Ostara - Einführung

© Copyright Peter Crawford 2017

EINFÜHRUNG

Who - and what was 'Ostara' ?

OSTARA the Godess

The Goddess Ostara

'Ostara' is the Germanic Goddess of the Spring and the Dawn. 

The pagan Anglo-Saxons (before the influence of Christianity) held festivals in her honor. 
She is also mentioned in a number of inscriptions in Germany, and the modern holiday of 'Easter' - originally the name for the spring Equinox, but later subsumed to the Paschal calendar for the Christian resurrection holiday - is named for her (the Christians have always had a nasty habit of 'hijacking' customs, festivals, sacred sites and even whole cultures for their own uses).

The name "Eostre" (Old Germanic "Ostara"), is related to that of Eos, the Greek goddess of Dawn, and both can be traced back to a Proto-Indo-European and Aryan goddess of the Dawn, however, ultimately Ostara's origins continue to remain a mystery.

Her true mystery, however, is evident every year.

She is the first warm spring winds, the birds that return, the trees that bud and curl forth leaves and flowers.

Spring Queen

She is the awakening earth.

Jakob Grimm, in his 'Deutscher Mythologie', maintained that "Ostara was goddess of the growing light of spring." 

'Holy water', in the form of the dew, or water collected from brooks, was gathered at this time; washing with it was said to restore youth.

Beautiful maidens in sheer white were said to be seen frolicking in the country side.Also according to Grimm, the white maiden of Osterrode was said to appear with a large batch of keys at her belt, and stride to the brook to collect water on Easter morning.

Ostara is usually experienced as a young maiden, old enough to bear children, but not a mother.

She is wreathed in flowers or new greenery, and often dances.

She is often joyous, but can just as easily turn suddenly solemn, like the Spring weather that can quickly turn to rain.

Like Spring itself, she is capricious, innocent and knowing by turns.

OSTARA - the journal

Lanz von Liebenfels

'Ostara' was German nationalist journal, appropriately named after the Germanic Goddess of the Spring and the Dawn, which was founded in 1905 by the biblical scholar and occultist Lanz von Liebenfels in Vienna, Austria, and in which he published racial and völkisch theories.

Theozoologie

The main purpose of the journal was the dissemination of the theories of 'Theozoologie' - which was based on the book 'Theozoölogie oder die Kunde von den Sodoms-Äfflingen und dem Götter-Elektron' published in 1905 by Liebenfels 
The journal had a peak circulation of of about 100,000, and appeared in three series; the first series included anywhere from 89 to 100 issues between 1905 and 1917, the second series had only one issue, and the third series included 20 issues published between 1927 and 1930.

Although the circulation of the journal was relatively small it was, however, highly influential, as it was almost exclusively read by the those in positions of influence in governmental, professional and academic circles.

The journal 'Ostara' offered a hope for redemption by  suggesting policies which would provide a defence for the Aryan race in their struggle against subhuman races, - a policies which would later become the ideological basis of National Socialist eugenics.

In a paragraph of 'Ostara', Liebenfels states that

"the true Aryans are the masterpiece of the gods, and are endowed with supernatural and paranormal powers that confer absolute supremacy over any other creature. "

Burg Werfenstein

In his theology, Lanz von Liebenfels also defined the history of mankind as a "war between races," whose final eschatological outcome was clearly evident in the stars.

In 1907, Liebenfels founded the ONT (Order of the New Temple), located in the castle Burg Werfenstein, and on 25 December that same year, at the winter solstice, he flew the banner of the Order, - a swastika sun.

The aim of the Order was to promote racial awareness through archaeological and historical research, religious studies, and the restoration of the ancient rituals.

The castle was partly created to house an anthropological museum - a monument to the Aryan race - which would be completed later by the organization later known as the Ahnenerbe.

For Liebenfels, rebuilding the Order of the Temple was tantamount to creating a brotherhood worthy of receiving the Holy Grail.

And what was the Holy Grail for for Liebenfels ?

It was an energy accumulator, from which issued the mystical "electron of the gods".

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© Copyright Peter Crawford 2017

SPRING and a NEW BEGINNING

The essence of Ostara, both for the ancient Nordics, and for the readers of the journal, 'Ostara', was the concept of 'regeneration', and the creation of a better world.

This was undoubtedly at the root of the Christian's usurpation of the festival Ostara as their 'Easter'.

The followers of the völkisch movement, including those who supported and created the Third Reich, almost certainly never thought of their beliefs as dark and evil, but rather saw them as a movement toward the light, and a new and brighter world, which had finally been regenerated and made new.