The Esoteric Attractions of BAYC Co-Founder Greg Solano
A Pop Cultural introduction to the racist Hyperborean Worldview
Not few of the criticisms levelled against the BAYC collection claim that its founders embedded Dissident Right or Dirtbag Left as with esoteric dog whistles into their collection in order to appeal to a wider range of chronically online audiences interested in the naughty parts of web culture, which often draw from racist narratives. As a defence, Bored Ape Yacht Club’s co-founder Wylie Aronow, who goes by Gordon Goner, has decried this line of critique calling it through his many communications, conspiracy theory, crazy, unhinged and or types of disinformation. But, the founders have also admitted that the collection is not above criticism.1 So critique is what shall be.
Disclaimer: I do not condone slander nor harassment of party’s nor persons of any kind. The provided findings do not claim that the BAYC founders are racists themselves, but clearly suggest that the underlying mythology of the BAYC project is esoteric and racially problematic/aligned with provably racist ideologies.
Table of Contents
In order of appearances:
Co-founder of the BAYC Greg Solano had knowledge about an esoteric writer named Rudolph Steiner who’s mythical racist ideas later inspired Nazi ideology.
Greg Solano's friend named "Diego" listened to Steiner’s lectures and had a large Goodreads book list with occult/esoteric titles while being Greg’s confidant.
That Steiner spoke about the Yuga cycles, a land called Mu, a place called Hyperborea and a person named Manu which later informed esoteric Hitlerism and another author named Miguel Serrano (a popularizer of esoteric Hitlerism).
That Yuga Lab’s recent product which was gifted to Bored Ape Yacht Club holders called the Otherside metaverse, has a map featuring what resembles Hyperborea and Mu, but also other problematic esoteric themes.
That Greg Solano had interests in authors and artists who wrote about Hitler in different ways.
That the BAYC universe is necessarily attached to esoteric racist themes which appeal to a large underground white nationalist and neo pagan occult culture.
Introduction
BAYC founders Greg Solano (Gargamel/@CryptoGarga) and Wylie Aronow (@GordonGoner) claim that the many coincidences pointing to Yuga Labs products containing esoteric meanings veering upon the racially problematic are "conspiracy"2 and "far fetched"3, yet both individuals have not few personal ties to taboo literary subject matter and are friends with a broader community of persons who are interested in the same. In the following article a deep dive into Greg Solano's biographical blog will show what he knew, and by implication, suggest where Yuga Labs has reasonably received many of its central controversial ideas.
Greg Solano’s “Brother-Mag” tell all
Evidence has been found showing that Greg (Garga) Solano had knowledge and interaction with authors who spoke of racially insensitive esoteric ideas which later show up in the BAYC project. In an archived version of his personal blog he writes of a friend named Diego who was like a brother to him, and who Greg shared a close relationship with, and who was Greg’s trusted poetry reader.
The Poem Proving What Greg Knew
In the above poem Greg Solano speaks in second person as Diego having a, "Walkman on your hip replaying Steiner's lectures on the creation of souls". (bold mine) In this poem Greg Solano also says, "Diego, no one is there but you to remember that summer we spent between your home in that broken down school bus in Little Haiti and my bed, sleeping side by side every night like impoverished brothers.”
Ample posts from the blog show that these two had an intimately near relationship, and were/are friends who share a synergistic inspiration. Example two:
07 March 2016 from a post titled, "bower" Greg Solano writes,
"I am drinking of the feminine all the time. Last night, I was gripping thighs and chests and batting people on the back. It was nice. Used to be either Jun or Diego would wind up in my bed after a long night getting out of our heads. Perhaps I miss that." (Bold mine)
But who is Rudolf Steiner and why should anyone care?
Rudolph Steiner is an esoteric writer who influenced Nazi Germany in their creation of the concept of blood holding a spiritual racial essence. 4
"Soon after joining the Theosophical Society, Steiner became General Secretary of its German section, a position he held until 1912, when he broke with mainstream theosophy and founded his own movement, establishing the Anthroposophical Society at the end of 1912." 5
What did Steiner believe and teach?
"The entwinement of racial evolution and spiritual progress represents a central pillar of Steiner’s esoteric cosmology. Its principal features include a hierarchical scheme of higher and lower racial forms, a contrast between advancing races and declining races, and the crucial notion that individual souls are responsible for their own racial-spiritual progress or degeneration." (pg 90) 6 (Bold mine)
Nazism and Anthroposophy
Steiner's racism was not rabid, in short, it simply suggested all people must go through karmic phases were they have to inhabit black bodies as the lowest human embodiment, and Aryan ones as the highest. His esotericism was actually a thing that got him into friction with some of the Nazi leadership, though he was in ways supported by troubled Nazi leader Rudolph Hess whose family members were reported Anthroposophists. 7
On Steiner's beliefs and similarities with Nazism:
"What anthroposophists shared with their nationalist, authoritarian, and völkisch contemporaries was an insistence on the Germanic essence as the highest expression of human ideals." (93) 8
"He pointed out that anthroposophy and Nazism shared the same enemies, and declared his enthusiasm for the achievements of National Socialism as a realization of Steiner’s own teachings. A Leipzig anthroposophist wrote to Hitler and objected that since anthroposophy represented the salvation of Germany, banning the Anthroposophical Society brought shame to the nation and was akin to what the Jews did to the Savior when they nailed him to the cross. He added: “Steiner himself showed that the Jews are a people given over to decadence of the soul." (199)
Do we know that BAYC co-founder Greg Solano also read or knew about Steiner’s other literary works?
Those knowledgeable of Steiner know he has schools with his namesake that still function across the world, these institutions have largely separated themselves from his racist ideas but not entirely.
Diego being into Biodynamic farming, which some say is a pseudoscience, could suggest his interests in Steiner were simply about agriculture, but, Diego also had a large book list where he collected the works of Steiner and other esoteric titles (his overall public tastes do not suggest that he is a racist, The Autobiography of Malcolm X also shows up). Note: as to protect Diego’s identity I will not share direct links to this reading list, but thanks to Greg, Diego’s identity was publicly verifiable. Bolaño’s 2666 being what Greg did his dissertation on also shows up on this list. Mr. Solano being a lit buff was likely privy to this reading list seeing the nearness of their friendship. Regardless, Greg knew of Steiner and felt safe enough to write about his lectures publicly through poem.
Steiner Also mentions the Kali Yuga and Yuga cycles
The above mentioned Yugas’ actually do agree with what Wylie Aronow said in his Coindesk pseudo vindication about Greg Solano bringing this idea to the table, even though revealed public evidences suggest that the truest source of the name Yuga Labs is probably a multivalent/multi definitional one. See my prior discussion on this subject from my article that through the Lord Jesus Christ’s grace I first discovered that Kali Yuga was Wylie’s Twitter location here.
Steiner and Hyperborea, Mu and Cosmic Manu
An introduction to this topic is required because of its scope in the underground white nationalist and digital esoteric communities. The ideas of Steiner and other abominable esoteric racists are contained in completed online libraries that share books teaching a coherent racist worldview. (Screen Caps provided as not to link to said sources).
So What is Hyperborea?
Nazi’s adopted this mythological land as the imaginary Aryan birthplace via esoteric writings in the early 20th century. Steiner, the Theosophists and many more spoke about it as an Aryan promise land which places like: Atlantis, Hyperborea, Lumeria, Mu etc, become synonyms:
This is reiterated by Miguel Serrano, the famous Esoteric Hitlerist in his own way:
This idea permeates esoteric racist circles so much that they name their Worldview after Hyperborea. Provided are evidences of their worldview through book lists. (Note the black sun symbol behind the head of Miguel Serrano in the below picture, this motif resurfaces often)
Racist Esoteric Data Dumps (Libraries)
Varied resources show how symbolism and myth popularized by the esoteric racist community permeates wider culture. The term Hyperborea has become a dog whistle, but something that is also in video games and comic culture, so context becomes important.
Please note the overlap of Vedic tradition with Fascism just as many have claimed the Yuga team drew from for their narrative mythology - This idea is not at all conspiratorial. In fact, esoteric fascist and occult pagan topics are normative in the White nationalist and dissident objector online discourse.
Hyperborean Symbolism
The Hyperborean myth isn’t only connected to racism, but has been overtaken by people who enjoy alternate occult/mysterious histories and esoteric fascism/neo nazism. Following is the ADL showing that the black sun symbol which is also a symbol of hyperborea is alike categorized as hateful.
And from a simple Google search a mix of mythology and gamer banners and real neo fascist images arise:
From the hyperborean meme page one learns its pop cultural applications (white nationalism/esoteric nazism is openly stated):
According to Encyclopedia.com (to provide a impartial resource)
“Lemuria and Mu are sometimes distinct and sometimes interchangeable names for a legendary lost continent, which, according to its proponents, existed in the Caribbean Ocean and had many of the attributes associated with Atlantis. The mysterious lost lands of Lemuria and Mu were conceived of during the nineteenth century, when the theory of evolution was introduced and was among the advances in the sciences that challenged conventional ways of understanding life. Archaeological discoveries among the ruins of the Egyptians, Mayans, and other societies were forcing new interpretations of history, and radical forms of mysticism, such as Theosophy, were becoming popular." 9
Mu
The land of Mu is important because in Yuga Labs Otherside universe their map incorporates this mythical continent’s twin at the centre of its geography. The Otherside land masses are surrounded by a 12 spoke wheel similar to what has been shown in the black sun motif, but which could also on its face be linked to astrology.
Theosophists spoke of Mu, and these ideas informed Steiner also 10 this is alike where a theory of root races was flushed out. 11 Below explains where the ape-man distinction could have originated.
Possible secondary astrological influence:
The Otherside Map Explained
In the Otherside, we find a 12 segmented sunburst with a clockwise turning set of stars beneath, which to the well initiated in these racist texts would resemble the Back Sun’s spinning behind the land mass (think the earlier picture of Serrano). Why the stars turn clockwise is an interesting creative decision if/when having no unique significance (Note: I am aware that upon page load this universe spins into being, but said spin remains a unique feature). In the centre of this world, instead of a whirlpool like the Hyperborean maps have, and opposed to a four sectioned circular land mass, we’re given instead land with 2 halves, and at its centre is what looks identical to the Mu continent. The resemblances speak when unbiasdly permitted.
Esoteric additions:
At dead centre of Mu’s twin land mass sits the Yacht club, but what must be noted is that its card when selected shows what resembles a human head with sunbeams radiating from behind it, this could be a symbol of enlightenment from Buddhism, or worse. Regardless, all such ideas belong to the esoteric worldviews’ already strongly established, this only further strengthening this maps arguable interpretation.
Also from the Otherside’s website, a page which now seems to be no longer available:
In the Esoteric Hitlerist Miguel Serrano’s 12 writings, which the Twitter account by the name of Scout amply shares, and which BAYC co-founder Wylie Aronow (Gordon Goner) followed and interacted with, Serrano also mentions Mu and Manu. See one of other examples of the mutual account interaction here:
Here is a library of Wylie Aronow’s resurfaced tweets. Example of the Scout account sharing Miguel Serrano’s works which occurs incessantly:
In the above tweet we see this account mentioning Robert Sepehr, well, it turns out that Sepehr is also a white nationalist esotericist with interests in Mu:
A figure named Manu begins to enter the story here. One of Miguel Serrano’s books mentioning both Manu and Mu from archive is viewed below. Note the topics section, this stuff is common knowledge:
From within this book is one of many mentions of Mu and Manu. According to Serrano, Hitler is a spiritual incarnation of Manu (dense and rambling text below I know):
To explain what the above means, an important text on this topic titled Occultism in a Global perspective explains,
"Manú means the restoration of the man of the god Wotan, the holder of the sword Excalibur, the man of the Führer, and the reintegration of primordial man and woman, which Serrano terms “Elella”, and/or “Ellael” (ibid.: 195). He inaugurates a new kalpa, yuga or manvantara, that is, a new cycle of time. And at the centre of this set of temporal mysteries is “the lost continent of Mu, a part of Lemuria, submerged in the Pacific Ocean” (ibid.: 197). Mu is linked to Serrano’s native Chile, which is seen as “the ultimate refuge of the initiation of the Manu-Tara”, “refuge of esoteric Hitlerism” (ibid.)." (p.127) 13 (Bold mine)
In more than one lectures Steiner also speaks about the Manu as a group of ancient people connected to Aryan enlightenment and Atlantis/Mu etc:
So, Is all of the above just coincidence or conspiracy? Both to those who deny the existence of Google.
What people need to realize is that thousands of twitter accounts share the same esoteric racist ideas openly, just look at all of the followers on this Julius Evola account, go see who they are and look at their content. You will be shocked.
Greg Solano is also a fan of other authors who speak of Hitler in an indifferent or approving way
Greg Solano mentions an affinity for two authors on his blog often, Murakami and Karl Ove Knausgård. In one of Murakami’s books which Greg being a super fan likely read this occurs:
“The narrator of Murakami’s first two novels is a nameless would-be writer whose main literary influence is someone named Derek Hartfield. Supposedly a contemporary of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Hartfield was a massively prolific failure who produced reams of futile sub-literature, “sterile in the full sense of the word,” and then committed suicide by jumping off the Empire State Building, “clutching a portrait of Adolf Hitler in his right hand and an open umbrella in his left.”” 14 (Bold mine)
Murakami is a world recognized author who isn’t himself a racist, but his political views seem sympathetic towards radical individualism, and my point here is only to show that Greg holds interests in writers who mention Hitler and or Nazism, Mr. Solano is doubtlessly a fan of this unusual topic.
The next, Karl Ove Knausgård is also renown, and he wrote a book series titled My Struggle echoing Hitlers Mein Kampf. This book is mentioned in Greg’s blog while one of his friends reads it, but he also shows this “controversial” author as being one he often reads.
Mentions from Greg’s blog:
Greg notes being onto Knausgaard and reading A Wild Sheep. 21 Aug 2015 in a post titled "Overwhelm".
In "Money", 09 January 2016, he mentions reading Murakami's 1Q84.
He also mentions reading Murakami in "Moving", 17 February 2016.
In a post titled "Winter / Ty Segall / Killing Commendatore", 14 November 2018, he writes, "Karl Ove? Mainly about Shame. Murakami? No Shame. And thus the unique literary work that is readable, digestable, bingeable..." (sic)
These posts are not exhaustive...
Lastly, even one of the musical artists Greg writes about listening to named John Fahey has a famous song where he uses a Hitler speech in the background (starting 2:48).
In a post titled "Manicomio" from 15 Mach 2020, Greg Solano mentions listening to John Fahey, "and soaking in Raymond Depardon's photo book Manicomio, which features photographs of various psychiatric institutions and asylums in Italy in the late 70s".
So with this fascination of unusual and problematic subjects being substantiated, the defence of conspiracy theory becomes no longer tenable.
Conclusion
What we find here is Greg Solano had knowledge of Rudolph Steiner who was an esotericist and racially bigoted occultist.
Greg had a friend who collected Steiner texts and listened to his lectures, he also worked on farms inspired by Steiner practising biodynamic agriculture (which has an attached social culture).
Steiner speaks of Yuga cycles, and Mu, Hyperborea and a person called Manu which Serrano, who is an esoteric Hitlerist, also does (Manu is Hitler reincarnate and his spiritual land is Mu). Mu as a mythical land shows up in the Otherside unambiguously (the original art of Mu is this shape).
Greg has interests in artists or authors who use Hitler as a theme in their works.
BAYC is attached to esoteric racist themes in order to appeal to the underground internet culture as a form of jest, dog whistle, mockery, mass appeal and or a mixture of the above.
https://www.inverse.com/input/features/bored-ape-yacht-club-greg-solano-wylie-aronow-profile?utm_campaign=input&utm_content=1659530466&utm_medium=owned&utm_source=twitter
https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/02/09/setting-the-record-straight/
https://medium.com/@team_69582/a-letter-from-the-founders-678e5a3431e7
https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=hist_fac
https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1078&context=hist_fac
https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/17662/Staudenmaier%2C%20Peter.pdf
https://social-ecology.org/wp/2009/01/the-art-of-avoiding-history-2/
http://transfert.meybeck.net/bd/cosmobacchus/docs/BetweenOccultismAndNazism.pdf
https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/lemuria-and-mu
https://theosophy.wiki/en/Lemuria
https://brill.com/view/journals/gnos/3/1/article-p84_84.xml
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/occultism-in-a-global-perspective/savitri-devi-miguel-serrano-and-the-global-phenomenon-of-esoteric-hitlerism/FA5A25553E361411F513A46ACB6E15A3
https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/18/3/111/70845/Occultism-in-a-Global-Perspective?redirectedFrom=PDF
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/27/murakami-in-the-making-how-his-early-novels-shaped-the-author