Armanen runes

The Armanen runes, or Armanen 'Futharkh' as List referred to them, are a row of 18 runes that are closely based in shape (though not necessarily name, let alone interpretation) on the Younger Futhark. They were "revealed to" the Austrian occult mysticist and Germanic revivalist Guido von List in 1902, and subsequently published by him.

History and Runic revivalism

The row of 18 "Armanen runes", also known as the "Armanen futharkh" came to List while in an 11 month state of temporary blindness after a cataract operation on both eyes in 1902. This vision in 1902 allegedly opened what List referred to as his "inner eye", via which the "Secret of the Runes" was revealed to him. List stated that his Armanen Futharkh were encrypted in the Rúnatal of the Poetic Edda (stanzas 138 to 165 of the Hávamál), with stanzas 147 through 165, where Odin enumerates eighteen wisdoms (with 164 being an interpolation), interpreted as being the "song of the 18 runes". List and many of his followers believed his runes to represent the "primal runes" upon which all historical rune rows were based.

List's row is based on the Younger Futhark, with the names and sound values mostly close to the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. The two final runes, Eh and Gibor, added to the Younger Futhark inventory, are taken from Anglo-Saxon Eoh and Gyfu. Apart from the two additional runes, and a displacement of the Man rune from 13th to 15th place, the sequence is identical to that of the Younger Futhark.

List noted in his book, The Secret of the Runes, that the "runic futharkh (= runic ABC) consisted of sixteen symbols in ancient times.".

List of runes

The first sixteen of von List's runes correspond to the sixteen Younger Futhark runes, with slight modifications in names (and partly mirrored shapes). The two additional runes are loosely inspired by the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc.

# Fa (an inverted Fe) # Ur # Thurs (as Anglo-Saxon Thorn) (also known as 'Dorn') # Os (a mirrored Younger Futhark Os) # Rit (as Reidh) # Ka (as in Younger Futhark) # Hagal (as Younger Futhark Hagall) # Nauth (as Younger Futhark Naud) (also known as Not) # Is (as in Younger Futhark) # Ar (similar to short-twig Younger Futhark) # Sig (as Anglo-Saxon Sigel) # Tyr # Bar (as Younger Futhark Bjarkan) # Laf (as Younger Futhark Logr) # Man (as Younger Futhark Madr) # Yr (as in Younger Futhark, but with a sound value [i]) # Eh (the name is from Anglo-Saxon Futhork, the shape like Younger Futhark Ar) # Gibor (the name similar to Anglo-Saxon Futhork Gyfu)

Contemporary use

The Armanen runes are still used today in occultist and national socialist currents of Germanic neopaganism.

After World War II , Karl Spiesberger reformed the system, removing the racist aspects of the Listian, Marbyan and Kummerian rune work and placing the whole system in a "pansophical", or eclectic, context. In recent times Karl Hans Welz, Stephen E. Flowers, Adolf Schleipfer, Larry E. Camp and Victor Ordell L. Kasen have all furthered the effort to remove any racist connotations previously espoused by pre-war Armanen rune masters.

In German-speaking countries, the Armanen Runes have been influential among rune-occultists. According to Stephen E. Flowers they are better known even than the historical Elder Futhark:

"The personal force of List and that of his extensive and influential Armanen Orden was able to shape the runic theories of German magicians...from that time to the present day. [...] the Armanen system of runes...by 1955 had become almost 'traditional' in German circles"

The Armanen runes are also having a significant impact in English language occultist literature.

Notes

References

Flowers, Stephen E. 1992. Rune Might: Secret Practices of the German Rune Magicians. ISBN 0-87542-778-2

——— (as Edred Thorsson). 1984. Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc. ISBN 0-87728-548-9

——— (as Edred Thorsson). Runecaster's Handbook, Northern Magic, Runelore.

Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. 1993. The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology. ISBN 0-8147-3060-4

———. 2003. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity. ISBN 0-8147-3155-4

von List, Guido. 1902. Das Geheimnis der Runen. Vienna. (Translated into English by Stephen E. Flowers, 1988, Destiny Books. ISBN 0-89281-207-9)

Pennick, Nigel. 1992. Secrets of the Runes: Discover the Magic of the Ancient Runic Alphabet. ISBN 0-7225-3784-0

von Schnurbein, Stefanie. 1992. Religion als Kulturkritik.

External links

Armanen runes by S. Hawkins

Armanen runes truetype font

Category:Runes in Germanic mysticism

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