VIOLENCE AND ONLY VIOLENCE: AN INTERVIEW WITH HUNTER HERZOG

Conceived in darkness, awash in the blood of all nations, alight with a Sol dreadful to behold - the exoteric manifestation of the German spirit can be apprehended from deep antiquity up to the contemporary era. The violence of brown revolution, the iron grip and all-seeing eye of the DDR state born from the catastrophe of consecutive global conflagrations. Weaponry, rocketry, philosophy and psychiatry - technology both of the raw material of this earth and the human mind spawned, developed, eagerly exported in the dying embers of a post-wartime environment. How does all this connect to the dark esoteric of Germania and to the Draugr?

From ancient times, the Germanic race has always passed down stories intended to serve as examples and lessons for their future generations. Many have secrets cloaked in a primitive tongue, or perhaps they were intentionally concealing the truth to serve as a protective barrier of which only the elect might penetrate. In the recent Agony’s Point Press release GJALLARHORN: Journal of Germanic Esotericism, Vol. 1 Issue 1, I chose the most sacred and time honored northern emblem to greet the reader on the cover: Mjölnir, the crusher. Best selling authors who are entrusted with the esteem that can transmit these stories in a manner that is digestible today do not comprehend their meaning, and often parrot others or popular (mis)conceptions, sometimes with a snide twist. Thor’s Hammer is a symbol of deep contemplation and meaning. The tool with the power to destroy, as well as to restore. In some legends it was forged by the dwarves at the behest of Loki acting upon the agency of the Æsir, and in others further back, “it rose from the sea.” Danish historians identified it as the power-source of the Æsir, with which without they could not function with authority. It was a weapon, that could not be wielded by its wielder, without an auspiciously crafted set of gloves, and a belt that increased his strength. Mjölnir, Járngreipr and Megingjörð: we are looking at a form of technology. And this has always been the force of the Germani: to rise within the food chain through advancements in weaponry, as well as in thought. As it regards the subject of the mind, these are not enervating disciplines, but life enhancing measures of operational accord. Life enhancing for the Germani, to grow and evolve, over and above other populaces in our perpetual reality of which conflict is ever present. So too in music(k) did the Germani prevail over others, as in the dramatic performance and in art. Religion and its mystic experience exist in that liminal space from which all these disciplines and many more might arise. Yet so few have a truly potent initiatory status with regard to those Germanic shadows. Go and read other assessments of the archetypes associated with our magickal world, and you will find a figure such a Thor associated with witless brawn, and yet in Alvíssmál, he used intelligence to entrap his enemy without lifting a finger, or in Þrymskviða where he employed measures of espionage to penetrate into an enemy citadel. This is why Draugrism is so important, in that we bridge the ancient past into the modern world that we find ourselves in today. Furthermore we are the only voice of accuracy within the Heathen sphere, with the others existing as vested interest groups, or super-hero fan clubs. Not only do we apply a rigorous exegesis to our sacral legacy, using it to inform our world position today, but we are the only ones who do this. It suffices to say that Germanics have always been at the center of world events. It might not appear to be so, as they have spanned out in many cycles of invasions and populated nearly ever metric unit of Europe, with only a few and inconsistent exceptions. The important factor is that the key players of these moments have always been Germanic, but because of national borders they are called “the English,” “the Americans,” “the Germans,” and “the Ukrainians.” Many more, far too more… In fact, in all disciplines we know of, look to the authoring innovators and you will find the Germani among them. We are a strong bloodline with a penchant for both survival and development, these being of the physical, scientific, philosophical, psychological and spiritual modes of focus. The Spenglerian term “Faustian” is quite appropriate, and perhaps better utilized here than in other stillborn fashions elsewhere. For the Germanic is a curious fellow, and while heavily leaned upon his traditions, is no stranger to innovation, especially when it regards the nature of war strategy. Look at all of the pivotal breakthroughs of our dimension for that matter: those which crush, burn, detonate and dominate… and there is the Germanic who thought them into existence from the deeps of Ginnungagap. Cold War: it is strewn even today by the devious night terrors recalling the depraved saga of the mighty DDR, the Stasi accelerating the force and focus of the preceding Gestapo, then empowered, even multiplied in stroke, by their Varangian/ Rus comrades, who, were also masters of the tradecraft. Say what they will, to whatever national or religious identity they hold fast to, what matters is that the blood of Germania is within them. To say otherwise is a lie. A factual lie. One that is born from the cognitive dissonance laden in the anacrhronistic eye of the beholder, transposed across time and space, stuck in the past. With every step forward they leap backwards. The reverse is true for the Draugar, for the Draugr comprehends that they are not living in a far off, distant memory — but here in 2024 a.y.p.s. and this for no other reason is the key of strength to which the Draugar exert upon the nine worlds. It stratifies the Draugar upward and away from the exhibitionists because someone who is capable of playing by the rules established outside of their agency today, is poised to be able to create them for themselves, tomorrow. Revolutions  will happen, and the Draugar might partake in them for personal reasons, but there is a line of separation that divides the journey from the moment. Draugar are versatile beings, and are indeed mobile, adepted and adepting, defectionist as well as dangerous. For those who follow the path of Walvater Wotan have always been warriors of noble blood, learned and deadly, focused far more on the adventure than the purpose itself. The bar was set high from time immemorial, and not in some straightforward series of copycat activities created by and for bratty rich kids. No, those of the masked one, we of his immortal bloodline relish in conflict. This is the way our king shaped the universe and determined its laws. By wolf claw, by the raven’s caw, our sullen eyes are ever fixed to the battlefields of which must be builded, leading to that final conflict that will burn this alien experiment to an end. Our holy violence is not unique. We are all like this. Every unit of carbon based life. Some may balk at it, but we do not. If this is our reality then we embrace it and ride the whirlwinds of war. And yes indeed the advanced legacy of weaponry, those physical and subatomic, those of steel, lead and technological, as well as those weapons of the mind, and its tradecraft in wholesale are the armory of the Teutonic Wamphyi. These are dreadful beings, we the Draugar, because we are a night’s watch in the employ of our leader, his thunderous army and our ancestors, all of whom return through the blood, in us. We are each the physical axis of a powerful monad which is limitless in scope and stroke. One that is capable of affecting thunderstorms of the flesh with cataclysmic results. That is us, we the Draugar: highly trained, highly advanced sentries of access to realms beyond the space-time continuum.

In decades past there have been attempts at inaugurations of a “dark heathenism” of a German and Norse variety, utilizing often a cursory aesthetic overlay with attached cultus more often than not abortive at the very juncture of their conception. What are your criticisms of these finite apparitions, how do they compare to the infinite, Immortal way of Walvater Wotan himself? How is the Draugr Cult different?

What an accurate and depressive observation, and a true one at that. The ancestral weltanschauung of Odinism and the way of the north is the birthright of everyone possessed of European blood. As Shadows Over Germania accentuates, this mystic force concentrated in our genetics is the cosmic key to the evolution of our current terrestrial existence and the destiny for that which lays before it. That it is cast to the dogs, and used as a visual fashion or art movement within the Left Hand Path, so cheaply approached, is an egregious stupidity. They are not Draugar, and to be Draugr means something important to everyone who is. We are a dark covenant whose Teutonic bloodline is grafted into the vine of the elite. It is part of our identity, and from it flows the sideward potential and subsequent reality of practical and esoteric greatness. Germanic Esotericism in general, is a profoundly rewarding subject to immerse oneself into, and it doesn’t require anything in return. The subject itself is the reason to engage it. Our attitude towards this mystic universe is like that of gifted treasure: “my precious…” and that door swings both ways. Man and myth evolve together in the way of Draugrism to the next stage beyond human. The alternate types, which have no passion for their origins, and use it as an auxiliary or a signifier of low caliber novelty, they lack the boldness of the blackstorms that follow in our wake. And while my beloved Germania is often engaged in abortive ways with so many instances that can be named and shamed, still, even in its ill-treated presentation am I fascinated with the multi-form understandings and opinions, however wrong, that persist. For to love something truly, you must be willing to accept the good and the bad, the truth and the lies, and come to terms with all of them.

Satan is called “the father of lies” who by his sinister agency is said to “deceive even the elect.” Who is Loki - what is his special particulars - what are his intrinsic characteristics and potencies both innate and developed that facilitate his facilitation of Ragnarok and the end-times?

Loki Laufeyjarson is an enigmatic force within the non-dualist and pagan environment of the Germanic cosmology. In the most literal and popular sense, he or “it” was of the giant race who befriended Odin, and intrigued him, with his vast capabilities. Bonded in blood, they became “brothers” and he was made an Æsir, who employed controversial and nonstandard methods of offensive measures against the enemies of the gods. Though over time, the legends speak of the inability of his nature to co-exist in the presence of the divine government, and was imprisoned as a result, until the time of the final battle where he would then lead the giants against their opposition to the complete destruction of the world. However, this is only one interpretation if not the most accepted. The Eddas suggest that Loki is perhaps far older than a developed account, and rather something much more primal in nature. This: the esoteric lens, introduces analytic, mysterious and occult interpretations of the figure. The Swedish religious studies academic Stig Axel Folke Ström understood Loki as a Hypostasis of Odin himself, and from the occult perspective, this makes the most sense in the cacophony opinions swirling around the subject. Readers familiar with the folklore of Iceland know of Óðinn’s triplicate form in the creation myth. While these were his “brothers,” it is far more likely that they were forms that he assumed. The other two: Hœnir and Loðurr, and the latter is almost universally understood by scholars to be a linguistic mask of Loki, bestower of the blood, and heat or fire that quickens the body, in a biological sense. The Younger Edda of Snorri Sturluson reinforces this theory, with the triplicate Woden’s third form recounting tales involving Loki. In the lay of Harbarð, some scholars are unsure of whether it is Odin or Loki who is disguised as the ferryman, but in this perspective, a choice between the two is redundant, because they are the same. Loðurr is far more accurate of a name and is used functionally in Draugrism. To us, Odin is understood as being in Hypostasis with all things both manifest and otherwise, and this would be only one example. Loðurr manifests as a courageous force and mask of the Allfather, and in truth, there are more mythological accounts centering around him (as Loki) than any other deity, if we are to regard numbers and occurrences. It’s however important to denote that we are Henothesitc Polytheists: to us, all things are but masks of Allfather Odin, including each and every Draugr, especially so. Loðurr is a somewhat darker mask. From the Fireside or Dayside apprehension, Loðurr presents very much as a necessary force with reservations needed as to not get burned in the process. As a close Hypostasis of Wotan, it is very clear that the conspiratorial mechanism that leads to Ragnarok is deep and dark. It is a process that began when the Æsir first came to the North, and all such movements since then have led and will lead to that necessary moment. It is an unavoidable battle, but it is also prophesied that the fallen gods and heroes will all dwell  together among the the stars in the aftermath, and that some who survive will use esoteric technologies to terraform the earth once more. Such as Hœnir, one of the Evil Doer’s triplicate forms which will in the aftermath of Ragnarok’s global and cosmic butchery chant the earth back to life. 

In the Ukraine- Russia conflict there exist many volunteer units on both sides of the battlefield that bear the ensigns of the Old Gods and openly propitiate Walvater Wotan. Real carnage is being laid at the altar of these presumably interdimensional entities in actual combat space in a way unprecedented since the Viking Age. What are the effects of this dynamic and their historic implications moving forward?

Observing that the situation bears all too familiar markers of Walvater Wotan’s work of evil and deception is the lynchpin that informs us that there are much more powerful forces at work here than mere humans and their governments. For Wotan was known to foment wars by playing both sides of a conflict. Not only are there legends of his treacherous bilateral involvement with rival armies, pitting them against each other and fanning the flames thereof, but also of the polarities each believing in a religious way that they represented the vanguard of Wodanaz on earth. This is what Oden was said to do: empower and support individuals as well as groups for a terrible and unknown purpose. It was often theorized that he would do these things because he was looking to scalp the finest warriors for his own retinue of the Wild Hunt, which are and will be his personal Rohirrim at the end times. Whatever happens in a conflict like the Ukrainian and Russian war, where each have Odinic warriors in the ranks and tanks: it doesn’t matter. Whomsoever thinks they’ve won or lost the war, is wrong. Everyone loses when the Terrible One is involved. That is Odin: a black knight who oversaw many human sacrifices to him for contradictory purposes. He is the victorious one: Siegvater, and no one else. Grim from the gallows hang aeons of his claimed. Neither side of this conflict is positioned with justification, literally or ideologically. In the existence as Teutonic Wamphyri it necessary to be washed of these opinions, from a professional approach. We are each a vessel indwelling the Eternal Hunter and his hostile procession, and from my vantage point, I only hold the war itself to be right, ideologically speaking. War is necessary. It is therefore right. I think many Draugar may be literally involved on both sides, as I do not know all who follow the Draugr way. In each of these hypothetical instances, they may indeed be participating in the war, but I would surmise that they partake in it, because it is war, and that is it. Not because they understand their side or their government to be correct. The Draugar feed and sacrifice to Wotan, and it is likely that some desire a position to experience this in the Fireside sense where there is a reasonable measure of success that can be repeated. People join militaries for many of reasons. It wouldn’t be the first time someone signed up for themselves. I’ve heard it said that if you don’t do this, at least in part, then you’ll be poked and prodded through years of directives in which you lose the sense of why you started in the first place. Be bold! Live the adventure! In Valhalla, there are many warriors from around the world joined in Germanic strength and for my immediate purposes I support the Ukraine.

How does Walvater Wotan manifest in the sphere of asymmetrical warfare precedental according to ancient writ and in the here and now?

This is an extremely important subject when attempting to apprehend what Wotan is. In the mythology of the ancient north, Wotan partook in one single conflict of kinetic nature and is prophesied to partake in another. In each of these instances it is not exactly known how he had advanced and will advance against his foes as Ragnarok. However, if the body of literature between these events can be trusted, then Wotan preferred a far more underhanded and wicked  manner of operation, when it involved his enemies. In the one real violent clash that is spoken of which he was directly involved with, he waited until Ymir, the primordial Giant, was sleeping, before delivering a subsequently lethal attack upon him. He is constantly seen outwitting, outsmarting, trapping, ruining, corrupting, ambushing, and pulling away at his foes from within. The symbol of the Valknut was said to be emblematic of Odin’s control over the minds of humans. He was very much a puppet master, playing as two colors of a very large game of cosmic chess, himself with himself. Just as he sacrificed himself to himself. It should be of no surprise to anyone that Wotan has once more inserted himself into the global arena, patronizing many forces in direct conflict with one another, sometimes recognized and sometimes not. Or how he has once again stepped into the spotlight in the field of intelligence services, creating revolutionary groups inside of their opposition’s countries, and these groups are often centered around the deity and its historic attributes. If one were to look at American Wotanist groups, it’s clear that they were all crafted by the hand of a foreign enemy government. They can’t exist for long without revealing some 9-point plan for national and/or government collapse. Then there are the people that complain: “They are using Wotan in such a terrible way…” but really, Wotan couldn’t care less, so long as there is conflict, so long as there is war, and so long as courage is proven in the field of combat, and in the delicate game of cold war. Thankfully Draugrism doesn’t suffer from being manipulated by any such government forces, inside or outside of Vinland, because we understand the mysteries of the Allfather, and one of those regards his true nature. Though, there may be, that we don’t know of, participants in these conflicts who become Draugr, simply because they desire to experience the harsh alchemical development that is born from Teutonic Wamphyrism, and they also have some personal or professional agenda. We don’t decide those things for the Draugar — we’re not even sure how many there are, who they are and what they’re going to do. Being Draugr is far less about following a formulaic praxis, and much more about traversing an adventurous one, with many divergent paths, switchbacks and portals that sometimes transport someone from one army into the next, or from legal to criminal, or vice versa. Discovery is the key, wisdom-wide, with all other things, even war itself, serving as devices to instigate that prized accumulation of wisdom.

Amongst demonesses and curated bloodlining within the Satanic Elite the development of progeny is curated, monstrous spawn intentional and suited to purpose. Where and what is the Iron-wood - who are the giantesses and how can this realm and its inhabitants be accessed?

Few extant passages reference the Iron-wood or Járnviðr which is a geographical region in a dimension that is not on planet earth. Járnviðr is east of Midgard, but thankfully on the same axis, so no upward or downward motion would be necessary but nonetheless it would require astral projection to reach. One problem with astral projection is that there are few reliable tools to help you figure out directions, and the beings you meet in the nine worlds are not to be trusted. Rather, refer to Shadows Over Germania, and in the opening rite, there are four elemental beasts that assist in creating the circular cone of power with which your working, sacrifice and all other ceremonial magick is performed within. Call upon the name of the beast listed in the book which refers to the eastward direction, and when you do this, you will either hear a call in that direction (towards the East) or the beast will attend to you heading from that horizon. The Iron-wood is in the realm of Jotunheim, and to access this, you will need to create a rift in the astral plane facing the appropriate direction. To achieve this, the old Norse name of the realm will be necessary, coupled with a visualization of the planetary sigil associated with the realm of which you are aiming to travel. Refer to Gjallarhorn for the associated planets and the old Norse names. Call out the name nine times and when there is activity near the visualized sigil, reach into the sign and tear with your arms the fabric of the astral realm. If you are projecting with your physical tools equipped on your physical body, then you can bring these with you into the astral, so long as they are properly consecrated. That’s why Shadows Over Germania stresses the importance of the esoteric weapons — because you can bring them with you into other worlds. Therefore, you may cut the rift yourself, if desired. If there is not enough activity, use psychic wamphyr techniques to imbue life force into your gate, though, this may be unnecessary. If you are successful in traveling to the Jotunheim and furthermore, if you can make it to the Iron-wood, you will need to change your shape: to that of a wolf, raven or mist. Jotunheim in general but especially the Iron-wood is populated by eldritch beings that still to this day find their way into our world through familiar portals like that on the Harz. If they see you, they will kill you, or worse. And if you die in the astral realm, you die in the physical world — the second death will happen first in the astral, and without the life-force, your body will follow. It won’t happen immediately, but it is an inevitability. The physical body can’t sustain without life-force and the Draugr’s wellspring of power comes directly from it. Removed of life-force, the first death will then ensue. The most deceptive element of Jotunheim but specifically of the Iron-wood is that these Giantesses that you mention are extremely seductive, with appearances that stun the average individual. Furthermore they are evil. Many of the Gods had their Jotun concubines: Odin, Thor, Freyr, Loki… all of whom would be grafted into eternity via their alluring machinations. But their male consorts are the Gods who have their own levels of cosmic agency that many do not — not yet. The Giantesses will paralyze you, and there are hordes of trolls and ettins, as well as monstrous creatures who are the very brood that Giantesses themselves have spawned: all liars in wait, positioned to ambush and smash your astral body into death and more death. These women cannot be trusted, but neither can any of the spirits inhabiting the nine realms. The Alfar will cut your astral head off if you give the wrong or useless advice to them, or don’t know possess enough knowledge, and the Æsir will burn your soul alive if they believe you have too much avarice in you. All of the denizens of the Germanic dimensions are terrible and violent, but especially the Giants. They are an elder race that precedes the gods, elves, dwarves and beasts. They speak the language of violence, and only violence. They will do whatever is necessary to bind and destroy you, especially one with the blood of Walvater Wotan. And that is why you must take heed to travel there in secret, aerial or swift footed. There are many mysteries in Jotunheim to be learned, such as a Hellish Futhark that they guard from outsiders, such as formulas and charms that can obliterate expansive regions in a single conflagration. Draugar are non-dualist and therefore hold no religious, emotional or philosophical position for or against the Jotunar. All of the Gods have Giant heritage in them but what makes them Æsir, is the royal blood of Wotan himself. This is something that every denizen of the nine worlds desires, and for the Draugar, it is something granted upon return for sacrifice to the Allfather. It is not given lightly, nor is it given freely, but some may attempt to take it from where it can be successfully acquired: the Draugar. Therefore take heed and travel intelligently.

Who is Walvater Wotan, who are the undead who ride in his ghostly procession, what is your hymn to him for those who have ears to hear? What is the Draugr’s call to those possessing the blood of Germania?

Walvater Wotan is the lord I’ve served my whole life and who will snatch that which currently abides within this vessel, with possessing spirits and all, and armorize us into the ranks of the wild hunt when the time comes! The Undead Gods, in the Germanic mind of apprehension, are the Einherjar that ride by his side and storm the face of the earth! Before our time we are prepared here on earth as Draugar, with many spirits of the Einherjar possessing and instructing, disciplining and correcting us into that of an elite, aristocratic being — one that is no longer human, but the stage beyond! It is from these ranks that the most celebrated are chosen, those whose entire existence embodies struggle, readily engaging the conflict that is ever present in every waking moment here in our reanimated existence, serving as sentinels to the way, the guardians of his secrets, and making available the mysteries of the north for those who are called to his army! We are his elite and he is the lord of the Wamphyri: ruler of the earth, king of the world! By following the harsh alchemical way, by his very sword of undeath, the mysteries of the omniverse unfold! Some enjoy making constant alliances, increasing the already oversaturated joke that is the occult world, and the peace that is resultant in it but the Draugar do not! No, we embrace our accumulation of enemies, because it is they that make heroes of us! Anyone seeking higher thrones, has already chosen their side of the line in the snow because it is the Draugr Cult which seeks to break the human herd into submission and it is among THEM that our foes belong — human, weak, lesser! For we are Draugr when Wotan awakens within, and the concentrated monad finds new life! Germanic blood is the key! It is the only way that one might initiate the alchemy born from indwelling the return flow from the Eternal Hunter! If you possess it, then this path is yours for the taking! It is a dark, endless way, rife with victories, defeats, woe, and revenge!

Götterdämmerung!

Heil Wotan!