Black Sun (occult symbol)
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- This article is about the occult term; for other uses see Black Sun (disambiguation).
The term Black Sun (German Schwarze Sonne), also referred to as the Sonnenrad (the German for "Sun Wheel"), is a symbol of esoteric or occult significance, notable for its usage in Nazi mysticism. Today, it may also be used in occult currents of Germanic neopaganism, and in Irminenschaft or Armanenschaft-inspired esotericism.
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[edit] Historical background
The design has loose visual parallels in Migration Age Alemannic brooches (Zierscheiben), possibly a variation of the Roman swastika fibula, thought to have been worn on Frankish and Alemannic women's belts[3] Some Alemannic or Bavarian specimens incorporate a swastika symbol at the center.[4] The number of rays in the brooches varies between five and twelve.
Goodrick-Clarke (2002) does connect the Wewelsburg design with the Early Medieval Germanic brooches, and does assume that the original artefacts had a solar significance, stating that "this twelve-spoke sun wheel derives from decorative disks of the Merovingians of the early medieval period and are supposed to represent the visible sun or its passage through the months of the year."[5] He further refers to scholarly discussion of the brooches in Nazi Germany,[6] allowing for the possibility that the designers of the Wewelsburg mosaic were indeed inspired by these historical precedents.
[edit] The Wewelsburg mosaic
The shape of the symbol as it is utilised in Germanic mysticist esotericism but also within Neo-Nazism today is based primarily on the design of a floor mosaic at the castle of Wewelsburg (built 1603), a renaissance castle located in the northwest of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The mosaic is placed in the ground floor room of the North-Tower of the castle in the so called Obergruppenführersaal ("Obergruppenführer hall", completed 1939-1943). [7].
The North-Tower, which had survived a ruin after 1815, only assumed any importance for Himmler from the autumn of 1935 on. In the process of Himmler establishing the castle as the "centre of the world", occult and otherwise (an ideological and religious center of the SS), the tower was to serve the highest-ranking SS leaders as a pseudo-religious cult centre. SS architect Hermann Bartels presented a first draft of plans that envisioned using the North Tower on three different levels:
- where primary a cistern was a vaul after the model of Mycenaean domed tombs was created which probably was to serve for some kind of commemoration of the dead
- a "columned hall" was to be constructed on the ground floor for the SS-Obergruppenführer
- finally, the upper floors were to be completed as a prestigious meeting hall for the entire corps of the SS Gruppenführer
However, a meeting in the first floor mosaic room never occurred - the building work at the room was stopped in 1943. [8]
The symbol at Wewelsburg itself is green (pictured above) on a whitish/greyish marble floor.
It is not known whether or not this symbol was placed in the marble floor at Wewelsburg before or after the National Socialist Regime and the taking over of the castle by Himmler. There is speculation as to whether the symbol was put into the hall by the Nazis or whether it was there a long time before but there is no definitive proof either way. It must be noted that book sold by the Wewelsburg museum on the history of the castle from 1933-1945 makes no mention of who put it there. The plans for the North Tower by SS architect Hermann Bartels make no mention of it. Scholars today are reluctant to say with any certainty who and why it was put there. There is speculation for both arguments but no definitive fact.[9] There is also speculation about a golden disc which was placed in the middle of the ornament.[10] [this source's reliability may need verification]
There is, although its origins are unknown, an identical rendition of the Wewelsburg Schwarze Sonne in a wall painting at a World War II military bunker memorial of Bismark at Hamburg below a statue of Bismark (Bismarck-Monument (Hamburg)). [11] [12] [this source's reliability may need verification]
[edit] Nazi and Neo-Nazi significance
The term Black Sun may originate with the mystical "Central Sun" in Helena Blavatsky's Theosophy. This invisible or burnt out Sun (Karl Maria Wiligut's Santur in Nazi mysticism) symbolizes an opposing force or pole.[citation needed] Emil Rüdiger, of Rudolf John Gorslebens Edda-Gesellschaft (Edda Society), claimed that a fight between the new and the old Suns was decided 330,000 years ago, and that Santur had been the source of power of the Hyperboreans.[citation needed]
The Wewelsburg symbol can be deconstructed into three swastikas; a "rising", a "zenith" & a "setting" one, the design is popular among German Neo-Nazis as a replacement for the outlawed singular swastika symbol. Another interpretation is that the symbol incorporates twelve reversed "Sig runes" of the Armanen runes.
Allegedly, the design was drawn for Heinrich Himmler from an "old aryan emblem",[1] and was meant to mimic the Round table of Arthurian legend with each spoke of the sun wheel representing one "knight" or Officer of the "inner" SS. According to James Twining, "The symbol of the Black Sun unites the three most important symbols of Nazi ideology - the sun wheel, the swastika and the stylised victory rune." and that it is symbolic in its form representing "the twelve SS Knights of The Order of the Death's Head and their three retainers). [13]
Erich Halik was the first to link the esoteric SS with the Black Sun roundel insignia carried by German aircraft in the polar region at the close of World War II. [14] [15]
An image in Elemente, (No. 6, 1998) the journal of the Kassel-based Thule-Seminar [2], shows a martial warrior holding a shield decorated with the Wewelsburg sun wheel. His upheld sword proclaims the struggle for "rebirth of Europe" against the "holocaust of peoples on the altar of multiculturalism." The German volkish magazine Sol Invictus (magazine) uses the symbol as its masthead. The issue devoted to 'Midnight' shows two sombre knights standing guard beneath the sun wheel symbol.
[edit] Contemporary esotericism
Black Sun Oasis is a chartered local body of Ordo Templi Orientis, (located in Akron, Ohio).
The symbol has been used by a variety of esotericists; for example, as the name of the well-known Black Sun Press of Mary Phelps Jacob.
Occasionally, and unscientifically, black dwarfs are referred to as black suns. This is not entirely unrelated to the esoteric meaning, since ariosophy alleges a burnt out sun that was the source of power of the Aryans in some mystical past (see also Karl Maria Wiligut). Others regard the Black Sun as a black hole; before the term black hole was invented in 1967, black holes (then still theoretical) were sometimes called black stars or dark stars (In episode number 21 of the original Star Trek, Tomorrow Is Yesterday (TOS episode), made before the term black hole was invented, what we today call a black hole was termed a "black star".). Still others, such as Miguel Serrano, think of the Black Sun as a wormhole. Uses of the term in science fiction and fantasy literature are influenced by a combination of the esoteric and the astronomical meaning, see Black Sun (disambiguation) for examples of the term as used in popular culture.
Wilhelm Landig of the Vienna Circle (esoteric) "coined the idea of the Black Sun, a substitute swastika and mystical source of energy capable of regenerating the Aryan race" [16]
In Edmonton, Canada, there is a company called 'Black Sun Rising', a book & media store, which uses the 'Black Sun' as its logo, as well as selling T-shirts with the 'Black Sun' image and the words "Truth, Honour, Loyalty" and the company name encircled around it. [3]
[edit] Popular culture
[edit] Fiction
Science Fiction author J.G.Ballard uses the term in "The Day of Forever"
In the novels of the film "Star Wars" the term "black sun" is the name of the most powerful criminal organisation which supports the galactic empire.
The symbol is used on the cover of the fictional novel "The Black Sun" by James Twining [4] [[5] and is mentioned extensively. Although, on the cover of the book the image is incorrect facing in the wrong direction.
The symbol is also used on the cover of the fiction novel "Black Order" by James Rollins and is mentioned extensively in it as well.
It name (not the symbol) is mentioned in the novel Black Sun Rising by Celia S. Friedman
In the occult-Nazi thriller Die Schwarze Sonne von Tashi Lhunpo (The Black Sun of Tashi Lhunpo) by Russell McCloud (Stephan Mögle-Stadel) [6] in 1991, the assassinations of the president of the European Bank and a leading member of the UN Security Council are linked by a brand mark of the symbol of the Black Sun on the foreheads of the victims. McCloud is the first writer to identify the Wewelsburg sun wheel with the Black Sun myth (of Wilhelm Landig), thereby indicating the esoteric influence of Wiligut and the SS heritage and Aryan-theosophical lore at the heart of Himmler's imaginative world. Arun-Verlag in Engerda (in the former German Democratic Replublic) have publised further editions and a film script of the book.
The Nation Europa book mail-order catalogue offers Black Sun symbol stickpins and a wristwatch with a Black Sun face.
The book Unheilige Allianzen by Christian Dornbusch and Hans-Peter Killguss discusses the symbol [7]. An interview with the authors regarding this symbol is here [8]
[edit] Film
In the film The Fifth Element by Luc Besson the term "Black Sun" emerges as an unknown power, which will destroy the universe.
[edit] Music
It is used as well as in the in lyrics of the experimental music groups Coil, Death In June, Von Thronstahl and as the title of a song by Dead Can Dance and E Nomine[17] It features in the name of Coil-related experimental band Black Sun Productions.
In 1994, the grunge band Soundgarden produced the hit Black Hole Sun, which is a reference to the Black Sun.
In 1996 Holger Fiala (Holger F.) of the band Belborn published, under the alias "Beltane" two designs, a Kruckenkreuz [9] and a Black Sun, [10] in the inlay book to one of their CDs in honours of Leni Riefenstahl.
The Black Sun was recently used on the cover of the Lord Wind album Atlantean Monument [11]
It also refers to Black Sun Empire - a DJ organisation.
The band Staatsfein used the symbol on their album cover 'Democracy' [12] It also appears on the cover of Süddeutscher Nachwuchs / Best of Schwarze Sonne Versand [13]
Kadmon (Gerhard Patek), an industrial musician in Vienna, publishes Aorta (1991-1995), a periodical devoted to pagan tradition. Allerseelen, Kadmon's musical project, has released a CD, Gotos=Kalanda (1995), adapted from Wiliguts pagan calandar cycle of poems presented to Himmler in 1937. The Wewelsburg Black Sun is prominent on Patek's letterhead and the Allerseelen label. [18] [19]
'Schwarze Sonne' is the name of a dark ritual band from Germany. [14]
It is an American band [15]
[edit] Other
Throughout Germany the Schwarze Sonne is sold on many items such as pillows, shirts, pins, flags, patches, etc. [16] [17] [18] [19]
It is the logo of [20] and [21] and [22]
The symbol is also used by anti-semitic satanists [23]
[edit] See also
- Black Sun (book by Goodrick-Clarke)
- Fascist symbolism
- Nazi Mysticism
- Thule-Seminar
- Karl Maria Wiligut
- Suns in alchemy
[edit] References
- ^ Left image: decorative brooch found in Inzing, Innsbruck-Land, dated to ca. AD 400, from Hermann Wirth, ‘’ ‘Die heilige Urschrift der Menschheit’ ‘’, Leipzig 1936, BD. II, Bilderatlas, Tafel 42 (at the time kept in the Staatl. Museen Berlin.) Right image: Migration age Alemannic decorative brooch, from Hans-Joachim Diesner, ‘’ ‘Die Völkerwanderung’ ‘’, Gütersloh 1980, used on the title cover of a 1982 Artgemeinschaft booklet.
- ^ left image: Bavarian, Haag museum; right image: Bronze zierscheiben, 6th to 8th century AD, from Fützen (Blumberg), Jadu article.
- ^ 'Derhain website article (In German) on the Schwarze Sonne (In English); Jadu article; Haag Museum; 'Personal website' of James Twining.; Artfond website article on the Schwarze Sonne
- ^ 'Jadu article; Haag Museum'
- ^ 'Black Sun (book by Goodrick-Clarke): : Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity' by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke.
- ^ References in Rüdiger Sünner, Schwarze Sonne: Entfesselung und Mißbrauch der Mythen in Nationalsozialismus und rechter Esoterik (Freiburg: Herder, 1999), pp. 148, 245 (note 426):'Die durchbrochenen Zierscheiben der Merowingerzeit' (Mainz: Röm-German. Zentralmuseum, 1970) by Dorothee Renner. Examples of symbols very similar to the Wewelsburg sun wheel occur in Mannus 28 (1936), 270; Walther Veeck, Die Alemannen in Württemberg (Berlin and Leipzig:DeGruyter, 1931); Hans Reinerth (ed.), Die Vorgeschichte der Deutschen Stämme, 3 vols. (Berlin: Bibliographisches Institut, 1940), vol. 2, plate 219.
- ^ 'Wewelsburg 1933 bis 1945. Kult-und-Terrorstätte der SS. Eine Dokumentation (Schriftenreihe des Kreismuseums Wewelsburg 1), 2nd Edition Paderborn 1987.' by Karl Hüser and translated into English in 2000 by Robin Benson
- ^ 'Wewelsburg 1933 bis 1945. Kult-und-Terrorstätte der SS. Eine Dokumentation (Schriftenreihe des Kreismuseums Wewelsburg 1), 2nd Edition Paderborn 1987.' by Karl Hüser and translated into English in 2000 by Robin Benson and Interview with Kirsten John-Stucke, Vize-Director of the memorial-place Wewelsburg (in german)
- ^ 'Wewelsburg 1933 bis 1945. Kult-und-Terrorstätte der SS. Eine Dokumentation (Schriftenreihe des Kreismuseums Wewelsburg 1), 2nd Edition Paderborn 1987.' by Karl Hüser and translated into English in 2000 by Robin Benson and 'Black Sun (book by Goodrick-Clarke): Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity' by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke and extensive pictorial illustration is provided by Stuart Russell and Jost W. Schneider, Heinrich Himmler's Burg. Das weltanschauliche Zentrum der SS: Bildchronik der SS-Schule Haus Wewelsburg 1934-1945 (Landshut, Germany: RVG, 1989). Photographs of the Sun Wheel appear ibid, pp. 81-82 - this has been translated into English and is sold by the Wewelsburg museum
- ^ The Schwarze Sonne documentary by Rüdiger Sünner contains as bonus material an interview with the DVD-producer in which he states this.
- ^ 'Die Schwarzesonne (Revised)' by Steve Anthonijsz (Radböd Ártisson).
- ^ 'German Wikipedia article on Bismarck-Denkmal (Hamburg)'.
- ^ 'Personal website' of James Twining.
- ^ Black Sun by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2002)
- ^ "Um Krone und Gipfel der Welt" (Mensch und Schicksal 6, No. 10 (1 August 1952), pp. 3-5) by Erich Halik (Claude Schweikhart)
- ^ Black Sun by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2002)
- ^ Appears as 'Schwarze Sonne'. Tracklisting at Amazon.com
- ^ "Die Schwarze Sonne von Tashi Lhunpo. Das Drehbuch (Schatten der Macht: Polit-Thriller)" by Norbert Hess (Engerda, Germany: Arun-Verlag, 1995) - "An Interview With Kadmon (Allerseelen/"Aorta"), 'The Nexus', No. 2 (November 1995) pp. 1-6."
- ^ Black Sun by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2002)
[edit] Further study
- Scholarly
- Rüdiger Sünner: Schwarze Sonne (book). Entfesselung und Missbrauch der Mythen in Nationalsozialismus und rechter Esoterik. Freiburg i.Br. Verlag Herder/Spektrum, 1999, ISBN 3451271869. Sünner also produced the DVD documentary of the same name to accompany his book.
- Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas: Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York University Press, New York 2003.
- Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas: The Occult Roots of Nazism
- Friedrich Paul Heller, Anton Maegerle: Die Sprache des Hasses. Rechtsextremismus und völkische Esoterik. Schmetterling-Verlag, Stuttgart 2001
- Friedrich Paul Heller, Anton Maegerle: Thule. Vom völkischen Okkultismus bis zur Neuen Rechten. 2. Aufl. Stuttgart, Schmetterling-Verlag 1998
- Cook, Stephen, Heinrich Himmler's Camelot: Pictorial/documentary: The Wewelsburg Ideological Center of the SS, 1934-1945 (Kressmann-Backmeyer, 1999)
- Occult
- M. B. Hasler, Die Schwarze Sonne. Göttliches Licht der Erkenntnis, ISBN 3980879402
- Rudolf J. Mund, Mythos Schwarze Sonne, ISBN 3833411228
- Documentary
- Schwarze Sonne documentary by Rüdiger Sünner. Sünner also produced a book to accompany this documentary.
- Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy (1998), directed by Tracy Atkinson and Joan Baran, narrated by Malcolm McDowell.
- The Occult History of the Third Reich, Starring: Patrick Allen, Director: Dave Flitton
- Adolf Hitler - Occult History Of The Third Reich
- The SS: Blood And Soil - Occult History Of The Third Reich
- Himmler The Mystic - Occult History Of The Third Reich
- The Enigma Of The Swastika - Occult History Of The Third Reich
- "Decoding the Past" Episode: The Nazi Prophecies" by the History Channel [24] [25]
- Hitler and the Occult by the History Channel [26]
- The Riddle Of Rudolph Hess/Himmler's Castle: Wewelsburg
- In 1994, Channel 4 ran a Michael Wood documentary entitled Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail, as part of its "Secret History" series. [27]
- Unsolved Mysteries of World War II: Occult & Secrets, also known as Volume 3 in the series.
- Rudolf Hess (Occult)
- Hitler's Secret Weapons
- Enigma of the Swastika (Occult)
- Himmler's Castle: Wewelsburg (Occult)
- The Last Days of Hitler
- Decision At Dunkirk/Stalin's Secret Armies
(Different editions have different episodes) [28] [29] [30] [31]
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