and paganism southgate who has a degree in theology and religious studies from canterbury university rejected catholicism and moved towards neo pagan and heathen groups that are very loyal to the gods of the northern tradition including the odinic rite the tribe of the wulfings and the a satru alliance a pagan movement concerned with practising rituals and magic and led by valguard mike murray a former member of the american nazi party further evidence of this transition from catholicism to paganism emerged in an interview with wotan the organ of the charlemagne hammer skins southgate believed that wotan s celebration of the heroes of the norse pantheon represented the most genuine expression of european spirituality culture and identity another key expression of this identity is exhibited by southgate s interest in the militaristic cult of mithras and the pagan spirituality of the apostate roman emperor julian ii this rejection of christianity has an avowedly antisemitic dimension through the figure of christ christianity has judaic roots and is therefore irredeemably tainted only the weak continue to worship a dead jew the emphasis on the judaic roots of christianity however is regarded as of secondary importance to its usurpation of the rituals sacraments and hierarchy of the ancient pagan solar religion mithras which was introduced into iran and india by marauding aryan tribes from the russian steppes between bce and before spreading to the roman empire although it failed to defeat early christianity in the battle for religious supremacy during the fourth century mithras continues to be viewed by esoteric thinkers including evola and jung as an alternative path the west could have followed it retains its appeal as an initiatory cult or aristocratic order akin to the knights templar or latterly himmler s ss which the nrf claims had its origins in various anarchist droite circles l e the black sun and the thule society while christianity tried to neuter this vital expression of the aryan psyche the awareness of europe s faustian destiny is currently enjoying a renaissance within the occult milieu these ideas were also absorbed by thinkers like evola and rene gue non who discerned in them the fragments of a hidden albeit distinct and fundamental truth for southgate as for evola tradition is an an underlying current which both permeates and transcends all southgate s discovery of evolian primordial tradition and his consequent rejection of catholicism as the sole cosmological truth ran in tandem with his immersion in the industrial music scene this cultural vanguard is spearheaded by a number of gothic industrial dark ambient black and viking metal bands including allerseelen blood axis burzum current dark holler death in june endura mayhem ostara puissance and sol invictus though it also encompasses more commercial bands like cradle of filth although it would be an exaggeration to say that these groups conform to a defined political agenda their music serves to diffuse the ideals of mithraic paganism and nordic folk myths within this youthful underground subculture far more effectively than any number of meetings and marches could thus providing the perfect antidote to the spiritually enervating multiracial values of a globalizing system southgate has also noted the potential of the straight edge punk movement and its hard core of puritanically intolerant followers an interesting development given exaggerated reports of an emerging anti anti establishment pro bush right wing punk movement although southgate realizes that the groupuscular right cannot control music orientated youth cultures he believes a minority can be induced to take a direction basically conducive to our aims southgate seeks to do this through his online magazine synthesis which features a music section replete with interviews and gig reviews this is not simply cynical manipulation southgate appears genuinely interested in the counter culture he seeks to target his fanzine tribal resonance the voice of the racial avant garde reveals southgate s strategy of linking his ideas to the common language and the big ideas of our culture through the medium of musical subcultures and the creation of alternatives from without southgate hopes to permeate existing political subcultures transversally as the nazis did through a process of cultural osmosis that aims to recode the social symbology of the host culture so that its ideas can metastasize throughout the body politic recalibrating its genetic inheritance by creating cultural hegemony the groupuscular right believes it can forge the political space necessary for political and racial hegemony the struggle for cultural heg