Lucifer's Court: A Heretic's Journey in
Search of the Light Bringers (Paperback)
by Otto
Rahn
Product Description
Rahn’s personal diary from his travels as occult investigator for
the Third Reich
• First English translation of the author’s journeys in search of a Nordic
equivalent to Mt. Sinai
• Explains why Lucifer the Light Bringer, god of the heretics, is a positive
figure
Otto Rahn’s lifelong search for the Grail brought him to the attention of the
SS leader Himmler, who shared his esoteric interests. Induced by Himmler to
become the chief investigator of the occult for the Nazis, Rahn traveled
throughout Europe--from Spain to Iceland--in the mid 1930s pursuing leads to
the Grail and other mysteries. Lucifer’s Court is the travel diary he
kept while searching for “the ghosts of the pagans and heretics who were [his]
ancestors.” It was during this time that Rahn grasped the positive role Lucifer
plays in these forbidden religions as the bearer of true illumination, similar
to Apollo and other sun gods in pagan worship.
This journey was also one of self-discovery for Rahn. He found such a faithful
echo of his own innermost beliefs in the lives of the heretics of the past that
he eventually called himself a Cathar and nurtured ambitions of restoring that
faith, which had been cruelly destroyed in the fires of the Inquisition. His
journeys on assignment for the Reich--including researching an alleged entrance
to Hollow Earth in Iceland and searching for the true mission of Lucifer in the
caves of southern France that served as refuge for the Cathars during the
Inquisition--also led to his disenchantment with his employers and his
mysterious death in the mountains after his break with the Nazis.
……….
OTTO RAHN was born in Michelstadt, Germany, in 1904. After earning
his degree in philology in 1924, he traveled extensively to the caves and
castles of southern France, researching his belief that the Cathars were the
last custodians of the Grail. Recruited by Himmler into the SS as a civilian
archaeologist and historian, Rahn quickly grew disillusioned with the direction
his country was taking and resigned in 1939. He died, an alleged suicide, on
March 13, 1939, in the snows of the Tyrolean Mountains. Lucifer’s Court
was translated into English by Christopher Jones, who also translated Otto
Rahn’s Crusade Against the Grail, published in 2006.
……….
Not in my wildest
dreams would I have thought that I'd read--let alone review--a book written by
a member of the Nazi SS, even written while the author was on the SS pay roll.
But here we are.
There are two lines of thought that would advise against reading this book:
either its contents promote anti-Semitism and/or publication of the book
encourages the growing momentum of neo-Nazi historic revisionism. The latter is
probably more insidious than the first in the sense that with each new
generation Nazi crimes fade from collective memory, further into the past. For
example, I posted an Amazon review that commented on Robert Eisenmen's The New
Testament Code (highly recommended.) Eisenmen details the anti-Semitism
contained in the New Testament. One person commented:
"Anti-Semitism...isn't that something associated with the Nazis way back
in World War II?" The reader was implying that anti-Semitism was something
that only existed in the 1940's & confined to Germany!
Modern education has a lot to answer for...
I understand that the works of Richard Wagner are banned in Israel because of
that influential composer's anti-Semitism (he was Hitler's favorite composer.)
I wouldn't go that far, but then I'm not Jewish (and I really like RW's music.)
However, if there was even the faintest whiff of anti-Semitism in LUCIFERS
COURT, I would not have finished reading the book (I probably would have torn
it into pieces)--let alone review it.
But I did.
There IS a virulent hatred expressed in this book--and it is aimed almost
exclusively at the Roman Catholic Church. I am not a "Defender of The
Faith" in any way--but the high degree of anti-Catholicism reminded me of
the great author Dostoevski's anti-Catholicism (and anti-Semitism as well.)
Such extreme hatred interjected into otherwise fictional or educational writing
amounts to de facto propaganda (and being a self-styled Pagan, Leftist
propagandist I should know) & opens itself up to polemical criticism.
Author Rahn equates himself and his ancestors with the heretics who were
persecuted by the Roman Church in that institutions' zeal to achieve universal
religious conformity.
Rahn also equates heretics such as himself (a baptized Catholic) and the
Cathars, for example, with the Luciferian tradition, the "Light
Bearers." The SS saw themselves in this role and their insignia
represented two lightening bolts of Thor. In terms of the Occult, the
Luciferian tradition represents the middle path between Satanism and Yahweh--in
other words, Lucifer is seen as a sort of Pagan-Christ.
LUCIFER'S COURT is written in the format of a travel journal as the author
investigates various "leads" in his quest for the Grail.
Incidentally, it is not the Grail of Christian fable or contemporary lore--in
fact, the main intent of LUCIFER'S COURT is to uncover the "real"
Grail. In this journey the author reveals a store house of Pagan
Germanic/Scandinavian/Norse tradition. In fact, as the book progresses, the
allusions & metaphors become almost overwhelming & one must wonder how
much is historically correct or the author's fantasy. This is a problem with
metaphysical writing in general--one can so easily loose one's way in the
endless trails of symbolism & metaphor.
Rahn is a talented writer.
At times LUCIFER's COURT reminds me of
the film The Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp. In the book there are images of
mystic ruins, strange castles & misty landscapes. There is even a
mysterious & benevolent Countess who is well versed in the occult &
ancient lore. Rahn reveals himself to be a sensitive, creative individual. It
is almost inconceivable to imagine him hobnobbing with Himmler & the SS.
There are some people who think Rahn may have been murdered due to his sexual
orientation, or objections to the brutal reality of the SS and the entire Nazi
regime. After reading this book, I am convinced that he did, in fact, commit
suicide. His passionate idealism could only collapse in on itself when finally
forced to face the tyranny he was supporting. I think this was true of many
people who were initially enthusiastic over Hitler.
Along these same lines, another facet of this book I found instructive was its
revelation of the neo-Pagan/Occult/Astrology milieu that characterized the
period of the early Nazi movement. Previously I had written off the neo-Pagan,
rather tacky trappings of Nazism to be the "inspiration" of a few nuts
like Himmler--now I understand that many people actually believed in such
things, particularly the Aryan Root Race nonsense.
Madame Blavatsky too has a lot to answer for too…
Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich
The Ninth Gate [Region 2]
Richard and Adolf: Did Richard Wagner
Incite Adolf Hitler to Commit the Holocaust?
Hitler and the Occult
Hitler, the occult messiah
The Secret Doctrine
Visions of India: Fulfilment
Theology, the Aryan Race Theory & the Work of British Protestant
Missionaries in Victorian India (Studies in the, Bd)
The Morning of the Magicians:
Secret Societies, Conspiracies, and Vanished CivilizationsFounding Fathers, Secret
Societies: Freemasons, Illuminati, Rosicrucians, and the Decoding of the Great
Seal
Astrology and the 3rd Reich
Review: JEFarrow
Updated 06/08