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Varg Vikernes: Irminsûl
In this booklet Varg Vikernes shares his views on the meaning of Irminsûl and outlines an interesting theory regarding the 'Big Bang', creation and the meaning of life.
16 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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118 people want to read
About the author
Varg Vikernes
54 books240 followersVarg Vikernes is a Norwegian musician. In 1991 Vikernes conceived the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became popular within the early Norwegian black metal scene. In Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, director Sam Dunn described Vikernes as "the most notorious metal musician of all time".
"After creating in the course of four early albums an impressive body of art that essentially ended black metal as it was by raising the bar beyond what others could easily participate in, Vikernes was imprisoned for sixteen years for his alleged role in church arson and murder. During the time he was in prison, he put out two more impressive keyboard-based albums and several books’ worth of writings before falling silent around the turn of the millennium." (source: www.deathmetal.org)
Since then and after his release in 2009, he has authored several writings on Nordic/Germanic neopaganism and European nationalism from a primitivist and naturalist stance focused on cultural values in the community and family.
"After creating in the course of four early albums an impressive body of art that essentially ended black metal as it was by raising the bar beyond what others could easily participate in, Vikernes was imprisoned for sixteen years for his alleged role in church arson and murder. During the time he was in prison, he put out two more impressive keyboard-based albums and several books’ worth of writings before falling silent around the turn of the millennium." (source: www.deathmetal.org)
Since then and after his release in 2009, he has authored several writings on Nordic/Germanic neopaganism and European nationalism from a primitivist and naturalist stance focused on cultural values in the community and family.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 11, 2016
This 16-page booklet is available for free, with the author's permission, here: http://www.burzum.org/eng/library/irm...
Evidently, if his blog posts are anything to go by, Varg does not believe in the same things he does now as he did at the writing of this booklet. It's interesting to see how his thought developed. He is certainly in a much better position now. This booklet is essentially one-half conspiracy theory and one-half an exposition on metaphysics, all based around the meaning of the Irminsul pillar which was worshipped by pre-Christian European tribes. The meaning of the Irminsul pillar is mysterious, and Varg has some rather... interesting views on what it meant.
Using sources from the Icelandic Sagas that described what the Irminsul pillar and others like it looked like, he then goes on to describe how the Irminsul pillar is supposed to symbolize balance in the universe, and the preservation of that balance for the sake of natural harmony and growth. Sounds good, right? But when he starts to go into Ancient Alien Aryan theories and space exploration, well, it's a little kooky. What saves it from being trash is the fact that the views being expressed are ultimately meant to lead to a positive end, even if the means to that end are absurd.
I often get the feeling that Varg sees religions/ideologies as tools. He doesn't care if such-and-such is real, he only cares about the consequence of having a strong belief in such-and-such. If believing in such-and-such a mythos makes you cherish the racial purity of your folk, cultivate positive traits like strength and intelligence, puts you in tune with the earth, then that mythos is good regardless of rather or not it is actually true. In the case of this particular book, though, Varg is going well beyond what is considered acceptable in regards to how we interpret the religion and practices of the pre-christian Europeans and is going to insanity territory. Ancient Alien Aryans? Really?
He talks about "Indo-European values" and the need for native Europeans to return to them, versus "Judeo-Christian" values. I agree with that, but things like progressing through technology are absolutely NOT Indo-European values. They aren't Jude-Christian values, either. Varg would, thankfully, later go on to discover what "Indo-European values" means.
But, it's okay. Varg later turned away from fringe ideas like this and now has much more sane beliefs. Consequently, they are all much more interesting to read about.
I'd only recommend the 15 minutes it would take you to read this short little booklet to those who are big fans of Varg's work or to those who, like me, are endlessly curious about his personality. If you are looking for an INFINITELY BETTER book by Varg about pre-christian europeans, read "Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia" which is much longer, much better, much more interesting, much more plausible, and is jam-packed with information and interpretations you will not find anywhere else.
Evidently, if his blog posts are anything to go by, Varg does not believe in the same things he does now as he did at the writing of this booklet. It's interesting to see how his thought developed. He is certainly in a much better position now. This booklet is essentially one-half conspiracy theory and one-half an exposition on metaphysics, all based around the meaning of the Irminsul pillar which was worshipped by pre-Christian European tribes. The meaning of the Irminsul pillar is mysterious, and Varg has some rather... interesting views on what it meant.
Using sources from the Icelandic Sagas that described what the Irminsul pillar and others like it looked like, he then goes on to describe how the Irminsul pillar is supposed to symbolize balance in the universe, and the preservation of that balance for the sake of natural harmony and growth. Sounds good, right? But when he starts to go into Ancient Alien Aryan theories and space exploration, well, it's a little kooky. What saves it from being trash is the fact that the views being expressed are ultimately meant to lead to a positive end, even if the means to that end are absurd.
I often get the feeling that Varg sees religions/ideologies as tools. He doesn't care if such-and-such is real, he only cares about the consequence of having a strong belief in such-and-such. If believing in such-and-such a mythos makes you cherish the racial purity of your folk, cultivate positive traits like strength and intelligence, puts you in tune with the earth, then that mythos is good regardless of rather or not it is actually true. In the case of this particular book, though, Varg is going well beyond what is considered acceptable in regards to how we interpret the religion and practices of the pre-christian Europeans and is going to insanity territory. Ancient Alien Aryans? Really?
He talks about "Indo-European values" and the need for native Europeans to return to them, versus "Judeo-Christian" values. I agree with that, but things like progressing through technology are absolutely NOT Indo-European values. They aren't Jude-Christian values, either. Varg would, thankfully, later go on to discover what "Indo-European values" means.
But, it's okay. Varg later turned away from fringe ideas like this and now has much more sane beliefs. Consequently, they are all much more interesting to read about.
I'd only recommend the 15 minutes it would take you to read this short little booklet to those who are big fans of Varg's work or to those who, like me, are endlessly curious about his personality. If you are looking for an INFINITELY BETTER book by Varg about pre-christian europeans, read "Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia" which is much longer, much better, much more interesting, much more plausible, and is jam-packed with information and interpretations you will not find anywhere else.
June 23, 2009
A mindfuck of wishful thinking via the unconventional brain of church burner Varg Vikernes. Vikernes truly has big plans for Indo-Europeans and apparently Scandinavia will be at the center of this anti-Judeo-Christian rebirth.
Irminsûl is evidence that Mr. Vikernes had a lot of time to read and contemplate while imprisoned.
If only the other books of Varg Vikernes were translated into English. Maybe this is Varg's way of inspiring Nordics around the world to start learning Norwegian?
Irminsûl is evidence that Mr. Vikernes had a lot of time to read and contemplate while imprisoned.
If only the other books of Varg Vikernes were translated into English. Maybe this is Varg's way of inspiring Nordics around the world to start learning Norwegian?
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May 22, 2015This is very interesting from a psychological point of view. Varg made fringe statements with a extremely convinced tone, he talked about the origin and destiny of the universe from the scandinavian mythology point of view and compared it to what he said is "modern science" understanding of this issue (big bang theory) often showing some ignorance about how modern science work, and then he comes to the conclusion that they are a special "race" that need to be nourished in order to evolve and overcome the final destination, he even suggests euginics.
I'm fascinated with extreme personalities so I enjoyed it very much but the text is not very informative; I wouldn't recommend it to people that are actually interested in what Irminsul is and old germanic mythology; nonetheless, the text got me interested in it and I might check some serious books about old saxon mythology (God!! symbols are so cool).
I'm fascinated with extreme personalities so I enjoyed it very much but the text is not very informative; I wouldn't recommend it to people that are actually interested in what Irminsul is and old germanic mythology; nonetheless, the text got me interested in it and I might check some serious books about old saxon mythology (God!! symbols are so cool).
October 31, 2016
I can't believe I wasted my time reading this piece of trash.
October 6, 2022
Whiny Norse lore nerd going on about Saxon connections to Hyperborea, among other Celtic things/ imagery and how he interprets it to be alluding to wormholes. So I guess it’s cool in some ways.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews