- -367 34. Rudolf J. Mund on the Black Sun (195411981) Rudolf J. Mund (April 4,1920 - January 5, 1985) began his political life as a teenage SA member in Vienna during the period when the German NSDAP was outlawed in Austria. In 1939, he joined the elite Waffen-SS and saw his first combat later that year during the Polish Campaign. During the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Mund was wounded and spent time in a Warsaw military hospital after which he returned to service on the Eastern Front. From February 1 - September 1,1943, Mund underwent officer training at the SS-Junkerschule Tdlz followed by the Zugflihrer (platoon leader) course at Beneschau. He was wounded in Hollafi n 1944 and while recuperating at a hospital in Breslau, Silesia attained his highest rank of SS- Obersturmflihrer (1't Lieutenant). Mund retumed to action and was captured by American forces on January 10,1945 during the latter stages of the Ardennes Offensive. While in the American POW camp at Saint-Avold (Lonaine, France), he first made contact with Edmund KiB, a writer of esoteric novels that he had long admired (see Chapter 44, footnote #47). They would subsequently also be intemed together at camps in Augsbnrg and Gross Zelten. Mund was finally released from captivity in1947. Mund was entranced by KiB' complex tales of an ancient world-spanning Aryan empire that had foundered but would one day arise again. His increasingly serious esoteric studies eventually led him to deceased SS-Unterscharftihrer Otto Rahn's books on the Holy Grail and the medieval Cathar heresy. In 1950 Mund helped to found the occult, volkisch Landig Group in Vienna. Along with his fellow members Wilhelm Landig (see Chapter 44) and Erich Halik (see Chapter 33), he revived the ariosophical, Germanic mythology of Thule (the polar homeland of the ancient Aryans) and promoted the idea of the Black Sun as a substitute swastika, an alchemical symbol, and as a mystical source of energy capable of regenerating the Aryan race. In 1958 Mund joined the Order of the New Templars (ONT), a chivalrous sect which promoted an eclectic fusion of Aryan racism, Gnostic Christianity and Ariosophy. He went on to become the Order's prior in 1919 and later published the first biography of the Order's founder, J0rg Lanzvon Liebenfels. Mund also took a great interest in the esoteric writings of Karl Maria Wiligut (see Chapter 27) andultimately went on to become his frst biographer also. During the postwar years, Mund maintained contacts with various occult organizations including the German branches of the Ordo Templi Orientis. The following work was self-published in 1981 as Vom Mythos der schwerzen Sonne lThe Mystery of the Black Sunl in the second volume of Mund's esoteric journal Das andere Kreuz lThe Other Crassf. A reprint edition (Mund and von Werfenstein, 2004) of this treatise included a preface by the current prior of the ONT containing many wild and undocumented claiins about the Grail, the Black Sun and Wewelsburg. For a -368- summary of these claims, see Chapter 1. According to antiquarian Hans-Jiirgen Lange in his essay lm Zeichen der Sch-*arze Sonne lln the Sign oJ'the Black Szrn] (see Chapter 58), the earliest draft of this work dates to 1954. The version presented here clearly contains material post-dating 1954 (.e.g., citations of Charroux's material from the 1960s). Additionally, Mund quotes extensively from the then-unpublished writings of Wiligut's pupil, Emil Rtidiger on an ancient battle between two competing suns (see Chapter 28). I have added explanatory notes (enclosed in square brackets, e.g. ll ]) to the author's original text. All biblical quotations that I cite come from the Challoner revision of the Douay-Rheims Bible (1899, Baltimore: John Murphy Company). References: Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas,2002, Black Sun: An,an Cults, E,soteric Nazi,sm and the Politics of' Identitl;, New York: New York University Press, 369 pp. He ller, Friedrich Paul andMaegerle, Anton, 2007, Thule: Von den vcilkischen M),thologiert ztu' S-vmbol,sprache heutiger Rechtsextremisten (3., iibcrarbeitete Auflage), Stuttgart: Schmetterling Vcrlag, 183 pp. lThule: from Volki.sch Mltthologies to the St,mbolic: Language o/'Today's Ri ghtwing Extremis ts (3''r rcvisccl cdition)l Lange, Hans-Jtirgen, 2010, Das Licht der Schwarzen Sonne - Hirnmlers Rasputitt und seirte Erben, Wietze/Hornbostel: Versandantiquar:iat Hans-Jtirgen Lange, 340 pp + data CD. lThe Light o/'the Black Snn - Himmler's Rasputin ctnd his Heirs) Mund, Rudolf J., 1965, Die drei Kronen, Wien: Ordo Novi Templi, 34 pp. lThe Three Crow-ns) Mund, Rudolf J., 1976, Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels und der Neue Templer Orden: Die Esoterili de,s Christenlrlm,r, Stuttgart: Rudolf Arnoid Spieth, 209 pp. lJdrg Lanz von Liebenfels ctnd the Order o-/' New Templctrs : Esoteric Christianilyl Mund, Rudolf J., 1981, Das andcre Kreuz: Schriften./i}r e,colerische Forsc:hung, Wicn: R.J. Mund. lThe Other Cross: Writings.for Esoteric Researchl Mund, Rudolf J., 1982, Der Rasputin Himmlers: Die Wiligtrt-Saga, Wien: Volkstunr-Verlag, 295 pp. lHimmler's Rasputin: The Wiligut Sagu) Mund, Rudolf J. and Wiligut, Karl Maria, 2002, Wilignts Geheimlehre: Frag;ntente einer pp. verschollenen Religion, Riga: Deutschherrenvcrlag, 253 lll/iligut's Secrel Teachings: Frctgments of a Lo,sl Religion) Mund, Rudolf J. and von Werfcnstein, Cerhard, 2004, Mytho,s Schv,arze Sonne: Karl Maria Wiligtrt - Weisthor, der Heilige Gral und dos Geheimnis der Wewelsburg, Riga: Deutschherrenverlag, 43 pp. fBlat:k Sun l,\ttfuo,e: Karl Maria Wiligttt-Weisthor, the Holy Grail and the Secret of'Wev,elsburg) -369- The Mystery of the Bluck Sun (1954/1981) Following the collapse of Greater Germany n 1945, the powerlessness of the loyal, vdlkisch advocates of the Reich and the certain impossibility of a revival over the course of three decades led to a change in the political situation - a wide-ranging break in political activities which was frequently expressed as a "without us" attitude [1]. Many, deeply vdlkisch people turned instead to fantastic ideas, which often had their origin in spiritualist circles with planchettes moved by mediums or impulsive individuals [2]. According to their pronouncements, the'?ower and Splendor of the Reich" - supported by secret war material withheld from the front - was withdrawn into secure citadels within the Earth. From out of these refuges, commanded by a forty-year rejuvenated Frihrer in Tibet, the Reich will wage a continued fight towards finalvictory. Above these citadels, which are identified with legendary Thule, stands the symbol of the "Black Sun" - in the consciousness of initiates, the eternally vital sol niger of times long past [3]. In the absence of a discussion on the value or worthlessness of mediumistic pronouncements, the credibility of admittedly fantasy-prone individuals, and the independence of possibly different sources, the fBlack Sun] idea can claim a priority for itself requiring us to outline the chronological development of this modern myth. This indiscretion has become all the more necessary since in the consciousness of many Germans there is the danger of a new trauma originating from these ideas. --_ Thus, a clarification is all-important. [1] Mund's term biedermeierischer is a cultural reference not a descriptor. In Centoal Europe, Biedermeier refers to work in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the years from 1815 - 1848. The period was characterizedby a de-politicization of the arts. [2] In other words, via a Ouija or spirit board. [3] There is a persistent belief in the alchemic and hermetic traditions in the existence of two suns: a hidden one of pure "philosophical gold," consisting of the essential Fire conjoined with aether, and the \ apparent one of profane "material gold." The "dark consuming fire'] of the material sun led to it being called the "Datk" or "Black Sun." It is possible that such teachings influenced Philolaus in the - development of his groundbreaking theory of the Central Fire. So/ nigerlblack sunl is also the name of the result of the first stage of the Opus Magnum [Great Work] in alchemy, the blackeninglnigredol.The . completed Great Work ends with the production of gold (or the purified human spirl|. I -370- At the begiming of the 1950s, a group of men met in the studio of commercial artist Wilhelm Landig (and later in Vienna V., Sonnenhofgasse 6) to discuss a mysterious center in the Arctic, called the "Blue Island," &om which a renaissance of traditional life could proceed [4]. The focus of these talks was not on political or military themes, but on the metaphysical ideas of Julius Evola presented in his book Revolt Against the Modern World [5]. the Grail Cycle, the Atlantis and Thule traditions, as well as other related topics. According to the statements of Viennese cryptological engineer Erich Halik, large plaster rnodels were cast for use in concentration exercises aimed at gaining admittance to the hidden center. Many other projects were also undertaken. In l95l an arlicle by Halik entitled "The Phenomenon of the Flying Saucers" appeared in the (at that time) Villach-Kiirnten (Austria)-based esoteric magazine Man and Fate.It was followed by "At the Crown and Summit of the World" in August 1952 and "The Proclamation of the Polar Realm" on 15 June [sic] 195416). Additional articles and later short pieces called "Real Esoteric Short Repofts" included on I September .l95? [7], to the best of our knowledge, the first mention of the "Black Sun" as sol niger in connection with the problem of UFOs and the Polar realm. This completed, for the time being, the group's endeavors. [4] As is usual in the occult literature, there is considerable disagreement regarding the exact nalure of the "Blue Island." For one account, see W.T. Stead, I 922, The Bltte lsland: Experienc'es oJ a netu cu'rival be..vond tlte fell, London: Rrder & Co., 155 pp. [5] Julius Evola, Rivolta c'ontro il monclo ntoderno (1934, Milan: Hoepli). In 1969 a revised and expanded edition r,vas published. Ar English translation ot'the revised edition, Revolt against the Modern World, was published in 1995 (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions). [6] Erich Halik, "Das Phiinomen der 'Fliegenden Untertassen,"' Mensch und Schicksal, vol. 5, no. 19 ( i 5 December 1951), pp. 4-7, and vol. 5, no. 20 (1 January 1952), pp. 5-8. ["The Phenornenon of the Flyng Saucers"] Claride Schweikhart [z.e.. Erich Halik], "Um Krone tnd Gipfel der Weit," Mensch ttnd Schicksal,vol. 6, no. 10 (1 August 1952), pp. 3-5. ["At the Crown and Summit of tlre V/orid"] Claude Schweikhart fl.e., Erich Halik], "Verkrindigung des Pol-Rei ches," Men,sch und Schick,sal, vol. 8, no. 7 (15 June 1954), pp. 3-6. f"Proclamation of the Polar Ernpire"] 17] The last nurneral of the year is missing from this edition of Mund's work. It can be inferred from indirect evidence (Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. 2002, Black Stm; Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism oncl the Politics o/'Identity, New York University Press, p. 131) that this date must be either 1954 or I955. -371- At the same time - and probably starting much earlier - some ladies working in "Haus Asel" on the Edersee in Germany [8] allegedly received pronouncements by means of a planchette from the spiritual centel known as the "Blue Island." Accompanying copies of "Set Sail to the Sun" [9] is the statement that with these pronouncements from its otherworldy life, the Spirit B. wants to atone for the enormous injustice committed by Ciermans when, through the sacrilege of their ancestors, they killed the German apostle Boniface [10]. We present a commentary on these items. This "Michael Circle" constantly refers to the "World transformation" lying before us [1 1] and thus finds itself in agreement with a considerable number of Latin American personalities, as well as with those ladies whose activities in various administrative bodies during the war "something should become known about." We fear the emergence of a new trauma for the Germans. From all of these sources come urgently repeated stereotypical requests to absolutely trust in the power and technical strength of the Arctic and./or,Antarctic centers. The UFO crews there will not disturb or obstruct the deployment plans and preparations of "our last battalion" (Adolf Hitler: "... the last battalion rvill be German..." Ii2]) wirich will attempt to free Germany from its heavy postwar burdens. The message provided by these sources reads: "It will take place of its own accord and without our assistance. Owing to the German UFO crews at the poles, Germany rvill arise again in power and glory despite the most violent resistance of the eastern and western superpowers." [8] Haus Asel on the Edersee (near Waldeck in northern Hesse) u.as a vegetarian comrnune house founded in 1919 by the Deutschen Siedlungsgemeinschaft a vdlkisch, "back to the Earth" movement dedicated to reclaiming German society and litbways. [9] Michaels-Bund (Ed.), 1949^ Segel zur Sonne : Ruf'au.s dem .Ienseits ztr fJntkehr und Einkehr, Asel am Edersee: Bund Verlag. lSet Sail lo the Sun. Call .fron Beyond.for C)onyersion and Cctntemplation) [l0] St. Boniface (675 754 CE) is known as the "Apostle of Germany'' tbr his role in Christianizing that country. As part of his ellorts, Boniface destroyed the sacred oak of the Germanic god Woden at Geisrnar. He was marty'ed by a band of Frisians who attacked him while he was reading Scripture to converts. f 11] See "Geist 8.". 1961 , Botscha{ien ans dem Jenseits ntr Zeitenwende , Ase\iber Frankenberg am Eder: Kreis um Michael Verlag, 40pp. fMe,ssages Jiom the Bel,oncl ahout the htrning Pointf Ii2] I have been unable to find any source for this quote beyond its citation by Willibald Mattern (LlFas Unbekcomtes Flugobjekt? Letzte Geheimv,aJJb de.s Dritten Reit:hes [UFOs. [Jnktto*-n Fl1,i:rf Objects? Final Sec:ret Ileapons o/'the Third ReichJ, 1974, Toronto: Samisdat, 160 pp.). While Hitler did issue an official statement on that dale (Chancellor Hitler',s Message on the Ot'casion of the 25'h Anniyersctr.y of the Annotltcemenl o.[ the lttratiorul Sociali.sl Party',r Progrant), it does not contain any mention of a "last battalion" (see http://urviv.rbiblio.org/pha/policy'1 9451450224a.htm1). -372- Incidentally I feel compelled to tone down my skepticism somewhat since I am well aware that in the year L952 the last fifty German soldiers were evacuated from Greenland. I also personally spoke with a crew member from one of the enormous transpofi submarines that delivered logistical supplies to Argentina. (Details are provided by Wilhelm Landig inWolfszeit um Thule [13].) Nevertheless, must the belief in miracles by many Germans be taken seriously - especially if they cannot produce reports bearing the expected material facts regarding the strength and power potential of the extreme north? What other conclusion can be reached, when the global, freely distributed magazine Clarity & Truth (Ambassador College, Pasadena, California, USA - pro-Jewish and Old Testament) in the April 1981 (!) article'MASADA - Warning for Today?," spreads the following paragraph in all languages of the world, ". ... According to biblical prophecies we will experience a rebirth of the o1d Roman Empire in the near future. An End Times federation of ten states or groups of states will develop, led by a great dictator, whom the Bible refers to as 'the Beast" (Rev. 17) 1141.... In the prophecy of Daniel, this beast is called the "King of the North".... During the End Times many lands and people will be ovelrun by the military intervention of the Beast" (Daniel 11, 40-41) [15]. According to Daniel 12:7,the period of occupation of Jerusalem by the "King of the North" will last "one time and two times and a half time", or three and a half years [16]. ! 3l Wilhelm Landig, 1980, Wol/szeit um Thule, Wien: Volkstum-Verlag. 493 pp. See also clairns concerning Argentina's search {i:r scuttled Cerman tlpe XXI U-boats that had been used to transport personnel, supplies and monetary funds to South America for the establishment of a Fourth Reich (e.g.. the numerous works of Argentinian reporter Abel Basti). Ii4] The Doua.v-Rheims Bible uses the more accurate title of "The Apocalypse of St. John" for the book commonly known today as "The Revelation of St. John." Apocalypse (Creek: Apok6iJpsis; "lifting of the veil") is a term applied to the disclosure to cerlain privileged persons of something iridden fi'om the rnajority of humankind. Today the term is otten used to refer to the end of the r.lorld, u,hich may be a shortening of the phrase apokalypsis eschaton which [iterally means "iifting of the veil at the end of the aon, or age." Modern rnilienarian groups often wish to immanentize the eschalon, or take action to speed up the end of the world and its eventual rebirlh in purified forrn. ll5l Daniel 1 1 : 40-41 - "And at the time prefixed the king of the south shall fight against him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a tempest, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with a great navy, and he shall enler into the countries, and shail destroy, and pass through. And he shall enter into the glorious land, and many shall fall: and these only shall be saved out of his hand, Edom. and Moab, and the principality of the children of An-unon." -373- Apocalypse 11: 2 similarly endorses this time period: o'But the court, which is without the temple, cast out, and measure it not: because it is given u:rto the Gentiles, and the holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty months" in other words 1260 days or three and a halfyears. Although I do not wish to provoke a"war of the prophets," reference must be made to the possibility of differing interpretations. The President of Israel,YitzhakNavon [17], appears to be unconvinced of this prophecy. During a June 1981 meeting between foreign visitors and Holocaust surivors, he ca11ed out: "Come to Israel and help us to build a good and beautiful comrnunity." In our own cultural sphere there are also completely contradictory prophecies, for example, 'the last battle on the Walserfelde" [18] or the statement of Lactantius (ab extremis finibus plagae septemtrionalis) concerning "the mighty Prince who will come from the north to re-establish justice after the fall of Rome" [19]. The Greek Thule [20] - for Thule does not come from the Germanic tradition - possessed a solar character in the Roman-Greek conception. One called rt Thule ultima a |61 Daniel I2:7 -"And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had swonL by him that liveth for ever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. And when the scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished." [17] Yitzhak Navon, politician, diplomat, and author, was the fifth President of Israel &om 1978-1982. [18] A well-known Germanic legend concerning the final struggle for existence between good and evil, heralded by the rising of the King below the mountain, which in turn is said to indicate the arrival of the Antichrist upon earth. The battle centers on control of a withered toee. These mythic elements should be familiar to anyone who has read the novels of J,R.R. Tolkien or seen The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. [19] Lac{antius, Divinarum Institutionum Libri lThe Divine Institutesf, Book 7, t6.3.l-actantius, a Latin- speaking native of North Africa, taught rhetoric in various cities of the Eastern Roman Empire. His Divine Institutes is an apologetic treatise was intended to illustrate the futility of pagan belief and to establish the huth of Christianity as a response to pagan critics. It was the first attempt at a systematic exposition of Christian theology in Latin, planned on a scale sufficiently broad to silence all opponents. [20] In classical literature, Thule is an island located in the far north. []ltima Thule inmedieval geographies may also denote any distant place located beyond the "borders of the known world." Greek explorer P1'theas is the fust to have written of Thule, doing so in his now lost work, On the Ocean, after his travels between 330 - 320 BCE. Descriptions of some of his discoveries have survived in the works of later authors (e.g., Polybius, Histories, c. 140 BCE, Book XXXIV).In77 CE, Plinythe Elder published his Natural His€o,ry in which he also cited Pytheas' claim'*riting that Thule was a land of complete light and darkness (1.e., its year consisted of two equal halves - six months of complete\daylight followed by six months of complete darkness. -314- sole nornen habens lUltima Thule where the light was bornf and thereby underlined the words of the prophet Isaias (Isaias 4l:25) which opposed the prediction of Daniel: "I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall make princes to be as dirt, and as the potter treading clay!'We now come to the question, however, as to whether it was the "rising of the sun" in 1950 which, according to the Yugoslav intelligence service, dropped pamphlets on a Newfoundland fishing fleet containing the following message, "For the Lord of the Sun intends the light power research of the Americans on Newfoundland to no longer be a secret. The Lord of the Sun has long been in possession of the necessary insight that everything will be plunged into a sea of light. Neither the Russians nor the Americans can deploy the atomic light today. But soon al1of this will come to pass. Then the Earth can suffer death through light.. .." l2ll I almost think that it is still valid today to grant a significant weight to the old prophets. If one corypares the computations of the losses in a future atomic war with the Old l: Testament, Jeremias 13-14, "And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying: What seest thou? I see a boiling cauldron, and the face thereof from the face of the nor1h. And the Lord said to me: from the norlh shall an evil break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land." Thus, the question remains open as to whether this misfortune for Jerusalem will really last for only "one time and two times and a half time." The renowned French seer Nostradamus prophesied concerning this event: "The king of Europe will come like a grifin, accompanied by those of the Nofih; he will lead a great [2 l] While there were a nrulber of UIrO sightings in Newfoundland in 1950, I have been unable to find any independent confirmation of this c1aim. NICAP's chronology of LIFO sightings for I 950, for example, does not contain any,thing fitting this description (see http://www.nicap.org/waves/1950fullrep.htm). The U.S. Air Porce's "Pro-ject Biue Book" files are similarly bare with regarcl to this claimed sighting (see http://theufbfiles.net,&u.txt). A search on Google also yielded nothing of interest. -375- troop of red and white, they will go against the king of Babylon." 1227 It is appropriate and perhaps noteworthy to point out the coincidence between the words ofNostradamus and the fantasies of UFO believers who speak of "white giants" and of the Indian alliance with the UFO crews. The alleged nlrtual troop deploynents of the superpowers do not represent a threat to the North Pole. In the opinion of the German UFO believers they also do not pose a threat to the German bases in the Arctic andlor Thule. But what then is the purpose of these superpower troop deployments? The prophet Jeremias {Jeremias 15: i2) had already said around 586 years before Christ, "Shall iron be allied with the iron from the nofih, and the brass?" [23] The statements of Robelt Charroux The Jewish prophecies in Klar & Wahr were in all likelihood those first published in 1965 by the French writer Robert Charroux in his very interesting book Ven"atene Geheimni,sse l24l.Its statement, however, that the "mission of the Templars" found its continuation in Freernasoffy is contradicted by the information in Lennhoffand Posner's Internationales Freiruaurerlexikon 125) which undercuts each purporled connection between the Templars and Freemasons. Under the heading of "Black Sun" on page 233 Charroux's book 126] states, "The Golden Sun and the Black Sun Frederick's l27lplan. which answered to the deep aspirations of the initiatic centers of his time, was pursued by the Templars. Worried Clristendom reacted brutally against them in 1307, when Pope Clement V [28], in association with l22l The Prophecies of llostraclamers, Century X, 86'h quatrain. The griffin is a fantastic creature with the body of a lion and the iread and often wings of an eagle. As the lion was traclitionaliy considered the king of the beasts and the eagie the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially por.verfui and majestic creature. In antiquity it was a symbol of divine power and a guardian of the divine. [23] The Douay-Rheims editors observe: "Shall iron be alliecl"... Shall the iron, tltat is, the strength oJ' Jtrda, stond against the slronger i.ron oJ lhe norlh, thal is, o;f Bab.vlon; or entet'into an alliance upon eqtral Jitotingv'ith it? l',lo certuinly; but it must be broken bt,it."