- The Early Period
Before his mystical "initiation" in 1902
and the subsequent publication of Das Geheimnis der Runen, Guido von lIst had,
with the notable exception of Der Unbesiegbare, mainly confiend himself to
journalistic and fiction work. His journalism, however, covered a wide range of
material. Much of it was concerned with the local antiquities and natural and
man-made wonders of the Austrian countryside. But there was also the occasional
foray into actual religious or magical ideas, as in "Gotterdammerung"
(1893), *26 "Von der Wuotanspriesterschaft" (1893), *27 "Die
deutsche Mythologie im Rahmen eines Kalenderjahres" (1894), *28 "Der
deutsche Zauberglaube in Bauwesen" (1895), *29 and
"Mephistopheles" (1895). *30 These, as well as the natural-mystical
assumptions that underlie his interpretations of ancient and natural phenomena,
would seem to indicate that a fairly sophisticated system of mystical thinking
had been developed by List throughout these early years.
Of course, the major part of List's energies before
1902 were spent in the production of neo-romantic fiction and verse. In this
period, basically that between 1888 and 1903, when the last of his major
fiction was published, there are essentially two phases.
The first of these, between 1888 and 1895, might be
called his novelistic phase. During this time he produced three major novels
(including his earlier work Carnuntum ) and two major epic-dramatic poems.
Carnuntum, his first novel was set in the time of
the Germanic invasions across the Roman limes in the late fourth century C.E.
Historically, Carnuntum was overrun in 374 C.E. by the Quadi, a Germanic tribe.
It is an explicit feature of List's historical vision that modern Austria south
and west of the Danube was an Urheimat, a primeval homeland, of the Germanic
peoples, and that with such ancient invasions the Germans were merely
reclaiming territories lost to Roman forces of occupation. *31
Jung Diethers Heimkehr (1894) is set in the same
geographical area in the fifth century. It relates the story of a young
Markomanni-Quadi warrior who is forced to convert to Christianity (in the hated
Roman culture) but who eventually returns to the faith of his fathers -
Wuotanism - once he realises the essence of "Christianism." In the
same year, Der Wala Erweckung appeared, but apparently it was not performed
until 3 November 1895 . In 1895 there also appeared the skaldic sacral drama
Walkurenweihe. The year 1895 also saw List's most succesful work of fiction,
Pipara: Die Germanin im Casarenpurur (Pipara: the Germanic Woman in the purple
of the Caesars). This two-volume work recounts the legendary rise of a Germanic
slave to the position of empress in the late third century C.E.
Probably as a result of his marriage in 1899 to the
actress Anna Witteck, List devoted his literary efforts almost exclusively to
drama between that year and the year of his final fiction publications, 1903.
These included Konig Vannius (1899), Sommer-Sonnwend-Feuerzauber (1901), and
Das Goldstuck (1903).
The year 1903 also saw the publication of List's
Kunstmarchen anthology: Alraunenmaren: Kultur-historische Novellen un
Dichtungen aus germanischer Vorzeit (Mandrake-Tales: Cultural-historical
Novellas and Poetry from Germanic Prehistory). In this volume List presented
original tales and poetry chronologically arranged from the "age of the
gods" to the present (in the symbolically autobiographical " Eine
Zauernacht, " which recounts his inner experience on that famous visit to
Carnuntum in the summer of 1875).
- The Later Period
The spiritual watershed year was, of course, 1902.
But it was not until 1908 that the first volume of his eight books of
"investigations" appeared. Six of these were published by the Guido von
list Society itself in the series called the Guido-von-List-Bucherei (GvLB);
the two exceptions were first published by Adolf Burdeke in Switzerland and
Leipzig .
Das Geheimnis der Runen (The Secret of the Runes;
GvLB no. 1, 1908), the work translated here, is both a brief summary of the
intellectual world of List, as realised in the years between 1902 and 1908, and
an introduction to the rest of his work. The runes became the cornerstone of
List's ideology, and no other work so clearly and simply outlines his ideas on
them.
Die Armanenschaft der Ario-Germanen (The Armanism
of the Aryo-Germanic People; GvLB nos. 2a-2b, 1908 and 1911) is a two-volume
set that outlines the great principles of Armanism, its social history and
organisation, as well as its cosmological conceptions. The second volume also
contains the most pointed use of contemporary racist ideology that List would
publish in this series.
Die Rita der Ario-Germanen (The Rita of the
Aryo-Germanic People, GvLB no. 3, 1908) represents a mystical delineation of
Germanic law, in the cosmic as well as the political realm. The term rita os
obviously borrowed from Sanskrit rta or rita, “cosmic order.” This work also
contains a fairly detailed account of the “Holy Feme” (or “Vehme”) as it was
understood by contemporary volkish occultists.
Dir Namen der Volkerstamme Germaniens und deren
Deutung (The Names of the Tribes of the People of Germania and their
Interpretation; GvLB no. 4, 1909) represents the application of List's mystical
theories concerning Kala (see p.77ff.) to the many tribal names of the Germanic
peoples which have survived in Roman histories, etc.
Die Religion der Ario-Germanen in ihrer Esoterik
und Exoterik (The Religion of the Aryo-Germanic People in its Esoteric and
Exoteric Aspects; 1909 or 1910) is a discussion of the Armanic theories of
astrological lore, theology, and numerology.
Die Bilderschrift der Ario-Germanen:
Ario-Germanische Hierogyphik (The Pictographic Script of the Aryo-Germanic
People: Aryo-Germanic Hieroglyphics; GvLB no. 5, 1910) is one o fList's most
unique and fascinating mystical explorations. In this volume he interprets all
sorts of graphic signs and symbols – including runes, sigils, and symbolic
animals – and then applies his theories to the esoteric symbolism of heraldry.
This is the most sophisticated delineation of ideas first presented in The
Secret of the Runes (see p. 81ff. of the present text).
Die Unbergang vom Wuotanismus zum Christentum (The
Transition from Wuotanism to Christianity; 1911) is connected with a central
theme in List's thinking: the (more or less) smooth transition between the
pagan and Christian religions. This theory (many elements of which are
perfectly legitimate) allows for the pagan reinterpretation of Christian
customs, festivals, names, and so forth, based on the idea that these tribes
were originally heathen (Wuotanist) features that only received a Christian
veneer. Thus the pagan ways have, according to List, survived the centuries
more or less intact, and are only in need of correct reinterpretation in order
to make them living Wuotanist realities again.
It was three more years before List's next, and
most comprehensive, study appeared. Die Ursprache der Ario-Germanen in ihre
Mysteriensprache (The Primal Language of the Aryo-Germanic People and their
Mystery Language; GvLB no. 6, 1914) is the encyclopediac presentation of List's
complex linguistic theories, based on Kala. This work actually represents the
raising of the tradition known as “folk etymology“ to the level of an arcane
science comparable to cabalistic number theories. (See P. 69ff. below for a
sample of these techniques.)
The disruptions caused by the Great War caused an
indefinite delay in the publication of List's last volume of investigations,
which was to be entitled Armanismus und Kabbala. In fact, by the time the
Master died in 1919 the manuscript had still not been prepared for publication,
and so it was never made public. Some rumours have it that the work was stolen,
others that it was merely kept secret by members of the HAO. This was to be
List's great work of magical correspondences. It would have also further
developed the mystical history of the way in which, according to List, Armanen-
wisdom found its way into Judaic mysticism and Renaissance humanism. *32
The works of Guido von List continued to be
printed, and the Society flourished until the late 1930's, when it fell under
the general suppressions exercised by the National Socialist regime of “Greater
Germany.” Of course, List's works we read, studied, and collected by the
Germanophilic Nazis – most of the copies of List's works to be found in
academic libraries in America bear the stamp of the Reichsfuhrer SS Bucherei
and /or that of the Ahnenerbe. (For further information on the Ahnenerbe, see
fn 50.) It would seem that after the contents of these libraries were
confiscated and sent to America they were subsequently distributed among
American (especially “Ivy League”) universities.
