Latest / Random Heathen Ramblings / Random Heathen Ramblings: S3, EP16 - Resilience Of Our Ancestors

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Random Heathen Ramblings: S3, EP16 - Resilience Of Our Ancestors · Random Heathen Ramblings

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Hey, Lynn. Hello everyone.
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Welcome to the random Heathen ramblings podcast, a midgard
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Okay, you guys and girls, welcome back to this week's
1:40
episode of the random Heathen ramblings podcast, brought to
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you by none other than midgard musings, who is really just me.
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And And that's about it. Sometimes we get dingo on here,
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his work schedule. Prevented him from co-hosting
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with me tonight, but that's not going to stop us from Rambling
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On as we do. So wanted to call attention to
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all to one particular thing and then ask a favor of everybody.
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So the favor will get that out of the way.
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You guys know that this this podcast is broadcasted through
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anchor, which is a Spotify company.
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And Spotify is the major platform where my podcasts are
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being distributed. Of course they're on Apple.
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Podcast. Google podcasts Amazon music, I
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Heart Radio Pandora, you know, pretty much anywhere where you
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absorb your audio, listening enjoyments and pleasures and
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such. But the Spotify think
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you do listen to me on Spotify is to go to the Spotify app, and
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when you do, find my, when you find the podcast there, give it
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a rating. I was noticing on On the app on
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the mobile app. There's the option to give a
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rating and I would love some interaction with that.
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So I know a lot of folks, also catch this on my YouTube channel
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here where it premieres in the morning.
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So if you are watching right now on YouTube, check out the spot
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Spotify almost had this podcast. The spot of cast the Spotify
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platform for the podcast and give it a rating, you know, give
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it a, give it a vote up or whatever there's like you know
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give it 5 Stars. It does help with overall you
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know every year when I look back and see you know the engagement
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and all that kind of stuff, you know, all you guys is
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interactions and participations with that sort of stuff, goes a
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long way and I'm sure that there's other things on, on the
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other platform. There's There, you know, options
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that you can do that. So really, whatever platform
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you're listening to this on, if it's on YouTube, you don't give
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the video a thumbs up and comment, not just during the
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live chats, but also in the description or in the comments
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section, right? So, the algorithms will figure
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out that it needs to go out to more and more people if you do
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that. And since you're here, anyway,
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let me know what you think about the show.
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So there's that. The other thing is that I
4:34
recently shared a post on a pretty sure every Visual social
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media. So I pretty sure it was posted
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to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
4:46
And I also shared it here. Well, maybe not Twitter because
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it was such a long post. But anyway, should have been
4:51
posted to all those major, you know, platforms, YouTube
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included about the recent updates that I made to the
4:58
patreon tears and levels at which you can support this
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Channel. And I know that I don't really
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push my stuff like that, that much because I figure.
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Well, if it's, you know, if people are looking for ways to
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support me then nail, You know, they'll see the link tree link
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and they'll see that patreon is one of them and there's
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merchandise and there's all that other stuff, you know.
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So I don't really push it that hard.
5:22
But I did want to call attention to the changes that I made to
5:27
the tears of patronage on patreon.
5:30
So you know, initially the entry-level tear or like the
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bottom level, tier was called the thrall level and it was, you
5:37
know, you get a shout-out and you know this and that and I
5:40
just I didn't like the name of that because what thrall is You
5:45
know, imply is like, you know, the bottom of the barrel, the
5:49
lowest of the low the like slave class.
5:54
And I got to thinking about it and I don't really mess with my
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patreon that much. And I would like to make changes
6:02
where I'm a bit more, you know. Interactive with that stuff.
6:07
I'm using it more and I'm doing more with it because, you know,
6:11
it's out there and I feel like everybody should be getting the
6:13
best and most out of the what I offer their.
6:16
So the entry level or the bottom tier was changed from thrall to
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Carl and so corals were in ancient Society, the working
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class, you know, with the, the farmers, the blacksmith's, the
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farriers, the you know, the every man, you know, sort of
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Sort of people, you know the middle class and the working
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class and everyday Heroes like folks that listen to my show are
6:43
today where the corals of days in Years Gone by.
6:48
So I changed the name from thrall to Carl because that just
6:52
makes you a much more sense. It has not gone up so it is
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still just a dollar a month and it really is just a way for you
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to, you know, pledge your support in that way and you
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know, a dollars, not a lot it's you know, Than a cup cup of
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coffee. And if everybody that listens to
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my show pledge, the dollar a month, everybody that subscribes
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to this channel. If everybody that follows me on
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Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, if everybody that, you know,
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subscribe to the YouTube channel and follows me on the podcast
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platforms. If everybody just donated the $1
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a month or pledge, that one dollar a month, we could go, we
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could go lots of places. We could do all kinds of cool
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things. On this on this platform so no
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pressure but I just wanted to remind everybody that you know
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you can do this for just as little as a dollar a month.
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The next tier above the Carl hasn't changed, its name that it
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is the y'all's. So the urals were like the, you
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know, the the the nobility class, you know, above the
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working class, but not quite the Kings, you know, class.
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So There's the perks to that or if I'm remembering correctly is
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you get a personalized shout-out at the end of my podcasts.
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So at the end of this podcast, everybody who I have that is a
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currently a yarol tear. We call it Patron on patreon.
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The personal eyeshadow and I thank you all personally not
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that everybody else isn't as important.
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I just want to make sure that the jarls on my Patron tears you
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know on the bum patreon get the get especially recognized then
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there's the chieftain and Chieftains / / chieftess class
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which is the second to highest class and the yaw roll, I think
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is like a five dollar month pledge.
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The chieftain is a ten dollar a month pledge and with that you
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not only get the Whatchamacallit, the You not
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only get the, my mind here. Previous tears.
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Benefits, I guess or perks, but you also get a monthly room
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draw. So, I've done those before.
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Where I would send emails to, you know, for my patrons I would
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send emails with a monthly room, draw telling you a bit about the
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thing and that had pause that had kind of been put on hold and
9:42
I'm going to be reintroducing that again at the chieftain
9:46
level. So you're going to be getting
9:47
the shoutouts, you're going to be getting all that and you're
9:49
going to be getting a room draw and you're going to get a one
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time. Five dollar discount five dollar
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off any of my wood burns room set.
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So I do you know, the Birch Rune sets and the Driftwood room
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sets. So if you've not gotten one from
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me and you want one, if you're a patron at the chieftain level,
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you get a five dollar off discount on those rooms and
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continue to get the monthly room.
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Draw from me email to you at the end of each month.
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And The shout outs at the end of each video, so that's pretty
10:26
cool. And then, the last one is the
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aesir level. So, the aesir level is like the
10:35
the obviously the best of the best, you know, it's god, tier
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patronage and that is a $35, a month pledge.
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You get the monthly room drawers.
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You get the shouts out at the end of my videos.
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You get the discount on the room set and then you also get
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exclusive. Patronage patreon merchandise,
10:58
you get four different merchandise items.
11:01
Sent out to any year, one new item every quarter.
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So it's for new items in a year and they're sent out to you
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quarterly, and that's a lot like that's a huge pledge, you know,
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to do that, $35 a month. That's, you know, that's a nice
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dinner for two at Applebee's or a really indulgent dinner for
11:26
one at like, I don't know. Chili's But anyway, you know,
11:33
think about it, check it out. The link tree link is posted in
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all of these podcasts. Every description of every
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video, every show note of every podcast episode has the link
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tree link that contains everything including the patreon
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page for you to, you know, potentially sign up, it'll be,
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it'll be there. And that's kind of the way
11:53
things are going. Now with with patreon, I haven't
11:57
updated anything as far as the YouTube channel members go.
12:00
And I know that that's a Other way that people can sign up and
12:03
be kind of exclusive members to YouTube stuff.
12:06
That is its own thing, right? That has its own separate, you
12:10
know, stuff you become a YouTube channel.
12:12
Member you get, you know, prioritized engagements on
12:16
livestreams and, you know, I talked about doing an exclusive
12:21
monthly or so live stream with my channel members and that has
12:26
yet to happen because again, so, you know, so busy with
12:30
everything thing. So I go and I try to restructure
12:34
what I'm doing and figure out what's going to best work for my
12:38
lifestyle and still give what you guys are looking for.
12:43
But I'm thinking of looking to incorporate the gaming live
12:47
stream as part of the channel member thing or whatever.
12:51
But I mean, I like doing that. I like it more people in on
12:53
that. So I don't know, I don't know.
12:55
Maybe the channel membership, things will just get adjusted.
12:58
There's no requirements to enjoy Either because you know, the
13:03
perks are just, you know, you get prioritized.
13:07
Priority in the chats and stuff. So again, it's just a way to
13:11
help support what I do here because time is valuable to all
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of us. And, you know, the time that I
13:17
spend doing these things are could be time, spent doing other
13:21
things and I thought well why not try to get back some of that
13:27
time monetarily Beyond just, you know, the ad revenue or whatever
13:32
which is super super minimal. Anyway, enough of that You guys
13:37
ought to know by. Now, if you're new to the
13:38
channel, if you're new to the podcast, now, you know, but for
13:43
all of my repeat listeners return, you know, people that
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return each week and listen and follow and everything like that.
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Just having you here, engaging talking about stuff commenting,
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liking the video sharing the, the podcast wherever it is.
13:57
However, it is that you do it. That's where, you know,
14:00
everything really shines and that's where the true value is
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to me. Because without it Audience, I
14:08
wouldn't have any of this. So I want to just say thank you
14:11
and keep doing what you're doing.
14:12
You're awesome. So now that we got all that
14:17
stuff out of the way and took up a good little chunk of time, a
14:21
couple of things that figured out and ramble on about.
14:27
And they kind of sort of tie in I guess and Hannah in somewhat
14:30
of a way you can always find a way to, you know, tie things
14:36
into each other and find the connect the dots as it were.
14:42
But for folks that don't follow or subscribe to this one
14:47
particular, YouTube YouTuber, Heathen YouTuber, Pagan
14:52
YouTuber, Audi herger. I'm going to link Is, you know,
14:57
Channel and stuff in the show notes and in the description,
15:01
he's very well. You should, you know, anybody
15:03
that listens to what I listen to and follows me here, probably
15:07
already knows who already faragher is, but he is a pagan
15:11
from, I believe it's Portugal with a lot of academic and
15:16
archaeological background in his in his life.
15:20
So he he approaches things from a very academic and
15:25
archaeological the point of view and occasionally he will upload
15:30
things that are a bit more UPG type stuff or maybe not even you
15:37
PG but that are Much more lighthearted, you know, more
15:42
like a conversation more like a sharing of thoughts and ideas
15:48
with people. And his most recent video that
15:51
came out, you know, just well this is airing on Thursday and I
15:55
think the video that I'm referring to came out on
15:57
Wednesday of the same week. Was it was a short enough video
16:03
that I caught it the day that it came out, usually a lot of his,
16:08
you know, academic stuff. Goes into the length of time
16:12
that it would take two. Watch a movie, you know?
16:16
So I digested him B. Come back to Here There and
16:19
Everywhere kind of like probably how some of these podcasts go
16:21
where you know, you'll pause stop, come back, whatever.
16:24
But anyway, this video was about the resilience of our ancestors
16:29
or are there was aliens of ancestors and it was a really
16:33
touching video that he that he put out.
16:36
And I wanted to talk a bit about it because I've mentioned a
16:41
number of times, whether it be on a Book post or tweeted about
16:45
it or even in my videos and livestreams and podcasts, or
16:50
whatever, where I've talked about how ancestor veneration is
16:57
so critical. So, crucial to how we pagans do
17:03
our thing, how we pay, and how we even whatever, right?
17:07
How we do what we do? It's an, it's an inherent, an
17:10
integral part of our religious practices, maybe not the
17:13
religious practices so much as it is the spiritual practices,
17:16
but I think they're in the, you know, the some of those things
17:20
kind of Intertwine at times, you know, the religious stuff with,
17:25
with regards to how we interact with the gods, and the sacred
17:28
Realms. And then our spirituality, which
17:30
is how we interact with the local spirits of the land, and
17:34
the homes and our ancestors. But there's some I think times
17:39
where things kind of intertwine and cross over a bit.
17:44
So I really liked to hear already Tigers approach on
17:49
ancestor. you know, honoring the ancestors or understanding and
17:54
getting to know the resilience of our ancestors and some of the
17:56
points that he brought up were, I think really, really timely,
18:00
you know, he actually shared with his audience, a very
18:06
powerful story of You know, some of his, some of his relatives,
18:15
his ancestors, grandparents great-grandparents
18:18
great-great-grandparents and stuff that lived in a village
18:23
where he's from, you know, he was describing the layout of the
18:28
land. How, you know it was it was a
18:30
small village and it was, you know, it had its, you know,
18:34
Township or whatever. But then there was a lot of
18:36
wilderness and around it, there was mountains.
18:38
There was Hills, there was, you know, Woods and Forest and
18:42
things like that. But the story that he told
18:47
which, you know, you guys can go back and watch the whole thing.
18:49
I think it's less than 20 minutes long so you guys can go
18:53
back and check it out, but he was talking about how it was.
18:57
It was a family member who had gotten sick and I remember it
18:59
was his grandfather or great-grandfather or somebody
19:02
had gotten sick and I mean, like really sick like deathly ill and
19:07
he had talked about how whoever it was. whether it was his great
19:11
grandparents or great-grandparents who ever had
19:14
to take, you know, his, his relative is ancestor to town to
19:21
a doctor because all of the local, you know, his
19:26
grandmother, or great-grandmother whoever it was
19:28
who was, you know, into the The herbal treatments and the
19:32
natural remedies and all of the things that they knew how they
19:36
could heal treat and heal and treat illness wasn't So, they
19:41
had to go without of their tribe.
19:43
They had to go without of their Village.
19:44
They had to go without of the sank sanctuary and confines of
19:48
their Village and seek Aid elsewhere.
19:51
It was a very treacherous Journey because of the dangers
19:56
that Were around and about their Village, you know, it was it was
20:01
Wilderness and there were wild animals.
20:04
There Was, You Know, treacherous terrain, there was the weather,
20:08
you know, there was a lot of things and it wasn't just like
20:10
you know, hop skip and a jump in a car or whatever to the nearest
20:14
hospital was like, they literally had to carry this boy
20:18
from their Village in their arms, through the woods, through
20:21
the rain, through the snow through, whatever it was, and
20:23
take him to you, no more. Sip my say, civilized but a
20:29
more, you know occupied somewhere that had you know,
20:31
modern medicine to be able to treat him, otherwise he would
20:34
have died. And he refused.
20:39
No talking about that story and hearing him.
20:42
Reflect on the resilience of his ancestors and, you know,
20:47
reflecting on, you know what, it must have been like to been to
20:51
be faced with that kind of uncertainty to not even know, if
20:56
you were going to survive the journey to the doctor, you know,
21:00
to The Physician. And then take to get your boy
21:02
healed or give him the medicine, or even if the would you know if
21:05
the medicine. Going to work, you know, all
21:08
those uncertain things but taking the chance taking the
21:11
action to do it despite the you know, risks that that went along
21:17
with it. And I think there was, you know,
21:20
that was some really really good things to think about because
21:25
when it comes to action and when it comes to doing things as
21:31
whether it's you know practicing our religious observances or
21:35
whatever, you know. So, a lot of people are like,
21:37
well, how do I do this? When should I do this?
21:40
What do I use to do this? You know, all of the mechanics
21:44
and specifics of things that people get hung up on.
21:46
And sometimes, those are the things that will get, you get a
21:52
person. So hung up at, they just go out,
21:54
forget it, you know? And there, or they just won't do
21:57
it. I don't want to mess it up, you
21:59
know. I don't know how I've never done
22:03
this before, you know, I'm nervous and whatever.
22:07
But what do you lose out on when you do that?
22:10
If you don't take that chance, if you don't carry yourself out
22:14
of the village, if you don't, you know, take yourself out of
22:16
that comfort zone. If you don't do the thing, you
22:20
know, it's better to be active. It's better to do something than
22:23
to do. Nothing action is better than in
22:25
action and we see this theme repeated throughout sagas.
22:29
We see this mentioned Across different texts.
22:34
Like not all of them all in such where you know, it's better to
22:37
do something than to do nothing or maybe it's not in the Hall of
22:40
all. I might be Miss quoting or not,
22:43
even quoting, but miss mistake, and I may be mistaken about
22:47
where it is. But the theme of it is that, you
22:49
know, you should do something anything.
22:52
Even if you mess up, even if you know, you made the mistake, at
22:55
least you did something because the stagnation, thus the not of
22:59
doing of things. Is worse than if you were to do
23:04
something and it be the wrong thing or do something and be,
23:07
you know, mistaken and in doing so because imagine had, you
23:10
know, the boy's parents or grandparents or whoever they
23:14
were imagine if they had said, well, I don't know man.
23:18
You know, those wolves could eat Us Alive or, you know, the storm
23:21
is, you know, we could die of exposure.
23:24
We could, you know, slip and break our ankles.
23:27
We could, you know, fall victim to And it's we could, you know,
23:31
all these things. What if what if what if you know
23:34
and that they decided not to do it?
23:36
That would have determined and sealed that boys fate.
23:40
You know, he wouldn't know if he wouldn't have survived because
23:43
it was due to the modern doctors in the medicine that the time
23:48
that was able to heal him beyond what the local remedies of The
23:54
Villages, you know, grandmothers and doctors and things of the
24:00
village could do. So, you know, again, had, they
24:03
not taken that chance. Had they not done that thing?
24:06
Had they remained stagnant, had they remained stationary had
24:09
they just hoped for the best, you know, keeping our fingers
24:14
crossed, I think thoughts and prayers, you know?
24:19
Had they done that. The war would have lie, when
24:22
wouldn't have lived and already harger would not have manifested
24:29
himself in the way that he has at least today so far as we
24:32
know, at least. So, you know, it got me to
24:36
thinking and I guess I'd go back and, you know, watch the whole
24:40
video and get the full context out of everything, because it
24:43
got me to thinking about some other things that he mentioned
24:46
in there about what, you know, resilience of our ancestors is
24:49
and how Look and we reflect and be our my reminded of how tough
24:56
life was for them. You know, for our, you know, for
25:00
folks like my age, for our grandparents and our
25:03
great-grandparents and maybe even our parents depending on
25:05
just how late early in life. Things got going for them but
25:12
you know, the likes of those who, you know, when you know
25:14
even just, you know, a few decades ago or half a century
25:19
ago. So how much different the world
25:21
was and how much harder things were to cheat to achieve?
25:25
And how you had to work harder to get things done in the
25:28
resilience that was needed to to meet your goals.
25:34
You know, a lot of folks, I think nowadays compare the
25:38
struggles that we face as a society now, and as and as and
25:43
as, as a species, now, a lot of people will compare the
25:47
hardships and the things that we It's now as being so you've got
25:52
it so much easier now and I maybe, you know pointing fingers
25:56
a little bit here at certain Generations where they said,
25:59
well, you know, my day I had to do this and it was, you know, it
26:02
was much harder back when I was at your age and and this and
26:05
that, and I've been even guilty of that too, you know, because
26:07
I've gotten to an age now or I'm falling into an age category
26:10
where I look at people that are you know 15 20 years younger
26:14
than me. And you know looking at like man
26:17
you know when I was your age, I had to do this and how to do
26:19
that. I suppose that's, you know, part
26:20
of the natural Human Experience, where you know, when we
26:25
experience things, when we experience hardships and when we
26:28
have gone through, when we have been resilient, we get a chance
26:32
to boast of it. We get a chance to say.
26:34
Yeah, I did this, I accomplish this because of the hardship
26:38
because of the challenge because of the difficult things that lay
26:42
before me, but it. Take away from the kind of dip
26:48
like, you know, some things. Yes.
26:50
And I think everything is relative right.
26:52
You know you look at the difficult times that that people
26:54
faced you know, 50 60 years ago. You know and what kind of
27:00
challenges that when you look at challenges nowadays and it's
27:03
like wow if they had the things that we have now 50, 60, 70
27:07
years ago, the challenge is back, then wouldn't be nearly as
27:10
difficult as they are now because of the modern
27:14
conveniences that Have, you know, been developed since then,
27:20
but again Everything's Relative, right?
27:22
And there are there are still great challenges that face us.
27:25
There are still plenty of hardships that befall Us and
27:29
nobody should be downplaying. Someone else's hardships because
27:35
it's not the same for you as it is for them.
27:38
And then for you you don't know what people are going through.
27:41
You know, it's like oh well you know, And I'm just using this as
27:46
an example. You know, to battle cancer is
27:49
not the same as battling depression, and you don't know
27:52
that, you don't know what that person is going through inside
27:54
and how much it's killing them now, you know, scientifically
27:57
and physically, you know, the physical damage that gets caused
28:00
because of the, you know, the the veracity of of cancer that
28:07
has in the physical toll that it takes may not be the same or
28:11
equivalent or compared to the kind of damage that suffering
28:14
from a Mental illness may have but then but nonetheless, it is
28:19
still a hardship and it is still something that is tearing away
28:23
at somebody. It is still something that hurts
28:27
and that destroys and that wears you down in that.
28:32
You know, again, you don't know what people are going through,
28:33
so it's not fair and it's not right.
28:35
And nobody has the right to say, well, you know my hardships were
28:40
worse than yours and you don't have any, you know, you you
28:43
can't possibly know what it is. That that I went through,
28:47
because you've never gone through this side of the other.
28:49
I've been told that, you know, will you can't possibly
28:52
understand what it's like. Because you haven't experienced
28:57
it. I mean that may be fair in some
29:03
ways, you know, I mean, there's there's there's empathy and then
29:06
there's sympathy you, no sympathy.
29:07
Being the thing is, I know it is that you're going through and I
29:10
because I've gone through it myself, I have experienced the
29:13
same thing and I can sympathize with you whereas the oh empathy
29:16
is I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, you know I've
29:20
not ever experienced it myself. So yes.
29:24
I mean there there are some differences to that I just you
29:27
know I think we all have A very important role to play in this
29:34
sort of thing, especially amongst our Heathen circles, Are
29:37
pagan circles and without, because the people that we tie
29:41
our threads with anti weird with come from all different walks of
29:47
life and have experienced many different things and have needed
29:51
to be resilient on many different levels.
29:54
And the resilience of our ancestors is, one of the things
29:58
that we inherit When we grow through our lives, you know, the
30:07
the experiences that our ancestors had were fed into that
30:12
or login that you know, that it becomes layers in the well that
30:17
folks like us as descendants then have to redeem and work off
30:22
of, you know. And then we lay down our own
30:25
layers. We put we put down our own luck
30:29
in the well, and it becomes a thing that Becomes or log for
30:33
our em, you know, descendants when we become ancestors.
30:40
You know, so I think a lot of a lot of times, you know, people
30:43
look to try to romanticize, you know, the heart, you know, the
30:50
hardships of centuries ago, you know where the even the
30:54
hardships of decades ago and and how much harder things were back
30:58
then. I mean they were hard.
31:00
But every I mean life is hard, man.
31:02
Like have you woke up recently? Have you taken a breath?
31:05
Have you open your eyes? Have you looked around in the
31:06
world? Have you been sentient at all?
31:10
Like It's hard man. Like in life is, is not easy.
31:16
Maybe it's easier for some, and maybe some have a have it better
31:19
than others for various reasons. But nobody said it was going to
31:24
be easy and nobody ever, you know, it's not, it's not so, you
31:30
know, kind of to feed off of that topic and to work into the
31:34
next one, I had a conversation with somebody, you know, talking
31:38
about how we tie threads with people.
31:40
And the people in our lives in our lives and how they're not
31:44
always in line with our beliefs. You know, there's plenty of
31:48
people who we share existence and anti weird with who aren't
31:56
pagans who, don't who don't follow the same.
31:59
Whether it's family, whether it's friends.
32:02
You know, and I have one particularly who I don't talk to
32:07
you very often. and she's been, Part of my life ever since I was
32:15
a kid, you know, I was 10, 11 years old and the farm that I've
32:25
talked about several times in different podcasts or
32:28
indifferent, you know, videos and whatnot.
32:30
I used to work on a farm 3 for 3 or 4 days, a week when I was
32:34
about 10 or 11 years old, all the way up until I was like 21
32:37
or so. When I moved from New York to to
32:40
Tennessee and the Woman that I'm talking about is personal
32:44
talking about. She was like the farm manager of
32:47
this place and it was, it was a community farm, right?
32:50
So it wasn't, it wasn't like, you know, a big big operation
32:54
with, you know, dozens of heads of cattle and you know hundreds
32:58
of acres of land and and stuff. This was a small community farm
33:05
and we would we raised beef cattle so depending on the size
33:12
of our Community at the time. I remember the community being
33:14
large enough where we would do you know for steers and the
33:17
spring and for two or two steers in the spring and for in the in
33:22
the fall we would you know slaughter them to provide meat
33:26
for our community. And of course we would do more
33:28
in the fall because of the longer winter months, we wanted
33:31
to make sure that we had plenty of meat for the community over
33:35
the winter but then it got down to the point where we were only
33:38
due to a year, you know, one in the spring and one in the fall
33:40
and it lasted us enough because the the size of the group
33:44
reduced and this was like, this was a church Community.
33:48
This is a, this is a, I grew up in, you know, non-denominational
33:51
Christian background. So this wasn't like, you know,
33:58
homesteaders with no religion. This was a very religious Backed
34:04
thing but are you know, so much of the day-to-day life was was
34:10
very tribal. You know, we we grow our own
34:12
food, we took care of our own we, you know, made sure that if
34:15
somebody needed something that we would take care of each other
34:17
and it was very tribal which is I think a lot of the reasons why
34:23
the Heathen remodel that I adopted and want to want to
34:27
cultivate and constancy grow feels so right to me because I
34:31
saw it work I saw Saw the fundamentals of tribalism play
34:35
out in a very Wholesome Way. And I also saw its challenges,
34:40
right? So I have those experiences to
34:47
go off of but this woman who was the farm manager is still
34:54
around, of course, the farm has since been D disbanded and the
35:02
group, the church group or whatever that I grew up and has
35:05
largely disbanded as well. It is, it is a shell of what it
35:09
ever was and not in a good way, either, not in not in, not in
35:15
the longest sense of the word, I'm not in the Try to find the
35:19
words here, but not in the not in any sense of the word.
35:23
Is it, is it? Improved.
35:27
But I'll leave that at that II. Don't participate in that
35:32
anymore. Of course I'm not I'm not there
35:34
so speaking probably out of line but I just from the things that
35:38
I know it's gone downhill a lot. But anyway because of that,
35:44
right? So this woman, she's no longer
35:49
part of that church group. The Farm has gone has been for
35:53
many, many years but we still Keep in touch.
35:57
She's actually the only person I think about it.
36:01
The only person in New York that I still keep in touch with on a
36:05
regular basis to any extent because of my family situation
36:10
and you guys know about that from listening to very recent
36:14
podcast episodes and in going back through my catalog and
36:18
whatnot, you get a sense of the history of things.
36:20
But She's the only one who despite everything has remained
36:26
a friendly Ally. You know, has remained somebody
36:30
who I can not feel like I'm being judged or whatever for or
36:36
judged by on anything. And we had a conversation that
36:39
was about two and a half hours long.
36:41
The other day, she sent me a text and was like, hey, I've
36:44
been thinking about you and would like to talk with you, you
36:49
know, catch up a bit like, sure, absolutely.
36:51
You know, and you got his guys think write like this woman was
36:55
the farm manager for 20 some odd years before I ever even came
36:59
around or close to 20 years. By the time I came around and I
37:04
was on that farm for a decade or longer.
37:07
And so, she's like a mother or like, almost like a grandmother.
37:11
I think she's in her 70s now, sweetest woman in the world,
37:14
man. Just end and smart.
37:16
You know, knows a lot about gardening, huh?
37:21
Eating identifying birds and trees and what's good to eat,
37:26
what not to eat. Just you know, it, you know,
37:28
without without sounding disrespectful, she's she was,
37:32
you know, like the village which, you know, always in the
37:34
kitchen, always making something always knew how to cook
37:38
something up to make. You feel better, you know, knew
37:40
about healing herbs and medicines and things like that.
37:42
Just put a really, really wonderful woman and I love her
37:45
to death. So when she's like, yeah lets
37:47
you know, would you mind talking a bit catching up?
37:51
Like absolutely sure, you know. So we talked you know told her
37:56
about my job you know, caught up on things that she just doesn't
38:00
really like I don't really think I've ever know what exactly is
38:03
that you do and then in such like yeah, so this is what it is
38:07
and this is the nature of the business and she's telling me
38:09
about stuff that she does New York and everything.
38:12
And then we started the, you know, talking about other more
38:16
weightier things, you know, things that are Connected to my
38:24
relationship with my family and interestingly to you know the
38:29
the the relationship that she had with my mother over the
38:33
years you know, you would have thought they were sisters that
38:36
they had that you know that they had grown up and spent their
38:39
whole lives together. That's how close they were to
38:42
each other. And that relationship has become
38:49
estranged and they are no longer they no longer speak to each
38:52
other and it all happened right around the same time of year
38:56
last year or within, you know. Yeah within within a within a
39:02
month or two of the same same time frame everything when
39:04
everything started going downhill for me with my family
39:08
was when things started going sideways with her and my mother.
39:11
And you know, you start putting two and two together, and you
39:16
realize that There's a common denominator and so we start
39:21
talking about that and then start talking about the reasons
39:26
why we think things that happened or not even reasons
39:30
why. But just be like, yeah, well
39:31
this happened around this time and oh, really well for me, this
39:34
happened around that time and they are two of almost identical
39:37
things. And wow, isn't that interesting?
39:39
And you know who was the Who was the most common than, you know,
39:44
the common denominator. What can we find?
39:46
That's that, that kind of connects the dots and then we
39:52
get into talking about all of that.
39:55
Now, even though, she's done, even though she's not, you know,
39:58
going to the same church group as it was when I left.
40:03
And even though that group is not even a thing anymore, and
40:05
it's a totally different model. It's, you know, I don't know
40:10
what it's become, more like a my wife calls a cult and I gotta
40:16
tend to agree, but She still follows it, Christian philosophy
40:24
and it ain't Christian worldview for, you know, for him for from
40:28
a religious standpoint. You know, when I was telling her
40:32
I said you know, I'm the obvious enemy here.
40:36
The fact that I'm the Pagan are, you know, you're all a Christian
40:39
and stuff. I'm the obvious enemy, it's no
40:43
wonder that things have taken the turn that they have because
40:49
Again, obvious reasons I said, but what's really interesting to
40:52
me is that you're an enemy of theirs as well.
40:56
Just because you don't, you know, you don't go to the same
40:58
church you don't, you don't adopt the same approach as they
41:01
do us like, but you worship the same God I said, That's really
41:07
weird. That's, that's really, that's,
41:10
that's interesting, you know? And then we just started talking
41:15
about, you know, the religion religious side of things.
41:18
She started asking me questions about You know, my beliefs and
41:23
I, you know, got oh well, you know, this is we've already two
41:26
hours into this conversation about other stuff.
41:28
I'm like a. Now you're asking me about what
41:30
you know, this whole thing is and I go Well, I want to
41:33
summarize it up as best as I can and because this could take
41:37
another several hours and that's just even scratching the
41:39
surface. So I, you know, went into the
41:41
complexities of polytheism and especially you know especially
41:48
the complexities of Germanic polytheism and that there's more
41:52
to the veneration. There's more to the more,
41:54
there's more to our worship of the Gods and there's more to our
41:57
religious activity than just the worship of the Gods.
42:00
There's the spirituality. Like I talked about before where
42:03
We venerate the love of a tear, the spirits, the whites,
42:07
whatever of the land. And then we have a very strong
42:11
connection to our ancestors and ancestor veneration is a huge
42:14
thing. And she said, you know, she was
42:16
very quiet, but she was listening and I wish, you know,
42:18
she was intent of she was giving me all those verbal nods when I
42:21
was talking and I'm like, wow, she's really absorbing what I'm
42:25
saying here and I've honestly never felt that with my family
42:31
from New York, my mother father's, you know side of
42:35
things. And so it was like wow you know
42:38
I'm not just talking to the void and having a person on the other
42:42
end of the phone or in front of me I'm actually having An
42:46
engaging conversation here like I'm sharing something with
42:49
somebody in their intent intent, intently listening.
42:55
You know, she asked questions throughout and I gave my
42:58
responses and you know she and then at the end of it all, she's
43:02
like, well she said I definitely don't and I'm paraphrasing but
43:07
it was along the lines of should I read.
43:09
I definitely don't agree with with that sort of a religious
43:14
belief. She says, but I'm not gonna, I'm
43:19
not going to sit here and condemn you for your own
43:22
beliefs. He said, it's just not for me,
43:24
and that's not what I think, you know, should be done.
43:27
She says, but I'm, you know, she respected me for my own belief.
43:31
She wasn't sitting there, trying to convince me that I'm going to
43:33
burn in hell, or whatever else I've been told over the years,
43:36
you know, by members of my family and that I'm, you know,
43:41
what? It was, it was it when I was?
43:42
So I was told I was so far lost Or so far gone in my idolatry or
43:49
whatever words were used, pretty pretty damning things to say to
43:53
somebody? I mean it was, it was not nice
43:56
to say the least. But you know, she had given me
44:04
the time and day to say what I wanted to say and explain and
44:08
answer questions and then at the end of it all, she says.
44:11
Yeah. You know, I don't necessarily
44:13
agree with you, I don't, you know, not my thing, but that's
44:16
your thing and, and so be it and I, you know, I said, you know, I
44:21
said I told her. I said, her name is Chris.
44:23
Christine is a Chrissy, I said, If you were to tell me right now
44:28
that you've heard enough, and that you don't want to want to
44:31
talk to me again. I said it would not surprise me
44:33
and I honestly expect it because of everything that I've had to
44:36
go through. I said, so that's why I'm so
44:39
open and that's why I'm so transparent with everything's
44:42
because I got nothing to, you know, I got nothing to hide.
44:44
And you know, if you're asking questions or having
44:46
conversations, and I'm going to be real, I'm not going to
44:49
sugarcoat it. I'm not gonna beat around the
44:51
bush. I'm going to be open about it.
44:53
And I expect people to shut me out of their lives after hearing
44:56
the honesty and the upfront honest.
44:59
She said, oh no, he said, I'm not going to do anything like
45:02
that and I said, well, I appreciate that.
45:05
You know, and I told her see, you know, you know, if you ever,
45:09
you know, finding my yourself in our neck of the woods and you
45:12
need a place to stay, you have, you have a roof over your heads,
45:14
open those doors of hospitality to her and she reciprocated and
45:18
said, absolutely. Don't ever feel like you can't
45:20
come to me, or come here and see and see me because of, because
45:25
of everybody else, you know? Because I did I, you know, I've
45:28
refrained From going back to my home state because of what
45:32
people have said. Well, you're not welcome here,
45:34
okay? Find that I won't go come to
45:36
find out. I am welcomed by at least one
45:40
person, and that one person is somebody who I've tied a lot of
45:44
good weird with it, even though there's the zip, you know, the
45:48
separation of religious views and then all that that doesn't
45:51
seem to be a thing that I feel is in hindering us from
45:55
continuing having a relationship in pink open line of
46:00
communication with And I feel like that is such a refreshing
46:04
thing to share because a lot of what I talked about here on this
46:08
podcast is about the challenges and about the, you know, the
46:12
difficulty of being Pagan in a world that is, you know.
46:14
So against, you know, alt alternative religious views and
46:18
especially in the South man. I mean maybe not so much in
46:21
other parts of the world, maybe it's even worse in other parts
46:24
of the world that I just am not exposed to.
46:26
But here in the United States, I mean in the Southern United
46:29
States that battle bail You know, slap that bill Buckle
46:34
owner, or knock yourself, silly with it kind of place, right?
46:40
You get all kinds of nuts and I'm not even from around here,
46:44
right? But the religious persecution
46:46
that I've endured as it were. And don't get me wrong.
46:48
I'm not trying to say, like I'm, you know, I've been threatened
46:51
to be burned alive or whatever but it's, you know, it's
46:53
definitely an intolerance of my religious views.
46:59
Are from people that are from a pretty.
47:03
I guess liberal state New York. go figure but um, to find to
47:13
find somebody that like I said, you know, the challenges that
47:19
the difficulties the resilience That we face.
47:23
This is this is real stuff, guys.
47:25
This is not, you know, it may not be, you know, having to walk
47:27
uphill both ways and two feet of snow.
47:30
Barefoot to go to school and get loaf of bread, and come home and
47:33
cook dinner and split wood and all that, like, you know, are
47:35
great. Great, great.
47:36
Great grandparents may have had to do, but this is again, a
47:40
challenge in, this is something where, you know, we have to be
47:42
resilient, and and, you know, don't get me wrong, I'm not
47:49
trying to compare the two, you know, this is, you know, having
47:52
our having her feelings hurt or having our pride beating in or
47:57
having our egos bruised, you know, is is something that we
48:01
have to deal with internally and something we have to get through
48:05
and be resilient with and that on way it's not the same as you
48:07
know, physical hardships, but it does carry its own staying at
48:10
this carry its own burdens and at this carry its own weight so
48:15
be be resilient and be open and don't, you know, I could have I
48:20
could have done so many things differently, you know, over the
48:23
years I could have heard the things that were said to me by
48:26
my family and Ben Overtaking with bitterness and anger and
48:33
shut everybody out, you know, block them on social media,
48:38
block, their numbers. Telling me, you know, don't ever
48:40
talk to me, again? I hope you die whatever.
48:42
Don't call me if you need anything.
48:45
I could have and I didn't and I haven't and I won't remain
48:49
resilient in my Approach and I've always maintained the
48:52
approach that despite all of that, call me if you need me.
49:00
Let me know if I can help with anything, and I still love you.
49:06
So again doesn't doesn't fix everything, doesn't change what
49:10
the facts are but this little, you know, experience that I had
49:16
with with Chrissy on the phone for two and a half hours was so
49:22
you know invigorating. It was a breathed new life into
49:28
my Outlook on things and I'm hoping that sharing this story
49:32
and sharing these stories will help breathe.
49:34
New life into some things that you may be experiencing and to
49:37
give you at least a glimmer of hope that this is possible that
49:42
it can happen. And that is if you remain
49:44
resilient, if you remain, you know, convicted without being a
49:49
jerk about stuff. I mean sometimes you just got to
49:51
be bold and Brash but be be bold but be kind And then approach
50:00
things as you would how you would want to be approached.
50:05
You know, that old adage treat others the way you want to be
50:08
treated man. You know, says that for a reason
50:11
and it's more truth than anything, right?
50:14
As long as you treat someone, how you'd want to be treated.
50:17
You know, respect people that have come before you that have
50:20
done things to withstand the trials and tribulations that
50:24
they have and have stories to tell about it and have the scars
50:27
and the gray hairs and all that to prove it.
50:30
Right. Be resilient and you will one
50:36
day have those stories to tell? So it may not seem like it's
50:41
happening. Right, right here and right now,
50:45
but don't give up, you know, don't give up and don't give in
50:49
be resilient. So I hope that you know, today's
50:53
episode has, You Know, spoken to you.
50:57
Because I have literally sat here and spoke to you for
51:00
however last long. It's been, but I hope it is
51:05
speaking to you beyond. What you here.
51:08
I hope that the words sink in and settle in and give you some
51:12
some things to like call it Digest.
51:17
So, Yeah. So to my patrons, my Chieftain
51:26
and yarrow patrons, Janet King, Jeffrey Wright and Alex, di
51:33
Hale, and thank you for your ongoing patronage.
51:36
I appreciate you, staying true to that level of support and
51:42
being with me for all this length of time.
51:44
It truly means the world to me. Thank you to all of my
51:49
subscribers, listeners, followers and supporters.
51:52
Don't forget to like this video like this podcast rate, this
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52:17
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52:22
This episode, definitely check him out.
52:25
If you aren't yet subscribed, you will not regret it when you
52:29
do I'm going until we all talk again.
52:32
Hail May the gods walk with you and may your ancestors smile.
52:37
Upon you. Take care now.