From the 1870s to the 1890s, he began to write articles and novels placing a v\u00f6lkisch <\/em> emphasis on the folk culture and customs of rural people, believing that many of them survived from the pre-Christian native Germanic religion. <\/p>\n During an 11-month period of temporary blindness (after a cataract operation) in 1902, List became increasingly interested in occultism, in particular coming under the influence of the Theosophical Society. During this time, he contemplated questions surrounding the origins of the German language and the use of the runes. <\/p>\n After publishing a number of articles in various magazines, the popularity of his article ‘The Mystery\/Secret of the Runes’<\/u> (in 1906) in the German Theosophical magazine “New Metaphysical Review” lead to it being published as a booklet the following year<\/u>. <\/strong><\/p>\n The popularity of his work among the v\u00f6lkisch <\/em> community resulted in the establishment of a \u201cList Society\u201d [Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft <\/em>] in 1908. A few years later, in 1911, List founded the “High Armanen Order” [Hoher Armanen-Ordem <\/em>] or HAO, as an inner group within the List Society. He went on pilgrimages with the High Armanen Order to various places he claimed were ancient sites associated with the worship of Wuotan. He operated as leader of this group, using the title of ‘Grand Master’.<\/p>\n Other occult-v\u00f6lkisch <\/em> groups, such as the “Thule Society” [Thule-Gesellschaft <\/em>] (founded in 1911), the “German Order” [Germanenorden <\/em>] (founded in 1912) which had members from List’s inner circle, and the “Edda Society” [Edda-Gesellschaft <\/em>] (founded in November 1925 by Rudolf Gorsleben), were all inspired by List. Many of these organizations or their off-shoots became increasingly political and were partly involved in the creation of the Nazi party NSDAP.<\/p>\n The List Society produced a number of booklets authored by List as well as others over the next few years. They covered List\u2019s opinions on topics such as: the meaning and magical power of runes, the ancient Germanic priesthood, Austrian folklore and place-names, and the secret messages within Shields, Coats of Arms, Family Crests, etc:<\/p>\n • The Mystery\/Secret of the Runes <\/strong>[Das Geheimnis der Runen].<\/em> -Paraphrased from Wikipedia articles<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n List claimed (like Johannus Bureus 200 year before) that there are hidden meanings in the runes<\/strong>, emphasizing that they had three different levels<\/u>. The first level is the outer exoteric level. The second is the inner esoteric and the third is the most secret, which he called the \u201cArmanen\u201d level. The Armanen level was (according to List) only for the initiated runic priests.<\/p>\n He promoted a spiritual system which he called “Wuotanism” (which he saw as the exoteric or outer form of pre-Christian Germanic religion), while \u201cArmanism\u201d was the term he applied to the more secret teachings of this ancient belief system. He claimed that while Wuotanism taught polytheism for the wider population, those who were members of the Armanist elite (or Armanenschaft <\/em>) were aware of the reality of monotheism. <\/p>\n It has been stated that List\u2019s spiritual system consisted of \u201can original synthesis of his reading of Germanic mythology combined with Theosophy\u201d and to that could also be added a sliver of Freemasonry (or what List understood Masonry to be). <\/p>\n Scholars suggest that List\u2019s early Theosophical influence came mostly from the writings of German Theosophist Max Ferdinand Sebaldt von Werth<\/u>, who had combined Theosophical ideas with his own interpretations of Germanic mythology and emphasis on racial doctrines. In List\u2019s later works, scholars claim that the Theosophical influence over his philosophical ideas grew, and that he began referencing Helena Blavatsky\u2019s The Secret Doctrine <\/em> and even expressed the view that Nordic Mythology agreed with the cosmological teachings of Theosophy.<\/p>\n He saw them as accurately reflecting the belief systems of the Germanic refugees fleeing Christian persecution. <\/p>\n He believed that prior to the spread of Christianity into Northern Europe, there had once been a culturally unified Germanic civilization that had been spread across much of Europe, which came to be degraded and divided under the impact of Christianity.<\/p>\n He initially emphasized the idea that ancient German society had been led by the hierarchical system of initiates: the Armanist elite (or Armanenschaft <\/em>), who acted as teachers, priests, and judges. He claimed that the ancient Armanist brotherhood had consisted of three degrees (each with their own secret signs, grips, and passwords), similar to the \u2018Blue Lodge\u2019 of Freemasonry. <\/p>\n In List\u2019s interpretation of history, the Christian missionaries persecuted the Armanists, resulting in many fleeing northward into Scandinavia and Iceland. He believed that they developed a secretive language for transmitting their teachings, known as ‘Kala <\/em>‘.<\/u><\/p>\n List claimed that, after the Christianization of Northern Europe, the Armanist teachings were passed down in secret, thus resulting in their transmission through later esoteric traditions such as Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. For List, the basic teachings of the original Germanic religion were found in the runic alphabet, and that they could be deciphered by linking these runes with particular \u2018runic incantations\u2019 which appear in the Havamal <\/em> Poem (in a section called the Runatal <\/em> or \u201cOdin\u2019s Rune Song\u201d)<\/a>.<\/u> <\/p>\n List emphasized the importance of a mystical union between humans and the universe, viewing divinity as being immanent in nature, with all life being an emanation of it. Connected to this, he believed in a close identification between the racial group (the volk <\/em> or folk) and the natural world. He believed that human beings had an immortal soul, and that it would be ‘reincarnated’ according to the laws of karma until eventually uniting with divinity (a concept based on a spiritual idea of ‘evolution’).<\/p>\n -Paraphrased from Wikipedia articles<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/a> In the last of his works to be published during his lifetime, The Primordial-Language of the Aryo-Germans and their Mystery Language <\/em> (1914), List gave his esoteric theories on the hidden meanings of sound<\/strong>. <\/p>\n His system depends upon the phonetic values<\/u> (instead of the numeric, such as in Kabbalah) in order to unlock the secret meanings of language. \u2022 five count for the Vowels or ‘self-sounding’ sounds: A, E, I, O, U<\/strong>; List says \u201cThe law of becoming and development (Progression) is subdivided into ten levels\u201d which correspond to the Vowel sounds in an interesting way. <\/p>\n Below we give List’s esoteric meanings for letters and sounds, as well as the way he combines them together.<\/p>\n
\n • The Priest-Kings of the Aryo-Germans <\/strong>[Die Armanenschaft der Ario-Germanen]. <\/em>
\n • The Rita <\/em> of the Aryo-Germans. <\/strong>[Die Rita der Ario-Germanen]. <\/em>
\n • The Names of the Tribes of Germania and their Interpretation. <\/strong>[Die Namen der V\u00f6lkerst\u00e4mme Germaniens und deren Deutung]. <\/em>
\n • The Religion of the Aryo-Germans in their Esoteric and Exoteric. <\/strong>[Die Religion der Ariogermanen in ihrer Esoterik und Exoterik]. <\/em>
\n • The Pictographic-Script of the Aryo-Germans: Aryo-Germanic Hieroglyphics. <\/strong>[Die Bilderschrift der Ario-Germanen : Ario-Germanische Hieroglyphik]. <\/em>
\n • The Transition from Wuotanism to Christianity. <\/strong>[Der \u00dcbergang vom Wuotanismus zum Christentum]. <\/em>
\n • German-Mythological Landscape-Pictures. <\/strong>[Deutsch-mythologische Landschaftsbilder]. <\/em>
\n • The Primordial-Language of the Aryo-Germans and their Mystery-Language. <\/strong>[Die Ursprache der Ario-Germanen und ihre Mysteriensprache]. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a>Overview of Guido Von List’s Spiritual System<\/h3>\n
\nList\u2019s spiritual system was constructed largely on his interpretation of various passages in the Havamal <\/em>, the Prose Edda <\/em>, the Poetic Edda <\/em> (old Norse texts which appear to have been composed in Iceland during the late Middle Ages). <\/p>\n
\n<\/a>
\nThe Armanists imparted their secret teachings to the Jewish rabbis of Cologne in the eighth century, according to List, with the hope of preserving them from Christian persecution. He believed that these teachings became the Kabbalah, which he therefore reasoned was an ancient German and not Jewish innovation, thus legitimizing its usage in his own teachings and this was used to support his anti-semitic agenda.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\nGuido Von List’s Theories of Runology<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Part 1 – The Kala <\/em>: The basics of Guido Von List\u2019s “Mystery Language”<\/h3>\n
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\nHe says that the Primordial-Language or “Kala <\/em>” (which he also calls the “aryan Primordial-Language [arische Ursprache <\/em>]”) is founded upon 16 sounds or vocalizations<\/u>, of which:<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 one for the ‘Breath’ (Hauchlaut <\/em>) sound, the Aspirate or Aspiration sound (also called the voiceless glottal fricative<\/a>): H<\/strong> (which is to pronounce the letter “h” at the beginning of a word);
\n\u2022 and the ten remaining are attributed to the Consonants: F\/V, R, K\/G, Th\/D, N, S\/Z, T, B\/P, L, M<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/center><\/p>\n
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\nConsequence-of-the-Expression-of-Force<\/center><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n <\/center><\/td>\n
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\n(Verh\u00e4ltnis zwischen Kraft und Tat,
\ndie Macht<\/a> oder Magie)<\/em> <\/center><\/td>\n
\n(Relationship between Force and Act\/Action,
\nthe Power\/Might or Magic)<\/center><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n <\/center><\/td>\n
\nKraft natururgesetzm\u00e4\u00dfig wirkt<\/em> <\/center><\/td>\n
\nbecome Force works in accordance with
\nthe fundamental-law-of-nature<\/center><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n <\/center><\/td>\n
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\n <\/center><\/td>\n
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\noder der vorgefa\u00dften Idee.<\/em> <\/center><\/td>\n
\nor the preconceived Idea<\/center><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n
\nThe ten vocalizations of the Consonants have the corresponding attributes:
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