Bruder Klaus (Brother Klaus)

[Stewart]

"What on earth is this about?", you're probably thinking! Well bear with me as I think this is interesting and it could have a relevance to understanding what the AP wheel image means. First of all though some background info on "Brother Klaus"...

"Saint Nicholas of Flüe (German: Niklaus von Flüe) (21 March 1417 – 21 March 1487) was a Swiss hermit and ascetic who is the patron saint of Switzerland."

"In 1467, he left his wife and his ten children with her consent and set himself up as a hermit in the Ranft chine in Switzerland, establishing a chantry for a priest from his own funds so that he could assist at mass daily. According to legend, he survived for nineteen years with no food except for the eucharist. His reputation for wisdom and piety was such that figures from across Europe came to seek advice from him, and he was known to all as 'Brother Klaus'."

"In 1470, Pope Paul II granted the first indulgence to the sanctuary at Ranft and it became a place of pilgrimage, being as it lay on the Jakobsweg (English: Way of St. James), the road pilgrims travelled on to Santiago de Compostela in Spain."

"Despite being illiterate and having limited experience with the world, his is honored among both Protestants and Catholics with the permanent national unity of Switzerland."

Ok, so that's a general background into Brother Klaus which comes from wikipedia and there's more detailed information there for further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_of_Fl%C3%BCe
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruder_Klaus

Now here's where it gets interesting...

"Of the many spiritual insights Nicholas received in his visions, one in particular is reproduced often in a reduced logographic format, as a mystical wheel."

"Nicholas described his vision of the Holy Face at the center of a circle with the tips of three swords touching the two eyes and mouth, while three others radiate outwards in a sixfold symmetry reminiscent of the Seal of Solomon."



A cloth painted with the image, known as the Sachseln Meditation-Cloth associates the symbol with six episodes from the life of Christ. There's a lot of information about the interpretation of the imagery of the cloth on wikipedia and other sites which I'll give links to at the end of the post, and so I won't go into that here for now.



What's interesting is that the simplified 'wheel' image of his vision was made public in 1488 thanks to a pilgrim who visited Brother Klaus....

"Brother Claus is a simple layman who cannot read" (Heinrich Wölflin 1501). Yet the hermit speaks of his "book". It is a drawing with the structure of a wheel. The movement goes out from the centre and comes back to the centre. The wheel picture is made public in 1487 by an unknown pilgrim with an explanation from Brother Claus: "That is my book in which I learn and seek the art of this teaching." He calls the wheel the figure in which he contemplates the nature of God: "In the very centre is the undivided Godhead in which all the saints rejoice. Like the three rays the three Persons go forth from the one Godhead and have embraced the heavens and the whole world". An illustrated version of this wheel exists already during the hermit’s lifetime (see back side of this brochure). Both pictures bear witness to the deep wisdom and clear judgement of this "simple layman". [this paragraph comes from the following website: http://www.bruderklaus.com/?id=209]


[on the left is the image from the Augsburg version of the pilgrim's tract, and on the right is the image from the Nuremberg version of the tract (both dated around 1488)]

There's an obvious similarity to the AP wheel image, even though the Brother Klaus wheel has three extra 'arrows'. It seems likely Bessler would have known about Brother Klaus and his 'wheel' vision, and the Christian symbolic link to a 'wheel' would no doubt have interested Bessler. Could Bessler have included the AP wheel purely for its Christian message? - possibly, as it's on a page with two relevant bible quotes, however it still doesn't rule out its possible use for decoding further information or even as a clue itself.

I'd better stop there for now as it's a lot to take in for a first post and it's getting very late here.

For a bit of fun I modified the AP wheel...



Stewart


Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_of_Fl%C3%BCe
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruder_Klaus
http://flueliranft.ch/bruderklaus/index.html
http://www.helmut-zenz.de/hzflue.htm
http://www.bruderklaus.com/
This site has an amazing amount of information on Bruder Klaus:
http://www.nvf.ch/

Useful keywords for web searches:
Brother or Bruder Klaus or Claus, Nicholas of Flüe, Niklaus von Flüe, Pilgertraktat, Pilgertractat, Pilger traktat, Pilger tractat, Sachsler Meditationstuch, Sachseln, Meditationsbild, Radskizzen

[John Collins]

Very interesting Stewart. I agree that it might have given Bessler the idea of modifying what was apparently a well-known Christian symbol. As you say, it doesn't rule out the possible use for decoding further information or even as a clue itself.

I can imagine that Bessler would have been attracted to the symbolism of a 'wheel' and a Christian symbol. Good research.

JC

[silverfox]

The name of this fellow certainly sounds enough like "Santa Claus" or "St. Nick" to have more than just a little something to do with that particular legend and tradition.

It also appears to me that he was a travelling pilgrim at times as well being a hermit in the snows of the Alps that was reknown even in his own times for bestowing his "gifts" to anyone that either asked for or badly needed them. Gifts of the very best or most important advice they could ever possibly wish for.

The very soul and spirit of the "Christ-mass" that alone sustained his body for almost two full decades and has preserved the memory and what he was and stood for, even to this very day.

Setting aside our tendency to merely see our world and ourselves in strictly material terms, does not seem that a vision of the Creator repeatedly seems to come in the form of invisible hands that turn the "wheel-works" of the universe, and various ways of trying to describe just that?

Does it not occur to anyone that there might be some far deeper meaning and purpose that runs in, through, and around, our tale of Bessler that has "perpetuated" even it too? That that was model Bessler finally had in mind and got with a little help from above?

Can we learn to read these signs with our hearts as well as our minds and learn to trust that equally or begin to understand that it's only when they are both spontaneously in full agreement that we are ever in the presence of the only truth there is or that matters and that's the only way we have to actually recognise or know it?

[silverfox]

...worth reading twice, perhaps, but not having to be there, to do it.

[AB Hammer]

Stewart

Very interesting. I don't remember ever seeing this before, yet I have played with a similar idea.

Alan

[Mark]

You've got my interest, Stewart. Since I'm not about to second guess where you're headed with this, I'll reserve comment on content until later - other than to say that I find facets of it quite intriguing. It's great to see fresh material on, what I believe to be, one of Bessler's key clues. Looking forward to the next installment.

[Grimer]

I wonder if Mercedes Benz got the inspiration for their logo from here.
After all, Benz was the first person to invent a successful internal combustion engine.

[Grimer]

Interestingly enough the background "bubble" shading is the same.

[daxwc]

Grimer, I hope you realise Stewart made the symbol with the bubble backing, the one that looks like Bessler's AP wheel.

[Ed]

No, Grimer is correct. That textured background is in the original AP wheel image. Stewart just added the out-pointing spokes.

[daxwc]

Grimer Quotes:

I wonder if Mercedes Benz got the inspiration for their logo from here.
After all, Benz was the first person to invent a successful internal combustion engine.

Interestingly enough the background "bubble" shading is the same.

Yes... I understand, you’re assumption then is Grimer thought Mercedes Benz got the inspiration for their logo from the Bessler’s AP wheel. I guess you can read it either way, but where does Grimer state the textured background is in the original AP wheel image, it sounds to me as if he is talking abouts Stewarts drawing. Anyway, I want people to realise it was manufactured so we don’t have to see the symbol arise in the forum threads, because Stewart did an excellent job making it look very real.


tks

[Ed]

Stewart's image is the AP wheel, with an overlay of additional "spokes" pointing outward. Grimer is correct in pointing out the similar textures between that particular Mercedes Benz logo and the AP wheel image. I wasn't making any assumptions as to where the inspiration for that logo came from.

You are making the assumption Stewart's image was completely recreated and what Grimer means by "here".

Obviously we all should be careful not to propagate false data, but Stewart made it (fairly) clear his image was adjusted.

[Grimer]

Ed is correct. I remembered the original AP wheel design and I was referring to that as far as the background was concerned. I wonder how common that background is in German illustrations.

[Ed]

Stewart and I think it looks like Bessler (or one of his minions) used a nail to create that texture. To make it bleed through less, or for some other reason.

[martin]

Great job Stewart and all involved, that some really fresh info. Am eager to hear more.

Thanks for sharing

Martin