The Man Rune
The “Man, Mon” Rune According to Guido Von List
man, mon = Male/Masculine [Mann], Moon [Mond] (ma = to mother [muttern], to increase [mehren]; empty or dead [leer oder tod]).
I count a Fifteenth, which Volkrast the Gnome
sang before the Gates of the Day
to the Gods [Aesir] for Strength [Stärkung],
to the Elves [Alben] for Might [Kraft],
to myself to clear my Senses.
The well known Folktale, the “Man in the Moon” reveals himself in the fifteenth rune as a sanctified sign of the Propagation of the human race. The Primordial-word “ma” is the Mark of feminine Procreation “Mothering”, just as the primordial word “fa” is that of the masculine. Therefore, we have here “mater” (Mother), just as there we have “fater” (Father).
While the concepts of man, maiden, mother, husband, wife, marriage, menstruation (and so on) are rooted in the primordial word ma (just like the concept Moon, with which they are all internally connected), they nevertheless symbolize individual concepts reconnected into an apparent unity. So too is the conceptual word for this unity rooted in the primordial word ma and expressed manask or menisk, that is: man.
The fifteenth rune thus encloses the exoteric and esoteric concept of the high mystery of humanity, and culminates in the admonition: “Be Man! Be Human! [Sei Mensch! ]”
-Paraphrase from The Mystery/Secret of the Runes [Das Geheimnis der Runen] (1908)
by Guido von List
The “Ma, Man, Mon, Madr” Rune According to R.J. Gorsleben
Letter M and Number 15. The man, the human being and, at the same time, the Rune Tree and the Tree of Humanity (with 15 shoots, the arms as well as the branches reaching towards heaven).
This Rune has the power to condense and collect cosmic rays (which means pulling the spiritual down into matter), so that the mystery of humanity (the immaculate conception) becomes perfect by means of inspiration.
Its Ur-word is Trieb meaning “Determination” as well as Drive, desire, urge, inclination, instinct; impel forward, propel, push; shoot, newly grown plant stem, sprout, burst forth, etc.
“A fifteenth I know, which Volkrast , the gnome,
is singing early before the gates of the day
for strength from the Gods [Aesir ] and for power from the Elves [Alben ]
and wisdom, All-father, for me.”
The fifteenth rune is the sacred Rune of humanity and it introduces us to the mystery of being human. It culminates in the admonition: “Be Human!”. The sum of the digits of 15 = 1 + 5 = 6, and the six is the sexus. This leads us back to Kun or Kaun Rune, the Rune of Sex. All procreation pulls something soul-related and spiritual down into existence, into its material form.
The Man -Rune depicts a man who reaches up to the heavens with his hands (in the ancient prayer position). He stretches his hands towards the heavenly ones in such a way that he is striving for the connection with the Divine by means of magical-mantramistic actions. Thus, there very easily comes a comparison of this position with the one who has been “crucified” on the wood of the world.
The
Man -Rune shows the basic idea of the human being as embodied and spiritualized. The three-partition of the Man -Rune upwards means the trinity of spirit, soul and body. Man is also the word of leadership, man-ager, the one who gives orders, com-man-ds or man-dates.
Through hand (manus ) and head (manas – meaning: reason, spirit, mind ), through the soul (mens ), we become human (Man ). Because of the hand and the head, the human being is decisively different from animals and is able to grasp things around him.
Lifting the outstretched hands towards the heavens, the human being can collect cosmic rays.Collecting cosmic rays really means condensing them, that is: drawing that which is spiritual down into the ‘womb of the mother’ (matter), so that the mystery of humanity (referring to the immaculate conception) can be achieved by means of “in-fluence”, influx, inflow, by means of “inspiration”, “correctly illuminated by the spirit”.
This power to condense is magic. The Man -Rune is, therefore, the Rune of the magician, of magic and of the Power-to-Unite [Vereinigungskraft]. Magic is Might [Macht], since both words are the children of the same root word, which means “to be capable” [Können].
What forces the human being to lift up their hands to the High Ones is an effect of their Man , of their ad-mon-ition, of their manas , of their reason, but not of their intellect (which continuously removes us further and further away from the love of God). While you practice pure love, God remains within you.
-Paraphrase from The Peak-Time of Humanity [Die Hoch-Zeit der Menschheit] (1930)
by Rudolf John Gorsleben