Music Review
Born Again — Blood Axis, Storm/Tesco, 2010.

The Rune-Gild is made up of very exceptional individuals engaged in a very exceptional mission: the unfolding of RUNA.  Blood Axis, the legendary creation of Rune-Gild Fellows Michael Moynihan and Annabel Lee, has long been an expression of this uniqueness and the band’s latest creation Born Again marks the latest stage in this truly magical journey.  More than just music, more even than just Art, Born Again is a vivid and beautiful articulation of Mystery herself.

Solemn in anticipation, the album commences with an atmospheric and atavistic soundscape over which is delivered a minimalist narrative, the Invocation of Divine Eloquence taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.  “Invocatio” hints simply and knowingly at what is to come.  It simultaneously invokes and introduces the theme for Born Again which is “to bring forth the continuous song from the world’s beginning!”

Containing within a beautiful and passionate exploration of individualized myth, musically excellent as well as elegant in expression, it is largely comprised of acoustic arrangements.  An expression and interpretation of interesting sources of folklore, literature, as well as esoteric and philosophical narrative, Born Again is a wild and rewarding foray through myth, metaphor and ideology.  As listeners we are inspired, aroused and fortified.  We lose ourselves in lament.  We are taken within sighting distance of Ultima Thule, where we sacrifice and we fear.  Where we drive and define our will and our understanding of what it is to follow the Graal, amidst myriad vocabulary and language.

Segue with me then into the second track with what is perfect bodhrán rhythm snaking a backbone to “Song of the Comrade.”  A fiery anthem, punctuated by explosions, yet giving the impression of the dynamic and intelligent use of power, the lyrics are adapted from a poem in Miguel Serrano’s Nos: Book of the Resurrection.  The natural acoustics resolve in deep resonance, and deliver an unmistakable sense of military camaraderie and jubilation.  Upon further research one notes that Serrano was a Chilean author whom utilized an Aryan synthesis of Hindu-Vedic and Nordic tradition in order to elucidate an esoteric and philosophical notion of Ultima Thule, “If you fall, I will discover the Oasis of Ice for both of us.”

Born Again contains an intense blend of hope and inspiration contrasting with a foreboding sense of grimness, fear or desolation.  These elements are sometimes individually predominant as in the lament of “Wulf and Eadwacer,” or are juxtaposed with one another as in “The Path” or “Mâdhu.”

The modern English word “mead” comes from the Old English meodu.  It is related to the Sanskrit word mâdhu which likewise designated a “sweet honeyed libation.”  The song “Mâdhu” begins with summer’s birdsong, the industrious thrumming of bees, then enter the serious and characteristically discordant sound of bagpipes, while a building percussion leads to fervent chanting, “Sitte ge, sigewif, sigað to eorðan!”  “Mâdhu” is a collation of Old English texts relating to mead, each connected by our tale-bearer’s bodhrán drum, and it is simply epic in style and beauty.  The full significance of the song then dawns with the refrain:  “Give us clear sight and make us shine, now we are come to life everlasting.”  Moynihan’s bodhrán stirs the glowing amber of the visionary mead until it satisfyingly resolves into a lake of exaltation, with ethereal bowed strings changing the intensity and focus of the song.  The pitch-bending of the bodhrán is a further expression of fluidity with the percussion taking us toward the promise of a once celestial gold, yet warning also of folly.  “Mâdhu” allegorizes the symbolism of mead with Annabel’s beautiful, folk-style violin spinning an unfathomable spiral of wóð around and around us.

Yet, just when we have been enchanted with vision and power, Born Again reminds us of tragedy and lament.  This contrast of inspiration to darkness seems to feed rapture and fuel belief.  We come then to the melancholy in the poem “Wulf and Eadwacer.”  Sung in Old English, it seems to be a lament of separation.  Moynihan’s voice is a humble revivification backdropped by a gentle and anguished chorus.  It is soft and deep as the roots of sorrow lamenting through the ages, echoed by clean, soaring violin, the final line repeating “Ungelic is us” — it’s different for each of us.  The full meaning of “Wulf and Eadwacer” is not readily apparent, and the depth of this well is for the listener to discover and study.

As if such mystery and beauty were not enough, we are given much more upon which to feast with several further poems.  One from the medieval period and intoned in Middle High German is “The Dream” by Walther von der Vogelweide, and another, “Erwachen in der Nacht” by Hermann Hesse, is sung in modern German.  It is perhaps notable that Moynihan’s vocals, particularly here, have a distinctive and natural, folk style, which I enjoy immensely.

“The Path” plummets directly into refreshing, jangly guitar and Annabel’s dulcet vocals.  One climbs upon the Inferno-like bones of the dead, and the etin-strewn boulders upward and toward the were-glow of lanterns: “Steep is the path, but filled with light, from those who climbed before me.  Who left on every jutting rock, a lantern glowing with their dreams.”  Yet a murk-side is the warning of the steep fall should one fail, that same Path is “laced with dread, of those who never found the way.  Their broken bodies now on cold ground, a nameless legion of lost souls.”  Sung in a way that alliterates anguish and difficulty, this is an haunting and profound song that has personal impact for me in terms of its focus, and of the various fundamentals of following such a path: inspiration, discipline, belief and strategy. 

Atypical only in that it is penned by Moynihan’s own hand, is Churning and Churning.  Portraying a strong dissatisfaction with the direction and destination of humankind, it chillingly questions our connection with the past and traditions.  Have your ancestors all now withdrawn their hands.  These words from your mouths, can they still understand? Moynihan insightfully asks, what old Gods have yet to play out their roles? What new ones will rise from the abyss of your souls.  The frenzy encapsulating the refrain, Churning and churning in the widening gyre.  Digging and wallowing in the thickening mire, connotes further the Odinnic theme, while Ferbrache’s guitar is a sinister backbone to the song, and Annabel’s violin spins a thousand threads into the beyond.  Blood Axis’ capacity for alliterating meaning into song is soulful, extensive and effective.

A serpent’s groove, winding its way through the album, Blood Axis’ personal spiritual philosophy expressed through each song appears to contain common threads illustrated by the work of such writers as Serrano and Walther von der Vogelweide, and some may even find it resonates to those of Julius Evola’s traditional world (cf.  The Revolt against the Modern World).  This concept is in harmony with a Golden Age alluded to in the song “Hard Iron Age,” in which Ovid’s description of the aeons of gold, silver and iron hint that there is in each of our psyches, a past that is more noble and ideal for which we can strive.  A parallel can easily be drawn with the numerous instances where a Golden Age is mythologized within various cultures.  While the sound of “Hard Iron Age” is perhaps more typical of old Blood Axis, the theme is older yet.

A pattern materializes, a utopian collage: the concept of inner and outer perfection within personal spirituality and inspiration.  Runesters new to the Neofolk genre will resound strongly with these elements, whilst those more versed in the genre will recognize traditional facets related to predecessors and compatriots, such as Sol Invictus’ Against the Modern World and Ostara’s album, Ultima Thule.

An outpouring of philosophical and ideological anguish, “The Vortex” is taken from The Story of My Heart, an autobiography by the English nature writer Richard Jefferies.  Thunder and rainfall introduce a melancholic, repetitive, and yet beautifully evocative, pacing piano.  Contained within is the quandary of the direction in which civilization is headed.  It betrays a sense of futility in the future for we are “beaten like seaweed against the solid walls of fact,” and it searches for an eternal now, “Where will these millions of today be — in a hundred years?…  where then will be the sum and outcome of their labour …  it vanishes in the moment it is done, and in a hundred years nothing will be there, for nothing is there now.”  The wasteland evoked in this track may trigger you to pursue further works by Jefferies which in of themselves seem to resonate with themes within Born Again.

The philosophical desert is further exemplified in the final track given to us by another god of literature, George Orwell.  “Exvocatio” is an excerpt from 1984.  It is an expression and projection of will into the world to come.  “Our only life is in the future…  but how far away that future might be, there is no knowing.  It might be a thousand years.  The fact is that we can do nothing now but work towards that goal.”  Again here is the ever-diminishing landscape of Ultima Thule, always out of reach, like Rûna itself. 

However, the title track bears no lyrical philosophy.  An instrumental, it is an island of melody in traditional style, bearing witness to Annabel’s breathtaking skill as a musician as well alluding to the spirit of the album as whole.

Indeed, the album does not falter at all throughout.  So much can be gained from each song that it is a challenge to encapsulate and mention everything exemplary within the montage of ineffable artistry.  Pragmatic in its constant source of lore, yet ardent in credo, wildly enjoyable, excellently produced, and musically haunting, it is highly evocative and inspiring.  Additional details include the gorgeous cover design and the extensive liner notes.  These include lyrics in Old English, Middle High German, German and Latin, along with Moynihan’s personal translations into English, as well as most literary references.

Nadine Drisseq

 

Book Review:  Become Who You Are
Paradox Games by Waldo Thompson.  153 pages, Rûna-Raven Press, 2009

To merely read Waldo Thompson’s Paradox Games is to miss a rare and genuinely unique opportunity to experiment with the structure of your personal reality.  This text represents Waldo Thompson’s Master-Work within the Rune-Gild and so unsurprisingly the content around which the text is constructed draws strongly on the Germanic Tradition.  However, the practical process of working through the challenges, riddles and exercises will be of enormous value to anyone who strives towards the goal of self-becoming.

There are a number of levels on which the reader can engage with this text and that reflects something of its message.  Not only does Waldo present us with tools to experience the paradoxical nature of the multiverse and our experience of playing with that reality, but he also emphasizes the radically individual nature of any given journey into the realm of paradox. 

Many readers may initially be concerned by the deep mathematical structure that frames much of the text.  However, while there is much to reward the mathematically astute seeker, there is no requirement for anything more than a basic understanding of elementary mathematics to play the game of reality that he has so carefully constructed.  Moreover, Paradox Games caters for a wide range of thinking and learning styles.  Each step along this serpentine path is meticulously argued and for those who prefer visual representations of concepts there are plenty of diagrams to ensure that all you need to keep dancing through the maze is a willingness to play the game.

It is perhaps appropriate given the subject matter that the text itself functions in a somewhat paradoxical manner.  On the one hand we are dealing with issues that go to the dark heart of the Mystery, no text can fully unveil the true face of Rûna, but Paradox Games certainly gets within fingertip reach of her veil.  However, at the same time, the writing style is relaxed and even comic at times.  There is no earnest dogmatic lecturing here.  If you are used to the overblown portentousness of many pseudo-occult texts, Paradox Games will surprise you.  In spite of the profound nature of its message the author remains understated and has the confidence to allow the power of the exercises to speak for themselves.

Usually, a review would give you something of the meat of any book.  However, in this instance the significance of the content is dependant on the willingness of the reader to fully engage with what is on offer.  A key structural component of the text is the mytho-mathematical function of the rune Dagaz and the triad as understood within the Germanic Tradition: “two similar and one different.”  The triangular nature of the process may initially call to mind a dialectical approach to reality.  However, the genius of Paradox Games, for me at least, lies in its avoidance of both the oppositional dialectic of material dialectics as proposed by Marx et al. without falling into the equally deterministic approach of Hegelian dialectics.  Instead, we have what might be termed a communicative dialectic.  All this is hugely stimulating to those of us who enjoy philosophy, but what sets Paradox Games apart is the fact that you are invited, dared even, to dive in and experience the Mystery.

Paradox Games is informed by a number of Philosophical Schools: In the title itself we have a nod to the linguistic insight of Wittgenstein, while the sometimes aphoristic style and the overwhelmingly joyful tone calls to mind Nietzsche in his most optimistic ‘yea-saying’ mode.  Importantly, Waldo is not simply applying the existing epistemic framework of another philosopher to a new area of experience.  Instead Paradox Games extends its Odian methodology to the way in which philosophical conceptions are deployed.  Semiotics, Husserlian Phenomenology and Pure Mathematics are all used, not out of slavish devotion to any given school of thought but because they are useful.
In conclusion, this is a book that no serious seeker should be without.  It is a glorious read that takes you on an intellectual spiral dance that at times makes the mind positively dizzy.  More than that, it is a manual for the Work that we all wish to accomplish, no matter what our Tradition.  Deceptively simple, light hearted yet deeply philosophical, a spiralling journey into the Mystery, this truly is a game that you cannot help but play!

C J Sharp

 

Book Review
Runarmal I (The Rûna Talks.  Summer  1991ev ) by Stephen Edred Flowers.  64 pages, Rûna-Raven Press, 1996.

So often in the course of reading the reviews and jacket blurb of tomes whose authors are desperate to sell you the secrets of the universe and make a quid or two the word  “essential” is used with much abandon ,also so often the contents of said works are everything short of their description.  My faithful and ever near Concise Oxford Dictionary describes essential thus “1 absolutely necessary; indispensable.  2  fundamental, basic.  3 of or constituting the essence of a person or thing.”  With the exception of the word basic, in terms of  easily understood or low, but most definitely in all other senses of the description Runarmal I fulfills all the criteria of the definition.  This work comprises the formalized versions of notes a from talk given by Edred to the Rune-Gild in February of 1991ev, a talk delivered in New York at the end of May 1991, and then follow the eight Rûna-Talks which were delivered to those who had ears to hear during the Summer of that year.  These are “not transcripts of what was said nor are they verbatim reports.  In fact they have only now been put into concrete form.  Their contents therefore inevitably reflect in some small ways developments of RUNA between 1991 and 1995.  The Talks had their purpose ,these written documents a somewhat different one.”

We are most fortunate that this work is available through Rûna-Raven again.  For those who are not in some way aware of this work I can only urge them to look at the definition of essential, acquire this work and by this gain knowledge of where the Gild has come from in the thirty six years since Edred received the Word Rûna, the circumstances of this reception themselves described within are deeply amusing.  To those who would seek to act in an Odian way to have a path described from its first steps is of course of much benefit, but each Odians path will of course be individual and through its own virgin territory.  This is the primal layers made clear for those of us involved in the unfolding.

Given the impending release of Runarmal II the essential quality of this work can only be reiterated!

D. Jonathan Jones

 

Book Review

3 Paths Through Midgard:  A Rune Poem by D. Jonathan Jones, RavensHalla Arts, Portland, Oregon 2010

If anybody needs an example of the standards set and expected at all levels of the Rune-Gild then they should look no further than 3 Paths Through Midgard:  A Rune Poem.  This powerfully original interpretation of the Elder Futhark is London born D. Jonathan Jones’ Fellowship work, and Drighten Ian Read hits the nail on the head in the Foreword when he reminds us:  “If a Fellow can write something as impressive as this present work, what level is a Master at?”

D. Jonathan Jones is not just a gifted poet, he is a poet blessed with the gift of the Allfather.  The writing is cunningly crafted while being seeped in Mystery.  It oozes power and intensity while being subtle and concealing.  Not a word is wasted as D. Jonathan invites us to share in his journey through the Nine Worlds and witness his personal encounter with and interpretation of the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark.  Each rune marks a particular path and gateway and 9 lines are devoted to each rune totalling 216 lines in all, all refreshingly original and unique while being firmly grounded in ancient lore.

Some of the images that D. Jonathan weaves will embed themselves in the reader’s mind  and may well even appear in the dream-world, as they did with the author “To light fires in the minds of sleepers” (Wunjo, line 9).  Take this disconcerting vision at Uruz for example:

 I sought the beast, sought the great horned one……
I saw him not save once in a dream
He nosed the scraps of my shed man-skin….

Or at Raidho:

 I was road and rider and ridden
The endless destination was self’

But that is not all.  True to the methodology of RUNA and the noetic insights that can be generated from the Polarian method, D. Jonathan has put forward a unique ‘meta-frame’ enclosure for the Elder Futhark.  He  interprets the three Aetts from a Dumezilian perspective based on the tri-functional separation of Proto-Indo European society between sovereignty, military and productivity.  Hence, the first Aett embracing Fehu through to Wunjo is seen as “The Path of the Magician.”  The second Aett, Hagalaz through to Sowilo, represents the “The Path of the Warrior.”  The third Aett, Tiwaz through to Othala, is “The Path of the Yeoman.”

There are many Mysteries contained in this separation and in the words which D. Jonathan chooses and uses to express the hidden meanings of each rune.  But that is for the individual seeker to explore and experience him or herself.  For be warned :  as with everything else produced by the Rune-Gild this is not just a book, it is a manual for coming into Being.  It is a raging furnace of inspiration and wisdom for those genuinely working in the service of the Allfather, but will scald the fingers and singe the hair of anybody not ready for or worthy of the journey.  To quote D. Jonathan at Nauthiz, line 8, in perhaps one of the most powerful and moving lines of the whole poem:
Who shall lie ash and who rise as fire?

Ariman

 

Online Course Review
The Essence of Germanic Soul-Lore by Ingrid Fischer (taught online by Ian Read).  Arcanorium online College of Magic (www.arcanoriumcollege.com)

The fact that you, dear reader, are reading this is evidence of some degree of familiarity with the virtual worlds offered by the Internet.  You are unlikely to let out a gasp of astonishment at the knowledge that such a thing as an online college of magic exists.  However, considering the quality of much online content, you could be excused the cynical expectation that it’s either a Harry Potter marketing stunt or just another Emperor’s New Clothes, another fat tranche of cyberbollocks aimed at the occultizoid market.

Not so, by a long mile.  Arcanorium is run by seminal chaos magic author Peter Carroll, staffed entirely by experienced magicians and offers courses (and less formal discussions) of a consistently high standard.  The courses take place in virtual classrooms, the course content delivered as weekly threads initiated by the teacher.  In a practically-based course like the one under review, threads are created by students to record and discuss their results and ideas.

The experience of taking part in such a course can be an unusual and highly fruitful one; you are sharing thoughts with a class full of lively thinkers who are actually doing their own magical work. 

This course is no exception.  Taught by Ian Read, Rune-Gild Master (and Drighten; see interview in Issue 1 of this magazine) it delivered in its six intense weeks an astonishing level of original work by Rune-Gild Master Ingrid Fischer on the Germanic soul-complex whose Master-Work of Runelore, Germanic Psychology, is on its way to being published.  For those unfamiliar with this fascinating facet of Northern lore, I’ve appended the reading list from the course.

Masters Read and Fischer are not only(!) magicians steeped in the Northern tradition and with decades of magical experience but they are also both trained in modern psychological and psychotherapeutic practice.  So this course sheds new light on the complex subtleties of traditional soul-lore, and in a superbly practical way.  The student is given conceptual tools and exercises to help him map his own subjective experience onto the old names for the soul-components.  More about this important work later.

Like most Arcanorium courses, this one ran over six weeks.  The lesson-topics covered were: Development of the Personality, The Core Triad, Dreams, The Fylgia or Fetch, and Fate.

The Core Triad is one of the original concepts in the course, and one of the core ideas.  The triad consists of hugr (approximately intellect, dominant hemisphere activity, the seat of the mundane self and conscious will), minni (memory, reflection, the subordinate cerebral hemisphere) and odhr (inspiration and ecstatic consciousness, among other functions).

I have been aware for some years of the approximate parallels between these modern terms and traditional ones, but I had not mapped these soul-components onto my own subjective states with anything like the depth and detail that I gained when I applied the Core Triad concept in the course exercise.

It is hard to exaggerate just how important this kind of work is, the fine tuning of subjective discrimination, and how thoroughly it can integrate into daily experience.  Drifting on the edge of sleep, I came to feel the events of the day flickering from consciousness into the beginnings of REM-sleep, hugr’s thoughts being processed into minni’s reflections, like the pages of a book being riffled for the bits worth casting into long-term memory.  Experiencing this, I am aware of the observing faculty hovering over that dyad, one of the functions of odhr, and one of the gateways into higher consciousness.

What could be more valuable in this kind of study than that, to gain a correlation between subjective feelings and a map of soul-elements? We cannot get anywhere with a soul-map until we start to correlate it with the territory of how that soul feels in action.

Glimpsing odhr, we are ready to look into transpersonal states.  The next lessons led us, via the observation of dream content, to that most mysterious of the souls, the fylgia or Fetch.  Even though, in our encounters with it, it is Other, sometimes vividly, even fearfully so, it is, as Masters Read and Fischer point out, that which seems to drive our development towards full individuality.  And it is the soul that brings magic into our lives.

The final exercise in the course is a focusing in on the fleeting present — Verdhandi — the only point in which we have free will.  I never said this course was easy, and the student (at least, the student who realises the power of what is being taught here) is plonked face to mirror with his own Need to act, to grasp his fate, now.

Who was this course aimed at? Master Read is a clear, effective teacher, all the better for not spoon-feeding.  The course demands that the student not only go to the effort of sourcing reading materials but also have a good go at working on himself or herself.

The rewards were great, and included the privilege of studying with a Master who is releasing material that could seed vital new developments in psychotherapy and transpersonal psychology. 

In a world where nine-tenths of everything is crap (if you’re lucky), there is something both refreshing and audacious about anything that delivers even more than it appears to promise, offering such original work to anyone who has the small cash needed to sign up for Arcanorium, and it doesn’t end there.  Tempting us on further, Master Read writes at the end of the final lesson:

“There is an ongoing project by Eormensyl Hall of the Rune-Gild in London to develop a method for balancing the Triad spoken of above.  So far this has proven to be successful and we are confident that anyone who undergoes this will benefit from it.  Some Gild members who have the foresight and energy to make it to the Island of the Mighty may even be fortunate enough to experience this.”

Reading List :

Runelore by Edred Thorsson and two articles; “The Germanic Idea of the Holy” published in Rûna 10 and available from Rune-Gild.org, and “The Nordic Belief in Fate” in Rûna 13 (send a PM for details of availability).

“Fetchcraft: The Hidden Link between Lik and Fylgia” by Ristandi.  This in-depth study of the practical use of embodied wisdom to work with the Fetch can be found as a free download at Ristandi’s store on Edred.net.

Stephen E.  Flowers — “Towards an Archaic Germanic Psychology,” Rune-Gild, 1985.

Dave Lee