archetypes exist beyond our experiential senses, yet known to us through the collective unconscious. Thus, the recurrent themes of comparative mythology are the result of recurrent narrative structures and the archetypal gods interpreted through cultural references around the world. Science, as the youngest religion, is engaged in the search for its mathematical and objective narrative with which to describe the archetypes.

I answer that of the similarities between world mythologies support the theses of Propp and Campbell. Of all myths that detail the gods of the world, the myths explicitly tell that Odin is known by various forms and names to the peoples of the world. Likewise, we have heard that Shiva loves all religions for they all worship him in truth. Here we must concede that Odin and Shiva, along with other gods, are ultimately ethno-geographic interpretations of the same archetype. Such explains the similarities between many myths and gods, with physical forms and names altered in accordance with the localised interpretations, and expectations, of what the god would be. Thus, Odin appeals to Northern European Germanic tribes, Set to the Egyptians, Shiva to Indians. Odin is the archetypal god of the left-hand path, the rebel god, the separated consciousness, the antinomian god, the creator, the destroyer. So is Set of the Egyptians. So is Shiva. All are one.

The myths of Odin outline his rebellion from the established order of the primal Jotun. The antinomian slaughter of Ymir provides the platform for the remanifestation of Being. Where the Jotun were wise and powerful, Odin provides order to existence. In the destruction of Ymir and placement of his parts, Odin structures the Universe and brings Midgard into existence. This act is the ‘big bang’ of science, the creation of the manifest. The Universe is allmatter and such requires a conscious observer in order for it to be so. Odin, the archetype, is thus the creator.

In assessment of the archetypal Odin against the criteria earlier defined as the measures of true left-hand path adepthood as per the works of Nietzsche and Flowers, we find that Odin meets all of the criteria. The Nietzschean goals were firstly to embrace the reality of eternal recurrence and live in a manner one is happy to repeat. Odin succeeds against this measure as his actions, often of an antinomian nature, are taken without concern for their judgement by others. Odin acts as he sees fit with the wider implications in mind rather than immediate consequences. The second Nietzschean goal was that of embodiment of the Will to Power. Odin expresses such in his overthrow of the established order, the defiance of death in order to obtain the Runes and even his embrace of eternal recurrence where he arranges the murder of Baldr in order to ensure his resurrection post-Ragnarok. The final Nietzschean goal is that of the Superman. Odin evolves himself continually through pursuit of knowledge and adventure. His heroes, such as Sigurd, also embody the ideal, as the reward for survival of hardship is an evolution of the self above the levels of peers.

The measures for a Lord of the left-hand path as defined by Flowers also provide support for the acknowledgement of Odin as an archetype of the left-hand path. Flowers requirement for self-deification is addressed as the insurgency of Odin leads to the slaughter of Ymir and the subsequent structure of the manifest universe by Odin and his kin. Odin’s rebellion against the existent order of Being also provides an example of his individualistic and antinomian nature. The war with the Vanir and his rebuttal of the idea that Ymir is a god also demonstrate Odin’s individualistic nature. Odin is a leader by his own will and does not hold democratic debates to determine the appropriate and approved course of action. Flowers’ requirement for initiatory experience is evident in Odin’s shamanic self-sacrifice. Through this act, Odin denies himself food and water for nine days and pierces himself by his own spear, a symbol of sacrifice to Odin. Odin’s act of selfsacrifice leads to his mastery of the Runes. The act also provides the symbolic initiatory experience for the magus upon the lefthand path. Only through total self-sacrifice of the ego and devotion to the work is true knowledge obtained. There is no easy path to the knowledge as evident in the hardship undertaken by Odin. The myths of Odin also provide examples of his mastery of magic through acts of Seidr work and shape-shifting amongst others.

In reply to the first objection, science has yet to provide evidence for the existence of god. Science has equally yet to provide any evidence against the existence of god. It is important to note that the lack of evidence for something in no way forms evidence of its non-existence. The latest developments in quantum theory, as outlined by Rosenblum and Kutner, (Quantum Enigma, 2011), state the requirement of a form of consciousness existent outside of the material Universe in order for the Universe to exist. Rosenblum and Kutner also describe the hesitation of the scientific community to engage in debate with philosophers and theologians with regard to this consequence and rather ignore the issues created by quantum physics. It is however important to recall that scientific theories continually evolve or are replaced. Science is merely a faith pursuant of empirical answers to the great philosophical queries.

In reply to the second objection, I offer that Satan is a result of misinformation rather than the personification of the more commonly known archetypal form of the left-hand path god. There is a great lack of comprehension as to what Satan is. To know is to define and it is impossible to define an abstraction or actualisation if there is very little actual comprehension of the form. Few understand that Satan is a title, rather than a name. Satan denotes the adversary and is transferable to any rebel. Lucifer may be Satan. Given the likelihood that Loki is the shadow archetype of the Odinic wise man archetype in Norse mythology, Loki could be the Satan. Many whom would describe themselves as Satanists are often confused between claims of Satan worship and cries of ‘Hail Satan!’, whilst they are involved within atheistic groups whom take ‘Satan’ as a part of their name. Further, it is impossible for those upon the left-hand path to argue for greater popularity as a concrete base from which to reason for Satan as the archetypal form of the left-hand path. If we concede to popular opinion, then they also default to a concession that the Abrahamic faiths are correct in their philosophical approach and viewpoint.

In reply to the third objections, then there is a need for clarification of the contemporary usage of the term ‘Pagan’ and its confliction with the historic truth. The neo-Pagan faiths have evolved out of mid-to-late twentieth century and embody many liberal ideas that would be alien to the historic roots of true pagan religions.

Odin is both creator and destroyer within the Norse mythology. As god of inspiration and death, then it is feasible that Odin links the two. Certainly, great art has always had a reverence towards the theme of death. We must consider two ideas when engaged in reflection upon Odin as an archetypal god of the lefthand path. Firstly, that Odin is prepared to cause strife between men in order to further his goals. Secondly, Odin has need to swell the ranks of his warriors in Asgard for the battle at Ragnarok. It is equally possible then that Odin would cause the outbreak of war in order to both inspire great men and to swell the ranks of his

Einherjar heroes. Flowers (Sigudr: Rebirth and the Rites of Transformation, 2015, p. 108)suggests Odin produces heroes in a somewhat agricultural manner: Odin fathers heroic/royal lines, guides them towards fulfilment of their potential, harvests them into the ranks of the Einherjar, and ensures that some aspect of the heroic line continues through progeny.

An assessment of the advances of mankind will promptly identify the acceleration in human creativity driven by war. Art takes great inspiration from war. The tales of heroism and horror generated by war inspire a great deal of fiction, philosophy, poetry, painting, music, and film. No other singular cause has driven man’s ingenuity like that of war. The thirst of man to create everimproved ways to kill his fellow man is unquenchable. The advances in aeronautical design, space travel, nuclear physics, and medicine have and continue to be, driven by the needs of war. As a god ever linked to the inspiration of art, the creation of battle rage in heroes, and the advancement of men, then Odin benefits from all wars. In acknowledgement of Odin’s appearance under many different names and forms to the people of the world, then there is also reasonable circumstance to suggest that religious hatred and the resultant wars are the works of the god. Within the existent mythology, Odin demonstrates that he is prepared to commit unthinkable and dishonourable acts in order to achieve success in his long-term plan.

“The strongest and most evil spirits have so far done the most to advance humanity” (Nietzsche F. , The Gay Science, 1974, p. 79 )

Part Two: Odinic Magic

The Nine Worlds

Within Norse/Northern Cosmology, there exist nine worlds, suspended within the branches of the world tree- Yggdrasil. Without recitation of the full detail of the Norse creation tale here, as this information is readily available within the body of Norse mythological texts, this overview of the nine realms/worlds is suitably brief. The individual is encouraged to

seek this information within the Edda’s.

The universe begins with a spark of fire from Muspellheim. This spark meets the primal ice of Nifelheim which is full of potential—this convergence is the essential ‘big bang’ moment as currently sought by scientists. From this convergence, the resultant flow of water from the glacial melt gives rise to the first beings—the proto-giant/god known as Ymir and the cosmic cow Audumbla. Ymir was a hermaphrodite being and spawned siblings from the sweat in his armpit etc. Odin, Hoenir, and Lodur are the sons of Bor and Bestla. Bor is similar to Ymir in that he has no paternal line and emerges forth from the ice by Audumbla. In order to bring structure and control to the universe, the brothers slay the proto-being Ymir and form the worlds from his body. The worlds align within the branches of the great tree Yggdrasil. The name Yggdrasil also translates as ‘Ygg’s steed’. The suggestion here is that Yggdrasil is the means of transport for a being named Ygg. Ygg itself translates as ‘the terrible one’ and Ygg is a known name of Odin. Thus, the implication is that the worlds align within the means of Odin to traverse between them easily. The worlds form as follows:

Muspe llheim—existed prior to the murder of Ymir and is the source of the primal energy that brings life into existence. The sagas also tell us that this realm is home to the Fire-Jotun as led by Surt. It is Surt and his warriors whom will scorch the worlds at Ragnarok. For the scientists amongst the readers—please note the prediction here that the worlds of Norse mythology are predestined to succumb to immolation at Ragnarok, as the Earth will ultimately face immolation at the hands of our Sun. Reference to Loki as of a fiery nature is common and the interpretation of the name itself as ‘flame’, thus it shares an etymology with the Celtic Lugh and the Latin Lucifer.

Ni felheim—also existed prior to the formation of the worlds. This icy cold land holds all potential. Home also to the Frost-Jotun who cause bitter cold winters and ice ages when they gain the upper hand over Midgard.

He lheimr— the realm of the Goddess from whom its name takes its root. Helheimr is the land of those that have died of old age or disease and now are under the care of Hel, daughter of Loki. Here they can spend their time in the afterlife, share their knowledge with their descendants through the journeys of a Seidr worker or await reincarnation. For the entire horrific image glossed onto Hel by Christian monks, Hel and her realm are quite clearly hospitable toward the dead. If this idea were otherwise, then Odin would act otherwise than to conspire with Loki to send Baldr there to survive Ragnarok. Shamanic journeys to speak with ancestral spirits often take the shaman on a journey to Helheimr. The mighty and primal serpent, Nidhoggr, dwells below Helheimr and gnaws upon the roots of Yggdrasil. Nidhoggr also functions as an agent of remanifestation through the consumption of dead matter, subsequently reabsorbed into the world tree Yggdrasil and returns to manifestation.

Sva rtalfheimr—this realm is the land of the underworld, beneath Midgard, where the reader stands or sits as they read this book. Here we find the dwarven smiths of legend such as Weyland. The Svartalfar, or dwarves, are the fabricators of legend. These elves are responsible for the manifestation of potential into matter – i.e., the skilful art of manipulation of the atoms of our world into the materials with which we are so familiar. The magus should seek to learn much of the craft of the Svartalfar as the manifestation of matter charged with the magical will is perfectly in accordance with the goals of the left-hand path.

Jotunhe im—this land is of the primal Jotun. Although there are variants of Jotun such as thurses and trolls, it is notable that some are other than the typical of the images of giants commonly depicted. We recall that the lineage of the gods is that of the Jotun. Odin is descended from Jotun on at least his mother’s side, as is Thor and Loki. The Jotun are some of the oldest, wisest, and strongest beings in existence. There are some amongst them who embody the concept of chaos. It is these Jotun who are responsible for the wilful and pointless destruction or chaos within the world, yet it is that same chaos that represents the ultimate potential for all things to manifest employed and manipulated with skill by Chaos magicians.

Vanaheimr —the land of natural cycle and power. Here we find the powers responsible for the natural cycles of the world. All of the gods and goddesses of the hunt and agriculture are here. The cycles of nature flow from here. The worship of the Vanir as nature gods is the basis for modern Wicce (Wicca). I recommend anyone with an interest in work with the Vanir, or a Wiccan reading this work, to read the excellent work of Dr. Stephen E. Flowers in his book Witchdomof theTrue (Edred, 1999) .The history and application of Vanic worship and magical works are discussed in this book at length and it should be a revelation for many a Wiccan.

Lj ossalfheimr— is the realm of the light elves, ruled over by Freyr Ingve. Here we find the Alfar and Ljossalfar. The Alfar are enlightened souls that have once manifested as human, whereas the Ljossalfar are a higher form of consciousness. Some of the male disir of the ancestors who have knowledge to share or a role to fulfil in the care of Vanaheimror Midgard are amongst the Alfar. A common perception is that of the Alfar with the elf like qualities described by Tolkien in his Lord of theRings trilogy and it is this image that many Asatruarhave in their minds when they think of these beings. It is appropriate to interpret the Alfar of Ljossalfheimr to be akin to the higher daemon as described within Greek mythology and philosophy, or the Holy Guardian Angel of Ceremonial Magic. These are what Judaeo-Christian adherents think of as angelic beings. The beings here are etheric and powerful. This realm may also be cognate with the realm of the Platonic Forms – the origins of what is manifest within the realm of shadow that is Midgard.

As gard—this realm is the home of the Aesir-gods, the gods of consciousness, language, and war. Whereas the Vanir gods are the gods of matter, the Aesir are the gods of the Jungian collective unconscious – the directorial archetypes that act beyond natural causation. It is also home to those Vanir or Jotun that have been welcomed as part of the family. The fallen human heroes whom have died a glorious death are destined to journey here within the company of either Odin or Freyja where they feast and train in preparation for Ragnarok.

Midgard — is the realm in which we live, the realm of manifestation. Midgard is the middle-earth of Tolkien’s lore, the manifest realm of Being. Here is the central axis point of the other eight worlds. Midgard is the crucible of Yggdrasil. Fire and ice meet in a clash between chaos and the seeds of fertility and life results. From this primal life we see death send beings to Hel and the dwarven smiths shape matter into goods to be pushed up to the surface for mankind and gods alike. The beings of Ljossalfheimr and Asgard guide their chosen humans to further themselves or the whole of mankind. Midgard influences little in the other eight worlds, but all within it is the product of the pulse and flow of the equilibrium cycle between the other worlds. If

N ifelheimrfails to balance Muspelheimr, then Midgard will burn and so on. We exist in a fine balance and rely upon the gifts of the gods to spur us on to greater. Their actions are other than merely selfish—they need our greatest beings to fight at their side and stay the approach of Ragnarok for as long as possible. We are but a petri-dish for the formation and cultivation of useful matter. Only the useful have a conscious future beyond Midgard—the weak and useless are recycled for a future re-attempt. Learn the lessons and evolve beyond the bounds of Midgard.

Figure 2: map of Yggdrasil based upon the work of Edred Thorsson

The magus is able to utilise the map of Yggdrasil, like the Judaic Qabalah, as a guide to the process of individualisation, selfmastery, and self-deification. As Midgardis the manifest realm, that where the magus has a physical embodiment, then we may take Midgardas representative of the magus himself for this journey.

The centralised plane of manifestation contains the causal natures of the universe. Here, the combination of energy ( Muspellheimr), matter ( Nifelheimr) and potentiality ( Jotunheimr combine with a natural cycle ( Vanaheimr) of Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence. Such takes within the manifest universe of Midgard. The vertical axis then represents the acausal development of consciousness. Here we find Leary’s circuits of the mind as consciousness ascends from ancestral DNA ( Hel), through an initiatory birthing into manifestation ( Svartalfheimr)and into the manifest form of man within Midgard. The higher forms of consciousness are then those of archetypal-quantum consciousness, often referred to as personal daemons and deities.

The Path of Yggdrasil

In order to commence the separation from the herd, the magus must effectively cease to be. Only through death is it possible to remanifest and reform oneself with sufficient awareness that the magus is able to avoid the indoctrination systems of social pressures and the educational systems. Through a symbolic death, the magus first journeys to Hel. Here, the magus must cast aside all pre-formed ideologies and conditioned thought patterns. Although it is difficult to re-imprint the core experiences that define so much of the thought processes in the mind of the magus, it is possible to erase the conditioned states.

In order to facilitate the symbolic death, the magus should perform a ritualistic funerary rite and assume the death pose/mask of Austin Osman Spare. The assumption of a corpse pose, combined with sensory deprivation for an hour will facilitate the ability to re-condition the mind. Extraction from social environments is also essential. Only by avoidance of peer influence and all forms of media can the magus remove themselves from the herd mentality. Contact should be limited to those essential family members where possible. The ideal would be the hermetic isolation and an off-grid existence for a period. This stage is a return to the bio-survival and locomotion circuits and the magus will build upon that. Throughout this time in the realm of Hel, the magus should also take the effort to research their ancestry. Research into the mythologies of various cultures is also immensely valuable here and lays the foundations for the socio-moral circuits of the mind. The magus must learn who their immediate ancestry is along with the greater history and mythology of their culture and other cultures. Before the magus is able to recondition themselves and assign values to morality and other aspects of Being, they must first understand the interaction between the comparative mythologies and history of the manifest realm.

Suggested Reading

Hall, TheSecretTeachingsof All Ages, 2003

Harner, CaveandCosmos,2013

Pearce, The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, 2002

Eliade, Essential Sacred Writings From Aroung the World,1986

Waterfield, The Greek Myths, 2011

Tyldesley, ThePenguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt,2011

Eliade, TheEliadeGuidetoWorld Religions, 1991

Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia, 2008

Radice , Hindu Myths, 1987

Haleem, theQur'an, 2010

Various, theBible- Authorised King James Version, 2008

Huxley, theDoorsof Perception, 2011

Once the symbolic death has erased the socioconditioned states of mind, and the magus has begun assimilation of the ingredients of history and mythology from which they will form their new reality tunnels, then the magus must ascend to the realm of Svartalfheimr. Here the magus, like the dwarves, will forge themselves anew.

In Svartalfheimr, the magus must build upon mere survival and a knowledge of their ancestry. In order to forge the self into a greater form, the magus must undertake the great antinomian task that is the great Nietzschean revaluation of morals. No longer is the magus subject to the socially defined ‘good’ and ‘evil’ attributions. The magus is now involved in the process of determination of these values for themselves.

“The free human being is immoral because in all thingshe is determinedto depend uponhimself and not a tradition: in all the original conditions of mankind, ‘evil’ signifies the same as ‘individual’, ‘free’…”(NietzscheF. , Daybreak,2007, p. 10)

In order to evaluate what is good, the magus should consider the term. If what is ‘good’ is essentially that which is beneficial, then ‘evil’ is that which is detrimental to the goal. The magus’ assignment of these terms and values must only reflect upon their individuality and ignore external pressures. For the magus that was once a vegan, they should attempt the paleo-diet with its base in meat consumption. It is insufficient to hold an idea, unless formed in the mind of the magus. Nothing may be valued as unwanted or evil unless the magus has sampled such for themselves. Careful consideration of all relative actions is also required. The magus has no need to commit murder to consider the act. What is the variance between murder, manslaughter and the actions of a soldier in war? The magus must decide for themselves as to when it is morally acceptable for them to kill another person, or animal.

The revaluation of all morality is an immense task and one to which the magus must thoroughly dedicate themselves. It is a task so immense in scale that the magus shall never complete it. Although the magus will move on to other realms in their development, the frequent return to the state of valuation for the self will remain as the most valuable stage for the magus. In the act of definition of one’s own morality, the magus embodies the antinomian mentality and acts as the isolate individual intellect.

As the magus ascends to the plane of manifestation, the middle plane on the standard three-plane model of Yggdrasil, then the attention must turn to the interaction of the forces of the four realms that lay outside of Midgard. Contemplation and study of the forces of physics that manifest in the classical Newtonian and Einsteinian physics of Muspellheim’s energy and the matter of Nifelheim are extremely valuable to the magus in achievement of a full comprehension of the mechanics of manifestation. Such a comprehension is incomplete without knowledge of quantum mechanics and the interplay of the chaotic potential of Jotunheim.

A grasp of evolutionary theory, both Darwinian and of the mind, is essential for the magus to grasp the truth of his or her own potential. Darwinian evolutionary theory ultimately abolishes the politically correct tolerance and support of the weaker and ineffective members of the herd and has immense socio-moral implications for the magus to contemplate. The interplay of Darwinian evolutionary theory and the sudden evolution of the mind of humans raises questions as to why only a few apes evolved sapient consciousness. The mythic feud between the nature gods of Vanaheimr and the Aesir gods of consciousness has possible reflection here. What prevented the evolution of all apes along the same lines? Why apes and not monkeys? Why apes rather than crocodiles which have millions of years existence prior to the apes? Why can only man be hypnotised – is our consciousness the differentiation? When contemplation of these questions occurs with a knowledge of comparative mythology, then the mythic interventions of Prometheus and Odin support direct interference in the natural evolutionary cycle. Sapient consciousness sets man apart from the animal world.

The magus here also seeks mastery of Leary’s Neurosomatic and Neuro-electric circuits of the mind. Such achievement is attainable through the mastery of Raja Yoga (Vivekananda, Raja Yoga). Again, this task is difficult to complete or may be unachievable within the physical lifetime of the magus. The magus is required to seek such mastery of these circuits and retain this mastery throughout by means of continued application and yogic practice.

Suggested Reading

Nietzsche F. , Beyond Goodand Evil, 1998

Nietzsche F. , On theGenealogy of Morals, 2013

Hyatt, Rebels & Devils - thePsychology of Liberation 2008

Redbeard, Might is Right, 2013

Greene, the 48 LawsofPower, 2003

Greene, Mastery,2012

Machiavelli, The Prince, 2003

Lanza, Biocentrism, 2009

Herbert, Quantum Realit, 1987

Rosenblum & Kuttner, Quantum Enigma, 2011

Kumar, Quantum, 2009

Gribbin, InSearchof Schrodinger's Ca, 1991

Deutsch, TheFabric ofReality,

Descartes, Meditationsand Other Metaphysical Writings 2003

Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, 2008

Hume, AnEnquiryConcerning Human Understanding 1993

Once the magus has defined their own reality tunnels and moral values, then they are ready to step beyond the cave of Plato. Ascension to the astral realm of Ljossalfheimr allows the magus to contact his or her own higher daemon, the holy guardian angel of ceremonial and Judaic mysticism, or the personal Norn or Fylgja. Perfectly suitable and workable examples of the achievement of this state exist, such as the Abramelin working to converse with the Holy Guardian Angel. Norse variations exist in the rite of Utisetta, a perfect and workable example of which is present in Northern

41 Old Norse Fylgja translates as ‘fetch’, soul companion cognate to the personal Norn or Holy Guardian Angel.

Magic (Thorsson E. , Northern Magic, 1998, p. 177) .The magus here activates the seventh circuit of Leary’s mind map, the neurogenetic circuit. Here is where the magus builds upon their knowledge of their ancestry and seeks to unlock, at least to rationally intuit, the potential of themselves possibly encoded within the DNA of their physical form. Such knowledge may effectively steal a glimpse at the weave of the Web of Wyrd, the knowledge of fates known only to Frigga.

Further ascension to Asgard requires the magus to develop beyond Leary’s seventh circuit and activate the eighth and final Neuro-atomic metaphysiological circuit of quantum consciousness. To access the state of quantum consciousness is to transcend beyond physical manifestation. Quantum mechanics alone breaks the laws of Einsteinian physics in that the interactions between particles with quantum entanglement occur at speeds faster than the speed of light. As no potentiality is able to collapse into manifestation without a conscious observer, then the quantum consciousness is the plane of the archetypes whom structure the manifest realm of Midgard from the potentialities of chaos, fire, and ice. It is the teleogical design of these archetypes that both bring about the state of manifest Being and allow it to exceed the mere naturalistic cycles of Darwinian evolution that the Vanir of Vanaheimr would impose as a limitation.

Suggested Reading

Edred, TheNine Doorsof Midgard, 2003

Kelly, Aegishjalmur, 2011

Kelly, Draconian Consciousness, 2012

Vivekananda, RajaYoga

Vivekananda, Karma Yoga,2012

Strassman, DMT: theSpiritMolecule, 2001

Levi, Transcendental Magic, 2011

Regardie, The TreeofLife, 2001

Regardie, ThePhilosopher'sStone, 2013

Regardie, The Middle Pillar, 2007

Jung C. G., Aion - Researchesinto thePhenomenology of theSelf,1981

Jung C. G., The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, 1990

Magic on the path

In terms of manifestation of the will of the magus, multiple magical systems exist which may be employed. In order to maintain the aspect of self-reliance within a magical system, the magus has no need of the right-hand path bias, or white light, magical systems that function as prayer. Systems that implore acts from a god or goddess ultimately represent the subjugation of the will to another and accept their power as greater. What here follows is a description of some of the magical systems employed personally. There do exist alternatives that both replace and compliment the subsequent systems. It is the responsibility of the individual to find, or devise, the system that resonates best with his or her own self. Perfectly suitable systems exist in the works of Edred Thorsson, Michael Kelly, Peter J. Carroll, Thomas Karlsson, and Michael W. Ford, amongst others. Suitably adaptable systems also exist within the works of Israel Regardie, Paul Huson, and Josephine McCarthy. The system that follows has a base around Norse magical lore and the work of Edred Thorsson/Stephen E. Flowers. As such, an insight into the runes is required before one proceeds to rituals.

Runes

Although there are now numerous runic languages such as the neo-Pagan ‘Witch runes’, there are only three true sets of runes documented. These three sets of rune staves link directly with the mysteries that they represent, through three Rune poems. In order to proceed with a degree of clarity, it is essential to understand that a rune is not a symbol or letter. The word ‘rune’ means mystery. As attested throughout the body of lore previously discussed, Odin is the master of the mysteries as he obtained mastery of the runes through his act of self-sacrifice. The symbols used for spell work, divination, and the written word are the rune staves. They work in a similar manner to the art of stoicheaas applied to the Greek alphabet. The rune staves have a fourfold nature: each stave possesses a shape, sound, numerical value based upon its position in the aetts, and the essence of that inferred by its reference. It is only the philosophical nature of the rune poem, the rune stave shape, and the galdrsound that is useful in ritual magical work.

Numerous books exist upon the use and study of the runes. The quality of these texts, as with many occult fields, is entirely variable dependent upon the diligence and knowledge of the author. Many texts exist written by those who have never studied the runes in depth and merely take brief interpretation of them from a card in a pack of rune-stones sold for divination in a neo-Pagan store. Regardless of the level of academic study conducted by the author, the fact is that there is no definitive interpretation of the Runes. As subjective mysteries, they have a direct impact upon the individual, as with the Tarot or Qabalah. The three major rune poems reflect a local effect upon the subjective interpretation. We find references to local animals, weather, and historic development of tools and war within each. It cannot be understated that the runes are of an intrinsic value to each individual. As with any process or tool of the mysteries, it is vital that the individual defines their own interpretation of the mysteries within. The runes are mere keys to what lays within and beyond. Your key must be yours and yours alone.

Galdr , the sounds of the rune stave, plays a central role in much of the applicability of the runes to operative, ritual, and meditational works of the magus. The latter examples of rituals will demonstrate the use of Galdr to open channels of energy between the magus and the eight realms outside of Midgard. The typical representation of the major rune sets is as a Futhark^42. The Elder Futhark consists of twenty-four rune staves. When aligned in rows of eight, called aetts, then the result leaves us with three rows of eight staves. Three, in many magical systems, is an inherently powerful number. The common depiction of the Norse world tree of Yggdrasilis in the form with three realms, planes, or levels. Futharkis derivative of the first five letter of the runes when arranged in order. The Elder Futhark is largely a magical code. The later Futhark’s, such as the Younger and Anglo-Saxon, were largely linguistic based alterations in order to provide a flexible system of written symbols adaptable to the influence of Latin and Greek. The Elder Futhark represents the Odinic mysteries and has magical usage.

The poems found at the start of each section are as per the translations of Edred Thorsson (Runelore, 2012). In order to assist in identification of the poem, labels are as follows:

[OE] Old English

[OI] Old Icelandic

[ON] Old Norwegian The galdr 43sounds are as per the work of Edred Thorsson (Thorsson E. , Rune-Song, 1993). Given the excellence of

Stephen E. Flowers/Edred Thorsson’s academic research and knowledge with regards to runology, then there is little reason to unnecessarily recreate his work in reproduction of these galdr’s. The only alteration made here is that the presentation is phonetic in order to enable easier utilisation without prior knowledge of Old Norse pronunciation. The runic yoga positions, or

42 A term referencing the runic alphabets of Germanic tribes across Northern Europe. The term is derived from the first six letters of the Runic alphabet.

stad hagaldr, merely form the rune-staves with the body. Many authors have experimented with these and they do work to raise specific energies within the magus. Although a non-traditional application, as far as the evidence is non-existent, theoretical support is within the theories of Qigong and yoga. Thorsson presents the stadhagaldrdirectly based upon the work of S.A. Kummer and F.B. Marby in his work Futhark (Thorsson E. , 1984). The presented stadhagaldrare largely in agreement with most of this presentation of stadhagaldr. Some of the stadhagaldr do however require a more static and practical form and the stadha for runes such as Hagalaz have an influence by the work of Michael Kelly (Aegishjalmur, 2011, p. 58).

43 A vocalisation of the essence of a rune.

Fehu

[OE] M oney is a comfort toeverybody

although everyman ought todeal itout freely

if hewantstoget approval from thelord

[OI] M oneyis thecauseof strife among kinsmen, and thefireof theflood-tide,

and thepath of theserpent.

[ON] Money causes strife among kinsmen; thewolf growsup in thewoods.

Galdr sound:

feh ufehu fehu

fffffffff

fu fa fi fe fo

of ef if afuf

fffffffff

Runic yoga:

All three of the rune poems reference money. Money is essentially a mere representation of an owed amount of gold. The value of money can change without consultation of either debtor or creditor. It is best to view money as representative of wealth in general. Wealth is subjective and entirely referential. Water has a different value to a person in sub-Saharan Africa as compared to someone in England’s Lake District. Whatever the form of wealth, the message remains equally applicable.

The magus should seek to gain sufficient wealth in order to advance oneself upon the path of deification. This wealth will present in a number of forms. Fiscal wealth is required in order to enable functionality within society and to fund the study required by the magus. Power, in abundance, will convey the means to influence society and the herd in accordance with the magus’ will. Knowledge, perhaps the key form of wealth, is the goal towards which all must seek attainment. Physical and mental health is essential in order to facilitate the accumulation of power and knowledge prior to the magus’ pursuit of existence beyond the mortal manifest form.

The Old Icelandic poem makes clear the role played by money as the cause of many issues within society. Within the poem, money is associated with the abilities of fire and the venom of the serpent as an agent of dissolution. Wealth, the gain and loss of, is ultimately responsible for the rise and fall of greatness – either in the form of great men or empires. Without an abundance of resources, a great empire cannot exist. The reliance of world economies upon ‘perceived’ stores of gold and the numerical wealth, as opposed to physical and real wealth, of the stock markets is evidence of the destructive nature of money. The magus should be under no illusion as to the false wealth represented by money. Money is a tool. Only the herd view money as the goal.

Uruz

[OE] Au rochs is fearless and greatlyhorned

a very fierce beast,

it fights with its horns,

a famousroamer ofthe moor it isa courageousanimal.

[OI] Driz zleis theweeping ofclouds, and thediminisherof therim ofice, and theherdsman’shate.

[ON] Slagisfrombad iron;

oft runs thereindeeron thehard snow.

Galdr sound: uruz uruz uruz

uuuuuuuuu

uuuuurrrr

uuuuuuuu

Runic yoga:

The Aurochs, as referred to by the rune Uruz, is a long extinct, giant breed of wild cattle that was similar in size to a bison. Visually, the aurochs would have looked like a much larger version of a Spanish bull or Texas longhorn, with equally large horns. The reference to this beast, extinct since the 17th century, occurs within the name of the rune and explicitly within the Old English poem.

The poetic reference within the English version is a key to the appreciation of the rune. The reference of the aurochs is as a fierce creature. Cattle fulfil a vital role within the natural cycle of the world. Through the digestion of herbaceous material, they in turn provide a remanifestation of the energy they consume, as they become food for carnivores.

Given the size and fierce nature of the aurochs, the effort and skill required to slaughter such a creature would be significant. The rewards would be vast however. There may have existed rites of passage for males within tribes as they defeat an aurochs. The risk and reward of the hunt would have reaped massive rewards as the meat, bones, and hide of the aurochs would have provided valuable resources for the tribe. Provisions would also have lasted for a considerably greater time than those of a smaller animal. As the embodiment of the raw and primal essence of nature, the English poem refers to this energy.

The Old Icelandic poem refers to the negative impact of drizzle. The key to the poem is within the reference to drizzle as “the diminisher of the rim of ice”. Another agent responsible for the thaw of ice within Norse mythology is Audumbla. Audumbla is the primal cow that catalyses the process that enables the flow of the icy waters of Nifelheimand brings forth the proto-being Ymir. Thus, as a catalytic agent, the Icelandic poem also references the ancestor of the aurochs.

The Old Norwegian poem is somewhat more abstract. The key line is that which refers to the reindeer. The animalistic will to run, without apparent threat from a predator, is the primal instinct to run free. Here we find the link to the other two forms of the rune poem.

The Uruzrune is that of primal instinct. The needs to feed, reproduce, and survive are our base animal instincts. Survival is the core instinct. Animals consume in order to survive. The desire to procreate is ultimately the urge to survive through reproduction. The very term itself, to reproduce, infers that there is a continuation or renewal of the parent rather than a mere succession. It is within this core instinct that we find the essence of humanity, to strive towards immortality. Whilst the animalistic instinct urges towards reproduction, the initiate may overcome the cycle of life and death through force of their will. The primal instinct for life is manifest within the release of adrenalin in situations that pose an immediate threat to life.

Adrenalin has a function upon the brain that benefits the magus. Initiatory rites of Native Americans see young adolescent males lowered into caves and left in the dark overnight (Harner, 2013). The subsequent fear induction is likely responsible for the subsequent manifestations of spirit visions. The sensory deprivation of such an environment, combined with the fear induced by the impenetrable darkness and strange noises, may well produce a perfect combination of DMT 44and adrenaline. The potential of adrenaline as it breaks down to act as a MAO 45enzyme inhibitor may enable the DMT molecule produced by the pineal gland in the brain to have an effect. Studies show that natural DMT may heighten perception and senses, as well as result in spiritual or mystical visions, such as those reported by those with experience of near death situations. The best study of DMT and its affects is the work of Rick Strassman, M.D. (DMT: the Spirit Molecule, 2001). The magus should experiment with his or her own fear inductions and sensory deprivations. The potential for a natural and inherent ability to expand the consciousness at will may well be present within DMT. The presence of DMT within the human brain is possibly responsible for the evolutionary jump of humans in our short history when compared with animals such as crocodiles that have had millions of years in which they may possibly have evolved rather than man. Could it be that DMT is the trace of the gift of Wod? DMT as the chemical black or Promethean flame?

With sufficient mastery of the self and one’s will, the potential to deny the death of the current form of consciousness and ascend towards higher planes of existence, self-deification is within reach. Whilst there is no immortality, there is the deific ability to defeat the natural cycle and achieve a continuation of consciousness that may only end through the actions of others.

44DMT- Dimethyltryptamine is a psychedelic substance naturally produced in the pineal gland.

45MAO- Monoamine oxidase is an enzyme that breaks down DMT in the blood and prevents the function of DMT.

Thurisaz

[OE] Tho rn is verysharp; for everythane

who grasps it; it isharmful, and exceedingly cruel toevery man

wholiesuponthem.

[OI] Thur s is thetorment of women, and thedweller in the rocks.

And thehusband oftheVardh-runa.

[ON] Thurs causesthesickness of women; fewarecheerful from misfortune.

Galdr sound:

Note: [th] sounds as in Thor/theme rather than this/that

thuris az thurisaz thurisaz th th th th th th th th th thur thar thir therthor thu thar thi thetho

th th th th th th th th th

Runic yoga:

Both the Old Norwegian and the Old English poems refer to the damage that a thorn may do. In the form of a Thurs, a reference to the pre-Aesir gods, these primal forces of chaotic energy desire to destroy the order of the manifested world and the existence of the Aesir gods. The standard interpretation of the

Thurs rune maintains this association with the Wights of chaos. Within the Old Icelandic poem, we find a clue to the reason why the association with the thorn and the threat of destructive forces exists.

The reference within the Old Icelandic poem to the husband of the Vardh runais significant. With a Vardhas a reference to rocks or caves, there is an initiatory allegory here. Anthropology has shown that many shamanic cultures initiated the young of the tribe into the mysteries as the youth journeys into a cave to spend the night alone and in darkness – in full expectation of the visits of the spirits within the cave. Such a reference to this form of experience is also present within the tales of Beowulf and

Sigurd. The journey into a cave reveals knowledge and is a process of dissolution and becoming.

When Sigurdslays the dragon Fafnirin its cave, then Sigurdgains immense knowledge as alluded to in his ability to suddenly understand the song of birds and what they say to him. It is in this form of initiatory experience that we find the true sense of the Thursrune. The magus will note the relationship between this mystery and that of the Uruz rune with the effects of the DMT molecule.

We also find this process within the works of Jung. When the hero enters into the mythic cave, dragon, or other beast – he enters into a form of chrysalis state. In this state of regression, a form of self-analysis occurs. The resumption of progression is only possible after this analytical phase as the hero emerges into a new form, as perhaps effected by the experiential generation of adrenalin that enables the DMT molecule to affect the consciousness. Thursis the thorn that defends the desirable. Only those with the will to sacrifice and endure the pain thereof can fully embrace the reward beyond the thorn.

Ansuz

[OE] G od is thechieftain of all speech,

themainstayof wisdom

and a comfort to thewise ones, for everynoblewarrior

hopeand happiness.

[OI] A se is theolden-father, and Asgardhr’s chieftain, and theleaderof Valiholl.

[ON] Estuary is theway of most journeys; but thesheath is swords.

Galdr sound:

ans uz ansuz ansuz aaaaaaaaa

aaannnsssuuuzzz aaaaaaaaa

Runic yoga:

The Ansuzrune is typically associated with the Allfather

– Odin, or Wodannazdependent upon which of the multitude of names or variants one ascribes to the dark stirrer of inspiration. It is the gift of Wod, and the inspired mental states associated with Odin, as referenced with the Old English rune poem.

The Old Icelandic poem refers to the combination of roles associated with death and war: Odin is the god of the warrior. The glorious battle fallen can hope to win a place in Valhalla, where they will feast the night away and train for the battles of Ragnarok. The Old Norwegian poem is somewhat more cryptic and employs kennings that require a deeper appreciation. An estuary is the mouth of a river – the mouth is vital to the role of Odin and language.

The river-like flow of wisdom that results from the creation of language as a spoken and written symbology is essential in the development of mankind. Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote of the role in language in limitation of the formation of a defined world in the mind of man. Indeed, ontological debate between philosophers such as Bertrand Russell and Willard van Orman Quine heavily emphasises the importance of semantics alone. If words may shape the manifest, then they are none other than the most powerful magical symbols. Thus, the wordsmith may shape worlds and alter the path of a world. It is no coincidence that the greatest men to have lived have all been extremely skilled in the use of language. A cursory view of the works of William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Lord Byron, Napoleon Bonaparte, Friedrich Nietzsche etc. will attest to such. The role of Odin then as patron of the poets and writers resounds with the idea that through the use of language, Odin truly gave a defined structure and order to the realms.

The individual can take note of the inspiration offered by the Ansuzrune. Within the Ansuzrune, we find the inspiration to greatness. The manifest forms of this inspiration may alter between the battle rage (and invincibility of the warrior) and the intellectual inspiration of the philosopher.

It is possible to equate Nietzsche’s will to power with Ansuz– i.e., a force that leads the single warrior to overcome a platoon or for a man such as Napoleon to rise to greatness. Ansuz is the mystery of Wod Wodis the black flame of sapience, which has set man apart from the animal world. Realisation of the mystery within in turn sets the individual apart from their fellow man.

Raidho

[OE] Riding is in thehall to everywarrior

easy, but very hard

for theonewho sits up on a powerful horse

overmiles of road

[OI] Riding is a blessed sitting, and a swift journey,

and thetoilofthehorse.

[ON] Riding, it is said, is theworst for horses; Reginn forged thebestsword.

Galdr sound: raitho raitho raitho rrrrrrrrr

ru rari rero

ruth rath rith reth roth or erir ar ur

rrrrrrrrr

Runic yoga:

Ra idho is the rune of the journey. Like all poetry, there is a simplistic and metaphorical knowledge of its concept. The journey may be a physical journey undertaken or an alchemical journey of the individual. For the magus, after the pursuit of knowledge and development (as walked by the Allfather), the

Raidhorune embodies the personal journey of transformation.

The Old English poem is perhaps the most complex of the three versions above. On a basic level, the poem describes the easy life of the warrior who remains within the mead hall in comparison to the mighty warrior who rides thousands of miles. Both the Icelandic and Norwegian poems allude that this action is easier on the rider than the horse. There is also the possibility to interpret the Old English poem in terms of the initiatory journey.

Those that seek only armchair occultism will naturally have an easier journey and ultimately progress very little. The individual prepared to make the hard journey does ultimately reach their destination. The pursuit of entelecheia^46is never to be undertaken lightly. The journey will change the individual, if they are prepared to withstand the tough work ahead.

46 Aristotelian term that denotes the teleological potential Being of beings.

Kenaz

[OE] T orch istoevery living person known by its fire,

it is clear and bright

it usuallyburns

whenthe athlings

rest inside thehall.

[OI] Soreisthebaleof children, and a scourge,

and thehouse of rotten flesh.

[ON]Soreis thecurse ofchildren; griefmakes a man pale.

Galdr sound:

ke naz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki keko

kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik akuk

Runic yoga:

Although the Old English poem appears to differ vastly in content to both the Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian, the rune referred to is entirely the same.

The Old English poem is perhaps the clearest and less cryptic of the three poems. In its description of Kenazas a torch of a clear and bright flame, the poem encapsulates the idea of a controlled flame. The controlled flame may be one of illumination or one of a workman.

As a source of illumination, we may interpret the flame as that which allows one to find their way through the darkness. As Jung suggested, it is after all in the darkness that we find the greatest value. The flame of illumination can also serve as a great source of inspiration. The light in the distance that signifies rest and recuperation spurs the lonely wanderer who journeys the hard road of Raidho. No journey is ever easier than when the site of home comforts meets the eye.

In their references to Kenazas a sore, both the Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian poems have a cryptic description. We have a description of sores as the curse of children. Children have the greatest zest for adventure and the increase of knowledge. To ask a child to sit still and be calm is to ask for the impossible. The energy builds to a crescendo where no child can remain and must investigate and seek out. It is this urge that the poems describe as the sore that torments – the inflamed sore of hunger for excitement: the inflammation of inspiration.

The task of individuals is to identify their own inspiration. The flame that burns within requires the allowance to inspire to the point that a moment wasted becomes a torment. The flame must become the sore that irritates when no work takes place yet it must also be the glint on the horizon that beckons the initiate forwards towards the unknown. Jung defined the applicability of such to the magus: “one does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” (Jung C. G., 1983, p. par. 335) The magus truly benefits from the use of their own flame to illuminate the mysteries within the darkness.

Gebo

[OE] Gift i sfor every man a pride and praise,

help and worthiness;

and of everyhomeless adventurer it is theestate and substance for those whohavenothing else.

Galdr sound:

gebo gebo gebo

gu ga gi ge go

gub gab gib geb gob og eg ig ag ug

geeebooo

Runic yoga:

Ge bo, or gift, appears only within the Old English rune poem. Earlier, we found Fehuto be a form of wealth relative to the individual's needs; Gebois likewise the gift as valued by all – pride.

The poem itself makes clear that there is a gift for each individual. The gift itself may take many forms with each there is an affect upon which uplifts the morale of the recipient. The manifest form of the gift may be that of praise or a material reward.

The essence of the gift is that of pride in one's self. To achieve feats that one deems as such to be proud of is the ultimate achievement. Such pride in one’s actions echoes within Friedrich Nietzsche’s theory of eternal recurrence – to take all actions in the knowledge that one would happily repeat them over again. Within the Havamal, the words of the High One, Odin advises is to live such a life as then later suggested by Nietzsche:

“Ca ttledie,kinsmen die, theself mustalsodie;

but glory never dies,

for the man who is able toachieve it” (Havamal,76)

In order to give such a gift, one must give in recognition of the honourable actions of another and raise their awareness of themselves such that they may effectively receive the sensation of pride. The individual must realise the gift that they possess – that of sapience. Man has received this gift; the initiate has also been the recipient of the awakened realisation as to the presence of such. Pride may manifest at this realisation of the potential within the self. Every man has the gift, yet only the select few realise the potential that they possess and can take pride in their ability to realise the recognition that accompanies such a gift.

Wunjo

[OE] J oy is had

bytheonewho knows fewtroubles pains and sorrows,

and to him who himself has power and blessedness,

and agood enoughhouse.

Galdr sound: wunjowunjowunjo wuwa wi we wo

wun wan win wen won wowe wi wa wu

wwwuuunnn

Runic yoga

Wunj ois another rune that only occurs within the Old English poem. The joy described within the poem is one of an easy existence. We find the key to a life free of trouble, hardship, pain, and grief in the subsequent lines. The descriptive text “to him who himself” indicates one who has taken or achieved for himself rather than as those born into an easy life.

In maintenance of the theme of the Raidhorune discussed earlier, then the Wunjorune also suggests a reduced value to the individual of those things that come easily, as opposed to those for which an exchange with hard work occurs.

The magus may take comfort here in the struggle to balance the work of the mundane world and their own development. The reward described within the rune poem is that of “power and blessedness”. As the individual works towards their own self-defined potential and goals, they will then increase their own power over the mundane world as it manifests before them. Every skill the magus learns with which to manipulate the energy flows before them will make them appear blessed to the plebeian.

A common interpretation of Wunjois as the rune that signifies a victory. Its symbolic representation as a rune stave depicts a victory flag such as raised after the capture of a strategic point. Wunjois the “direction of the aim or the end of human endeavours” (Thorsson, Alu: an advanced guide to operative runology, 2012). Such an interpretation of the rune allows us to view it as none other than the flag of the finish line, as opposed to that of victory. Wunjois the goal towards which one should aim and progress. As one get closer to their goal, they become ever more than what they were previously.

Hagalaz

[OE] Hail i sthewhitest of grains, it comesfrom high inheaven showers of wind hurlit,

thenit turns towater.

[OI] Hail i sa cold grain, and a shower ofsleet, and thesicknessofsnakes.

[ON] Hail iscoldest of grains;

Hroptrshapedtheworld in ancient times.

Galdr sound:

hagal az hagalaz hagalaz hhhhhhhh

hu ha hiheho

hug hag hig heg hog hhhaaagaaalllaaazzz

Runic yoga:

Hagal azis one of the more complex runes to decipher. Many runologists will take the view of Hagalazas a representation the hailstone. As such, they view it as a destructive force. Such an interpretation is heavily reliant and influence by both the Old Icelandic and Old Norse rune poems. To stop only at this interpretation of the rune, as the destructive hailstone, is to only see the mystery and rather than to understand it.

The depth of the rune lies within the final line of the Old English poem – “then it turns to water”. The rune poems do indeed describe the process by which the hailstone falls from the sky and destroys crops. The key is that the hailstone then melts and provides much needed water given that hail falls whilst thunderstorms rage at the height of summer. Hagalazis the rune of the seed of remanifestation. The process described here is the catalyst that enables the Solveetcoagulaof the alchemical process.

Hagalazis the mystery of how all forms of life must be broken down before new life may begin.

Naudiz

[OE] N eed isconstrictingonthe chest although tothechildrenof men it often becomes a help and salvationnethertheless,

if theyheed itin time.

[OI] Need isthegriefof the bondmaid, and a hard condition tobein, and toilsome work.

[ON] Need makesfor a dificult situation; thenaked freeze in thefrost.

Galdr sound: nauthiz nauthiz nauthiz nnnnnnnnn

nu na ninen o

nuth nath nith neth noth un an in enon

nnnnnnnnn

Runic yoga:

Nau dizis another rune where we find the Old English poem able to provide a much greater insight into the mystery than either the Old Icelandic or Old Norwegian poems. The Old Icelandic poem describes the need for hard work by the individual in times of need. Within the Old Norwegian poem, we find this time of need expressed as that of a “difficult situation”.

It is common to read the Naudizrune as that of the needfire. The rune stave is often viewed a depiction of the friction and motion of two sticks in the creation of a flame. Such an interpretation does fit with the descriptions of hard work and as that needed in a difficult situation. Anyone who has ever tried to start a fire with only sticks and a twine will appreciate the difficulty entailed within the task. We find such amplification of a degree of difficulty only within a survival situation.

It is such a survival situation that we find within the Old English poem. The poem describes an internal fire as opposed to that of a physical flame for survival. The key to the interpretation of the Old English poem is to be found within the lines “Need is constricting upon the chest” and the latter “becomes a help and salvation… if they heed it in time”. The constriction of the chest as described here is the tension that grips the body when a surge of adrenaline rushes through it. It is the bodily activation of the ‘fight or flight’ instinct. The hormonal response to a survival situation is simply another example of the Naudizrune – it is the mystery of ability to do things beyond the norm when the situation demands such in order to facilitate the survival of the manifest form.

The ability of man to excel beyond his normal operative state is inherent. Access to these abilities, such as reserves of determination and strength, is beyond the common potential that everyone is able to achieve. The creation of such a situation does however activate these resources within the self. It is through the memory of the body and mind that soldiers can routinely access abilities beyond those of a civilian.

A professor who has never worked outside of academia will have access to intellectual processes other than those common outside of his sphere of influence. The magus must continue to push themselves to new levels and seek out that which is unfamiliar and poses a challenge to themselves in pursuit of true knowledge. It is through such actions that they will become more than they have ever been as they embrace the rune of Naudiz to unlock their fullest potential.

Isa

[OE] Ice is very cold and exceedinglyslippery; it glistens, clear as glass, verymuch likegems, a floor made of frost is fair to see

[OI] Ic eis therind of theriver, and theroofof thewaves, and a danger forfeymen.

[ON]ice, we callthebroad bridge; theblind need to beled.

Galdr sound: isa isa isa

iiiiiiiii

iiiiisssss

sssssiiii

iiiiiiiii

Runic yoga:

Isa is the mystery of ice. As with the rune of Hagalaz, that of Isaalso operates on many levels. The Old Norwegian rune poem refers to the bodies of frozen water that allows for use as a bridge. The idea that ice may be of assistance is important here. This idea is in contrast to the portrayal of ice as dangerous, within the Old Icelandic poem. The Old English poem combines both of these portrayals of ice – ice is dangerous and has the potential to aid those that can brave it. The poem describes ice as cold and slippery.

In the comparison of ice to gems, there is the suggestion as to the value hidden within the ice. A greater knowledge of Norse mythology is required before the initiate may fully understand the mystery of Isa. On a basic level, ice represents a dangerous challenge and the constriction of energy flows. The individual must be aware that stagnation will lead to such a formation of unrealised potential that may block their progress. Such a challenge may occur at any time, perhaps commonly known as ‘writers block’.

As within the Old Norse poem, the ice can also be the bridge beyond. The initiate must be mindful that the bridge is treacherous. It is the journey across the bridge which bypasses the blockage of potential is and the energy released anew.

Knowledge of the mythology behind the mystery of Isa will inform the magus in the realisation of the potential that lies within Isa. The icy flows of water from Nifelheimprovided the initial flows of matter for the formation of the nine worlds within the void of Ginnungagap.

When combined with the raw energetic spark of energy embodied within the fires of Muspelheimr, the potential energies released within the flow of icy water. The worthy individual will be able to unlock the potential within Isa, as with the heroic triumph over the thorns that guard in the poem for the Thurs rune. Isawill manifest in the difficulties of self-development and becoming that lead the initiate to question if she is merely in a period of stagnation and without motion towards their goal. To overcome the challenge of Isa is an essential task towards the development of the self.

Jera

[OE] Harve st is thehopeofmen, whengod lets,

holyking ofheaven,

theearth gives

her bright fruits

tothe noble onesand the needy

[OI] G ood harvest is theprofit of all men, and a goodsummer,

and a ripened field.

[ON] Good harvest is theprofit of men, I saythat Frodhiwas generous.

Galdr sound:

jera jera jera

jjjeeerrraaa

ju ja ji je jo

jur jar jir jer jor

jjjeeerrraaa

Runic yoga:

The rune of Jerais representative of the harvest. Each of the rune poems describes Jeraas either the profit of men or the hope of men.

Only the Old English poem qualifies the harvest as meant for the noble and needy. The rune embodies that we harvest the products of our labours or behaviours. The magus can equate this harvest to the act of sigil magic where the encapsulation of the will within a sigil, or bind rune takes place. It is then possible to project the bind rune forth into the manifest realm and for the conscious mind to disregard it further. Only as the remnants of the act remain within the sub-conscious does the initiate later reap the rewards of the will send forth in seed form.

To those better versed in Norse mythology, the rune of Jerahas significance to the work of the Norn. As with the Greek Fates, the Norn weave the Web of Wyrd. The Norn pre-date the existence of even the ancient Jotun, with full inclusion of Odin, then the Norn are the eldest and most powerful Wights 47in Norse mythology.

The Web of Wyrdis the pattern of manifest events that unfolds. As with quantum theory, the flow of time is non-linear. Our perception of a series of events provides it with a sequential flow that we understand to be linear only in its relationship to ourselves. The three Norn are Urd Verdhandi, and Skuld. Urd weaves that which has been, Verdhandithat which is currently in a process of manifestation, and Urdweaves that which is likely to come.

For ease, it is best to imagine the Web ofWyrdas a giant tapestry. From our daily existence in the manifest world, our position is such that we have our noses to the fabric and are as such unable to perceive the larger picture. Only by a few steps away from our focal point of existence can we begin to see the larger patterns. These patterns of manifest events allow us to interpret the flow of energies and events that have passed and as with any pattern; we may estimate the likely future.

The magus is under the influence of the actions of their ancestors over thousands of years. A single decision could have changed the lineage, or even ended it at any time. In Norse mythology, these past actions by those in our bloodlines are termed our orløg. The flow of one’s current life is ones wyrd (pronounced weird – wyrdis the origin of the term i.e., ‘that is

wyr d!’) Ones actions and those of your ancestors shape the potential one has to achieve great things or no acts worthy of remembrance. The result of these actions is what one may harvest in the future.

47 Wights – a term derived from Anglos Saxon wiht, which denotes a conscious being.…

Eihwaz

[OE] Yew is o ntheoutside a rough tree

and hard, firm intheearth, keeper ofthe fire,

supported byroot,

joy in theestate.

Galdr sound: eihwaz eihwaz eihwaz iiiiiiiii

eiwueiwaeiwieiwe eiwo eiwoeiwe eiwieiwa eiwu eieieieieieieiei

Runic yoga:

Eihwaz is a rune that only occurs within the Old English poem. As a representation of the Yew tree, the rune has a number of deep and interlinked interpretations. The Yew is a sacred tree. It is present in many graveyards where the churches in the British Isles are 800 or more years old. Given its presence, within these graveyards, the tree has acquired a symbolic link to death that is more than appropriate.

The Yew tree is a native evergreen within the British Isles. It is also special because of the manner in which the new life of the tree grows within the old, dead, and decay ridden trunk of the tree. With a poisonous secretion, the yew is both perpetually dead, and eternal.

The shape of the rune stave symbolises this duality with a hooked end reaches into the higher and lower planes. These planes are the higher worlds of the gods and spirits, as well as the lower realms of material manifestation and the dead. As some interpret the Norse world tree Yggdrasilto be a Yew, rather than the typical Scandinavian Ash, then the rune stave also perfectly symbolises this world axis as a link between the three planes.

The Yew also has a link to Odin. Given the poisonous secretion of the tree, it is unwise to sleep under a Yew tree, as the toxic odours are likely to induce nausea, sleep, and hallucination. The individual may well equate this property with the shamanic actions of Odin. In the act of self-sacrifice, Odin hung for nine days upon the world tree. Here we have a link of shamanic journeys and a symbolic death with the world tree. The associations of the Yew with death, the Eihwazrune as the world axis, the toxic properties of the Yew that can induce hallucination and the actions of Odin all suggest that the Yew may well be the relative of Yggdrasil.

The magus should garner the flow of all things from the mystery of Eihwaz. As with the flow of the Web ofWyrdthat that influences what may come to be in the harvest rune of Jera, the axis of Eihwazlinks the actions of the ancestor, that which manifests into the present, and the influence of higher forms of consciousness.

The mythological link to the self-sacrifice of Odin should also have significance for the initiate. The act where one gives oneself to oneself is vital to the process of remanifestation and initiation. The symbolic death and later rebirth is one of initiation

– the knowledge of the runes that Odin gained through his actions is entirely representative of the process of change that the initiate undergoes. As Odin was born anew by the experience and the wisdom gained, then the magus also finds that there is no option of regression towards a state of ignorance for them. Every stage the magus precedes through in pursuit of their desired potential changes them in a manner akin to a death and rebirth.

Perthro

[OE] L ot box is always playand laughter

among bold men,

where the warriorssit in thebeer hall,

happilytogether.

Galdr sound:

pe rthro perthro perthro pu pa pipepo

po pepipa pu

peerrrthththrrrooo

Runic yoga:

Referenced only within the Old English rune poem, the mysteries of Perthroare those of the Norn. The “lot box” is the fate dealt to each individual. The pattern woven by the Norn, shaped by the actions of the past, dictates the possibilities for the future pattern of events that may unfold before the individual.

Where the Jerarune is the harvest of such energies, Perthrois the formative agent. The “lot box” may also represent the ale cup over which men speak at parts of the ritual blot^48or

48 Blot: ritual blessing wherein a drink is loaded with the blessing of a god. Attendees then consume the drink and pour a libation of the ale as an offering to the god.

sy

mbe

49

l . The act of where an oath is spoken over the ritual ale or mead shaped the flow of wyrd for the speaker, with the wyrdof the tribe is influenced in accordance.

The role of the drink is that of a receptacle for the vibrations of the spoken word. Vibration of the air by the human voice is one of the most simplistic forms of magical transference of will available to the initiate. The vocalisation of the vibration reflects the will of the magician and directly transfers the will into the air and the liquid of the drink. The speaker of the oath later consumes their share of the fluid; they take their oath into their own self. The vessel, which contains the fluid to receive oaths within ritual, is also the “lot box” of the Perthrorune.

The magus is required to avoid an underestimation of the importance of Perthro. The honour bestowed upon those that fulfil their oaths, to themselves and to others, is vital for the individual to be able to fulfil their upmost potential. Although an oath can be broken, the loss of honour that may result where the reasons for such an action may be dishonourable is likely to have a negative impact upon the social levels and perception of the initiative. Given the value of honour in the determination of the future manifestation of events for the individual, then the role of

Pe rthrois one of upmost vitality. Only in view of the grander scheme or plan should the oath be broken, as seen with the actions of Odin.

49 Symbel: Ritual act of charging blessed ale with the restatement of events of the past, which then merge with the promises of what will come to be. Speaking the boasts and oaths over the ale charges it with vibrational energy.

Eolhaz/Algiz

[OE ] Elk’s sedgehas its home most often in thefen,

it waxes in thewater

and grimlywounds

and reddens with blood

any man

who,inany way,

tries tograsp it.

[OI] Yewis a s trung bow, and a brittleiron,

and Farbauti of thearrow.

[ON] Yew isthe greenest woodinthe winter; thereis usually, whenit burns, singeing.

Galdr sound:

elhaz elhaz elhaz zzzzzzzzz

uz az iz ezoz

oz ez iz az uz

zzzzzzzzz

Runic yoga:

Eo lhaz, or Algiz, presents one of the more subjective mysteries of the Elder Futhark. Within modern runology, the view of this rune is as one of protection. There exist also associations of the rune with the mysteries of life and death. The association with the polarities of life was largely a product of the Nazi era where the rune came to symbolise life (in the form shown above); with the inverted form and its symbolism of death – a form that has retained use within some white supremacist groups. There is however no historical basis for this usage. Algizis the name more in in reverence with the Old Norse/Germanic language, which is likely the etymological origin of the latter Anglicized Eolhaz

The Old English poem varies from its Scandinavian counterparts. Historical accounts relate the name to Elk’s sedge. The influence of the work of Tacitus and the alliterative sound of the rune to the plant result in this relation. The interpretation of

Eo lhaz, as cognate to Elk’s sedge describes a plant that is painful to grasp. Although the plant does exist, the poem is more allegorical than literal. Reinforcement of this idea is in the face that there is no known native European plant recorded with the name Elk’s sedge – although there is such a plant in North America that has the properties suggested within the poem.

A person who learnt the Old English rune poem may have named this plant; or, more likely by someone whom recalls similarities to a plant in Europe that knew to be the Elk’s sedge referred to in the poem. If we read the Old English poem as an allegory, then we need to keep in mind the properties of so many plants that appear harmless. With properties of self-defence such as nettles and toxic secretions, then the hidden strength of these plant types is a continuation of the interpretation of the rune as one of protection.

Protection is a theme present within the Scandinavian poems. The Old Icelandic poem refers to the strength of the Yew trees wood for use in weapons – whether used in a hunt or warfare, the utilisation of a weapon is in one’s defence. The Old Norwegian poem again refers to the Yew wood –as the symbolic signs of life in winter and as a slow burn firewood. Given the harsh Norwegian winters, then the Yew again fulfils the role of protection as it keeps the cold temperatures at bay.

For the magus, the knowledge of the rune is one of hidden strength. Nature contains many forces whose beauty conceals their impressive power. A small stream of water may seem harmless, yet given time, it will carve a path through a mountain. Likewise, a small plant with beautiful plumage may be toxic to the touch. Strength, for the individual, may be internalised and intellectual rather than an outward projection of physical superiority. The magus has no need to directly dominate the plebeian world around them. For example, subversive manipulation of the mundane realm in accordance with the will is a greater skill that is less likely to provoke resistance.

Sowilo

[OE] S un is byseamen alwayshopefor

whentheyfarefar away overthefishes’ bath until thebrine-stallion theybring to land.

[OI] Sun istheshield of the clouds, and ashining glory,

and thelife-long sorrow ofice.

[ON] Sun is thelight of thelands; I bow totheholiness.

Galdr sound: sowilosowilosowilo sssssssss

su sasi seso

sssooowwwiiilllooo so sesi sasu

sssooowwwiiilllooo

Runic yoga:

These three rune poems all portray the rune of Sowiloas representative of the Sun. The Old Icelandic praises the heat brought forth, whilst the Old Norwegian poem praises the light it brings. Both references have validity given the prevalence of ice and darkness in these countries. The Old English poem praises the Sun as the guidance beacon of the sailors. Such a reference would have held great significance for the great sailors of the Germanic tribes.

In all poems, the value of the Sun is in the means of provision of that which is required – either as heat, light, or guidance. The mystery of Sowilo is that of the crystallised energy in the form most required by the initiate. Such a manifestation may be in the form of a flash of inspiration or destruction. The “shield” of the Old Icelandic poem may also be representative of the occult veil – that which lays in the darkness unseen beyond the light of the sun that blinds is often the unknown secret knowledge of the greatest value.

The symbolic stave bears a resemblance to the lightning strike and a serpent. As a lightning strike, it may be the flash of inspiration that spurs on the initiate to a great deed. Equally, as the serpent, Sowilomay represent the dissolutive energies of the serpents’ venom and provide a process similar to that of the

Hagal azRune. In order to remanifest one’s self; the individual needs to dissolve their present form. The process of dissolution and remanifestation is that of death and rebirth, similar to that of the natural cycle of the seasons or the self-sacrifice of Odin.

The Sowilostave is common as two or more staves that overlap to provide either the solar wheel or black sun. Despite the misuse of the solar wheel by the National Socialist Party of Germany, the religious veneration of the solar wheel remains and occurs around the world. It is possible to interpret the form of the solar wheel or black sun as a solar shield – as described within the Old Icelandic poem.

Tiwaz

[OE] Ti r is a star, it keeps faith well with athlings,

always on its course overthe mitsofnight it never fails.

[OI] Ty r is theone-handedgod, and the leavingsof the wolf, and theruler of thetemple.

[ON] Tyr is theone-handedamong theAesir; thesmithhas toblowoften.

Galdr sound:

tiw az tiwaz tiwaz tota ti te to

tiiiwwwaaa

tote ti ta tu

tiiiwwwaaazzz

Runic yoga:

All three poems equate the rune of Tiwaz to the god Tyr. References to Tyr are sparse within Norse mythology. Yet, we know enough to equate Tyr with battle, justice, and strength. Tyr. Likewise, its forms of Tiw and Tiwaz remain present within the modern world in the form of Tuesday (Tyr’s day) and in relation to the Greek Zeus.

Both the Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian poems refer to Tyr as the one handed god. The mythological reference here is to Tyr as the god who possessed sufficient strength of character to step forth and offer his hand as a guarantee that the gods will not permanently bind the great wolf Fenrir. Tyr takes this action in full knowledge of the intention of the Aesir to trick the wolf and that he will lose his hand. These poems recall this courage in the face of certainty.

The Old Icelandic reference to Tyr, as the ruler of the temple is somewhat odd. Given the settlement of Iceland came after Tyr was referred to as the highest of the gods; and, the majority of settlers there held Thor as their patron deity then the reference is somewhat out of place.

There is a mythological reference to Tyr one of the three highest gods, along with Thor and Odin. There are suggestions that Tyr at one time was in receipt of more sacrifice and worship than Odin and Thor. Given Thor's joint role in battle and the protection of the common man, then he is likely to have a wider appeal. As a god of the warrior, then Tyr would have been more popular with warrior classes that would have held eminence in a timocracy. Odin’s popularity is with the elite, perhaps those of a monarchy or oligarchy, and he remains a god able to induce fear

– even for the warrior kings. In a structured society of classes, Tyr represents the warrior king, Odin the magician king, and Thor the defender of the homestead.

The Old English poem equates Tyr with the star that is always on course. In the northern hemisphere, this reference is to the North Star and as such, we find the equation between Tyr and the world axis. As the world axis, Tyr forms the pillar of unmovable strength around which all other aspects revolve.

The shape of the Tiwaz rune stave also calls to mind the form of the great Irminsul pillar, which represents the world axis. The world axis is also Yggdrasil – the world tree. Yggdrasil translates as ‘Ygg’s terrible steed’ as discussed earlier. Ygg, as one of the many names of Odin, travels throughout the worlds via the world axis.

It is important to acknowledge Tyr’s role as a god of justice. In this respect, Justice is other than that of legal matters, where Forsetti is the dominant god. Tyr is the god of orløg justice

– similar in many respects to karmic law. The actions of the past determine the judgment handed out.

The initiate may find it helpful to view the rune stave as a depiction of a balance scale. Balance is essential in life in order to progress. If one emphasises actions too often or too greatly in favour of one side of the multitude of polarities present, then the risk is that one may become unbalanced. To become unbalanced is to become either an addict or an ascetic. The magus would do well to recall the aeonic word of Anton Szandor LaVey: “Indulgence” in one’s desires is less harmful than to allow them to consume one's self. However, indulgence may lead to addiction. Control of the desire is required at all times. Here the strength of Tyr is required in order to balance out the needs of both polarities.

Berkano

[OE] Birch iswithout fruit but just thesame it bears limbswithout fertile seed; it has beautiful branches, high on its crown

it is finelycovered,

loaded with leaves,

touching thesky.

[OI] Birc h twig isa leafy limb, and a littletree,

and a youthful wood.

[ON] Birch twig is thelimbgreenest with leaves; Loki brought back the luck of deceit.

Galdr sound:

be rkano berkano berkano bu ba bi bebo

beeerrrkaaannn

bo be bi ba bu

beeerrrkaaannnooo

Runic yoga:

Although all three poems refer to Berkanoas the Birch tree, the mythological symbolism is of greater importance than the actual species. The Old Norwegian poem refers to the abundant fertility of the tree. The second line is important, perhaps more so than the first: for, Loki often managed to procure great gains for the Aesir gods because of his deceit. Such is testimony of his worth to the Aesir.

Without Loki’s slyness, many situations would have ended badly for the Aesir. Regardless of how one may view Loki, his talent for the transformation of bad situations to the benefit of the Aesir was invaluable to the gods. The magus can learn much from the mythology of Loki. Such an application of Machiavellian manipulation in many situations is inspirational. If we take a Jungian view of Loki as an archetype, then we see the great trickster as the Shadow of the Odin archetype. Such a view provides us with a further insight as to how the initiate must be able to shift through and manipulate the mundane world whilst in pursuit of continual growth and knowledge

The Old Icelandic poem espouses the fertility of the tree itself. This reverence for the self-sufficient fertility echoes within the detail of the Old English poem.

The poem describes a fruitless and seedless tree, yet one that is both beautiful and fertile regardless. The tree described here is other than the Birch tree. The name Berkanomay be an archaic reference or name for another species of tree, although perhaps one similar to the Birch.

The Old English and Old Icelandic poems both focus upon the beauty and fertility of the tree. The mythological references here may be the beauty and fertility of Freyjaas a goddess of lust. The tree aspect of the poems may refer to the tree from which Idunngathers the sacred apples that renew the god’s youthfulness daily.

The rune stave itself may symbolise the fertility of the feminine. The symbol perhaps depicts the pregnant female with swollen abdomen and bosom. Such a process of renewal from within would be to maintain the poems description of a fruitless fertility. The renewal process should also resonate with the magus as a cycle of manifestation.

In view of the actions of Loki to produce both great gifts and terrible beasts, the magus should also consider how Loki is able to manifest the agents of protection and destruction as required. Loki’s actions effectively progress the events of the worlds' towards Ragnarok. If we equate Ragnarok to the deconstruction of the current in order to allow for the remanifestation, with the inclusion of the return of Baldr from Hel’s domain, then Loki is the agent of manifestation.

Ehwaz

[OE] H orse is, in front of theearls the joy ofathings,

a charger proud onits hooves; whenconcerning it, heroes– wealthy men– onwarhorses exchange speech,

and it isalwaysa comfort

totherestless

Galdr sound:

eh wazehwazehwaz eeeeeeeee

eeehhhwwwaaazzz eeeeeeeee

Runic yoga:

Present only within the Old English rune poem, the rune of Ehwazis one of partnership. With a rune stave that resembles the reflection of the Laguzrune stave against itself. It is a rune addressed later in maintenance of the sequential nature. The symbol itself offers a depiction of a supportive partnership. The rune stave for Ehwazis then two individual, organic energies;

Laguzrune staves in support of each other.

In the description of the horse within the poem, we find a clear allusion to the value placed upon a noble steed. In analysis of the poem, it is important to recall the advantage that a great horse would afford a man in the past. Such an advantage was commonplace worldwide until the mass production of the motorcar began. The horse provides a status symbol of wealth for the rider, the swiftness of travel, and military superiority. The cavalry was of vital importance until the advent of the tank in the twentieth century.

To truly understand this rune, the individual must grasp the dynamics of the relationship between man and horse. Such interdependence was more effective than that of man and dog. Whilst a man will care for and work with a dog, the dog is only capable of the return of affection and some assistance for the hunt or protection.

The requirement is for the rider to train, feed, and care for the horse. In exchange, the horse provides some friendship. The work rate of the horse is paid tribute in the measure of the motor vehicles engine power – such is the reverence placed upon the work ethic and might of the horse even in the modern world. The horse can provide strength to plough a field, speed of travel (beyond that of any similar sized creature), and military superiority upon the battlefield. Whether it was chariots, mounted cavalry, or solitary knights – the horse provided the speed of manoeuvre, vantage point, and a defensive position superior to those on foot. The recent reintroduction of the British riot horse pays tribute to the ability of the mounted police officer to control and dominate a violent crowd. A small group of mounted warriors can easily control a hundred unmounted men.

The mystery of the rune is other than the simple might and reverence of the horse. The horse alone is an unbridled beast that acts, as any other wild animal would do so. The partnership forged between horse and rider is one of major significance and interdependence as described above. For the magus, the value lies in the visualisation of the value of such a partnership above the purely solitary existence. Even the hermit must return to society to both retain his humanity and to remind himself of why he must elevate himself above the plebeian herd. Whether the individual views this value as a friendship, marriage, relationship, or fraternity is dependent upon the situation. As strong as the individual is, there is little stronger than those individuals that form an intensive, empathetic, and co-dependent team.

Mannaz

[OE] Man i sin his mirth dear to his kinsman;

although each shall

depart fromtheother;

for thelord wantstocommit, byhis decree,

that frail flesh

totheearth

[OI] Manis thejoy o fman, and theincrease of dust, and the adornment of ships.

[ON] Man istheincrease ofdust; mighty is thetalon-spanofthehawk.

Galdr sound:

mannaz mannazmannaz

mmmaaannnnnn

mu mami memo

mmmaaannnnnnaaazzz

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Runic yoga:

Mannaz , as seen within all three rune poems above, refers to man. The Old Icelandic poem reiterates the mortality of man in its reference to man as “the increase of dust”. Man’s physical mortality is an inspiration to some, yet a curse and nightmare to others who pursue eternal youth.

The Old Icelandic poem describes man as “the joy of man”. In our greatest moments, we refer to the greatness of ‘man’

– ‘mankind achieved this…’ or ‘mankind will not…’ The societal structures created by man far exceed those known within the animal kingdom. The interplay of political systems, commercial enterprise, class systems, and the interplay between the minority elite and the majority all form a series of forces and tensions that result in an organic movement referred to as ‘man’.

The Old English poem also refers to these interplays of various ideologies within society in man’s willingness to collaborate with one’s fellow men for a common goal. There is reference to the ranks of the class system also. The mythological provision of order upon society by Heimdallr in the Rigsthulasuggests that such complexity of organisation and is part of an intelligent design. In the current political climate, it is unpopular to suggest such divine order of workers, soldiers, and aristocratic classes. Perhaps tellingly, such a suggestion is rare to occur even within liberal minded Heathen groups whose members are well versed and aware of this mythic president for the inequality of men.

Within the rune stave of Mannaz, we can see the partnership of Ehwazand the gift of Geboand the symbolism here should be clear. The gift of sapience, wod, or the black flame is the presence of divinity within every human. Such a gift is in exchange for the partnership where we must do our part. Like the horse that needs the guidance and care of the skilled rider, as is the mystery of Eihwaz, then the sapient human must repay the gift they given. To repay the gift is to nurture and use it. Only by commitment to further the self, do we truly utilise our sapience. To undertake the long and difficult work that is the alchemical education of the self, do we begin to live up to our fullest potential. To fail in this task is to misuse or abandon the gift that bestowed upon us. Only the fool would refute the divine gift.

Laguz

[OE] Water is topeople seemingly unending

if theyshould venture out on an unsteadyship

and the sea waves

frightenthemverymuch, and thebrine-stallion does not heed itsbridle.

[OI] Wetness is churning water, and a wide kettle,

and the land offish.

[ON] Water is which falls from themountain; asa force; but gold are costlythings.

Galdr sound:

la guz laguz laguz lllllllll

lu lalilelo

lllaaaguuu

lo lelilalu

lllaaaguuuzzz

Runic yoga:

In Laguz, we find the runic mystery of water. Water is the source of life in our world. Evolutionary theory tracks all things back to the primordial bodies of fluid wherein all fauna have ancestors within the great seas. The Old Norwegian poem alludes to the value of water and its hidden strength as it cuts its path through material before it. The Old Icelandic poem refers to the energetic flows of water as it churns and boils in the hot springs of Iceland.

The Old English poem provides a greater depth. Herein we find the intimidation and vastness of the oceans clearly described. For example, the fear which induced in all men should the sea turn against them and render their ship useless against the ebb and flow. In Norse mythology, there is a superstition about those whom venture forth on ships and how they take with them gold with which to appease Ran (the angry wife of Aegir). Ran enjoys the act whereby she takes sailors down to the bottom of the sea.

Within the rune Laguz, the magus may find the potential released from that of Isa – the abundant flow of potential for events and materials to manifest. Laguzis the substance in which the icy flows of potential, as it seeps out of Nifelheim, find energy in the raw flow of Muspellheim. In Laguz, we have the quantum potential for any and all to manifest – it is the substance of chaos in which the Jotunthrive. The mystery of Laguzlies outside the form of water. The human body is composed of some two-thirds to three-quarters of water. Such potential to manifest out of this substance is then present within each person. In a similar manner to which the sacred oath can use the vibration of the human voice over a jug of mead or ale to shape and influence the wyrdbefore oneself, then the initiate may apply this process to their own body. We find the alchemical potential for all things within the self.

Ingwaz

[OE] Ingwas fir st, among the East-Danes, seenby men

until he again eastward wentoverthe wave; thewain followed on; thisiswhat the warriors called thehero.

Galdr sound:

ingw az ingwaz ingwaz iiinnnggg

ung ang ing eng ong ong eng ingang ung iiinnngggwwwaaazzz

Runic yoga:

The runic mystery of Ingwazappears only within the Old English poem. In reference to Ing, the poem refers to the god known as IngveFreyr; oft called simply by his title of Freyr.

The poem refers to Ingas the progenitor of the Danish kings, with the YnglingaSaga also key in the identification of his role as the father of the kings of Sweden. Given the fertility of those lands in comparison with other parts of Scandinavia, then the association has a mythological precedent. As part of the brother and sister tandem most commonly associated with fertility,

Freyrand Freyja, then Ingis a perfect ancestral god for such lands. Ingis also a great warrior, who is able to win victory with an antler in place of the sword he gave away.

The rune stave itself has the symbolic interpretation of a seed. The Jerarune stave supports such an interpretation. If we split open the seed form of Ingwaz, then one fractures the rune stave and find therein the remains resemble the rune stave of Jera. The symbolism of the stave also supports the rune poems reference of the god Ingand his role in the fertility of the land. The seed and the harvest are the first plantation and result of the fertile potential.

The seed encapsulates the full potential of the individual. Only through the energetic destruction of the seed is the potential released to manifest as new life. Here we find the ideas of Being and becoming captured within the rune of Ingwaz. The seed form is and contains what may be. The initiate has equal levels of potentiality, if they are unlocked. Like the seed, the individual is the product of their orløg– the manifestation of the past. Once the individual obtains an appreciation of what has delivered the present, they may further unlock the energies within them and activate their metamorphosis into a new form.

Dagaz

[OE] Dayis thel ord’s messenger, dear to men,

theruler’sfamouslight;

mirth and hope

torich and poor

is useful for all

Galdr sound: dagaz dagaz dagaz dddddddd

daaagaaazzz

du da didedo

do dedida du

daaagaaazzz

Runic yoga:

Dagaz is a rune of extreme importance to the initiate as well as the order of the runes in their use as a guide to the development of the self.

Found only within the Old English rune poem, the description of the rune Dagazis as the “messenger”, “famous light”, and “hope”. The description here refers to the dawn of a new day. A new day carries forth the much lusted for hope of what may come to be, as well as the relief that the dark of night has receded. Although the night is currently less dangerous for a man (than it may have been a thousand or more years ago), the night is still a time of fear in the psyche. The prevalence of night and darkness within the horror genre of film provides ample evidence of the continued role that the night plays in the terrors of the mind. The dawn of a new day is symbolic for the renewal of a cycle as well as hope and relief. The rune stave for Dagazreflects the cycle and bears resemblance to the equilibrium symbol.

In the mythology of the sun, the night signifies the death of the Sun god and the dawn is the rebirth as the god emerges from the underworld. The individual undergoes a similar process in all aspects of the initiatory process. The symbolic death, dissolution, and rebirth is the core message of all initiations from those of baptism through to masonic rituals. The mystery of the Dagaz rune is that of renewal and rebirth. As one day is never truly the same as the previous. As such, like the river of Heraclitus, the individual is never the same as they once were.

Othala

[OE] Es tate is very dear toevery man,

if hecan enjoy what is right and according tocustom in his dweling,

most often in prosperity.

Galdr sound:

othilaothilaothila

ooooooooo

othul othal othilothel othol

othol othel othilothal othul ooooooooo

Runic yoga:

The traditional view holds Othalaas the final rune in the Elder Futhark. It appears within the Old English rune poem. In reference to the estate, the poem equates the Othalarune to that of ancestral heritage and places a value upon custom and the home. The rune poem here may refer to a common origin of the common phrase that ‘an English man’s home is his castle.’ This phrase refers to the idea that every Englishman will defend the sanctity of his home and is happier nowhere else.

Otha lais also associated with Odin, whom as the Allfather is the ancestor of all of mankind. Through the gift of Wod discussed above, Odin or Woden is the giver of that which sets man apart from the animal kingdom. The shared concept of this gift of will, spirit, and sapience that defines man as a supernatural entity occurs within many mythologies. Such suggests that there is an archetypical origin, which takes shape in accordance with local interpretation. Those who find and grasp the truth of the origin of this archetype may unlock the fullest knowledge and realisation of this gift.

Runic initiatory stages

Those familiar with the use of tarot are likely to have knowledge of its use as the descriptor of an initiatory journey of an alchemical nature. The mysteries as described by the poems discussed above, represented symbolically in their rune staves, also describe such a process.

The presentation of the runes of the Elder Futhark is in three aetts– three rows, each made of eight runic mysteries. It is possible to view these aetts, along with the individual runes, as stages of initiation. Each rune is a step in the process, with each

aettrepresents a phase of the individual’s journey.

If we list the runes and their core significances, then the result is as follows:

Rune Symbol

Wealth

Primal instinct

Chaotic destruction

Inspired will

Journey

Beacon of inspiration

Gift

Goal Rune Symbol

Hail/ deconstruction and remanifestation

Need

Ice/challenge

Harvest of past deeds

Transcendent pathway

Secret agent of fate

Hidden strength

Manifest energy

Balanced justice

Fertility of becoming

Partnership

The ascendancy of mankind

Organic potential

Seed-form of all potential

Cycle of becoming Rune Symbol

Ancestral heritage

If we arrange the runes into the three aetts, then we have the structure as follows:

If we look at the process of each of the aetts, then we find:

The first aettsuggests an initial wealth of primitive life that has the potential and is shaped and inspired to further itself as it ventures forth towards the distant flame where the gift of glory awaits.

The second aettsuggests a remanifestation in accordance with the need to overcome the challenges before the self. To overcome this challenge manifests the reward whereby the magus fully understands the material and spiritual worlds with respect to the unknown destiny of the individual. Such a secret requires earnest protection until it manifests.

The third aettshows the process of a balanced rebirth as a component in society where the organic growth of the inner potential leads to the remanifestation of the self in accordance with what has been.

The generally accepted order of the Elder Futhark is that

Dagaz is in twenty-third place, with Othalaas the twenty-fourth and final rune. We have a reason, in review of this analysis, to position

Dagazin the final place. Such would render the final aettsprocess

with an alternate implication. The third aettwould show a

balanced rebirth as a component in society where the organic

growth of the inner potential is set by achievements prior to the

commencement of a new phase of Being.

The significance of such an order to the magus is that of man’s origin as a simple and functional component of the animal kingdom. Through a change thrust upon man, thus, acquirement of the ability to evolve and man began the journey towards their potential. The process involves a sometimes painful and destructive remanifestation of the self-when required. The transcendent mind begins to understand what has been, what may be, and where the fullest potentiality of the mind may lay, although the final destiny of the individual will remain unknown. The process of remanifestation continues, as the individual grows powerful, both internally and externally, because of their construction upon their ability with each subsequent remanifestation -- a manifest addition upon that which was. The final remanifestation sees it all begin again – unless the magus can and chooses to close out the process of rebirth.

A reversal of the runes also provides a significant journey of initiatory experience. Such a journey bears immense similarity to the journey of the archetypal hero of mythology, whom journeys into the ground to gain insight and power and returns greater than at the start of the journey. We find reference to such an initiatory path in the tales of Sigurd and Beowulf, or as seen in Amazonian tribal initiations.

As stated at the very start of this section, the mysteries embodied within these poems, sounds and symbols are subjective in their resonance with individuals. Indeed, from the very first rune of Fehuin its reference to wealth, we find the mysteries open to the individual’s interpretation. What one man would do for fiscal wealth, another would do for water. The given outlines of the runes function as tools, as an order of applicability in the development of the self. The means in which the magus may employ these tools is entirely personal.

Suggested Reading

Edred, TheNineDoors of Midgard, 2003

Thorsson E. , Futhark, 1984

Thorsson, Alu: an advanced guide tooperativerunology 2012

Thorsson E. , Runelore, 2012

Runic hours

What follows is a subjective theory that applies the runes to the hours of the day through numerical correspondence. In order to align the runes with the hours of the day, the definition of two sets of data is required. The runes used for the runic hours are those of the Elder Futhark. The Elder Futhark is traditionally magical in nature as discussed above and has twenty-four runes. The number of runes perfectly aligns with the number of hours per day. For clarity, the expression of the hours of the day is in the twenty-four hour method. The subsequent table outlines the hours of the day and the correspondence to the Elder Futhark.

HOURNumerical Elder Runic Hour Energycount Futhark Rune

First hour of

00:00 the day Fehu Wealth

01:00 Second hour Uruz Primal instinct

02:00 Third hour Thurisaz Chaotic destruction 03:00 Fourth hour Ansuz Inspired Will

04:00 Fifth hour Raidho Journey

05:00 Sixth hour Kenaz Inspirational beacon

06:00 Seventh hour Gebo Gift

07:00 Eighth hour Wunjo Goal

08:00 Ninth hour Hagalaz

Hail/ deconstruction and remanifestation

09:00 Tenth hour Naudiz Need

Eleventh

10:00 hour Isa Ice/Challenge

11:00 Twelfth hour Jera Harvest of past deeds

12:00

Thirteenth

Eihwaz hour

Transcendent pathway

13:00Fourteenth Perthrohour

Secret agent of fate

Fifteenth

14:00 hour Eolhaz Hidden strength

Sixteenth

15:00 hour Sowilo Manifest energy

Seventeenth

16:00 hour Tiwaz Balanced justice

17:00Eighteenth Berkano Fertility of becominghour

Nineteenth

18:00 hour Ehwaz Partnership

19:00

Twentieth Mannaz The ascendancy of hour mankind

Twenty-first

20:00 hour Laguz Organic potential

21:00

TwentyIngwaz Seed-form of all second hour potential

Twenty-third

22:00 hour Othala Ancestral heritage

The initiatory cycle

TwentyDagaz of 23:00 fourth hour becoming/remanifes tation

As demonstrated in the table above, the previous alteration of placement between Othala and Dagaz now also symbolises the end of one day and the birth of the next as Dagaz closes out the twenty-four hour cycle and sees the remanifestation of the day at midnight when 24:00 resets to 00:00.

In order to apply the correspondences of runes to the hours of the day, the magus merely selects the hour appropriate to the desired work and performs it at the given hour. A meditation upon ancestral knowledge is such ideally performed between 22:00 and 22:59. An ideal time for a Seidr journey to the other realms is thus 12:00, midday. The application of the runic hours is simple for the magus. Subjective evidence currently suggests that the adherence to this timeframe does reap benefits.

The Yggdrasil Array

The Yggdrasil Array is a ritual that channels energies from the eight worlds, which are either ethereal or elemental in nature, and draws these energies into the magus. The ritual utilises the galdr discussed above, along with the lore of the eight realms outside of the manifest realm of Midgard. The work of Edred Thorsson in his runic curriculum (The Nine Doors of Midgard, 2003, p. 44) and his work on runic divination (Runelore, 2012, p. 99) provides the basis for the orientation of the within the ritual.

Figure 3 Alignment of the eight realms relative to the central position of the magus, whom stands in Midgard

Figure 4 the alignment of the runes for intonation of the appropriate galdr’s.

The ritual has no requirement for a circle to be marked upon the floor. A physical circle will aid those of lesser imagination in separation of the ritual area from the mundane. The purpose of the magic circle is after all to separate the ritual space from the planes of time and space and bring forth energies where they otherwise would be absent. The ritual as a whole allows the bypass of the conscious mind and thus allows the unconscious aspect of the magus to interact on the non-manifest level with the energies and other realms. For this reason alone, the circle upon the floor can and does aid the link between the magus and the energies operational within the quantum field. The open channels of energy, once aligned with the manifest magus through the vibration of the galdr’s create an energy flow. The design of the above diagrams is to enhance the comprehension of the energy flows for the magus.

For those more inclined towards ceremonial magic, with a Solomonic touch, then there is an option to mark the floor with a generational array. A suitable array that is based upon Bryan Lovering’s designs for generational arrays (Lovering, 2012) would work well with the above alignment of rune staves and energy channels, as would an adaptation of a Solomonic pentacle where such is aligned with the aesthetic appeals of the magus and their reality tunnels.

As referenced above, the Helm of Awe from the tale of Sigurd has an application within this ritual. The Helm of Awe may signify, as well as the venomous deterrent in the form utilised by Fafnir, the channelling of the energies from the eight realms into Sigurd. The rise of Sigurd certainly reads as an allegory of man’s ascendancy above the serpent Fafnir into higher mental states as symbolised by Sigurd’s comprehension of the speech of the birds. The eight-fold nature of the Helm of Awe lends itself perfectly to this ritual (see Figure 5). For the magus more aesthetically draw towards the utilisation of a formal sigil or ground marks for the ritual performance, then the Helm of Awe is the perfect embodiment of the ritualistic intent. Construction of the Helm of Awe, either upon the magus himself, the ritual attire, or the floor, will align the mind of the magus with the allegory of Sigurd. The ritual will then resonate with those events that have passed. Nietzsche’s law of eternal recurrence states that those events and persons that have been, will be once more. The association of the magus with the acts of Sigurd will, at the very least, draw some of the energies of those events into the life of the magus. Total success for the magus would be the embodiment of the recurrence of Sigurd and a further ascension of the mind and immortality, if only in reverent tales.

Figure 5 Aegishjalmur with ritual

attribution of runes as a possible sigil or

floor marking

The apt time for performance of the ritual is as deciphered by the magus’ interpretation of the runic hour and any other alignment or correspondence deemed appropriate to the overall intent. Works designed to aid the attainment of new knowledge may find the runic hours of Fehu, Ansuz, or Kenaz to be appropriate. Dagaz would be appropriate for works of remanifestation for instance. The magus is responsible for the creation of the work that follows the ritual. The ritual merely channels energies through the magus, what the magus does with them is entirely in accordance with their own will. The magus must note however, the energies are those that have created the manifestation of the universe through balance. The imbalance of these energies will ultimately bring about a Ragnarok. Although Ragnarok is the destruction of the manifest realm, balance will ultimately return under the law of Eternal Recurrence and as per the mythology of Ragnarok, the gods and man will ultimately return. It is vital that the magus undertakes no action to disturb the equilibrium, unless that is their goal.

The Yggdrasil Channelling

Begin by preparation of the ritual space. Removal of all electrical devices is preferable, unless their design is such as to aid the alteration of brainwave states in the magus such as the production of binaural frequencies or electromagnetic fields. In accordance with the absence of electricity from the ritual space, candles are thus the preferred source of illumination for the ritual space. Where required, the presence of candles should be minimal and limited to no more than a single black candle. The reason for this specification of darkness is in order to enhance the sensory deprivation of the magus. The use of incense in order to suppress the smell of the mundane world, especially if the ritual space is located within the home of the magus is also appropriate. Granular incense, prepared by the magus, with a mix of cinnamon, oak bark, colophony resin, wormwood, and star anise is preferable.

Limited sensory perception of the manifest realm will empower the unconscious mind and dull the conscious. The conscious mind restricts the overall activity of the mind in perception of energy flows through its reliance upon sensory data. The sensory data as interpreted by the conscious mind shapes our reality tunnels. Such interpretation of data is highly conditioned and responsible for the varied appearance of the archetypal gods between regions and people. Suppression of the conscious mind allows greater access to the collective unconscious, interaction with the archetypes on the etheric and ultimately allows the magus to re-imprint and condition their reality tunnels as they advance towards Leary’s Metaphysiological-Neuro-Atomic Circuit of mind.

The ritual space and attire of the magus should be in accordance with the aesthetics of the magus. The attire of the Golden Dawn will have little benefit to the magus who has no knowledge or appreciation of the symbolism of such. Given the optional usage of floor circles, illumination, or other ritual dressage, then the location is able either to be indoors or outdoors to suit the magus. The local laws always require consideration, especially if the ritual is for performance outdoors. Although antinomian acts are inherent with the left-hand path, those that break the laws and face criminal prosecution will find their ability to move within, and subsequently manipulate, their society greatly restricted. The skilled magus employs stealth and manipulation rather than brute force. Shock tactics are the antics of children and lack the finesse of a skilled magus. The magus, like Odin, should always consider the larger picture and overall goal rather than focus upon smaller battles.

The attire for the magus should be in observance with a tradition to which the magus adheres. For those without a tradition, then the attire should be that of a hooded monks robe, black in colour. The hood will aid the sensory deprivation, whilst the symbolism of the robe itself will reinforce the mysticism of the ritual to the unconscious mind.

Once the ritual space and the magus are prepared, light the candles or incense. Once the magus is alone, then the ritual may begin.

1. Stand in the centre of the ritual space. With eyes closed, clear the mind of all thoughts and focus upon your breaths as you inhale and exhale. Adjust your breath cycle to that of a squared breath pattern, Breathe deeply, into your abdomen and hold for six second. Exhale fully and hold for four seconds before once more you inhale deeply. Repeat this cycle until your mind is clear of all thoughts.

2. Face North and assume the stance of the Isa rune. Intone the galdr for Isa.

“Seed forms of Nifelheim, hear my will and give energies and form to this work. Flow through me now, as I bring forth the manifestation of my will.”

3. Turn clockwise and face South. Assume the stance of the Sowilo rune and into the galdr.

“Fires of Muspell, hear now my call. Lend your power as a spark with which I shape the seed of my will. Be as the spark that will fuel the forge upon which I craft that in accordance to my desire.”

4. Turn clockwise and face East. Assume the stance of the Hagalaz rune and intone the galdr.

“Ancient Jotun of might and chaos, I banish those whom would oppose me. Allow me to see the quantum potential so that I may bring about my will. I reach forth into the realm of that which both is and is not, and I see the threads that lead to my goal.”

5. Turn clockwise to face West. Assume the stance of Ingwaz and intone the galdr.

“Fertile powers of the manifest cycle, lend your might and main to my labour. I form the seed of my will, by my will, and with the primal matter and energies in accordance with the potentiality of all that is and is not. I will reap the harvest of my seed.”

6. Turn clockwise to face North-West. Assume the stance of Eihwaz and intone the galdr.

“Alfar daemons be my guide. My mind transcends Yggdrasil, as the almighty Allfather does so. Seeing beyond the confines of the nine realms, I see how their energies flow throughout Yggdrasil, merging within the realm of Midgard. I am as Yggdrasil. The energies of the realms flow throughout my being. I am the conjunction of both that which is ethereal consciousness and that which is unconscious matter.”

7. Turn clockwise to face South-East. Assume the stance of Othala and intone the galdr.

“Ancestral powers of the disir, from the mound of the Earth your wisdom I do seek. Guide the paths and actions of those whom came before I, so that their orløg may aid this work here and now. By my actions here, I create that which is in my ancestral past.”

8. Turn clockwise to face South-West. Assume the stance of Fehu and intone the galdr.

“To Weyland and the great smiths I call. Guide me now as I forge my will from potential. Upon the flames of desire, I craft my will into the manifest.”

9. Turn clockwise to face North-East. Assume the stance of Ansuz and intone the galdr.

“Over the great sea and Northern sky. Beyond the confines of Yggdrasil I call, to Odin sat in Hlidsjkalf. To the mighty Allfather! Wotan! Wodannaz! Bolverk! Fadr galdr! Grimnir! Hrafnagod! Sigfadr! Yggr! As your student I stand. See now how your gift burns bright within!”

10. Turn clockwise to face North. Look up to the sky and hold your arms outstretched as if in the shape of a 'T’. Intone the galdr for Eihwaz once more, as you become a channel for energies from all eight of the realms. As you end the galdr, bring your arms in slowly towards the sternum and touch the tips of your fingers together and upon the sternum.

The ritual channelling of energies is thus complete. The magus then proceeds with whatever work is planned with its appropriate ritual where required. The performance of the Yggdrasil Channelling is well suited to the charging and sending of runic energies for a variety of reasons, as well as prior to a Seidr journey to the other realms. The ritual also works well to empower the magus before he undertakes work of a more mundane nature.

Transmission of energies

Transmission of the energies of the magus and those raised in the above ritual is now possible through meditation, bind runes, and galdr, amongst other techniques at which the magus may be skilled. The techniques that make use of rune staves and galdr project the will of the magus into objective manifestation.

Once channelled by the magus, the energy is then focussed it into the form of his will. The technique of galdr is as outlined in the above descriptions of the runes. The intonation of the appropriate galdr’s transmits the energies from within the magus and converts these into vibrational kinetic and heat energy of the air molecules that surround the magus. The laws of physics dictate that only the transformation of such energy is possible, there is no destruction of energy. Thus, once focussed into a projection of the will, the galdr sounds enter into a manifestation of that will. As the manifest energy dissipates into the vast field of manifestation, the audible sound disappears. The energy does however remain. The transformation of the energy of the magus’ is from the kinetic and heat vibration of the air molecules, into other forms less perceivable to the human sensory equipment. Sufficient will and energy will convey the desired result of the magus into the energy fields that surround Midgard. Galdr is one of the simplest, yet most effective means of the dispersal of the will of the magus into the actualised world.

The combination of multiple rune staves into a symbol or sigil of the will of the magus is an art form as well as a magical art. Truly complex and encoded bind runes exist which are only decipherable by the rune master whom creates them. Numerous texts offer guidance as the creation of bind runes. The magus whom aspires to employ bind runes within his work should consult the work of Edred Thorsson upon the subject, specifically in his books Futhark(Thorsson E. , 1984) and ALU: an Advanced

Guide to Operative Runology (Thorsson, 2012) . Aesthetics, numerology based upon the positional value of the rune within the aetts, and the inherent mystic power represented by the rune stave are all required for consideration. A true master of bind runes may encode the desired result into a design, carve it, and then redden it with energy; historically, blood is the agent of empowerment in the reddening, and then sends it forth. The bind rune is suitable for carving into a piece of wood and sent to the person whom is the intended recipient of the focussed energies. There is equal applicability for the use of bind runes in works of healing, fertility, protection, or destruction. Indeed, there are mythic tales that depict the use of carved runes for the transmission of curses, (The Saga of Grettir the Strong, 2005), and tales that function as a warning against the trust of an inexperienced rune master (Egil's Saga, 2002).

The combination of two or more runes in the formation of a bind rune is both simple and powerful. One of the more frequent bind runes is the symbolic representation of the gibu auja [Trans: good luck]. The gibu aujabind rune combines both the Gebo and Ansuz runes.

Figure 6: Example of the construction of the Gibu Auja bind rune

The artistry employed in the creation of bind runes by the magus can involve ever-increased levels of sophistication and aesthetic appeal. The Helm of Awe, discussed and shown above Figure 1 Aegishjalmur of Fafnir/ Sigurd, is an example of such a form that is achievable in the construction of complex bind runes.

The heightened abilities of the mind and the pursuit of existence beyond the mortal confines of the body are inherent to the magus of the left-hand path. As such, it is appropriate that the magus should seek to be able to transmit the energies raised throughout the Yggdrasil channelling ritual into a goal, or project them against another person or place. The focus of the mind required to achieve such feats requires serious study and devotion to the art. The mastery of the art of yoga is required before the magus even contemplate the projection of their will onto the manifest realm without any form of physical interface such as galdr or the use of carved runes. The integration with the Jungian unconscious, without assimilation into the archetypal forms, requires the attainment of a super conscious state. Once achieve, the magus will be able to transcend the physical limits of brain and body with an utilisation of the astral/etheric other realms and beyond in order to construct the desired result. Such a magus then operates at the level of Odin and the other archetypes. A superconsciousness is then free from all constraints and is no longer subject to physical death. This state of Being is not necessarily cognate with immortality. If the gods, like Odin, die at Ragnarok, then the magus is not beyond this fate. Ragnarok is then other than the Twilight of the Gods; rather it is perhaps the demise of consciousness.

In order to obtain mastery of the yogic arts, the magus is required to master their physical body. Swami Vivekananda wrote excellent works on the arts of yoga. The most useful for the magus is that of RajaYoga (Vivekananda, Raja Yoga) and the practices and images presented by Aleister Crowley in Magick: Liber ABA,

BookFour(Crowley, 1997) .

Vivekananda requires the magus is required to master, in sequence:

1. Asana (posture)

2. Pranyama (breath and the control of Prana, the energy flows within the body)

3. Pratyahara (control of the senses)

4. Dharana (control of the thoughts)

5. Dhyana (meditative control of the body which is usually under the control of the sub-conscious e.g. the heart rate, projection of heat from the hands)

6. Samadhi (super-consciousness)

The stages of mastery outlined by Vivekananda bear a great similarity to the circuits of the mind in the Leary/Wilson model discussed above. The magus should aspire to the attainment of Samadhi as the state of ‘super consciousness’ rather than the union and assimilation with a god that Crowley describes. It is also no coincidence that the works of P.D Ouspensky and G.I. Gurdjieff also require the individual to become aware of themselves, their thoughts, their motions, their sub-conscious processes and master these in order that they awaken. Israel Regardie also wrote an excellent treatment of the application of psychology and yoga for the magus in his the Middle Pillar (Regardie, The Middle Pillar, 2007) , a work also notable for the application of Jungian psychology to the work of the magus. For a complete system of yoga, with a focus upon the Odinic mythology and the integration of runes, the Thorsson’s Rune-Gild curriculum, (Edred, The Nine Doors of Midgard, 2003) is a great syncretism of all of the necessary elements and an appropriate place to start.

. It is of no coincidence that the form of the archetype that is Shiva spends his time in meditation. The opening of the third eye of Shiva upon a disturbance of his quiet meditative state brings destruction. Here we find reference to the power generated through such fervent concentration.

Suggested Reading

Karlsson, Qabalah, Qliphothand Goetic Magic, 2012

Carroll, Liber Null & Psychonaut, 1987

Carroll, Liber Kaos, 1992

Crowley, Magick: Liber ABA, Book 4,1997 Malphas, The Black Ship, 2012

The Ethics of Magic

A serious discussion of the application of magic is incomplete without the inclusion of an opinion as to the ethics and morality of its application and practice. Nietzsche’s discourse on morality within book two of WilltoPower (1968) provides ample indication as to where the practitioner of the left-hand path approach to magic sits on morality. Judgement of the shepherd is by different standards to the herd and judgement of the master varies to that of the shepherd.

In magic, like life, there is no right or wrong action. All that the individual is results from their Orløg, the pre-determined place in society because of ancestor’s actions. The Wyrd of the individual is actions taken by the individual that manifest their current reality. An individual is the result of what they have done. All that an individual does from now onwards will determine their future paths. One cannot know what lays ahead and as such must make ones decisions based on the information and instinct possessed at any given time. The fork in the road lays before the individual and no other.

What is Magic? Crowley coined it best and many others have modified his style for their own works since.

“Magick is the Sc ience and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with the Will” Aleister Crowley, (Magick: Liber

ABA, Book 4, 1997, p. 126)

Ultimately, as mentioned earlier- white magic as practiced by those of the Wiccan faith and many Judaeo-Christian occult groups is little more than a ritualised prayer that calls upon the energies of gods and or crystals/minerals/herbs etc. as a form of autohypnosis. There is an inherent skill in this form of work due to the knowledge required in order to combine the energies and correspondences towards the desired result.

'Black' magic has two aspects –the perception, and the reality. The commonly held perception is of the magus whom summons a demon to a triangle and commands the demon to do as bid by the magus or negotiate a deal. To add clarity here- this act is a form of ritualised blackmail as opposed to the standard prayer. The only ‘blackness’ present is in that the morality of the magus has resorted to blackmail should the evocation be physical. The more common occurrence is that the summoned entity is purely representative if the magus' sub-conscious. In this instance of invocation of the unconscious archetypes, then blackmail is a mere show with the purpose of coercion of the magus’ own subconscious into conformity to the will. The practitioner of such magic and blackmail is typically Judaeo-Christian as they employ the word of the Abrahamic God to control the demon and use a 'blasting rod' or wand to threaten the demon into a constructive partnership. There is no power in the magus. He simply summons a demon (or a representation of his own sub-conscious) and threatens in the name of God/Jesus in order to gain the employ/compliance of the demons powers.

As suggested before, whilst the existence of these demons may be factual in some cases, the more likely occurrence for the practitioner is the visualisation of their own higher daemon as summoned by the ritual. The basis for this approach is other than one of belief or existence- rather that it is essential for the practitioner to be able to distinguish what is a higher form of his or her own conscious/sub-conscious and what is real. Given the tendency for daemons to fail to manifest in a physical form, these would then fall into the category of sub-conscious manifestation. There is little wrong with such as forms of sub-conscious manifestation are the common experience of the shaman or in Seidr journeys. On this plane of higher consciousness, we are able to journey outside of our bodies and throughout the other eight worlds. Entities or Wights we meet here are likely to be either representative of either our own higher consciousness or those of gods and Alfar. It is likely that the higher guardian angel or daemon is what is also termed the Alfar of Ljossalfheimr... Forms of ritual that will produce such a result will vary upon the practitioner- some may require the induction of a trance like state. Others will achieve this through meditation, darkness, and candles for others and the effects of incense, ritual alcohol consumption, and use of psychotropic drugs by some will all assist the magus in obtainment of the desired results of etheric contact or invocation of a form. The individual must discover which form of summoning is right for them. A skilled magus is indeed an individual rather than a generic herd member.

In terms of a physical summoning (evocation) of either god or daemon, the powers required for this event to occur would be beyond comprehension. Such an act may be possible, but that due to the power required is such that it is beyond the reach of most, such evocation into physical manifestation before the magus is likely very rare. There are perhaps only a handful of individuals in history that have been able to achieve this result.

Black magic is the use of power contained within the magus that requires no outside influence. If the magus can evolve his will to the level that he is able to alter the external world around him, then he is a master of the black magical arts

The simplest way to express the application of this methodology by the magus is as follows: sit still and clear the mind; raise your hand to your left eye. There- you have just performed and act of will in its most simple form. How does this motion relate to the mastery of will and the bending of the world to it? You willed your hand to cover your left eye and it did so. The will transfers sub-consciously to the hand via the brain (which is no more than a tool) to the various muscles in the hand and arm required to move the hand (the body is the second tool directly controlled by the higher self). As well as this signal to muscles, which of course occurs through a neural network of nerves that transmit an electrical signal, the body and brain also subconsciously calculate the positions of the hand and eye in relation to each other to avoid injury. Yes, it is possible to argue that the hand moved because of the thought to do so, but there was no conscious thought to all the minute calculatory steps and muscle contractions required. Yet, they happened none the less. This achievement is the power of the will.

One wills the hand to move and the two tools directly under control act without conscious input in order to produce the required result. Physicists will cite the law of energy. The destruction of energy is contrary to this law and impossible. Rather than destruction, the transformation of energy is all that is possible. Thus, by willing the clouds in the sky to rain, the will still commands, although it lacks direct contact with the matter that is required to respond. If the will produces the same electrical signals in the brain and the brain stops them as they are unactionable for the body- then what is the resultant state of the energy created within those signals? Where does the brain send this energy? We can train the will to send this signal directly to matter in the world around us. Chemists and physicists will all agree that we are all matter with the same source, thus we should be able to transfer our will and its energy to the matter that surrounds us. The only challenge is how to bridge the gap between our host shell and the target matter. The aether can transmit this will to other matter. Fundamentally, this transmission and conversion is the challenge of the black magus. How to conquer the restrictions imposed upon the will by our bodies. With freedom from this constraint comes both power through black magic (the will to power) and immortality as we become selfdeified and free of the constraints our tools place upon us which are mortal and subject to decay.

The bridge between the physical body and the minds ability to control external matter other than such a body may find a solution within quantum physics. Whilst the Big Bang theory postulates the emergence of a singular totality of manifestation, the implication of such has relevance to the magus. If we hold that all matter within the manifest universe was once part of a singular entity, either the emergent ‘bang’ or mythic beings such as Ymir, then the implication is that all matter has interacted at some point.

The study of quantum entanglement then outlines that the subsequent entanglement results in the reflection of state change between entangled particles. When one particle changes state, then the entangled particle also reflects the change. Studies suggest that such a change in state is ‘communicated’ at speeds in excess of the speed of light. For the magus, the issue of quantum entanglement has profound implication. The body, so easily controlled through thought, will, and yoga, is thus subject to entanglement with the entirety of the manifest universe on some level. It is merely a matter of degrees that alter the level of entanglement between mind and body and mind and the stars. Here is some suggestion of the validity for astrological correspondence that merits investigation. All fields of magic may therefore one day find scientific validation within the application and measurement of quantum entanglement. The immediate field of application is that the flame in front of the magus is subject to entanglement with the particles of which form the physical magus’ body and is therefore equally as subject to the will. A strong enough projection of the will is therefore theoretically able to extend beyond the magus and alter the manifest universe.

Allfather

Born a skin tochaos,

I know not peacewithin,

Thetangleweb of gainand loss.

Powe rful though a hammermaybe, Its blunt might isnomatch for

Focused force ofthebattlerain and me.

With cl arity of mind,

Chaosbound asfatherbane, To sacrificial action I resigned.

Le arned fromthelove I could not kill, Femininemysteries wererevealed, Taught to themight workerof ill.

Half o ftheslain thewitch does choose, An army built tostaytwilightsgain, That fated day whenwolf breaks lose.

T he final destiny only I see,

Though change is beyond mygrasp, I protect myson fromthatwhichwilbe.

The fathe r of monstersdid aid, Mysonsent beyond fatesreach, To arise anew oncebattlehas played.

Though peaceful oncetheworld had been, Natures cycles soon grew dull,

Man was born in waysunseen.

Gifts of form, life and willwebestow, The whitest god tochoose theroles, Classes ofman did heavow.

Equal a reallmen notmeant to be, Yet they suppose toknowmore, Thanhe whomhave aneye tosee.

Fre edomI gavetoliveas you would, Yet as father I cannot simplywatch, You beless thanwhichyou could.

Gre at sacrificedid I oncemake,

Mystery became one with me,

Trials of knowledgemust kings undertake.

I be seechyou – make use ofyour life, Goes great respect and honor, Renowntohe whomembracesstife.

Peace and eas eare not the intention, Life isa challenge that culls the weak, Love and blood not meant for retention.

Ra gnarok –thedestinyof all, Thegreat amongst you at myside, Know nofearas godswillfall.

Come Loki

Fromout of stagnation,

Nocreationisseen,

Wherechange is desired, Thetricksters bladeshalgleam.

T he patternishidden,

Tooclose tothe weave,

Our live wealone,

Through willour paths cleave.

A fo rest mustburn, A treefirstmust die, In strength toreturn, Death eternal but a lie.

Thegive r of truegift,

Thebringer of change,

His bondage soonbroken, In employ ofways sostrange.

Therule r of shadows, Is theagent of kings,

Unknownareyouglories, Of which no bardsings.,

The world has gr own tired, Humansfoster likeweeds, Now in need of thetrickster, To plant revolutionaryseeds. ComeLoki!

The Wolf Within

A mongstthe sheepI stlkthe realminpain, Unabletoreveal the truth theylabel with shame. Naturehas lawsof power for tooth and claw, Yetnumbergivestrength unknownindaysofyore. Thepack has needfor kings and queens tolead, To cullthe weak theherds unspoken need. The beast within barelyrestrained by will, Within me now theurgetohunt and still. The weak gather around and procreate,

Social disease theworld does tolerate.

The elite shall riseuponthe wolf ofthe soul, To preyon the weak is truetonatures goal.

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A

Aaron Leitch .......................... 29 Abrahamic .... 20, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30, 33, 35, 63, 68, 106122,

129 , 145, 269

Abramelin ...................... 29, 164 Aegishjalmur......... 113130, 164 Aesir . 32, 33, 6790, 98, 99, 101,

106 108, 110, 122, 123, 124 126132, 134, 136, 137, 154 162, 178, 218, 219, 223

aett ....................... 242 244 245

Ahriman........ 106 107116, 119 Ahura................... 105106, 107

Ahura Mazda........ 105 106 107

Aleister Crowley . 28, 33, 41, 265

269

Allfather 119, 121, 181, 184, 241, 259 260

All-father............... 100, 105, 106

American .............. 42, 49, 68, 71 Anal Emotional-Territorial Circuit ........................................ 78 Angro Mainyush ................... 107 Ansuz...... 31 124180, 181, 182, 248 255 260 263

antinomianism ............. 17, 65, 73

Antinomianism ....................... 75 Apollonian ....................... 32, 83 Aquino .......... 31, 58, 59, 69, 118 archetypal ... 11, 47, 60, 100, 105

107 113116, 117, 118, 120, 125 127128, 132, 133, 137, 142, 143, 145, 146, 245 257 264

archetypes . 32, 78, 100, 120, 121, 137, 140, 142, 154 164 257 265 269

arianosophy...................... 60, 68 aristocrats ............................... 43 Asatru......................... 6768, 69 ascetic ..................... 75, 107221 Asgard90, 99, 132, 133, 135, 139, 146, 154 164

assimilation 74, 85, 160, 264 266

Atheism ................................. 42 Audumbla ............. 101, 151 175

Austin Osman Spare ............. 158

B

Bael.................................... 106 Baldr90, 111, 135, 138, 144, 152

224

Baugi .................................. 110 Beowulf................... 43, 179, 246 Bestla ...................... 91, 101, 151 black flame .... 122, 123, 124, 182,

230

black magic 18, 20, 27, 30, 3158,

121, 272

Bolverk ........................ 110, 260 Bor . 101, 102, 104, 108, 138, 151 Brahma ............................... 101 Brynhild .............................. 115 Buri ............................. 101, 102

C

Cain .................................... 122

capitalist ................................ 48

Carl Sagan ............................. 18

Catherine the Great ................ 43

Catholic...................... 28, 29, 65

causation ........ 100, 104, 105 154 chaos .. 33, 43, 47, 102, 109, 110, 122, 123, 124 153 154, 164

178, 233, 258

Christ .................... 35, 51, 60, 63

Christian.... 20, 29, 36, 59, 60, 68, 70, 86, 94, 99107, 119, 126

136, 137, 140, 152 154, 269

Christianity .. 24, 28, 61, 68, 107, 126

church............................ 35, 119

Churchill ............. 40, 41, 44, 182

Clavicula Salomonis ................ 28

Cleopatra............................... 43

collective unconscious . 18, 32, 78, 142, 154 257

Common sense ...................... 39

Communism .......................... 39

consciousness ... 18, 32, 33, 70, 76, 77, 79, 89, 90, 102, 104, 105, 107109, 118, 120, 121, 122, 123, 129, 138, 139, 143, 145, 153 154161, 164, 176, 179, 208, 259 265 266, 270

Consciousness ........ 104, 123, 165

Crowley ............. 28, 56, 266 268

D

daemon ..... 28, 30, 154163, 269 270

daemonic .............................. 30

Darwinian ................ 24, 161, 164

Darwinism ............................. 46

deification .......... 41, 75, 121, 171

deity 21, 26, 30, 47, 72, 105107, 108, 116, 119, 121, 128, 133, 136, 137, 220

Delphic ............................ 32, 84

democracy .. 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45

democratic ..... 40, 41, 42, 47, 144

Deva ................................... 105

Dionysian ............ 31, 32, 83, 96

DMT.................... 165 176179

DNA .................. 77, 78, 79, 164

Don Webb .......................... 119

Dragon Rouge ............... 25, 30

Duality ................................ 104

Durga.................................. 133

evolution ... 24, 3138, 46, 62, 63, 64, 72, 75, 76, 77, 116, 134 144, 161, 164

existentialist ...................... 20, 50

eye61, 98, 111, 112115, 188, 266 271

F

Fafnir........70, 112 113179, 254 fear 30, 44, 62, 88, 126138, 175

220 , 232, 238

Flowers 18, 31, 34, 57, 58, 67, 68,

69, 75, 112130, 133, 134

139, 143, 144, 146, 153 166

169

fraujaz.................................. 134 Freki.................................... 127 Freyja ..... 31, 32, 84, 96, 98, 133,

134135, 137, 138, 154224,

235

Frigg .........98, 133, 134135, 139 Futhark .. 31, 168, 169213, 241,

242, 245 246 247 263

E

eagle .............. 110, 125128, 129

Edda.............................. 99151

educate’ ................................. 37

Egyptian .... 40, 68, 101, 106, 118, 119, 129

Einherjar............... 112 124146

elite13, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 65, 73220, 229

Emotion-locomotion circuit ..... 76

Emperor Meiki ...................... 43

entelecheia........................... 185 Eternal Recurrence .......... 74, 256 ethics ............ 23, 49, 78, 91, 268 Ethics ................ 18, 23, 121, 268 eugenics ................................ 46

Europe ...... 41, 45, 60, 94, 96, 99, 120, 132, 214

evil18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 74, 75, 83, 86, 93, 98, 100, 101, 105106, 107110, 121, 128, 147, 160

G

galdr .. 32, 69, 167169, 251 254 258 259 260 262 264

Galdr84, 168, 170 173, 177, 180, 183, 186189, 192, 195, 197, 200, 203, 206, 209, 212, 215, 218, 222, 225, 228, 231, 234, 237, 240, 262

Gandalf................................ 125

Garden of Eden .................... 129

Genghis Khan ................... 40, 44

George Washington ................24

Geri..................................... 127

God.... 21, 24, 26, 28, 33, 35, 36, 55, 85, 99, 101, 107122, 180, 269

goetic .....................................28

Goetic................. 27, 30, 34, 266

good ....12, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 37, 45, 74, 75, 82, 83, 86, 93, 105 106 107 121, 160, 192, 203, 263

government24, 39, 40, 42, 44, 45, 48, 49

Grar .............................. 74, 124 grey .. 74, 106, 111, 121, 125128 grimoire ........................... 28, 29 Grimorium Verum .................. 30 Gullveig ... 98, 110, 132, 133, 134

135

Gungnir............................... 125 Gunnlod .............................. 110 Gurdjieff ............. 18, 56, 74, 266 Gurdjieffian ........ 18, 50, 121, 137 Gylfagganing.... 99108, 129, 136,

138

H

hamingja .............................. 112 Harbard ...................... 94, 95, 96 Havamal ... 81, 8586, 87, 89, 90,

94 , 97, 190

Heathen........... 68, 137, 230, 295 Heidr ............................ 98, 134 Heimdallr ...................... 64, 230 Heith................................... 134 Hel .. 90, 138, 152 154 158224 Helheimr............................. 152 herd .... 36, 37, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44,

45 , 46, 47, 48, 49, 54, 59, 61,

72, 75, 77, 83, 85, 87, 88, 91,

92, 94, 95, 96, 99, 105119,

121, 158161, 171 172227,

268 270 295

Hermetic ....................... 68, 118 HIM ................................... 119 Hindu . 19, 20, 77, 101, 105, 106,

133, 137, 159

Hitler .................................... 40 Hoenir .. 104, 109, 112122, 136,

138, 139, 140, 151

honour .......... 35, 69, 8590, 211 House of Commons ................ 44 House of Lords ...................... 44

I

Iceland ............ 99, 136, 219, 232

illumination ........... 187, 256 257 independence ......................... 85

individual ... 2, 11, 12, 13, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 3133, 34, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42, 43, 48, 50, 52 54, 56, 59, 61, 64, 75, 82, 84 85, 90, 123, 124 125136, 137, 151, 160, 161, 166, 167 182, 184, 185, 190, 193, 194, 198, 201, 202, 208, 210, 211, 214, 217, 226, 227, 236, 239, 242, 244 245 246 266, 268 270

Individualism ......................... 75 individuation .. 13, 18, 64, 85, 123 initiation ... 69, 118, 122, 208, 242 Initiation................................ 75 intoxication ................. 83, 84 85 Ipsissimus....................... 67106

J

Jormungandr ................... 95, 129

Joseph Campbell .................. 142

Jotun... 3395, 96, 101, 102, 108, 122, 123, 136, 137, 143, 152, 153 154205, 233, 258 Jotunheim..................... 153161

Judaic......... 25, 29, 107 156163

Judaism ......................... 24, 28

Jung ...... 5, 18, 32, 35, 55, 60, 78, 105, 106 107117, 129, 142, 165179, 187, 188

Jungian 18, 32, 50, 64, 78, 8485, 97, 100, 117, 121, 137, 140, 154223, 264 266 295

K

Kali ..................................... 133

Key of Solomon ........ 28, 29, 30

king .. 42, 43, 65, 71, 92, 99, 105, 111, 118, 122, 125138, 203, 220

King Frederik II ..................... 43

King James I .......................... 43

King John III ......................... 43

King Joseph II........................ 43

Kreeft .......................... 108, 109

Kvasir .......................... 110, 111

L

Ladon ................................. 128

Larrington ............................. 81

Laryngeal-manual symbolic circuit ........................................ 76

LaVey . 34, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 85, 221

left-hand path .. 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 30, 3133, 41, 42, 43, 47, 5256, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 75, 8183, 85, 88, 89, 93, 94, 96, 99, 102, 107, 109, 110, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119122, 123, 124 126128, 132, 135, 136, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 153

257 264 268 295

Leigh and Philip Hurley .......... 20

Lemegeton ............................ 29

liberal...................... 42, 146, 230

Ljossalfheimr.. 153 154163, 270 Lodur ... 104, 109, 122, 136, 138, 139, 140, 151

Loki ...... 63, 65, 97, 98, 100, 107, 112128, 129, 136, 137, 138, 145, 152, 153222, 223, 224 Louis XIV ............................. 43

Lucifer ... 106, 116, 137, 145, 152

Lugh............................ 106152

M

Machiavelli ..................... 60, 163 magic .. 11, 17, 19, 2027, 29, 30, 3132, 33, 58, 64, 68, 84, 96, 98, 106118, 121, 123, 135, 144, 204, 253 254 268 269 270 272

Magic ..... 27, 29, 31, 34, 75, 149, 154164, 165 166 266 268

magician .. 28, 30, 3154, 65, 118, 119, 122, 211, 220

magus ..27, 3147, 54, 64, 65, 74 75, 76, 79, 118, 120, 122, 123, 124144, 153 156 158 160, 161, 162, 163, 164 166 168, 169 171 172 175179, 184, 188, 193, 199, 202, 204, 205208, 211, 214, 221, 223, 224, 227, 233, 244 245 246 250 251 254 255 256 257 258 260 262 263 264 265 269 270 271 272 295

Mahadev.............................. 107

MAO .................................. 176

Mazda .................. 105, 106, 107

meditation ... 27, 69, 77, 250 262 266 270

Mercury ........................106, 117

Merlin ................................. 111

metaphysical ..... 88, 100, 130, 295

Meta-programming Circuit .......78

Michael Kelly ... 53, 75, 137, 166 169

Midgard .... 69, 99110, 112, 123 129, 143, 152, 154 156161, 164168, 246 251 259 262

monarchs ...............................43

Moral” Socio-Sexual Circuit .....78

morality .... 18, 19, 2021, 23, 25, 48, 54, 56, 74, 76, 78, 91, 96, 121, 123, 159, 161, 268 269

Muspell ......... 100, 103, 108, 258

Muspellheim.. 151152, 161, 233

N

Napoleon Bonaparte ....... 43, 182

NASA ...................................39

Nazi .............................. 68, 213

Neuro-Atomic Metaphysiological Circuit...............................77

Neuro-electric Circuit ..............77

Neurogenetic Circuit ......... 77, 78

Neurosomatic Circuit ........ 77, 78

Nietzsche ... 5, 18, 32, 34, 48, 51, 5255, 56, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 72, 7476, 88, 93, 121, 124129, 143, 162, 182, 190, 254 268

Nietzschean50, 54, 59, 65, 71, 72, 74, 88, 104143, 160, 295

Nifelheim ...... 100, 101, 108, 151 152, 161, 175202, 233, 258

Non-Local Quantum Circuit .... 79

Norn ........ 72, 163, 204, 205, 210

Norse .. 19, 3132, 65, 70, 72, 81, 90, 96, 99101, 104 106 112117, 125, 126 127128, 136, 139, 145, 146, 151, 152, 163, 164, 166168, 169, 175 196, 201, 202, 204, 205207, 213, 219, 232

Norway .................................. 99

O

objective universe .................... 17 Odin .. 1, 2, 5, 11, 12, 1921, 31 32, 33, 60, 65, 69, 74, 81, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,

100 , 101, 102, 104, 105 106

107, 109, 110, 111, 112 113

115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120,

121, 122, 123, 124 125 126

127, 128, 129, 132, 133, 134,

135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 142,

143, 144, 146, 151 152 153

154162, 167181, 182, 190,

205, 208, 211, 217, 220, 223,

241, 257 260 265

oligarchy ............. 42, 44, 45, 220

Ophion................................ 128

Oral Bio-survival Circuit .......... 78

P

pagan .................. 12, 60, 99, 146

parasite ............................ 40, 47

parasitic ...................... 39, 41, 47

Parvati ................................. 133

Peter the Great ....................... 43

philosophy .. 5, 13, 17, 2038, 39, 42, 49, 58, 59, 60, 61, 69, 73

8185, 94, 109, 117, 123, 146, 154 295

Plato.......... 21, 42, 117, 118, 163

plebeian .... 44, 45, 46, 92, 95, 99, 194, 214, 227

plebeians................................ 43

Plissken .............. 65, 70, 71, 110

Poe ..................................... 127 PoeticEdda........................... 81 potential .... 17, 19, 21, 23, 3162, 63, 76, 77, 78, 100, 102, 103, 109, 124146, 151152, 153 161, 164, 176 185191, 194, 199, 201, 202, 205208, 211, 230, 233, 236, 243 244, 245 249 258 260

prayer . 21, 27, 94, 118, 121, 166 269

Prince of Darkness ............... 119 Prometheus....... 5180, 104, 162 psychopomp ................. 112, 127 Ptah .................................... 106

Q

Qabalah ... 25, 26, 27, 34, 79, 85, 107 156167, 266

Qliphoth .................. 27, 34, 266

quantum .... 21, 58, 59, 77, 79, 92, 102, 105109, 116, 118, 121, 145, 161, 164205, 233, 254 258 272 295

Queen Elizabeth I .................. 43

Queen Victoria....................... 43

R

Ragnar Redbeard .................... 60 Ragnarok . 90, 111, 126138, 139, 144, 146, 152, 154 155, 181, 224, 256 265

Rameses II ............................ 43

Raven.................................. 127 ravens .......................... 126, 127

Religion ............................ 36, 38

remanifest................ 72, 158217

revolution .............................. 45

Richard Dawkin’s ................. 109

right-hand path .... 17, 30, 85, 137, 166

Robert Anton Wilson . 21, 59, 76, 78

Robin Hood .......................... 22

Rune ... 69, 92, 93, 124 167, 217, 242 247 266

runes ... 11, 68, 69, 83, 91, 92, 93,

115, 166 167168, 169196,

208, 238, 242, 244 245 246

247 250 262 263 264 266 Runes.......... 19, 31, 69, 144, 167 Runology ................. 67, 263 295

S

Saami .................................. 128 sacrifice22, 5390, 91, 92, 93, 94, 122, 127, 144, 167179, 208, 217, 220

s adhaka................................. 20 sapience ......... 182, 190, 230, 241 Satan 20, 26, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60,

61 , 69, 107, 119, 137, 142,

145

Satanist ....................... 29, 58, 68 science .... 38, 105108, 109, 142,

143, 144

Seidr 1931, 32, 33, 96, 98, 135,

144, 152 250 260 270 self-deification ... 5, 17, 47, 62, 63,

64, 6575, 78, 79, 88, 99,

144, 156176, 295

Selfishness ............................. 65 Sephiroth .............................. 26 serpent .... 95, 113128, 129, 152

170 172217, 254

Set3156, 58, 59, 63, 68, 69, 75,

104, 116, 118, 119120, 121,

122, 129, 143

Shakespeare.................... 38, 182 Shamanic........................ 33, 152 sheep .............. 35, 36, 39, 42, 61 Shiva ..... 101, 106, 116, 118, 119

133, 143, 266

Sigurd ... 111, 112 113 114 115

144, 179, 246 254

Skuld............................. 73 205 Sleipnir ................... 97, 125128 Socio-sexual circuit ................. 77 Socrates........... 21, 23, 42, 87, 91 Soviet .................................... 49 sports ............................. 48, 124 stadhagaldr.......................... 169 Stephen Flowers ................ 17, 98 Stephen Skinner ................... 106 stoihea............................... 167 Sturluson ..99, 109, 136, 138, 140 subjugation 12, 17, 36, 40, 46, 47, 64, 88, 121, 166

Sulemain I..............................43 superman ....................34, 54, 56 Superman ................. 50, 74, 144 Surabhi ................................ 101 Sutting ................................. 110 Svartalfheimr................. 152160 Sweden .......................... 99, 235

T

Tantra ...................................20

tarot .............................. 65, 242

Tarot ................................... 167

Tetragrammaton .....................28

Thatcher ................................41

Thomas Karlsson ....... 25, 27, 166 Thor ..... 33, 63, 95, 96, 100, 101, 107, 126130, 136, 137, 153

177, 220

Thorsson .. 69, 84123, 139, 166

168, 169, 246 251 263 266

Thurses............................... 123 Tiamat ................................. 119

Time-Binding Semantic Circuit .78

timocracy ....................... 43, 220

Timothy Leary .............64, 75, 76

Tolkien .........................125, 154 Troy ......................................99

Tyr ..105, 140, 218, 219, 220, 221

tyrant ............................... 42, 47

U

Union .............................. 41, 45 unions ........................41, 45, 49 Urd..................................... 205

V

vama marga ............................ 19

vamacharin....................... 1920 Vanaheimr..... 153 154162, 164

Vanic... 3169, 84, 111, 134, 136, 153

Vanir.31, 33, 110, 132, 133, 134, 135, 144, 153 154 164

Ve 101, 104, 109, 122, 123, 138, 139

Vegetative-invertebrate circuit ... 76

Verdhandi............................ 205

Villi 101, 109, 122, 123, 136, 138, 139

virus ...................................... 47

Vishnu ................................. 101

Vitki................................ 6574

Vladimir Propp..................... 142

Vohu Mano.......................... 107

Volsung ........................ 111, 115

W

Wagner ................................. 60 white magic 18, 20, 21, 27, 28, 31

121 , 269

Wicca............................ 98 153 Will .... 33, 55, 74, 104123, 143,

248 268 269

wisdom 32, 33, 35, 44, 54, 65, 81,

86, 87, 88, 90, 92, 95, 96, 99,

101, 106111, 118, 125132,

180, 182, 208, 259

witch ........... 27, 31, 98, 132, 133 witchcraft ........... 83, 98, 122, 133 Wod..... 104 119122, 139, 176,

181, 182, 241

Wodannaz.... 119122, 138, 139,

181, 260

Wolf-Dieter Storl .......... 101, 106

Wotan ........... 106, 117, 122, 260

Wyrd............. 164, 205, 208, 268

Y

Yahweh .. 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 100, 119

Yew ....... 206, 207, 208, 212, 214

Yezidi................................... 20

Ygg .............................. 151, 220

Yggdrasil ... 27, 79, 100, 109, 127, 128, 129, 138, 151, 152, 154 156 158161, 168, 207, 208, 220, 251 256 259 260, 264

Ymir 65, 100, 101, 102, 108, 122, 136, 138, 143, 144, 151, 152, 175 272

yoga ... 20, 83, 169, 171 174178, 181, 184, 187189, 193, 196, 198, 201, 204, 207, 210, 213, 216, 219, 223, 226, 229, 232, 235, 238, 241, 264 265, 266 272

Z

Zarat hustra3451, 5255, 60, 62, 64, 72, 106, 124129

Zeus ............................ 104, 219

About the author

Äsruþr Cyneaþsson is an autodidactic magus and philosopher. Born near to Birmingham, England, and raised without indoctrination into any theistic system, he had reign to discover for himself. The culmination of a quest to seek answers to the nature of Being drives Cyneaþsson to undertake comparative mythology, quantum theory, analytical psychology, existentialism, neo-platonism, metaphysical realism, Runology, Heathenism, and alchemy in pursuit of self-deification.

Cyneaþsson's works chart his own journey, whilst they also form the basis for greater works, as he writes from a Pandeistic-Odinist approach to metaphysical realism. Cyneaþsson works in a manner that often sets both his written and magical works aside from the herd in its syncretism of Nietzschean philosophy, Jungian psychology, and operative runology as a means to master the great work. Cyneaþsson's works include both magico-philosophy and occult fiction. Cyneaþsson has been a member of a number of Heathen and left-hand path organisations and is currently a Priest within the Order of Apep.

Cyneaþsson can be contacted via:

Asruthr.cyneathsson@gmail.com

Table of Contents

Part One: The Left Hand

What is the Left-hand Path?

On Good and Evil

Evil and Mysticism

The Herd upon the Right-hand Path

The Individual

Those that have walked the path

Cultural Representation of the Path

Markers upon the Path

Walking the Path of Odin:

Odin-the Grey: Why Odin is the iconic tutor upon the Left-hand Path

The Other Gods, Goddesses and Wights

In conclusion

Part Two: Odinic Magic

The Nine Worlds

The Path of Yggdrasil

Magic on the path

Runic hours

The Yggdrasil Array

Transmission of energies

The Ethics of Magic