Karl Hans Welz (20 September 1944 - 20 December 2021) was originally from Telfs/Tirol, a small town near Innsbruck, Austria (birth-house at www.zeisele.com). At a very early age he developed a fascination for science in general and for the stars in particular. Consequently he read eagerly any book on astronomy, astrophysics, mathematics, and physics that he could get hold of. At age 16, he became interested in the subject of hypnosis. He began studying this discipline and later perfected Autogenic Training. Eventually, at age 18, he began the practice of Hatha Yoga. This practice strengthened his then frail body within a few weeks and his overall condition and health improved considerably. Quite naturally these spectacular results gave Karl an incentive to explore other sciences that were not part of his academic curriculum.
Studies and practice in astrology, practical magic, Rune magic, and practice of various forms of life energy technology such as astral traveling and clairvoyance followed within one year. He studied the works of Mesmer, Korschelt, von Reichenbach, Tesla, Lahkowski, and others. At age 19, Karl began his graduate studies in mathematics and physics. On several occasions, he interrupted his academic studies to travel extensively. During the course of these travels he gained valuable information about magical practices and the use of life force in many cultures and traditions and he came in contact with many gifted teachers and adepts on the subject-matter.
During his stays in South Africa, Switzerland, West Berlin, and from 1974, the United States of America, he continued his studies which he then rounded off with general semantics, radionics, Reichian psychology, and orgone physics. Shortly after his arrival in the United States, he built his first orgone accumulators and conducted multiple experiments with these devices--mostly with plants. It was obvious that what Reich called orgone was the same form of energy that Karl had explored for more than a decade before knowing of Reich. In fact, a device that he built years earlier following the plans of Korschelt turned out to be an orgone accumulator. Korschelt called his device a "Solar Ether Radiation Apparatus" --its plans date back to 1897.
Mesmer's barrels with iron filings, also built and tested by Welz, were the earliest orgone accumulators of which we know that were built by a scientist with the accumulation of life force in mind. Therefore we can safely say that Franz Anton Mesmer invented the life force accumulator one and a half centuries before Reich.
Soon Karl realized that orgone can be projected at any distance and that this projection follows structural links. This is a fact that was evident to people of all ages and cultures who harnessed life force, such as shamans, conjurers, spiritual workers, magicians, and healers. For this type transfer he had to develop a mathematical model that accounted for this phenomenon. This model also accounted for many of the amazing phenomena of ESP, magic, radionics, and even astrology.
Karl Hans Welz became a Rune Master as a member of the Sacred Brotherhood of the Golden Ray, West Germany. He stated in his work, "Rune Magick,"
“Naturally, I used the 18 Runes that Guido von List introduced. It did not take much practice to recognize their superiority over all other attempts, including those of which their authors and promoters claim to be 'elder.' It certainly is obvious that List was onto something when he had his 'revelations,' perhaps without ever fully realizing just how powerful his system can be.”
Karl Hans Welz saw it as his mission to make this powerful Runic system accessible to as many people as possible and to train Rune Masters around the world.
Jurgens Pieterse, born in 1965 in Vereeniging, South Africa was initiated on his spiritual path at the age of ten through a thoane (caracal) shamanic ritual. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering in 1989. In 1993 his academic interest in General Systems Theory led him to a book on systematics, Miraculous Management by Saul Kuchinsky (a student of JG Bennett).This obscure book sparked his lifelong interest in the esoteric arts and sciences. He started to study the fourth way teachings of JG Bennett, PD Ouspensky and GI Gurdjieff.
He received his Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering in 1996 in the same year when he traveled to the United States to meet Saul Kuchinsky and attend a workshop by Anthony Blake, author of The Intelligent Enneagram. The meeting inspired him to deepen his study of the enneagram specifically, and the teachings of GI Gurdjieff more generally. Within this context, his continued interest in systems theory led him to study several divination systems including Astrology, Tarot, I-Ching, Geomancy, and Runes. Jurgens is a member of the Rosicrucian Order (AMORC) (2005 till the present date) where he filled various leadership roles in the local affiliated body. The new mystical impetus led him to a study philosophy, alchemy and the Kabbalah.
Professionally, as a business consultant, he gave presentations on multiple platforms as a enterprise architect and co-authored a book, The Business of Restructuring in 2008. Being actively involved with public speaking, in 1996 he was acknowledged as a Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest award in Leadership and Communication extended by Toastmasters International. In 2010, Jurgens began to practice Tai Chi as a physical-spiritual means to engender the ideas of unity, harmony and balance into his life. Jurgens joined the Parliament of South Africa in 2010 as a Management Information Systems manager to assist with the strategic planning of information and communication technology. His highest achievement was winning the IECG's Global Enterprise Architecture Award for "Strategy and planning" in 2013 as a result of an enterprise architecture project which he led. Jurgens also participated actively in the wellness programs at his workplace, giving yoga and Tai Chi classes to employees. In 2016, Jurgens qualified as an international TRE (trauma/tension release exercises) facilitator as part of a wellness program.
He is an ardent practitioner of the traditional Stoic teachings of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca the Younger. In 2015, Jurgens self-published, An Index for the Epistles of Seneca summarizing the Stoic teachings of Seneca.
On 8 April 2010, he began his study of the Armanen runes under the guidance of Rune Grandmaster Karl Hans Welz. In November 2019, Jurgens was certified as a Rune Grandmaster by Karl Welz. Following Welz’s passing in 2021, the leadership of Knights of Runes recommended unanimously that Jurgens should continue the work of the Knights of Runes.
David Wolfheart is Rune Grandmaster and author of several books (in Spanish language) of investigation and search for personal transmutation. He is a student of various spiritual facets such as mythology, runes, symbology, and different forms of knowledge.
He is the founder of the Runology Academy (in Spain), where he teaches workshops, classes and online and face-to-face courses on Runes (Elder Futhark), Edda Runes or Armanen and Stadhagaldr runes. He was named Grand Runemaster by Karl Hans Welz in the order The Timeless Brotherhood of Runemasters and named Rune Master in Knights of Runes by Larry Camp. He is also the founder of the order Sacred Way, Guardians of the Rúnatál in Spain.
He has written several research and knowledge-seeking books in Spanish and is preparing the first edition of a book on Armanen Runes and their practices in English. In 2015, he published the book Asatru: The Call of the Northern Gods. In 2016 he wrote another book, on Runic Postural Meditation and Divination, called Stadhagaldr, Runic Postural Meditation. In 2017 he published the book Asatrú the Ancient Religion of the Germanic Peoples (in Catalan, his native language). In 2018 he published the book The Runes of the Wyrd, a pocket-sized edition on Runic divination and also the book The Armanen Runes – Mystery and Gnostic Wisdom. In 2019 he published The Book of Runes - Ancestral Wisdom and in 2022 the book Asatrú The Call of the Northern Gods (updated and expanded edition), the book The Runes, Ancestral Oracle and The Book of Júl de la Asatru Religion.
He has specialized in teaching the work with the Runes at an energetic level with several practices that form the new discipline, which all together, he has called Armanen Rune Önd (Runic vital energy). This discipline brings together various runic work systems, which left us great teachers in the past and also some new practices of the present, thus providing a necessary balance in all the areas necessary for our personal evolution, to expand our consciousness and to work with the runic energies. Karl Hans Welz encouraged David to finish the Rune Yoga work in motion by providing feedback and advice and stated that it was necessary for future new runeology practices and that they were a great contribution.
The Armanen Rune Önd becomes a complete work of holistic runology that includes a great alternative of methods with which to work with the runes at an energetic level.
The working methods that are part of the Armanen Rune Önd are:
Stadhagaldr (Rune Yoga), Rune Energy Flow (Stadhagaldr in motion), Sinnengaldr (Runic meditation), Runen griff (runic mudras), guided Runic meditation, Galdr, Hevelir Rune (balance and harmony of chakras), Runengymnastik…
David is finishing a book with these works, which will be published in both Spanish and English.
Donald van den Andel is a Rune Grandmaster in Knights of Runes, Gothi of Skylands Ásatrú Fellowship, a self-described mystic, and an American businessman . He is a graduate of Rutgers University where he studied English and philosophy and Seton Hall University where he received a Masters degree in Business Administration. He is also a husband, father, and grandfather.
Van den Andel is the author of two books that recount aspects of his life-long spiritual journey, Tales from the Ironwood: The Spiritual Journey of a Modern Day Heathen, and Untimely Meditations: A New Look at the Runes of the Armanen. He writes a blog, also called “Tales from the Ironwood,” that is intended to provide a journal of his further writings and thoughts while he travels along his very personal spiritual path.
Originally from Passaic, New Jersey, he has written that his spiritual journey began when his parents baptized him as an infant—a matter in which he had no choice. While his transition from being a nominal Christian to a rebellious atheist teenager may have been fairly commonplace, he found himself attracted to several occult practices. He recalls, for example, frequent use of a progressive relaxation technique that he later learned was commonly utilized to attain a trance state. He was also profoundly interested in Astral travel after meeting a friend who described frequent journeys. It was at this time that he purchased his first book of practical magic, Aleister Crowley’s Magick in Theory and Practice.
Following the birth of his children, he returned to Christianity and became a member of the Lutheran Church. Over the course of the next decade and a half, he undertook a deep dive into the world of Christianity, reading the Bible from cover to cover and becoming an instructor on the history and significance of Martin Luther and the Reformation. With the passing of his father and a life-threatening cancer diagnosis of his own, he began a very personal journey to discover more about who he was deep down inside. He sought to better understand something of the spirituality of his ancestors.
It was through this pursuit that he discovered Ásatrú—the worship of the old gods of northern Europe. It wasn’t long before his discovery of Ásatrú introduced him to the world of the Runes. While he attended classes on the mundane meaning and usage of the Runes, he quickly came to appreciate that they are the epitome of secret or esoteric knowledge. He attended his first Rune Yoga course around that time and immediately became fascinated with the practice. It wasn’t long before he began instructing Rune Yoga classes and immersing himself in the methods of Friedrich Marby and Siegfried Kummer. His practice revealed the powerful energy and life force of the Runes which he could literally feel pulsating and flowing through his body.
With Odin, in the form of Gangleri—the Wanderer, as his role model, van den Andel found himself more and more interested in magical practices. He attended a class on the creation and use of magical sigils. He also found himself becoming more and more interested in the magical use of what has come to be called the “Armanen” Runes. When a course on the Armanen Runes was advertised by Grandmaster Pieterse on a social media page, attendance was an obvious choice. That choice led to a year of deep study and work with the Runes following the curriculum of Karl Hans Welz. On the Summer Solstice of 2021, van den Andel was initiated as a Rune Master in Knights of Runes by Grandmaster Pieterse as witnessed by Grandmaster Mbai and formerly named as such by Grandmaster Camp.
In the year that followed, he performed extensive writing and editing to transform his masterwork, “Treatise on Armanen Runes” into his book, Untimely Meditations. In 2023, he was initiated as Rune Grandmaster by Grandmaster Pieterse as witnessed by Grandmaster Wolfheart. Today he continues his practice and writings on the Armanen system, teaches several students, and explores various northern and western systems of Magick with a special emphasis on their relationship and influence on Rune Magick.
