Related Research Articles
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia), gravesites, malign "earth vibrations" and many other objects and materials without the use of a scientific apparatus. It is also known as divining, doodlebugging or water finding, or water witching.
The Thule Society, originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum, was a German occultist and Völkisch group founded in Munich shortly after World War I, named after a mythical northern country in Greek legend. The society is notable chiefly as the organization that sponsored the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, which was later reorganized by Adolf Hitler into the National Socialist German Workers' Party. According to Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, the organization's "membership list ... reads like a Who's Who of early Nazi sympathizers and leading figures in Munich", including Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Julius Lehmann, Gottfried Feder, Dietrich Eckart, and Karl Harrer.
Karl Maria Wiligut was an Austrian occultist and soldier. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I and was a leading figure in the Irminism movement, eventually joining the SS after being recruited by Heinrich Himmler.
The Völkisch movement was a German ethno-nationalist movement active from the late 19th century through to the Nazi era, with remnants in the Federal Republic of Germany afterwards. Erected on the idea of "blood and soil", inspired by the one-body-metaphor, and by the idea of naturally grown communities in unity, it was characterized by organicism, racialism, populism, agrarianism, romantic nationalism and – as a consequence of a growing exclusive and ethnic connotation – by antisemitism from the 1900s onward. Völkisch nationalists generally considered the Jews to be an "alien people" who belonged to a different Volk from the Germans.
The association of Nazism with occultism occurs in a wide range of theories, speculation, and research into the origins of Nazism and into Nazism's possible relationship with various occult traditions.
Karl Ernst Krafft was a Swiss astrologer, born in Basel. He worked on the fields of astrology and graphology.
Armanen runes are 18 pseudo-runes, inspired by the historic Younger Futhark runes, invented by Austrian mysticist and Germanic revivalist Guido von List during a state of temporary blindness in 1902, and described in his Das Geheimnis der Runen, published as a periodical article in 1906, and as a standalone publication in 1908. The name seeks to associate the runes with the postulated Armanen, whom von List saw as ancient Aryan priest-kings. The Armanen runes continue in use today in esotericism and in Germanic neopaganism.
Armanism and Ariosophy are esoteric ideological systems that were largely developed by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', which means the wisdom of the Aryans, was invented by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915, and during the 1920s, it became the name of his doctrine. For research on the topic, such as Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's book The Occult Roots of Nazism, the term 'Ariosophy' is generically used to describe the Aryan/esoteric theories which constituted a subset of the 'Völkische Bewegung'. This broader use of the word is retrospective and it was not generally current among the esotericists themselves. List actually called his doctrine 'Armanism', while Lanz used the terms 'Theozoology' and 'Ario-Christianity' before the First World War.
Odic force is the name given in the mid-19th century to a hypothetical vital energy or life force by Baron Carl von Reichenbach. Von Reichenbach coined the name from that of the Germanic god Odin in 1845.
Karl Spiesberger was a German mystic, occultist, Germanic revivalist and Runosophist. He is most well known for his revivalism and usage of the Sidereal Pendulum for divination and dowsing and for his anti-racialist stance and revivalist usage of the Armanen Futharkh runic system after the second world war, removing its negative connotations. During his involvement with the Fraternitas Saturni Spiesberger was also known as Frater Eratus. Under this name he published several articles in the Blätter für angewandte okkulte Lebenskunst.
Friedrich Bernhard Marby was a German rune occultist and Germanic revivalist. He is best known for his revivalism and use of the Armanen runes. Marby was imprisoned during the Third Reich, which may have been due to a denunciation by Karl Maria Wiligut. According to the Odinist magazine Vor Trú, Marby "was one of the most important figures in the realm of runic sciences" with an impact felt not only by contemporaries but "among today's researchers and practitioners."
Zodiac and Swastika: How Astrology Guided Hitler's Germany is a 1968 book by Wilhelm Theodor H. Wulff. It was released in 1973 in the United States by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan and in the United Kingdom by Arthur Barker Limited of London. The English edition has a foreword by the historian Walter Laqueur.
Hellmut Wolff, was a German academic, mystic, Germanic revivalist, and most notably a Pendulum dowser. He was used by the German military during the Third Reich.
A. Frank Glahn (1865–1941), was a German mysticist, Germanic revivalist and most notably a pendulum dowser. He was used by the German military in the Third Reich, not necessarily willingly.
The Occult History of the Third Reich, narrated by Patrick Allen and directed by Dave Flitton, is a 1991 four-part History Channel documentary regarding the occult influences and history of Nazi Germany and early 20th century Germany.
Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy is an American television documentary film about Nazi occultism. It first aired in 1998 on the Discovery Channel. The documentary was directed by Tracy Atkinson and Joan Baran, narrated by Malcolm McDowell.
Peryt Shou was a German mysticist and Germanic pagan revivalist. He is mentioned briefly by Goodrick-Clarke as a writer of novels with occult themes and a significant figure in the post-World War I German occult movement. During Nazi Germany, he apparently went without being molested.
Germany and Austria have spawned many movements and practices in Western esotericism, including Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Ariosophy, among others.
Historians, political scientists and philosophers have studied Nazism with a specific focus on its religious and pseudo-religious aspects. It has been debated whether Nazism would constitute a political religion, and there has also been research on the millenarian, messianic, and occult or esoteric aspects of Nazism.
References
Books
- Reveal the Power of the Pendulum: Secrets of the Sidereal Pendulum, A Complete Survey of Pendulum Dowsing, by Karl Spiesberger - ISBN 0-572-01419-8 (Der erfolgreiche Pendel-Praktiker) - 1962 , English translation, pp. 13, 15, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78-82, 82, 83.
- Unholy Alliance: History of the Nazi Involvement With the Occult by Peter Levenda, (May 1, 2002, ISBN 0-8264-1409-5). pp. 230–232.
- Occult Reich by J.H. Brennen, pp. 111 and 112.
Documentaries
- Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy (1998), directed by Tracy Atkinson and Joan Baran, narrated by Malcolm McDowell.
- Decoding the Past Episode: "The Nazi Prophecies" by the History Channel
- Hitler and the Occult by the History Channel
