Kan - The Fire Within

In The Wisdom of the Serpent (Inglinga Blog) I outlined a number of points concerning the evolution of Man, points concerned with the Creative Life-Force and the Serpent-Force. Whilst doing this it occurred to me that the 'Gift of Ing' was not only 'Fire' (Ken) but also the Serpent (Kan). On the same subject there is also another connection here, that of kingship (Kon). Thus we have -

Fire - Ken

Serpent - Kan 

Kingship - Kon

For the sake of ease and clarity I am going to use the term Creative Life-Force although this has many aspects which include the Kundalini-Force or Serpent-Force. It would seem to be the case that the Hyperboreans and their descendants the Aryans possessed an abundance of this Creative Life-Force, and this later applied to the Kings and Aethelingas whose powers derived from this Sacred Force. Since the Persians knew the force of kingship to be the Hvarena we can see that this is associated with Fire and Light. I have also associated this with the Brosingamen Necklace or 'Necklace of Fire' which was the property of the Goddess Freya. 

'Torch is known to each living being by fire, radiant and bright, it usually burns where aethelingas rest indoors.' 

Old English Rune-Poem (Ken-Rune).

This version is that of Steve Pollington who is an expert on the Old English Tongue. The one point that I would like to mention is that the original in Old English has cen and not 'torch', thus it is assumed that the 'torch' is meant, but this could be seen as symbolic rather than literal. Indeed, the whole of these verses could have two meanings (or more perhaps). Yes, the place where the nobles rest would be lit by a 'torch' but the verses could also be seen as representing the 'resting-place' of the noble when he has died - the Burial Mound. In which case this 'fire' - 'radiant and bright' - is the Elmes-Fire which is the 'Fire of Kingship' that lives on, that dwells within the Burial Mound as the 'Living-Fire' of the Arya or Noble. The verse is in reality one concerning 'fire' on its physical level, hence the use of the term fyre but with such old works there are also hidden meanings, and the Inga-Fire should be assumed as an alternative working at a different level. 

Steve Pollington has also translated this as 'where nobles rest indoors' (last verse) which is far better than the normal translation of 'aethlingas' as 'men' or similar, since the emphasis should be on the 'noble', indeed, since we are concerned here with the Rune of Kon - Kingship. But the last line has 'there aethelingas rest in' which can be interpreted as 'indoors' or within the Burial Mound. The arm of the Ken-Rune points downwards in this version, pointing down to the Earth - this is important.

In regard to burial it is invariably the case that the aethlinga or king is buried with his belongings around him, which would seem rather strange if we did not understand that there is not merely a physical world. We can assume here that the 'next world', the world where the individual's spirit moves after death, is a kind of 'parallel-world' to this one and that in the case of the king he needs his regalia and weapons since he takes on the role of the 'Leader of the Wild Army' in the next world. Now, we should of course not see this as needing the physical weapons and regalia, so we have to assume that these weapons possess a certain energy & power that lives on within the physical form but which can be transferred to the 'next world' by his having them with him when his spirit leaves the body and moves into the Other-World (Valhalla). 

It seems that Woden has more need of his chosen Warrior-Heroes in death than in life. Their power is manifoldly increased on death, and their spirit lives on within the burial-mound as a form of Fire & Light that is also perhaps a protective-force. This is symbolised through the Ken-Rune or Kan-Rune and the Pine-Torch.

It is indeed usual to see this as a 'Pine-Torch' and thus it can be equated to the 'Pineal Gland' and the 'Third Eye'. We have an association between the 'Third Eye' and 'Fire, and this is through the Fire Serpent. Earlier I used the term Elmes-Fire which is one that became 'St. Elmo's Fire' and which is used for a 'natural phenomena' but which was originally more like a Spiritual Fire, and 'St. Elmo' was a blacksmith. The term was used deliberately since the First Man was Ash and the First Woman Embla, the latter usually translated as 'Elm', hence the connection here - Elmes-Fire. The Serpent-Force or Kundalini (Kun) is a Female Force and is related to Shakti in Hinduism, and to Freya in Wodenism. This has to be linked to the Brosingamen Necklace. 

Many years ago my ex-wife and I camped at Wayland's Smithy for a night whilst travelling around Oxfordshire and Wiltshire visiting some of the many ancient sites around the area. We had set up a tent for the night and lit a small fire, and sat down before the fire with a horn of the Sacred Mead. On the site were another couple who were of the 'New Age' or 'Wiccan' type, a man wearing a T-Shirt with a pentagram and a woman that turned out to be the owner of a 'New Age' shop in Wantage. We started talking to them and I offered the woman the Mead-Horn to try this mead, which she had not drunk before (most of these use 'apple-juice' or similar from my experience), and she noticed the leather band around the horn bearing the runic form - ALU. She asked what this was and meant and I told her it was sounded 'ALU' which obviously shocked her from the expression on her face. It turned out, as she told us, that she was a 'medium' and had come to the site a week earlier where she 'saw' a tall warrior-figure bearing a shield and spear, he was tall with blond, plaited hair and blue eyes, and he repeated over and over to her - ALU-ALU-ALU....

From this we can deduce that this Magical Formula is related to some form of Ancestral Power since the figure was obviously a Guardian of the Burial Mound, a site linked to Wayland the Smith. It is certainly not clear why this Runic Galdr was spoken to her, but no coincidence that we turned up a week later at the same site to be told this tale. We were meant to know of this and there has to be some form of link to Wayland the Smith - it would seem. We have used the site for over 40 years now, through Odinism and Folkish Wodenism, and it has a great deal of power in it, which can be felt when one is there at the site. It would also be a place where the Ancestral Heroes would be awoken since it has been used at the Ancestral Rite in November since the first time we held a Folk-Moot there. 

The only link I can see here is the 'Fire of the Smith' or 'Willed Fire' which is symbolised in the Ken-Rune. We should here extend the meanings of this rune-

Fire - Ken

Serpent - Kan

Kingship - Kon 

Kinship - Kin

Knowledge - Ken

Kundalini - Kun (Female Fire in the 'Cun-t', which is an Old English word).

Koen - The Pine Cone - Pineal Gland.

ALU could be the Magical Force associated with the Burial Mound and with 'death', since the formula has been found on burial urns, as the one in Norfolk which contained the ALU-ULA Formula. Here I would like to consider a link to the ideas in The Wisdom of the Serpent since we have a two-way movement of ALU - ULA, a movement like the 'Churning of the Ocean' or the 'Kindling of the Need-Fire (which has the same motion), or even the movement of Ratatosk up and down the Sacred Tree. It also reminds me of certain symbols which when 'swirled' in one direction, show an opposite movement to the original symbol, something hard to explain.

We need to move on now to another important point, and that is the role of Ingui as a Fire-God. Although the Ing-Rune has been seen to symbolise the 'Beacon Fire' very few rune-workers have actually associated him with Agni or with Fire. We need to look at Agni in order to understand more of Ingui -

• Matarishvan brought Agni (Fire) from heaven, given as a gift to the Bhrigus who concealed him in a wood (wood used for the Need-Fire), brought him forth and gave him to Manu. Both Agni and Manu are linked to Hama-Heimdall, of course.
• Another account has Atharvan drawing Agni forth by friction, this is the Atar of Persian Lore. The Sanskrit athare means 'flame' and atharyn means 'blazing'. 
• Agni is Apam Napat - 'Son of the Waters' and is thus 'Fire-from-Water'. He is the Lightning and the Sun. 

We know that Sheaf is another name for Ingui, and that Sheaf is associated with Fire through the 'Fire-Taper' he bears, holding the fire created from friction. There is an Old English *al related to 'anneal' and to 'fire', and we see the relationship here with *alu. This stems from the IE Root *ai ('to burn') and from *ai-lo which gives us the OE *al. There is a Germanic form *ail-. Is there thus a link between the ALU-Force and the Inga-Force of Ingui? This is actually suggested when we consider the 'synchronicity' of the warrior-figure at Wayland's Smithy, especially as we have the links between ALU, the Fire of the Forge, and the Burial Mound of the AEthelinga. 

Sheaf, and thus Ingui, is associated with the Swan since he rides the waves in the Swan-Ship. Zeus took the form of a swan to couple with Leda and thus father Castor and Pollux - the Divine Twins. Interestingly, the sister of Hengest and Horsa was said to bear a name meaning 'Swan', another association between the Swan and the Divine Twins - and with Sheaf-Ing. The Swan's Wings can be found at the top of the Saxon Irmuinsul, and the Swan has long been the symbol of the Highest Initiation - Pure Consciousness. The Aswins are associated with the turning of the Pramantha (Swastika) which kindles the Need-Fire - i.e. creates the Agni-Fire. We have so many interlocking ideas here all based around the Sacred Fire or Inga-Fire. The Divine Swan in certain mythologies is the Divine Bird that uttered the 'Divine Sound' which brought the universe into being. This is associated with Cygnus the Swan, and thus to the Long Man of Wilmington.

This post is a little bit confused maybe, as I am having to skip from one thought to another as these enter the mind, so bear with me and I hope that there will be a link between all of these ideas by the time it is done, or someone else may have to make that link. There is also another link to the 'Serpent' through what is term the Woevre Serpent; On various occasions Miguel Serrano mentions the Woevre Saelde and I think he equates the name Saelde to Isolde of 'Tristan and Isolde'. Again, this 'serpent' is associated with the female and originally, no doubt, to a Goddess of that title. There thus seems an importance in this female aspect and role of 'fire' and its association with the Ken-Rune. We should here consider the Serpent-Force that pulsates across the Earth, also known as the Dragon-Force. 

The Goddess Freya is not only associated with the 'Necklace of Fire' but also with the Seidhr Witchcraft which (at one level) is associated with 'Fire', since the word is related to 'seethe'. It is a fact that meditation, visualisation and intense concentration lead to a burning sensation along the spinal column ('Mount Su-Me-Ru'). I am beginning to see the link to this Sacred Fire through Woden as the god who 'shortcuts' the evolutionary process, since he is associated with Rudra-Shiva who is shown doing the Fire-Dance or 'Dance of Destruction', but whose role is really 'Destruction to re-Creation' linked to fertility and new life through the role of the Wild Hunter-God of Germania, whence the reason the last sheaf of corn was left out to 'placate' this force. An 'uprush of fire' is needed at this time, whence the Initiates of Fire must arise (incarnate) in order to use this force to 'push' this evolutionary drive. 

If we see the Fiery Serpent as moving upwards to open the Third Eye then what happens is that the individual reaches higher to a state of Pure Consciousness but also to a state of Cosmic Truth. In some subtle way Fire is the 'Agent of Truth'. Light and Fire go together like peas in a pod, the Sun is both Light and Fire. Thus the result of the rising of the Fiery Serpent is en-light-en-ment or 'illumination'. 

'Woden is the Horned One, the Mystic Initiator into the Light of Higher Consciousness, who wields the Lightning-Bolt of Spiritual Illumination (Trident of Rudra-Shiva). He is the Leader of the Divine Revolt against the tyranny of the Demiurge, descended to free the Divine Soul imprisoned in the darkness and ignorance of this world ruled by the Demiurge.'

The key to the awakening of the Fire-Serpent is a reversal of the flow of perception, thought and libido, moving backwards to the source and origin. This is the Left-Hand Path. 'Kundalini' can be rendered as the Kyndill-Force using a northern root; this term is related to 'candle' and thus to 'light' and 'fire'. The term 'Kundalini' stems from the following -

kund - 'to burn'

kunda - 'to coil' 'to twist', or 'to spiral'.

Woden is associated with wind which is a 'blowing of the spirit'; and yet he is also seen as being the 'Master of Woda', mastering the force of 'divine madness', 'intoxication' and 'fury'. To understand this we need to look at the 'Holy Trinity' of the North - Woden, Will & Weoh. 

Woden - 'Divine madness', the 'Master of Woda', 'ecstatic inspiration', 'intoxication'.

Will - The Will.

Weoh - this is the Vayu of Hinduism who is associated with the 'wind' and with the 'spirit'; his name relates to the concept of 'divine', 'holy' or 'sacred', and from this comes the 'Holy Spirit.

Through the associations we have of Woden we can clearly see his links to 'Fire' and to 'Heat' since these are both the trait of the Warrior-God and the Fertility-God (Woden-Ingui). Since the origins of the term *wuot lie in the meaning of 'all-pervasive' and 'all-penetrating' this refers to the Cosmic Creative Force which is thus associated with 'Fire' and 'Light' - and as shown before, to the Serpent. The fact that the Votan of the Americas is of the Race of Chan - the 'Race of the Serpent' further underlines this point.

Putting this together we can see that Initiates of Fire must arise at this time because fire is energy, force and above all - movement of force. This is the counter-force to the entropy that rules the world today, to the Forces of Entropy that have locked us into the material world, chained to matter and forced down into the inert 'masses'. This Sacred Fire is invoked through the use of the Ken-Rune or Kan-Rune. This Fiery-Energy or Fiery-Motion is symbolised by the Fylfot-Swastika with its turning-movement, moving 'widdershins' against the normal flow (like the Salmon swimming against the current) to invoke the Fire-Serpent. 

The movement of the Fylfot-Swastika is 'widdershins', flowing against Time, but is also a spiral-force drawn in a two-dimensional form; this symbol is thus the means to move the Creative Energy from one world to another, to bring this energy into our world from the Other-World. This symbol is made up of 4 x Germanic Kenaz-Runes. It is also made up of 2 x Sieg-Runes. With these new ideas in mind I am going to re-examine a passage that I have quoted before in one of my books -

'He (Gurdjieff) said that from time to time from another world - 'from Above' - a Sacred Individual is incarnated in human form with a very high and special mission, the working of which is not visible in this world and which can only be perceived by the disciples or companions who are specially prepared. This mission is not performed in this world except in so far as the being who is engaged in it is incarnated in human form. A certain possibility is introduced from a realm where the impossible does not exist. It is something new which doesn't belong to the cause and effect of this world, and therefore changes the entire situation. The doing of this and how it is done is unseen; but, in general, it is necessary that something should be seen, manifested, so that the particular new thing should be able to operate in the visible world amongst people with ordinary perceptions. It is to fulfil that second part of the mission that the Sacred Image is created and this Sacred Image has unlimited power in it, because its source is beyond the existing world. That Sacred Image we see as the founder of a religion, as a prophet or as an Incarnation of God, who introduces a new hope into the life of man.'

J.G. Bennett.

The term 'another world' or 'from Above' means the same as what I was talking about in The Wisdom of the Serpent since it refers to the Archetypal Realm in which 'the impossible does not exist' and which 'doesn't belong to the cause and effect of this world'. The 'Sacred Image', of course, can also be a very powerful symbol - 

This symbol is the link between the two worlds, through which the Creative Energy is drawn into this world, and which has 'unlimited power' because the source is 'beyond the existing world'. The 'possibility' spoken of here refers to the evolutionary 'short-cut' which is made possible through the entry from 'Above' of a Force of Movement that will break the chains of entropy and thus allow Man to evolve through his own efforts. The workings of this are 'unseen' which tells us that the workings of this are done by 'Higher Powers' working from 'Above', powers that guide the Divine Mission of the Initiates that are involved in this working. 

The 'Sacred Individual' or the 'Incarnation of God' is the Aryan Avatar who 'descends' ('from Above') and is 'incarnated in human form'. The 'certain possibility' is that of the evolutionary drive towards the Superman which again is introduced 'from Above' - 'from another world' - from the Archetypal World or Astral Realm. This 'Sacred Individual' can also be the 'founder of a religion' or 'a prophet' and such figures will often come prior to the incarnation of an Avatar. The process, though not stated here, needs an 'uprush of Fire' in order to create a movement of change, the 'Third Force' needed to tip the balance of equal forces that create stasis. 

Modern scholars of the 'Out-of-body-Experience' or the 'Near Death Experience' have come to the conclusion that the Astral Realm is similar to our world, but that the same laws do not apply, and that the higher the realm the easier it is to create with the 'Mind', or in other words creation is done through Magic. This is the key to the Magical Arts. This should be borne in mind, since the creation of the Astral Body is thus an act of Magic. 

Near to where I live is a place called Lewes which has a Spiral Mound on which a cross is placed at Easter, not the original symbol used of course. There is a spiral path going up the mound, and this is usually called a Troy-Burg or Walburgen, named after a Goddess (Saint?) named Walburg. This would have been connected to April 30th - Walpurgis Night, named after Walburg. The term Walburg means a 'Spiral Burg', the Aryan Root *wal- meaning 'to twist', 'to coil' or 'to wind'. Again, this would have been a place where energy from another world could be drawn into our world of matter. What we need to remember, again, is that matter and energy are not different, they have different vibrational levels. 

I am now going to turn to another aspect connected to the same theme, and this also features this Vital Force and Power. This is related to a root-word ASU which means Vital Force and Power, the root-word AS meaning 'spirit' or 'Great Spirit', and *asu- means 'wind'. Fire is the element we have looked at, but fire needs the movement of air to make it work. The Wodenic Formula FAH - 'Fuel', 'Air' and 'Heat' works not only at the physical level. The word ASU is the root of our Aesir and the Asuras who were the Gods of the Arctic Pole. This root carries the notion of holiness, light and divinity. This is the working in the Realm of the Gods, manifested upon Earth through the Arya whose name is rooted in the Aryan Root *ar- meaning 'movement' or 'motion', and also reflected in the Saxon God Irmin whose name means 'mighty' (force or power) but also 'to set into motion'. 

We see 'darkness' as being kind of 'static' (in a way) since it seems to surround us, but 'light' is cast upon us by the Rays of the Sun, or 'thrown out' by some form of torch (one of the hidden sides of the Ken-Rune as the 'Pine Torch'). Light is 'movement' in this sense. And we should not overlook that 'creation' is always seen related to sound since 'In the beginning was the Word' - OS. The Sound of Creation is said to be Om or in runic terms Ym (the Yr-Rune). This is Ym-ir, of course. The Cosmic Creative Force is thus 'Light' and 'Fire' and the Ancient Solar-Race (Arya) embody this Creative Force as the 'creators' on this planet. It is no coincidence that the Galactic Centre (Dark Rift) of the Milky Way Galaxy is the 'Cosmic Womb of Creation' and this is guarded by Cygnus the Swan. The centre is a vast Black Hole, and as postulated by some this may indeed be a 'portal' into other worlds, an 'entrance' guarded by the Swan. (*)

(*) The 'Swan-Song' is the sound of the swan as it is dying, and thus sound is also associated with destruction, a necessary form of change in order to recreate.

The 'Swan-Ship' that sails upon the Waters of Chaos at the Time of Dissolution, when the worlds are dissolved into the Primal Chaos holds within it the 'Seeds of New Birth' or the 'Seeds of New Creation', and also in some symbols the Solar Orb, symbolic of the Birth of a New Sun. 

This article has as its base the idea of 'Fire' and 'Movement', and there is yet another root-word linked to this, and also to kingship - the Aryan Root *ri which forms the basis of Rita and is related to the Rit-rune. From this root (meaning 'to move') we get *reg- meaning 'to move in a straight line', and this forms words like 'royal', 'regal', 'regulate', and 'ruler'. I am reminded again here of Tolkien's ideas that the Lost Lands could be reached by moving along the Straight Track. These ideas could be fused with that of the ideas on the Spiral Form since the Ley-Lines are the 'Straight Tracks' which have certain key 'points' that are 'Spirals' in the form of 3 1/2 coils or multiples of this number. This is sometimes also related to the movement of water (the 'Life-Blood' of the Earth). Rita is Truth and thus related to the Creative Life-Force, whose opposite is the Force of Entropy, Chaos and Darkness which embodies the idea of the 'Great Liar'. 

There is yet another root-word connected to these ideas - *aiw which means -

• Vital Force
• Life-Force
• Long Life, Life Everklasting
• Eternity

This gives us ayu from which the name Vayu probably stems, and also our word 'young' and 'youth' which contain an abundance of this 'Life-Force'. The Root *aiw is based upon the Ehwaz-Rune or Eoh-Rune -

The Wolf-Hook Rune is an extension of the Eoh-Rune and both represent the link between two worlds through the 'trunk' of the World Tree. This is also the Rune of Wid-Ar and the Rune of Resistance and related (as Hamasson pointed out) to Orion the Hunter, and thus to Waendal (through the Herne Giant) and hence to the 'Fire-Twirl' (Long Man). We have here a subtle connection that gives another clue to these Mysteries - 

The Cweorth-Rune or 'Fire-Twirl' is the backwards-forwards movement needed for a (re-)Creation, the impetus and movement needed to 'whisk' the worlds into being. Again, this is a spiral-movement as is the 'Dance of Destruction' of Rudra-Shiva, and the 'Pyrric Dance' related to the Divine Twins - 'Fire-Dance'. Also the Warrior-Dances that took place upon the Spiral Mounds - the Walburgen -

Ein - 'in',

Zwei - 'sway',

Drei - 'turn'.

The three-fold Warrior-Dance and Fertility-Dance that moved along the Spiral Path, raising the Cosmic Life-Energy 'from Above' or 'from Below' that it may enter the World of Man. War (Woden) and Fertility (Ingui) go hand in hand and cannot be separated. 

Many of the themes that have been posted upon the Wulfinga Blogs are now coming together in some kind of logical sequence, revealing to us the aims of our work and struggle. The idea of a 'Sacred Image' is not restricted to the ideas given by Gurdjieff, and I would like to add that another 'Sacred Image' exists in this Archetypal Realm, that of the new god-form for the New Age - the Sacred Image of Wid-Ar the Avenger. This 'Sacred Image' has to be 'earthed', brought from this 'other-world' into our world of matter in order to pave the way for the Coming Avatar. The Woden Folk-Religion is the vehicle for this work, creating a new Folk-Religion that embodies the idea of a new Aryan Warrior Archetype for the Age of Ing. 

"The spirit of a warrior is geared only to struggle, and every struggle is a warrior's last battle on Earth."

Don Juan - 'A Separate Reality' - Carlos Casteneda.