Studia Germanica

by Stephen E. Flowers

This volume contians "A Semiotic Theory of Rune-Magic," "Is Sigurdr Sigmundr aptrborinn?" and other essays on heroic poetry and religious interpretation in the context of heresies of the Middle Ages and Celtic roots of heroic epic poetry in medieval Germany.

Genres: Occult, Thelema, Religion, Nonfiction, Conspiracy Theories, Magick, Witchcraft

86 pages, Unknown Binding

First published March 3, 2011

About the author

American Runologist and proponent of occultism and Germanic mysticism.

Flowers is an advocate of "Esoteric Runology" or "Odinism", an occultist version of Germanic Neopaganism

Flowers has graduated in Germanic and Celtic philology.

Reviews

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Brother Hood of Saturn came into being during 1926, right after World War I. They are still around in some form today,or at least they are using to names and teaching. It was founded by Gregor Gregorious. After a meeting with Aleister Crowley, Master Gregorious accepted Crowley’s proclamation that the age of Aquarius was upon them. He accepted several of Crowley’s teachings but did not buy into Crowley being a prophet or a leader.

The Brother Hood of Saturn had several influences whose ideology helped birth several occult movements. Based on a Masonic structure, as many were Masons they were also able to borrow from the Golden Dawn, Crowley’s groups, Theosophy, Adonism and FOGC.

Having taken root in Germany, many were trying to find a magical system in which connected German people to the folkish spirit. It is said that there was the Brotherhood of Saturn going back to ancient times. Of course in this study I did not find many references to the Norse deities.

The Fraternity of Saturn in fact is very Luciferian and very gnostic. By Luciferian it is meant that Lucifer was meant by god to teach us and guide us. He is the planetary ruler under god. Or he is rebelling against god by giving us this knowledge. Gnostics believe that an evil god created this world as a material prison to entrap souls of light. The savior has the job of freeing us.

The object of the brotherhood was to advance themselves and their lodge spiritually. They had an ideology of strengthening themselves. Their ideology was informed ny Nietzchs. Saturn was their main planet of influence and its influence to the Earth was mediated by the moon. Saturn had a higher mode and a lower mode so to speak. The higher order was Lucifer who was a teacher and enlightenervof mankind. The lower emanation would be Satan. Satan is the opposer and rather reckless and rebellious. Their egregor was GOTOS. They had up to 33 degrees in their system. 29 through 33 being reserved for high level leadership.

Too bad the book was not longer, I really enjoyed it. The book has a compliment of rituals, appendices on the movement and their influences. There is a good deal of talk about Tantra. For those serious ones this is a book to be enjoyed.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing to me since I was reading it looking for information on occultist and filmmaker Albin Grau and there's precious little of that here. As interesting as I find occult history, the details of occult practice wear thin very quickly. While I was reading this, I was also reading MASTERS OF ATLANTIS, which is an esoteric tradition considerably more amusing.

[Claudio Yáñez Valenzuela · Rating 4 out of 5]

En este fascinante viaje a través de los misteriosos corredores de la Fraternitas Saturni, Stephen E. Flowers ofrece a los lectores una visión detallada de la historia, doctrina y rituales de esta enigmática orden esotérica. Desde sus humildes comienzos en 1926 hasta sus complejas prácticas rituales y filosofía, Flowers desentraña los secretos de la Fraternitas Saturni de manera accesible y perspicaz.
El autor logra presentar los elementos esenciales de la orden, destacando su enfoque en la sexualidad mística, la magia ceremonial y la influencia hermética. Los rituales descritos despiertan la imaginación y la curiosidad del lector, revelando la riqueza simbólica y la profundidad espiritual que caracterizan a la Fraternitas Saturni.
Sin embargo, una de las limitaciones de este libro es la falta de exploración sobre la evolución más reciente de la orden. Aunque Flowers ofrece una mirada detallada a los primeros años y a las raíces de la Fraternitas Saturni, el lector podría sentirse intrigado por la ausencia de información sobre cómo la orden ha evolucionado hasta tiempos más contemporáneos. Este aspecto podría dejar a algunos lectores con una sensación de incompletitud en su comprensión de la historia completa de la Fraternitas Saturni.
A pesar de esta limitación, el texto es una valiosa contribución al estudio de las tradiciones esotéricas. La claridad del estilo de Flowers y su capacidad para hacer accesibles temas complejos hacen que la lectura sea apasionante y educativa. En última instancia, "Fraternitas Saturni. Su historia, doctrina y rituales" es una obra que merece la atención de aquellos interesados en la magia ceremonial, la mística sexual y las tradiciones esotéricas.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating account of religion that most people don't know that much about. Essentially a history of a certain kind of occult worship the FS, that was about in the late 19th and early 20th century that relates to Germany in the same way the Golden Dawn relates to the UK. It seems as if they are still around today.

There is a look at the history of occultism within Europe from around the 15th/16th Century as well as some of their rituals and beliefs, there is also discussion around their beliefs and practices. It's interesting to postulate whether this is a glimpse of what some Western relgions would have looked like had Christianity not won out?

[Phinehas · Rating 4 out of 5]

These guys were kind of goofy, but the book was very interesting. Stephen Flowers/Edred Thorsson is usually pretty good. It seems to me that worshipping the demiurge misses the point entirely, but that’s a discussion for another place...

[Tai Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I give my review of this work, I do want to acknowledge the controversies surrounding its author and his alignment with some rather unfortunate political beliefs. While I strongly disagree with his perspectives on such issues, his contributions to the occult community are undeniable. However, as someone who tries to use magick and occultism as a force for positive change in the world, I am conflicted about giving such authors positive reviews. So, while I strongly denounce many of the author's political views, I can't pretend that his works haven't had a profound influence on me and my path. I'm not mad, I'm just extremely disappointed.

Separating the "art from the artist" for this review, I thoroughly enjoyed this work from cover to cover and I feel as though it's awakened a new avenue of magickal practice for me to explore. So many things about my practice clicked into place for me while reading this work, and I found the straightforward yet well-researched and insightful composition to be extremely enjoyable and enthralling all the way through. A fantastic introduction to this more obscure yet vitally important organisation that remains one of the most profoundly influential magickal orders in history.

[Anna Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Saturnean (practicing Saturn planetary worship) for many years now I thought I would get useful information from this book. Instead I got historical information about the different ranks within the society.
Very cultish (which is to be expected) but I was hoping to get more insight into Saturn & its doctrine in a way that did not only reflect the teachings of the secret society

[Leo Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the awesome opportunity to translate this fascinating book into Portuguese, published in Brazil by Daemon Editora, copyrights duly granted. Flowers is simply one of the few occult legends still alive.

[Kormak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to read more about the current FS, but as this organization is as secretive as it come, this was a nice, albeit brief, summary of a society I had no much info about.

[Project Cognition · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book summarizing the secret doctrines, rituals, and initiatory process of the Fraternitas Saturni. Mostly surface-level information, a good introductory book.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the first version of this book, so why not this one too?
Anyway, what’s with their love for Bartzabel ?

[Federico · Rating 3 out of 5]

German occultism is a whole different world, and peeking into it is quite an armchair adventure. The book is a great intro.

[Aytuğ Erkan · Rating 4 out of 5]

very informative book about not only fraternitas saturni also other lodges which were active before the second world war. Germany have been still the basis of many active esoteric and mystical cults today. Nevertheless some rituals that mention on this books are meaningless for unexperienced readers so I highly recommend the history and doctrine parts of this book

[Sue Dounim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more a review of this particular edition; rather than of the author's complete works having to do with the Fraternity of Saturn (FS). This is basically an updated edition of the original work from 1990 by author Dr. Stephen E. Flowers ("Fire and Ice") which for a casual reader might contain everything you wish to know. Most of the Wikipedia entry on the FS traces back to Dr. Flowers' works.

Uniquely, it is written from the point of view of an adept as well as a historian. I must confess that in my opinion the editing is not very good, but the text is clear enough.

In this edition a good bibliography is included as well as an index.

However, this edition adds little over "Fire and Ice" published by Llewellyn in 1990. The author adds information about/from a few newly unearthed/accessed journals and documents he didn't have in the 1990 edition.

This (4th, 2018) edition is 207 pages (with index, hallelujah). Fire and Ice was 213 pages, with no index.

Since I have both Fire and Ice and this volume, I can compare them. The appendices are from A through I in both books (70 pages in the 4th ed.), and are mostly the same. Interestingly, Appendix I in Fire and Ice is "Pragmatic Suggestions on the Practice of Sexual Magic" by the author but it is omitted in FS.
(Edited 2010-05-12)