The Path Of Wotan

Originally published in 1994 by Jost Turner

The everyday customs, ceremonies, and beliefs of our pre-Christian Germanic forefathers varied considerably from tribe to tribe all across northern Europe. The rituals and ceremonies of the Germanic tribal religions were never organized nor institutionalized, and so they did not survive the onslaught of organized Christianity. With the vicious forced conversions during the dark ages, the sacred icons, holy days, and spiritual beliefs of our Forefathers were either Christianized (such as Yule transformed to Christmas and the Yule Tree transformed to the Christmas tree), or propagandized into something evil and loathsome (such as the once sacred number 13 denounced as an unlucky number). 

Although most of the rites and rituals were obliterated and lost, the ignorant and intolerant were never able to completely suppress the Germanic spiritual consciousness, and it has always lingered deep within. The Germanic Gods and sacred icons of old survive today as the very names of the days of the week: Sunday, the day of the sun; Monday, the day of the moon; Tuesday, the day of the God Tyr; Wednesday, the day of the God Woden or Wotan (Odin); Thursday, the day of the God Thor; and Friday, the day of the Goddess Frigga.

Moreover, a number of ancient allegories which were held sacred by all Germanic tribes have survived. These had been passed on through an oral tradition from very ancient times. Along with a few of the later Sagas, they were written down and preserved by Christian clerics who could not comprehend their allegorical nature. Although these ancient allegories, known today as the Eddas, are almost all that remains of the religions of old, they are enough to allow us to discover our true spiritual heritage. 

The true meaning of these allegories were probably not understood even during the Viking age, which was in the midst of the dark ages of the world. But today, we are no longer in the dark ages. Philologists and anthropologists have determined a definite commonality between the allegories of northern Europe and those of their kinfolk in the Aryavarta (the ancient homeland of the Indo-Aryans in the Himalayan mountains). Their studies clearly indicate that both were derived from a common Aryan source, thousands of years ago, during the last golden ages of this earth. 

The allegories of our Euro-Aryan Forefathers indicate that, like their Indo-Aryan Kinfolk, they had developed a science which could accelerate human evolution. Wotan (Odin), the chief Euro-Aryan deity, and his Indo-Aryan counterpart, Shiva, both symbolize mankind’s struggle for higher evolution from human to Superhuman. The stories of Wotan, Tyr, Thor, Yggdrasil, the Frost Giants, the Nine Worlds, the sacred mead, etc., are allegories which symbolize various physical, mental, and psycho-physiological techniques which our Forefathers had developed and used to accelerate human evolution to Superhuman levels. Since Wotan symbolizes the highest evolutionary level of mankind, we have called this ancient Euro-Aryan science The Path of Wotan.

“And this is the great noontide: it is when man stands at the middle of his course between animal and Superman, and celebrates his journey to the evening as his highest hope, for it is the journey to a new morning.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche