Esotericism in Germany and Austria
Encyclopedia
This article gives an overview of esoteric movements
in Germany
and Austria
between 1880 and 1945, presenting Theosophy
, Anthroposophy
and Ariosophy
, among others, against the influences of earlier European esotericism.
, founded around 1119, had been a crusading military order, that, at some time, had established financial networks across the whole of Christendom. In 1307, King Philip IV of France
mounted a "slanderous campaign" to strip the Order of its economic and political influence. The Templars were accused of satanic practices, perversions and blasphemy and ruthlessly suppressed; Its leaders were burned on March 18, 1314. The circumstances of their suppression gave rise to legends surrounding the Knights Templar
. In Germany, "where the growth of deviant masonic rites was greatest," the Templar heritage was adopted for irregular Freemasonry. (Freemasonry
had been officially founded in England in 1717.)
The idea of chivalric Freemasonry first occurred ca. 1737 in France. In 1775 Baron Gotthelf von Hund (1722–76) founded the Order of Strict Observance
, claiming the possession of secret Templar documents which allegedly prove that his order represented the legal Templar succession.
where printed at Kassel
. One of these works, the Chymische Hochzeit
, appears to be an alchemical
tract, while the other two (for which the authorship of Valentin Andreae is not finally proven) announce the existence of a the Rosicrucian Order, which desires an "universal and general reformation of the whole world". Putatively this order was founded by Christian Rosenkreutz, who is supposed to have lived from 1378 to 1484.
In either 1747 or 1757 a quasi-masonic Rosicrucian order of the name Gold- und Rosenkreuz was founded in Berlin, having a 9-grade hierarchy based on the cabalistic
Tree of Life
; This organisation included King Frederick William II of Prussia
and Johann Christoph von Wöllner
as members.
, a theosophical society was founded in 1887, its president was Friedrich Eckstein. Among his circle at this time Franz Hartmann
, a leader of theosophical work who emphasized personal spiritual experience, and the young Rudolf Steiner
were members. A German Theosophical Society, as a branch of the International Theosophical Brotherhood, then was established in 1896 when the American theosophists around William Quan Judge
, Katherine Tingley
, E. T. Hargrove and C. F. Wright travelled through Europe. Its president was Franz Hartmann, who also founded a theosophical lay-monastery at Ascona
in 1889. His periodical Lotusblüten
(Lotus Blossoms, 1892–1900) was the first German publication to use the theosophical swastika
on its cover.
Hartmann's example provided the impetus for Paul Zillmann to found the Metaphysische Rundschau (Metaphysical Review) in 1896.
Rudolf Steiner
was made general secretary of the German Theosophical Society in 1902. Steiner, who was seeking to develop an esoteric path suitable for the modern era, and professed commitment to scientific method
ology, was yet oriented towards awakening spiritual experiences in each individual rather than depending upon authorities or guru
s. He published Luzifer at Berlin from 1903 to 1908.
In Vienna, there also existed an Association for Occultism, connected to a person called Philipp Maschlufsky. From 1903 he published a periodical called Die Gnosis, that was later absorbed by Rudolf Steiner's periodical Luzifer, and renamed Lucifer-Gnosis.
"It may have been a desire to counter Steiner's influence in the occult subculture which led Hartmann to encourage the publication of several new periodicals." A Theosophical Publishing House was established by Hugo Vollrath in Leipzig
in 1906. Among the magazines published there was Prana (1909–19), initially edited by Karl Brandler-Pracht and later edited by Johannes Balzli
. Before that, a publisher with the name Wilhelm Friedrich had already published the works of Hartmann and Hübbe-Schleiden, as well as translations of the English theosophists at Leipzig. Wilhelm Friedrich had also published the occult works of Max Ferdinand Sebaldt von Werth (1859–1916). Initially, this author had collaborated with Moritz von Egidy on the periodical Das angewande Christentum (Apllied Christianity), but later he wrote volumes on "the sexual-religion of the Aryans", thus, in the opinion of Goodrick-Clarke, anticipating Ariososophy.
grew steadily. In 1912, Rudolf Steiner broke away to found anthroposophy
. There were two causes of the break; Steiner's Europe
an and Christian
orientation had long been distinct from the hinduistic
interest of the theosophists under the leadership of Annie Besant
. More immediately, Steiner publicly distanced himself from Besant's promotion of Jiddu Krishnamurti
as a supposed new messiah
. Steiner and a group of prominent German theosophists officially founded the Anthroposophical Society
in December 1913, the vast majority of the German membership of the Theosophical Society following them into the new group; the breakaways were excluded from the Theosophical Society in January 1914.
(1848–1919) had been active as journalist and writer. After he turned to esotericism, he became the first popular author to combine völkisch ideology and occultism into the type of esoteric doctrine that is now collectively labelled Ariosophy
. In September 1903 the occult periodical Die Gnosis (see above) included an article by List, in which he, referring Sebaldt von Werth, started to articulate "a Germanic occult religion". In the following decade, List continued to work on this topic, also making references to the works of Madame Blavatsky
and William Scott-Elliot
. In his concept of Armanism, the religion of the theocratic elite in his image of the ancient Germanic past, List borrowed material from Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism. Since his manuscript, proposing the research into the runes by the "means of occult insight", was rejected from the Imperial Academie of Sciences in Vienna, the supporters of List formed a List Society (Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft) to finance his research. The Society was founded officially on 2 March 1908. Its members included völkisch authors as well as occultists (for example Franz Hartmann and the complete membership of the Vienna Theosophical Society). Some inner members of the List Society participated in the activities of the Hoher Armanen-Orden (High Armanen-Order). This order, however, achieved no significance as a lodge-like organisation.
Jörg Lanz (von Liebenfels)
(1874–1954) had been a cistercian monk between 1893 and 1899. In 1903 he published a long article "Anthropozoon biblicum" in the Vierteljahrsschift für Bibelkunde, a periodical for biblical research. By 1905 his studies in this direction had cumulated into the book Theozoologie, a "strange amalgam" of traditional Judaeo-Christian sources and contemporary life-sciences. Among other things, Lanz proposed a "frequently obscene and always radical" interpretation of the Bible, according to which it had been the purpose of the Old Testament
to warn the Aryan race
against interbreeding with Pygmies. In 1905 Lanz also established his own magazine, Ostara
. One of the few other contributors to this magazine beside Lanz himself was the theosophist Harald Grävell von Jostenoode (1856–1932), who also edited one number of Lotusblüten
.
enjoyed a revival. Astrological texts by Karl Brandler-Pracht, Otto Pöllner, Ernst Tiede and Albert Knief appeared at the Theosophical Publishing House at Leipzig. Karl Brandler-Pracht had also founded the First Viennese Astrological Society in 1907. Erik Jan Hanussen
, who later would became the most famous clairvoyant
in Germany and Austria, gave his first occult session together with E.K. Hermann in Vienna in 1911.
. Aside from the developments mentioned above, there are some more of interest:
"The Ordo Templi Orientis
(OTO) originated in the irregular masonic activities of Theodor Reuss
, Franz Hartmann
, and Karl Kellner between 1895 and 1906." Theodor Reuss had been in contact with William Wescott
, a founding member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
. In 1928 Fraternitas Saturni split off from OTO.
Ernst Wachler
was a völkisch author (he supported the Guido von List Society) who had founded an open-air Germanic theatre in the Harz
mountains. This theatre, called Green Stage (Grüne Bühne), was closed in 1937.
The Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft, founded in 1907, is claimed by current Germanic Neopaganism
groups as predecessor. It was founded and led by the painter Ludwig Fahrenkrog
. Since 1908, the group used the swastika
as its symbol. After 1938 the use of the swastika became prohibited and the group was no longer allowed to hold public meetings. However, unlike many other esoteric groups in Nazi Germany, the GGG was not forced to disband, partly "because of Fahrenkrog's international status as an artist."
', meaning occult wisdom concerning the Aryans, in 1915. In the 1920s he then used this label for his doctrine. Both List and Lanz greeted World War I
as a millenarian
struggle. Guido von List
wrote his research reports on the "Ario-Germans" (Ario-Germanen) between 1908 and 1913, but in 1917 two later articles written by him appeared in Prana. He died 1919 in Berlin. The List Society was continued after his death, but not much is known of its activities.
By contrast, an organisation founded around 1907 by Lanz von Liebenfels
achieved more significance: the 'new Templar lodge', called Ordo Novi Templi (ONT) (German: Neutempler-Orden). On 11 November 1932, influenced by Ariosophy, an industrialist with the name Johann Walthari Wölfl also founded an association called the Lumenclub in Vienna, which overlapped in membership with the ONT. The ideological sympathy of the Lumenclub to Nazism
is beyond question, as it acted as growth centre for the Nazi party that was illegal in Austria since 1934. Nevertheless, they were later suppressed like other esoteric groups. After the 'Anschluss
' in 1938, Lanz von Liebenfels had his writings banned. The Lumenclub and the ONT were suppressed by the Gestapo in March 1942, following the party edict of December 1938 that applied to many sectarian groups.
Werner von Bülow and Herbert Reichstein had applauded the advent of the third reich in their esoteric magazines.
), a new "Aryan occultist movement" was started after 1918 in Germany by Rudolf John Gorsleben
.
Since the esoteric importance of the runes (that first had been developed by Guido von List
, see Armanen runes
) was central to his world-view, Goodrick-Clarke speaks in this context of rune occultism.
Here two authors stand out, as they engaged the runes in "a less explicitly Aryan racist
context". Friedrich Bernhard Marby
and Siegfried Adolf Kummer
focused more on the practical side of rune occultism. In 1936 Friedrich Bernhard Marby was arrested and sent to a concentration camp (Flossenbürg and later Dachau). He survived and resumed his occult research after the war. Responsible for his incarceration might have been Karl Maria Wiligut
, who was Himmler's counsellor on the occult. (see: Nazi occultism) Willigut was of the opinion that Marby (and also Kummer) were bringing "the holy Aryan
heritage into disrepute and ridicule." Wiligut also had identified Irminism as the true ancestral religion, claiming that Guido von List
's Wotanism and runic row was a schismatic false religion, but this does seem to be unconnected to the arrest of Marby.
Other measures against esoteric groups were most probably the result of the general Nazi policy of suppressing lodge organizations.
.
led by Jakob Wilhelm Hauer
during 1933-1945 propagated a move away from Christianity towards an "Aryan-Nordic religion", partly inspired by Hinduism
.
. It is estimated that between 80,000 and 200,000 Freemasons were murdered under the Nazi regime. The lodge Liberté chérie
was founded in a concentration camp. Freemasons, who were sent concentration camps, were sent there as political prisoners, and consequently forced to wear an inverted red triangle. (see: Nazi concentration camp badges
)
Within the Nazi ideology it was alleged that Freemasonry was part of "the Jewish conspiracy". Since many esoteric groups emulated the lodge structure of Freemasonry, they were "caught in the National Socialist anti-Masonic law of 1935". Even "the German Order of Druids" was closed down, "protesting to the last that they were not Freemasons but good, German Druids." In her biography of Richard Walther Darré, the historian Anna Bramwell also remarks that a secret society called the Skald Order "was banned by the Nazis after 1933 because of its allegedly masonic nature." Several members of the Skald held office in the Third Reich, including Dr Ludolf Haase (a founder member of the Skald), Herbert Backe
and Theo Gross; all came under covert investigation, though Backe is said to have been cleared of disloyalty by Heydrich from his deathbed.
Whether the Nazi ideology had a special view concerning the various esoteric doctrines (aside from confusing them with Freemasonry) is not clear. Concerning Anthroposophy
, a book whose title denounced Rudolf Steiner
as a fraud (Schwindler) and a false prophet had been published by Gregor Schwartz-Bostunitsch in 1930. Schwartz-Bostunitsch had been an "enthusiastic Anthroposophist" from 1923, but was disaffected by 1929 and later joined the SS.
Astrology was officially interdicted in Nazi Germany after 1938. However, the Nazis had sympathizing astrologers write favourable interpretations of Nostradamus
for psychological warfare
, and as late as 1936 Hitler personally sent a greetings telegram to an international astrologer's congress that was taking place in Düsseldorf
.
The full focus of the state was not aimed at religious groups until 9 June 1941 when Reinhard Heydrich
, the head of the security police, banned lodge organizations and esoteric groups in the wake of the flight to Scotland by Rudolf Hess
, who had been attracted and influenced by the organic farming
theories of Rudolf Steiner
and Anthroposophy. However, the suppression of esoteric organisations began very soon after the Nazis acquired governmental power. Dr. Anna Bramwell points out that "occultist racialists were banned as early as 1934."
Allegedly the stage magician
and occult
ist Franz Bardon
had attracted the notice of Adolf Hitler "like other workers for the Light" and was incarcerated in a concentration camp for three and a half months in 1945.
was dissolved still in the 1920s, well before Hitler's rise to power, and the anti-Masonic legislation of 1935 closed down esoteric organisations including völkisch occultist ones.
Rudolf Hess
, who had been involved with the Nazis throughout the 1920s, became increasinly marginalized during the 1930s due to his lack of initiative in one specific area. He lived only to serve his Fuehrer. Karl Maria Wiligut
, the chief occultist influence on the Nazi establishment, retired in 1939. Alfred Rosenberg
, whose 1930 Myth of the Twentieth Century
had been important in the foundation of Nazi racist ideology, and Heinrich Himmler
, who added a number of occultist "design elements" to the Schutzstaffel
, did remain high ranking party members throughout the war, but gradually put less emphasis on their occultist interests after 1939.
According to their private writings, the leaders of the Nazi Party
in Germany did not wish to encourage forms of paganism which did not serve to further their goals of promoting pan-Germanic ethnic consciousness.
Already in 1927, Hitler had fired the Gauleiter
of Thüringen
, Artur Dinter
, from his post because he wanted too much to make a religion of Aryan racial purity. In 1928, Dinter was expelled from the party when he publicly attacked Hitler about this decision.
Rudolf von Sebottendorff had been involved in the Thule Society
. In January 1933 he published Bevor Hitler kam: Urkundlich aus der Frühzeit der Nationalsozialistischen Bewegung (Before Hitler Came: Documents from the Early Days of the National Socialist Movement). Nazi authorities disliked the book, which was banned in the following year. Sebottendorff was arrested but managed to flee to Turkey
.
, a member of Fraternitas Saturni, revived rune occultism in his Runenmagie (Rune magic), published 1955. There were some other notable German pendulum dowsers.Other than popular Western astrology
, there is also a school of thought regarding Germanic Runic Astrology and its usage in divination within the northern tradition of Odinism
.
The work of Friedrich Bernhard Marby
was continued by Rudolf Arnold Spieth, who also published one of his works posthumously.
A revival of Neopaganism in Germany and Austria
began in the 1970s.
Since the 1980s, mainstream esotericism in German-speaking Europe has been dominated by generic New Age
syncretism as it developed in the United States
.
Esotericism
Esotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
between 1880 and 1945, presenting Theosophy
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
, Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...
and Ariosophy
Ariosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', meaning wisdom concerning the Aryans, was first coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915 and...
, among others, against the influences of earlier European esotericism.
Knights Templar and occultism
The original Knights TemplarKnights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, founded around 1119, had been a crusading military order, that, at some time, had established financial networks across the whole of Christendom. In 1307, King Philip IV of France
Philip IV of France
Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
mounted a "slanderous campaign" to strip the Order of its economic and political influence. The Templars were accused of satanic practices, perversions and blasphemy and ruthlessly suppressed; Its leaders were burned on March 18, 1314. The circumstances of their suppression gave rise to legends surrounding the Knights Templar
Knights Templar legends
The secrecy around the powerful medieval Order of the Knights Templar, and the speed with which they disappeared over the space of a few years, has led to Knights Templar legends. These range from rumors about their association with the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant, to questions about...
. In Germany, "where the growth of deviant masonic rites was greatest," the Templar heritage was adopted for irregular Freemasonry. (Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
had been officially founded in England in 1717.)
The idea of chivalric Freemasonry first occurred ca. 1737 in France. In 1775 Baron Gotthelf von Hund (1722–76) founded the Order of Strict Observance
Rite of Strict Observance
The Rite of Strict Observance was a Rite of Freemasonry, a series of progressive degrees that were conferred by the Order of Strict Observance, a Masonic body of the 18th century....
, claiming the possession of secret Templar documents which allegedly prove that his order represented the legal Templar succession.
Rosicrucianism
In the 17th century and 18th century, Rosicrucian ideas flourished in varying degrees. Rosicrucianism goes back to the beginning of the 17th century, when three works by Johann Valentin AndreaeJohannes Valentinus Andreae
Johannes Valentinus Andreae , a.k.a. Johannes Valentinus Andreä or Johann Valentin Andreae, was a German theologian, who claimed to be the author of the Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459 one of the three founding works of...
where printed at Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
. One of these works, the Chymische Hochzeit
Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was edited in 1616 in Strasbourg , and its anonymous authorship is attributed to Johann Valentin Andreae...
, appears to be an alchemical
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
tract, while the other two (for which the authorship of Valentin Andreae is not finally proven) announce the existence of a the Rosicrucian Order, which desires an "universal and general reformation of the whole world". Putatively this order was founded by Christian Rosenkreutz, who is supposed to have lived from 1378 to 1484.
In either 1747 or 1757 a quasi-masonic Rosicrucian order of the name Gold- und Rosenkreuz was founded in Berlin, having a 9-grade hierarchy based on the cabalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
Tree of Life
Tree of life (Kabbalah)
The Tree of Life, or Etz haChayim in Hebrew, is a mystical symbol used in the Kabbalah of esoteric Judaism to describe the path to God and the manner in which he created the world ex nihilo...
; This organisation included King Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
and Johann Christoph von Wöllner
Johann Christoph von Wöllner
Johann Christoph von Wöllner was a Prussian pastor and politician under King Frederick William II. He inclined to mysticism and joined the Freemasons and Rosicrucians....
as members.
German occult revival, 1880–1910
Theosophy
The first German Theosophical Society was established in July 1884, under the presidency of Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden, a conservative German nationalist turned spiritual seeker who sought to establish Theosophy on a "scientific" basis. Between 1886 and 1895 Hübbe-Schleiden published the monthly periodical Die Sphinx. In ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, a theosophical society was founded in 1887, its president was Friedrich Eckstein. Among his circle at this time Franz Hartmann
Franz Hartmann
Franz Hartmann was a German physician, theosophist, occultist, geomancer, astrologer, and author. His works include several books on esoteric studies and biographies of Jakob Böhme and Paracelsus. He translated the Bhagavad Gita into German and was the editor of the journal Lotusblüten...
, a leader of theosophical work who emphasized personal spiritual experience, and the young Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
were members. A German Theosophical Society, as a branch of the International Theosophical Brotherhood, then was established in 1896 when the American theosophists around William Quan Judge
William Quan Judge
William Quan Judge was a mystic, esotericist, and occultist, and one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was 13 years old, his family emigrated to the United States...
, Katherine Tingley
Katherine Tingley
Katherine Augusta Westcott Tingley was a social worker and prominent Theosophist. She was the founder of the Theosophical Society Pasadena. She founded and led the Theosophical community Lomaland in San Diego, California.Tingley grew up in Newbury, Massachusetts. She married Philo B. Tingley in...
, E. T. Hargrove and C. F. Wright travelled through Europe. Its president was Franz Hartmann, who also founded a theosophical lay-monastery at Ascona
Ascona
Ascona is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore.The town is a popular tourist destination, and holds a yearly jazz festival, the Ascona Jazz Festival....
in 1889. His periodical Lotusblüten
Lotusblüten (magazine)
Lotusblüthen and New Lotusblüten was a theosophical magazine published by Franz Hartmann. It was the second theosophical magazine in Germany and Austria after Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleidens Die Sphinx.- Lotusblüthen :...
(Lotus Blossoms, 1892–1900) was the first German publication to use the theosophical swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
on its cover.
Hartmann's example provided the impetus for Paul Zillmann to found the Metaphysische Rundschau (Metaphysical Review) in 1896.
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
was made general secretary of the German Theosophical Society in 1902. Steiner, who was seeking to develop an esoteric path suitable for the modern era, and professed commitment to scientific method
Scientific method
Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...
ology, was yet oriented towards awakening spiritual experiences in each individual rather than depending upon authorities or guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
s. He published Luzifer at Berlin from 1903 to 1908.
In Vienna, there also existed an Association for Occultism, connected to a person called Philipp Maschlufsky. From 1903 he published a periodical called Die Gnosis, that was later absorbed by Rudolf Steiner's periodical Luzifer, and renamed Lucifer-Gnosis.
"It may have been a desire to counter Steiner's influence in the occult subculture which led Hartmann to encourage the publication of several new periodicals." A Theosophical Publishing House was established by Hugo Vollrath in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
in 1906. Among the magazines published there was Prana (1909–19), initially edited by Karl Brandler-Pracht and later edited by Johannes Balzli
Johannes Balzli
Johannes Hans Balzli, more commonly known as Johannes Balzli, was an Austrian/German author, newspaper editor, Theosophist and Armanist, most notable for his biography of Guido von List, entitled, "Guido v. List: Der Wiederentdecker Uralter Arischer Weisheit - Sein Leben und sein Schaffen" ....
. Before that, a publisher with the name Wilhelm Friedrich had already published the works of Hartmann and Hübbe-Schleiden, as well as translations of the English theosophists at Leipzig. Wilhelm Friedrich had also published the occult works of Max Ferdinand Sebaldt von Werth (1859–1916). Initially, this author had collaborated with Moritz von Egidy on the periodical Das angewande Christentum (Apllied Christianity), but later he wrote volumes on "the sexual-religion of the Aryans", thus, in the opinion of Goodrick-Clarke, anticipating Ariososophy.
Anthroposophy
From 1907 (at latest), tensions between Rudolf Steiner and the Theosophical SocietyRudolf Steiner and the Theosophical Society
The relationship between Rudolf Steiner and the Theosophical Society founded by H.P. Blavatsky was a complex and changing one.In 1899, Steiner decided to publish an article in the Magazin für Literatur, titled "Goethe's Secret Revelation", on the esoteric nature of Goethe's fairy tale, The Green...
grew steadily. In 1912, Rudolf Steiner broke away to found anthroposophy
Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...
. There were two causes of the break; Steiner's Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
orientation had long been distinct from the hinduistic
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
interest of the theosophists under the leadership of Annie Besant
Annie Besant
Annie Besant was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society ...
. More immediately, Steiner publicly distanced himself from Besant's promotion of Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...
as a supposed new messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
. Steiner and a group of prominent German theosophists officially founded the Anthroposophical Society
Anthroposophical Society
The General Anthroposophical Society is an organization dedicated to supporting the community of those interested in the form of spiritual philosophy known as anthroposophy. The society was initiated during 1913 by members of the Theosophical Society in Germany, including Rudolf Steiner who was at...
in December 1913, the vast majority of the German membership of the Theosophical Society following them into the new group; the breakaways were excluded from the Theosophical Society in January 1914.
Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels
Living in Vienna, Guido (von) ListGuido von List
Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...
(1848–1919) had been active as journalist and writer. After he turned to esotericism, he became the first popular author to combine völkisch ideology and occultism into the type of esoteric doctrine that is now collectively labelled Ariosophy
Ariosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', meaning wisdom concerning the Aryans, was first coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915 and...
. In September 1903 the occult periodical Die Gnosis (see above) included an article by List, in which he, referring Sebaldt von Werth, started to articulate "a Germanic occult religion". In the following decade, List continued to work on this topic, also making references to the works of Madame Blavatsky
Madame Blavatsky
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky , was a theosophist, writer and traveler. Between 1848 and 1875 Blavatsky had gone around the world three times. In 1875, Blavatsky together with Colonel H. S. Olcott established the Theosophical Society...
and William Scott-Elliot
William Scott-Elliot
William Scott-Elliot was a theosophist who elaborated Helena Blavatsky's concept of root races in several publications, most notably The Story of Atlantis and The Lost Lemuria , later combined in 1925 into a single volume called The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria.-Theosophical...
. In his concept of Armanism, the religion of the theocratic elite in his image of the ancient Germanic past, List borrowed material from Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism. Since his manuscript, proposing the research into the runes by the "means of occult insight", was rejected from the Imperial Academie of Sciences in Vienna, the supporters of List formed a List Society (Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft) to finance his research. The Society was founded officially on 2 March 1908. Its members included völkisch authors as well as occultists (for example Franz Hartmann and the complete membership of the Vienna Theosophical Society). Some inner members of the List Society participated in the activities of the Hoher Armanen-Orden (High Armanen-Order). This order, however, achieved no significance as a lodge-like organisation.
Jörg Lanz (von Liebenfels)
Lanz von Liebenfels
Adolf Josef Lanz aka Jörg Lanz, who called himself Lanz von Liebenfels was an Austrian publicist and journalist...
(1874–1954) had been a cistercian monk between 1893 and 1899. In 1903 he published a long article "Anthropozoon biblicum" in the Vierteljahrsschift für Bibelkunde, a periodical for biblical research. By 1905 his studies in this direction had cumulated into the book Theozoologie, a "strange amalgam" of traditional Judaeo-Christian sources and contemporary life-sciences. Among other things, Lanz proposed a "frequently obscene and always radical" interpretation of the Bible, according to which it had been the purpose of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
to warn the Aryan race
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
against interbreeding with Pygmies. In 1905 Lanz also established his own magazine, Ostara
Ostara (magazine)
Ostara or Ostara, Briefbücherei der Blonden und Mannesrechtler was a German nationalist magazine founded in 1905 by the occultist Lanz von Liebenfels in Vienna, Austria....
. One of the few other contributors to this magazine beside Lanz himself was the theosophist Harald Grävell von Jostenoode (1856–1932), who also edited one number of Lotusblüten
Lotusblüten (magazine)
Lotusblüthen and New Lotusblüten was a theosophical magazine published by Franz Hartmann. It was the second theosophical magazine in Germany and Austria after Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleidens Die Sphinx.- Lotusblüthen :...
.
Astrology
Among the theosophists, AstrologyAstrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
enjoyed a revival. Astrological texts by Karl Brandler-Pracht, Otto Pöllner, Ernst Tiede and Albert Knief appeared at the Theosophical Publishing House at Leipzig. Karl Brandler-Pracht had also founded the First Viennese Astrological Society in 1907. Erik Jan Hanussen
Erik Jan Hanussen
Erik Jan Hanussen, born Hermann Steinschneider , was an Austrian Jewish publicist and clairvoyant performer who lied about his origins. Acclaimed in his lifetime as a hypnotist, mentalist, occultist, and astrologer, Hanussen was active in Weimar Republic Germany and also at the beginning of Nazi...
, who later would became the most famous clairvoyant
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
in Germany and Austria, gave his first occult session together with E.K. Hermann in Vienna in 1911.
Other developments
The German and Vienna occult subculture was well developed before the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Aside from the developments mentioned above, there are some more of interest:
"The Ordo Templi Orientis
Ordo Templi Orientis
Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century...
(OTO) originated in the irregular masonic activities of Theodor Reuss
Theodor Reuss
Theodor Reuss was an Anglo-German tantric occultist, anarchist, police spy, journalist, singer, and promoter of Women's Liberation; and head of Ordo Templi Orientis.-Early years:...
, Franz Hartmann
Franz Hartmann
Franz Hartmann was a German physician, theosophist, occultist, geomancer, astrologer, and author. His works include several books on esoteric studies and biographies of Jakob Böhme and Paracelsus. He translated the Bhagavad Gita into German and was the editor of the journal Lotusblüten...
, and Karl Kellner between 1895 and 1906." Theodor Reuss had been in contact with William Wescott
William Wynn Westcott
William Wynn Westcott was a coroner, ceremonial magician, and Freemason born in Leamington, Warwickshire, England...
, a founding member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
. In 1928 Fraternitas Saturni split off from OTO.
Ernst Wachler
Ernst Wachler (author)
Heinrich Ernst Wachler was a völkisch-neopagan and anti-semitic writer, dramatist and publicist....
was a völkisch author (he supported the Guido von List Society) who had founded an open-air Germanic theatre in the Harz
Harz
The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...
mountains. This theatre, called Green Stage (Grüne Bühne), was closed in 1937.
The Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft, founded in 1907, is claimed by current Germanic Neopaganism
Germanic Neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
groups as predecessor. It was founded and led by the painter Ludwig Fahrenkrog
Ludwig Fahrenkrog
Ludwig Fahrenkrog was a German writer, playwright and artist. He was born in Rendsburg, Prussia, in 1867. He started his career as an artist in his youth, and attended the Berlin Royal Art Academy before being appointed a professor in 1913. He taught at the School of Arts and Crafts in Bremen from...
. Since 1908, the group used the swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
as its symbol. After 1938 the use of the swastika became prohibited and the group was no longer allowed to hold public meetings. However, unlike many other esoteric groups in Nazi Germany, the GGG was not forced to disband, partly "because of Fahrenkrog's international status as an artist."
Ariosophy, ONT and Lumenclub
Lanz had coined the term 'AriosophyAriosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', meaning wisdom concerning the Aryans, was first coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915 and...
', meaning occult wisdom concerning the Aryans, in 1915. In the 1920s he then used this label for his doctrine. Both List and Lanz greeted World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as a millenarian
Millenarianism
Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...
struggle. Guido von List
Guido von List
Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...
wrote his research reports on the "Ario-Germans" (Ario-Germanen) between 1908 and 1913, but in 1917 two later articles written by him appeared in Prana. He died 1919 in Berlin. The List Society was continued after his death, but not much is known of its activities.
By contrast, an organisation founded around 1907 by Lanz von Liebenfels
Lanz von Liebenfels
Adolf Josef Lanz aka Jörg Lanz, who called himself Lanz von Liebenfels was an Austrian publicist and journalist...
achieved more significance: the 'new Templar lodge', called Ordo Novi Templi (ONT) (German: Neutempler-Orden). On 11 November 1932, influenced by Ariosophy, an industrialist with the name Johann Walthari Wölfl also founded an association called the Lumenclub in Vienna, which overlapped in membership with the ONT. The ideological sympathy of the Lumenclub to Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
is beyond question, as it acted as growth centre for the Nazi party that was illegal in Austria since 1934. Nevertheless, they were later suppressed like other esoteric groups. After the 'Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
' in 1938, Lanz von Liebenfels had his writings banned. The Lumenclub and the ONT were suppressed by the Gestapo in March 1942, following the party edict of December 1938 that applied to many sectarian groups.
Werner von Bülow and Herbert Reichstein had applauded the advent of the third reich in their esoteric magazines.
Rune occultism
Influenced by Guido von List und Lanz von Liebenfels (see: AriosophyAriosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', meaning wisdom concerning the Aryans, was first coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915 and...
), a new "Aryan occultist movement" was started after 1918 in Germany by Rudolf John Gorsleben
Rudolf John Gorsleben
Rudolf John Gorsleben was a German Ariosophist, Armanist , journal editor and playwright.-Life:...
.
Since the esoteric importance of the runes (that first had been developed by Guido von List
Guido von List
Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...
, see Armanen runes
Armanen runes
The Armanen runes, or Armanen 'Futharkh' as Guido von List referred to them, are a row of 18 runes that are closely based in shape on the Younger Futhark...
) was central to his world-view, Goodrick-Clarke speaks in this context of rune occultism.
Here two authors stand out, as they engaged the runes in "a less explicitly Aryan racist
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
context". Friedrich Bernhard Marby
Friedrich Bernhard Marby
Friedrich Bernhard Marby was a German rune occultist and Germanic revivalist. He is abest known for his revivalism and use of the Armanen runes row. He was imprisoned during the Third Reich, which may have been due to a denunciation by Karl Maria Wiligut...
and Siegfried Adolf Kummer
Siegfried Adolf Kummer
Siegfried Adolf Kummer was a German mystic and Germanic revivalist. He is also most well known for his revivalism and use of the Armanen runes row...
focused more on the practical side of rune occultism. In 1936 Friedrich Bernhard Marby was arrested and sent to a concentration camp (Flossenbürg and later Dachau). He survived and resumed his occult research after the war. Responsible for his incarceration might have been Karl Maria Wiligut
Karl Maria Wiligut
Karl Maria Wiligut was an Austrian Ariosophist- Biography :...
, who was Himmler's counsellor on the occult. (see: Nazi occultism) Willigut was of the opinion that Marby (and also Kummer) were bringing "the holy Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
heritage into disrepute and ridicule." Wiligut also had identified Irminism as the true ancestral religion, claiming that Guido von List
Guido von List
Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...
's Wotanism and runic row was a schismatic false religion, but this does seem to be unconnected to the arrest of Marby.
Other measures against esoteric groups were most probably the result of the general Nazi policy of suppressing lodge organizations.
Other developments
In the years following the military defeat, there was a burgeoning occult movement in Germany and Austria. Significant figures in this milieu were Gustav Meyring, Franz Spunda and Peryt ShouPeryt Shou
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...
.
Esotericism in Nazi Germany
German Faith Movement
The German Faith MovementGerman Faith Movement
The German Faith Movement was closely associated with Jakob Wilhelm Hauer during the Third Reich and sought to move Germany away from Christianity towards a religion based on "immediate experience" of God...
led by Jakob Wilhelm Hauer
Jakob Wilhelm Hauer
Jakob Wilhelm Hauer was a German Indologist and religious studies writer. He was the founder of the German Faith Movement.-Biography:...
during 1933-1945 propagated a move away from Christianity towards an "Aryan-Nordic religion", partly inspired by Hinduism
Hinduism in the West
The reception of Hinduism in the western world begins in the 19th century, at first at an academic level of religious studies and antquiarian interest in Sanskrit....
.
Suppression of Freemasonry and esotericism
The suppression of Freemasonry in Nazi Germany also reached the level of outright persecutionPersecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
. It is estimated that between 80,000 and 200,000 Freemasons were murdered under the Nazi regime. The lodge Liberté chérie
Liberté Chérie
The French association ' , created in March 2001 under the name , first came to public prominence on June 15, 2003, when, after its call to demonstrate "in favour of reforms and against blockings" and against government employees who were striking, an estimated 80,000 protesters gathered on the ...
was founded in a concentration camp. Freemasons, who were sent concentration camps, were sent there as political prisoners, and consequently forced to wear an inverted red triangle. (see: Nazi concentration camp badges
Nazi concentration camp badges
Nazi concentration camp badges, primarily triangles, were part of the system of identification in Nazi camps. They were used in the concentration camps in the Nazi-occupied countries to identify the reason the prisoners had been placed there. The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on...
)
Within the Nazi ideology it was alleged that Freemasonry was part of "the Jewish conspiracy". Since many esoteric groups emulated the lodge structure of Freemasonry, they were "caught in the National Socialist anti-Masonic law of 1935". Even "the German Order of Druids" was closed down, "protesting to the last that they were not Freemasons but good, German Druids." In her biography of Richard Walther Darré, the historian Anna Bramwell also remarks that a secret society called the Skald Order "was banned by the Nazis after 1933 because of its allegedly masonic nature." Several members of the Skald held office in the Third Reich, including Dr Ludolf Haase (a founder member of the Skald), Herbert Backe
Herbert Backe
Herbert Backe was a German Nazi politician and Obergruppenführer in the SS.Backe was born in Batumi, Georgia, the son of a trader. He studied at the Tbilisi Gymnasium from 1905 and was interned on the outbreak of World War I as an enemy alien...
and Theo Gross; all came under covert investigation, though Backe is said to have been cleared of disloyalty by Heydrich from his deathbed.
Whether the Nazi ideology had a special view concerning the various esoteric doctrines (aside from confusing them with Freemasonry) is not clear. Concerning Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...
, a book whose title denounced Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
as a fraud (Schwindler) and a false prophet had been published by Gregor Schwartz-Bostunitsch in 1930. Schwartz-Bostunitsch had been an "enthusiastic Anthroposophist" from 1923, but was disaffected by 1929 and later joined the SS.
Astrology was officially interdicted in Nazi Germany after 1938. However, the Nazis had sympathizing astrologers write favourable interpretations of Nostradamus
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
for psychological warfare
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
, and as late as 1936 Hitler personally sent a greetings telegram to an international astrologer's congress that was taking place in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
.
The full focus of the state was not aimed at religious groups until 9 June 1941 when Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
, the head of the security police, banned lodge organizations and esoteric groups in the wake of the flight to Scotland by Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
, who had been attracted and influenced by the organic farming
Biodynamic agriculture
Biodynamic agriculture is a method of organic farming that emphasizes the holistic development and interrelationships of the soil, plants and animals as a self-sustaining system. Biodynamic farming has much in common with other organic approaches, such as emphasizing the use of manures and composts...
theories of Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
and Anthroposophy. However, the suppression of esoteric organisations began very soon after the Nazis acquired governmental power. Dr. Anna Bramwell points out that "occultist racialists were banned as early as 1934."
Allegedly the stage magician
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
and occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
ist Franz Bardon
Franz Bardon
Franz Bardon , born in Opava, Austrian Silesia, was both a stage magician and student and teacher of Hermetics. He was a member of the Czech hermetic society Universalia. During World War II Bardon was at one point held in a concentration camp for refusing to participate in Nazi Mysticism. Bardon...
had attracted the notice of Adolf Hitler "like other workers for the Light" and was incarcerated in a concentration camp for three and a half months in 1945.
Move away from earlier Nazi esotericism
The occultist or esoteric ideas common in the völkisch movement throughout the 1920s had only limited influence on the actual Third Reich of 1933-1945. The Thule SocietyThule Society
The Thule Society , originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum , was a German occultist and völkisch group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend...
was dissolved still in the 1920s, well before Hitler's rise to power, and the anti-Masonic legislation of 1935 closed down esoteric organisations including völkisch occultist ones.
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
, who had been involved with the Nazis throughout the 1920s, became increasinly marginalized during the 1930s due to his lack of initiative in one specific area. He lived only to serve his Fuehrer. Karl Maria Wiligut
Karl Maria Wiligut
Karl Maria Wiligut was an Austrian Ariosophist- Biography :...
, the chief occultist influence on the Nazi establishment, retired in 1939. Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
, whose 1930 Myth of the Twentieth Century
The Myth of the Twentieth Century
The Myth of the Twentieth Century is a book by Alfred Rosenberg, one of the principal ideologues of the Nazi party and editor of the Nazi paper Völkischer Beobachter. It was the most influential Nazi text after Hitler's Mein Kampf. The titular "myth" is "the myth of blood, which under the sign of...
had been important in the foundation of Nazi racist ideology, and Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, who added a number of occultist "design elements" to the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
, did remain high ranking party members throughout the war, but gradually put less emphasis on their occultist interests after 1939.
According to their private writings, the leaders of the Nazi Party
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in Germany did not wish to encourage forms of paganism which did not serve to further their goals of promoting pan-Germanic ethnic consciousness.
Already in 1927, Hitler had fired the Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
of Thüringen
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Artur Dinter
Artur Dinter
Artur Dinter was a German writer and Nazi politician.- Biography :Dinter was born in Mulhouse, in Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire to Josef Dinter, a customs adviser, and his wife Berta, née Hoffmann, and he was baptized in the Catholic Church.After doing his school-leaving examination, Dinter...
, from his post because he wanted too much to make a religion of Aryan racial purity. In 1928, Dinter was expelled from the party when he publicly attacked Hitler about this decision.
Rudolf von Sebottendorff had been involved in the Thule Society
Thule Society
The Thule Society , originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum , was a German occultist and völkisch group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend...
. In January 1933 he published Bevor Hitler kam: Urkundlich aus der Frühzeit der Nationalsozialistischen Bewegung (Before Hitler Came: Documents from the Early Days of the National Socialist Movement). Nazi authorities disliked the book, which was banned in the following year. Sebottendorff was arrested but managed to flee to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Esotericists in Nazi Germany
- Karl SpiesbergerKarl SpiesbergerKarl 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...
- Ludwig StraniakLudwig StraniakLudwig Straniak , was a German mysticist, Germanic revivalist and most notably a pendulum dowser. He was an architect and astrologer and was used by the German military in the Third Reich, not necessarily willingly....
- Wilhelm Wulff
- A. Frank GlahnA. Frank GlahnA. Frank Glahn , 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....
- Carl ReichenbachCarl ReichenbachBaron Dr. Carl Ludwig von Reichenbach was a notable chemist, geologist, metallurgist, naturalist, industrialist and philosopher, and a member of the prestigious Prussian Academy of Sciences...
- Hellmut WolffHellmut WolffProfessor Hellmut Wolff , was a German academic, mystic, Germanic revivalist, and most notably a Pendulum dowser...
- Thomas Charles LethbridgeThomas Charles LethbridgeThomas Charles Lethbridge was a British explorer, archaeologist and parapsychologist. According to the historian Ronald Hutton, Lethbridge's "status as a scholar never really rose above that of an unusually lively local antiquary" for he had a "contempt for professionalism in all fields" and...
- Karl Ernst KrafftKarl Ernst KrafftKarl Ernst Krafft was a Swiss astrologer. He worked on the fields of astrology and graphology.-Astrology career:...
After 1945
Karl SpiesbergerKarl Spiesberger
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...
, a member of Fraternitas Saturni, revived rune occultism in his Runenmagie (Rune magic), published 1955. There were some other notable German pendulum dowsers.Other than popular Western astrology
Western astrology
Western astrology is the system of astrology most popular in Western countries. Western astrology is historically based on Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos , which in turn was a continuation of Hellenistic and ultimately Babylonian traditions....
, there is also a school of thought regarding Germanic Runic Astrology and its usage in divination within the northern tradition of Odinism
Odinism
Odinism is a type of Germanic Neopaganism.Odinism may also refer to:*Norse paganism** the cult of Odin- See also :*Odinist Fellowship*Odinic Rite*The Odin Brotherhood*Wotanism, a Völkisch / White Nationalist movement*Wodenism...
.
The work of Friedrich Bernhard Marby
Friedrich Bernhard Marby
Friedrich Bernhard Marby was a German rune occultist and Germanic revivalist. He is abest known for his revivalism and use of the Armanen runes row. He was imprisoned during the Third Reich, which may have been due to a denunciation by Karl Maria Wiligut...
was continued by Rudolf Arnold Spieth, who also published one of his works posthumously.
A revival of Neopaganism in Germany and Austria
Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe
Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe has since its emergence in the 1970s diversified into a wide array of traditions, particularly during the New Age boom of the 1980s.Schmid distinguishes four main currents:...
began in the 1970s.
Since the 1980s, mainstream esotericism in German-speaking Europe has been dominated by generic New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
syncretism as it developed in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Literature
- Anna Bramwell. 1985. Blood and Soil: Richard Walther Darré and Hitler's 'Green Party. Abbotsbrook, England: The Kensal Press. ISBN 0-946041-33-4
- Nicholas Goodrick-ClarkeNicholas Goodrick-ClarkeNicholas Goodrick-Clarke B.A. , D.Phil. is a professor of Western Esotericism at University of Exeter and author of several books on esoteric traditions....
. 1985. The Occult Roots of NazismThe Occult Roots of Nazismthumb|right|Cover of the 1992 editionThe Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890-1935 is a book by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. It is the "seminal work" on Nazi occultism and Ariosophy. The book also includes some...
: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890-1935. Wellingborough, England: The Aquarian Press. ISBN 0-85030-402-4.