Friedrich Bernhard Marby (10 May 1882 – 3 December 1966) was a German rune occultist and Germanic revivalist. He is best known for his revivalism and use of the

Armanen runes Armanen runes (or ''Armanen Futharkh'') are 18 pseudo-runes, inspired by the historic Younger Futhark runes, invented by Austrian mysticist and Germanic revivalist Guido von List during a state of temporary blindness in 1902, and described in hi ...

. Marby was imprisoned during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, which may have been due to a denunciation by

Karl Maria Wiligut Karl Maria Wiligut (alias Weisthor, Jarl Widar, Lobesam; 10 December 1866 – 3 January 1946) was an Austrian occultist and SS-Brigadeführer. Early life Wiligut was baptised a Roman Catholic in Vienna. At the age of 14, he joined the ''Kadetten ...

. According to the Odinist magazine '' Vor Trú'', Marby "was one of the most (if not the most) important figures in the realm of runic sciences" with an impact felt not only by contemporaries but "among today's researchers and practitioners."'' Vor Trú'', issue 69.

Early life

Born in

Aurich Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', stq, Aurk) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both i ...

Ostfriesland East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

, Friedrich Marby trained as a printer and worked as an editor.

Rune scholarship

Marby was neither a university scholar nor a favoured Nazi ideologue. From 1924, he began publishing his amateur theories and research. There was a school of rune scholars who interpreted

the Eddas "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poems ...

completely in anti-Semitic fashion, but Alan Baker in his book '' Invisible Eagle'' singles out Marby as one of the exceptions. Marby, along with

Siegfried Adolf Kummer Siegfried Adolf Kummer (born 24 September 1899 in Radeberg, died 1977 in Dresden) was a German mystic and Germanic revivalist. He is also most well known for his revivalism and use of the Armanen runes row. He, along with Friedrich Bernhard Ma ...

, was criticized in a report to

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

by the ''Reichsführer's'' chief esoteric runologist,

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (15 January 195329 August 2012) was a British historian and professor of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on the history of Germany between the W ...

states that Wiligut censured the two men "for bringing the holy Aryan heritage into disrepute and ridicule", suggesting "this criticism may have led to Marby's harsh treatment in the Third Reich." According to ''Vor Trú'', Marby spent eight years and three months in the camps at Flossenbürg,

Welzheim Welzheim is a town in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 35 km east of Stuttgart, and 15 km northwest of Schwäbisch Gmünd. Welzheim has 11,239 (2005) inhabitants and is located in the 'Welzheimer Wal ...

, and Dachau before being released on 29 April 1945. He resumed publishing his magazine ''Forschung and Erfahrung'' (''Research and Experience'') and books. He died in 1966. Marby's "runic gymnastics" (') was advocated as "Rune-Yoga" (also "Runic Yoga", "Stadhagaldr") by Stephen Flowers ("Edred Thorsson") from the 1980s onward.Edred Thorsson, ''Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic'', Weiser Books, 1984, p. 15. Edred Thorsson, ''Rune might: secret practices of the German rune magicians'', Llewellyn's Teutonic magick series, 1989. Edred Thorsson, ''The Truth About Teutonic Magick'', Llewellyn's vanguard series, 1994. Later also: L. E. Camp, ''A Handbook of Armanen Runic-Wisdom: History, World-View, Rune-Yoga, Divination, the Sidereal Pendulum and the Runic-Zodiac'', 2005. Criticized by Sweyn Plowright, ''The Rune Primer'', 2006 (esp. pp. 137-139).

References

External links

Stadhagaldr - Runic Yoga
* http://www.oocities.org/odinistlibrary/OLArticles/Articles/FredericBernardMarby.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Marby, Friedrich Bernhard 1882 births 1966 deaths Adherents of Germanic neopaganism Dachau concentration camp survivors Flossenbürg concentration camp survivors German modern pagans German occultists Occultism in Nazism People from Aurich People from the Province of Hanover