Editing Ariosophy (section)

==Armanism==
{{redirect-distinguish|Armanism|Arminianism}}
[[Image:GermanicMysticism.JPG|thumb|250px| Guido von List in 1910 from the book ''Guido v. List: Der Wiederentdecker Uralter Arischer Weisheit'' by [[Johannes Balzli]], published in 1917]]
Guido von List elaborated a racial religion premised on the concept of renouncing the imposed [[Abrahamic religions|Semitic]] creed of [[Christianity]] and returning to the [[Proto-Indo-European religion|native religions]] of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|ancient Indo-Europeans]] (List preferred the equivalent term ''Ario-Germanen'', or 'Aryo-Germanics'). He recognised the theoretical distinction between the [[Proto-Indo-European language]] and its daughter [[Proto-Germanic language]], but frequently obscured it by his tendency to treat them as a single long-lived entity (although this framing is also used in linguistics as the [[Germanic parent language]]).<ref name="F1988:43,69">{{citation |translator=Flowers|title=The Secret of the Runes |year=1988 |pages=43, 69 and ''passim''}}.</ref> In this, he became strongly influenced by the Theosophical thought of [[Madame Blavatsky]], which he blended with his own highly original beliefs, founded upon Germanic paganism.<ref name="GC1985:02">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=2}}</ref>

Before he turned to occultism, Guido List had written articles for German Nationalist newspapers in Austria, as well as four historical novels and three plays, some of which were "set in tribal Germany" before the advent of Christianity.<ref name="GC1985:36-41">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp=36–41}}</ref> He also had written an anti-semitic essay in 1895. List adopted the aristocratic ''von'' between 1903 and 1907.

List called his doctrine ''Armanism'' after the ''Armanen'', supposedly a body of priest-kings in the ancient Aryo-Germanic nation. He claimed that this German name had been Latinized into the tribal name ''[[Herminones]]'' mentioned in [[Tacitus]], and that it actually meant the heirs of the sun-king: an estate of intellectuals who were organised into a priesthood called the ''Armanenschaft''.<ref name = "GC1985:56">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=56}}</ref>

His conception of the original religion of the [[Germanic tribes]] was a form of [[sun worship]], with its priest-kings (similar to the Icelandic ''[[goði]]'') as legendary rulers of [[ancient Germany]], who were immortalized as the gods of the various Aryan faiths. Religious instruction was imparted on two levels. The esoteric doctrine (Armanism) was concerned with the secret mysteries of the [[gnosis]], reserved for the initiated elite, while the exoteric doctrine (''Wotanism'') took the form of popular myths intended for the lower social classes.<ref name="GC1985:57">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=57}}</ref>

List believed that the transition from Wotanism to Christianity had proceeded smoothly under the direction of the [[skald]] poets, so that native customs, festivals and names were preserved under a Christian veneer and only needed to be "decoded" back into their heathen forms.<ref name="F1988:16-7">{{harvnb|List|1988|pp=16–17}}</ref> This peaceful merging of the two religions had been disrupted by the forcible conversions under "bloody [[Charlemagne]] – the Slaughterer of the [[Saxons]]".<ref name="F1988:77">{{harvnb|List|1988|p=77}}</ref> List claimed that the dominance of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] in [[Austria-Hungary]] constituted a continuing occupation of the Germanic tribes by the [[Roman Empire]], albeit now in a religious form, and a continuing persecution of the ancient religion of the Germanic peoples and [[Celts]].

He also believed in the magical powers of the old [[rune]]s. From 1891 onwards he claimed that [[heraldry]] was based on a system of encoded runes, so that heraldic devices conveyed a secret heritage in cryptic form. In April 1903, he submitted an article concerning the alleged Aryan [[proto-language]] to the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Its highlight was a mystical and occult interpretation of the runic alphabet, which became the cornerstone of his ideology. Although the article was rejected by the academy, it would later be expanded by List, and grew into his [[Magnum opus|final masterpiece]], a comprehensive treatment of his linguistic and historical theories, published in 1914 as ''Die Ursprache der Ario-Germanen und ihre Mysteriensprache'' (''The Proto-Language of the Aryo-Germanics and their Mystery Language'').

List's doctrine has been described as [[gnostic]], [[pantheist]], and [[deist]].<ref name = "GC1985:40,50,48">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp=40, 50, 84 and ''passim''}}</ref> At its core is the mystical union of God, man, and nature. Wotanism teaches that God dwells within the individual human spirit as an inner source of magical power, but is also [[Immanence|immanent]] within nature through the primal laws that govern the cycles of growth, decay, and renewal. List explicitly rejects a [[Mind-body dualism]] of spirit versus matter, or of God over or against nature. Humanity is therefore one with the universe, which entails an obligation to live in accordance with nature. But the individual human ego does not seek to merge with the cosmos. "Man is a separate agent, necessary to the completion or perfection of ‘God's work’".<ref name="F1988:24">{{harvnb|List|1988|p=24}}</ref> Being immortal, the ego passes through successive [[reincarnation]]s until it overcomes all obstacles to its purpose. List foresaw the eventual consequences of this in a future [[utopia]] on Earth, which he identified with the promised [[Valhalla]], a world of victorious heroes:

{{blockquote |
Thus in the course of uncounted generations all men will become ''[[Einherjar]]'', and that state – willed and preordained by the godhead – of general liberty, equality, and fraternity will be reached. This is that state which sociologists long for and which [[socialist]]s want to bring about by false means, for they are not able to comprehend the esoteric concept that lies hidden in the triad: liberty, equality, fraternity, a concept which must first ripen and mature in order that someday it can be picked like a fruit from the [[World Tree]].<ref name="L1908">{{harvnb|List|1988|p=109}}</ref>}}

List was familiar with the cyclical notion of time, which he encountered in [[Norse mythology]] and in the theosophical adaptation of the [[Hindu units of measurement|Hindu time cycles]]. He had already made use of cosmic rhythms in his early journalism on natural landscapes.<ref name="List1891">{{citation |author=List |title=Deutsch-Mythologische Landschaftsbilder (republished) |place=Berlin |year=1891}}.</ref> In his later works,{{refn|Goodrick-Clarke refers especially to ''Die Armanenschaft der Ario-Germanen. Zweiter Teil'', 1911 and the second edition of ''Die Armanenschaft der Ario-Germanen. Erster Teil'', 1913.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp=239–40, notes to Chapter 9}}</ref>|group=Note}} List combined the cyclical concept of time with the "dualistic and linear time scheme" of western [[apocalypticism]], which counterposes a pessimism about the present world with an ultimate optimism regarding the future one.<ref name="GC1985:79,80">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp= 79, 80}}</ref> In ''Das Geheimnis der Runen'',<ref name = "L1988-1">{{citation |title=The Secret of the Runes |translator=Flowers|year=1988 |pages=107ff}}.</ref> List addresses the seeming contradiction by explaining the final redemption of the linear time frame as an exoteric parable that stands for the esoteric truth of renewal in many future cycles and incarnations. This is counter to the original Norse myths and [[Hinduism]], where the cycle of destruction and creation is repeated indefinitely, thus offering no possibility of ultimate salvation.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp=79; 239, note 14 to Chapter 9}}</ref>

===Guido von List Society and High Armanen Order===
Already in 1893 Guido List{{refn|Guido List started to use the aristocratic ''von'' in his name between 1903 and 1907.|group=Note}} together with Fanny Wschiansky, had founded the ''[[Literarische Donaugesellschaft]]'', a [[literary society]].<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=39}}</ref>

In 1908 the [[Guido von List Society]] (''Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft'') was founded primarily by the Wannieck family ([[Friedrich Wannieck]] and his son [[Friedrich Wannieck#Family|Friedrich Oskar Wannieck]] being prominent and enthusiastic Armanists) as an [[occult]] ''[[völkisch]]'' organisation, with the purpose of financing and publishing List's research.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=42}}</ref> The List Society was supported by many leading figures in Austrian and German politics, publishing, and occultism.{{refn|A list of the signatories in support of the ''Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft'' is printed in ''GLB'' 3 (1908), p. 197f. Membership lists of the ''Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft'' are printed in ''GLB'' 2 (1908), pp. 71–4 and ''GLB'' 5 (1910), pp. 384–9. The articles of the List Society are printed in ''GLB'' 1, second edition (1912), pp. 68–78.{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}|group=Note}} Although one might suspect a ''völkisch'' organisation to be antisemitic, the society included at least two Jews among its members: Moritz Altschüler, a rabbinical scholar,<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=99}}</ref> and [[Ernst Wachler (author)|Ernst Wachler]].<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp=43, 162}} affirms Wachler's membership in the List Society.</ref> The List Society published List's works under the series ''Guido-List-Bücherei'' (''GLB'').<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=44}}</ref>{{refn|Two other later works of List were published by ''Adolf Burdeke''{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} in [[Zürich]]. For a complete list of List's books, see the bibliography in Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 274.|group=Note}}

List had established exoteric and esoteric circles in his organisation. The High Armanen Order (''Hoher Armanen Orden'') was the inner circle of the Guido von List Society. Founded in midsummer 1911, it was set up as a magical order or lodge to support List's deeper and more practical work. The HAO conducted pilgrimages to what its members considered "holy Armanic sites", [[Stephansdom]] in [[Vienna]], [[Carnuntum]] etc. They also had occasional meetings between 1911 and 1918, but the exact nature of these remains unknown. In his introduction to List's ''The Secret of the Runes'', [[Stephen E. Flowers]] notes: "The HAO never really crystallized in List's lifetime – although it seems possible that he developed a theoretical body of unpublished documents and rituals relevant to the HAO that have only been put into full practice in more recent years".<ref>{{harvnb|List|1988|p=11}}</ref>

===Listians under the Third Reich===
List died on 17 May 1919, a few months before [[Adolf Hitler]] joined a minor Bavarian political party and formed it into the [[NSDAP]]. After the Nazis had come to power, several advocates of Armanism fell victim to the suppression of [[Esotericism in Germany and Austria|esotericism in Nazi Germany]].

The main reason for the persecution of occultists was the Nazi policy of systematically closing down esoteric organisations (although Germanic paganism was still practised by some Nazis on an individual basis), but the instigator in certain cases{{Citation needed|date=March 2018|reason=which cases are referred to here? and what evidence is cited to support claim Wiligut was instigator?}} was Himmler's personal occultist, Karl Maria Wiligut. Wiligut identified the monotheistic religion of Irminism as the true ancestral belief, claiming that Guido von List's Wotanism and runic row constituted a schismatic false religion.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018|reason=where did Wiligut make this claim?}}

Among the Listians – Kummer and Marby are not mentioned by Goodrick-Clarke<ref name = "GC1985:43">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985| p=43}}</ref> among the signatories who endorsed the List Society around 1905 but both men were indebted to "Listian" ideas<ref name = "GC1985:181-2">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp= 181–82}}</ref> – who were subjected to censure were the rune occultists [[Friedrich Marby|Friedrich Bernhard Marby]] and Siegfried Adolf Kummer, both of whom were denounced by Wiligut in 1934 in a letter to Himmler.<ref name="GC1985:254">Karl-Maria Weisthor (i.e. Wiligut) to Himmler, 2 May 1934, Bundesarchiv, Koblenz, Himmler Nachlass 19, cited in {{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=254 n.21}}</ref> Flowers<ref name="F1988:35">{{harvnb|List|1988|p= 35}}</ref> writes: "The establishment of [an] 'official NS [[runology]]' under Himmler, Wiligut, and others led directly to the need to suppress the rune-magical 'free agents' such as Marby". Despite having openly supported the Nazis,<ref name="M19357-42inF1988:117">{{harvnb|Marby|1935|pp= 7–42}} cited in {{harvnb|List|1988|p=117 n.47}}</ref> Marby was arrested by the Gestapo in 1936 as an anti-Nazi occultist and was interned in [[Welzheim]], [[Flossenbürg concentration camp|Flossenbürg]] and [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]] [[concentration camp]]s.<ref name="F1988:117">{{harvnb|List|1988|p= 117 n.47}}</ref><ref name="GC1985:161">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p= 161}}</ref><ref name="R2006:119">{{harvnb|Rudgley|2006|p= 119}}</ref> Kummer disappears from History after Wiligut's denunciation in 1934, and his fate is unknown. He may have died in a concentration camp.{{sfn|Lange|1998}} According to Rudgley,<ref name="R2006:125">{{harvnb|Rudgley|2006|p= 125}}</ref> "[u]nsubstantiated rumours" have him fleeing Nazi Germany in exile to South America, but "it is more likely that he perished in one of the camps that Marby was to survive or died during the Allied bombing of [[Dresden]]."

Günter Kirchhoff, a List Society member whom Wiligut had recommended to Himmler on the strength of his researches into prehistory, is reported to have written that Wiligut by intrigue had ensured that Ernst Lauterer (a.k.a. "Tarnhari") – another List Society member, who claimed a secret clan tradition that rivalled Wiligut's own – was committed to a concentration camp as an "English agent". Flowers and Moynihan<ref name = "F&M2007:59,165,77">{{harvnb|List|1988|pp= 59, 165, 177}}</ref> reproduce Kirchhoff's testimony as reported by both Adolf Schleipfer and researcher Manfred Lenz (but doubted by Wiligut's former secretary Gabriele Dechend).