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It was there from the start -

The Nazi Party (the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or DAP) was founded in part by members of the Thule Society.

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The Thule Society -

The Thule Society was an occultist group that, among other things, was interested in the esoteric origins of the Aryan race.

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Notable members of the Thule Society -

Notable members of the Thule Society who moved into the Nazi Party included Rudolf Hess (pictured), Alfred Rosenburg, and Dietrich Eckhart.

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Ariosophy -

The esoteric ideological system called Ariosophy concerned the “wisdom of the Aryans,” and it was founded by occultists Guido von List (pictured) and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels.

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Runic magic -

Ariosophy believed in magical runes. This was later adopted in Nazism, when the twin “sig” runes formed the SS insignia.

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Aryan race superiority -

They also believed that Aryan people were bred via electricity and originated from interstellar deities called Theozoa.

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Ariosophy -

So, how did Aryans lose all their magical powers? Through interbreeding, of course. Other races were clearly 'inferior,' as unlike the Aryans they were the result of interbreeding between humans and ape-men.

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Where did they live? -

The Society believed that a proto-Aryan race lived in the northern mystical island of Thule. This place has also been called Hyperborea.

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The rise of Nazism -

While the Thule Society and other occultism societies dissolved before the Nazis came to power, Hitler’s party started its own brand of occultism. This was heavily influenced by one man: Austrian occultist and SS-Brigadeführer, Karl Maria Wiligut.

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Irminism -

Wiligut worshipped the Germanic god Irmin and believed Irminism was the true religion of the Germans. He also believed that German culture dated back to 228,000 BCE.

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Wiligut’s religion -

Back then, Earth apparently had three suns and was inhabited by all sorts of mythological creatures, including giants and dwarves.

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Wiligut's diagnosis -

Wilingut claimed to be a descendant from a king of that time. But what is also worth mentioning is that Karl Maria Wiligut was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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Wiligut’s relationship with Heinrich Himmler -

Karl Maria Wiligut was the Nazi Party leading member and head of the SS Heinrich Himmler’s personal occultist. Himmler was a fan of Wiligut’s paganism, and indeed it suited the Nazi agenda perfectly. After all, it drifted away from Christianity and its Judaic origins.

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Witches -

The SS even had a witch division, responsible for bringing home evidence of witch trials. According to Himmler, witches represented an old Germanic religion whose members were persecuted by Judeo-Christians.

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High-ranking Nazis had esoteric beliefs -

Himmler was not the only with esoteric beliefs. Other Nazi high commanders were also into it. For instance, Joseph Goebbels (pictured) was a fan of Nostradamus, and Rudolf Hess was into astrology, homoeopathy, and herbalism.

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Radiesthesia and dowsing -

Officials such as governor of Nuremberg Julius Streicher (pictured), and Richard Walther Darré, head of the Race Settlement Office, were into radiesthesia and dowsing.

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Radiesthesia and dowsing -

In radiesthesia, a divining rod or pendulum was used to capture radiation from a person, object, or place, and was supposed to help detect things. Dowsing is a very similar concept. These methods were actually used throughout World War II.

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Biodynamic agriculture -

Biodynamic agriculture is based on a collection of pseudo-scientific and esoteric concepts introduced by Austrian occultist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner. The Nazis believed it would provide "harmony between blood, soil and cosmos."

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Eastern mysticism -

The Nazis also soaked up concepts from Eastern mysticism, from Indian myths to Tibetan spirituality and Japanese warrior codes.

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Ahnenerbe -

The Ahnenerbe were a think tank created by Himmler in 1935, responsible for the historical and cultural research of the Aryan race, no matter how crazy the theories might sound in this day and age.

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World Ice Theory -

One of these theories was the Welteislehre, aka World Ice Theory, or Cosmic Ice Theory. The idea is that the cosmos were originally made of ice, and Earth was created by celestial bodies made of ice. This (discredited) theory was proposed by Austrian engineer Hanns Hörbiger, after he had a vision.

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World Ice Theory -

Essentially, moons and other celestial bodies made of ice collided and formed our planet. In summary, Hitler believed that the world was made of ice and that Aryans evolved from it.

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Finland expedition -

Himmler and other members of Ahnenerbe traveled to Finland to interview and record some of the area's pagans, witches, and seers. The idea was to eventually substitute Christian ceremonies with these rites and rituals.

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Tiwanaku -

According to the Nazis, the pre-Hispanic city of Tiwanaku in the southern Andes in Bolivia was a splinter colony of Atlantis. And, apparently, Atlantis was once inhabited by the Aryan race, so this was a place worth visiting.

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Other expeditions -

Other Ahnenerbe expeditions followed, including one to Tibet (pictured), one in search of giant skeletons in Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania), and one to Libya to try and find the mythical djinn city of Zerzura.

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The Holy Grail -

Depiste being a Christian relic, the Holy Grail allegedly had super powers, and the Nazis were all about gaining an advantage, so they also joined the quest to find it. Otto Rahn was the man tasked with the mission. It goes without saying that he never found it!

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‘Magic: History, Theory and Practice’ -

Hitler was a fan of this mysticism book by Ernst Schertel, published in Germany in 1923. Actually, he was such a fan that he wrote several notes in his copy.

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‘Magic: History, Theory and Practice’ -

One of the passages he underlined read: "He who does not carry demonic seeds within him will never give birth to a new world." Did Hitler believe he was possessed by a demon?

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Vampirism -

The Nazis used terminology alluding to vampirism to describe Jews. A 1943 propaganda pamphlet was titled ‘Der jüdische Vampyr chaotisiert die Welt’ ("The Jewish Vampire Brings Chaos to the World").

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Vampirism -

Hitler himself referred to Jews as “vam- pires,” “bloodsuckers,” and “spongers” in his book, 'Mein Kampf.'

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Lycanthropy -

Eric Kurlander’s book, ‘Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich,’ says that the “incarnation of the werewolf runs through Aryan and German fairy tales and naming conventions.” Curiously, Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II was called Wolfsschanze ("Wolf ’s Lair").

Sources: (The Independent) (Big Think) (HistoryExtra) (Grunge) (The Washington Post)

See also: The hidden Nazi tunnels where bats go to hibernate

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