Yggdrasil and the Runes

SEED OF LIFE

FLOWER OF LIFE

In a previous post I looked at the 'Seed of Life' and the 'Flower of Life' as being part of a kind of 'matrix' which forms the basis of all life-forms. The very basic core of both of these symbols is the Hagal-Rune or the Hag-All. As the hexagon this is the Crystal of Life which some German Rune Magicians called the Krist-All. Within the symbolism of the 'Flower of Life' are the Nine Glory-Twigs which form the 'Mother-Rune' of the Ar-Kan Rune-Row. (*)

I am now going to look at the figure of the Nine Glory-Twigs in the form which has the hexagon at the centre, the Hag-All/All-Hag. This, I must add, is just one of two ways of showing the Nine Glory-Twigs. Both ways have the Hagal-Rune at the centre and both have the Gar-Rune as the central rune also, but what I am going to show here relates to the 'Form of Life' patterns shown above. (**)

You can see in the above photo that I have used isometric paper for ease of drawing the runes; this paper is used for drawing three dimensional figures (3-D). The basic pattern of the paper is the hexagon or cube (cube in three dimensions). (I got the idea of the isometric paper from a YouTube video and the basic pattern fits what I am doing here.) (***)

In the above I have drawn the first three AEttir of the Ar-Kan rune-row, the last nine runes being on the figure below -

Together with the nine extra runes are three variants of the Wolf-Hook Rune, the Sig-Tiw Rune, an alternative Ing-Rune and Ken-Rune, and the Fylfot-Swastika shown as a three-dimensional symbol. These are what I could think of at the time but there are certainly more symbols to be found from the basic figure.

The 'Seed of Life' certainly grows into the 'Flower of Life' and from this stage comes the 'Fruit of Life', and thus back to the 'Seed of Life' which creates new life. Thus we have the basic unit of Guido von List's work - Birth-Life-Death-to-Rebirth.

I found the above symbol online, and when looked at carefully it shows one of the prime symbols of Freemasonry, the 'Ing-Rune' and the 'G' in the centre. Of course, we need to understand that symbols are not inherently 'evil' in any way, and it has always been the case that they have been stolen by the forces of the Counter-Initiation and used for their own purposes. In this case it is my belief that the basic unit of this - the Cube of Saturn - has been adopted because this is the 'Pattern of Life' (Universal Pattern) which the three main religions - Judaism, Islam and Christianity - use for the purpose of spreading the darkness throughout the universe. All three of these slave-religions use the Black Cube for their symbolism, even the Christian Cross is the cube opened out! (Which shows that the true Christian Symbol was the original Fish of Pisces, but the Cube-Cross replaced this at a later time.) (****)

The 'G' in the above, when squared off to suit the pattern, makes a spiral form of a '6', the number which is related to Saturn. The 'Ing-Rune' is the DNA-Code and also symbolic of the 'chain of life' since it has the meaning 'offspring of' or 'son of'. In a sense, in the way it is drawn here which is slightly altered from the one we use, it can be seen a Twin-Fishes, the Sign of Pisces. The main point here is that all of this symbolism is used to spread the darkness throughout the universe; scientists know that Dark Matter exists but they do not as yet know what it is. Since it makes up some 80% of the universe in a time of the Dark Age maybe there is some link with what has been said here.

In the above I have used an alternative to the 'Flower of Life' in that in our own Northern Tradition we could use the Tree of Life which is Yggdrasil. The name 'Ygg-Dra-Sil' fits well with the 'Nine Glory-Twigs' since it too is based upon the Mystical Number Three -

Ygg - Ygg-Woden

Dra - 'three', 'to turn', 'to coil'.

Sil - Column/Sun-Column.

If we see this 'Tree of Life' as Yggdrasil then the central column has three 'points' of intersection which are the three main worlds (3 + 3 + 3) of Asgard-Midgard-Hel. Interestingly, using half-lines there are nine points which thus give us the Nine Worlds and the Nine Chakras (moving beyond the seven).

Since the 'Seed of Life' is the 'Mother-Rune' of the Armanen Rune-row then this was the right rune-row to be used at the time when the 'Seed of Life' or 'Seed of a New Order' was sown through the awakening of the German Nation in the late nineteenth and twentieth century. This 'Seed of Life' would actually be 'sown' through the phenomena known as the 'Ride of the Wild Hunt' which takes place at the Yuletide of the Year - in this case 1933 - 1945 (the twelve years representing the Twelve Nights of Yule). The Wild Hunt is the force of destruction-to-recreation and as such through the destruction wrought in World War II the 'Seeds of Creation' were sown. This symbolism can be found in the image of Woden riding Sleipnir at the Yuletide of the year when his horse's hooves leave behind them the 'seeds' sown for the new year to come. That 'seed' is now beginning to grow into the Great Tree, the force that will bring into being the New Order.

This, in fact, puts paid to the criticism of the Armanen Rune-System because it is not 'historical'; Guido von List embodied the Archetype of Wotan when he recovered the Ancient Runes after a cataract operation which left him blind for some months. The Armanen Rune-row was the one that fitted the era when the 'Seed of Life' was sown. (*****) Today we have entered the era when the 'seed' has begun to spring into new growth, and thus the 33 Ar-Kan Runes formed from the 'Tree of Life' are valid to the work we have been undertaking. We can see that it is necessary for us to adopt the larger rune-system in that it contains the Ing-Rune which is the 'Rune of the Son', and the Rune of the Ingas.  

If we look at what I have been saying about the 'Tree of Life' then the runes are in fact a form of 'Tree Alphabet' but not in the sense that the runes are merely a form of writing as some would have us believe. The runes, as can be seen here, have three distinct levels of meaning -

• At a Cosmic Level they are the Secrets of the Cosmos.
• At the next level they are the Secrets of Nature.
• At the next level they form the Mysteries of Man.

At all three levels the World Tree - Yggdrasil - forms the basis of the wholeness of each. The 'Seed of Life' grows into the 'Tree of Life' from which the 'Fruit of Life' ('Seed of Life' again) forms with the maturity of the Tree. Birth-Life-Death-to-Rebirth again. We can see then that the runes have to be read on all levels of being as if they were the same; each level has the same essence if not quite the same form.

The Walknut can also be drawn using an Isometric Grid, as was shown on the video on YouTube. Although the cube forms the basic pattern, this itself is formed from six triangles, so the triangle is in fact the very basic form of the 'Pattern of Life'. Whereas the cube is formed of six triangles the Walknut is formed of ten triangles (three times three with one at the central point). The Number 10 itself suggests the start of a new sequence. As I have shown in one of our magazines, when you use a piece of cordage laid out in the form of the Walknut it forms a 'slip-knot' which is the simple form of the 'hangman's knot'. It is the Knot of Woden.

Adding these ideas together we have the World Ash-Tree (Yggdrasil) on which hangs the god Ygg (Woden); in the same symbolism we have the 'Hangman's Noose' which is symbolic of Woden. It is usual to see the World Tree as an Ash-Tree but some feel that it is really a Yew-Tree, due to the Eddas calling it the 'Needle-Ash'. But here we may be 'barking up the wrong tree' (sorry, could not resist that one) for may not the term 'Needle Ash' be used for the Mountain Ash whose leaves are somewhat more pointed than the Ash, but whose alternative name is the Rowan-Tree ('Rune-Tree'). Woden rediscovered the runes whilst he hung in a self-sacrifice upon the 'Rune-Tree'. What he had to do was to recognise the patterns of the runes within the tree itself. (******)

If we look carefully at the Fylfot-Swastika form used in the diagram it seems to us as a three-dimensional form, as if we were looking downwards onto the symbol. But it also shows something else, for looked at from this angle the pattern is made up of squares/cubes which has to relate to the board-games known as Chess and Taefl. It has been suggested that the outcome of the Taefl-Board or Knefatafl is decided by R-a-hw-h-a-n.

Woden was said to have 'peered down' in order to see the rune-staves; looking at the Ger-Rune, the Gar-Rune and the Fylfot-Swastika these appear to be the ones that show up at a three-dimensional level when we 'look down' upon them at a certain angle. Both of these contain the Germanic Ing-Rune which looks like a square when viewed in this way. Put another way the 'lozenge' becomes the 'square' at a 3-D level.

The 18 runes of the Armanen Rune System can all be taken from the Hagal-Rune or 'Mother-Rune' as shown above. I have drawn the Thorn-Rune as it would be taken from the hexagon-shape, though it is usually drawn as in the CGF. It could also be drawn as just a 'thorn', a triangle.

Finally, the Nine Glory-Twigs form can be used as a meditation in itself; this is done by concentrating on the form and drawing the runes out of the Pattern of Wyrd. Wyrd is the whole, the runes are formed from the whole. Wyrd is formed from the interconnecting 'threads' which in this case run upright and diagonally making up the pattern as it is.

(*) I will call this the 'Ar-Kan Rune-Row' rather than the 'Anglo-Frisian Rune-Row' because ours does use some alternative runes; this has been done to fit with our own unique Wodenic Lore.

(**) This form is the way that some have drawn the pattern; Hamasson used this form in a painting he gave to me.

(***) See the videos by Asaheim Wulfguard on YouTube; he has nothing to do with Woden's Folk and works on his own initiative.

(****) Saturn has a hexagon at its North Pole and an Eye at the South Pole. This is significant in view of the use by the Dark Forces who control the three major religions - Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

(*****) Guido von List actually prophesied that a new force would arise around 1932, only a year out from 1933.

(******) One of the most effective Runic Meditations is the 'Tree Meditation' where the runes are found in the patterns of the branches of trees. Runes can be found everywhere in life, but this is most potent in that we can see the runes appear around us in the woods and forests.