The Golden One

Phantom Armies of the Night by Claude Lecouteux

Posted on August 26, 2023

I have read Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead by Claude Lecouteux. As the title suggests, the book explores the legend of the Wild Hunt and similar folklore stories about the restless dead. The author introduces various tropes found in primarily French and German mediaeval myth and discusses them throughout the book. Just as with the Traditional Magic Spells for Protection and Healing (review), the book should be read as a study of European folklore.

The Golden One’s Wild Hunt

Those who have been with me for some time know that I sometimes make videos titled The Wild Hunt Challenge, where I present a number of challenges to complete (often related to training and reading). By using the name of the Wild Hunt, I seek to evoke a sense of enthusiasm, a sense of divine energy, and a hunger for life. Envision yourself as being swept up by the energies of Odin and the Wild Hunt as you embark upon an endeavour! I elaborate more on this in my upcoming book Demigod Mentality (September, 2023).

The Mediaeval Church and Folklore

As we have noted in several other book reviews and in a few Podcast episodes, the Christianity of the Middle Ages was rather a syncretic Paganism and Christianity. One could even say that the Christian mythos of the Middle Ages was a continuation of the existing one (with the addition of new characters and places):

‘The medieval church invented nothing. It picked up preexisting elements so that it could remodel them. It therefore created its own mythology from an older substratum, and this mythology soon fell into the public domain, where it continued to nourish beliefs and legends.’

Claude Lecouteux – Phantom Armies of the Night. Page 3.

Most of the stories presented in the book date from the (nominally) Christian period. The reason for this is that there are more sources to draw upon from that period than from earlier periods. On a personal note, I would have preferred a deeper investigation of the earliest roots of the legend, but I understand that such a discussion lies outside the scope of this book. Moreover, Claude Lecouteux is a scholar and presents evidence as he finds it, so I respect his choice to not speculate too much.

Pictured below: The Wild Hunt of Odin (1872) by the Norwegian artist Peter Nicolai Arbo.

The Wild Hunt in Indo-European Myth

The author concludes that it is hard to find a direct common source for the Wild Hunt. He does, however, note that some researchers have compared the Wild Hunt to the Vedic God Indra’s companions – which indicates an Indo-European origin of the myth. The author shares the following quote by Jan Gonda, who describes Indra’s companions thus:

‘Large and powerfully strong and dreadful in appearance, they cleave the air over mountain and hill, armed with their glittering spears. Admirable and irresistible, they travel in their sparkling golden chariots pulled by red-roan horses or gazelles. All tremble before them, even the earth and the mountains.’

Jan Gonda – Les Religions de l’Inde I: Védisme et Hindouisme anciens

This does indeed sound quite Indo-European. Important to note here is that the Indo-European influence in Iran and India came from the Corded Ware culture of central Europe. The modern population that is the closest genetically to the Corded Ware culture is the Swedish one. Thus, one should not be confused by the term Indo-European – which is why some prefer the term Aryan. Vedic spirituality was a result of the Aryan Invasion (for more information, watch this video: Aryan Invasion of India: Myth or Reality?).

Odin and Shamanic Doubles

In an interesting passage in the chapter titled Odin and the Wild Hunt, the author notes the following:

‘In 1980 a disciple of Höfler, Christine N. F. Eike, published an extensive study on the Oskoreia, the name for the Mesnie Hellequin in Norwegian folk traditions that picked up on the trance theory, noting that the manifestations of the winter-nights troop seem to reflect phenomena, such as forming Doubles, well known in shamanic traditions. This finally explains why it is logical for Odin to have been made the leader of the troop: he was considered the “god of ecstasy” (ekstasegud).’

Claude Lecouteux – Phantom Armies of the Night. Page 205.

The Oskoreia and the Mesnie Hellequin refer to the Wild Hunt. In the same chapter, the author refers to the great Jacob Grimm:

‘In quest of a German mythology, Jacob Grimm studied the theme of the cursed huntsman, which he compares to the Mesnie Hellequin, known as the Furious Army and the Wild Army in the regions east of the Rhine River. Starting in 1835 he sees in its leader a form of Odin that had been downgraded by Christianity to the rank of a ghostly figure.’

Claude Lecouteux – Phantom Armies of the Night. Page 203.

I present these quotes without further comment at the moment, but we will return to this topic in coming reviews, videos, and Podcast episodes.

Epic German Verse

The following verse appears on the first page of the chapter titled The Troops of the Dead. I found it particularly epic:

‘Es stehn die Stern am Himmel,
Es scheint der Mond so hell,
Die Toten reiten schnell…’

This is translated in the book as follows:
The stars sparkle in the firmament
The moon shines clear
the dead ride fast…

Hell (bright in German) rhymes with schnell (fast). The verse comes from the folk song Lenore. The poem was written by German author Gottfried August Bürger in 1773. Aside from the beauty of the verse, it is interesting to observe that this procession takes place when the moon shines bright (full moon) since we have discussed the influence of the full moon on previous occasions.

Pictured below: Sturm und Drang moment in Marburg, Germany.

Theodoric the Great and the Huntsman

In the Eckenlied (an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem), Theodoric the Great (Dietrich von Bern in German mediaeval literature) encounters a giant figure named Fasolt. Fasolt is clad in armour and has his hair braided and carries a hunting horn; he is accompanied by a pack of hounds. In the story, he pursues a wild maiden named Babehilt, who seeks the protection of Dietrich. Fasolt enters a rage and demands to know why Dietrich would deny him his prey. Since Dietrich is wounded, Fasolt does not engage him in combat. My initial thought upon reading this was to think of Orion of Warhammer – who is a figure based on these themes as well as on the Celtic God Cernunnos (pictured below). Cernunnos is associated with beasts, fertility, hunting, and nature. Although the author of the book does not make this statement, I am personally of the opinion that Cernunnos surely must have inspired later tales of the Wild Hunt.

The Cursed Hunter and Michael Beheim

One common trope associated with the Wild Hunt and the restless dead is the cursed hunter. The author shares one such example from a Meistersang (master + song) by Michael Beheim. In that story, Count Ebenhart of Wirtenberg encounters an apparition during a hunt. The apparition tells the count that he was so passionate about hunting that he asked God if he would permit him to hunt until Judgement Day. The apparition then says that to his great misfortune the wish was granted, and that he had now hunted for five hundred years.

The author notes that the apparition was punished for hunting on a Sunday, for damaging crops, and for slaying a stag in a church.

On a related note, the name Michael Beheim may be familar for appreciators of Vlad Dracula. Beheim was Dracula’s contemporary and composed a poem about him. I first encountered the name of Michael Beheim in Dracula, Prince Of Many Faces by Florescu Radu R. and Raymond T. McNally (the book I relied on for my Podcast Episode 20. Vlad Dracula).

Hellequin

The English word Harlequin stems from the French word Hellequin. The author says the following about the word:

‘In France, the name Mesnie Hellequin gradually came to mean people who assembled to commit acts contrary to good character and morality…’

Claude Lecouteux – Phantom Armies of the Night. Page 206.

The Mesnie Hellequin is, as already mentioned, a word used in mediaeval French literature and myth to describe Wild Hunt-like ghostly processions.

Conclusion

Phantom Armies of the Night is a good book and serves as a good starting point for anyone who wishes to learn more about mediaeval folklore. On a personal note, I would have liked a more thorough discussion about the Odinic and ecstatic aspect of the legend. However, as already mentioned, the book should be read as a study of folklore as opposed to a study of pre-Christian religion.

Onwards and upwards!