A-L-U The Magical Force

This runic stave has been looked at many times, but as far as I can see no-one has actually come to any conclusion as to what it means - including myself, of course. We use it as a Runic Exercise but that is obviously not what it was first designed for, since it appears mostly on funeral urns here in England, sometimes together with the fylfot-swastika. But we seem to have nothing about how it was used, why it was used, and the meaning of the formula. 

Firstly, we should perhaps do as the Armanen Adepts did, and that is to break it down into the individual runes and their meanings -

AEsc/Ansuz - The Ancestral Rune. Looking at this from the English perspective the AEsc-Rune is the Ancestral Rune, whilst the Os-Rune is the Rune of Woden as the Ancestral God, though they are both linked together. 

Lagu - A body of water, a lake; also meaning 'law' or 'to lay down'. We know that Woden seems to have had the role of The Ferryman possibly ferrying the dead over the 'Waters', and we have the theme of King Arthur being ferried over the lake to Avalon. Here we do have an association with death.

Ur - The Primal Ox, but here maybe more likely the association is with origins, maybe a return to one's origins. 

Well, that does not seem to have got us any further, but who knows? Next I would like to look at the root-words connected to the word ALU -

*alu- - in words related to sorcery, magic, possession and intoxication. This is backed up by the meanings of various words that contain alu in many different cultures of Indo-European origin. Certainly the word is connected to the English ale, hence the link with intoxication. 

*al- - Beyond

       - To wander.

       - To grow or nourish.

       - To grind or to mill.

       - All.

The word hallucination stems from this same root, and the earlier meaning (before it was distorted) was centred around the 'wandering' of the mind rather than seeing something that is not there. That the root-sound forms the basis of our word hallucination certainly suggests that the two roots above are linked, though maybe not all of the meanings. The term 'beyond' again suggests death and the afterlife. 

Moving now to a story that I have told before in one of my books, hoping this will not bore those who are familiar with it. Some years ago when my kids were small my ex-wife and I took them over to Wayland's Smithy which is now in Oxfordshire, but was in Wiltshire. We set up a tent by the long-barrow and I lit a small fire in front of us whilst filling a mead-horn with mead from a bottle. We were drinking drafts of the mead when a couple appeared from the gateway of the Smithy, the man with a t-shirt printed with a pentagram. It turned out that his partner owned a 'New Age Shop' in Wantage which is not far from the area we were in. Out of politeness I asked if they wished to drink the mead, which it seems they had never tried. She accepted and took the mead-horn from me, asking what the letters 'A-L-U' meant, burned into the leather band around the horn. I said - 'ALU' to which she seemed rather shocked.

She mentioned that she was a medium, and it turned out that a week before this they had visited the barrow and there she saw a tall, blond warrior-figure with plaited hair, and carrying a spear and shield. This warrior stood before them and uttered 'ALU - ALU - ALU'. Now, this type of synchronicity should not be lightly dismissed, since we need to consider that the figure said this, and then a week later my family visited the site with a mead-horn marked with the term ALU. This is a 'meaningful coincidence' and as such should be taken notice of, since it can sometimes be seen as a 'message'. 

We have here a 'warrior', but obviously one that does not live here in this world, but in the Realm of the Dead or Realm of the Ancestors. We are here back to the meaning of the first rune - AEsc/Ansuz. Of course, this could have been the god Woden as the Ancestral God, though this guise is not usually encountered; we should not dismiss this out of hand though. There could, of course, also be a link to Weland the Smith since this is where he is said to dwell. 

Let us now turn to another aspect of this subject, and that is the rune-formula also found in connection with a funeral urn - ALUGOD - which has the Fylfot-Swastika with it. ALUGOD could well mean 'God of Intoxication', but it could also mean 'ALL-GOD" or perhaps 'All-Father'. I have mentioned in previous posts and in one of my books how the term ILU means 'God' or 'Light', from which we get the names 'Babel' ('Gateway to God' or 'Gateway to Light') and 'Babylon' (the same meaning). ILU and ALU could thus be much the same in their meaning, though the cultures are well apart. 

This runic-stave has been found on various bracteates including the new 'Jutland Hoard', and here it seems associated with 'WODIN' and also having the Fylfot-Swastika in the symbolism, as well as a horse. One figure has plaited hair, and is riding a horse; before him is the Fylfot-Swastika. One important feature here is that the horse has horns shaped much like the Gold Torcs used in Europe, and this horned-symbolism has always been associated with the divine. The horns may well be used to 'break through' into the Otherworld. 

There is yet another aspect we should not overlook, and that is how the Fylfot is associated with the 'Foal's Foot' or 'Fool's Foot' which we find on the Merseburg Charms. Here the steed is the Foal of Pol (Fol = Baeldaeg) whose legs are 'broken', thus forming the Swastika with four 'broken' legs. It is significant that it is the god Woden who can heal the 'broken' legs, and thus return the symbolism to that of the 'Sun-Wheel', with the 'Ring of Baeldaeg' returned to the symbolism. This ring Woden placed upon Baeldaegs's funeral pyre, that it would be there for him in Odainacre. In this respect, it would seem, the Fylfot-Swastika is symbolic of Baeldaeg in the Underworld (Odainsacre). 

All of this points to a connection with the Underworld/Otherworld or the 'Inner Earth' (Serrano); the use of it on funeral urns points to a connection with the dead. This may also go for the Fylfot-Swastika and its links to Baeldaeg who dwells in Odainsacre until after Ragnarok. 

In an article on Thule posted on the Inglinga Blog recently I mentioned that the Long Man of Wilmington could represent the 'Gateway to Thule', since it faced north and can certainly be seen as a 'gateway' or 'portal' into another world, guarded by the Waendal. It is important to note the use of the name 'Pol' for Baeldaeg in the Old Saxon Merseburg Charm, since the Long Man is some 2-3 miles from a place called 'Polegate', a name rendered 'Pool Gate' but which could just as well have been 'Pol's Gate' since the name 'Pol' crops up in various English place-names. If so we do have some clues here -

• The Long Man is shaped as the Cweorth-Rune which is the 'Funeral Fire'; since these were found on funeral urns this would be the cremated ashes inside. 
• The Cweorth-Rune, as Hamasson once pointed out to me, may well create a Fylfot-Swastika when spun around at a certain speed. This has been shown to be so of the VW symbolism on a hub-cap. 
• There is a White Horse to the west of the hill-figure, though a late Nineteenth Century carving; maybe there was one more ancient that this was carved upon? 
• On top of the Long Man a 'Golden Knight' is said to be buried, again the link with the burial and the dead. 

The one thing as yet not covered is the version found on a burial urn in Norfolk, one containing the formula ALU-ULA. This one certainly suggests a connection between two worlds, since the 'otherworld' is said to be a 'mirror-image' of the physical world, where everything is the other way around. Here we have that exact formula in ALU - ULA. 

The basis of the Germanic Mannerbund was that of an age-set based on the young warrior and his relationship to The Ancestors. There could, of course, be some connection between the term alu and that of hallow and this we can associate with 'All-Hallows Eve' (Halloween) which is clearly associated with the Ancestors (the dead) and with the link between the living and the dead at this time of the year. This is clearly linked to the ancient Germanic Mannerbund where the living young warrior becomes the dead Ancestor, or maybe put better the Ancestors 'possess' these living young warriors. In which case we have a clear link to the Root *alu- and its meaning of 'possession'. 

Maybe this is a magical force that is clearly able to pass from one world to another world, from one being to another being, and perhaps this is why this symbolism was marked on the funeral urn of one of the dead. This allowed the dead warrior to pass back into the physical realm to 'possess' his counterpart in this world, just as the ALUGOD Woden 'possesses' his initiates. We can also note that on the bracteates the Horse-God is connected to the ALU Formula and to the Fylfot-Swastika, the horse being a Shamanic-Horse that can pass between the two worlds, as Woden does on Sleipnir. We find Hermod (The Messenger) using Woden's Steed to pass from the World of the Gods into the World of the Dead, there to try to free the god Baeldaeg. 

Where we find the 'horns' on the Shamanic Steed, as stated this suggests that these 'break through' the veil between the worlds, and in one bracteate this is next to the Fylfot-Swastika which may be symbolic of Baeldaeg in the Underworld. There is just a possibility here that since the death of Baeldaeg was the key point in the decline and decay of the Folk and the Gods then at one level the Black Swastika represents the Black Sun which has been 'occulted' to keep it free of this decay and death, just as Baeldaeg and the Asmegir are free of this too.

The Black Sun is made up of 12 reversed Sig-Runes, but also of 3 Fylfot-Swastikas; unlike the 'static' Swastika Symbol' this suggests movement and turning since it suggests a wheel turning upon its axis. What we have here clearly suggests that at this stage of the Cycle of the Ages the Black Sun has been set into motion and its power has started to wax stronger once more. 

This photo of the Black Sun as a crop-formation on 8th August 2008 (8-8-8), has been slightly altered, something that we should take as being important. The 'arms' of one of the three swastikas seems to be 'breaking through' the Second Ring, as if breaking through water (it seems to be refracted). The four 'dots' (as I have mentioned in an earlier blog) may represent the Four Beasts and thus the change of world-age and the end of one Cosmic Cycle. If this is so then this hints that the growing power of the Black Sun coincides with the change in world-age. There is also a link with the Number 8 not only in the dating of the formation, but in the symbolism here where the four 'dots' are each in a semi-circle to which two Sig-Runes are joined - making 8 in all. There seems to be some kind of 'sequence' around 2 - 4 - 8 based upon doubling each number, and not on 2 - 4 - 6 - 8 on adding 2 to the last number; the Number 6 is thus left out. The emphasis here is upon moving quicker through the doubling of the numbers - maybe time speeding up? Doubling is obviously multiplying by 2, and the 4 'dots' here create an X-Cross, symbol of 'multiplication'. 

The power of the Black Sun is growing, even though these times are controlled by the Forces of Darkness and Chaos. This may yet not seem apparent, since this control is almost total, but there are still signs that there is a growing Power of Light even in this almost-total darkness. The Black Sun is the Spiritual Sun which can be felt in the Igneous Blood of those who are faithful to the 'Spirit of Man'. This emanates a Spiritual Light that aids the struggle against the Dark Forces, and is the connection between our world and the otherworld, and also with the Origin and Destiny of our Folk. 

We can expect the power of the Golden Sun to be weakening now, which is surely is when we consider the world around us today. The Golden Sun seems to be linked to the rational and intellectual mind, which has no doubt developed under the Golden Sun. The Black Sun works through a different level of consciousness, a more spiritual level at a higher vibration. Here we should look back at the ALU-ULA runic formula since if this represents a shift between two worlds, a shift in consciousness and vibratory levels, then this parallels the shift between the Golden Sun and the Black Sun. 

The colour used of the Swastika Symbol is here black, suggesting the Black Sun since this is said to be a 'solar symbol'. When we hear the words 'the Sun turns black' in different sources of prophecy this can be seen as a Solar Eclipse, as that of August 11th 1999. But this could also be a secret reference to the Resurrection of the Black Sun, which seems to be hinted at in the Prophecies of Nostradamus related to the Solar Eclipse of August 1999, where this is the 'great King of Terror' in the sky. This brings back to life (resurrects) the 'King of the Angles' - Ingwe. We do here have a link to Ingwe as well as to Baeldaeg, and the Swastika being linked to the Vedic Agni it is thus also linked to Ingwe - the Fire-God. 

We seem to have gone off track here, but these points are important in some way and thus put forward for more study. Ingwe (Agni) is the 'Fire-in-Water', the 'sap' in the plants, and the 'blood' in animals and man. He was first 'hidden' from man, dwelling in the Waters (of the Lower-World), and only 'kindled' into life through the Friction-Fire. Woden decreed that his Chosen Warriors be cremated and then buried in a mound, this 'cleansing-fire' purifying them and transforming them in order to enter the World of the Gods. 

In one sense we could see the Resurrection of the Black Sun as the Resurrection of Thule, since this would have been the Sun of Thule. There is also a synchronicity here in that, as I have shown in the Inglinga Blog article, the word thyle can mean 'simpleton' or 'fool' and here we have the Fool's Foot symbol associated with Woden - The Hooded One. All of the associations with the dead, with the Ancestors, and with the Ancestral God (Woden) suggest that both the Swastika and the ALU-ULA formula are connected to the passing between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and that maybe (?) the Fylfot-Swastika is symbolic of the Black Sun or Hidden Sun of Midnight, which shines above the Midnight Mountain in the Land of Thule.

There is just one more thing, and that is the link between Mount Kailas in India (Swastika Mountain) and the god Rudra-Shiva who has parallels to Woden, and is famous for the Fire-Dance of Destruction. The god Shiva is shown in the stance of the Cweorth-Rune - the Fire-Twirl. ALU can thus be seen as a Magical Force that moves between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and this is connected to Woden as the God of the Dead. We find Rudra-Shiva linked to the type of Mannerbund age-set that existed in ancient times. 

These are just ideas thrown up at this time, and I hope they may form the basic ideas around discovering the secret of ALU and the Fylfot-Swastika symbolism, and their association with the World of the Dead, and the travel between these worlds associated with the symbols. Maybe the form of ALU is connected to 'hallow' and thus to the Magical Force called Heil which was invoked by the raising of the right arm, open-handed into the air. Thence we can see that this could have been a way to bring the dead hero back to his Heildom on death, that he may enter the World of the Gods. This would be a return to the original state (UR) since this world is now so defective. Maybe this is the next theme to pursue in a later post.