The Path of Wotan: Our Spiritual Heritage [I of III]

January 29th, 2016

Awake Goy

by Jost Turner (1994)

The Path of Wotan
The Path of the Übermensch

To Allfather, who has guided me in writing this booklet, as he has guided me all through life. –Jost

The Path of Wotan, which is named for Wotan (Odin), the principal deity of the Germanic tribes in pre-christian northern Europe, is a revival of our Forefather’s ancient science of rejuvenation and accelerated higher evolution by self-effort.

The Path of Wotan stems from the last Golden Age of this earth, which ended long before recorded history (see the section on Evolutionary Cycles, page 27). In those enlightened times, our Forefathers were very highly evolved — even beyond the need for technology or instrumentation — and they understood the true nature of matter and spirit.

However, our Forefathers of the Golden Age had foreseen the coming of the Dark Age, and so they encapsulated their wisdom in allegories which men of wisdom could interpret, but that the ignorant and intolerant would dismiss as harmless fantasies of primitives, and so would not destroy them as dangerous competition to their church authority.

As time advanced, the earth, and with it human intellect and awareness, gradually degenerated into a dark age of ignorance, selfishness, and intolerance, from which it is only now emerging. By the Viking Age, which occurred in the midst of the last dark age, few if any could understand the real meaning of the allegories of old, and without the foundation of a true understanding of their own spiritual heritage, the Folk of northern Europe were unable to resist forced conversion to the new religion of Christianity. But, as planned, the allegories were not destroyed. They ended up being written down and preserved by Christians who were unaware that these myths and legends of old contained the knowledge and science of the Golden Age. However, as would be expected of anything which had been passed down from generation to generation, some of the allegories of our Forefathers have been lost, some in part and some entirely. Those which survived were edited by 1 the Christians who wrote them down, and so there are many alterations, deletions, and mistranslations. But the essentials of the golden age knowledge have survived well enough to provide a foundation for a revival of the Path of Wotan.

This booklet is a concise interpretation and commentary on the most important of these surviving allegories. It is not the result of scholarly research, philology, anthropology, or any sort of mysticism. It comes from many years of actual practice on the Path of Wotan. The ancient knowledge and science of our Forefathers has also been preserved and passed on by actual practitioners whose disciplined practice of the prescribed techniques has elevated them to extraordinary evolutionary levels and superhuman abilities. They have verified the information in this booklet.

The Path of Wotan is not supernatural or “occult”. It is simply a profound understanding of the laws of Nature and of our purpose in life. The Gods and other icons symbolize humankind’s struggle from egocentric limitations to the highest evolutionary level of superconscious awareness and superhuman powers. The path of Wotan is the path of the Superhuman Species or Übermensch.

Cosmology
Yggdrasil

Our Forefathers allegorically placed all existence in nine worlds which were protected and sustained by a great tree called Yggdrasil. Today’s “Christmas Tree” is merely a Christian adaptation of the pre-Christian Yule Tree, which was traditionally brought in from the forest, decorated, and adorned our Forefather’s homes during the celebration of Yule. That Yule Tree of old symbolized Yggdrasil.

The allegory of Yggdrasil is the key to a complete understanding of all the allegories. A tree, plucked out of the ground and turned upside-down, is a perfect symbol of the human nervous system. The trunk represents the spinal column, the branches represent the afferent and efferent nerves, and the roots represent the brain. The greater development of the human nervous system is what gives us higher awareness and intelligence, and a clear separation from animals. In the allegories, the first man and woman came from trees, which symbolizes evolution to the human state through a more highly developed nervous system. Our Forefathers understood the significance of the human nervous system to higher evolution, not only from animal to human, but from human to Super-human.

At the very top of Yggdrasil sits an eagle with a hawk perched between its eyes. A squirrel, Ratatosk, runs up and down Yggdrasil’s trunk carrying insults between Nidhogg, the serpent gnawing at the root, and the eagle at the top. The eagle at the top symbolizes the intuitive faculties of the superconscious. The hawk perched between the eyes symbolizes the all-seeing eye of intuition, which is located at the point between the eyebrows. Nidhogg symbolizes the primordial life energy stored at the base of the spine which activates the senses, drawing the consciousness away from higher awareness. The squirrel represents the life energy traveling up and down the spine (see the section on Mead & The Golden Apples, page 8). The insults indicate the conflict between the demands of the senses and aspirations to higher awareness.

The Nine Worlds

The nine worlds are situated on three levels, of which Yggdrasil is the axis. On the first level is Asgard, the world of the Aesir, the principal Gods of our Forefathers. Also on that level is Vanaheim, the realm of the Vanir, another, and perhaps older, family of Gods. In addition, this level contains Alfheim, the land of the Light Elves, a god-like race of Elves. This first level is connected to the second level by Bifrost, a flaming rainbow bridge of shimmering light. On the second level is Midgard, the world of mortals. With it is Nidavellir, land of the Dwarfs, Svartalfheim, land of the Dark Elves, and Jotunheim, land of the Giants. On the third level is Niflheim, the dark and bitter-cold realm of the dead, and Muspellheim, the world of fire.

Yggdrasil has three great roots. Each one of these roots are sunk into one of the three levels. Under the first root, which is in Asgard, is the Well of Urd, by which sit the three Norns, who are goddesses of destiny. Each day the Gods and Goddesses (Aesir and Vanir) gather there for council. The second root is in Jotunheim, land of the Giants. Under this root is the Spring of Mimir, which is a great source of wisdom. The third root is in Niflheim, and under this root is the Spring of Hvergelmir. It is the source of many rivers, and where the aforementioned Nidhogg and other serpents tear apart corpses and gnaw at the root.

Our Forefathers understood that there were three basic levels of consciousness: that of the conscious mind, with which we do all of our perceiving and reasoning; the subconscious mind, in which is stored all of our suppressed desires, emotions, fears, guilt, and vanities; and the superconscious mind, the mysterious intuitive faculty from which comes the unexplainable omniscient knowledge, premonitions, and other superhuman abilities. The nine worlds symbolize different aspects of these levels of consciousness.

Asgard is the realm of superconscious awareness, which is truly the realm of the Gods. Valhalla, the hall of Odin or Wotan is the joyous realm which is reserved for all true warriors who fall in battle: those who have, by will and self-discipline, overcome the barrier of the subconscious and evolved beyond the narrow ego to the first stages of superconscious awareness. Vanaheim and Alfheim are other levels of superconscious awareness. The Well of Urd in Asgard symbolizes the intuitive faculties of the superconscious mind. This is the highest source of knowledge and wisdom, appropriately symbolized as the place of council of the Gods. The Norns symbolize destiny. For most, destiny is determined by hidden desires and other baggage of the subconscious mind. For the highly-evolved, those who have obtained super-conscious awareness, destiny is self-directed, and is always in harmony with the natural order.

Midgard is the realm of the conscious mind, the everyday world which we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel. But also in this world, and just as significant to our existence, are our material desires, selfishness, fears, hatreds, vanities, and inhibitions. These are symbolized variously by the Giants of Jotunheim, the dark elves of Svartalfheim, and the Dwarves of Nidavellir. As our Forefathers depicted with their allegorical imagery, these are all detrimental to our evolution, and rightfully considered evil and in need of timely eradication. While the male Giants symbolize material desires, fears, hatreds, and other negative emotions, many of the female Giants symbolize spiritual desires, which can be beneficial to the path of higher evolution. Hence, in the allegories Gods are often married to, mothered by, or aided by, female Giants. The Spring of Mimir in Jotunheim symbolizes the all-seeing eye of intuition, also known as The Eye of Wotan, the use of which is obtainable only by purity and self-discipline (see the section on Wotan, page 12).

The Bifrost Bridge which connects Asgard to Midgard, or the superconscious to the conscious, symbolizes the channels and vortexes of life energy within the human spinal cord, which begin functioning at higher levels of evolution, connecting the conscious with the superconscious. Through the all-seeing eye of intuition, these energy channels and vortexes appear in shimmering, rainbow-colored light. Niflheim symbolizes the deep desires, fears, guilt, and selfishness which lurk in the darkest corners of our subconscious. These greatly affect our personality, limit our abilities, and often warp our character. They are difficult to identify and overcome. The realm of the dead is an excellent symbol for this level of the subconscious mind. It is a great obstacle to higher evolution, and without cleansing it, one is “dead” to any higher evolution. Muspellheim symbolizes the fiery passions and emotions of the subconscious, especially the sexual urge. Uncontrolled, this natural instinct can cause great problems physically and emotionally. The Spring of Hvergelmir is the point of concentration of the primordial life energy in the base of the spine (see the section on Mead, page 8). The many rivers are the channels through which this energy flows into the physical body. Nidhogg and the other serpents which rip apart corpses and gnaw at the root of Yggdrasil symbolize this primordial life energy which is stored in the base of the spine. Gnawing at the root indicates that this energy, uncontrolled, pulls our consciousness downward toward sensual aggrandizement and away from higher evolution (see the section on Thor, pagel4). Ripping apart corpses symbolizes the uncontrolled desires for sensual urges which remain in our subconscious after death and cause suffering (see the section on Life After Death, page 9).

Creation

Our Forefathers described creation taking place in Ginnungagap, a great void between the fiery realm of Muspellheim and the frozen realm of Niflheim. As the fires of Muspellheim and the ice of Niflheim pushed into this void, the melting ice from Niflheim produced Ymir, the first Frost Giant Ymir in turn produced other Frost Giants. The melting ice also produced Audumla, a cow. Your fed off the rivers of milk which flowed from her teats, while Audumla fed off the ice itself. As the cow licked the ice, a man, Buri, came out of the ice. Buri had a son who married a daughter of one of the Frost Giants, who in turn mothered three children, all of them sons: Odin (Wotan), Vili, and Ve. The three sons began to dislike Ymir and the Frost Giants. They attacked and killed Ymir, and used his body parts to make the world of Midgard, Nidavellir, and Jotunheim in the middle of Ginnungagap. From two trees they made the first man and woman, and from the maggots of Ymir’s rotting flesh they made dwarves. They then built Asgard for their own realm, and linked the two regions by Bifrost, the flaming rainbow bridge.

The symbolism of this allegory shows that the creation, or manifestation, of all existence, including physical matter, is really only the manifestations of a conscious process of evolution from the limitations of subconscious bondage to superconscious awareness. The gap of Ginnungagap represents the Universal Creative Consciousness, without beginning, without end, and beyond time and space. Like everything that exists, the Universal Creative Consciousness has a positive and negative aspect: force (repulsion) and feeling (attraction). The manifestation of this force and feeling produces the idea of change (time), the idea of division (space), and the idea of particles (atoms), things we take as real, but which are substantially nothing but ideas. It is this illusion of the reality of mere ideas which causes the idea of separate existence from the Universal Creative Consciousness (ego-consciousness), which is symbolized by the ice of Niflheim. This ego-consciousness attracts subconscious desires for sensual feelings, which are symbolized by the fiery realm of Muspellheim. When combined, they produce material desires, symbolized by the Frost Giants.

The cow, by reason of its plentiful milk and gentle nature, is an appropriate symbol for motherhood and Divine Love. Hence, Audumla, the cow, symbolizes Divine Love, which is the force of attraction of the Universal Creative Consciousness (see the section on Frigga, page 18). This force of Divine Love attracts superconsciousness, which is symbolized by Buri and his offspring, the Gods. The battle between the Giants and the Gods symbolizes the great struggle between subconscious desires and superconscious awareness. The first man and women appear from trees, again symbolizing the process of evolution through the nervous system.

The Gods (superconsciousness) create everything out of Ymir’s rotting body (subconscious desires), which demonstrates that the material world of which we are all aware is a manifestation caused by the process of evolution from ego-consciousness to superconscious awareness. This process of evolution is nothing more than the result of the natural attraction and repulsion of the Universal Creative Consciousness. Thus, the nine worlds are not something separate from us, nor created by something separate from us. Everything is part of the universal creative consciousness, and really just manifestations of a conscious force of attraction back toward the Universal Creative Consciousness.

Mead & The Golden Apples

Mead figures prominently throughout the allegories. Mead is symbolic of the subtle life energy which gives life to everything. Everyone knows that we require air, food, and water to sustain life. But a corpse cannot be revived by pumping air into the lungs, nor food and water into the stomach. There is something more that gives us life: life energy. Modern science is only beginning to be able to detect this life energy, called Prana by the Indo-Aryans. Our Forefathers understood that we are born with a concentration of this life energy in the base of the spine (the Indo-Aryan Kundalini), which they symbolized by the serpents Nidhogg and Jormungang. They realized that the body is like a battery. Fully charged at youth, our bodies bound with this life energy, but towards the end of life, like an old battery, we run out of energy and die. In the Golden Age, our Forefathers developed exercises to control this life energy, and to recharge their bodies with it, extending life and youthfulness.

In the allegories, Wotan needs no nutrition other than mead to sustain his life. This indicates that he had mastered the aforemen- tioned exercises to recharge energy and extend youthfulness. The Einherjar are given horns of Mead by Valkyries at their arrival at Valhalla, and at their return to Valhalla from their daily battles. The horns of Mead symbolize the life energy which they acquire from their daily disciplines (see the section on Life after Death, below). The allegories also tell of Giants or Dwarves who covet and hide the sacred mead. This symbolizes the drain of our life energy (hidden Mead) when used ignorantly in attempts to fulfill fleeting material desires (Dwarves and Giants).

The Golden Apples of youthfulness kept by the Goddess Idun also symbolize this life energy. An allegory relates how Idun and her apples were stolen by a Giant. Loki, who aided the Giant, was overcome by the Gods and forced to return the apples. It is illusion (Loki) which gives rise to our desires (the Giant) and depletes our life energy (the golden apples) in a vain attempt to satisfy them (see the section on Thor, page 14). But by overcoming illusion, we can control our desires and retain our life energy, and even learn to recharge ourselves with it.

Life After Death

The allegories of our Forefathers indicate that they believed that our consciousness survives physical death. After death, the mediocre and the evil (those who don’t “fall in battle”) go to the dark, cold world of Niflheim. This symbolizes that the mediocre and evil are drawn to a particular lower realm of consciousness which corresponds to their subconscious desires, fears, and identifications. As indicated by Balder’s return after Ragnarok (see the section on Balder, page 20), they continue their evolution there and can elevate themselves to a higher state of consciousness. (Balder’s return after Ragnarok indicates that our Forefathers, like their Indo-Aryan relatives, understood reincarnation.) Niflheim is the Euro-Aryan counterpart to the Indo-Aryan “astral” world.

Those who “fall in battle” are picked up by one of the Valkyries, who are warrior maidens and consorts of Wotan, and taken to Valhalla, Wotan’s hall, where these fallen heroes are known as the Einherjar. At Valhalla, the Einherjar spend their days fighting battles and their nights feasting and drinking mead, while they await Ragnarok (see section on Ragnarok, page 25), when they will all join Wotan to battle the forces of evil.

The Einherjar are those who are on the Path of Wotan, those who, by will and self-discipline, have overcome many of the limitations of ego-consciousness and have experienced at least the initial states of superconsciousness. After death, they are carried to Valhalla, the realm of superconsciousness, which is comparable to the Indo-Aryan “Causal” world of pure consciousness. The daily battles at Valhalla symbolize the final struggle in this realm to overcome the last, lingering, egoistic limitations. The nightly feasting and drinking symbolizes their reward for the days struggle: greater and greater experience of the joyous, all-pervasive Divine Love inherent in this realm (see the section on Frigga, page 18).

The Valkyries, like the consorts of the Indo-Aryan Shiva, symbolize the various awakened vortexes of life energy in the spine (the Bifrost Bridge), each of which contribute to a certain degree of higher awareness and evolution. These vortexes are like doors, which are closed in the egocentric and limit awareness. They can be opened by certain techniques which require a high level of will and discipline. The more of them which are open, the higher the awareness and evolution of the individual. The fallen warrior is brought to Valhalla by the Valkyrie who corresponds to the highest energy vortex which he or she has opened. Joining Wotan at Ragnarok symbolizes reaching the ultimate goal of superconsciousness (see the section on Ragnarok, page 25).

The worlds of Niflheim and Asgard indicate that our life on this earth is only a part of a continuing path of evolution. If we spend our life aggrandizing and indulging ourselves, our death will mean no separation from the desires and fears we carry within, and Niflheim is our dismal destiny. If, however, we devote our life to will and self-discipline, we can shorten that path dramatically, and discover our true nature. For those who faithfully follow the path of Wotan, Valhalla and beyond are their destiny.