HYPERBOREAN ODYSSEY 2: Shetland

 

 

Part two of my Hyperborean Odyssey is in Shetland, Britain's northern most islands and the alleged site of the legendary Thule described by the ancients. I visited the archaeological site of Jarlshof which has Bronze age round houses, Iron-Age wheel houses, a Pictish broch and the largest Norse settlement in the British Isles. Shetland was under Nordic rule up to 1472 so it still has some strong cultural ties to Scandinavia despite also having a rich Pictish history.

HYPERBOREAN ODYSSEY 1: Norway

 

 

I spent half a month working on a cruise ship, travelling around Norway and the Scottish islands. Part 1 of my Hyperborean Odyssey is in Western Norway, beginning with the ancient burial grounds of Gunnarshaug and Rehaugane near Norway's Viking capital Avaldsnes, then admiring the fjords around Ulvik and Olden and finishing off in the rainy city of Alesund. This is a historical travel series.

Jive Book Review: Polemos: Pagan Traditionalism

 

   

Polemos: The Dawn of Pagan Traditionalism is a book by Russian author Askr Svarte which attempts to describe how European pagan religion can be practised in a way consistent with the philosophy of Radical Traditionalism aka Perennial Philosophy. This episode of the Jive Book Review looks at its strengths and weaknesses.

Why did Celts build Hill Forts in the Iron Age? History Documentary

 

Why did Celts of the British Isles build over 4000 hill forts during the Iron Age? The answer may have something to do with the conflict between those Bronze Age cowboys who maintained traditional pastoralist transhumance lifestyles, and those in the forts who depended more on arable farming. This can also explain why British Celts were the most lactose tolerant people on Earth at that time. In this documentary I visited Barbury Castle in Wiltshire, Castle an Dinas in Cornwall and several other magnificent Iron Age hill forts.

Sources:
 

• Patterson, N. et al. Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age. Nature 601, 588–594 (2022) 
• Valdez-Tullett A. Sheep in Wealth’s Clothing: Social Reproduction across the Bronze Age to Iron Age Transition in Wiltshire, Southern England. European Journal of Archaeology. 2017;20(4):663-681. doi:10.1017/eaa.2016

 

Art created for Survive the Jive by Christian Sloan Hall and Alex Cristi. Other images are owned by their respective creators as credited on screen. 

 

Celtic punk enjoys some milk

 

How to be a REAL Norse Heathen / Asatru / Pagan

How to be a Heathen? Asatru online course

Starting Heathenry

Starting Heathenry is a NEW ritual-focused online course which will furnish you with the knowledge and confidence you need to practise the Germanic Heathen religion alone or with others, making wise decisions about worship based on reliable historical evidence.

The course teaches you how to construct Heathen prayers for yourself, not according to the established rites of any modern group, but according to what historical sources show. Starting Heathenry assumes you are interested in Germanic paganism, know about the gods and myths, and want to begin practising this religion, but require guidance on how to do so.

Key points are displayed in videos as bullet-points to help you remember them

 

Micro-learning

A modern way of learning an ancient religion

Starting Heathenry is based on a micro-learning structure which is proven to improve knowledge retention by 18-80% in students compared to other learning methods. The 10 lessons include over 50 videos, and quizzes to access from your phone or computer. Absorb more than 5 hours of learning material bit by bit, as it suits you. Within just 20 minutes after a hearing a lecture or reading a book, 50% of newly learned information is forgotten. Over the next 9 hours, that number drops by a further 10%, and after a month, only 24% of the information remains without revision or repeat learning. Micro-learning is designed so you retain the knowledge over a long period. I previously worked on crafting such learning material for the WHO to help health care professionals learn about the dangers of side effects from medicines. Now I am using the same technique to help Heathens learn to worship the gods of their ancestors.

Enroll today. Your path to knowing the gods through ritual starts here.

NEW DNA Genetic Origin of the Indo-Europeans: Yamnaya/Sredny Stog

 

A new paper called The Genetic Origin of the Indo-Europeans (2024) reveals that the Proto-Indo-European languages originated in the Yamnaya and Sredny Stog cultures of Ukraine and South Russia. The split of PIE languages from Anatolian languages is revealed to have taken place on the steppe (lower Volga). Sredny Stog DNA is found in Central Anatolian Bronze Age Hittite samples proving the real IE people were indeed Steppe herders from Eastern Europe and not an unknown Armenian population as previously claimed in 2022. I discuss the findings in this stream.