Historically

The “Kaun, Kien, Kiel” or K-Rune According to Friedrich Fischbach (1900)

This Rune is easy to interpret: On the Fire-Altars [Feueraltären ] two pieces of Wood were placed (on the right and on the left), between which Fat or Oil was lit on the Altar-Plate [Altarplatte ].

The elevated Point in the Middle of this plate-like Depression served to put the Wick-Holder, which achieved the slow Burning of the Oil or Fat as a steady Flame. We see on the simpler and richer Consecrated Roman Altars this Basic-Form of the Fire-Altar represented.

Since Resinous-Wood [Kienholz ] blazed the fastest and most intensively, it was placed there on the right and left of the Altar for the Hands of the Priest to be able to give the Fire to the Congregation.

Every Wood [Holz ], from which parts branch off, is called ‘Keel-Wood’ [Kielholz ] (e.g. the Ship’s Keel [Schiffskiel ], which is the Ship’s Center-line or ‘backbone’). Probably the Kaun- or Kien- Rune was therefore also called the Ship- or Keel-Rune.

-Paraphrase from Origin of Gutenberg’s Letters [Ursprung der Buchstaben Gutenbergs] (1900)
by Friedrich Fischbach

 

The “Ka, Kaun, Kan” Rune According to Guido Von List (1907)

ka , chew [kaun ], kan, kuna , pine [kien ], keel/boat [kiel ], kon , daring/bold [kühn ], none (nothing), and so on.

A Sixth is mine, if a Man hurts me
with a strange Tree Root;
The hurt [with which] the Man threatened me
does not hurt me, but Ruins him.

The Yggdrasill   “World-Tree” [Weltbaum ] means, in the narrower sense, the aryan Folk-Lineage/Trunk [Volksstamm ], beside which the Folk-Lineage/Trunk of foreign-races [fremdrassigen ] are seen as savage/wild Trees [wilde Bäume ].

The Runic-Term “kaun ”, “kunna ” (Maiden) demonstrates the feminine Principle in the Universe [das weibliche Prinzip im All ], in the purely sexual Sense [sexuellen Verstande ].

The Lineage/Trunk, the Race, is to be purely preserved, it must not be defiled by the “savage/wild Tree Roots” (Phallus). But if it did happen, it would be of little use to the “savage/wild Tree”, because its “savage/wild Rice-Plant” would grow to become its own raging Enemy [wütendstem Feinde ].

Therefore: “Your Blood [Blut ], your highest Possession/Good [höchstes Gut ].”

-Paraphrase from The Mystery/Secret of the Runes
[Das Geheimnis der Runen]
(1907) by Guido Von List

* NOTE: We have presented our position on race in our Overview. Unfortunately, Guido Von List wants to incorporate a particularly racial element into his interpretation of this Rune’s meaning. We present it for historical purposes and to show three of his specific Runic associations: [1] the feminine Principle, [2] the Phallus as the ‘Root of a Tree’, and [3] the Blood as something precious.

The esoteric significance of Blood is something that we should understand: within it are the principles necessary for our health, strength and development. It symbolizes the synthesis of what we are internally, and is also related with our personal Karma.

The idea that the contamination or defiling is by ‘savage/wild’ elements (lacking order) should be interpreted, instead, as Egoic contamination of ourselves (our internal lineage or connection to the Divine), then we understand how the growth of the Ego within ourselves becomes our own ‘raging Enemy’.

 

The “Ka” Rune According to Ernst Tristan Kurtzahn (1924)

Exoterically: Justice [Gerechtigkeit ].
Esoterically: feminine Principle in the Universe [weibliches Prinzip im All ].
Generally: Chew, Maiden, Can/Able [Kann ], Pine, Keel/Boat, bold, none.

In the explanation of the relevant verse of the Rune-Song, we must put the emphasis first on the Expressive-Value of the Rune, as it presents itself in the Word Kunna = Maiden. One thinks of the similar Latin term cunnus (meaning ‘woman’ and ‘vulva’)!

One can see quite well the expression of this Rune through the Life of every People, in the symbol of ‘balancing Justice’ – which the female Gender seems Indeed called upon to Execute – and one will therefore understand if this Rune belongs to, or represents, the Planet Venus.

-Paraphrase from The Runes as Salvation-Signs and for Unbinding-Fate
[Die Runen als Heilszeichen und Schicksalslose]
(1924) by E. Tristan Kurtzahn

 

The “Kaun, Kon, Kun, Kona, Kien” Rune According to R.J. Gorsleben (1930)

Letter K (also sometimes G ) and Number 6.

  Kun or Kaun Rune: Gender, Kein-Torch means Burning and Heat/Rut/Lust, but also the Caduceus (Latin: cunna), the Royal-Will [Königswillen ] which (with Skill and Daring) creates Forms, shapes Peoples, and refines the wise Order of the Reproductive-Instinct of the Genders.

Dr. Friedrich Teltscher’s Ur-word is Bestehendes meaning “that which is Existing” as well as Existent, Having Being, Alive, Sustain, Bear, Stand, Endure, Pass, Get Through, etc.

“A sixth one is mine, if a man
Hurts me with the tree’s fresh root,
I am not hurt, but the offender is devoured
By the ruin with which he threatened me.”

The family of words kaun, kan, kin, kühn, kuna, keim, kiel, gon, gen are expressions of procreation, as is the image of the Rune with the branch, the angle (which comes to a head or point), clearly shows us.

The    Rune is composed of the    IS-Rune or rune of the [Being or the Divine] Self (the vertical line) with the BAR-line    or Life line (the ascending line).

However, the BAR    Rune (related with the BAR-line) is considered the Rune of the child (among other things), and so the    Rune means both life and the son (the offspring), who descends from our [Being or the Divine] Self (as does the branch from the tree trunk). Birth is always a branching, an angle, a bend in the straight line of procreation.

Be aware of the sprout in the Rune image, the Kühn-, Kien-, the Light torch, the procreator of light, the Light-pole or phallus.

The    Rune is also an image of the torch, which, by generating fire, brings light, and which announces [kun-det ] light. In the announcement [Ver-kün-digung ] the angel always has the stiff stem of a lily in its hand and the Kala (the lily) is the world tree, the family tree, but also a phallic symbol. The announcement tells Mary of the arrival of the child [Ver-kin-dung ] humanly, and the announcement of Divinity, spiritually.

From the    Kun-Rune the number 6 is also derived, as is shown by the letter G, because G and K were originally the same letter: G = 6, six (Latin: sex ) and G = Gender (Latin: sexus ). Turning the number 6 over, we get the phallus no doubt… The K sound stands for that which originated, or descended, from the inside, the capability in the material world and knowledge in the mental & spiritual realms.

It is the King’s Rune, the Rune of the capable, or the one who ‘can’ and who has resources in all respects, through material and procreation. Konr is the aristocratic offspring in the Rigsmal of the Edda, who acquires the royal and capable arts (which were, above all, the knowledge concerning the Kon- or Kun- Rune). From the Ur-word Konr (meaning: the one who can, the king) comes also the Hebrew Kohen or Cohen meaning ‘Priest’. Let us not forget Genghis Khan, as well.

The    Kun, Kon or Gon- Rune appears as the letter “Gamma”   Γ   in the Greek alphabet. It is also the Rune of the guru or kuru (who is master of magic), the Cher-ubs (heavenly creatures who guard the Garden of Eden), the Kyr -ios (Greek: ‘Lord’ or ‘Master’), the Küren (German: ‘Elect’), Kern (German: ‘Core’, ‘Seed’ and ‘Essence’); Kyrr = master. Kirren means ‘to make a person obedient by means of loosening and orders’, it means ‘to rule’. “Kyr -ie Eleison” is Greek, meaning “Lord, have Mercy” or “Lord, redeem us!”. Here the Lord is called, the Kyrr , the Kuru , who is the chosen Lord and Master.

In the shape of this Rune   , we see the shape of the one who is capable (the magician, the king, who owns magic & power), in the ancient position of prayer (when calling the Lord, the Sun), but as seen from the side, and when seen from the front, we see the shape of the    MAN Rune. He sings the Song or Canticle because he “can” do so. The Cantus (Latin: ‘Singing’ or ‘Chant’) has word- and sound- magical effects upon the listener (consider the word ‘Incantation’). It is the capability, the kaun, kun, chon, the “chant” of the singer, who enchants those who listen through the light of their voice or lux canalis (Latin: ‘pipes of light’).

-Paraphrase from The Peak-Time of Humanity [Die Hoch-Zeit der Menschheit] (1930)
by Rudolf John Gorsleben

 

The “Ka, Kaun” Rune According to S.A. Kummer (1932-1933)

(K) The K-Rune, Ka is the Rune of pure, conscious, Procreation and Reproduction [reinen bewußten Zeugung und Fortpflanzung ]; of Cause and Effect [Ursache und Wirkung ]; of balancing Justice. – Numerical value 6.

Its “k” Sound indicates spiritual and physical Ability, in Cures, Art, Expertise, Skillfulness, as well as the King and the Queen.

In contrast to the Is-Rune, this one is a more a feminine Rune. Kun, Kahn as a female Symbol; Kano , the the Arkona : the Sun-Woman, the Knower of the high Aar , the Norn.

The Ka-Rune is also the Rune of the royal Art, of Magic, Astrology and of Runic-Lore.

The Kala , it is the Rune of the secret Knowledge-Tradition [die geheime Wissens-Überlieferung ].

This Rune represents the Ka-Humanity; the turning point of the Winter-Solstice with raised Hands, the Resurrected one. The original Atlantean Ka-Rune had the following form: Y .

Its Demonic form is the negative Ko-Rune: Kohn , sunken Wisdom, Law and Order; Self-Centeredness; Mismanagement; Abomination and Greed.

The Ka-Rune-Position demands unconditional Purity of Spirit from the Practitioner.

Motto: “Your Blood, your highest Possession!”

 

Kummer’s Full Body Rune Exercise(s):

The Practitioner again takes up the Ich-Rune-Position, raises both Arms diagonally upwards with the open Palms facing forward, so that when seen from the side one appears in the shape of the K-Rune.

One breathes full and deep; the K–Universal-Wave [K–Allwelle ] now penetrates into one’s Palms, flooding one’s Arms and then the whole Body.

The Student turns, in this position, to the East and sings in a deep Chest-Tone the “K” or “Ka”, and then takes the Position to the North (in slow rotation). They alternate between North and East several times and they note the Universal-Wave [All-Welle ], which is now pulsing in their Body.

If one does this Exercise in the Sun or Moonlight, then one will feel the K-Wave even more intensified; one will perceive a kind of Loosening and Ringing in the Navel-Region. One will also experience an unspeakably beautiful, high All-Connectedness [Allverbundensein ]. Spiritual doors open, deeper Insights into Life on this side and beyond (which are revealed to the pure, aspiring Practitioner).

But this does not cover the K-Rune in its entire Depth… Seek with a pure, conscious Will [bewussten Willen ], then you too will find it.

After this Practice, say with all your Force: “I can – I will to become a Rune-Expert.”

The Ka -rune can also be felt very well using the following Sound-Formula: “ka-ke-ki-ko-ku”.

Those who do Rune-Exercises with egotistical Thoughts and evil Wishes will have to pay heavily for it. I am giving a warning.

 

Kummer’s Hand Rune Exercise (‘Mudras’ or “Rune-Grips”):

The Rune Practitioner should take up the Ich-Rune-Position (Military “At-Attention”); this is followed by a deep Breathing-Exercise three times, with thoughts directed toward physical and spiritual purification; a practice which must be observed with all the Rune-Grips.

One stretches the left Arm upwards, bending the Thumb of the outstretched Hand slightly in order to form the Ka-Rune-Grip, as Figure 6 shows.

The Rune Practitioner sings “k-a”, while their inner Meditation is directed to spiritual and physical Equilibrium, to higher Capabilities/Skills [Können ] and to directed Spiritual-Procreation [Geistzeugung gerichtet ]. Further Sound-Formulas are: “ke-ki-ko-ku”.

When seriously practiced, this Grip causes the feeling of Becoming physically Freer and Lighter.

Remember that each Rune-Grip must be repeated three times (for 3 Minutes each, followed by a short Pause in the Ich-Rune-Position between sets), since otherwise no satisfactory Collection of Subtle-Force [Feinkräfte ] can be reached in the Hand-Centers.

Again, a conscious-willed [willensbewußte ] Circulation through the whole Body should not be forgotten. After Completion of the Exercise, Kummer could often detect a sulfur-like Odor on the Fingertips of his left hand. The Color-Vibration is white to ivory.

-Paraphrase from Holy Runic-Power [Heilige Runenmacht] (1932)
& Rune Magic [Runen-Magie] (1933) by Siegfried Adolf Kummer.

 
 


 
Masonic “Vault of Steel” from a French document,
where the Masons are making the Ka Rune with their arms (and swords).
This is, apparently, also used in the Masonic Wedding Ceremony
when the Bride & Groom enter…

 

 

Rosicrucian and Gnostic

The “Kaun” Rune According to Huiracocha

Beloved Disciple:

The    RITA Rune with its hidden significance of Justice and uprightness, has impressed the positive part, the human part upon us. In us it exerts its influence on the glands of internal secretions or male hormones and affects the internal rhythm of 23, which is already known to us through our studies regarding Biorhythm.

But we should not neglect, therefore, our rhythm or the feminine part in us and for that we are directed to the practices of the    K Rune. This Rune is called KAUN in the Nordic Mysteries and although the    RITA Rune is under the influence of Jupiter, KAUN is subject to Venus, its numerical value being 6 and the stones that correspond to it are Chrysotile and Agate.

In the Mysteries, they say that it is the RUNE OF THE SUMMER SOLSTICE and that we must shelter under it, on June 24th, the day of the Roses. Hence we had to do this writing on the expressed day separating ourselves for a few moments from the ceremonies that we did in the Temple.

A high Initiate has told us that the    K Rune is the sword of the Magician, and it was very difficult for us to understand how this was signified in regards to the woman. Sword and Woman appear to be in rare contrast to each other, for us…

  KAUN, in our ritual are the forces of Nut (pronounced “Noot” or “Newt”), the feminine principle or ETERNAL FEMININE as the great Poet and Philosopher Goethe calls her.

The number of this rune, Six (sechs in German), has the same etymology as the word Sex…

KAUN gives us the basis for the German word Können (power/ability) and of the word CAN in English (capable) and this comes to reveal to us some more of the mystery of the Rune.

It, in its strange structure, is composed of the    I or IS Rune and of an arm   , like in a beaker, providing the sword for the Magician.

Let’s consider the following: The Nordics called the Master or Guide by the word KURU which crept into India with the same meaning of Guide and Master. But, behold, the Nordic peoples were not guided by male Magicians, but only by intermediary Priestesses or sorts of psychics , by whose mouth only the Divinity spoke…

This explains this double meaning of the    KAUN Rune: Sword and Woman at the same time.

However, the Woman, the wife, can only serve as a guide to the man with whom she is harmoniously united and this usually happens when in marriage… On the other hand, we have male and female Glands, rhythms of one and another character, and with the exercises of this Rune we will develop the latter [which are the Feminine or Venusian glands].

Ka, Kan, Kon, Con, is an Egyptian Deity whose significance is: the ASTRAL BODY. It is necessary to take into account that the ASTRAL is the intermediary between the divine and eternal spirit (in all its extension) that invades us, and the material body that we possess. With these explanations, those who look and see with discerning eyes, will have noticed that we have unveiled, as much as possible, the veil of this Mystery. KAMA, among the Indians, in addition to signifying the Desires, also symbolizes the SEXUAL UNION…

The Goddess FREYA, had the    K Rune as a shield and FREYA signifies ‘Easter Redemption’. She is the “Ostara” of the Germans.

The Shield of the Arcona (‘Ar-Kona’ or ‘Ar-Kaun’), is a Woman or, rather, an Eagle with the head of Woman. AR signifies “SUN”. So the SUN-WOMAN is, therefore, the feminine principle of the solar forces, which is what we must learn to handle…

Sexual Magic is difficult when there is not a trained willpower. That is why the preceding Rune goes, then, only with the subjective forces of the willpower, this is how we can verify the experiences of High Sexual Magic.

Rhythm-Law in everything is necessary before we begin and go deeper into these Mysteries, because the more we touch them, the greater they have to appear to our eyes. And here is our lamentation. An infinite desire to give everything we know, following, without obstacles, to strike with the hammer.

May everyone realize or learn what we do because it is an unheard of suffering not being able to speak and to have to teach, even more so, when our own Being constantly urges us to give everything white and clean, pure and without blemish.

But it is necessary to prepare, to predispose the listener or the student, to make them recognize and comprehend, that to open their senses and to be like the petals of a Rose which is open to the Sun, waiting to bind all the honey and to exhale all the perfumes.

In the end, K is the Rune of Procreation and shows us that, in order to produce the Rose Cross, one must know that it is a sacred act in which we must provide a body or vehicle to a Higher Being and not to whomever.

If the Rose Cross disciples who inherit their sacred and hidden knowledge from parents to children did not do this, then they would be lacking in their primordial duties.

Consequently, one must take oneself to this act with knowledge of what it is and calculating the constellations so that they facilitate a birth with all the probabilities of spiritual success…

The disciples should meditate on this, in order to do the exercises we must concentrate the mind on the purity of the blood and complete the previous exercises. All this will be a step forward in the path of Initiation.

R.C.

 
NOTE: In the Lesson on the Man Rune, Huiracocha gives the follow related explanation:

“The value of the    Man Rune is 15. If we add both numerals together, it gives us 6 (Six). From this word is composed the word ‘Sex’ which, kabbalistically, is    Kaun or the Sixth Rune. It is the Rune of the Sexual Organs or of Sex, which we already know, and has a single raised arm representing sex in the material sense. In this other Rune (the    Man Rune) the two arms rise in order to determine that LOVE, Divine Sex, is our own transmuted substance. The disciple should not expect to be told everything…”

-Paraphrase from Runic Course [Curso Rúnico] (1931-1935)
by Arnoldo Krumm-Heller (Huiracocha)
available in Gnostic-Rosicrucian Runology

 

The “Kaum” Rune According to Samael Aun Weor

A long time ago, in the profound night of the centuries, the one we now call Samael Aun Weor knew Javhe (a fallen angel). Then, Javhe was a venerable Master from the White Brotherhood, a glorious Angel from previous Mahamvantaras.

Javhe was a Priest and Warrior among the people of Lemuria. Everybody loved, adored and venerated him. The Hierophants of the Purple Race granted to him the high honor of using armor, crest, helmet, shield and sword of pure gold. This warrior-Priest was shining like a flame of gold under the thick jungle of the sun. Upon his symbolic shield, VULCAN had engraved many prophesies and terrible warnings.

Woe! Woe! Woe! This man committed the error of betraying the Mysteries of VULCAN. The Lucifers of that epoch (who were floating in the atmosphere of the ancient continent of Mu) taught him Black Tantrism (the Maithuna with the ejaculation of the Ens Seminis ). What is most grave in this matter is that this man (who was so loved and venerated by all the world) allowed himself to be convinced and began to practice this type of pernicious Sexual Magic with certain women.

Therefore, it is clear that the igneous serpent of our magical powers descended through his medullar canal and developed the abominable Kundartiguador Organ in Javhe’s Astral Body. This is how this Angel fell and, through all the ages, converted himself into a terribly perverse demon.

Javhe is that demon who tempted Jesus the Christ after having fasted in the wilderness, this Demon tempted him and said: “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread”. Jesus answered: “It is written, that Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”.

The sacred Scriptures say that Javhe then took Jesus (the GREAT KABIR) up into a high mountain and tempted him by saying: “ITABABO all these kingdoms of the world will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Then, the great Master Jesus answered: “Get thee hence SATAN: for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”

Finally, it is written that Javhe brought Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him: “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands’ they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” “And JESUS answering said unto him, it is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” and when Javhe had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

In the Superior Worlds, Javhe’s former Priestess Wife is an ineffable Angel. Useless were the efforts of this man to convince his spouse because she never accepted the Black Tantrism of the tenebrous. Therefore, she preferred divorce rather than entering the black path. If we want to learn all the mysteries of the    KAUM Rune, then we must talk about White Tantrism.

In those times of ancient Egypt, the one we call Samael Aun Weor entered into the Egyptian Mysteries as a neophyte (in spite of being a Bodhisattva). He had to pass through rigorous studies and esoteric disciplines, and when he arrived at the ninth door, he was taught the great mysteries of sex. Then his Guru communicated the “unutterable secret of the Great Arcanum” to him.

Afterwards, the Guru brought a vestal dressed with a yellow tunic who was filled with an extraordinary beauty and he performed the work with her, in accordance with the instructions of his Master. In that epoch, there were sacred women inside the Temples, special Vestals. The celibate male Initiates were working with these Vestals.

In this day and age such women inside of the Lumisials would not be beneficial… They would be scandalous. Therefore, in this day and age, the Maithuna (Sex Yoga) must only be practiced between husband & wife, within legitimately constituted marriages.

In the ancient EGYPT of the PHARAOHS, those who were violating their oaths and were divulging the GREAT ARCANUM were condemned to the death penalty. Their heads were cut off, their hearts were torn out, their bodies were cremated, and finally their ashes were thrown to the four winds.

The mysterious    K RUNE represents the Priestess-Wife and also the Flaming Sword with complete exactitude. The    KAUM RUNE with its kabbalistic six, vibrates with maximum intensity within the sphere of Venus, the planet of love. Men and women of the world, you must know that in order to put into activity that annular serpentine fire is only possible with the MAITHUNA. We urgently need to learn how to wisely manipulate the eternal feminine principle of the solar forces. We must remember the Eagle with a woman’s head, the Sun-Lady, the diamantine foundation of the GREAT WORK of the FATHER.

First of all, we must transmute the lead into gold, and later, we need to build diamonds of the best quality. Decidedly, the    RITA RUNE influences the masculine endocrine glands, but the    KAUM RUNE exercises its influence upon the feminine glands.

Whosoever truly wants in-depth SELF-REALIZATION must transmute the sexual HYDROGEN SI-12 by means of SEX-YOGA, in order to build the Solar Bodies (the Wedding Garment of the soul) with it. It becomes absolutely impossible to incarnate the Real Being, if we have not previously built the bodies of gold in the FORGE OF THE CYCLOPS.

To walk with firmness upon the PATH OF THE RAZOR’S EDGE is urgent. The hour of following the path of the PERFECT MATRIMONY has arrived. Remember that our motto is THELEMA (Willpower). The mysteries of the    KAUM RUNE gloriously shine in the bottom of the ARK awaiting the instant for them to be realized.

-Paraphrase from The Magic of the Runes [Magia de las Runas] (1969)
by Samael Aun Weor

 

The sexual organ of the future divine humanity will be the creative larynx. The throat is a Uterus where the word is gestated. The Kundalini gives the larynx the entire omnipotent power of the creative verb.

What is important is to learn how to control the feminine principle of the solar forces. The feminine solar forces are symbolized by an eagle with a woman’s head.

Sexual magic is the path…

We must self-realize the CHRIST within ourselves in order to speak the creative verb; however, this is possible only by learning how to control the feminine principle of the sun…

-Paraphrase from Ch. 31 of Igneous Rose [Rosa Ignea] (1952)
by Samael Aun Weor

 

 

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