Swabian Pride

by Sean Jobst 15 October 2018 One of my interests are megalithic sites, as I've always felt instinctively that the "official" timeline is used to mask something much older while suppressing knowledge that the ancients were far more advanced than we give them credit for. Perhaps this interest was first awakened growing up near a Native American mound in the Southeast USA, involved in preservation efforts that were a jumping off point into an interest in other mounds throughout the region. Fast forward nearly a decade later, and now that I've awoken deeper to my own heritage my interest in the various megalithic sites abounding throughout Europe has deepened along with it - almost like a synchronicity making my earlier interests more relevant to my spiritual/psychological growth. And imagine my surprise when recently I discovered that these sites likewise exist in Swabia. In this article, I examine three such sites along with the videos that enlightened me to thei...

by Sean Jobst 25 September 2018 "They celebrate in ancient songs, which is the only mode of memory and of annals that they have, how the god Tuisto was born from the earth. To him they ascribe a son Mannus [man], the originator and founder of their nation, and to Mannus three sons from whose name those next to the Ocean [sea] are called Ingaevones, those in the middle Herminones, and the others Istaevones. Certain of them, using the license that goes with antiquity, allege that more eponyms of the nation were born of the god - Marsi, Gambrivii, Suebi, and Vandilii - and that these are genuine ancient names." (Tacitus, Germania , 2.2-3) From this astounding passage, we can make several important observations. Even by the time the Roman Tacitus wrote these words in 98CE, our Germanic ancestors had a very ancient tribal lore that was transmitted orally through songs and memory, and this contrasted with the written annals of Rome. Tacitus regards the Germanic peoples as tru...

by Sean Jobst 4 September 2018 For the past year, I have been researching and following Germanic Paganism. It came after a spiritual and ethnic awakening (a long process that increased with time rather than a single event) that I'll speak about elsewhere in detail. But one thing I've noticed is that the Germanic Pagan groups and movements out there tend to focus more on the Scandinavian or the Anglo-Saxon, which is understandable since the most records have survived about those cultures. We should recognize our common Germanic lineage, from the most northern fjords to the most southern mountains and even the Mediterranean coasts. We all had a common Pagan understanding, with the same deities and worldview, the same archetypes and noble-heroic ethos. But there were slight variations in traditions between tribes and across times. And what has survived of Continental Germanic and Alpine paganism is far more fragmentary than holistic, which fortunately our brethren to the No...

"It has been evident for a long time that, of all members of all the Germanic tribes, the Swabian is the most difficult to understand and the most mysterious. In him the most intense contradictions are found. Often, in one individual, meet both extreme boldness and amazing timidity, rebelliousness and philistinism, winning kindness and resentful standoffishness, skillfulness and awkwardness, firmness and instability, mistrust and friendliness, soaring idealism and grounded realisticism." - Fritz Rahn, Der Schwäbische Mensch und seine Mundart: Beitrage zum schwabischen Problem , Stuttgart: Hans. E. Günther Verlag, 1962.

by Sean Jobst 26 January 2018 I am officially launching this blog as a celebration of the heritage, history and culture of the South German region of Swabia. The entries will focus on different aspects about Swabians and Swabia, and will be added periodically. The subjects will be in no particular order. Although born in the United States, I am the son of a German immigrant father from Schwaben. My paternal side has deep roots in the Ostalbkreis region especially, including the towns of Baldern, Aalen and Ellwangen. My direct ancestors later moved to Bad Canstatt, which is now an outer suburb of Stuttgart, but maintained the ancestral farm back in Baldern. Schloss Baldern Two ancestral lines I am particularly interested in following are my Schneider and Vaas lines. My great-great-grandfather, Alois Schneider, was connected to the forestry service and worked as a groundskeeper at Schloss Baldern, in the early 20th century. My Vaas line has roots in Ellwangen, but were origi...