The Secret of the Runes
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Book Summary Information
Editor: Stephen E. Flowers Ph.D.Translator: Guido von List
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1988-07-01
ISBN: 0892812079
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Inner Traditions
Book Reviews of The Secret of the Runes
Book Review: Armanen Futhork
Summary: 4 Stars
Guido List was a visionary who lived in Vienna at the turn of the 19th-20th century. The most extroadinary thing he did was develope the Armanen Futhork. He also was deeply steeped in the local traditions of Lower Austria, and had much insight into the secret Norse-Germanic symbolism in the archetecture of the Middle Ages. Linking him with the Nazis is rather like putting the cart before the horse. His political intent was to champion pan-Germanic unity for which reason he won the enthusiastic support of many German and Austrian aristocrats and industrialists. The fact of the matter is that the ethos of the Norse-Germanic faith is 100% opposite that of National Socialism. The racist content of List's writings, as well as those of the rune writers of the generation that followed him, is certainly open to criticism. It certainly did color his understanding of the meanings of several of the Runes which, in the light of scholarship in Norse-Germanic etymology and mythology, makes his material less valuable than it first seemed. It is unfortunate that many of his followers still choose to be racists and bigots, none of which has any positive value in the field of magic or in Norse-Germanic cultural development. It must be pointed out that the 19th-20th century form of racism has nothing at all to do with the ancient Norse-Germanic people. It is entirely the evil fruit of church propaganda as well as the stupid blather of Mme. Blavatsky who had a big influence on what came to be known as the Ariosophist movement in Germany. The Ariosophists were just the apes of the Theosophists with a German bias. One needs to look at this ugly chapter of German history with the eyes of the historian. Germany, in the late 19th and earlier 20th centuries was struggling to free itself from foreign oppression. This book is of historical importance. It was had a big influence on later German rune book writers, the best of whom is Karl Spiesberger. Spiesberger wrote in the 1950s in Berlin. His work is excellent and entirely free of the foul stench of bigotry. If you read German, look for his books: Runenmagie and Runenpraxis der Eingeweiten - Runenexerzitien. In The Secret of the Runes, called Das Geheimnis der Runen, in the original, the translations of the Spells of Odin from the Havamal are interesting and poetic, if slightly incorrect. The translation from the German of Guido List to the English of Stephen Flowers is good, but loses some of the beauty of List's German translation. Since the time of List, and certainly since after the two wars, there has come about much good scholarly research into the Norse-Germanic faith in Germany. For the German reader, I very much recommend reading professor Rudolf Simek's Lexicon der germanischen Mythologie. The restoration of a viable Norse-Germanic magical praxis depends on scholarly research, deep contemplation into the meanings of the Runes and intelligent experimentation. Bombastic and heavy-handed spouting about the master race and all that sort of nonsense has nothing at all to do with this tradition. The sooner the students of the Norse-Germanic tradition stringently divorce themselves from this senseless evil and work toward elevating their intellect to the tremendous heights of the true Odinic genious, the sooner this tradition will revive in a positively meaningful way.
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