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The Spear of Destiny: The Occult Power Behind the Spear which pierced the side of Christ

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The Spear Of Destiny - Trevor Ravenscroft

Review written by Hugh Dennett.

When I first picked this book up in the bookstore, I couldn't believe my luck in finding such an interesting work on The Spear Of Longinus, written by what at first appeared to be an author with at least some credibility. The subject matter of 'The Spear Of Destiny' is fascinating and the style is compelling. For the first couple of chapters, I thought that - despite the sensationalistic nature of the writing - there possibly may have been some truth to Trevor Ravenscroft's assertions.

In short, the author uses this book to present the beliefs and opinions of Dr. Walter Johannes Stein - who during WWII provided information to Winston Churchill about the supposedly occultic personalities of Hitler and other Nazi leaders - although it is difficult to discern what portion of the book is based on Dr. Stein's somewhat dubious recollections, and what is subjective speculation on the part of Ravenscroft.

One problem came for me, when I noticed that many of the more grandiose statements in the book are not referenced at all, and thus the reader has no way of verifying the authenticity of the author's claims. There are footnotes, albeit rather minimalistic, but these are mostly relating to quotes that can be easily verified or found readily in other common publications. It is also true to say that these (referenced) quotes do not for the most part help to further the cause of the book to anywhere near the degree that the unsubstantiated quotes might do, would in fact they be traceable to a reliable source. In addition to this, much of the evidence given in the book is drawn from the psychic visons of Rudolf Steiner and General Helmuth von Moltke.

Up until chapter five, the story seems almost plausible and is without a doubt a most compelling read for anyone who has an interest in the Spear Of Longinus, Nazi Germany, or the occult in general. However, by the end of chapter five, the book is becoming clearly predictable and filled with clichés; not to mention the fact that there are some obvious historical errors, such as Ravenscroft's claim that Hitler celebrated his thirty-third birthday in 1921 (page 113). The author also takes many unsubstantiated myths - such as Hitler having only one testicle (pages 172, 173) - to be proven fact. 'The Spear Of Destiny' also contains several quotes taken from Hermann Rauschning's 'Hitler Speaks', which according to acclaimed Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, is "a work now regarded to have so little authenticity that it is best to disregard it altogether." (Taken from Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris)

Whilst Ravenscroft does not proclaim himself to be a christian, the reader gets the feeling that he certainly sympathises strongly with christian morals, and although the non-xian belief of reincarnation is central to the story, he always manages to tie this facet back into christianity or christian politics. One of the most frustrating aspects of this book is the author's tendency to portray all the supposed 'good guys' in the story as being the reincarnations of other 'good guys', and all the allegedly 'bad' characters as having been 'bad guys' in a former life. The fact that the plot of the story hinges around this detail certainly doesn't help to add to the credibility of the book.

For what it's worth, 'The Spear Of Destiny' is a good yarn and definetely quite provocatively written, but in my opinion, this is the extent of it's value. Historically speaking, the book is poorly researched and there are no where near enough references to substantiate the author's extravagant claims.

In the first pages of The Spear, Ravenscroft states flat out that he considers the third eye (AKA the pineal gland) to be a valid primary source for historical research. To complicate matters even further, Ravenscroft was describing the visions of Dr. Walter Stein, his friend and teacher who was dead by the time Ravenscroft began writing.

How you feel about the Spear of Destiny depends a lot on how seriously you take Ravenscroft's ideas on the 3rd Eye. Are you ok with someone writing history as seen in someone else's mystical vision or are you more the footnotesey type? The fact that a lot of Ravenscroft's quoted sources are out of print makes his ideas hard to check or corroborate.

Havng said all this, I really love the Spear of Destiny and I've lost track of the number of times I've given copies to friends. I love Ravenscroft's ideas, whereby WWII was really a conflict between famous 9th Century figures reincarnated after exactly 1000 years. Ravenscroft's WWII was a war between cosmic Good and Evil in their most absolute senses. It's all very Michael Moorcock/The Highlander and if anything, Ravenscroft's book highlights how sorely we need a bit of romance and myth in our times. Read it by all means. Maybe you'll take it seriously, maybe not. But you will certainly be entertained.

I first read this book when I was in grade school. Nothing really sank in except that Hitler really was Satanic. Now, years later, with a broad background of scientific skepticism and studies into some Eastern philosophies and so-called New Age stuff, I came back to this book to take a second look.

What it is not is an "objective" (i.e. academic, scholarly) account of history. The author says outright that much of the material for the book came from astral travels or remote viewing or some other paranormal method, performed by a man named Walter Johannes Stein. Ravenscroft claims that Stein knew Hitler better than any other man. Moreover, the whole book is wrapped around a theme of the Spear of Destiny, and a legend that says that any person who possesses it will gain immeasurable power to rule and conquer. Linked with the Spear are such famous dictators as Constantine, Charlemagne, and Frederick Barbarossa.

Ravenscroft describes in great detail Hitler's descent into the occult and into nationalist, racist ideals, tutored by various other evil personalities. Hitler is depicted as a man who became obsessed with the Spear, convinced that he was the reincarnation of Frederick Barbarossa, and ultimately possessed by Lucifer.

Naturally, this is no mainstream history book. Its origins are so wrapped up in the Judeo-Christian mythology, and an occultic one in particular, that it's hard to say what sorts of distortions there might be. (I take it for granted that subjective means of gathering information, like remote viewing, are possible, but I also acknowledge that tremendous distortions can come about.) Ravenscroft asserts, for instance, that Tibetan lamas were recruited and set to work "to harness the powers of Lucifer to the Nazi cause." He talks about Lazarus, the man raised from the dead by Christ, as actually undergoing some kind of occultic initiation which failed.

At best, I can say that this is an extremely interesting story. Without knowing more about the official history of Nazi Germany and the official biography of Hitler, that's about as far as I'll go.

For the skeptics: the obvious fact that Hitler chose the swastika and reversed (italics) it as his central symbol proves his significant interest in and attachment to occult influences. Aside from the speculations, there is direct material evidence which points to the generally accepted conclusion that Rudolf Steiner was murdered by the brownshirts. He was poisoned. The original Goetheneum (the building which housed Steiner's school)in Stuttgart had been destroyed by arson widely attributed to the brownshirts a few years before. Hitler had at least registered as a student there and is presumed to have attended lectures given by Steiner before the arson. The arson was followed by a number of assassination attempts until he was finally murdered by a poisoned sandwich. Steiner lived for about a year after being poisoned and wrote an autobiography. The reason neither Steiner nor his followers ever pointed fingers at the nascent Nazis are two: 1)they are devout Christians, who turn the other cheek in all conditions; 2) fear and suppression.
Ravenscroft's tale of the fateful conflict between Adolf Hitler and Rudolf Steiner is a masterpiece of its kind, a riveting read. Both men worked toward manifesting a vision of reality. Both were doomed. The question which is raised is important. How much can we know of the motives behind the central events in history? Intentionality is incredibly diverse. Appearances often belie reality. Ravenscroft attempts to penetrate the hidden reality, the workings of the engine which drives history, and the results are, at the least, interesting, if not edifying.

This is a fantastic read. Ravenscroft really nailed it on the head as far as I'm concerned. I have spoke to older people who walk in esoteric circles and threw the names of Stein,Steiner, and Eckart and they were all familiar to them. It was great to be able to know for sure what I had expected all along. Without giving anything away, I highly recommend "The Spear of Destiny" and Ravenscroft's other two titles also. Very deep reading.Edge of your seat stuff.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this book is the author's note in the beginning. He said the material in the book would have been published decades earlier by a man named Dr. Walter Johannes Stein, a scientist during World War II who acted as an advisor to Winston Churchill regarding the minds and motivations of Hitler and his Nazis.

However, Churchill himself dissuaded Stein from writing what he knew after the war -- namely, that the true reasons for the Nazi atrocities were occult in nature. Churchill (and others in the know) wanted the world to view the Nazis as abberations of mankind, deeply flawed human beings. They DID NOT want the world to hear the real truth, which was that Hitler and others were more than human, and had managed to tap very ancient and esoteric occult knowledge to further their aims. In other words, "forces" outside this world had a direct hand in guiding Hitler on his path.

So Stein never did publish what he knew, but relayed the information to the author of this book, Trevor Ravenscroft, who published it in the 1970s.

I found myself pretty convinced that at least some aspects of Hitler were indeed heavily influenced by the occult. I had always heard he was interested in the Spear of Destiny; I did not know he had a psychic epiphany when he first saw the spear in a museum -- a dark vision that inspired him from a very young age.

I met the author of this book in 1973 in a caravan park on the outskirts of a small town in Morocco, he was with his wife and young daughter, I with my girlfriend & faithful VW beetle. In my 3 or 4 days with them he gave me the book to read, I was fascinated by both the book & family. We still had six weeks in which to drive back to England & I still regret not staying longer with them but they made that drive back through Europe the interesting, profound & most memorable time of my life. The book changed our route back, we visited many of the places mentioned in the book & with the people we met found the experience awe inspiring. To the author, thankyou & to anyone travelling through Europe would reccommend they do the same. No doubt my most memorable ever read

After 35 years, there has still been no convincing rebuttal to Trevor Ravenscroft's brilliant book. That's really all you need to know before you buy it. The evidence presented is so good, so compelling, that it simply has to be ignored by professional scholarship because they can't deal with it any other way. Essentially, this book gives us Hitler behind the usual list of dates and events. It delves into his personal life to reveal Hitler's hitherto unknown spiritual passions and the tradition from which he drew his inspiration. The Allies always prevented any attempt to explain Nazism as anything other than primitive brute force, because they were well aware of Hitler's rationale.

In this fascinating account of Hitler's obsession with grail lore, the occult and and Wagnerian opera, we learn about his crucial but 'lost years' in Vienna, Austria. During this time he was a homeless artist who read extensively and subsisted by selling water color postcards of famous landmarks on the street. The book by Ravenscroft was made possible because of a friendship between the author and a professor of economics who befriended Hitler and was subjected to his visionary tirades on politics during this time around 1912-13. What we discover is a deep understanding on the part of Hitler of the powers associated with black magic and the occult. The legend of the spear of destiny used by the Roman soldier Longinus to pierce the side of Christ is the centerpiece of the story. How it inspired Hitler, provided psychic glimpses for him into the future and how it ultimately allowed him to carry out his twisted mission of genocide and world conquest (though he failed in the latter). Despite what you may feel about him and his actions, no one can deny that he was an incredibly interesting and ambitious man. Through shear will and determination he rose from abject poverty to undisputed leader of a great world power. Ironically, we learn that when the spear fell into American hands in April 1945 and Berlin was under siege, Hitler and his bride Eva Braun committed suicide on Walpurgis Night--- a satanic holiday. This book truly explains the WHO and the HOW behind the WHY of WWII and the background it provides is thorough, well-documented and frankly very entertaining and compelling. Given all the movies about Hitler and WWII, it amazes me that noone has tried to make a movie based around this book. The movie 'Max' was a very weak and thinly disguised attempt but fell short on many levels. Check this little known gem out today.

I read the book almost 22 years ago , and after living in Europe , having grown up Catholic, it is painfully obvious that the theological failure of the Church (Roman and Protestant) is primarily responsible for the failed spiritualization of Europe and consequently, the West. Students of Jung, Ouspensky and Gurdjieff, and Castaneda or even fans of the book Jesus, The Man, will find this book a confirmation of the idea that real spirituality in the West has been subverted historically by a group of narrow power oriented "lawyers" (read :theologians and church bureaucrats) who created a monstrous doctrine out of the Christian experience that could not withstand the ravages of science, but whose failure opened the floodgates for nationalism, for the magnification of unredeemed ego expression through the industrialization of war. It is not necessary to believe in reincarnation to embrace the central thesis of this well written , fascinating book.