HITLER AND OCCULT PART 2- SPEAR OF DESTINY

Last week in my blog on Hitler and the Occult Part 1, I mention the origins, beliefs and members of the Thule or the Vril Society.  Hitler and others were convinced that at one time in the ancient past, perhaps 250,000 years ago an alien species came from somewhere else, met with mankind and assimilated. It was believed these were powerful beings with abilities that vastly eclipsed those of present day mankind. These beings would eventually become part of this planets civilization and in turn had their powers diluted by interbreeding until they vanished. The Nazi Elite wanted them restored for unifying the world under their emblem of the mystical symbol, the swastika.

The start of this restoration process had to do with practicing mental powers, using talismans, and searching for ancient archaeological treasures reported to have vast powers. The Third Reich would create a group called the Ahnenebe or the Nazi Occult Bureau to search the world for anything that could be spun into their quest for racial superiority.

I remember how amazed I was to learn about the Nazis quest for archaeological treasures of great power in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Certainly, George Lucas found these stories of the Nazi quest fascinating enough to create the character of Indiana Jones and his first movie going after the Ark of the Covenant.

Over the past 20 years, with the advent of many more cable outlets and alternative publications, news has leaked out about the core of this manufactured belief system of the elite of the Nazi hierarchy. As is often said sometimes truth is even stranger than fiction. This is one story Hollywood and academia has yet to reveal fully to the public. One of the greatest ironies in history is that a movement which hated both Christianity and Judaism became obsessed with sacred relics from both religions.
Here is one of those that Hitler felt he needed for the ultimate power to conquer the world. 

The Spear of Destiny
Hitler's successes as Nazi dictator have given way to a number of occult theories. One of the most common of these is the story of the Spear of Destiny. Also called the Holy Lance, this spear is the name given to the lance that supposedly pierced Jesus's side as he hung on the cross in John's account of his death. Legend has it that whoever possesses the lance will rule the world.

Author Trevor Ravenscroft's 1973 The Spear of Destiny (as well as a later book The Mark of the Beast) claims that Adolf Hitler started World War II in order to capture the spear, with which he was obsessed. Ravenscroft repeatedly attempted to define the mysterious powers that the legend says the spear serves. He found it to be a hostile and evil spirit, which he sometimes referred to as the Antichrist, though that is open to interpretation. He never actually referred to the spear as spiritually controlled, but rather as intertwined with all of mankind's ambitions

Biblical Reference
The lance is mentioned only in the Gospel of John (19:31-37) and not in any of the Synoptic Gospels. The gospel states that the Romans planned to break Jesus' legs, a practice known as crurifragium, which was a method of hastening death during a crucifixion. Just before they did so, they realized that Jesus was already dead and that there was no reason to break his legs. To make sure that he was dead, a Roman centurion named in extra-Biblical tradition as Longinus stabbed him in the side.

The name of the soldier who pierced Christ's side is not given in the Gospel of John, but in the oldest known references to the legend he is identified as a Centurion and called Logginus or Longinus (making the spear's "correct" Latin name Lancea Longini).
A number of weapons are claimed to be the "true spear". One spear and shaft is held by the Vatican, another part of the spear point disappeared and yet another is claimed to be in in Armenia.
 


  

One of the earliest mentions of a relic preserved as the Holy Lance is in the account of the pilgrim Antoninus of Piacenza, about 570, who described the holy places of Jerusalem, where he saw in the basilica of Mount Zion "the crown of thorns with which Our Lord was crowned and the lance with which he was struck in the side".
In 615 A.D. Jerusalem was captured for the Persian King Khosrau II and its treasures carried off to Iran. The spear's iron point was broken off and taken back to Constantinople and deposited it in the church of Hagia Sophia. In 670 A.D., after the Turks took over the city the main shaft and what was left of the spear were given to the Pope by the Sultan Beyezid II and has remained in the Vatican ever since.

                            Church of Hagia Sophia in modern day Constantinople,Turkey

The lance-point, embedded in an icon, was obtained in 1244 from the Latin emperor at Constantinople, Baldwin II, by Louis IX of France, who enshrined it with his relic of the Crown of Thorns in the Sainte Chapelle, Paris. It disappeared during the French Revolution and has never been seen again.
The main contender for authentic status is the Holy Lance held by the Hofburg Museum in Vienna. This the lance known as the "Spear of Destiny" and is associated with Hitler. As a young man in Vienna Hitler saw and became fascinated with this relic. This was first in the possession of the Holy Roman emperor Otto I in the 10th Century and at various times (in 1424 ) this and other religious artifacts were moved to Prague and then to Nuremberg. This collection was called the Reichskleinodien or Imperial Regalia. (An interesting note is that when this spear was tested some years ago the spear itself seemed to be forged around the 7th century AD. However, there was an embedded nail discovered in the shaft of the spear that dates to the 1st century A.D. The legend is that it is one of the nails that crucified Christ to the cross).


When the French Revolutionary army approached Nuremberg in the spring of 1796 the city councilors decided to remove theReichskleinodien (Imperial Regalia)to Vienna for safe keeping. The collection was entrusted to one "Baron von HŸgel", who promised to return the objects as soon as peace had been restored and the safety of the collection assured. However, the Holy Roman Empire was officially dissolved in 1806 and von HŸgel took advantage of the confusion over who was the rightful owner and sold the entire collection, including the lance, to the Habsburgs. When the city councilors discovered this they asked for the Reichskleinodien back but were refused. As part of the imperial regalia it was kept in the Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury) in Vienna and was known as the lance of Saint Maurice.
During the Anschluss, when Austria was annexed to Germany, Adolf Hitler took the lance. That is how Hitler was able to attain this talisman so intent of harnessing its power.

At the end of the war the spear came into the hands of US General George Patton. It was returned to Austria after World War II and was temporarily stored in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. According to legend, losing the spear would result in death, and that was fulfilled when Hitler allegedl committed suicide. Currently the Spear is held in the Schatzkammer.

                           The Holy Lance in the Schatzkammer of Vienna

Next week: Hitler and the Occult Part 3- my blog on other magical talismans that Adolf pursued around the world.