
Survive the Jive Podcast
Survive the Jive podcast is about history and ancient religions and folklore. Hosted by historian Thomas Rowsell who is also a documentary film maker, this podcast focuses mainly on Indo-European cultures and most specifically on Germanic/Norse paganism. The podcast takes a holistic approach to programming that informs, educates and improves us. It sometimes covers scientific topics but is mainly concerned with pre-Christian religions of Europe. Sometimes the podcasts are based on videos from the YouTube channel, other times they are exclusive. Guests can include historians, scientists, musicians and religious leaders.
Latest episodes

Sep 12, 2019 • 17min
Sacred Mead of Poetry: What was in it and what did it mean?
Why do pagans love mead (mjǫðr in Old Norse)? What is the esoteric meaning of the mead ritual and what is its metaphysical significance? As for the substance itself, was it just an alcoholic drink or did it contain hallucinogenic mushrooms too? Why was it associated with the god Odin? All these questions and more are answered in this video. Learn more: http://survivethejive.blogspot.se/2014/08/hyperborean-hallucinogens.htmlThis channel depends on your support:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/survivethejivePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/survivethejiveFB: https://www.facebook.com/SurviveTheJive/

Sep 9, 2019 • 43min
Jive Book Review: Bronze Age Mindset
Bronze Age Mindset is a controversial book which came out last year, self published by an anonymous author who claims to be a Russian and calls himself Bronze Age Pervert. It is tempting to dismiss it but many are realising it has real substance. In this review i will explain what I liked about it and what I disagreed with. Is it merely a doctrine for national nudism or is there more going on? There is much to discuss!

Sep 9, 2019 • 28min
Pagan prayer and ritual - How to do it right!
How to pray like an Indo-European pagan. Where should you conduct prayers and rituals? What can you sacrifice at a blót and what libations can be poured? What should you say in a prayer and which god do you invoke?I answer these questions and explain the tripartite format of Indo-European prayer with reference to Sigrdrífumál and the cycle of reciprocal gift giving. I also show you what my shrine and idols look like and how I make an offering to them. This channel depends on your support:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/survivethejivePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/survivethejiveFB: https://www.facebook.com/SurviveTheJive/Music: Wolcensmen and Cefin Beorn

Sep 7, 2019 • 40min
Sacred Land - Pagan perspectives on barrows and ruins
Anglo-Saxon pagans appropriated the Celtic burial mounds and Bronze age burial mounds in a new religious context, using them to bury their own dead and also for meeting places. The Christians later adapted these burial places for yet another context, as an execution ground and a designated haunt of devils and demons. Pagans today often worship at Neolithic monuments in an anachronistic way quite incongruous with their original purpose, but this does not make it less authentic paganism when we consider how historic pagans themselves appropriated monuments of other peoples for their own purposes. Ancient structures inform our sense of the past within our ancestral spaces and this helps us to contextualise time, allowing us to understand the past and our relation to it through our relationship with the land. This talk was delivered to the Tiverton PagansThis channel depends on your support:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/survivethejivePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/survivethejivehttps://www.subscribestar.com/survive-the-jiveSource: Semple. S., A Fear of the Past: The Place of the Prehistoric Burial Mound in the Ideology of Middle and Later Anglo-Saxon England. (1998)Theme: Wolcensmen

Sep 4, 2019 • 4min
The Seafarer - Ezra Pound Translation of Old English Anglo-Saxon Poem
A reading of the poetry of Ezra Pound. This excerpt from Ezra Pound's translation of an Anglo-Saxon poem called The Seafarer is a quintessentially Poundian example in its treatment and translation of poetic forms. First I read the translation by Ezra Pound and then the original Old English Anglo-Saxon version. The translation by Pound is only of a segment of the poem so I have only read the part of the Anglo-Saxon poem that Pound translated. This recording was made in 2012. Truly this is the English language at its best, the translation by Ezra Pound is closer to the sound of the original, rather than the meaning, and therefore retains its style.

Sep 3, 2019 • 24min
Origins of Horse Domestication: Professor Outram explains
Professor Alan Outram, Head of Archaeology at University of Exeter is one of the world's leading experts on ancient horse DNA and the domestication of the horse. In this interview he explains how his views have changed since his 2009 paper on the Botai domestication of the horse. Prof. Outram contributed to a paper, published in May 2018, entitled, “The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia” in which the Yamnaya, most likely the Proto-Indo-Europeans, are posited as the potential domesticators of modern horses, rather than the Botai who were pushed out of Kazakhstan by the Yamnaya or related steppe pastoralists. He also discusses the role of the Sintashta culture in developing horse based warfare and chariots, the related Andronovo culture's contribution to Indian DNA and the Afanasievo culture's spread into East Asia.This podcast depends on your support:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/survivethejivePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/survivethejive

Aug 6, 2019 • 1h 42min
The Role of the priest in Indo-European society
Arya Akasha return to Jive Talk to discuss 'the Role of Priests' in Indo-European religion. What have the pontifex, the flamen dialis, the Brahmin, the Druids, the Godi and all the other priests of pagan religions in common? What is their social function and the justification for their authority? What is their relation to other castes and authorities? These are all important questions to consider for those who wish to call themselves pagans and practice Indo-European religions. This podcast depends on your support:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/survivethejivePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/survivethejiveSubscribestar: https://subscribestar.com/survive-the-jiveFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/SurviveTheJiveTelegram: https://t.me/survivethejive

Aug 1, 2019 • 33min
The History of Britain and her People
I gave a talk in London on the subject of Britain and her people. I begin with the prehistoric European hominids of the darkest regions of history and move past neanderthals to the hunter-gatherers of the Palaeolithic, Cheddar man and the WHG of the Mesolithic, the Anatolian derived farmers of the Neolithic and on to the Indo-Europeans of the Bronze Age and the Germanic invasions of the Migration era. All of this made us who we are today and we ought to be very proud!This podcast depends on your support:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/survivethejivePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/survivethejiveSubscribestar: https://subscribestar.com/survive-the...Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SurviveTheJiveGAB - https://gab.com/StJ

Jul 29, 2019 • 35min
How diverse were the Vikings? New DNA evidence.
A live stream in which I unpack the findings from the latest paper on Viking Age DNA from Margaryan et al (2019) Population genomics of the Viking world. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/703405v1This podcast depends on your support:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/survivethejivePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/survivethejiveSubscribestar: https://subscribestar.com/survive-the...Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SurviveTheJiveGAB - https://gab.com/StJ

Jul 15, 2019 • 1h 30min
Arya Akasha and the Nordic-Vedic alliance
Arya Akasha is a research institute headed by Tristan and Curwen who join me this evening to discuss their theories on religion. They study and live the wisdom of the medieval Norse pagan religion and the Ancient Vedic religion. Their theories concern all Indo-European religions but focus specifically on two: the Nordic and the Hindu. I have lots to ask these learned chaps and I am sure you do too!Learn more about Arya Akasha on their blog: https://aryaakasha.wordpress.com/This channel depends on your support:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/survivethejivePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/survivethejiveSubscribestar: https://subscribestar.com/survive-the...Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SurviveTheJive