The Powerful Bear In The Northern Tradition

by Arith Härger

Ex: http://artihharger.wordpress.com

As the other day i wrote about the Boar as a very powerful symbol in the old European Traditions, i wouldn’t want to left another powerful animal behind, which is the Bear, strongly worshiped by both Europeans and the indigenous inhabitants of northern America and Alaska.
For many cultures, Bears were the kings and queens of beasts, the rulers of the wild, the animal on the top of the food chain, for animals such as lions or other fearsome large felines didn’t exist in these areas, well in truth they did but it was so long ago and for a short period of time in the early human lives, that people gave more importance to the Bear, for that animal accompanied the lives of human beingsfor much longer The Bear was also considered to be the old, wise and wild brother of us humans, as Bears can stand upright like we do and walk if only for short periods. For this reason, the Bear was thought to be the mediator between us humans with the spirits, and there was much respect for this animal, caves were found, containing arranged Bear skulls, in honor to these creatures, as altars from the Paleolithic era, a cult to the Bear that dates from at least twenty thousand years ago (20.000).
Bears used to be all over Europe, from the far shores of the Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula, all the way up to the North of Scotland, to Scandinavia and the Eastern regions of Siberia, unfortunately nowadays we can only find these creatures in the cold north regions, and the tales about bears from the people living in those regions are many especially from the Finns, Saami and the Siberian tribes.

The bear wasn’t just a sacred animal to these people, it was also the source of food, even to the Saami before they had learnt to have reindeer herds, but the respect for this animal wasn’t less just because of that, as a matter of fact most animals that were sacred were also eaten and there was always respect for these creatures and there was always special rituals to hunt an animal, to honor the spirit, the life and to thank them for their purpose. In the case of hunting a bear, it was always done during the hibernation of the animal but it was always awakened first, because killing a bear during their sleep, was considered to be dishonorable for both the hunters and the bear, and cowardice for the hunters, after the successful killing of the animal, the hunter or the hunters had to pass through many rituals in order to be safe for the hunters to get in the village, so people could be saved from the spirit of whom the hunters had killed, to keep the spirit from having its revenge upon the tribe, or to keep the spirit of the Bear King or Queen from having its revenge for killing one of its children. During the time of the rituals, no one could look the hunters in the eyes nor talk to them, only the hunters could butcher and cook the body and no one else could come near it before it was ready to be eaten. Before the feast began, a speech of apology and thankfulness was given to the bear, and afterwards the bonés of the animal were buried in a sacred place. These king of acts are still very common amoung shamanic tribes that still exist today, the so called taboos among the shamans and their families, and everyone must respect that and the spirit of the animals in order to safeguard the families and have prosperity and happiness.

To the Norse people the Bear was also a very powerful symbol very much attached to their beliefs and their warrior cults. People believed in many gods but there was always a group of people, a cult, dedicated to just one specific god, and in the Norse culture the warriors dedicated to Odin were called Berserkers, whose name comes from the word Bersark which means literally bearskin, which they wore for magical purposes and to honor the strength of the bear and become like him, fierce, strong, ferocious, violent in battle. These warriors would enter in an altered state of mind and call upon the spirit of the bear, becoming a bear themselves so they would not feel any pain during the battle, in order to keep the fight longer, roaring, putting fear upon their enemies. There are many accounts of this, of these warriors taking the amanita muscaria mushrooms, to enter in trance, and go completely crazy, becoming beasts ( this is from where and why the English word Berserker, or to go Berserker, came from ) wearing bear skins and nothing else, and sometimes even totally naked while going to battle and use their own hands and teeths to kill the enemies and tear off their armour and break their shields.

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Wulf Grimsson’s Loki’s Way

A Band Apart:
Wulf Grimsson’s Loki’s Way

By James J. O'Meara

ex: http://www.counter-currents.com/

 

Wulf Grimsson
Loki’s Way: The Path of the Sorcerer in the Age of Iron ^[2]
Second Edition
Lulu.com, 2011

A few weeks ago I was privileged to receive this unsolicited manuscript, “the result of over 30 years of research, study and practice,” by Wulf Grimsson. I’ve been trying to read, and then review, the contents ever since, but found it difficult. Not because of the writing — Wulf is admirably clear and free of both “scholarly” stodginess and “occult” rigmarole — but precisely because of its dense content of interesting and important ideas. Almost every page gives one something to think about, a source to look up and perhaps reconsider, a inspiration to a new connection made for one’s self.

Why I should have been selected for this privilege is plain from the contents. Loki’s Way covers the whole range of topics we’ve explored on this blog, outside of the more pedestrian political and economic ones, from the Männerbund to mystery traditions to runes, from Nietzsche to Evola to Colin Wilson. I am above all grateful for Wulf’s freeing me from the mild guilt I have felt about all the topics I haven’t done to adequate length, as well as my regret that the late Alisdair Clarke did not live to produce a similar treatise from his path breaking blog, Aryan Futurism ^[3]. Constant Readers of this blog will find Loki’s Way to be essential reading.

But first let Wulf define his subject:

Loki’s Way is an adaptation of the Left Hand Path or sorcery for the Kali Yuga. This tradition has taken many forms throughout the centuries, in the modern age it must be updated to deal with new discoveries in science and psychology. [62]

The last part there also brings up another reason I’ve had trouble writing about this book. I have grave reservations about much of the material in the first third, and thus, as Wulf expresses it here, in a sense his whole project. I would prefer that he take Guénon’s advice and forget about “reconciling” science and Tradition and especially “updating“ the latter by the former. Not only should the process be reversed, judging Science by the timeless principles of Tradition, but the process is necessarily unending, as Science by contrast is the realm of the amorphous and ever-changing, requiring the “synthesis” (really, as Guénon would point out, syncretism) to be redone over and over — although I’m sure the publishers appreciate that!

In particular, I think that Wulf’s claim that “the esoteric is the physiological,” i.e. the “discovery” that what esoteric Tradition has been talking about in guarded language can “now be revealed” (as the New Age publishers would shout) as being techniques for manipulating the endocrine and other bodily systems, is really just a misreading of what Evola among others has described as the starting point that remains when all dogmas and theories have been tested and abandoned, in the alchemical abyss:

But then the individual finds himself confronting his body, which is the fundamental nexus of all the conditions of his state. The consideration of the connection between the ego principle in its double form of thought and deed and corporeality . . . and the transformation of said connection by means of well-defined, practical, and necessary acts, even though they are essentially interior, constitutes the essential core of the Royal Art of the hermetic masters.

Evola adds:

The latter will be directed first of all to the conquest of the principle of immortality, and then to the total stable nature, no longer transitory or deteriorating . . . by which the human manifestation is established within the realm of becoming. (The Hermetic Tradition, pp. 98-99)

Immortality! Yes, indeed:

Loki’s Way gives us the opportunity for individual immortality. It means using the very structures that are in place to satisfy the replicators and which sustain collective immortality for our own benefit. We are literally making a u-turn; the very things that sustain the immortality of the collective must be used against the norm to achieve a permanent, discrete and individual self.

This, of course, is extremely difficult and confronting and accordingly the path to immortality is one that only a few will attempt and less will achieve. It is hard to conceptualize just how radical such a process must be. The best way is to seriously consider that absolutely everything you believe, feel and think could be wrong. Your tastes, choices, preferences, likes and dislikes are all conditioned. Nothing about your life is authentically real. It is as though you were conditioned as a government agent and everything you believe to be true about yourself, your life, your career even your family is simply brainwashing. The truth about the human condition is really that terrifying. Most will find such a scenario so frightening and so personally confronting that it is easier to look away and find fault with this book than to wake up and smell the coffee. (p. 58)

What Evola calls alchemy or The Royal Art Wulf calls . . . sorcery:

What is sorcery? Sorcery is a means by which an individual is able to wretch control of the evolutionary processes to become individually aware and immortal. He or she becomes a discrete, isolate intelligence which exists beyond the confines of the collective processes of eternal re-occurrence. . . . Within Loki’s Way this change is the transformation of human to post human through the focusing of the Will. (p. 61)

The bit about the Will reminds us that Evola was compelled to treat Crowley with some respect, despite his deplorable life and personality, as someone who Knew Things. Wulf goes Evola one better and brings in Crowley explicitly.

Another thing he brings in explicitly, and much to my heart, is the Männerbund, which Evola only relatively briefly discusses. Wulf connects the dots between the historical Männerbund and the esoteric path to individual immortality followed by the elite — in contrast to the common fate in store for the followers of the Vedic “path of the fathers,” Evola’s realm of society beneath the State, my own contrast of Family Values and Wild Boys. For Wulf it’s replicators versus Sorcerers.

The Männerbund or Warrior Band is the origin of the esoteric path, because the latter is, au fond, a battle; which Wulf explains, typically, in equal parts Sufism and Dawkins:

Memetic eugenics is the process whereby we weed out unworthy memes and replace them with memes which will help us evolve. This is what Loki’s Way is all about. We dissolve conditioning and replace it with memes which are conducive to our own process of godmaking. This book is a meme, bringing esoteric traditions in line with science and hopefully awakening the small number of people with the potential to become more than what they are.

Sorcery is found in many ancient traditions. In the Norse we can see that the warrior ethic was an expression of the battle against the flawed aspects of the emotions and psyche to achieve a true Self which would enter Valhalla. The berserker or warrior is a great “type” of the seeker for the Overman. An even more intriguing example is in Sufism where the concept of Jihad is interpreted in a unique way. The outer form of Jihad is a just war but the inner form of Jihad, the more significant, is against the false and flawed aspects of the personality. This model of the internal battle where we wage a sacred war against genes, memes and frames to achieve a Self is an expressive and poetic way to represent our sacred quest. (p. 66)

So, paradoxically, only the Warrior Band, the Group, can provide the context for true individuation:

This is one of the reasons cell, unit or Männerbund work is so significant, it keeps you grounded and stops the fragments of the ego from influencing your worldview. A good group of fellow working sorcerers can bring you to earth quicksmart! (p. 95)

This warrior elite, devoted to realizing a higher principle, is the origin of the Traditional Aryan State, which is oriented to a transcendent principle, in contrast to the common herd and its promiscuous “wants” and “needs” (think: peasant frivolity vs. the Templars) and thus also the social stratification characteristic of Aryan society (p. 72):

The sorcerer and warrior both have the potential to become Overman via different means or by combining paths. Loki’s Way is the modern equivalent of [Georges Dumézil‘s] first function combined with a warrior ethic. It can be applied via the mode of the lone wolf, with a blood brother or in a Männerbund. The teaching level of the sorcerer and warrior is esoteric and left hand path. (p. 74)

At this point, the story takes a turn that may give the average reader a turn himself, but not our Constant Readers:

As organic and social memes are dissolved new forms of sexuality and emotional bonding needs to be created. Every man has androphilic potential, it just has to be activated and directed. Since the transition to the Overman is unnatural and works against the normal evolutionary process which favours reproduction then the focus must be on same-sex bonding. (p. 112)

I am not suggesting that every screaming queen or muscle-mary is a spiritual warrior or engaged in Platonic love. I am suggesting that to cultivate a unique form of androphile friendship based on esoteric ideas is the highest form of relationship and for the Overman naught else will do. (p. 109)

Which leads to chapters discussing both historical traditions from India to the Norsemen, and modern theorists from Edward Carpenter to Hans Blüher to Jack Malebranche. Especially important are his careful dissection of the various “models” of homosexuality that have gone into creating the modern notions of “homosexual” and “gay,” and analyzing their usefulness for the Left Hand Path.

The [Uranian] model was popularised by both Ulrichs and Hirschfeld and ultimately proves wanting. It confuses intersex and transgenderism with homosexuality. While this is not surprising due to the early period of their work it is still a view popular today. It seems an ongoing slur in a culture which devalues women and sees them as “less than men” to associate men who take the passive sexual role as female. It could be argued that this identification has its roots in misogyny and was later fed by Judeo Christian thinking. Many also believe that the idea of seeing a homosexual as a woman in a man’s body led to the medicalization of homosexuality which continued right through to the 1960s.

The Intermediate Sex model [Carpenter] is significant as the shaman, priest and androphile warrior existing outside the normal structures of the society. At the same time I think we need to be careful using the term third or intermediate sex as it infers a state which is not quite one or the other, rather than as one which is both. The masculinist model of Brand and others (it is also found represented in the work of Jack Malebranche today, Androphilia) is appealing and certainly relevant.

Personally I we think we need to develop a new model for our sexuality hence terms like Androphilia and the Männerbund need to be understood in a new way. This is especially significant since we are talking about same-sex relations in terms of a unique goal not as an everyday preference. For the Männerbund androphilia is a special form of “sacred” bond which is expressed between warriors; it is also initiatory.

All comrades have a male and female side and clearly since they are working to transcend human restrictions would have no problems exploring passive or active sex roles. The genders within us, so to speak, represent a great source of power and we may use cross dressing or passive techniques for Seidr work but also have no issue with being warriors for Galdr (active runic sorcery) or even in battle. (p. 129)

I think Wulf is on to something important here. All of the existing ‘scientific’ and especially “historical” models seem skewed against the correct understanding of the telos of esotericism being to transcend by uniting male and female, active and passive, etc.

[P]rohibitions against same-sex relations hence the fear of homosexuality comes from an alien desert religion and has little to do with our traditions. . . . Many of these same phobias were passed down into Christianity and Islam. Many traditions had a very different attitude to same-sex relations prior to their infection by Christianity. Japanese Buddhism had a strong homoerotic element as did the Samurai, it was only Christian missionaries that did away with such traditions. Sadly many of the Eddic references to same-sex relations are negative but that is to be expected considering they have come down through the hands of Christian scribes! (p. 219)

One could add here Daniélou’s similar comments on the importation of Victorian and modernist prejudices into Hinduism, as we have frequently quoted on our own blog.

A careful reading of Guénon would lead one to infer that all “Traditions” are products of the Kali Yuga, early, to be sure, but still of the Dark Age. Therefore one might well find some misunderstandings of the wisdom that was being recompiled after the chaos of the last cyclical turn. Combined with the necessarily elite and secret nature of the esoteric path, it should be no surprise that there should be no adequate understanding of male bonding publicly available even in Traditional sources. Here, at least, we find ourselves agreeing with Wulf’s project to “make anew” Tradition.

Each form of the modern world represents a degeneration of the Perennial Tradition . . . (p. 168)

And quoting Crowley:

Behold! the rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright. — Liber AL vel Legis II:5

In this verse we are given clear instructions about how to deal with the old schools of magic, esotericism and their formulae. The “old time” are the Older Aeons. These rituals are black, that is they should not be used until reassessed by New Aeon formula. Since most are based on the sacrificial image of the Dying God they must be purified and cleansed.

Those which cannot be changed will be disposed of, those that can be purified can be adapted. As discussed throughout this book, Traditional forms of spirituality must be radically re-examined both in terms of Loki’s Way. Old age fertility rites must be cast away, let the blood brotherhood of Set and Horus Reign!

A close reading of the passages in Evola’s Hermetic Tradition mentioning ‘androgyne’ would show that the process involves the male becoming and then dominating, becoming so as to dominate, the feminine energies, a process he gives the provocative name “philosophical incest.”

Also useful would be a reading of the essay from UR, “Serpentine Wisdom” reprinted in his Introduction to Magic in which Evola, under a pseudonym, mocks those with a “muscle-bound” understanding of power, and advising them to take on the “power of the feminine” (yes, Evola!).

Later chapters feature a fascinating discussion, new to me, of occult warfare via Aeonic Magick and Time Sorcery and the attempts of Evola, Crowley, and even H. P. Lovecraft to tap into eternal principles in order to literally re-create the conditions of the primordial state in our modern age.

The reader may find himself feeling a bit overwhelmed with all this somewhat theoretical discussion. The last third of the book balances this out with several chapters of “Sorcery in Practice,” the “many forms of sorcery and many models for recognizing the associations between our own inner world and that which is beyond” (p. 205) ranging from runes to sexual sorcery.

The reader must have realized by now that no mere blog review could do justice to the contents of this rich and important book. I hope they will have also realized that the solution is to get their hands on this book for themselves. It is essential reading for those in the modern world who would “decide whether to be a nithing or coward or nothing, a member of the herd or crowd or a hero, a warrior, a comrade of the Männerbund” (p. 240).

Source: http://jamesjomeara.blogspot.com/ ^[4]

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Article printed from Counter-Currents Publishing: http://www.counter-currents.com

URL to article: http://www.counter-currents.com/2011/09/a-band-apart/

Chamanisme: le sorcier, la voie du Wyrd

Chamanisme: le sorcier, la voie du Wyrd

 

Le livre de l'universitaire Brian Bates Le Sorcier. La voie du Wyrd, paru en 1983, vient d'être traduit et publié en français par les éditions du Rocher. L'ouvrage raconte le chemin initiatique d'un jeune novice chrétien auprès d'un chaman anglo-saxon nommé Wulf L'intérêt et le succès de ce livre à l'étranger proviennent du fait que ce livre s'inscrit dans une lignée d'œuvres parmi lesquelles celles de Tolkien et de Castaneda sont sans doute les plus connues. Ecoutons Brian Bates: «Je suis un psychologue et ce livre est le fruit d'un projet de recherche majeur sur la nature de la magie anglo-saxonne. Bien qu'il ra­conte l'histoire fantastique d'un sorcier et de son apprenti, ce n'est pas un travail de fiction au sens strict, car la Mission, les cadres historiques, les enchaînements d événements, les détails des enseignements  —le personnage même de Wulf, le sorcier—  sont reconstruits à partir de témoignages issus de la recherche. A la fin du livre, je fournis une bibliographie des sources principales (...). Si d'un côté, le lecteur peut découvrir dans ce livre des enseignements qui le concernent person­nellement, on y trouve également un nombre important de principes généraux de la Voie du Wyrd qui sont d'une grande portée. Fondamentalement, le sorcier de la “Terre du Milieu” a élaboré une conception de la vie appelée Wyrd: une manière d'être et de devenir qui transcende nos notions conventionnelles de libre arbitre et de déterminisme. Tous les aspects du monde étaient vus comme entraînés dans un flux, un mouvement constant entre les polarités psychologiques et mystiques du Feu et de la Glace: une vision créatrice et organique, parallèle aux concepts orientaux classiques du Ying et du Yang. Elle est répercutée et appuyée par de récents développements en physique théorique selon lesquels le monde est conçu à partir de relations et de représentations. De ce concept de Wyrd résulte une vision de l'univers, depuis les dieux jusqu'au monde souterrain, représenté par un système de fibres gigantesques atteignant tout, une sorte de monu­mentale toile d'araignée en trois dimensions. Chaque chose était reliée par des ramifications à cette structure englobant tout. Le moindre événement générait des répercussions perçues par l'intégralité de la toile. Par son ambition, cette image dépasse de loin nos vues écologiques actuelles, qui ont pourtant déjà étendu nos notions de cause et d'effet pour inclure des chaines d'influence dans le monde naturel plus longues et plus latérales. Mais la toile du sorcier anglo-saxon propose un modèle écologique qui incorpore tant les événements de la vie individuelle que les phénomènes physiques et biologiques, tant les événements immatériels que les événements matériels, et remet même en question les chaînes de cause et d'effet sur lesquelles reposent nos théories écologiques». Brian Bates a construit son livre à partir d'un manuscrit conservé au British Museum (ms Harley 585) qui donne un ensemble de remèdes médico-magiques, vraisemblablement rassemblés par des moines chrétiens au Xième siècle mais qui exposent une tradition païenne antérieure de plusieurs siècles. Ne se contentant pas d'études livresques, B. Bates écrit: «J'ai établi à l'université du Sussex, en Angleterre, un programme ma­jeur de recherche pour explorer le chamanisme expérimental avec un accent particulier mis sur l'héritage européen. Le Shaman Research Project est une entreprise inhabituelle pour une université, car son but n'est pas purement d'élaborer une connaissance universitaire d'une forme historique du chamanisme, mais de recréer le chamanisme expérimental de l'époque anglo-celtique». Le livre est traduit et annoté par Arnaud d'Apremont.

 

Jean de BUSSAC.

 

Brian BATES, Le Sorcier. La voie du Wyrd, Editions du Rocher, 1996, 272 p.,110 FF.