Rune Might: The Secret Practices of the German Rune Magicians - Edred Thorsson 2018
The Externsteine as a Runic Stead
Appendices
The Stones of Extern, or as they are better known in German, the Externsteine, form a natural sandstone geological feature that has been imbued with meaning by successive generations of local inhabitants. At one point the site gained some fame and notoriety as “the Stonehenge of Germany.” For the most part, however, it has remained unknown in the English-speaking world. This towering stone formation and the land around it has, at various times, become the imagined scene of momentous events of both myth and history. For example, it has been seen as the setting of the events recounted in the Norse Edda, the site of Odin’s self-sacrifice, or the place where the serpent Fáfnir was slain by Siegfried. At present there is only one English-language book on the subject of this formation: The Externsteine by Damien Pryor (2014). But the Externsteine have spawned hundreds of works in the German language over the years.
I myself made two trips to the Externsteine in the early 1980s. At that time German tourists were well in evidence, but almost no foreigner visitors were to be found. The young people of the day were virtually clueless about what they were seeing, whereas the frail and elderly would wax poetic about the ancient mystery of the place. Men already mentioned in the main part of this book, Karl Theodor Weigel and Wilhelm Teudt, were “experts” on these stones. The site became a central symbol of the völkisch movement from the late nineteenth through the early twentieth century.
In the late nineteenth century, the whole region of northwestern Germany drew intense interest from archaeologists, professional and otherwise, who were attempting to locate the actual site of the famous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, which occurred in 9 CE and which put an effective end to the Roman attempts to conquer Greater Germania. This historical fact was focused upon by nationalist interests around the time when Germany became a nation state in 1871. The Externsteine played a part in this as a new myth arose that Arminius, the German war leader in the famous battle, was said to be defending some sacred site in the environs of the conflict. The Externsteine became a candidate for this distinction. Due to its unusual appearance, it was thought that it must have borne some cultic or religious significance for the ancient Germanic tribes of the region. This is not unreasonable, as pagan peoples often endow unusual topographical features with divine power.
Nor was this the first context in which the Externsteine had been drawn into an explanation of a famous historical event in northern Germany. In the late eighth century, the Christian Frankish king Charlemagne mounted military campaigns to conquer and Christianize the Saxons by the sword. As a part of this campaign it is reported in the Annales regni Francorum of 772 that the king destroyed a sacred site of the Saxons where there was a “universal column” called the Irminsûl in their language. The exact location of the object, and its specific appearance, remained unknown. Again, the Externsteine came into the picture. The most famous and well-known image of the Irminsûl today is seen below.
The earliest written reference to the Externsteine could be seen as evidence that they were thought to be the site of some pre-Christian significance. In an obscure 1564 work, Simplex et brevis delineatio urbium et oppidorum Westfaliae, Hermann Hamelmann (1526—1595) remarks that he once read that Charlemagne made an altar consecrated to God out of this “pagan sanctuary.” In the top of the tallest of the stones a sort of chapel has been carved out. This feature is technically known as the sacellum. At one end of this structure is an altarlike feature, above which is a circular aperture. This window has been seen as a sighting device for things such as the position of the sun’s rise at the summer solstice and the northernmost position of the moon’s rise. Theories about the Externsteine as an astronomical observatory abound, but here is not the place to delve into them.
This image is taken directly from a sculpture found in the Externsteine complex. It is an elaborate sculpture showing the body of the crucified Jesus being taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea. Nicodemus is standing on what at first appears to be a “chair.” But it is an odd-looking chair! It is thought to be the image of the Irminsûl bent over at a ninety-degree angle. The significance of this is that, in the Christian view, the sacrifice of Jesus has superseded the symbols of the pagan religion.
Because the rock formation in which the sacellum is found could clearly be described as a tower, and because of the location of the stones near the headwaters of the Lippe River, many writers immediately identified this as the famous tower in which the Bructerian seeress Veleda had her sanctuary. Veleda is described by Tacitus and other Roman historians as a vital figure among the Germanic tribe called the Bructeri. Writing in his Histories, Tacitus says, “any personal approach to Veleda or speech with her was forbidden. . . . She remained immured in a high tower, one of her relatives being deputed to transmit questions and answers as if he were mediating between a god and his worshippers” (Tacitus, The Histories, 250). The Bructeri were of mixed Germanic and Celtic heritage. The name Veleda is most usually connected to the reconstructed Proto-Celtic word walet-, “seer.” It may have been that this was the title of a seeress who held an inherited official position at the sanctuary, and not just one individual person in history.
Historically, it is a well-established fact that in the Middle Ages the Roman Catholic Church owned the site. This again points to it having been a pagan site prior to Christianization, as the church would typically confiscate the property of all such sanctuaries. Around the year 1000 it became a site for hermits and monks. It is theorized that at the time of the Crusades (twelfth to thirteenth centuries) features were added in dramatic imitation of certain sites in Jerusalem, such as the Holy Sepulcher. The site then became the stage for Passion plays or a substitute for a journey to Jerusalem. Such imitative sites were common in the Middle Ages. Scholars generally believe that it was during this time that most of the radical modifications to the rock formations were made. By the late Middle Ages the site lost its religious significance, and it was taken over by bandits and highwaymen. At various times it served as a prison for such criminals under arrest by the authorities in the nearby town of Horn.
With the advent of the Reformation, the ownership of the property was turned over to the local nobility, who remained the owners until 1919. In the 1600s the site was modified into a hunting lodge by a local count, Hermann Adolf. After that it fell into ruin and became overgrown. With the advent of the Romantic period new interest grew in the stones. Princess Pauline zur Lippe assigned her architect, W. G. Donop, to restore the stones and their embellishments in the early 1800s. Other landscaping features such as the lake and pathways were also added in this period.
The rise of the völkisch movement in the early twentieth century marked a whole new era of enthusiasm for the Externsteine. In 1929, Wilhelm Teudt published his landmark study, Germanische Heiligtümer (Germanic Sacred Sites), wherein he posited the theory that the round aperture over the altar in the sacellum was a sighting device for the rising sun on the summer solstice. During the Nazi period the site was under the protection of, and development by, the Ahnenerbe of the SS.
As we have learned elsewhere in this book, just because a place or thing has been endowed with a Christian meaning does not mean that the Armanen will reject it as insignificant to the world of Armanendom (Armanentum). It was a conscious and much implemented policy of the medieval church to seek out pagan sanctuaries, destroy them, and establish churches or ecclesiastical institutions on those sites to Christianize the location. Therefore, the very fact that there was such intense churchbased activity on the site is really another strong piece of evidence indicating that it indeed had been a pagan sanctuary in the period when the Christianization process began at the time of Charlemagne’s conquests.
RUNES AND THE EXTERNSTEINE
In modern times, with the advent of alternative spiritualities, the Externsteine received a new wave of interest and obsession. Investigators, both academic and esoteric, began to go over the stones very meticulously as they looked for any sign of meaning that fit with certain theories. Many such signs were found. There are several old carvings or inscriptions in the stones. The most dramatic is found in the grotto near ground level in the largest of the stone features. This is a large space that has been hewn out of the stone. On one wall is a large symbol etched deeply into the stone (see figure below).
Gallows symbol
This has been most widely interpreted as depicting a gallows. From an Armanic perspective it is made up of two yr-runes, which can indicate death. Was this because the site was used as place of human sacrifice? It is well known that the ancient Germanic peoples practiced capital punishment on criminals and prisoners of war as a form of human sacrifice to the god Wodan—usually by hanging.*8 Since the grotto occasionally served as a prison after the 1500s the carving may stem from this time.
In the ceiling of the coffin stone, an apparently ceremonial imitation of the Holy Sepulcher, there appears a mason’s mark.
Mason’s mark
Such marks and house signs were often thought by the Armanen to have runic origins.
On one of my trips I personally made to the Externsteine in the spring of 1982, I examined and recorded a new runic inscription. It was freshly carved, and obviously the work of an Armanen magician, most likely influenced by the teachings of Karl Spiesberger. A sketch of the inscription, based on a photograph I took of it that day, appears below.
A new runic inscription
The meaning of the inscription should be obvious to anyone who has studied the contents of this book: an exchange of masculine and feminine energies under the influence of the sun above and based on the laws of the High Holy Three (arising, becoming, and passing away to a new beginning). It may have been the finalization or objectification of an act of sexual magic. It is unknown whether the inscription has survived or is still visible.
Coincidentally in conjunction with a convention of Externsteine enthusiasts in 1992, a participant in the convention discovered a previously unseen runic inscription in an obscure location on these stones. The carving was well executed. A sketch of its general appearance appears below.
A previously unseen runic inscription
The whole carving is about 32 inches wide by 24 inches high. It is obviously a depiction of the Externsteine with the whole Armanic Futhork carved into the image in six groups of three runes each. The GIBOR-rune is supplied with serifs that accentuate its swastika-like appearance. The inscription was immediately “interpreted” by the person who discovered it as a delineation of the Fatar unsar (“Our Father”) formula. Völkisch versions of the most famous Christian prayer were produced by Rudolf John Gorsleben in his Hoch-Zeit der Menschheit (1930, pp. 621—37) and by Karl Maria Wiligut in 1934. The inscription may date from the 1930s, but the fanciful interpretation offered for it in 1992 was that Jesus had visited the Externsteine and learned the prayer there! This inscription is studied in some detail from an academic perspective by Alexandra Pesch in her 2003 article.
Regardless of the absolute truth about the history and meaning of the Externsteine, their mystery and fascination has endured and grown over time. Symbolic meanings continue to be ascribed to the site and ever increasing numbers of people discover it annually. The Externsteine are truly a runic stead, a place of mystery, which acts as a physical matrix upon which meaning can be impressed by various cultures. That the pagan tradition seems to reemerge time after time may be some esoteric indication of the true nature of the mystery.
It is not at all unlikely, given its unusual and conspicuous appearance, that the site of the Externsteine was used as a sacred location for various levels of populations over the millennia, from the neolithic, to the Celtic, Germanic, Christian, and neo-pagan. Over this wide expanse of time, the site probably underwent many formations and reformations of the physical features and appearance of the modifications made in the stone. The original modifications might have been more modest and rough-hewn, with later refinements added over time. The later modifications would have then eradicated all signs of the former appearance.
In recent events, on New Year’s night of 2017 a group of enthusiasts erected a replica of the Irminsûl atop the tower stone. It was promptly removed by authorities.