The Shepards seeing the Angels to herald Christ's Birth is the same vein of tradition as Hesiod's Theogony.

This is intentional. The Angels tell the coming of a Messiah and ultimately Gospel, while the Goddess and Muses show/tell the Cosmology and Cosmogony of the Greek religion.

In many ways, the Germanic Valkyrie (Old English wælcyrge) being Disr repersnt something similar directly thought they are not the ones telling the Lore but heralding victory or change.

Luke 2:8-15

"8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

Hesiod's Theogony translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White
[1914]

"And one day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon, and this word first the goddesses said to me -- the Muses of Olympus, daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis:

(ll. 26-28) `Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things of shame, mere bellies, we know how to speak many false things as though they were true; but we know, when we will, to utter true things.' "

These connections are apparent. The New Testament was mostly written in a form of Greek called Koine, and the Christians of the time would have known of these beliefs. Even the Hebrews would have and often had a view of the Angels as lesser deities or aspects of the divine, which they derived first from Mesopotamia then Zoroastrian Persian. Just as the Old Testament tapped into or directly borrowed from other Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Cannanite, and Caucasian myths, so too did the New Testament continue these influences as well as adding its contemporaries.

Why thank you!

Germanic Cosmogony from
The Big Book of Runes and Magic by Edred Thorsson.

Regarding Modern India: https://www.group-telegram.com/hammerandvajra.com/3841

Regarding modern India:

Not to hop into the travesty of Elon trying to replace Western people, but to highlight the issues with interactions.

I have plenty of great Indians and Hindus who follow my work and have been respectful and interacted with me for years.
However, there is a large portion of those who are only cordial and polite as long as it seems I'm praising Indian culture, religion, and / or promoting Indian supremacy. As soon as any logical criticism about any aspect of India arises or that I care about my own people first and foremost (as all should naturally do) they instantly turn to slander, blasphemy, personal attacks and anti white racial attacks.

I highly respect the great Hindus who have followed me over or talked with me in person over the years. But I have been put off with trying to seek any further information outside of Western scholarship or well written books as the interactions online in general have been of bad faith.

I will say that when I was in India and talked to religious practitioners, or the general people in stores, ect, they were, on average, very nice.
This isn't the norm online. It doesn't seem to be the norm with Elon's employees. And if those who are extremely smart and talented want to do something great, they should fix India. It needs more help than the West. Where I visited was just as terrible as some people online who are anti Indian make it out to be. And that reality is sad.
They are welcome to visit as a friend or ally on a project, but we aren't fixing anyone countries by moving populations and replacing others.

Yes, this is coming from a guy who sees the Indo-European connections of the Deva and Vedic faith, thinks looking towards the Vedic connections and greater Indo-European connections has helped the revival of European Paganism, worships Indo-Arya forms of the Gods via Vajrayana Buddhism, and has written many works on such.

Lastly, we have to acknowledge that just like Europe and America, India is vast, not everyone there is the same, and there are different qualities of people, culture, and faith.

Shifting to Western Indo-European focus

Over the years, much of my work has been focused on the connections between ancient Indo-Europeans and the modern Vedic faiths along with European Paganism.
This resulted in three 4 books so far. As well as thousands of posts and articles.

However, I plan to broaden my focus.
Plenty has been said regarding the Indo-European connection, but I want to shift focus to broader Eurasian concepts as well as European folk faith. I think during this age of revival, it is the most important fo focus upon my own people and their ancient connections both to the broader Indo-Europeans as well as general Europe folk. I will continue to highlight connections between Vedic faiths as well as Buddhism, being that I am a Vajrayana Lay priest, and it will always be an aspect that I am upfront about. However, I feel the Celto-Germanic and Slavic and general European folk and their ties and connections are to be the focus for this coming year.

That being said, anyone who is interested in general Indo-European Paganism or wants to please check out my books here.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0887KK4SR

My YouTube here: https://youtube.com/@hammerandvajra?si=QO3dH_LibAmxMsoM

And considered supporting me through patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/hammerandvajra.com?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

If you are interested in the topic of Indo-Europeans in general, please check out the two videos below from scholars that I respect.

Indo-Europeans
https://youtu.be/j_mj64nrmnM?si=Tu-dvEQgPgLM0252

India Migration Theory
https://youtu.be/XSVZB3zJ35I?si=6YuLZYSVlFS829IC

I hope you all have a great New Year as the future is bright.

My final statement regarding Varg and Paganism / Atheism.
https://www.group-telegram.com/hammerandvajra.com/3848

My final statement regarding Varg and Paganism / Atheism.

After reading a majority of his works and watching his videos, Varg's theories can be summarized like this.

To him, Odin is your Id or "soul" consciousness.
This is just your genetic memory from your ancestors, and together is like a Folk Soul.
The Gods are just metaphors of your ancestors and the rituals and runes and stories of the Gods and depictions and dances and songs are all just ways to revive your ancestral memory and become the Gods. You have kids to pass them on to the next set, and the Gods live on thorough your DNA and are basically just your DNA. The placenta is Yggdrasil, where life is born, thereby Odin your genetic memory and DNA and ancestors go to your children and reincarnate through this tree or placenta.

I actually don't mind some of this because I believed in metagenetics...the issue is these metaphors are should be a way of understanding things that have even deeper meanings and the Gods should also be real both something you can tap into and become as well as their own high spiritual existence that is separate and beyond you.

He doesn't have that, there is no other depth, the Gods don't exist to him at all, runes, rituals, the Gods, symbols, ect, are all just metaphors to make you remember life and death and basically have genetic memory...and Odin isn't real but just the process itself.

There is no theology, Cosmogony, Cosmology, there is no way to become like the Gods or have apotheosis except by having babies. By his writings and expressed views, Heavens, Asgard, Valhalla, and Hell aren't real. They are all just metaphors for your life going on.

This is a humanistic atheist point of view. Acting as if all the Gods are is a natural phenomenon and metaphors is doing exactly what the atheist anthropologist and evolutionary scientists, that even Varg claims to dislike, do.

He will always strawman about how no one really believes in 8 legged horses and goats (which is a trap because of course those are metaphors), and how dumb and Christian like you are for believing the Gods exist on any level and are beings separated from or higher than you in any way. And as soon as you ask how that isn't atheism, he either shuts you down or his horde of fanboys come after you.

This is from my having watched a lot of his videos and owning many of his books (one of which is semi decent to a degree).

I don't mean him any ill will.
He is a good artist and family man.
He had a rough life.
But his views of religion, Paganism, and faith don't match up to anything historical or spiritual.
And many of his views with the Placenta reek of feminism and humanism and to be honest they are very much similar to the works his wife put forth in her thesis and current writings which makes me think he arrived at these conclusions after marrying her as his views of Paganism seemed to have changed over time.

She seems to be a splendid lady and good mother, so I mean her no ill either.
However, don't agree with either of their takes regarding Paganism.

Tbh I explained it here too well and did him too much justice he doesn't even present his work this concisely.
Most of his books are a small amount of pages in large print that say placenta placenta placenta or the Gods are just phenomenon or mental memories of the past locked in your mind and DNA...but don't exist.

Somehow, he and many of his fans will tell you this isn't atheism.

The thing is, I agree with him on these aspects to a degree... but those aspects are just a part of the greatness of the Gods and the cosmos..not the sum of it.

If he changes his mind or decides to produce a book that fully explains how he believes in the sentience and divinity of Odin and the Gods beyond just metaphors, placenta, and DNA, I will cease to calm him an atheist.

This isn't to start any flame wars or insult him or his family.

This is just to address the many comments people make regarding him or recommending his work.

One of my followers had presented me with a few rebuttal points regarding this that they wanted me to address. Thereby, I present my answers here.

"they are real because they are us. we are the divine."

This is promethean atheism.
You are not divine but have the potential to be divine. The Gods are related to you, but they are above you, not just within you.
Them just being within you is psychology intepretations and Jungian like archetypes which they are more than that.

Varg say " Odin is the Sum of all our ancestors and the progenitor thereby alive within us"

If Odin is the sum of all ancestors via how Varg describes it, he doesn't exist or have any spiritual power or sentience. Either this is a form of atheistic singularity or something he himself can't describe.

"Varg believes in Hamingja and generational karma via the wyrd, so he isn't an atheist."

First, let's define Hamingja

In Norse mythology, hamingja (Old Norse "luck") refers to two concepts:

the personification of the good fortune or luck of an individual or family,
the altered appearance of shape-shifters.

Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-34520-2

Usually, this took the form of a female spirit or animal spirit.

Believing in Hamingja or a family karma system doesn't really make one not an atheist or agnostic because he never applies any form of deity or divine aspect behind them. It then just comes off as hippie spirituality without any belief in the Gods.

" Varg had a skiing accident where he had an out of body experience, meaning he believes in souls"

His skiing accident is pointless to mention. Out of body experience don't matter because he doesn't mention the Gods or any belief in them.

"His wife writes about theology, Cosmology, and Metaphysics in her books"

His wife's theology is all just metaphors and summaries of nature, which also is rather unwilling to make the Gods anything but metaphoric.

Anyone who actually reads his works and understands a definition of divinity would state he seems agnostic or atheistic.
Maybe a Pagan leaning or informed agnostic or atheist but not a Pagan or Heathen by historical or theological understanding.

I have answered all of these points, and tbh I'm tired of addressing Varg's spiritual opinions. They are what they are, and I have said all that needs to be from me at this point.

The Chad Pastoralist 2024 Roundup/Catchup

Declaration of Tradition

Paper Coverage (Archaeogenetics)

-Intergenerational Neolithic Gurgy Burial (Rivollat et al.)

-Genomic ancestry and social dynamics of the last hunter-gatherers of Atlantic France (Simões et al.)

-Patrilocal hunter-gatherer resurgence in Bronze Age Europe (Chyleński et al.)

-Steppe Ancestry in western Eurasia and the spread of the Germanic Languages (McColl et al.)

-Patrilocal Central European Bronze Age Communities (Gerber et al.)

Paganism and Theology

-Guide to Sacrificial Offerings

-Offering Alcohol to Wōden

-Binding and Loosing in Wōden Worship

-Wōden, King Henry II and the Plantagenets

-Roman Wōden Cavalry Mask

-Wōden's Multifaceted Nature

-Óðinn the Mover of Constellations

-Óðinn the Friend of Altars

-Óðinn, King of Asgard, Emperor of Valhalla

-Óðinn in Gísla Saga Súrssonar

-Óðinn the Father of the Gods

-Óðinn and Poetry

-Giving Oneself Unto Óðinn

-Gautatýr and Divine Ancestors of Germanic Peoples

-Encounter With a Pagan

-Loka Táttur and the Nature of the Gods

-Humans as Trees

-Norse and Frankish Berserkers in Ancient Europe

-Moral Objectivity in Norse Myth and Pagan Germanic Societies

Substack

-Becoming a Germanic Pagan - Advice and Guidance

-Woden as Mercury

-Odin's Self-Sacrifice

-Anglo-Saxon Pagan Spells

-Judgement and Punishment in Norse Mythology

-Descent and Reincarnation

-Norman Identity in the Middle Ages

Access more articles on the full Heryos Chad Substack...

Book Reviews

-Germanic Theology by Tristan Powers

-Demigod Mentality by Marcus Follin

Wōden's Grove

-Wōden Offering

-Winterfylleþ 2023

-Yule 2023

-Midsummer 2024

Other

-Environmental Changes in Mesolithic to Late Neolithic Scandinavia (TCP)

-Ancestry and Kinship Identitication in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe (TCP)

-Increasing Knowledge and Adapting Modern Worldviews as Pagans

-Anachronism and Adaptation as Pagans in the Modern World

-Alternative Theories on the Origin and Spread of Y-DNA Haplogroup I1

And, of course, the memes and everything in between!

See you in 2025.

'Nothing is impossible to him who will try.' -Alexander the Great

Decent roundup of articles from Chad.
The majority of them are things we agree on, with a few here and there we have debated and discussed here in the past.
Either way, pretty decent food for thought.

The channel recently read the folktale "Godmother death". This folktale is about Marena who brought up a boy and tells his father about the end of life in Nav, in which tapers are burning. When the flame reaches the end then Marena would visit to bring the person to Nav. The father changed the candle. Marena didn't appreciate the action and despite this she allowed it and when the father should have died. Marena refused to take him, because he changed his candle. This means death will happen, despite people wanting to help. Death treats everyone equally

Why did she accept the boy? He was born into poverty

The father and child learned how to heal people with herbs.