Okej, rubriken är såklart ett skämt. Vår ofrivillige grannbloggare har tydligen avlagt artighetsvisit i Tyrolen och Vorarlberg. Eftersom jag bloggat om båda områdena tidigare (ja, faktiskt) så bestämde jag mig för att länka till hans "tagning" på deras historia.
Look what I found in an old blog post of mine from 2018. This is the explanation we´ve been looking for!
>>>Steiner's lectures contain another very strange speculation: the claim that the Buddha went to Mars (or perhaps the “Mars sphere”, but Steiner does seem to mean the literal planet Mars) in order to carry out a Martian version of the Mystery of Golgotha (!).
>>>However, Buddha was never literally crucified (since the Martians seem to be ethereal beings, an actual crucifixion might have been impossible to arrange anyway), but rather sacrificed himself by sending out love and kindness to a planet the inhabitants of which were extremely aggressive.
>>>Apparently, this kind-hearted act has soothed the conflicts among the Martians, making it easier for human souls to pass through the planetary sphere of Mars during our cosmic sojourn between two earthly existences...
>>>I admit that this mutant Buddha legend is somewhat difficult to take seriously!
ChatGPT talks a bit too much here, but after rediscovering an old blog post of mine about this topic, I just had to ask...
Here is a link to Theosophy Wiki:
Can you tell me about the 8th sphere and the Moon according to Theosophy?
In Theosophical Society and related esoteric traditions, the ideas of:
belong to some of the most obscure, symbolic, and controversial parts of Theosophical cosmology.
These ideas were developed especially by:
The topic is difficult because:
Classical Theosophy often describes:
Human evolution supposedly unfolds through:
But Blavatsky also hinted at:
an abnormal or dangerous state outside the proper evolutionary chain:
the “Eighth Sphere.”
The Eighth Sphere is usually described as:
It represents:
In some interpretations:
souls that become utterly attached to lower desires drift toward the Eighth Sphere.
In early Theosophy,
the Moon plays a very strange role.
Blavatsky sometimes described the Moon as:
According to Theosophical cosmology:
Thus:
In Theosophy,
the Moon is often associated with:
But usually not with the highest spirituality.
Blavatsky repeatedly warned against:
Some later occult interpretations connect:
This does not mean the physical Moon literally contains damned souls.
Rather:
Rudolf Steiner,
who emerged from Theosophical circles,
reinterpreted these ideas heavily.
Steiner associated certain “Moon forces” with:
He also linked the Eighth Sphere to:
In Steiner’s cosmology,
the Eighth Sphere becomes almost:
a counterfeit creation separated from divine evolution.
Anthroposophy later developed the idea that humanity could become trapped between:
The Eighth Sphere became associated with:
This later influenced:
In many interpretations,
the Eighth Sphere represents:
consciousness cut off from true spiritual development.
Characteristics include:
It is often portrayed as:
Not exactly.
Theosophy generally rejects eternal damnation.
The Eighth Sphere is more like:
Some Theosophists suggested:
Blavatsky often associated lower astral realms with:
These lunar-astral regions could allegedly trap:
This contributed to the eerie reputation of the Moon in occultism.
Modern interpreters often read the Eighth Sphere symbolically as:
Psychologically,
it can resemble:
This is very different from traditions where the Moon symbolizes:
Theosophy often gives the Moon a more:
Theosophical Moon/Eighth Sphere ideas influenced:
But later interpretations vary enormously.
Blavatsky herself was often:
So there is no single perfectly clear doctrine of the Eighth Sphere.
Different occultists understood it differently:
The core symbolic contrast is often:
| Higher Evolution | Eighth Sphere |
|---|---|
| Spiritual ascent | Spiritual entrapment |
| Living spirit | Psychic residue |
| True enlightenment | Illusory pseudo-spirituality |
| Solar consciousness | Lunar shadow |
| Integration | Fragmentation |
Thus the Moon in these systems often symbolizes:
the ambiguous border between imagination, psychic experience, illusion, and spiritual danger.
Är inte detta något slags brott mot Eurovisions regelverk? Moldavien borde kanske utestängas från tävlingen nästa år? Att Moldaviens jury inte gav så många poäng till Rumänien är i själva verket positivt, eftersom låten var ett sado-masochistiskt porrnummer om strypsex!
Ännu en korkad krönika som klagar på att Israel-vänliga kulturkrigare (sic) politiserar Eurovision Song Contest.
Alltså...
För det första: Är inte vänstern "kulturkrigare" när de i flera års tid krävt att Israel ska utestängas från Eurovision, och att tävlingen annars bör bojkottas?
För det andra: Är det inte oerhört tondövt att kalla reaktionerna på terrorattackerna/pogromerna den 7 oktober 2023 för "kulturkrig"? Som om det handlade om en konflikt om en regnbågsannons på Facebook. Skribenten verkar dessutom inte kalla reaktionerna på Israels krig i Gaza för "kulturkrig".
För det tredje: Eurovision har alltid handlat om politik. Ukraina har fått anti-ryska kompisröster sedan åtminstone den orangea revolutionen 2005. De har också tävlat med uppenbart anti-ryska sånger vid ett flertal tillfällen. Och vunnit en av dessa gånger. Ingen klagade. Tvärtom buade publiken ut de ryska bidragen. När Norges band viftade med orangea flaggor på scenen under tävlingen i Kiev var det ingen som klagade heller. När Bosnien deltog första gången på 90-talet tävlade landet med en sång som ganska uppenbart handlade om Balkankrigen. Ingen klagade. Och vad Israel beträffar så tävlade landet någon gång på 00-talet med ett Woke hippie-band som t.o.m. hade syriska flaggor på scenen! Ingen klagade. Märkligt, eller hur?
Så varför klagar alla nu? Juuuust det.
För det fjärde: Eurovision Song Contest har i flera årtionden haft en ganska uppenbar LGBTQI-framtoning. Finns det någon som *på fullt allvar* hävdar att detta inte är "politiskt"? Lite som ett kulturkrig kanske?
Jag vet inte om musik och politik "borde" höra ihop. Men däremot verkar det som att nöjesskribenter i kvällspressen borde hålla sig ifrån politiken. Kommentera bara dansarnas ärschlen i fortsättningen, tack så mycket!
Japp, jag tänker älta ESC ett tag till. Att Finland skulle ha varit storfavoriten tyckte jag alltid lät ytterst märkligt. *Så* jävla bra var inte den där låten. Sorry. Och det verkar som om jag hade rätt...
Innehåller även information om Sveriges röstresultat.
This is the winner in this year´s Eurovision Song Contest (ESC): "Bangaranga" featuring Dara. It´s a crazy pop song and dance act, perhaps inspired by Ukrainian singer Ruslana´s old classic "Wild Dances".
It´s also surprisingly pretentious for a pop song. The nonsense title is supposedly a Jamaican slang word for rebellion or disturbance. The live performance begins as a weird group therapy session (!) and ends in a riot (?) as the singer affirms her inner strength.
"Bangaranga" is also inspired by the kukeri, groups of Bulgarian men in strange costumes who scare away evil spirits by dancing and making noises. Presumably, Dara and her dance troupe are trying to exorcize their own inner demons. OK, I admit that it may work better than traditional psychoanalysis, LOL.
Welcome to the world´s strangest riot. Twelve points!
Mycket småungar i snabbköpet. Vid plockgodiset. Givetvis för att det är Eurovision-final i kväll. Army of Lovers hade alltså rätt. Mello (och Euro) är ett jävla barnprogram, LOL.
Själv fyllde jag på dagsbehovet!
 |
| Neutral bild Credit: Jeff Buck |
Rumänien tävlar alltså i Eurovision med en sång om strypsex. Vilket väckt kritik. Men av live-showen att döma rör det sig om *lesbisk* strypsex. Vilket väl är politiskt korrekt. Så vad är problemet?
Eller nej?
Rubrik i Aftonbladet. LOL. Det skulle ni väl ha tänkt på tidigare? Fast å andra sidan, de kanske kan hävda att det hela är kopplat till hanta-viruset...
För övrigt anser jag att Israel bör hoppa av Eurovision Song Contest i allra sista stund, bara för att trolla alla länder som bojkottar tävlingen eller t.o.m. vägrar visa den.
Det vore faktiskt riktigt underhållande.
Did Steiner predict AI in 1921?
>>>And from the earth will well up terrible creations of beings who in their character stand between the mineral kingdom and the plant kingdom as automative beings with a supernatural intellect, an immense intellect.
>>>When this development takes hold, the earth will be covered, as with a web, a web of terrible spiders, spiders of enormous wisdom, which however, in their organisation don’t even reach the plant status.
>>>Terrible spiders which will interlock with each other, which will imitate in their movements all that which humanity has thought of with their shadowlike intellect.
 |
| Credit: christoph_moning |
Is new Hungarian leader Péter Magyar stealthily trying to revive a "pro-Russian" bloc in Central Europe, or is it more like the old Polish geopolitical project known as Intermarium?
Hmmm...
Magyar wants to put the Austro-Hungarian empire back on the map
Years ago, I actually read a book which took the Tatzelwurm seriously and proposed that it could be a cryptid, perhaps a large and largely unknown species of lizard. Think the Gila Monster, but much more agile. Reading more about it, I think it´s *much* more likely that we´re dealing either with local folklore (think dragons) and/or misidentified mammals. Why else would the "lizard" have the head of a cat? Of course, the book in question also took "de Loys´ ape" seriously, so there´s that...
Can you tell me about the Tatzelwurm?
The Tatzelwurm (also called Stollenwurm or Bergstutzen) is a creature from Alpine folklore, especially associated with parts of:
Austria
Switzerland
Bavaria in Germany
Its name roughly means “claw worm” or “pawed worm” (from German Tatze = paw, Wurm = worm/serpent).
Descriptions vary, but most accounts agree on a few features:
Long, serpentine or lizard-like body
Very short body compared to a snake — sometimes described as stubby
Two forelegs (sometimes four) with claws
Cat-like or reptilian head
Reported length: 1–2 meters (3–6 feet)
Some witnesses claimed it had:
A wide mouth with sharp teeth
Piercing eyes
Smooth or scaly skin
It’s often described as aggressive and dangerous.
The Tatzelwurm appears in Alpine folklore dating back to at least the 18th century, though stories may be older. It was said to:
Live in mountain caves or rocky crevices
Attack livestock
Poison or suffocate victims with breath or venom
There are scattered 19th and early 20th century reports from peasants and hikers claiming sightings in the Alps.
One famous alleged sighting occurred in 1828 near the Austrian Alps, where a man reportedly died after claiming to have encountered one. Later, in the early 1900s, some naturalists tried to investigate reports, but no physical evidence was ever found.
Scholars and skeptics have proposed several theories:
Misidentified animals
Large salamanders
Escaped exotic reptiles
Distorted sightings of martens or other Alpine mammals
Folkloric dragon survival
It may be a regional echo of European dragon legends.
Cultural fear-symbol
Mountain dangers personified: avalanches, crevasses, wild animals.
Yes — in modern terms, the Tatzelwurm is classified as a cryptid (a creature reported in folklore but lacking scientific evidence), similar in category to:
Loch Ness Monster
Mokele-mbembe
However, unlike those, it is specifically rooted in Alpine mountain culture rather than lakes or jungles.
In Alpine regions, the Tatzelwurm represents:
Fear of wild, untamed nature
The mystery of mountain caves
A remnant of medieval dragon imagery localized into rural folklore
It’s less a “monster hunt” creature and more a regional mythic animal — somewhere between a dragon and a salamander.
If you’d like, I can also:
Compare it to medieval dragon symbolism
Explore its Jungian/archetypal meaning
Look at how it relates to other Alpine spirit beings
Or examine whether it could connect to older Indo-European serpent myths
Which direction interests you?
That’s a very reasonable hypothesis — and it’s one that has often been suggested.
Short answer: it’s unlikely, but not impossible in isolated cases.
Let’s break it down.
The Gila monster (found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico) matches some Tatzelwurm descriptions:
Similarities
Thick-bodied
Large head
Short, powerful legs with claws
Venomous bite (which could explain “poison breath” folklore)
Somewhat slow but intimidating appearance
Key problem:
Gila monsters are desert reptiles. They do not live in cold Alpine climates.
The Alps (in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany) are far too cold for such reptiles to survive naturally.
Large lizards are ectothermic (cold-blooded). Alpine regions have:
Long, cold winters
Snow cover
High elevations
Short warm seasons
Even Europe’s largest native lizards (like wall lizards or green lizards) are much smaller and prefer warmer habitats.
A stable breeding population of something Gila-sized in the Alps would be biologically implausible without modern climate change — and even then, survival would be difficult.
This is more plausible in modern times:
A privately kept exotic lizard escapes.
Someone sees it.
Local folklore interprets it through existing myth.
However:
Most Tatzelwurm reports predate exotic pet trade.
Many accounts describe creatures longer than any Gila monster (sometimes 1–2 meters).
If it was a real animal, possibilities might include:
Europe does not have giant salamanders like Asia does, but large amphibians can look very strange when glimpsed briefly.
A rearing marten, otter, or badger seen briefly in rocky terrain can look surprisingly serpentine.
A small lizard + fear + retelling = dragon-like creature over time.
The “two-legged serpent” motif appears in medieval European dragon imagery. The Tatzelwurm may be:
A regional survival of dragon iconography
A mountain adaptation of the pan-European “wyrm”
The name itself (Wurm) already places it in that mythic category.
Biologically stable Alpine population?
→ Extremely unlikely.
Occasional misidentified reptile?
→ Possible but weakly supported.
Myth emerging from distorted sightings + dragon folklore?
→ Much more probable.
If you're interested, we could go deeper into:
Whether Europe ever had large lizards in historical times
The evolutionary plausibility of a cold-adapted reptilian cryptid
Or whether Alpine folklore preserves older Indo-European serpent myths
Which direction would you like to explore?
Short answer: Yes — but not in the time period relevant to Tatzelwurm legends.
Europe has had very large reptiles in deep prehistory, but not in recorded human history in the Alpine region.
Let’s break it down carefully.
In the Miocene epoch (about 23–5 million years ago), Europe was warmer and supported large reptiles.
Fossils show that relatives of modern monitor lizards once lived in Europe. One famous example is:
Varanus priscus (more commonly known from Australia, but related forms existed in Europe)
Europe had monitor-like lizards during warmer climatic periods, when subtropical ecosystems extended much farther north.
However:
These disappeared long before humans.
Climate cooling during the Ice Ages wiped out large reptile populations in Europe.
By the time humans were present in Europe (last 300,000 years):
Large reptiles were already gone.
Cold-adapted mammals dominated (mammoths, cave bears, etc.).
Reptiles were limited to small, cold-tolerant species.
There is no fossil evidence of large lizards surviving in Ice Age Europe.
In recorded history:
The largest European lizards are species like the green lizard (Lacerta viridis), typically under 40 cm.
Europe has no native monitor lizards.
No fossil or archaeological evidence suggests survival of large reptilian species into Roman or medieval times.
If something Gila-sized had existed in the Alps 1,000 years ago, we would expect:
Bones in caves
Mentions in Roman natural histories (e.g., Pliny)
Physical remains
None exist.
The Alps (in Austria and Switzerland) have been cold for tens of thousands of years.
Large ectothermic reptiles:
Cannot regulate internal temperature.
Struggle in long freezing winters.
Require warm basking environments and extended active seasons.
A hidden relic population surviving Ice Ages in Alpine caves would be biologically extraordinary — and would require a unique physiology unlike any known lizard.
Theoretically?
Yes.
Realistically?
Extremely unlikely.
To survive Alpine winters, such a reptile would need:
Extreme hibernation ability
Deep geothermal cave habitats
Very low metabolism
A stable breeding population
No fossil record supports such a lineage.
Even though large lizards didn’t survive historically in Europe, Europe did preserve:
Dragon myths
Wyrm legends
Serpent-killing hero stories
The word “Wurm” in Tatzelwurm already places it in that mythic lineage.
It’s much more plausible that:
Small reptiles or mammals were misidentified.
Dragon imagery survived in localized folklore.
Mountain dangers became personified as a clawed serpent.
Did Europe once have large lizards?
→ Yes — millions of years ago.
Did they survive into historical times in the Alps?
→ There is no fossil, archaeological, or textual evidence that they did.
Is the Tatzelwurm a survival of prehistoric reptile fauna?
→ Extremely unlikely.
If you'd like, we could explore something more speculative:
Could Ice Age cave ecosystems hide unknown vertebrates?
Or how dragon mythology may preserve distorted memory of prehistoric megafauna?
Or whether similar “two-legged serpent” beings appear in Indo-European myth patterns?
Given your interest in comparative religion and symbolism, the mythic continuity angle might be especially interesting.
