Latest / Random Heathen Ramblings / Discovering Animism Through Norse Paganism [RHR S6, EP43]

Transcript

Discovering Animism Through Norse Paganism [RHR S6, EP43] · Random Heathen Ramblings

0:01
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Random Heathen Ramblings
0:03
podcast where we discuss all sorts of things Germanic
0:07
Heathenry related. My name is Jesse and I am your
0:10
host. Let's get into it.
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The Olivet Here workshop is dedicated to the Old Ways,
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offering a wide selection of animist ritual supplies,
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divination tools, altered goods and home decor, including
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premium reindeer hides imported from traditional herders in
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Northern Finland. Whether you're just starting
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your spiritual journey or looking to expand your
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1:00
Visit ouronlinestore@theallofeightyear.com
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and discover the beauty of Mountain Spirit.
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Good afternoon, good morning, good day, good evening.
1:13
Hello to all of you fine folk out here tuning into the random
1:17
in the Remnants podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in.
1:20
Hope you're having a great day or great night and just a great
1:25
just a great existence, great life.
1:26
Hope you're being blessed by the gods and by your ancestors.
1:30
And yeah, just genuinely appreciate you all for being
1:34
here. I'm grateful for the audience
1:36
that continues to support the work that I do here.
1:39
Whether you're just listening on, you know, whatever streaming
1:43
platform you, you pick this up from or if you're, you know,
1:47
over here on Patreon watching, I definitely appreciate that
1:51
support. So for those of you that are
1:53
listening and then don't know, maybe it's your first time,
1:57
remember that I do these video versions of the show on Patreon
2:01
alone. You might catch a a clip or a
2:05
highlight that gets shared free to the public.
2:09
But to watch the full versions of these videos, it is a $1.00
2:13
pledge just to become that Carl Tier supporter.
2:16
It's not a lot of, you know, financial commitment on your
2:21
part, but it does definitely help contribute to what I do
2:26
here. So it's a big gesture, even
2:30
though it might not seem like a lot.
2:32
There are other tiers of support that I'm still working through.
2:34
I know for those of you that do watch this show that have
2:39
pledged at a higher tier, you know, basically the Chieftain
2:43
and above. I'm I'm way behind on one of the
2:48
perks that come with that. The the the monthly rune polls.
2:53
Life's been crazy on my side. And I know I'm not trying to
2:56
make an excuse out of it, but I'm, I'm re evaluating how I
3:02
bring value to you folks that pledge your hard earned money to
3:07
receive these perks. So stay tuned as I work through
3:10
that to figure out the best way to bring you the most value.
3:14
But again, at the very least, you know that $1.00 pledge is,
3:16
is a great way to show your support and you get to see the
3:20
guests that I have on this show. We're not going to be featuring
3:24
a guest this week normally like in the past, at least I have
3:31
reserved the last Monday of the month, which is when I'm
3:36
recording this episode. I've I've historically reserved
3:40
the last Monday of the month for a while now to do a live
3:43
broadcast like on Facebook and YouTube and I haven't quite
3:51
gotten the set up like I want to feel comfortable enough with
3:56
streaming to Patreon. Doing a live broadcast on
3:59
Patreon. Very likely one of if not the
4:06
last episode of season 6 will be a live broadcast that I stream
4:10
here on Patreon and I will make a an advanced notice about that
4:17
and that will be you know, to to watch that in full, you'll want
4:20
to be joined at the at the Carl tier.
4:22
So I'm letting you know basically a month in advance
4:25
now, if you're listening to this, please, if you want to
4:28
watch a live stream like I used to do on Facebook or YouTube and
4:34
you want to interact live with myself and anybody else that's
4:38
coming onto the show, stay tuned for an announcement to come on
4:42
my Patreon about the details of that.
4:45
So I'm still working through that, figuring all that out and
4:52
winding down. Yeah.
4:53
You know, there's not a whole lot left to Season 6.
4:57
We've only got about, you know, about four or so more episodes
5:03
before we kind of tie this one off.
5:07
And it has been a wild ride and got a couple of guests lined up
5:10
in Season 7 already, But we'll see how it goes in in the next
5:16
season. So anyway, before I get into
5:20
just the topic that I wanted to talk about today, I wanted to
5:25
kind of talk about something that was on my mind after seeing
5:32
a recent post or comment on a recent post that I made to my.
5:41
Patreon, you know. And it was a video clip that it
5:49
was a video clip that was from the recent episode that I had
5:55
with Chloe Tart. It was a good comment, you know,
6:01
or it was a heartfelt comment from a supporter on Patreon
6:05
that, you know, comes and goes from how I can, how I can see
6:14
comes in different names, you know, pledges, leaves, pledges
6:19
again, leaves. There's a lot of back and forth.
6:23
Not going to call out any names because I don't know if this
6:25
person wants to have that name put out here, but I know who you
6:28
are. We'll just, we'll just go with
6:32
the last moniker. Or the last.
6:37
Screen name that you use and we'll just say mom.
6:39
So Mom, I see you and I saw you and I did respond to the comment
6:45
that has since been removed or deleted.
6:49
And the comment had something along the lines to do with
6:57
considering posting these clips. You know the clips from the show
7:01
that I share publicly on my Patreon to re share those
7:08
basically start putting them back out on.
7:11
The bigger platforms, you know the.
7:13
Facebook and and YouTube, right? And the, the comment was again,
7:20
I, I know it was genuine and I know it was heartfelt and honest
7:23
and I appreciate when anybody in any way platform, whatever, you
7:30
know, wants to share their, their honest thoughts about
7:33
something. I encourage it.
7:37
I want to hear that. I think a healthy conversation
7:41
sometimes includes, you know, debates.
7:44
There's going to be disagreements and there's a
7:48
difference between stuff like that and the banter that comes
7:56
about on these major platforms. So the comment had something to
7:59
do with, you know, I think you should put the stuff back on
8:01
YouTube, at least the clips because I think, and I'm
8:06
paraphrasing because I can't read the comment now since it
8:09
was deleted. But it was something along the
8:10
lines of, you know, I think that you would get more pledgers, you
8:14
know, people that want to pledge their support to you.
8:17
If you did that, nobody's stopping you except you from
8:22
putting your content back out here.
8:24
And I think you should do it because you'll get more people
8:27
coming back over to Patreon that way.
8:31
And again, I, I really am like kind of baffled in a way like
8:34
that this comment was removed because my response to that was,
8:38
I appreciate your honesty. Please understand there are many
8:43
things that you and others don't know about me and what I have
8:48
going on in my life that have led me to withdraw my future
8:53
content to major social media platforms.
8:58
I'm not sorry for removing my presence on the Internet or or
9:01
reducing my presence on the Internet.
9:05
Whether anyone thinks that this quote should be on YouTube does
9:10
not change the fact that I know what I did was right for me.
9:15
People will come here if they want to.
9:18
I don't need or want to lure more people here just to
9:24
increase the amount of pledges that I get.
9:27
That's not, that's not why I do this.
9:32
And you know, I, I, I said briefly a moment ago, you know,
9:37
that there's a difference between having conversations
9:41
that might get debatable, like where there might be a debate
9:44
about stuff when I feel like maybe what this, what this
9:50
supporter, you know, what they said, what mom said.
9:55
And then my response to it may have come across or made the
10:00
person feel uncomfortable, like there was some confrontation
10:04
taking place. And listen, you know, what I do
10:12
on Patreon is nothing different than what I've done elsewhere.
10:14
But I've purposely kept it to Patreon because I feel that the
10:20
people that do come here to this platform that pledge that $1.00
10:25
or more, if they want genuinely want to, you know, they have an
10:30
interest in what I'm saying and not just to be this silent
10:36
listener, right? You can if you want to.
10:38
And if you just want to silently support and, and whatever, then
10:40
of course, that's your prerogative.
10:42
You're, you're free to do as you so choose.
10:44
But that anybody that does come in here to comment about things
10:47
are not the type that are looking to just have banter or
10:52
to troll me. You know, there's a there's a
10:57
stanza in the Hava Mall that I think about with regards to this
11:02
whole like social media and you know, engagement and you know,
11:06
it. It's crazy to realize that in
11:10
order for content creators, people on social media, in order
11:15
for them to increase their reach, in order for them to even
11:21
earn revenue, it's done by engaging in comments sections,
11:28
right? The more comments, the more
11:29
conversation, the more interaction that those comment
11:33
sections get. Obviously, the more reach that
11:36
they get, the more that the algorithm realizes that it's an
11:39
active thing that people get, can get, you know, involved
11:42
with. And that means responding to
11:45
negativity, engaging in negativity and, you know,
11:52
bantering or banding words. So there's a stanza to the Hava
11:57
Mall. It's it's stands at 122 in most
11:59
translations. And you know, around those
12:02
stanzas of the Hava Mall, they're a lot of the stand to
12:05
start with, you know, hearken to me load Fafnir or hear me load
12:09
Fafnir, right. So there's a bunch of whoever
12:10
load Fafnir is being given advice by the poet.
12:15
And the second part of this stanza is to be where thou, this
12:20
is, I think, the Hollander translation.
12:23
But it's, you know, beware thou of bandying words with an unwise
12:27
oof. A lot of times it'll say
12:28
something like a, you know, be wary of bandying words with a
12:33
fool. But you know, the, the, the, the
12:36
general consensus is, you know, especially now and today with
12:43
social media, it's easy to get caught up in those useless to
12:52
this arguments, not even debates, because you can have
12:56
all of your facts. You can have, you know, you can
13:02
be in the right and people would just come on there to argue, you
13:05
know, I mean, I, I, you know, even when you're just having fun
13:07
or, or, or maybe not being too serious, you know, people,
13:11
people come on there just to, just to push a button, right,
13:13
just to get a reaction. And I'm sorry, but that's just
13:16
not how I want to spend my time. You know, the last guest that I
13:22
had on the show, the guest that a clip of that show that I
13:25
shared where mom put the comment in that got deleted and I
13:29
responded to, but my response is still there was with a Pagan or
13:36
a heathen who has a, you know, an outlook on the world and an
13:43
approach of of how they live their life is.
13:46
Is pretty non traditional, you know, and they they're a
13:48
transgender person. And I don't know, like I, I see
13:52
the kind of hate that people dish out and that people have to
13:56
be subject to by being or having any sort of online presence.
14:02
And I just don't want to contribute to that negativity.
14:05
I don't want to be in a position to have to deal with it.
14:13
It's better for my mental health.
14:14
It's better for the work that I'm doing to keep that out of my
14:18
life. And by posting anything to, you
14:22
know, YouTube or to Facebook, right?
14:24
There might be people that like it.
14:26
And then there's always going to be those people that come in and
14:29
have some snide ass comment that they want to make to just, you
14:33
know, rile somebody up. So, you know, it's different
14:38
when we have, you know, stuff that I'm sharing and people have
14:42
a thought and they want to say, you know what actually, what I
14:44
think is this, or I think what you're where you're coming from
14:47
might be, you know, uneducated or you might be wrong.
14:50
I'm the listen. I will, I will take that on
14:54
Patreon and and happily engage with with constructive
15:00
conversation through the comments.
15:05
I'm not here. This isn't just an echo chamber.
15:08
You know, I had people say that before when I was still on
15:11
Facebook and I was posting in, you know, posting on my wall and
15:15
there were comments coming through where people were like,
15:18
you know, you always shut people down or you, you ban people for
15:22
having a differing opinion. I'm like, no, that's not true
15:26
either. I've, I've banned people from my
15:28
page for coming in there and trolling and just being
15:31
negative. Like, I'm sorry, I'm not, you
15:32
know, this is not the place for that.
15:34
It's, it's my profile. It's it's, you know, how I
15:38
choose to manage and, you know, lead that space, right?
15:46
It, it, it's I feel a responsibility to maintain a, a
15:51
safe space in, in, in what I do and how I do it.
15:55
And it's clearly just a wide. Open forum on most of these
16:00
major platforms, there's no moderation really.
16:02
That can be done. And then when I moderate, I'm
16:04
looked at as, you know, you just want to hear yourself talk.
16:07
You don't want to actually have conversations.
16:09
And I'm like, Nah, dude, that's not, that's not what this is
16:12
about. So for anybody that that listens
16:15
or maybe saw any of that or, or thinks, you know, you know,
16:18
Jesse's not posting on social media because he's afraid to get
16:21
into hot topics and he doesn't want to, you know, debate with
16:27
people. Come over to Patreon, you know,
16:30
it's a dollar. What do you got?
16:31
We got to lose. You can come in here.
16:32
You can post a comment on every video that you so choose if you
16:37
want to, if you have something to educate with, you know, if
16:41
you have something to, to, to, to spark some thinking on, I
16:46
want to hear it. What I don't want is I don't
16:48
want people that are just looking to pick a fight, looking
16:50
to have an argument just because they want to get the attention.
16:55
You know, now, you know, if you come in and you do something
16:58
like that in my Patreon and, and you pay the dollar, then, hey,
17:01
you know, joke's on you, 'cause you just help support me by
17:06
coming in here to, to troll me. That that's that's really dumb.
17:10
But that's not what this place is for, you know, And even here
17:12
on on some of the audio platforms, I know Spotify has
17:15
comments sections too. So I can't, I mean, I could turn
17:20
that off, but I'm not. I'm leaving that open too for
17:22
people. That have thoughts if they don't
17:23
want to come to Patreon and they want to share their thoughts
17:26
anyway there you go you know find me on Spotify I don't know
17:30
if apple podcasts or any of the other streaming sites that do
17:33
the audio stuff if they because. I think I'm on like Apple Music
17:37
and. A couple others maybe, but I
17:40
know for sure like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, Spotify I
17:46
know for sure has the comment section.
17:47
So if you want to leave a comment, you want to spark a
17:50
conversation through that platform, go right ahead.
17:53
You don't have to play, you know, pay the the $1.00 pledge
17:57
to come over here on Patreon and do it.
18:00
But this is what I want. You know, This is why I did what
18:03
I did and I know I'm not sorry for doing it and I'm not, not,
18:10
not at this time, not, not, not in the foreseeable future.
18:12
I can't see any reason why I would go back to posting to
18:17
YouTube and Facebook with what I do on the podcast.
18:22
You know, I'm I'm not, I'm not willing to compromise my my
18:27
honor and I'm not willing to become just some schmuck on the
18:33
Internet that. Banters with fools just to stay
18:38
relevant. I, you know, no, I've, I've,
18:41
I've put myself out there for enough years for people to know
18:45
all. Right if you.
18:47
Heard of Midgard musings, Random even ramblings?
18:50
All you got to do is just do a quick search on the Internet.
18:52
You'll find what pages or platforms there are that are
18:55
active and you'll know that. As far as the podcast goes.
19:01
Audio or video? Video on Patreon only.
19:06
Come over here and support if you want.
19:08
If not, that's OK. Nobody's making you do it, all
19:12
right? So anyway, that's not what the
19:14
topic of the episode was about today.
19:16
It was just something that I wanted to address because I
19:20
don't want people to come on here on Patreon, you know?
19:24
This is a this is this is the place where I know people that
19:26
support what I do and that I'm genuinely supported by should
19:30
come and feel comfortable enough to say what's on their mind.
19:34
I'm not going to silence you. I'm not going to censor what
19:36
you're saying. I'm not going to, you know,
19:39
argue with you if you say something that's on your heart.
19:43
I genuinely appreciate that. And I'm glad that you say what
19:47
you say. And I, you know, I'm kind of sad
19:50
in a way, or, you know, like, disappointed when people post
19:56
something, they have it in their heart to say something and then
19:59
they redact it. It's like stay, stand on your
20:02
business, stand in your convictions with what you're
20:04
saying, you know? Just because I have a.
20:08
Response to it that maybe doesn't agree with what you're
20:11
saying or points out another perspective isn't me saying shut
20:16
up, don't say anything. It's saying, hey, listen, I
20:18
appreciate what you're saying. Here's some other things that
20:21
you may not realize or may not know of as to why and, and why I
20:24
know it's, it's the right thing for me.
20:27
You know, there's some people who I, who I know and I'm very
20:30
dear and close with who do stuff like that.
20:34
You know, they might send me a message and then they'll, you
20:36
know, remove it. They'll, they'll like, they'll
20:40
unsend it, you know, and I'm like, what is that?
20:43
You know, unless they sent it to the wrong person, you know,
20:47
unless it's like, I meant to send it to Bob and I sent it to
20:49
Jim, you know? Then I'll be, hey, you know, I
20:52
unsent that because it wasn't meant for you or I didn't, you
20:55
know, I typed in the wrong thing in chat to the wrong person,
20:59
right? Thinking it was somebody else.
21:01
But I've seen it a lot where people will say something or
21:06
send something that was meant for me and then because I don't
21:11
know. I either didn't respond in time
21:14
or I didn't respond in the way that they were thinking or.
21:17
I didn't respond at all right away because I might have been
21:19
busy or whatever. They're like, they'll redact it.
21:21
They'll then send it. I'm like, why'd you do that?
21:25
Right? Stand in your convictions and,
21:28
and stand by what you say. If you are saying it from a from
21:33
a place of genuineness, it's worth giving that space to you
21:39
know, and be ready for what comes as a result, you know?
21:47
But you know, I'm not here to preach to people, aren't here to
21:50
make people do something that they don't want to do.
21:52
I mean, y'all are free. Everybody can do what they want
21:54
to on the Internet. It's it's however you want to
21:56
conduct yourselves If you want to remove something after
22:00
sending it, don't you know? Just 'cause I said something
22:03
doesn't mean that you should stop.
22:05
It's you're your own. Person and you know you have
22:09
your own agency so do what you want do as thou wilt OK, and
22:16
that's all I'm going to say about that so thanks for letting
22:18
me ramble on about that nonsense OK topic for this week just
22:29
something that I, you know had a recent conversation with a
22:33
brother of mine about is you know life is like I said before
22:39
life has been such a. A wild thing here recently, I'm
22:42
not going to go into specifics as to what I have in, you know,
22:46
dealing with and what's been going on.
22:49
Some of you that listen to this or watch this, you know, one in
22:53
particular, I know 'cause this is going to be a conversation
22:56
or, or kind of like recalling a conversation that he had.
22:59
I know he he'll see this. You know, he knows a bit about
23:04
what's going on and other people do too.
23:06
You know, again, some of you that watch and listen to this
23:09
show are my. Are a part of my inner yard, you
23:11
know that, or at least a, a, a faction of that.
23:14
You know, you're, you're brothers to me.
23:15
You're akin to me. And I share certain things with
23:19
you about what's going on in my life.
23:21
And it's a tough time. A lot of tough things going on
23:25
emotionally, spiritually. And I know I'm not the only one,
23:29
right. I know that there's plenty of
23:31
people out here that are going through things themselves.
23:36
So as a result, you know what can happen is sometimes we as
23:43
people will shift our focuses right to to to places and with
23:51
to to people who need our attention, where our attention
23:55
is most required and when doing so.
23:59
That can pull our attention away from other places that has been.
24:06
Getting the attention more frequently, right?
24:08
So what that might look like is, you know, because I don't talk
24:12
to somebody as much as I used to, it might seem like I'm not
24:23
not interested in you anymore or I'm not giving you attention
24:27
like I used to give you. And it, you know, without
24:29
knowing the specifics of things going on in a person's life, you
24:33
know, it can be taken personally.
24:37
And so anyway, we were talking and this this brother of mine
24:44
and and I just last night, so the day before this recording.
24:51
And he's like, you know, it's so good to, to talk to you again
24:54
and to see you again because I feel like it's been forever.
24:58
And I was like, yeah, man, you know, I, I get that.
24:59
And I you know. I've just, I had to, I have to
25:03
continue it. This isn't just like it's, it's
25:05
over now. Like things are still going on
25:06
that I, you know, I had free time.
25:09
I had a moment where I could give him that that that space
25:13
and it was good for the both of us.
25:15
To have it. But I was also just like, yeah,
25:18
man, you know, it's. And then I explained to him some
25:21
of the things that are going on and he understands.
25:24
And one of the things that came up in that in our conversation.
25:28
Was his own. Awareness of things and his
25:33
connection with things and how he's growing as an individual,
25:38
growing as a person and it's beautiful to to talk with
25:43
somebody who wants to share that growth with you.
25:46
You know to to have a friend, to have somebody that is, you know,
25:54
you're confidant, you're. You're.
25:56
It's like they're like kin to you.
25:57
You know somebody you can trust. And whether they are part of
26:02
your journey physically or by proxy, you know, or just from a
26:06
distance, whatever being a part of that.
26:11
Person's journey or them being a part of your journey, you know,
26:13
it's, it's a, it's a beautiful experience.
26:17
So he was telling me more about his growth and then and how he
26:22
is, you know, identifying more these days.
26:27
And and one of the things that he said during our conversation
26:30
was, you know, along the lines of I have to be, I have to be
26:34
real. I have to be sincere, genuine.
26:37
I have to be true. And, you know, he's he's he's
26:41
not really subscribing to the title or the label of Norris
26:46
Pagan anymore. He does still, you know, admire
26:51
or, you know, give give place and and honor to the gods of of
26:58
the Norse, you know, Thor and Odin and Freya and and all them
27:04
tear, of course and and all that, but his his he doesn't
27:09
really feel like the term or the title Norse Pagan fits him.
27:18
And he said that if he had to give what he feels and what he
27:22
believes in. A label or a title or, you know,
27:26
an identity, he said. The the the best thing that I
27:31
can come up with is animist. I'm an animist.
27:37
And you know, to to hear somebody again, kind of a.
27:41
Come to a realization or come to a point in their life where they
27:44
are not worried about a title they're not worried about, a
27:48
label they're not worried about. An identity like that is
27:51
popular, right? Or just they're they're they're
27:54
they're finding more the of the genuine truth of something.
27:58
And, and they don't care about the specific title, But what
28:01
they give a title to what they, what they do identify with is
28:06
something that encompasses the Norse Pagan belief or the
28:10
Germanic heathen belief or any, any Pagan path really, is that
28:16
we are all animists, You know, I mean, I think I, I really
28:22
believe, like, even if you start off as not understanding what
28:26
that means, if you are invested in learning and, and finding
28:33
what it is about these respective paths, that why does
28:37
it call to you? Why does it interest you so
28:40
much? Why are you so?
28:41
Why do you feel so? Fulfilled when you give it the
28:44
attention that you do. When you Start learning, you
28:47
start studying, you start giving.
28:49
Space and and spending time and and actually living in ways that
28:54
reflect the belief you become aware that yeah, these people
29:02
that these beliefs come from this culture or the OR these
29:06
cultures where these beliefs. Come from and originate from.
29:10
Didn't call themselves anything. They didn't have a name for what
29:12
they were. They were just people who
29:15
believed in what they believed in.
29:16
And what they believed in was the relationship that they
29:21
shared with the land and every living thing that is seen and
29:27
unseen. And that everything does have
29:29
spirit. That's what animism is that
29:32
everything around you has spirit, that there's, you know,
29:35
the spirit and not just the living moving like the things
29:38
that are moving, right. The birds and, and the, the, the
29:41
animals and the fish and but the, the, the things that are
29:45
still right. The earth herself and the trees
29:49
that spring from her and the rocks that stand timeless and
29:53
aged. The water from the rivers and
29:56
the lakes and the streams and the rain and the snow and the
29:59
wind and all of these things is, is has spirit and recognizing
30:05
that and, and connecting with that and sharing our existence,
30:12
knowing that they are, you know, it is as alive as you and I just
30:16
in a different way or different form, takes on a different form.
30:20
That's animism and every culture has that.
30:25
So for somebody like him to again be like, you know, it's
30:30
not that I'm abandoning the gods or I don't feel like they're
30:33
important. It's, it's just that the, you
30:35
know, the title doesn't really seem to fit me.
30:38
And I just, you know, I feel so at home.
30:40
I feel so at peace. I feel so connected when I'm in
30:43
nature, when I'm on the trail, when I'm hiking, when I'm
30:46
camping outside, when I'm, you know, doing those things and,
30:52
and living in that way. And, you know, I just thought
30:56
that that's a really, and I think a lot of people are
31:03
arriving at that realization as well, not just him 'cause we do
31:08
see, or I at least I do see a lot more focus being put by
31:15
people on beliefs that are sending around an animistic view
31:22
of the world, You know, so non traditional spirituality, you
31:28
know, the, the, the Pagan and beliefs of, of, of a region.
31:31
And I also. Think that that has to do with
31:37
people feeling disconnected. From these commercial religions,
31:44
from these big churches and, and from, you know, the popular
31:50
Christianity and maybe Islam too.
31:53
I don't really know a lot of people that are let not, as you
31:56
know, that feel disconnected in Islam.
31:58
But I know for sure Christianity is a big one.
32:01
You know, where people are brought up and raised in, in
32:03
that faith and they're, they're, they're, they're at a point and
32:07
they're realizing, you know, that this doesn't really make
32:09
sense to me and they're questioning that and that that
32:13
doesn't go over well in most Christian faiths, you know, to,
32:17
to question, quote UN quote, God, right, to question that,
32:20
that authority. That doesn't go over well.
32:25
So, but they're, but they're doing it anyway and they're
32:29
finding home. They're finding that place of,
32:33
of, of, of peace of comfort within Pagan beliefs.
32:41
And maybe it starts off as, you know, they like the aesthetic of
32:47
it or they like being out in nature And they, they, maybe
32:49
they partook of a, of a ceremony or a ritual with another group
32:54
that really spoke to their spirit or it said something to
32:57
them deep within that they couldn't quite put their finger
33:00
on, but they wanted to explore it more.
33:03
Or maybe they start to realize that, you know, there's there's
33:06
something that is calling to me from within my own self, right?
33:10
Like there's this call from this deep down in this well, right,
33:15
something ancestral that is wanting to be awakened.
33:24
And yeah, I think that there's there's a good bit of that
33:29
happening. You know, I think that there's a
33:31
good bit of people arriving at a place of I'm, I'm, I'm breaking
33:39
this cycle of just going to church every Sunday because my
33:42
mom and dad did and their mom and dad did and grandma and
33:45
grandpa did and great grandma and great grandpa did, right.
33:48
And just doing this rinse and repeat cycle.
33:53
They're reaching a point, they're at a point where maybe
33:56
generationally they're they're, they're realizing now there's
33:59
there's something more to this and I don't need to just
34:02
arbitrarily run through the game.
34:05
Without thought, you know, that's that's really.
34:11
I think a lot of also what what's happening is they're
34:14
coming to that point of I need to break the chains.
34:17
I need to break the cycle. That's that's definitely one
34:22
thing that I hit, you know, over a decade ago where I was unsure
34:29
and, and not, not really, I was lost and I know where to go.
34:35
I didn't know what to do because I tried several different things
34:40
of the Christian variety because I thought that, well, I got to
34:44
do that. That's what I was raised in, or
34:45
at least a version of that. And I also was in AI was a much
34:52
different person back then. You know, I was, I was more, I
34:59
still had that desire to. Not disappoint people, you know,
35:06
I, I was at that place in my life, whereas was wanting to,
35:13
you know, claim that I'm doing, you know, I'm not doing this for
35:17
you, I'm doing this for me, right?
35:19
But deep down I was like, I, I want them to be happy with me.
35:22
I want them to be proud of me. I want them to be pleased with
35:25
me. I want them to, you know, so I
35:28
was doing it for them. And then once I hit that place,
35:34
I'm like, I'm not feeling anything by doing this.
35:37
I might as well just, you know, I guess I'll just give up.
35:42
I guess there really is nothing. I'll just live my own life,
35:44
right? Do my own thing.
35:45
And it was, it was an aimless feeling, you know, I felt lost
35:49
and, and when I finally did learn that there was something
35:56
else that I could learn about and discover that was ancestral
36:00
to me, you know, going farther and far enough back.
36:09
And I gave the space to that and I started learning and I became
36:12
present in that it, it, it was rewarding.
36:17
It was fulfilling. It was giving me a sense of
36:20
belonging where I belonged, not belonging somewhere outside of,
36:27
you know, a tradition or a custom or a way that did not
36:31
align with who I came from, where I came from my.
36:36
Origins, if you will. Right, and can and reconnecting
36:41
and finding connections back to my culture.
36:46
So, you know, I've, I've, I've, I've had people on this show
36:50
that are really deep in into cultural, reclaiming cultural
36:56
ways, you know, and not appropriating cultures that are
37:00
not theirs, but finding ways to connect with their culture that
37:05
is, is through other methods, right?
37:09
And, and using them as tools to connect to your, your cultural
37:13
ways. And yeah, it's like, you know,
37:18
so with, like with, with my friend, with my brother, you
37:20
know, I said, you know, if it doesn't speak to you, if it
37:23
doesn't, you know, don't. There's no shame in that, right?
37:27
Because I've seen and I've been around other near and dear
37:30
friends and brothers who have, you know, started off at one
37:36
point in time with, you know, that identity as, as I'm Norse
37:39
Pagan, OK, you know, and they, and they adopted an aesthetic or
37:44
they, they really got into the, the spirituality and the myths
37:51
and, and the various aspects of it.
37:54
And then they really started not feeling like it was doing
37:58
anything for them. You know, maybe it was a slight
38:01
crisis of faith that they were experiencing, but then they, you
38:05
know, start exploring other ways of doing things, you know,
38:08
whether it be, you know, Buddhism, which isn't really a
38:11
religion. It's more of a philosophy, as I
38:13
understand it, But, and there's so many different variants of,
38:17
of Buddhism, but you know, that. And then, oh, you know, I'm
38:20
actually, you know, Scotch Gaelic or whatever.
38:24
And they start looking into the, the, the, the, the cultures of,
38:28
of those people, their ancestors, and they Start
38:30
learning about the spirituality that their ancestors had.
38:34
Not necessarily the, the far north, but you know, that, that
38:38
continent side of the, you know, the Scotch Gaelic or Irish
38:42
Gaelic or whatever the case may be, right, Druidry, and then
38:46
some of those paths and practices and they're becoming
38:50
aware of that and they're learning more about that.
38:52
So there's this, you know, discovery is a beautiful thing.
38:55
I was telling my friend, you know, again, there's no shame in
38:59
discovery because what discovery entails and what discovery, what
39:03
what is included in discovery is sometimes you find the things
39:07
that you need. They they are tools, they are
39:13
resources that you were looking for that you can use.
39:17
And then the other and another aspect of discovery is, is you
39:20
realize, wow, this thing that I found doesn't really, I don't
39:24
have any use for it doesn't apply to me.
39:27
I don't need this. You know, not everything that
39:29
you pick up is going to be something that you carry with
39:31
you, at least for the long term. Might be something that you use
39:35
briefly, might be something that's again, a tool to help
39:38
build or, or formulate or, you know, cultivate something.
39:47
But then once that tool has served its purpose, it's there's
39:51
no sense in carrying it with you.
39:53
Or again, like I said, sometimes that discovery is you find
39:55
something and you go, huh, cool. Then you put it back down.
39:58
Doesn't. Serve a purpose so there's no
40:02
shame in any of. It, you know, so shame in
40:06
reaching a point of your path or of your journey, of your
40:09
discovery where you go. This isn't for me.
40:14
This doesn't serve a purpose for me anymore.
40:17
It might have at one point, or maybe I was just trying to
40:20
figure things out, but ultimately I just, I don't feel
40:23
any, I'm not getting anything from this.
40:26
You don't, you know it's not. Expected or required of you to.
40:29
Just because you think it's cool, just because you like it,
40:31
just because your friends are doing it right, you should be.
40:35
Genuine to your to yourself and that you know, once again, I
40:41
realized that like once you are genuine to yourself, once you
40:43
are genuine to your true self, right?
40:47
Not trying to please others, not trying to do things just for the
40:49
sake of making others happy and really getting and really
40:56
believing that. You'll become more fulfilled by
41:01
your path and then whatever that.
41:04
Direction takes you. So yes, this is a heathen
41:08
podcast and I talk about things that are, you know, dramatic
41:13
heathenry related or Norse heathen or Norse Pagan, right?
41:16
I got a lot of guests that come on here that identify or relate
41:18
with that path in life. And then we also have people
41:20
that have come on here and I talked about plenty other things
41:23
who are not that they don't identify as such.
41:26
They don't pick up and and carry that label with them.
41:32
That doesn't take away from them being wonderful people with a
41:35
lot of wisdom and a lot of good things to share.
41:39
You know, I mean, just go back through this season alone and
41:41
you'll see dozens of examples of that.
41:46
You know, so it was a, it was a thing that I wanted to share
41:54
here just on this, on this solo episode that in case, you know,
41:58
other people are out here and there may be feeling like, you
42:02
know, I got into Norse paganism back when it was, you know, the
42:05
Vikings and on on The History Channel or whatever.
42:08
And I, you know, I went to a couple of public events.
42:10
I went to a couple bloats, you know, I did a couple rituals and
42:14
I'm just, you know, I'm not really feeling it.
42:18
Give space to that. Sit with that.
42:20
Why aren't you feeling it right? Or what is it that you are
42:24
feeling that is calling for you to give it attention, right?
42:30
If it's not this thing, what is it?
42:35
And the only way that I feel we can come to that understanding
42:43
is by being quiet and listening, especially in nature, right?
42:50
Goes back to the animistic core of of all ancient paths.
42:56
It's it's animism at its core, but just being quiet and sitting
43:04
in stillness and listening. Where is that voice coming from?
43:09
It's not going to be loud. It's not going to be hey man
43:14
over here. You know it's going to be a
43:18
whisper on the breeze. It's going to be the the soft
43:24
ripples of water over a brook, you know?
43:28
Might be a few small chirps of a bird you know.
43:34
Might be the little rustling of leaves from from squirrels or
43:41
from from other wildlife. It's going to be it's going to
43:48
be for you, but you're only going to be able to hear it if
43:50
you're quiet enough for and and still enough, you know, and then
43:55
it'll be resounding. It'll it'll it you'll know it.
43:59
So if you may be in a place of uncertainty and you're not sure,
44:05
or you just feel like, man, this doesn't what I've been doing.
44:08
I'm not getting anything from it.
44:10
I'm not feel fulfilled in it. And maybe it's time to turn it
44:17
down, dim the lights, go outside, sit in nature and just
44:24
be quiet. Be quiet, close your eyes, quiet
44:29
your mind and just listen. And don't be discouraged if you
44:36
have to do that a number of times.
44:38
Because, you know, we have become so conditioned nowadays
44:45
in this modern society. We've become so conditioned to
44:48
be stimulated all the time. It's always go here, go there,
44:54
do this, do that, run to this per appointment, call this
44:57
person, respond to this test text, check this e-mail and you
45:01
know, answer that DM reply to this post.
45:06
Always, always, always something going on to be stimulated at all
45:11
times. That's not what we were designed
45:14
to be from the beginning. And you know, from from the get
45:17
go or you know, we were designed to go slow, steady, deliberate
45:23
with purpose, pause at times when you're tired, right?
45:27
Give yourself that space, Forrest, not constantly go, go,
45:31
go, go, go 'cause that noise. And then when you do stop, it
45:35
feels foreign, you know. So like I said, what I was
45:38
saying is, is you. Know, don't, don't, don't feel
45:40
discouraged if you take the suggestion and you try it out
45:45
and you don't get this profound response right away.
45:48
Or maybe you feel like once you know, you're sitting there for
45:50
30 seconds. And you start, your mind starts
45:53
racing and you start thinking about all these other things,
45:57
what I could be doing. You know, I got that laundry to
45:59
do on them, clothes to put away. And that was those dishes and
46:02
that dinner. And I forgot to call that person
46:05
back who I said I would talk to. Take it easy, Be OK.
46:17
You don't get it right if you don't get it the first time.
46:19
If it doesn't happen the first time, try again.
46:25
There's no shame in that. You know, the only failure is if
46:29
you give up. So just don't give up.
46:32
You know, take that time that's necessary and know that it's for
46:37
your for for your good. You know, because once you once
46:42
you do find that place of genuineness and once you do
46:46
answer those, those calls that come from deep within, you know,
46:51
when you start connecting in that way, you're enriching
46:55
yourself. And by doing so, you are much
46:59
more capable to to enrich others.
47:04
You know, if you're. If you're so pulled apart.
47:07
At every turn. And if you're on running on
47:10
Steam, running on empty, you're you're you're, you're incapable.
47:19
Of. Being of any use for, for
47:23
anybody else, whether it's a partner or spouse, your friends,
47:27
you know, work, whatever, you got to take care of yourself.
47:33
And, and you're only going to hear those, those voices, those,
47:37
those that conscience that, that ancestral nudge, you know,
47:42
those, they want to be heard. But you got to calm down.
47:46
You got to stop. You got to be quiet.
47:47
You got to be still. And again, it's tough, you know,
47:53
especially if if, you know, you're like me or anybody else
47:56
who's grown up in, you know, this modern era with so many
48:00
things that cause you to be distracted and stimulate you all
48:03
the time. It takes practice, takes work,
48:08
but it's good work and it's meaningful.
48:11
So I hope this episode was. Able to to provide or or share
48:21
with all of you some some insight into, you know, things
48:24
that people are going through that they're feeling that
48:26
they're talking about and maybe they don't come on the show
48:28
where they're at. You know, I know he would.
48:30
He would. He would talk.
48:31
About this but it was so last minute, you know, I didn't know
48:35
that this is what I was going to be talking about I had no idea
48:38
what I was going to be talking about to be honest.
48:40
All I knew was I'm not going live on YouTube.
48:42
I'm not going to have comments to read live and you know, what
48:45
am I going to do and. Lo and behold, a conversation
48:51
that I had became the impetus for this week's discussion.
48:57
You know, a solo rambling, which I appreciate sometimes.
49:01
So, you know, it's always great to have guests on here and have
49:03
conversations, but then sometimes it's nice to just
49:08
monologue it for a bit. So anyway, not going to go for
49:13
much longer because this has been like a, an average one
49:16
person solo show, you know, less than an hour.
49:22
So there you go. I hope it was useful,
49:24
beneficial, hope you liked it and please.
49:27
Right, if you are. Watching this leave a comment
49:31
and don't delete it. I want to read it.
49:33
I want to, you know, I want to hear what other people are
49:36
saying is I appreciate what you have done to to come here and be
49:40
a part of what I'm doing. And I want to hear what you
49:45
think about it. And if you're listening to this
49:48
and you want to do that too, then by all means would love to
49:51
hear your thoughts. And if for whatever reason the
49:53
platform that you're listening to this on does not afford you
49:56
the capability of commenting or leaving any feedback, you've got
50:00
several other ways that you can do so.
50:03
You can write into thepodcastbyemailingmeandthatsmidgardmusingstn@gmail.com
50:10
and you can also leave a voicemail on the hotline,
50:16
615-671-9832. You can just call and leave a
50:23
voicemail. Couple people have done that.
50:26
Well, not really a whole lot of people that you know.
50:28
If you do, your voice will be featured.
50:29
I don't you can remain anonymous.
50:31
You don't have to say your name. You don't want your name to be
50:34
mentioned. Just leave it out of the
50:37
voicemail. But yeah, there's, there's other
50:38
ways that you can connect and and share your feedback and I
50:43
want to hear it. So thank you very much for mom.
50:49
I'll just say mom, right? Thank you for saying what you
50:51
said. I hope that, you know, the
50:54
deleting of your comment or the removing of your comment was not
50:59
done out of, out of any desire to, you know, feeling like you
51:06
were, you're creating an argument because you weren't,
51:10
you know, I, I appreciate the honesty and I appreciate you
51:15
speaking from the heart. And, and that's what I do too.
51:18
I speak from the heart. And if it means we have a
51:22
conversation about it and we disagree, it's.
51:24
It's not going to change things drastically.
51:27
At the end of the day, I'm still going to do what I feel is best
51:29
for me and what I know is best for me because it's the the
51:32
results are showing. I feel a lot better.
51:36
I'm not as stressed I'm able to. You know, focus on myself more
51:40
and and the people around me that matter.
51:42
So yeah, just leave your comments up people.
51:47
I want to read them and I appreciate it.
51:51
So thank you again for tuning into this week's episode.
51:54
If you did enjoy it and you're able to react to the to the post
51:57
by liking or up voting or whatever the platform that
52:00
you're on allows you to do, we'd appreciate if you did that.
52:05
Leave your thoughts if you can, wherever you can, and until we
52:08
talk to each other again, may the gods continue to notice you,
52:13
and may your ancestors smile upon you.
52:16
See you in the next one.