Forces Of Nature + The Gods + Mythic History

While in Iceland towards the fruitless end of his Apollonian quest for the Grail, the flawed yet brilliant Otto Rahn offered insights to the Forces of Nature, the Gods, and Mythic History for benefit of his fellow Germans:

The deep solidarity of the ancient Germans with the Forces of Nature required manifold ways of offertory; and thereby the communion of life with said forces was upheld. One sacrificed to the well-spirits and tree-spirits by kindling of lights, by hymns and sayings, by offerings of fauna and flora. One honoured the life-force in the trees; upon whose branches one hung flowers, ribbons, and fruits; or by singing & dancing around them. In furthest Antiquity, one built the dwelling itself around the trunk of a living tree and fused thusly in give-and-take with these forces. The mutually-interwoven divine nature became merged with the bonds which united humanity with community.

According to Tacitus [Germania], it displeased the Germans to box the Gods inside closed rooms or to worship them in human form, since this be discordant with their grandeur. They sanctified groves and woods to said Gods, and with the names of the Gods they signified yonder Mystery which, by devout adoration, they alone beheld…

…Although Mythic History resides in grey primaeval times, it belongs not to the past alone: It is yet the enduring, albeit later-obscured, force of all history. Thus by external events, History mirrors what Mythos already symbolically produced. Also behind the outward history stands always mythic might. Albeit, this is no longer as such for the darkened awareness of Modernity, and rather only becomes manifest in the misunderstood mythic aftermath. Exactly there—where myths prove themselves, by superficial measure, to be entirely unauthentic and unhistorical—is where resides their metaphysical reality. ~

Translated excerpt from the chapter “Reykholt” of Luzifers Hofgesind (Lucifer’s Court) by Otto Rahn (1937).

© Copyright 2019 of Fritz Maes