At the Young Republican mixer Friday evening a group of Nazis, who openly identified as national socialists, mingled with mainstream conservative personalities, including some from Turning Point USA, and discussed race science and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Maybe they mean this CPAC
As someone who absolutely loves runes, this hurts my heart. At its simplest and most ancient, it is a letter in a written alphabet that represents a sound. But over time, each rune has come to represent a philosophical idea, and for some, spiritual meanings. Othala is no different. But NONE of them involve racial and sexual exclusionary hatred like this.
You’re free to stop reading here because the rest of what I have to say is completely philosophical. But if you want to know what this rune really stands for and how far the Nazis have twisted it from its traditional meaning, read on.
The rune Othala above, the primary rune these racist shitheads have incorrectly appropriated (there are a few others if I remember correctly, including sowilo, the sun rune) is traditionally linked to all the things human beings equally call our home: family, inheritance, family name, duty to family, and ancestors.
In the Northumbrian tradition, it comes from two words meaning “own earth” or “own land.” It’s about what belongs to us by right, but it’s equally about what we owe others, and how inclusion in society requires our own effort and right behavior.
Among others from various Nothern European countries, there is a bit of ancient literature from the UK that defines the Elder Futhark runes called the Old English Rune poem. One translation of the Old English rune poem says of Othala: “Home is loved by all people, if there rightfully and in peace we may enjoy many harvests in the hall.” Again, clearly, the idea of Home and all its goodness is for everyone.
To quote a much more modern book on the runes, “The [Othala] stanza in the Old English rune poem is about heritage, patriotism, rights, and freedom. It says we all love our homeland, as long as we have our rights, proper treatment, and a fair opportunity to prosper. These rights are for “each and every man,” not just the princes and earls that the poem usually talks about. “Properness” means that we need to be treated properly and we need to act in a way that is proper for our society. In other words, we need to belong.”
I could go on, but that’s probably enough. All that’s a far cry from what Othala has been twisted into by the fascists. Othala is about strengthening connections with other people, not this hateful Nazi shit.
Next time you see Othala misused by the white supremacists, remember that this, too, is just one more big fat lie and twisting of historical fact the fascists have on offer for anyone stupid or scared enough to buy into it.
They did the same to the bent cross. There’s one on the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, IL. It’s there because the house of worship was designed and dedicated in 1912, so yeah WWI hadn’t quite kicked off at the time
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baháʼí_House_of_Worship_(Wilmette,_Illinois)
Yes, it’s criminal what they did to the bent cross, a symbol that has been revered by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for centuries, among others. I like the way the church you linked to used it in their design:
That’s the way it should be. I love that they took it back and returned it to a central place of honor. Thanks for the link!
Even though it is an Abrahamic Religion, the founding concept is Unity Through Diversity. They forgot that El, aka Yahweh, was a God of War back in The Bronze Age Collapse, and focused on the hippy commune part of Christ’s teachings.
Can we take that rune back? I’m pretty big on family, although the patriotism bit I could probably do without
Absolutely take it back! The patriotism is pretty secondary, and to my understanding has nothing to do with “patriotism” as we know it today, but like all the runes, comes from a time where your inclusion and place in a specific tribe guaranteed your survival and dictated the course of the life you would live.
So I guess “tribe loyalty” for those who lived the way of the runes would be a synonym for today’s patriotism, but it was more about just staying alive than what we know as politics.
Likewise, your exclusion from a tribe was easily a death sentence. In those days, in that cold region (Northern Europe) people relied on each other to stay alive in a way we know little of these days. Settlements were small, and everyone had a job to do, and thus individual choices were undertaken with a deep consciousness as to the common good, because you knew if your little community fell apart and couldn’t feed or defend itself there was a very real likelihood you would ALL die.
It’s this second part, the way of living individually for the greater good, that Othala addresses: how in those times the individuals made the group, the group made the home for all in it, and the more that any individual put in the more the entire group prospered as a whole.
Stick a flag on that and call it “patriotism,” I guess, but it’s truly a much deeper meaning – one the Nazis never understood, because marching in lockstep against people of your own community was not something people living in those days could ever imagine.
Hell yeah, take it back!
Hell yeah, loyalty to your local tribe of weirdos(said affectionately)? I can fully get behind that. When I finally save up enough to get my shoulder tat, I’m gonna include Othala into it
Oh, that’s awesome! May I introduce you to bindrunes then? That’s where you combine a rune (or several) into a larger design that has a very specific meaning for you personally, in addition to it just being art. For many people, they also have spiritual significance, but you don’t have to specifically be into the Norse religion(s) for that, as many pagan/ heathen/ wiccan/ witchy/ magical folks also use runes and bindrunes as well.
And yes, today’s self-created “tribes of weirdos” are exactly what Othala is about: for everyone who doesn’t have a family, but creates one out of people they come to know and love, Othala is every bit as meaningful and powerful – perhaps even much more so, because for people on the fringe today, the “belonging” of Othala is every bit as much about survival and thriving with the help of others as it was about physical survival in ancient days.
So I finally found some time to read your link and do some general googling found a bindrune created by the “Wayfarers Mark” tumbler called the Initiate’s Bindrune that I like. I’ll definitely look into this stuff more than I have already, and I thank you for showing me this world
That’s awesome! I looked up the Wayfarer Initiate’s Bindrune, that’s a really nice one, lots of great mojo and meaning in it. Fantastic choice. I love that the maker went ahead and traced out all the included runes for you, because otherwise you have to know them well enough to be able to pick them out yourself, and they spared you that. Even I can’t necessarily pick them all out, and I know them pretty well now.
But take your time, no hurry, runes are as superficial or as endlessly deep as anyone wants to take them, so as soon as you said you’re going to look into them you opened a very deep rabbit hole, lol. If you ever have a question or want book recommendations feel free to hit up my DMs, I could talk about runes all day. Thank you for letting me know you found your bindrune!
Yeah, I went and looked up the meaning of all the runes thanks to that chart laying out which ones were in it,and overall I’m happy with each of the vibes conveyed. The only vibe I’m not sure I identify with are the fertility vibes, but eh, I’m not AGAINST fertility vibes xD Its shape is also something I could see easily being incoporated with a “tribal” pheonix tattoo that was already going to be my eventual tattoo. I’m definitely down for further rune chats! Also I apologize for how long it takes me to respond to you, you seem like a cool person, so I’ve been waiting til I had the energy for proper responses before I respond
Wait fuck is that real?
I’m out of the loop, what does that symbol mean? Not sure how I would look it up without a name or something.
It is the runic letter Othala. It is just a letter in the runic alphabet. Beyond being a letter though often runes had an individual meeting or association in the cultures that used them.
It, along with many other symbols were adopted by the Nazis. Now among white power groups it is has a meaning of racial purity. “Keeping the white race pure”
Oh and the picture is real I looked it up.
To be fair, that rune looks really easy to make by accident.
Maybe but if you look closely at the stage. it is Othala with wings. There are little feet that come up off the legs. An iteration that I believe is exclusively used as a white power symbol. At best it was a massive fuck up, at worst it was a dog whistle. Though ultimately it is a dog whistle, for the people who this symbol has meaning will see it as one.
Spelling
Nah, the design choices by themselves are pretty fucking weird.
Thanks for the info, I only knew of the swatiska one really , didn’t know that group used several symbols. Kind of not wanting to dig too deep and be flagged is why I don’t know, I guess. Much appreciated for sharing the awareness.
Yeah that is fair, it is hard to keep track of everything especially with co-opted symbols. I know I can’t. Though here is an okay rule of thumb with Nazi shit.
Does it look “Viking/old Germanic”? No - probably not a Nazi, Yes - maybe a Nazi
Is the person using the symbol new age hippie looking? Yes - probably not a Nazi, No - maybe a Nazi
I know that leaves a lot of vagueness, but it is a good place to start. Then you can double check any suspects symbols.
Just remember different groups can have vastly different ideologies and look somewhat similar. For example the SHARPs (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) are very anti Nazi. But just looking at a group of them you might be confused. As they tend to be mostly militant white young men wearing leather with shaved heads.
I hate that that’s not even incorrect as I’ve met multiple Norse pagan antifascists. One common line from them is asserting that Odin is the all father not the some father.
Lol, that’s golden. I’m gonna appropriate that.
Make it curvy and it becomes HIV/AIDS symbol.
You mean the shape of a ribbon? Ribbons have been used for all kinds of symbols.
Yes but in this case just make those angles not-pointy and the symbol will look like:
Yes, and it’s a ribbon shape, nothing to do with AIDS in particular.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othala
I can never remember the name of the thing but after digging through some “cpac stage symbol” searches it seems to be called the othala rune or the odal rune.
Thanks for the info!