Rune Might: The Secret Practices of the German Rune Magicians - Edred Thorsson 2018

Krist-All
Appendices

Hag-All : All-Hag

In the esoteric runology of the early twentieth-century German occultists, the Hagal-rune held a very special place and meaning. Its shape suggests many things: the World Tree, a snowflake, the medieval Christian chi-rho , and, most importantly, the structure of a crystal. The rune was sometimes called the Mother Rune because so many other runic shapes can be derived from it when it is enclosed in a hexagon and circle (see figure below).

Its links with the often unseen, yet natural, world of physics makes it a key icon in the connection between esoteric runology and the physical universe. As such, it symbolizes a doorway between the ancient and traditional lore of the runes and the often thoroughly modern views of the twentieth-century runic occultists.

Clearly, the meaning the Hagal has in Armanic rune occultism is different from that seen in the lore of the runes contained in medieval manuscripts. This marked difference is a general testament to the innovative spirit of much of twentieth-century German esoteric runology. The general Armanic meaning of Hagal is linked to an all-encompassing cosmic pattern and holy enclosure.

The H-rune is described in several medieval manuscripts from various traditions. To see all of these texts, the reader can consult The Rune Poems (Lodestar, 2017). One of the richest poetic references is found in the “Old Icelandic Rune Poem,” where we read the following:

Hagall is a cold grain,

and a mighty snowfall,

and the sickness of snakes.

The Mother Rune

The ancient written tradition focuses almost entirely on the meteorological phenomenon of hail and its natural repercussions, specifically the ruining of crops.

In his landmark work, The Secret of the Runes (1908), Guido von List opened the door to a much more esoteric interpretation.

Hagal!—Introspective awareness, the consciousness to bear his God with all his qualities within himself, produces a high selfconfidence in the power of the personal spirit which bestows magical power, a magical power which dwells with in all persons, and a power which can persuade a strong spirit to believe in it without any doubt. Christ, who was one of these rare persons—as was Wotan—said: “Verily, verily, I say to you, if someone were to say to this stone: move yourself away!—and believes in it—then this stone would lift itself away and fly into the sea.” Borne by this doubtless consciousness, the chosen one controls the physical and spiritual realms, which he contains comprehensively, and thereby he feels himself to be all powerful. Therefore: “Harbor the All in yourself, and you will control the All!” (List, The Secret of the Runes, 54)

This occult door was opened even wider by Rudolf John Gorsleben in his monumental 1930 work, Die Hoch-Zeit der Menschheit, where he devotes a whole long chapter (pp. 497—585) to just some of the mysteries of Hagal. It is here that the great influence of Gorsleben’s ideas can be seen. His ideas on this rune, which were certainly suggested by List but then developed by Gorsleben to a new level, transformed and shaped the interpretation of this rune for many subsequent adherents of the Armanen tradition.

In his 1933 text, Rune-Magic, Kummer wrote the following about Hagal.

The h-Rune, Hagal, Hag-All. All-Hag, God-All, Walhalla, World-All, Man-All, hedge, enclose, hem in, to hide within one’s self, to include everything, the key to all rowning-Runes, to the great and holy All. The Hagal Rune is the World-Rune, the World-Tree, around the mid-point of which the whole spiritual and physical world revolves. The Rune of the holy seven, of sense, of sounds, of colors, of harmony, of the eternal wisdom in the divine, all-encompassing Self. (Kummer, Rune-Magic, 8)

Part of the power of the meaning of Hagal stems from considerations of German folk etymology. Folk etymology is a cornerstone of Listian esotericism and remained essential throughout German rune occultism. In a nutshell, folk etymology is the nonscientific derivation or interpretation of words based on superficial sound correspondences that often amount to wordplays or puns with esoteric content. Through this process the German word Hagel, “hail,” is associated with the word Hag, “hedge, fence, enclosure, bush, grove,” and the suffix -al is connected with All, “all.” Furthermore, through a common link made between words that share consonants, but in which the vowels may vary, the related verb hegen (“to hedge or fence in, enclose, protect, preserve; contain”) is also brought into the mix. List and other Armanen raised this sort of speculation to an esoteric art form similar to kabbalistic techniques. Using this method List arrived at the insight that Hagal denoted the “all-encompassing” concept. Beyond this, the shape of the rune—its iconic content—suggested to other writers a whole new set of ideas rooted in scientific and pseudoscientific associations with crystals and crystalline molecular patterns. The linkage to the word crystal (Ger. Kristall) then gives rise to a whole new set of folk etymological associations.

KRIST-ALL

Probably the earliest explorations of the idea of Hagal in relation to crystalline molecular structures were undertaken by the rather obscure figure of Dr. Ing. Emil Rüdiger (1885—1952), who is referenced by Gorsleben at the beginning of his extensive presentation of the crystalline mysteries of Hagal.

The Hag-All Rune consists of three staves, or lines. From this trinity of the Norns, the human being accepts his fate on the World Tree. Three parts of the ego: spirit, soul, and body. Three egos, three staves, have to break when you leave this life. Three staves, white ones, knowing ones, wise ones, guiding ones, have been broken over the criminal, who has broken the law, the Rata, the divine advice. A crystal breaks in every human being as he is dying. It is like in the ballad “The Luck of Edenhall,” which sounds out to every human being from the Garden of Eden of this world, and the Cryst-All-Will is breaking, and there are humans who can view the crystal of the essence within every human being who more or less possesses a form that is arranged in a way similar to the Hagal-rune.

Crystal! How much this word contains, says Ing. Rüdiger, as far as imagination is concerned, memories, and how much of potential, of scientific insights, and of artistic views! (Gorsleben, Hoch-Zeit der Menschheit, 294)

This short passage from the beginning of Gorsleben’s discussion of the Krist-All covers many of the powerful associations contained in this word for people in the 1930s.

Because of their use in early radio technology—the high-tech metaphor of the day—crystals held an important place in science-based symbolism concerning the ability of humans to communicate with higher forces and forms of intelligence.

Through series of diagrams Gorsleben demonstrates the relationship of Hagal to the crystalline structure and to the shape of the cube. These teachings are connected to Platonism and even more ancient schools of philosophy (see figures below).

One of the greatest hallmarks of early twentieth-century German runic occultism is its close association with scientific (and pseudoscientific) ideas of physics, electronics, and so on. Another trait, often overlooked in more recent years, is its lack of outright rejection of mythology surrounding Jesus Christ. Here again, the lore of Hagal comes into play. The German word Christ is pronounced “krist”, exactly like the first part of the word Kristall, and a formula analogous to Hag-All (< Hagal) is thus seen in Krist-All (= Christ-All).

The positive focus on the image of Krist (Christ) among members of the Hagal circle, or Edda Society, such as Gorsleben and Wiligut, was rooted in a traditionalist mentality that viewed the perennial philosophy of which they were the exponents as something that transcended “primitive” mythologies and encompassed all of the great traditions—pagan or Christian. As explained in the book by Flowers and Moynihan, The Secret King, Wiligut championed what he called Irmin-Kristianity, the ancient esoteric tradition of the Germans. The word Irmin is cognate to the Listian Arman. Through this ideology, with its basis in the nineteenth-century concept of the Aryan Christ, the twentieth-century German rune occultists were able to absorb many aspects of the teachings and imagery of Christianity and Christ into a runic context. List himself had paved the way for this process in works such as Der Übergang von Wuotanismus zum Christentum (1911). This way of thinking cleverly allowed modern Germanic individuals to embrace all historical epochs of their culture within a völkisch context and avoid the great pagan/Christian divide.

The geometric origin of the 18 Scaldic Futhork staves

The evolution of the cube from the Hagal rune

An interesting aside in connection with the German lore surrounding Hagal is found in the logo that was often printed on the cover of the journal of the Edda Society.

Edda Society journal cover

The motto or inscription reads: Gleiches wird nur vom Gleichen verstanden (Like is only understood by Like). This profound and ancient philosophical principle goes back at least to the Greek philosophers Empedocles and Democritus, whence it was taken up by Paracelsus and eventually found its way into the books of German philosophers of the nineteenth century. It implications can be linked to ideas of semiotics, where only identical, or near identical, systems can be expected to communicate with one another with any great degree of precision. The more similar the systems, the better they can understand one another and, if capable, respond in an intelligible way. The principle holds good for machines, individual human beings, and even cultures. This idea seems to lie at the root of List’s original description of Hagal: that individual humans can only really understand the All once they become All-encompassing beings themselves.