{"id":21455,"date":"2020-01-01T01:10:12","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T05:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/?p=21455"},"modified":"2020-01-05T17:11:48","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T21:11:48","slug":"book-review-unholy-alliance-by-peter-levenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2020\/01\/01\/book-review-unholy-alliance-by-peter-levenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review – Unholy Alliance: A History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult by Peter Levenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book Review<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

Unholy Alliance<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

A History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

by<\/b> Peter Levenda<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

464 Pages<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

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Bright Blessings, readers!<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

My editor offered this book, and I JUMPED at it!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a daughter of Odin, I have spent time speaking with plenty of different Heathens who come from a plethora of groups and belief systems, and let me tell you- there is a very strong influence from Nazi Germany even in modern Heathenry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I feel it is extremely important to be aware of this, and know the difference between genuine devotion to the gods, and devotion to being a racist.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, I was over the moon to hear I was going to get to be the one to review this very important publication.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First, a bit about this author. Born in 1950, he\u2019s a world traveler, and has visited close to 40 countries, has studied Mandarin Chinese, and been to every province in Chine except Tibet. He\u2019s been a lot of places, seen a lot of things, and met a lot of people. He\u2019s also got Masters in Religious Studies and Asian Studies and has worked both in the US and abroad in business. He has extensively published, and the Nazis, the Occult, and magic are some of the topics he researches and publishes in. He has published eighteen books, and is identified as having written an additional 1977 publication called The Simon Necronomicon<\/u>. His Facebook Page lists him as \u201cself employed\u201d and an \u201c Author, traveler, historian, ersatz Nazi hunter, old China hand\u201d. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Next, some information about the book. What I am reviewing is the 2019 third edition of this book, the first two being in 1995, and 2002. He calls this one of a trilogy of Hitler books, the other two being Ratline: Soviet Spies, Nazi Priests, and the Disappearance of Adolf Hitler<\/a>, and The Hitler Legacy<\/a>. In the cover of this book, Levenda states \u201cGermany lost WWII, but the Nazi Party- and particularly but not exclusively the SS- survived and moved their operations to North Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the US, I have actually spoken with people who are Heathen who I think of as Neo Nazis due to their philosophies although I don\u2019t know if they have active membership in a group that self identifies as such. One of them was chastising my husband for being Xtain. The man said, basically \u2018 How can you worship a Semitic god? That\u2019s not your god. That\u2019s not your folk!\u2019 He was one of the Heathens who believed the blood of Odin flowed through his veins, and that all people of any German ancestry were both required, as well as the only ones allowed to worship Norse gods. I wish I had asked him for his DNA test. Many Heathens don\u2019t actually know their own ancestry. They just assume that white skin makes them of \u201cthe folk\u201d. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another Heathen I spoke with kept saying his child would be forbidden to play with non- Heathen children, and he wanted to buy land and move away from society so he and his family did not even have to interact with non-Heathens. Yet another tried to convince me that the Holocaust was a battle between Jehovah and Odin, and since so many Jews died, Jehovah lost to Odin.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The anti-Semitism from the Nazis influenced people like this, and Levenda has much to say.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On page 327, he writes, \u201c We may think that what we have been discussing so far is a mere curiosity of the past. No one- save for a few crazies, Skinheads, or white supremacists- believes in the authenticity of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion<\/i> anymore , do they? No one believes in the superiority of a supposedly \u201cAryan\u201d race. There is no more Holocaust. World War II is over. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If only that were so…what about America?…in the fifties, the neo-Nazi movement was born\u2026and several groups took to the streets. Eventually some of them, such as the American Nazi Party of George Lincoln Rockwell, would become well-known.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, this group still exists today, by that name as well- and here is their website if you don\u2019t believe it. I went and read a bit on this page and it\u2019s as bad as it sounds. Very bad.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.americannaziparty.com\/<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

As to the book, itself, I will warn you beforehand this book is a good read. Levenda\u2019s writing voice is eloquent, poetic, and draws the reader in . <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For example, on page 29, he writes, \u201c Most of us live in a world that is neatly organized around several basic principals. Like medieval serfs who lived secure in the knowledge there was a God in Heaven, and a Satan in hell, that humanity was a battleground between these two forces, and that God was winning, we 20th<\/sup> century serfs bask in the comfort of a world that (we are told) is the product of purely scientific principles. Genesis has given way to The Origin of Species<\/i> and The Big Bang. We have landed on the moon rather than drawing it down with incantations and rites of witchcraft. We heal with lasers and sterilized instruments to a backbeat of the blips and beeps of electronic monitoring equipment: the fractured rhythms of the witch doctor\u2019s drums are but a faint echo of old fears and tainted memories.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nice huh? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not all.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The content is positively fascinating. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For example, Levenda is not lost to ironic coincidences. May Day- Walpurgisnacht- April 30, saw major historic events Hitler was associated with. First was the murder of some of the Thule Society occultists by the Red Army on April 30, 1919. Afterwards the Thule Society helped organize a revolt. Their activities and the soon to come collapse of the Thule Society helped bring the Nazi party to power. Then on April 30, 1945, Hitler killed himself. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The reader is left to ponder for themselves if the date had significance to the events, or if it\u2019s simple coincidence, although Levenda believes there IS no coincidence in these cases. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is one of many examples of his fascinating theories. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another is found in chapter 11. Aftermath. He writes \u201c South America had been a magnet for Nazi personalities even before the war began. Ernst Rohm, the SA commander who was murdered in the famous purge of 1934, spent several years training troops in Bolivia after The Beer Hall Putsch. Max Sollman, one of the youngest participants in the Putsch and the future Lebensborn leader, lived for many years in Columbia after 1923, returning to Germany only in 1934. Richard Walther Darre, the pagan high priest of the Third Reich, was born in Argentina. And, of course, Baron Sebottendorff himself traveled throughout South America in his incarnation as a Mexican consul.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He goes on to explain South America basically has areas that have heavy European influence, as well as a high European population, so the incoming Europeans found it comfortable there. He also talks about how parts of the Arab Nations and North Africa welcomed Nazis as well. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fascinating. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An ugly truth is written about us as well. Our beloved Uncle Al, Aleister Crowley is written about. It was well known Crowley spoke against Jewish people on more than one occasions, saying some of them exhibited \u201cavarice, servility, falseness\u201d. He was quoted as using racial slurs against Jewish people, but claimed his views on race were not as strong as his views on religion and spirituality.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Levenda chronicles some of Crowley\u2019s and also the OTO\u2019s involvement with the Nazis. The OTO in Switzerland \u201cpublished a memorial notice for Lanz von Liebenfels, calling him a shining example of unswerving faith and the very highest virtue.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Oh my gods.
\nLiebenfels was one of the people who pioneered Ariosophy, or the study of the occult sciences of \u201cAryans\u201d. He founded Ordo Novi Templi, whose mission was basically to \u201c further the racial self-confidence by doing pedigree and racial research, beauty contests, and the founding of racist future sites in underdeveloped parts of the Earth.\u201d He sought Hitler\u2019s approval, but Hitler banned his works. As a result, Libenfels stated Hitler was of inferior racial stock.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Not my definition of high virtue, but definitely my definition of a racist. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

During Crowley\u2019s time in NY, he became involved with the Pro German movement, supporting them against England. However, some claim he was a double agent. We may never know.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This book is a long read, a total of 464 pages organized into a total of thirteen chapters, followed by an epilogue which states \u201c We have seen how some occultists-what Aleister Crowley would have called \u201c Brothers of the Left Hand Path\u201d -were responsible for creating a peculiar moral environment from which the bizarre religious, racial, and political theories of the Third Reich germinated\u2026Indeed, both directly and indirectly, that fabulous creation of Madame Blavatsky- her Theosophical Society- can be found at the root of virtually all of the occult societies that gave rise to the Thule Gesellschaft, and eventually to the Third Reich itself.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> Just be prepared, this book will make you want to research a topic here and there. So this is not a \u201ccurl up with the dog and relax \u201c book. It\u2019s an eye-opening book that explores the ugly truth that some of the people responsible for our Traditions, and the ones that influenced all that we do were directly involved with the Nazi party. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A good read and a necessary read.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Buy this book, and read it today.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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