Rune Might: The Secret Practices of the German Rune Magicians - Edred Thorsson 2018
The Ritual of The Ninth Night
Secret Practices
In his 1920 book, Die “Edda” als Schlüssel des kommenden Weltalters (English edition: The Edda as Key to the Coming Age [Lodestar, 2017]), the theosophist and mantra expert Peryt Shou presented a highly complex working essentially based on the concept of the NOT-rune, coupled with the mythic formula of “Odin’s Cry of Need.” In the Edda (“Hávamál” stanzas 138—39) there is a description of Odin’s runic initiation in which he is said to hang for nine nights on the World Tree, wounded by his spear, until on the ninth night he discovers and “takes up” the runes. The phrase œpandi nam is found in the Old Norse original, and this literally means “[I] took [the runes] screaming.” Here this is turned into a mantric formula by Shou as the key to this working. Shou’s presentation and point of view is significantly different from that of List, Marby, Kummer, or Spiesberger. The function of this exercise is something akin to that of the Graal Cup in chapter 14, but it is far more complex. Shou sees this exercise as a mode of communication between an elect on this planet and an extraterrestrial “League of Truth.” He considers the Coming Age to be one in which the obsolete form of the Christian God of death will be superseded by a living resurrected form of the body of the elect themselves. Shou identifies this God as Wuotan-Hermes, or Wuotan-Christ. The collective body of the elect will transform their bodies into new, higher forms, and will, thereby be said to have “descended from the cross.” This is to be facilitated through spiritual exercises such as the Ninth Night. As Shou himself puts it: “The descent of Odin from the World Tree is the secret of the 'od-ization’ of the ego ('I’).” This constitutes resurrection within the elect. Shou understands this exercise as a way to transform the body of the magician into an antenna for certain cosmic streams of power. In this respect he is on the same wavelength, so to speak, as many of the other rune magicians of his time. That his book first appeared in 1920 might also suggest that Shou was among the first to conceive of runic exercises in this way. The author explains this process in the following way:
The material substance of the ego is transformed into a more refined “odic” one through the power of this ritual. The material of the body is the same, but it assumes another vibratory form, one in which it becomes obedient and subordinated to the Logos, while the natural material body is antagonistic to the Logos. The latter is bound to the instincts by sin. Thus, only by means of “need” does the transformation, the awakening to Od-in, occur. The sinful flesh does not voluntarily dissolve itself into the vibratory form of the spiritualdivine, that is, of the Odic corporeality.
Here it is clear that Shou has a basically Gnostic outlook on this particular work. He also was constantly trying in some way to reconcile Roman Catholicism with the Germanic tradition. Regardless of what one might think of his theories, the basic mode of his working is one very much worth examining and experiencing.
The collective entity with which the antenna effects communication is called Mercury-Wuotan, and it is said not to be a single being but rather an interplanetary network of radio waves between the planet Mercury and the Earth, constituting the League of Truth, or the “Brotherhood of Hermes-Wuotan.” The celestial antenna that corresponds to the one set up by the runer, which is supposed to act as a kind of transmitter for the League of Truth, is said by Shou to be situated in the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), which, according to Shou, has nine stars arranged in the following pattern.
This is a more astronomically correct version of what Shou depicts in his book in a rather schematic way. Now, before any reader starts to get too smug about dismissing these ideas about transmitters and antennas, it might be well to note that Shou was writing around 1920—some twenty years before radio astronomy was first used. By the mid-1940s, a point in the Cygnus constellation had in fact been identified as a galaxy (Cygnus A) that emitted large amounts of radio waves!*4 According to Shou, “Everything that we discover in nature is an external projection of the interior man, according to the law of psycho-physical parallelism. Everything—including the radiotelegraph—is within us. And so we create it in the exterior world!”
The Practice of the Ritual of the Ninth Night
The actual working of the rite involves practicing a series of exercises over the course of several days or even weeks, depending on the subjective perceptions of the individual. The whole rite is divided into two main phases or operations.
First Operation
In this operation the runer activates the outer vibratory ring (square CDEF)*5 supported by the central staff (ABF).
1. Stand facing north (toward the constellation Cygnus if possible) in the I-rune posture and concentrate on the feet while singing the mantra œp (pronounced as the ap in “apt”). The force is slowly drawn up through the feet to a point (B) in the center of the chest (in the thymus region). Repeat this exercise until successful. (Note: If you have been working other runic exercises, the technical aspects of the Ritual of the Ninth Night will, of course, proceed at a more rapid pace.)
The geometrical outline of the antenna structure for the Ritual of the Ninth Night
2. Now stretch your arms straight out in the cross posture and sing the mantric syllable and (pronounced “ah-nd”). At this time visualize a beam of force (ABE) with terminals in the middle of both palms. You may notice that there will be a slight prickling sensation in the hand centers during this phase. The correct performance of this mantric phase involves maximizing the nasal quality of the annnn sound. This is done by progressively pressing the back of the tongue into the soft palate, or the back of the roof of the mouth. Be very conscious of the transition from the an to the d sound. Repeat this exercise until you are satisfied that success has been attained.
3. Finish the first part of the mantra with the i (“ee”) sound. When the i sound is made, visualize a point just above the crown of the head (F), which completes the full cross-antenna and the outer vibratory ring (CDEF). Repeat this whole cycle with the complete mantra, æp-and-i, and begin to circulate the gathered energies along the ADEF course. As this circulation builds, the antenna to the spiritual network of the League of Truth is engaged. There may develop an uncomfortable, even painful, feeling in the region of the hips and lower back at some time during this exercise. According to Shou this is to be expected and is called by him the “Wound of Wuotan,” or the “Wound of Prometheus.” This pain can always be alleviated by making contact with the hip bones with the palms of the hands.
The antenna structures and mantric formulas for the Ritual of the Ninth Night
4. At some point in this phase the inner vibratory ring (GHIJ) will be opened, or better said, it will open itself. This will signal that the Andvari, or dwarf of the subatomic force of matter, has been overcome and released into the inner Ring-Pass-Not.
5. At this point the whole œpandi nam mantra is to be brought in to action. This is done by repeating the exercise as outlined in phases 1—4 above: (a) sing the œp with the arms outstretched, (b) place the palms on the hip bones during the andi phase, and then (c) repeat the whole æpandi mantra with the arms again in the cross posture. Now sing the syllable nam (“nah-m”) and again touch the hip bones with your palms. This creates a third vibratory ring (BKDL). Shou actually recommends that you hold off the nam phase as long as you can, until the growing pain in the hip region becomes so great that you need to alleviate it with the performance of the nam gesture. In this phase attention should be fully focused on the midchest point (B), with all other phenomena peripheral to that point. Shou further points out that the result of all this should be an intense feeling of energy and hyper-awareness. If a trance state or a feeling of psychological unease ensues, the exercise should be broken off. With the activation of the third vibratory ring, or “Golden Rectangle,” full contact with the higher zone has been effected, and the runer can begin to expect direct communication in some form from the League of Truth, or the Brotherhood of Wuotan.
6. After success has been gained with phases 1—5 of the ritual, and a solid link between the runer and the network in the higher zones has been established, the practitioner undertakes a transformative, or rebirthing, phase in which he or she actually “gives birth” to a higher ego-form. This is done by first visualizing a concave, shieldlike form in front of, and very close to, the lower body, with its center at the navel. On the inside of this surface, visualize an S-rune in the form and sing the mantra ansur (a form of the name of the fourth rune: ansuz = Od-in). With repetition, there will begin to develop a body of light on the inside surface of this shield. This is a spiritual placenta for the reborn ego. It is fed by nine shining streams of magical milk emanating from the navel. This embryonic entity is protected by the shield as it grows with each repetition of the exercise.
Second Operation
The phases of establishing communication with the League of Truth and the generation of a higher ego stemming from the growth that has taken place in the psyche are now complete. It is now time to go on to more active stages.
7. Proceed as before, engaging all three vibratory rings as you have learned to do with the mantric formula œpandi nam and ansur (if the last is still necessary). Now the spiritual eye (which is actually housed in the middle of the chest, in the thymus region) is sacrificed and given into Mimir’s Well.*6 The Well of Mimir is created by forming a fourth vibratory ring of power (IMDN) and circulating the power within it with the mantric formula hva (hhhvvvaaaah) while the runer is in the nam posture. This is done by visualizing a point of light descending from the thymus region into the middle of the ring (IMDN). Now put your arms back into the cross posture and wait for an answering echo returning from the well in the form of inspiration, insight, and memories of things you had not consciously known before.
8. Once success has been attained in this exercise, go on to the next mantric formula, hvas (hhhwaaazzz), in the cross posture. Feel the energy pulse from the middle of your body and reverberate back from the points of the outer vibratory ring (CDEF). In addition to this formula, the alternate svar (zzzzzvvvvvaaaaah-rrrrrrrr) can also be sung in this phase. In the final phase of the Ritual of the Ninth Night, the runer has fully created the antenna-work within his or her body, and a highly articulate interchange is possible between the runer and that transpersonal network conceived of by Shou as the League of Truth.