Read on Twitter
Since all this shit is really coming out now, I've been thinking about other subtle red flags in the W.o.O. community that I noticed, remarked to myself that it was odd, but then ignored it anyway cause i desperately wanted things to be what they were advertised as. One of these
things is this sort of distrust of any heathens (& especially non-Norse pagans in general) outside of the group. I remember when they were discussing building a physical hall & all that, i suggested maybe getting into contact with TAC since they are in the process right now of
creating a hof, so they might have some advice & i was met with derision to even suggest such a thing. There was advice constantly to "stay off twitter; stay on ig" ie where they have a stronghold & can keep an eye on you & where everything was a lot more insular. I think most
damning, yet on the surface seemed like somewhat good advice, was to ignore what others were saying & to only read the sagas/eddas yourself & use that alone to build your theology. I think it's important to read these texts & form your own opinions, but you also don't need to
reinvent the wheel. & this extended to "don't read blogposts" & "don't read what other people (read: those outside the group) are writing generally". It all added up to "don't talk to any one who isn't in the community. We're your family. They're outsiders". It always struck me
as so strange that Jacob never seemed to have any conversations with other pagans. He only ever talked about them being mean and/or jealous toward him & defensive that he was doing so much more amazing things than them. Everyone outside his insular community were gatekeeping
thugs. This always felt weird to me since i read a ton of different thoughts from a ton of different types of pagans (& non-pagans) & I've only ever found benefit in it. Even in reading things i disagreed with, it's helped me formulate *why* i believe the things i do & not these
other things. I dk. Looking back now, it's obvious that very little was about actual connection with the numinous powers & even just genuine community. & almost everything was about feeding Jacob's ego & puffing him up as some kind of special, pagan messiah
