Armanism and Wuotanism
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To the vast majority, the terms “Armanism” and “Wuotanism” are unknown and obscure— words hardly a part of the popular vocabulary. For those familiar with contemporary Heathenism or occultism the terms may conjure up imprecise and inaccurate ideas supercharged with polemics and politics. While some might, and have, argued that these terms reach back into antiquity, their popularization and perhaps even origin date to the early 20th century and the ideas and works of the Austrian mystic, Guido von List (1848-1919).
Today, List is identified by his supporters and detractors alike as an early proponent of Heathenry or Odinism and the creator of an odd, if not discredited, rune-row or Futhark. For a proper understanding of List and his ideas, it is important to realize that neither of these views, so often attributed to him, are correct. Taking up the second matter first, what has come to be known as the “Armanen” Runes, were never identified as such by List or any of his immediate followers. In fact, that label was likely not used earlier than the 1980s or ‘90s. List often referred to the Runes simply as “sacred Runes.” He was well aware of the fact that there are several different Rune rows or what he called Futharkhs. While he has become most associated with the 18 Rune system that corresponds to eighteen verses of the ancient Icelandic text, the Hávamál, he indicated in some of this writings that the 16 Rune system (today known as the Younger Futhork) was in his estimation the earliest of Rune-rows.[1]
Far from creating a Rune row, List attributed the sixteen Runes of the “Younger” Futhork and two from the “Elder” Futhark to the eighteen verses of the Hávamál known as “Odin’s Rune Song”[2] I have taken up the matter of the authenticity of this Rune Row in a previously published essay.[3] List is also credited in some circles as an early proponent of Odinism—a modern reconstruction of the ancient Germanic worship of the old Heathen gods. This pantheon is made up of the gods of Germanic or Norse mythology including Wotan (Odin), Thor (Donner), Frigg (Frīja) and others. While today, most practitioners refer to such a belief system as “Heathenry,” “Odinism,” “Norse Paganism,” or “Ásatrú,” List used the Old High German name for the highest of the Aesir gods, Wuotan, to describe those who worshipped such gods in antiquity. While List certainly described the old Wuotanist religion and accompanying priesthood in his writings,[4] he was hardly a proponent of a contemporary resurrection of this belief system. Rather, List founded the High Armanen Order (Hoher Armanen-Orden) or HAO during Midsummer of 1911 —a group of Armanist practitioners.
To understand the ideas of Armanism, we must consider a mythological Ur-world where all peoples shared a sacred view of the world and themselves. Leaping from the writings of Madame Blavatsky and her Theosophy movement, List suggested that all religions and all peoples shared a common primal religion. He called this religion “Wihinei.” Wihinei is derived from the Proto-Germanic wīhaz meaning “sacred” or “holy.” Wihinei joined both the spiritual and material—the combined worlds of science and faith into a single concept. In this primal world, man was directly aware of the divinity of his own spirit.[5] Over time, the roles that people performed within the society —and especially the Indo-European society —stratified into separate estates or functions. For List, the Armanen, originally identified by Tacitus[6] as a Germanic tribe (Herminones) were rather “the men of knowledge.” This function included the priests, magicians, judges, and royalty. The second function represented the military or warfare class and the third function, that of productivity, was associated with farmers and craftsmen. This concept was later echoed by Georges Dumézil.[7]
While Blavatsky provided her integration of religion, science, and philosophy from the perspective of Eastern thought, List applied her theosophical ideas to the ancient Germanic peoples specifically. He postulated, that from the time of the disintegration of the original German folk language, the Wihinei split off into two different teachings in the Germanic world—the exoteric religious doctrine of Wuotanism and the esoteric “secret doctrine” of Armanism.
Armanism then represented—joining the root words AR and MAN— a combination of the concepts of AR, the “sons of the sun” — the “sun men” or the “enlightened men” with MAN —the “God-man,” a connection of man with the divine.[8] In contrast, Wuotanism provided “anthropomorphized divine entities” which grew in number over time.[9] List explained, “Individual characteristics … were given human shape such that they formed a series of gods, which, becoming ever more human, arranged themselves like a great royal family around a high king.”[10]
The Armanen, as caretakers of the original Wihinei, understood that the great mass of people were not up to the task of fully realizing their personal divinity. They wove epic tales into words and literature, with sacred concepts hidden behind code-words, ensuring the Wihinei would endure—accessible only to those who knew how to interpret them rightly. For the masses, however, the stories would be understood only at the exoteric level—a literal understanding of the sacred holy priniciples. The earliest “internal” divinity was externalized as time passed. The external representation began as a single god, Wuotan (spirit-within) who was subsequently divided into masculine and feminine (Wuotan and Frigga)—representing Sky and Earth concepts. The divine concepts were subsequently presented in holy triads: Wuotan, Wile, and We; Har, Jafnhar, Thridri; Wuotan, Donar, and Loki as well as other combinations of three gods. The triads or trinities of gods were further divided into seven gods which aligned to the seven astrological “planets” including: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. Eventually a twelve god system which began as aspects of Wuotan himself, developed into an entire family of gods with each taking on a particular characteristic of Wuotan. Each of these twelve male gods was later joined by a female god partner.[11]
With the coming of Christianity the old Germanic gods were transformed into various Christian saints. While the exoteric faith realized considerable change, the Armanen continued to teach the original Wihinei now clothed in the new language of Christianity. The key concepts of the earliest Christian church were highly Germanized with key Armanist concepts concealed within the symbols and language of the Church. While Christianity triumphed over the Wuotan cult in Germany, the Church was unable to suppress the people’s belief and memory of magick and miracles.
List did not write explicitly about Rune Magick but clearly understood the significance of the Runes as sacred magical symbols to the Germanic people.[12] The Armanen, whether of old, or of more recent times, could undoubtedly perform magical operations—with or without Runes. List counted such occult figures as Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), the author of The Three Books of Occult Philosophy and Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516) among the Armanen.[13] In fact, List viewed the Renaissance itself as a resurgence of Armanen principles. The creative process which flourished throughout Europe during the Renaissance is magical in and of itself. Every work, from the grandest to the most modest, originates in the imagination—the realm of creativity—before it takes form or is chosen. The act of creation itself may be the truest expression and definition of the divine.
Whether the result of will (as Aleister Crowley would later detail at great length), imagination (as Neville Goddard would argue) or the wielding of orgone energy (as championed by Karl Welz)—creating change in the objective universe in a way that defies normal causality is undoubtedly magick—and arguably a demonstration of divinity. Today, we who embrace Armanism, often rely on the sacred Runes as our magical system of choice—not only for divination, but for bringing real change to our world.
In conclusion, rather than attributing false ideas to List, it is worth reading and considering his actual words. Importantly, he proffered the idea of man’s divinity as a primal universal principle:
“There could…only be the One, and so every soul in this circumstance was itself God, and also remains in the purely spiritual sense in its present condition nothing more and nothing less than God itself.”[14]
This is ultimately the secret doctrine of the Armanen—that the spirit of humanity is unified with god.
Notes:
1. See Guido Von List, Die Ursprache der Ario-Germanen und ihre Mysteriensprache (Wein: Guido von List Gesellschaft, 1914).
2. These are often counted as verses 145-163, although the numbering varies in different editions and by different translators and publishers.
3. See “Pseudo-Runes?” in Futhorkh: A Journal of Rune Estotericism and Magick, Vol. II, 2005, Chivalric Press,1-11.
4. See Guido von List, The Transition from Wuotanism to Christianity, Stephen Flowers trans., (Bastrop, TX: Lodestar, 2022) and “On the German Priesthood of Wuotan,” trans. Vincent Rex Soden, The Journal of Contemporary Heathen Thought, Vol. II, 2011-12, Heidinn Publications.
5. Guido von List, The German Mythological Landscape, (Tradition, 2025), 3.
6. Tacitus, Agricola and Germany, trans. A.R. Birley, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 38.
7. Georges Dumézil, Gods of the Ancient Northmen, “The Rígsþula and Indo-European Social Structure (1958),” (Berkley: University of California Press, 1977), 118-125.
8. See Karl Spiesberger, RunenMagie: Handbuch der Runenkunde, (Basel: Esoterischer Verlag: 2020), 49-51 and 66-68.
9. Guido von List, The Religion of the Aryo-Germanic Folk: Esoteric and Exoteric, trans. Stephen Flowers, (Bastrop, TX: Lodestar, 2014), 2.
10. Ibid.
11. List, The Religion, 8-21.
12. While the Runes were originally unique to various Germanic peoples, anyone is able to use Rune Magick successfully as long as they gain a proper understanding.
13. Guido von List, Die Armanenschaft der Ario-Germanen (Graz:Geheimes Wissen, 2015) and The Rita of the Ario-Germanen (55 Club, 2015).
14. List, The Religion, 23.
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