Synopsis
For years, scholars of Pennsylvania German Folk Culture have argued about the presence or absence of magic in the Hex Signs that adorn the barns in SE Pennsylvania. This book is not going to waste any space on that tired discussion. All the Hexologists included here are working in a magical way. It is just a natural process that creating geometric star signs with symbols in them would have meaning with intent. The questions raised here are not “If” but “How”. Not as a scholar, but as a user, a practitioner, its clear that that Hexology is ready and willing to accept symbolism of any tradition but most especially that of our prechristian Germanic ancestors . Now along with the many names given to Hex Signs, such as Hexefuus (Witch’s Feet), Hexes, and Barn Stars, is a new one, “Runic Barnstars” As I had shown in my previous book, “Heiden Hexology, Essays and Interviews”, The Runes had been incorporated into Hex Work spontaneously around the world by the emerging Germanic Heathen Rune Magic practioners. In particular, they had become expressions of the Neo-Tribalism in Germanic Heathenry in North America. "I would say this, there is an energy in the magical signs of our Pennsylvania German ancestors. It is very real and powerful. Anyone can participate in making them. In doing so you are tapping into something much larger then mere personal self expression. As I explained to a former teacher and friend, A stream or river has run in its bed for hundreds of thousands of years maybe longer, so it is with folk magic. No one is quite sure how it works, just that it does and always has." Hunter M. Yoder
About the Author
The most prolific and outspoken artist of a modern school of "hexologists" is Hunter Yoder, owner and operator of the Hex Factory in Philadelphia. Born and raised in Berks County, Hunter was inspired by local artistic traditions, and even painted a barn on his father's property near Virginville. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Hunter embraces the title of "Hexologist," and has sought to reinvent the mythology of the modern hex sign by incorporating aspects of his interest in ancient pre-Christian ritual culture. Hunter's work combines plant geometry, runic inscriptions, and several designs which are an homage to the work of Lee Gandee. Like Gandee, Hunter experiments with the use of art for shamanic and magical purposes, believing that his work is an extension of his spiritual path. Identifying himself religiously as a Heathen, Hunter blends traditional motifs with arcane occult emblems in the interest of reviving ancient Germanic religion. While for many people in Pennsylvania, this particular approach remains highly controversial, especially because of the historical abuse of such interest in Germanic culture during the second World War, Hunter aims to break down such taboos in an effort to take his art in an entirely different direction, blending old and new mythology. Despite these obstacles in belief, tradition, and culture, it is undeniable that Hunter's work is visually stunning, and part of the spectrum of modern applications of continued interest in Pennsylvania Dutch culture in the United States. page 119, "Hex Signs, Myth and Meaning in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars," by Patrick Donmoyer, a publication of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, 2013
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