00:03:00.000Hello, everyone, and welcome to an Adulting with Alan episode of Victory Never Sleeps.
00:03:15.580Thank you to Gauthier East and Folk Builder Savage for covering for me last week.
00:03:22.080Sounds like they did an awesome job and had a good show for you.
00:03:25.000I took the week off because my dad came down to visit us, and I had not seen him in quite some time.
00:03:31.740So it was nice and appreciated that I was able to have some good folks filling in.
00:03:39.140This week's topic is seasonally appropriate with Thanksgiving upon us tomorrow.
00:03:45.360Tonight, the law speaker is going to discuss gratitude with us.
00:03:49.260before we do a couple of top of the show notes I noticed over in the chat that Sierra says the
00:03:57.080law speaker episodes are the best so there you go there's there's it would be made to argue
00:04:03.860fair enough I happen to also be on those episodes so I don't really have a dog in the fight
00:04:10.180Okay. Coming up very soon, December the 6th, we have the Dedication of Phraseoff. That is in
00:04:22.540Austintown, Ohio. It is a once-in-anybody's-lifetime event. It's going to be very well
00:04:32.800attended. I think we're sitting at 129 people registered at present. Many of us will be
00:04:41.260there. I believe that law speaker, myself and producer Nick will all be in attendance
00:04:46.420as well as other AFA luminaries, including our founder, Stephen McNallan and his lovely
00:04:54.620wife, Githya Sheila McNallan. And they're very excited to see it. Everybody would love
00:04:59.720to meet you. So be there if you can. It's going to be well worth it. We'd love to see you there.
00:05:07.100If you're interested, please reach out to any of our folk builders or myself and we can get
00:05:13.020you squared away. But that's coming up on December the 6th. Speaking of phrase off, because I give
00:05:22.580all an update because that's what i do um and speaking of gratitude thank you for everyone
00:05:29.780being so very very generous um we have had an unprecedented run of generosity both with the
00:05:37.220payoff of njordshoff and with the contributions towards phrasehoff um if everything goes as
00:05:45.220it ought to and with our monthly payment i think we will be um one-third of the way done with paying
00:05:53.460off that hoff before it is even dedicated and that's tremendous and it's because you guys being
00:05:58.660generous so thank you very much um right now if you can see we are we have paid 39 247 so far on
00:06:09.460this off if you're interested and you're able runestone.org donate we would appreciate any
00:06:18.100help that we can get but thank you guys so much y'all are awesome and we're very very impressed
00:06:23.700speaking of being impressed by people's generosity gw farnsworth as always coming in with 50 towards
00:06:31.860the pop and 25 towards this broadcast thank you we appreciate you you are an example to us all
00:06:39.460So, that's what I've got off the jump today. So, oh, other plug. If you're at the dedication or you can wait and see pictures afterwards, we are all very excited to see the mural that Witten's Fawn has painted there in honor of Lord Freire.
00:07:02.760spectacular i'm very excited to see it in person and i am excited to show it off to everybody at
00:07:10.860the dedication and uh you know everybody threw pictures afterwards so that's another exciting
00:07:17.300note coming up and with that law speaker tell us about gratitude well thank you uh matt and i'm
00:07:26.320uh happy to be here and i guess you know i'll start by offering my own um
00:07:35.600sorry litany of gratitude the wrong word came to mind um you know i'm grateful to you for
00:07:42.000allowing me to talk myself into having this series on uh on our uh broadcast i um i sold it to you
00:07:51.760in a way because I think that it's important to talk about
00:08:13.260and I'm grateful to Nick for working diligently
00:08:19.860behind the scenes, making stuff happen that I have no idea how to do, but it always seems to
00:08:27.340work exactly right. So Nick, thank you very much for doing everything that you do. And to all the
00:08:35.380folk builders and volunteers and donors to the AFA, everybody does a little bit.
00:08:44.440But like Pam McCloskey, for example, you know, she's the she cooks a wonderful meal at every for every get to go that we have there at York's off.
00:08:56.640And, you know, that those sorts of things make, you know, make things happen.
00:09:01.500And it makes life pleasant when everybody does their little bit.
00:09:05.200And we should all be more expressive of our gratitude in that way.
00:09:14.440I guess we are right back um be right back the um so it did remind me in a um you know in a certain
00:09:24.620way my mother was one who um and I know that I sort of slided her this way and I you know
00:09:33.620And the last couple of weeks I've been feeling especially bad about that.
00:09:39.060She always, if she gave a gift, which she always did to anyone in her church that had a baby or got married or anything, had one of those life events.
00:09:55.440I think even a lot of the kids who graduated high school while she was in the church, you know, she always gave them a little gift.
00:10:04.740And her minister always told those people to write Miss Sarah a thank you note because, you know, although that is a lost art, right?
00:10:15.200I realize it's like the 1830s, you know, you've got to sharpen your turkey feather and dip it in the inkwell and send off this folded up piece of parchment in the Pony Express.
00:10:29.740But those are the kinds of things that have a lot more meaning, and those expressions of gratitude and appreciation can have a lasting resilience.
00:10:41.560I meant to actually have the thing that I could show you, the last one, and actually one of the other things that brought to mind, and it just was coincidence that with this episode coming up, but we get a bill every year for Odenshoff, for the Odenshoff district that is the volunteer fire department that maintains the fire suppression out there in that district.
00:11:10.100And so I threw them in like an extra 50 bucks and they sent me back a letter signed by a couple of their members, you know, this, you know, thanks for your, thanks for the extra, you know, and that's what generates gratitude is going above and beyond and, and just appreciation keeps it, you know, keeps it coming back.
00:11:31.980um in another one of those personal uh moments um matt i probably don't even remember one of
00:11:40.120those things that um we were at doors off i think it may have been this past year and you just looked
00:11:48.560at me go you know i appreciate you i appreciate the work that you do for us and obviously it
00:11:54.680you know it echoed with me to uh you know to have you take just that extra couple seconds and say
00:12:01.480thank you for um occasionally being useful so uh you know so and and so it
00:12:09.200um my heart grew three sizes that day um so uh thank you for remembering to do that
00:12:17.760um and the the other important thing that i that i wanted to bring up on the um on the front end
00:12:26.480of this discussion about gratitude, well, two things. The first is, I think that one of the
00:12:32.960reasons I think that gratitude is a proper topic for adulthood is that children, adolescents,
00:12:44.000they just take everything for granted. Everything is just presented to them as a given. There's
00:12:50.620always food you know the lights are on there's a roof over your head there's gas in the car
00:12:56.660and children are not required to think about those sorts of things most of us in this modern era
00:13:03.040our children don't you know just never have to worry about um you know what the what how all
00:13:09.680that stuff's going to work so they are allowed during their childhood and um minority to take
00:13:17.200those sorts of things for granted um but once you become an adult and you know how much work goes
00:13:23.500into the turn for those sorts of things to happen you know clean clothes don't just appear in the
00:13:30.260uh in the dresser you know some there you know there's some mechanism underneath that that happens
00:13:36.300so that that can so that that can go um i think in the bigger political picture um the
00:13:44.940the ungratefulness that we see expressed against Western civilization is sort of an adolescent rebellion.
00:14:01.080Like all this stuff just sort of magically happened.
00:14:04.180We were as if the thousands of generations of literal blood and sweat that made our progress and liberty what it is today, that's all ignored by certain elements of our society who just take all that for granted.
00:14:33.660Like, you know, as if it popped into existence five minutes ago just for their benefit.
00:14:39.120Air conditioning, refrigeration, internal combustion, illumination, you know, those sorts of things made this soft life possible.
00:14:49.760And we should honor that sacrifice that came from our progenitors and express our gratitude by maintaining their civilization in a way that's recognizable and can carry on to our descendants.
00:15:16.040what that all should look like by keeping this civilization intact.
00:15:22.040And then more narrowly, in particular, in the Ositrim Folk Assembly
00:15:30.480and some of the disloyalty that we've seen among some of our former folk,
00:15:39.900Um, you know, I, I think that that too shows a lack of gratitude among other things.
00:15:47.920I think, and that's, and I tie those two things together, that gratitude generates loyalty.
00:15:55.360Um, that, uh, for example, I'm grateful for the amount of work, Matt, that you do that,
00:16:02.840you know, cause it's a lot of, it's a, and I think a lot of people know, but maybe, you
00:16:08.440You know, even I don't really know, you know, the 80 or 120 hours a week that you put in to, you know, to keep this looking effortless.
00:16:20.280And many of these people who have broken off from the AFA to do their own, I'll eliminate the majority, to do their own, you know, to take their little splinter sack and go sit in the corner by themselves.
00:16:38.440You know, they would never have known each other for the most part without having come through the AFA.
00:16:47.400They would never have been introduced to the proper way to interact with the gods without the inspiration and instruction that has come through the AusTruth Folk Assembly,
00:17:02.120through our founder Steve McNallan, through your work, through our dedicated Gothar and the efforts
00:17:10.680of our folk to make this better and to make it work in the way that it does. And to take that work
00:17:20.360and go in some separate direction, I think not only certainly is disloyal, but I think it
00:18:53.500But in the great grand scheme of things, like with my parents, right, they did some stuff that I would have done differently and did do differently when I was raising my kids.
00:19:02.920I'm sure my kids think incorrectly that I made some mistakes raising them.
00:19:08.480But at the same time, you know, we, my ex-wife and I, impressed upon our children the idea of gratitude.
00:19:22.680And certainly one of the ways that we did that,
00:19:26.660and I would recommend it to anyone with children or even adults,
00:19:31.280one of the things that we used to do is at every,
00:19:34.700many of our dinners that we had together,
00:19:42.440what you're thankful for, you know, for the food,
00:19:47.500for the lights being on, for the teachers that were teaching the kids.
00:19:53.580We were all grateful for many things, but that's the sort of thing that can easily be taken for granted
00:20:01.000if it's not impressed on young, formative minds.
00:20:10.460And that's kind of the spiel that I wanted to open with.
00:20:16.080And then, you know, with that, I'll remind those listeners out there that, you know, we always think of this as cumulative.
00:20:26.120So if you have other questions about that or how any of this interacts with that or any of the other prior topics that we've talked about here or anywhere else, you know, I am passingly familiar with the lore as well.
00:20:38.960So if you had a if you want to throw a softball at me, I would take that as well.
00:20:45.220Well, while we've got a break, I don't want to jump in.
00:20:49.700I think that you diagnosed a lot of the flakiness of some of our people and the disloyalty that we see sometimes.
00:20:59.840Accurately, when you talked about it being a type of an adolescence or an adolescent kind of response to things.
00:21:10.720So, I mean, just up front, disloyalty is bad. People who are disloyal are turds. We don't like them. But that said, we do like them when they wash themselves off and want to come back and figure it out.
00:21:24.320And we have a lot of people that have gone through the step of, you know, thinking they know better, thinking the grass is greener somewhere else and realizing, you know, in whatever time it takes them that it's really not.
00:21:39.760And that the things that it's kind of about that taken for granted, they assume in their head how things should be.
00:21:49.340And I was so full disclosure, I was very much like that when I first joined and when I first got involved in Asitru, not to the point where I was disloyal by any means.
00:21:59.520But, you know, I was in my 20s and we should do this different and that different and this other thing's different and, you know, all this.
00:22:07.460And I thought, because this is something that is a big problem for our young men today.
00:22:18.180They spend a lot of their time in their head.
00:22:22.660We have very smart people, but the smartness is not seasoned with wisdom.
00:22:28.600and so in a vacuum under the conditions they imagine in their in their head and in their
00:22:34.840imagination yeah of course they know the right thing to do and it's like on tv if you're writing
00:22:41.400the script then of course your hero can always be right because you're creating the scenario
00:22:48.040but in real life when you do things and you know i appreciate that number of months back you you
00:22:54.680brought to mind um president roosevelt's uh not the commie one president roosevelt's uh
00:23:01.400quote about the man in the arena because we are in a world that is disproportionately
00:23:10.120critic heavy and social media and our current discourse and just how things are
00:23:16.040lend themselves very well to that or to fostering a perpetual criticism of things but not really a
00:23:24.440balance and actually going out and doing stuff so so many things that we appreciate all take
00:23:32.760really hard work and um one of the things that's interesting to me and this this cuts both ways
00:23:42.920but it's something i mentioned you know a number of times and you know alan you've
00:23:47.720been around long enough to to know the truth of this whereas a lot of people don't
00:23:51.400it's funny the things that people just assume happen or ought to be and i don't fault anybody
00:24:01.060for this you don't know what you don't know but a lot of the times people reach out
00:24:06.040very eager like wondering if we have a hof within 30 minutes of them
00:24:11.920and they're like shocked and like surprised that we don't and it's weird because that's
00:24:24.600so bittersweet it's strange because that's so bittersweet um and thank you for keeping
00:24:30.380us mindful of word usage i think it's really important and it keeps our head in the game
00:24:35.780on the one hand the fact that we have in 10 years gotten five Hoffs is amazing and I'm very grateful
00:24:54.580for that the fact that we've set the expectation that no of course Hoffs are things Hoffs should
00:25:00.280be everywhere of course we have Hoffs it doesn't occur to people new to this that there was a time
00:25:04.980not so long ago we didn't have any homes that's beautiful and a wonderful thing it's also
00:25:12.160frustrating to some of the old timers like back in my day but again I do think it goes to gratitude
00:25:19.880because that's hard work every time someone wants day one to roll into an established community of
00:25:26.620Alcetru are in their area, they don't factor in that every place there is that healthy
00:25:34.580community started with nobody and then one person saying, hey, I wish we had more people
00:25:42.520doing this. I will invite people over. I will host something at my house. I will get people
00:25:49.080together at a park or a restaurant. I will do it again and again when people flake out
00:25:55.660or discourteous or don't show up or it doesn't work out the way I want it to, I'll keep going
00:26:00.380until momentum takes hold. And there's a lot of those people that have stuck it out, been consistent
00:26:08.500and by their hard work, we're able to have the nice things that we have. And so I'm very thankful
00:26:15.900to those people. And, you know, you mentioned some folks and I think it's, you know, good a time as
00:26:21.340any to mention a couple of things and a couple of people. Producer Nick, I say this, and
00:26:33.520there's a bit of competitiveness, so I hesitate to, but I will say that Nick is firmly top
00:26:43.420five but if i'm being honest i think man hours put in nick probably puts in the most hours per week
00:26:55.260making the ostrich folk assembly happen than anyone else myself included and nick thank you very much
00:27:03.740um a couple of other people that i don't know get all the shine that perhaps they deserve
00:27:10.540somebody else that has put in a lot of work especially over this last year is uh folk builder
00:27:19.100chris savage a lot of the stuff he does is behind the scenes uh helping me with variety of different
00:27:25.580things doing history work doing a lot of stuff that i don't know that you guys all see and i
00:27:30.540think it shines when he is on the program but chris does a lot for us and for this and so we appreciate
00:27:39.020that you know all of our folk builders do this and make this work and i don't know if everybody
00:27:51.340realizes but there's you know an ongoing work-related discussion all day every day on
00:27:59.100implementing our mission and making this happen and our folk builders are
00:28:03.820so vital and so very much appreciated you guys are awesome
00:28:07.020I think that our founder Steve McNallan gets a lot of praise and a lot of shine but I think he
00:28:18.780is always do more there is something uniquely special and something that I and we all should
00:28:26.580be uniquely grateful for when a pioneer steps out where there is nothing and makes something
00:28:34.680happen. And the fact that that something is tended to and makes it, you know, 50 years
00:28:41.260down the line to thrive and be healthy, that takes courage and commitment and vision
00:28:50.720and a lot of things that it takes a very rare breed to not only realize the need for those
00:28:58.700things, but then to go out and shape that into the world around them. So to Steve, we should all be
00:29:04.500very grateful, and I certainly am. I try to make sure I tell him as much as often as I can,
00:29:12.120but also somebody that for, you know, since the very beginning of the Oustru Folk Assembly
00:29:17.860and up through and continuing, and I'm sure will be so for the rest of her life and beyond,
00:29:26.820Githia Sheila MacNallan has been, in a lot of ways, the beating heart of this forever.
00:29:32.200Her motherly, feminine way of making note of each and all of our members and their families and the situations they're in and the struggles they go through and weaving together those bonds that really make the AFA such a family.
00:29:57.700And in a lot of ways, and I've said this before, Alan, I am tremendously grateful for you and the stuff that you do and the work that you put in and the advice and the counsel that you give me on things.
00:30:16.800Those of you who are just listening in or may not know or whatever, you know, Alan has been there as, you know, someone that I go to for counsel since day one of my administration.
00:30:31.080And he is very often the wheat to my frosted as the mini wheat goes.
00:30:39.460And it's one of those kind of good signs that something is a good idea.
00:30:45.200If he and I are both exuberant about something, then chances are it's a pretty good deal.
00:30:53.940But that has helped me in a lot of ways.
00:30:56.940It's funny that, you know, the title of the this series, the adulting with Alan may sound cheesy or whatever, but I really wanted to go with it because Alan is who I go to for adulting advice often on different things.
00:31:13.460And that advice has been invaluable. Also, something that I think a lot of people don't realize, Alan is the reason that we have Baldur's off.
00:31:24.120during that process um alan saw a lane opening in a possibility if we had enough cash on hand
00:31:35.280at the right time we could go ahead and swoop in and make a purchase on something
00:31:39.300and his planning and vision on that was the reason that in 2020 we got two hoss that year
00:31:46.480and that's for boulders off well that's the thing and that was a rare opportunity that you know
00:31:53.340hasn't come since may not come again that was a perfect storm of things but you read that in the
00:32:01.900in the the weave of of orlog and you saw it coming you prepped for it and you had us ready
00:32:09.500and that's that's why we got two hops that year and that's why we have uh balder soft so thank
00:32:13.980you for that it's unsung i don't think a lot of people know that but that's absolutely 100 the
00:32:19.740truth i had fun getting the permit though so uh you know it wasn't all work so that's the thing
00:32:29.900too it is really cool and big timey to have a legitimate bona fide uh you know board certified
00:32:42.700lawyer on the team of things it's nice when we did have to um advocate for our permit in murdoch
00:32:51.660to be able to send up our high-powered lawyer from florida to go and and edumacate those people
00:32:59.100on uh on things that was a really good feeling and a kind of a a neat turning point in the
00:33:05.260development of of Alcitru in modern place that really was kind of a
00:33:13.340I don't know it was a mark of of maturity and competency on our part and it was facilitated by
00:33:18.780uh our law speakers thank you for that also you're welcome I'm glad I could go up there and uh
00:33:24.780represent the the the right face of our of our folk and our people well so
00:33:33.020So while I have the floor, I'm going to mention something else.
00:33:38.320For our international audience, this might seem odd.
00:33:41.200A number of years ago, we had like three Brazilian members that got very angry when I, in the AFA voice, was celebrating Thanksgiving.
00:36:34.280um but it's a pretty direct adaptation of you know just a harvest festival which you know there's
00:36:43.660there is nothing more pagan than being thankful for the bounteous fruits that are given to us by
00:36:51.520the earth mother so you know pish tosh yeah it's it's it's silly i think that too many people
00:37:02.120And again, this is part of that adolescent ingratitude. I think a lot of people come to some realization in their life that they don't like Christianity, they need something different.
00:37:15.340And then they don't know a lot about Ausatru or about Viking culture or whatever.
00:37:24.580And they jump in immediately full barbarism and, you know, throw all the baby out with the bathwater.
00:37:33.020Anything clean or dignified or proper or nice.
00:37:43.120um it's it's silly and ridiculous but i understand how people start there it's tragic when they stay
00:37:55.540there but i get starting there at some point but i don't think enough is is paid to that like like
00:38:03.400you mentioned it's absolutely an evolution of the ancient harvest festival that is all about
00:38:12.280being thankful and reverent for the bounty of the year and that is a religiosity that existed in
00:38:22.360europe far far before the the coming of of jewish christianity into into our homelands
00:38:30.520um it's absolutely one of the things uh it's interesting just comes to mind you know the
00:38:37.640sigdrifimol prayer uh prayer you know hail the earth all giving um the idea of appreciating the
00:38:46.600the giving nature of divinity of the world around us and the forces within it is essential to also
00:38:56.520true in direct contrast to the uh to the christian idea which is dominion over the earth you know we
00:39:04.200you know we beat the earth into submission as you know as their idea as opposed to working
00:39:09.720cooperatively to you know to uh you know to receive the gift of the gods and give back in
00:39:16.680return in life yeah um something that's i think witten erickson has you know crystallized in a
00:39:31.480way that you know hasn't been presented before or whatnot our worship practice is all about the gift
00:39:39.000cycle between the gods and us and the gods uh infinitely and yes it is that but it's really
00:39:48.760important to be grateful and make note of they started it like the first giving of things
00:40:00.920to us were those those gifts of oath and villi invade that made us us they initiated that gifting
00:40:11.160cycle way back when and if not for the gifts that they bestowed on us none of us would have the
00:40:17.720things that we have or be here today and do this so having a disposition of gratitude towards the
00:40:24.040is completely noble and appropriate and something that we should be you know we should always be
00:40:32.600conscious of and i think that once people get past that adolescent phase they very much are
00:40:40.360i certainly went through it you know we you know as you say you know back in my day i mean any
00:40:47.720gathering of hospital was you know was a long discussion about the anger um that we felt for
00:40:56.520having our rightful heritage taken away and misused and so forth but we have matured i think
00:41:04.120as a faith to now we're sure that happened but now we are in a now we're in a different place
00:41:12.440You know, and again, with gratitude for the liberty that's bestowed on us in this country where we can, you know, express our own religiosity where we're not subject to severe penalties, you know, for openly worshiping a non-Christian God.
00:41:35.520I mean, that would have been unheard of 500 years ago and certainly would be unheard of in many religious countries today and that, you know, that practice a different type of religion.
00:41:53.120So the liberty that we have, and, you know, I have often expressed gratitude in Summel and elsewhere for the founding fathers who brought forth on this land a new nation that allowed us to have these expressions of liberty.
00:42:12.100um we all forget that it should be liberty under duty um you know that that it's not all rights
00:42:23.600there are responsibilities that come with citizenship in this great republic um but it
00:42:29.520should also um be again with an idea of gratitude yes you know these things are imperfect um but
00:42:39.040But they are a far cry better than anything else that's ever been promulgated in 2,000 years that we know of.
00:42:49.740I mean, they're part of the Roman Republic that would have been good to live in if you were Roman.
00:42:55.280You know, there's, it's interesting and I, it is unfortunate that we notice gratitude when we see, or that we often are reminded of gratitude when we see counterexamples.
00:43:19.540You know, I think that we all spend a lot of our time noticing stuff that's wrong with, you know, specifically those of us living in the United States.
00:43:31.640There's a lot wrong with it. There's a lot of bad things that go on in our country and in our government.
00:43:37.540And I get that. But it's times where you look to our neighbors to the north in Canada, to folks in the United Kingdom.
00:43:48.720them, and you become very grateful for the for not living there. And I think that those
00:43:57.480people can probably look at some, you know, savage Central African nations and other places
00:44:06.540that they're probably real grateful they don't live in also. And it's just I guess the point
00:44:12.040I'm trying to make, and it's not really a political one so much as it's all too often
00:44:17.460we forget to be grateful for things until we notice a stark contrast to people who have it
00:44:23.460worse than us. And that's unfortunate. We should have gratefulness and gratitude
00:44:31.500at the forefront of our mind much more often than we tend to. And that's a so and that's a thing.
00:44:39.440And I'll admit this or put this out there. It's something I try really hard to remind myself of.
00:44:47.460In managing the duties of the AFA often, because they're immediate, I spend a lot of time focusing on putting out fires or fixing problems or, you know, dealing with things that aren't optimal because those are things that, like, there's an urgency to fix or to do something to address.
00:45:13.640it's important to spend time noticing all of the things that are optimal and that are amazing and
00:45:21.200that are functioning well it's unfortunate it's like people with a great number of kids that
00:45:26.140focus all their attention on you know one that's difficult or that's struggling instead of the ones
00:45:34.040that are you know all the others that are being very successful so it's important to just stop
00:45:39.320and notice sometimes like, wow, we have some really good stuff and that's amazing and being
00:45:45.460thankful of it. I think we all have an abundance of good things in our life if we stop and take
00:45:52.860note, but it does, it's a, it's not an automatic response. It's something we have to train
00:45:59.940ourselves to do and train ourselves to look with an eye of gratefulness at times. So I would
00:46:10.100encourage everybody to, when you notice yourself being grumpy about things, take the effort to
00:46:17.960itemize the good things too. And I think that it changes perspective quite a bit. At least it does
00:46:23.560for me when I get in a, in a particularly grumpy, uh, frame of mind. Uh, no, you're, you're absolutely
00:46:30.660right. The, um, it, it is all too easy to focus on the rough spot and not see all the smooth
00:46:37.240that, uh, that is all around it. Um, one thing that I have been forgetting to say, but don't
00:46:45.060want to let it go unsaid, um, for all of you members out there listening, one way that you
00:46:52.160can express gratitude um to the aesir and to your uh ancestors for bringing you into this place
00:47:02.460is to go to your hof go to the local hof the the work that we've put in to get this is a
00:47:09.860is a testament to all of our hard work and dedication and it's always the and more makes
00:47:23.820more so you would be well served yourselves to to go and be part of the Hoff community because it
00:47:32.680is like um i know it yours often i'm sure it's uh the same everywhere like the regulars who come
00:47:39.880there i mean we are very much like a big extended family and you can be part of that extended family
00:47:47.960and um show mr flavel here how great grateful you are for his 14-hour days by uh coming in and
00:47:57.640And joining us for food and celebration, because that is a rite that can no longer be denied to you.
00:48:05.700It's one of those things that can seem daunting when you're in a funk or you're lazy or whatever the deal is.
00:48:42.420It puts you back in sync with the right things and the right order of things.
00:48:49.320It is something that I'm very grateful that I'm able to do and that everyone I know who attends their local Hoff is grateful for.
00:48:59.920And I want you guys to have the chance to be grateful for it, too.
00:49:03.140So make that make that effort to do that.
00:49:07.260We got a couple of couple of questions.
00:49:10.400First one is a Nick request that we answer one that I guess was already answered last week, but not by us.
00:49:19.320Okay. Hey there, question for the show tonight. How has being Ausatrue impacted your role in your families, be they as sons, parents, husbands, siblings, etc.? Do you find that being Ausatrue inspires you to do things in your familial relationships that you may not otherwise do? Thanks. Alan, how does Ausatrue affect your familial interaction?
00:49:45.800Well, first of all, I think it reinforces the idea of the, you know, I think it's the Roman term, the paterfamilias.
00:49:58.680You know, this is a patriarchy, and I'm not embarrassed to advocate for that.
00:50:09.300You know, they have a say, unlike in other faiths and civilizations, we honor and respect what they do.
00:50:20.620But in the end, you know, the man is the, you know, the man is the final say.
00:50:28.720I think it and it's funny because, you know, I think we talked a fair bit about this during the episode that we did on child rearing where.
00:50:39.300You know, we talked about the delicate balance within Indo-European or Indo-Aryan child raising approach.
00:50:54.360You know, we we don't want to break our children's will.
00:50:58.820And that's the, you know, it's a delicate balance in there because I know it would be easy to, you know, to overdo the aspect of obedience, which is expected in other faiths and other civilizations.
00:51:16.540You know, the absolute obedience to authority is not how we raise our children.
00:51:25.240at the same time they have to respect who we are they have to respect that we have some
00:51:30.600vague idea of uh whether the stove is hot whether you should go play in traffic i mean
00:51:38.680adults are in charge for a reason so um but at the same time you want to so you want to raise
00:51:44.920your child with a healthy respect for rightful authority um but without bending their will that
00:51:51.960too is one of those aspects of um certainly informed the way that uh that i approached uh
00:51:59.640raising my boys um you know to to allow them to have to develop their own will and their own
00:52:07.480conscience um i think it also gives us uh the idea of courage um to you know to face the things that
00:52:17.640we know are unpleasant but you know it's um but just but it's still better to face those things
00:52:28.040with courage um to uh and just overall to take an approach that where you recognize
00:52:37.480that in the end it is your honor it is your family's honor that is at stake and i you know
00:52:45.480know, I would never advocate for the way that the Chinese are doing things with the, you
00:52:51.920know, that cultural credit system or whatever, you know, the everywhere surveillance, Big
00:52:57.480Brother style thing that they're doing, certainly given the lens to be in charge of that. But
00:53:02.280I think it is important for us to understand that we do have a lateral, a horizontal relationship
00:53:13.380to the people around us, that when one of us AFA folk does something
00:53:21.600that disrespects the entire culture, it reflects poorly on all of us,
00:53:27.640and we have that obligation to maintain decorum and a sense of integrity,
00:53:36.120recognizing that when we act, the world sees each of us as the only onus that they know.
00:53:47.000And so that, too, is one of the things that you just have to bear in mind,
00:53:52.440that we have to be a step above, not only because we are a step above,
00:53:57.600but because we carry the knowledge with us that whatever we do reflects on all of us.
00:54:34.040I think some of this is true for most faiths, but being a religious person, as opposed to being an atheist, it reinforces your obligations to your family.
00:54:51.260You are entrusted with a responsibility.
00:54:55.540Specifically, being also true, you know that your obligations and duties aren't just to your wife or your siblings or your living parents or your children, but also to your ancestors and all those who came before you.
00:55:11.480And one of my, I don't know, duties as a husband and as a father is to live in such a way that my grandmother and my grandfather would be proud of me and appreciate me carrying through the lessons that they taught me.
00:55:32.400And in turn, that makes their parents proud of them, even though both of those generations are long since beyond the veil.
00:55:46.380We're the keepers of something sacred passed down to us, that it's our job to pass forward to future generations.
00:55:55.920Our, you know, existence isn't a finite nihilistic, you know, 80 year lifespan.
00:56:02.400We are a link in a chain that goes back indefinitely. And it's our obligation to send it forward the best we can towards infinity. It's also, as Alan mentioned, it's our, you know, we don't believe in equality. Equality isn't true.
00:56:23.860There's no two things that are equal. But it's our job as as men to lead our families, to look out not just for, you know, physical needs of our family, but to instruct them and take care of them spiritually.
00:56:43.280When in our power to do so, to instill in our children and our spouse, the values that are pleasing to our ancestors and our gods, to help foster a relationship between our gods and our children in a way that sticks and in a way that is meaningful to them, to teach them our traditions, to
00:57:13.280And be an example of positive, also true to them, so that as they grow and they develop into the world, they have a solid faith to cling to, to hearken back to, and to have as a touchstone of how things ought to be in their life.
00:57:35.400Um, so I think all of those things, it, it fundamentally affects who I am as, uh, as a
00:57:44.320It also affects, you know, who I am as, as a son and making sure that, you know, even
00:57:51.120if it's difficult with your, with your parents, if there's differences in worldview and values
00:57:57.900and religion and a lot of things, recognizing the sacrality of family and going the extra mile to
00:58:06.000fulfill your familial obligations, even, you know, even when it's not easy, even when it's
00:58:12.900uncomfortable or awkward or, you know, you don't think you got a lot in common or whatever your
00:58:18.800situation is, making that time, because again, you know, fidelity to your elders and to your,
00:58:28.420your parents, that's a duty of an house to truer and something that I think is, is really
00:58:35.880important. It absolutely is. And that's, you know, and it should not go unsaid that as your talk,
00:58:43.780As you were going through that, that, you know, men absolutely have the duty, the obligation to lead in a way that is completely almost selfless in that way that, you know, that we have to put the needs of the family to the fore.
00:59:09.660And in this atomized, narcissistic, individualistic culture that we find ourselves in at the moment, you know, a lot of that stuff has been lost.
00:59:23.600And so I guess I'm expounding on the idea of the patriarchy, you know, because too many people, when they hear that, they think, you know, is some kind of absolute overlordship.
01:02:56.180We want to do things to attract their attention, but it's twofold.
01:03:03.260We don't want to attract their attention if we're a dirtbag.
01:03:06.300We want to attract and seek their judgment. But then we also want to be worthy of their approval and of them being proud of us. And that is an important obligation.
01:03:20.460You know, our gods aren't, you know, the creepy stalker looking at the minutiae all the time thing that sometimes gets expressed in Christianity.
01:03:37.140But when we invoke them and we invite them into our lives, we want to make them proud of us.
01:03:43.140And we want to do deeds and live in a way that they appreciate and, you know, recognize as good. And I think that being aware that we are accountable to something greater than ourselves is a very important thing.
01:04:04.860And, you know, thank you, Alan, for saying the things you said about my leadership in the AFA.
01:04:12.840And one of the things that there's not a day that goes by, but I don't think there's a six hour period that goes by.
01:04:24.220if I'm awake, then I'm not very aware of my accountability to the gods and very much
01:04:33.760conscious of trying to be worthy of that and to make them proud. And I hope that never changes.
01:04:44.020And, you know, if it does, I hope that you Tiger Crane kicked me out of the big chair,
01:04:50.600Cause I don't, you know, I wouldn't want to be in that spot, but, uh, I'm inspired by the chart
01:04:55.880behind you. Um, we'll start with a good stern finger wagging. Well, no, it's one of those
01:05:03.500things, leadership, be it in your family, be it in whatever you do, being aware of those who came
01:05:13.760before you, being aware of all of those under your, under your charge, under your leadership
01:05:18.820and being aware of that the gods look on at the things that we do
01:05:25.940should give you a sense of place and a sense of duty and obligation.
01:05:30.660And if it doesn't, then you're doing it wrong.
01:05:34.180So the constant presence of that in my life
01:05:38.420is something that is very much related to my being in Alistair.
01:05:43.940this has been my life for most all of my adult life um i've been also true for 24 years now
01:05:55.100it's hard for me to conceive of myself outside of that so when asked like well how does also true
01:06:01.820affect x y and z and and i don't this isn't braggadocious i don't mean it that way but
01:06:10.300something I've tried very hard for the last two decades to do is to merge my
01:06:18.700my life as an Ausitruer with all of the other pieces of my life to where they all work together
01:06:27.960and they're all you know inseparable like you couldn't separate where
01:06:34.460the non-alcitru mat is because that doesn't exist it's woven into all of the all of the
01:06:43.080parts of who i am and the life that i live i've been able very successfully to decouple you know
01:06:49.120to not have any of those everything works in synergy we in modern america because of
01:06:58.300world that we live in, a great many of us are very compartmentalized. Different person at work,
01:07:05.260different person at home, different person at the Hoff, different person in all of these things.
01:07:12.260And it's been incentivized for you to not express who you truly are in the public sphere. Sometimes
01:07:18.660I've been very fortunate that I've been able to construct my life in such a way that I can be,
01:07:24.140I don't want to be arrogant and say fully integrated, but I can be increasingly fully
01:07:30.200integrated into that. And my life is so much better for it. And I would encourage everyone to
01:07:36.060do that to the degree that you're able and, you know, seek ways to do that increasingly if you
01:07:42.080can. One of the ways that I've expressed it, and I think you have too, is that also true is not
01:07:51.500something that I do. It's something that I am. So when we talk about how does it influence all
01:07:58.140this other stuff, you know, there are certainly elements of stoicism that come about through in
01:08:08.820that way. I think it's very much, you know, part of my path included a time where I really
01:08:16.500considered myself a taoist um which you know which is very much um influential on the way that i
01:08:27.540approach my life as an author truer um but so what so one it's and i'm you know i'm the same way i've
01:08:38.900been doing this for 20 years now and i i feel like i've and in fact i feel like that's an important
01:08:46.260part of also true practice and one of the reasons why i started this series one of the reasons why i
01:08:54.340try to bring these matters to everybody's uh to the forefront of their mind because
01:08:59.380what that's exactly i think it's the healthiest way um to uh to approach um
01:09:06.980um socialization um your psyche your spirituality is to do it to do it all as an integrated whole
01:09:16.420and i think that the um i think the area in practice of also true provides exactly the right
01:09:27.220balance of all of those elements of psychology and sociology and leadership and
01:09:36.980And all those things, I think, are the most important way.
01:09:42.780They're the best way to live a good life.
01:09:45.780And that's why I keep my shoulder to the wheel like I do, because I want more people to experience the joy that we have felt in being able to live this life.
01:10:03.280Just a side note, we're now at 130 registered attendees.
01:10:06.980for dedication of Frazehoff. So that's awesome. It's really kind of blowing me away how much,
01:10:16.060how large that attendance is becoming. It's very auspicious for the start there at that hoff.
01:10:23.700so go ahead and take the first swing at this Alan how have you combated fear mongering of
01:10:36.460Alcetree or do you feel it's not important to deal with
01:10:40.120you said you're going to take the first swing at it or did you want me to no I offered you
01:10:48.080the first swing if you would so choose? Well, I can say, you know, a couple of things. I am
01:10:58.700self-employed, so I don't have to worry about my boss outing me or, you know, to go through that
01:11:07.580sort of thing because my boss knows what I do. At the same time, every client who hires me is my
01:11:14.920boss so um some of them have asked me about their about my hammer and about the other
01:11:22.520representations of also true that i have um in my office in there and i'm always honest
01:11:27.320and forthright about you know what it is i am and what i do um you know i think it's
01:11:35.640It's, you know, I think it's also important that people understand that while we are an exclusive religion, we, you know, we're not doing, we do that only in an inward looking way.
01:11:51.040Like we we're not practicing folkish also true in order to exclude anyone.
01:11:59.360That's not the purpose of it. The idea is this is an ethnic religion.
01:12:05.020Just and just like any other ethnic religion, it's you know, it is exclusive to Indo-European people.
01:12:12.800if people are going to be angry about that they are not going to hear any kind of explanation
01:12:21.100so nothing you say is going to is going to turn that in your favor so you just have to give it
01:12:28.640to them and you know they may come around to it at some point anyone with any degree of receptivity
01:12:36.860to rational argumentation will understand that.
01:12:41.760I've laid many people's fears with, you know,
01:12:46.000explanation very much in keeping with what I just said.
01:12:50.040And, you know, the other side of that is to emphasize that,
01:12:56.960you know, that we practice an internal faith,
01:13:00.240but it's not about, but we don't do it out of any spirit of hate or malevolence.
01:13:06.000We we love our people. We love our folk way and full stop.
01:13:15.020You know, so it's not about not doing other stuff. It's about doing our stuff.
01:13:20.080I mean, that's the that I think is the most important thing is to just express it in a positive way and for other people to see you in a positive light.
01:13:31.660and a lot of times it's simple stuff you know an example and i've i've relayed this before in the
01:13:40.340on the show but i was walking into lowe's one afternoon and um you know it there was a piece
01:13:48.140of plastic trash on the ground right in front of me and i just i didn't even have to break stride i
01:13:53.460just scooped down and picked that up put in the trash can and this lady's standing there and she
01:13:58.720goes that was so nice you know that hey aren't you an attorney you did my bankruptcy and so like
01:14:06.200just in that one moment it integrated that whole thing of caring for the earth and respecting my
01:14:13.440community and doing the right thing albeit it didn't caught me very much in that particular
01:14:22.700moment but it's being a good citizen and um and portraying those values and allowing your
01:14:31.980goodness and brightness as a person to overcome whatever
01:14:39.260false labels that people would try to put on us
01:14:59.560Lots of us have different stuff we don't like and plenty of things we're opposed to.
01:15:05.620But we're not defined by our opposition to things.
01:15:10.680And I think that's really important that we define ourselves by what we're for. All the things that we are opposed to are become there. They're out of circumstance. That's not the fundamental to our existence. That is a circumstance we find ourselves in that we have to combat.
01:15:31.820define yourself and mean this and exude this from your pores define yourself by the things you are
01:15:42.540for by the things you love not by things you hate or by things you don't like or whatever you are
01:15:49.180currently opposed to define yourself by what you are for and as the house of true folk assembly
01:15:56.220We absolutely do that. Best thing that I have found that combats anti-ouser true fear mongering, be a noble, good person.
01:16:08.780Not only that, be that and wear your hammer and be vocally ouster true when it's appropriate to that for that to come into the conversation.
01:16:19.240You don't need to yell that at people all the time, but when other people are expressing their religiosity, don't shy away from expressing yours.
01:16:29.720When people associate the nice person in front of them that they've known and that they have a good relationship with, with our faith and our values, it makes a very sharp contrast with whatever preconceptions they might have or whatever, you know, misleading media narrative there may be.
01:16:53.420I don't ever personally experience also true fear mongering.
01:16:57.920Now, as the AFA, sometimes we get that, but it's very quickly dispelled by real-world interaction with AFA members.
01:17:10.140That's happened in the only time that we have...
01:17:16.160I don't think that we have ever had an organic negative experience with our community of any kind of ausitru fear issue.
01:17:26.660But the media has generated fear concerns in Minnesota outside of Baldershoff, a little bit around Thorshoff, and the tiniest bit when we first opened at Njordshoff.
01:17:41.640All of those things have been very easily and relatively quickly dispelled by us being noble, good, nice, Aryan people.
01:17:52.940and it's very quick the it is a long you know there there's there is a struggle to convert
01:18:02.760people or get people to agree with us on all the things but it's not hard to get them not to be
01:18:09.180scared of us that's just showing up and being a normal human being and not being a jerk
01:18:16.360and that happens very very quickly um you know I recall with Njortzhoff I don't know
01:18:25.460if Shaniqua is the black version of Karen um we had two uh two black ladies in uh White Springs
01:18:35.640for those you don't know we're literally on the wrong side of the tracks in White Springs there
01:18:40.180um we're in the the darker part of that community and there's these two black ladies that
01:18:45.300I guess like taking walks near the Hoff and they'd read, you know,
01:18:49.580whatever the media has to say about us.
01:18:51.340I'm very concerned and they expressed the concerns really respectfully,
01:18:54.380honestly, on, on Facebook, they, you know,
01:18:59.480requested to talk to me about some things, some concerns they had.
01:19:04.740And I guess they'd let it said, you know, Hey, we,
01:19:07.160we walk our dogs by this place or we walk by there with our kids and we're
01:19:11.840scared. We don't know what you guys are going to do and all this other stuff.
01:19:15.300we had a food pantry there, I believe, like a week after dedication, and immediately it cleared
01:19:23.520up any issue. They were all very gung-ho. They needed to speak to me about their concerns.
01:19:30.800We had the food pantry and they disappeared. And I reached out. I said, hey, I haven't heard from
01:19:34.380you, but you were going to talk to me about some questions that you had. They're like, no,
01:19:37.920we saw you guys' food pantry. We walked by. You guys are great. We're fine. No problem.
01:19:45.300So the fear-mongering is media-generated, and it's very easily dispelled by the light of reality.
01:20:11.540I unabashedly use the term Aryan and I think a certain segment of our people think it's you know
01:20:19.740like me trying to be edgy or some kind of cool edgy dog whistle it's not it's not it's refusing
01:20:27.920to be you know bullied into not using something that I think is special but it's also a sense of
01:20:38.160pride as a self-identifier of our race and being proud of that but it's also a
01:20:45.440um a benchmark or an admonition to ourselves to be worthy of that because it means noble
01:20:54.000it implies you know a radiance to that nobility we should be that all the time we should be that
01:21:02.000when no one's looking but people are looking and as long as you are that and the more of us that
01:21:07.920are noble good people that are also true the more easily dispelled any kind of you know media driven
01:21:16.720fear-mongering is out there so it's not something you know the question is not something it isn't
01:21:22.400something to worry about don't waste time worrying about it but do be conscious of being proactively
01:21:30.160also true and putting your best foot forward as you do so the more of us do that the easier it is
01:21:36.160for all of the rest of us oh uh alan next question is for you are those tang sudo forms on the wall
01:21:47.440behind you no that is um that is the tiger and crane form which is the
01:21:59.840second of four forms in my particular system of hungar
01:22:06.160And if and this is a reproduction of an original printing in from Hong Kong in 1949, and it reads actually across the top, but left to right.
01:22:19.560Anyone who's interested, I would be glad to teach that to you.
01:22:26.080A very brief history since you expressed some interest.
01:22:30.560Um, uh, the Kung Fu instructor that I had knew dozens of complete systems of Kung Fu and he had a system that he taught us as a base and then would let us kind of strive after we got the base sets, um, would let us branch off in the direction that we found most appropriate.
01:22:53.060and hungar is what fit me it fits my body type it fits my um profile um and i could wax on and on as
01:23:07.540i sometimes do although i also wax off the um but it would uh but it works for me and i still do the
01:23:18.180system i i found that instructor in 1993 and so i did take some time off when i was raising the
01:23:28.580kids but so i've been basically practicing this system for if we if we clip out the middle part
01:23:35.860i've been doing that for 25 years and um you know that too is part of the i think practicing a
01:23:44.900martial art, very much in keeping with who I am as a, as an odinist, you know, as a
01:24:08.040it's hard because so many of our men don't have
01:24:15.920an avenue for a martial expression of that masculinity but it's very important
01:24:23.680that our men keep a martial bearing and a martial mindset
01:24:28.020because having it prevents or it staves off the necessity
01:24:37.080of manifesting it physically oftentimes.
01:24:43.080There's another question coming up that I risk bleeding into,
01:24:49.860But predatory forces in the world look for soft targets, they look for the weak, and they look for the cowardly.
01:25:03.820If you instill within yourself a bearing of strength, of courage, and of efficacy, it is much more likely that, you know, predatory forces will move on to somebody who is softer or easier to deal with.
01:25:26.640And that has rung true in my life in a lot of ways.
01:25:30.340I think that every man at least should learn a martial art, and that doesn't have to be an oriental one.
01:25:45.780But something to where your mind is in a tactical setting often and to where you have confidence in your ability to assert yourself if the need arises, that confidence goes a long way and it can be sniffed out by everyone around you.
01:26:13.360And it's not just in order to strike fear into your foes, it's also to give confidence to your friends and those that look to you that you are someone who has their back and who is, you know, they can feel safe around, especially women and children and, you know, younger people or older people or whatever situation is.
01:26:38.700it puts them at ease knowing that you are capable of handling situations.
01:26:44.200So, I mean, I'm very thankful for that in the martial arts that I've studied and been a part of.
01:26:51.560And I think it's cool that our law speaker is decades deep into the art of the tiger crane.
01:27:01.920How heavy are those arm weights that you train with?
01:27:08.700this is four of them when i use these i have five on each arm i weighed them up one time i
01:27:16.280you know these are the act these are the large um brass rings and you know so i do 10 sets with
01:27:24.520five of these on each arm i'm trying to work back up where i have more but and i weighed
01:27:29.880them one time i i can't remember i think that i think they're about a pound and a half a piece
01:28:00.680um major media is not geared towards that any media that would want to cover the afa in a
01:28:11.440positive way domestically in the united states unfortunately would by necessity not be major
01:28:17.760media um we have had a number of interactions with reporters that have expressed that they
01:28:25.400wanted to cover us in a positive way but that their editor had given them a mission of talking
01:28:33.320about racism or talking about the sexy woke focus that you know that is the focus of media now it's
01:28:44.440not about truth it's about agendas i don't mean to say that to be jaded i don't want to be that guy
01:28:50.840it just it is there's been alternative media people that have had um me and others on their
01:29:01.000shows to do positive things and that's been really nice uh those have had a relatively
01:29:06.200small audience but i appreciate all of them and that's been very nice um you know there was
01:29:14.680I don't want to throw them under the bus, but a major newspaper man out here in the West
01:29:30.100did an article on us and expressed like, man, I really wish that we could have done an article
01:29:36.840on you guys 10 years ago when we had a lifestyles or a religious section, because what y'all do is
01:29:44.320very interesting. Unfortunately, my editor wants us to do a
01:29:48.020story on on racism. So that is going to be the lens that that
01:29:52.240I'm covering this on. But that's happened a lot. So is what it
01:29:58.180is the important thing to say, though, is we have never, to my
01:30:03.940knowledge, had someone in the media who has doctored what we
01:30:09.580said or you know misrepresented it to the point that we were saying something that we weren't
01:30:18.620intending to say or that wasn't true so whatever slant they want to put on the story our
01:30:27.740presence our message has been able to be delivered in the words of our people
01:30:34.780in a good way that has had a good impact even when the point of the story is to do a hit piece
01:30:41.660one of the benefits that we have in the world today as polarized as it is and i think that we
01:30:47.180all see some of the negativity of that polarization but one of the positive things is
01:30:52.140people that are going to hate us hate us already a story about how terrible we are isn't going to
01:30:57.020make them hate us any different but there's a lot of people that agree with us and a lot of people
01:31:02.940that would really like to be with us and the biggest hurdle we have to growth is that so many
01:31:11.020people don't know that we exist every time our existence is put in front of more eyes of our folk
01:31:19.740we gain members and we gain fame in midgard and it always helps us as long as we are able to tell
01:31:28.460our side and that they're not you know doing a deep fake and having us say something we didn't
01:31:33.900say it always does work out to our benefit fortunately alan do you have anything to add on
01:31:39.260that the only thing i would say is the um a lot of the stories that came out around um the murdoch
01:31:46.860um permitting process around that time the press was even trying to interview other people trying
01:31:54.700to you know don't you know don't you hate those white people over there like no um i remember
01:32:00.940there was the one um black fellow that they talked to who said well as long as they stay in their
01:32:05.420land i guess they're they're you know i don't have a problem with it soldier slim big ups to
01:32:11.180the homie soldier slim in somewhere near linden north carolina and so you know
01:32:18.620know it is only those few woke overlords that uh that try to dictate this narrative everybody else
01:32:28.880you know recognizes that the emperor has no clothes that we are doing not only what is
01:32:35.640our right to do but what is right to do and you know you know i feel more sorrow for them than
01:32:43.460anything well something else that is a a result of that it wakes people up it wakes a lot of people
01:32:50.940up the folks in Murdoch I get it if you just google us and you read whatever hit pieces they
01:33:01.300do on us then I understand if somebody is concerned um I probably would be if I were them too
01:33:08.440I don't, I always wonder, and it's fanciful, but I wonder what our enemies really think that we do.
01:33:17.300You know, anybody who comes to our events, and if you don't believe me, trust, test it, come out to the dedication of Frazehoff.
01:33:25.240But, you know, we're naming babies and crying and hugging each other and worshiping the gods.
01:33:32.900Telling stories about our grandparents.
01:33:34.800yeah and like raising horns about you know our beloved grandparents and I don't know what they
01:33:41.760think we do but it's not we what we do is not that so um yeah we had a number of people who
01:33:51.000one of the articles and this goes to to the press the lady who wrote the article
01:33:56.460says and I quote I've gotten a lot of people stirred up about this
01:34:02.100no they go try to generate a problem to then report on the problem
01:34:08.740um no people who uh one of the the founders of the murdoch alliance against hate
01:34:15.640came by and apologized to us and said it you know what a blessing we are to have in their
01:34:22.020community we get little notes left in the mailbox about you know how how nice it is have us there
01:34:28.940and you know people have donated extra you know heating fuel and stuff because they had an overage
01:34:34.940just to be nice to us we've had great interactions one of the one of the people from from white
01:34:41.340springs mows the grass like he just you know he when he drives by and sees our grass needs mowing
01:34:48.540just you know i'm gonna go do these people a solid that's it's really nice and when they see
01:34:57.260that and they compare it to the articles written it wakes people up to the fact that they're being
01:35:03.260lied to and there's there's a benefit to that as well um but yeah i mean we work with the environment
01:35:09.180we're in if we have you know if the tables turn and we have media want to do a wonderful you know
01:35:16.060glowing article on us i look forward to that day until then we appreciate the opportunities that we
01:35:21.660get because again they all they all bring folk home to us the the the guardian hit piece that
01:35:29.420they did uh in in minnesota where uh witten brandy who i saw her in the chat from i don't know if
01:35:34.860she's still there she is happy thanksgiving brandy she did a wonderful job representing us to to that
01:35:41.420situation and the whole intent was a hit piece on us that's the single biggest recruitment
01:35:49.020thing that has occurred in, certainly in my time as Ausheri Gauthier, as far as driving members to
01:35:55.800us. So. Now, all that being said, if any of you guys know the producers of 60 Minutes,
01:36:03.220give them that number. Sure. That's the other, that's the other media stance thing.
01:36:10.920Unless they are overtly dishonest in a way that I know is dishonest,
01:36:15.800I'm very happy to interact with media in any way that, you know, if they would like to do a story
01:36:22.720on us, I'm game to do a story anywhere. Because again, what I'm going to say is what we believe
01:36:27.720and putting it out there in front of eyes that wouldn't normally see it is, is always a good
01:36:31.760thing. Next question is kind of interesting. And I'll take first swing at it. Do you think
01:36:40.780malevolent forces fear the hammer or the sign of it my daughter likes to grab an extra mjolnir
01:36:48.100whenever she spends the night away from us for protection
01:36:51.280the short answer is yes um i think that um and i think it works in two ways
01:37:09.760One, I think that the ice giants and other malevolent forces that Thor smashes have both a real and a ethereal existence.
01:37:37.400And I think that symbols, words, and symbols have the power that we give them.
01:37:47.320And so that by focusing the ideal of protection and force and strength into this symbol that we wear, I think that it both reinforces and creates the fact that that symbol has power,
01:38:16.260both as a symbol and as an object, and that has always been the way of our folk that by word and work, we weave the web of weird,
01:38:40.140And so by saying that it has power and by reinforcing that ideal, I think it absolutely generates power into that.
01:38:51.780And now, ultimately, that power comes from the Orlog, and it comes from the Ganungagap, and it comes from the owned or prana or chi that we generate as people.
01:39:15.480But to have that, but it acts as a lens.
01:39:17.960I think the hammer acts as a lens to focus and manifest that power into the plane of Midgard.
01:39:30.400Yeah, it's funny because it's such a simple concept and a simple question.
01:39:51.000i don't think yes in the same way that you see in like the exorcist or something like there's
01:39:57.320like a thing and you like ah power of christ compels you and you've got the the cross and
01:40:03.400like it burns the flesh of the the demon possessed or the vampire or whatever
01:40:08.200dialing it back do i think that malevolent spiritual forces are scared of the silver
01:40:18.820around my neck no do i think that they are scared of actual mjolnir and of thor yes
01:40:25.660but the hammer around my neck isn't something i'm going to beat them with a little tiny
01:40:32.120necklace hammer that's not the point it means something so first if it is spiritually imbued
01:40:43.180through ritual and through worship and through things I think that metaphysical forces see that
01:40:55.900in a different way than we see that and i think the object itself with time and ritual and stuff
01:41:05.580exudes a certain potency that i do think they recognize what else i think they recognize
01:41:12.060this is a follower of thor this is a a son of the icer this person has a makeup and a character
01:41:21.660that's integrated into their true self
01:41:25.240and to a line of ancestry that's powerful.
01:41:28.840This connects them to spiritual forces
01:41:31.660on the other side of the veil that are also powerful.
01:41:34.620I think when we invoke the gods into things,
01:41:45.580malevolent forces recognize that we are in trough with
01:41:51.120in allegiance to the Aesir, and that is a cause for concern for them.
01:41:58.600As I mentioned earlier, that says something about,
01:42:03.400when I was talking about the martial bearing,
01:42:05.700if you are empowered by taking heart in your religious affiliation,
01:42:12.200that makes you a less likely subject of being messed with by malevolent forces,
01:42:20.240all the more so if that symbol is backed by true practice and built relationship that I do think
01:42:28.400spiritual forces read on you and are aware of. We believe very much in our philia, our DC or
01:42:36.480spiritual forces beyond the veil that look out for us. The more aligned you are with that, I think
01:42:42.700that sometimes malevolent spiritual forces make note of that um it's funny i don't and
01:42:53.100i hope that i get a little bit of credibility because i don't go off on this too often
01:42:58.140and i try to be reserved in it because i think it is something that's worthy of
01:43:04.940being spoken about seldom but when spoken about very serious
01:43:09.500so i don't know anybody who i don't know if you in your life listener whoever is listening to this
01:43:16.140knows anybody that you trust has a degree of second sight but there are people who are more
01:43:24.460attuned to perceiving the spirit world than the rest of us it is interesting because around people
01:43:33.580that are increasingly spiritually attuned those people often notice that such a person is
01:43:45.100accompanied by other other beings other things there are spiritual forces attached to them
01:43:53.580i think there is also a certain amount of protection around yourself when you imbue
01:43:59.180yourself with that spirituality that others perceive as auras that other perceive in a lot
01:44:05.100of different ways but again we're talking about i don't feel like that is too fanciful when the
01:44:13.100question is do ghosts and goblins fear it i think that if we're going to go on that plane then i
01:44:19.580think it's completely germane to factor in positive things on that um one absolutely i think i think
01:44:27.180all those horses that you're talking about the at some level it's terminology chi prana kundalini
01:44:38.860owned uh thrill um you know those are all the same concept that we're talking about and the more that
01:44:45.740your um personality for lack of a better word the more that your soul and personality and life way
01:44:56.940is integrated into a holistic view a holistic way of living so that it is all one unified thing the
01:45:06.300the more intact your um psychic protection is going to be and this flows into the next question
01:45:17.020so i'm going to go ahead and bring it up because i think it's part of the greater conversation
01:45:20.460we're having um do you think a lot of people's problems today are spiritual a lot of people now
01:45:27.180don't believe in spirits so then negative spirits can affect them easier without them noticing
01:45:32.860anything yes um so okay yes we can we can talk and we will after this we'll elaborate on do you
01:45:45.820think that people's problem is spiritual yes but putting that aside i mean this and i mentioned
01:45:53.740it before when people have asked about like demon possession questions
01:46:00.620bad spiritual forces are real and i think we interpret them differently in different
01:46:07.180religious traditions but the phenomenon exists
01:46:11.420this and this was a contrast and this isn't it is a dig at christianity but it's not
01:46:21.140for the sake of being mean spirited it's an important point i think
01:46:25.940if your faith is about how worthless and helpless you are because you suck
01:46:34.480and you're terrible and everything you do is sinful and bad the only thing that's good is jesus
01:46:43.620so invoke jesus and like clench tightly till your hand bleeds on your crucifix because that's the
01:46:51.520only thing that protects you because you suck it inherently conditions you to be spiritually weak
01:46:58.420when we don't live in that fear of the other all the time when we have confidence and as you
01:47:09.900mentioned in the question when we have spiritual awareness and keep our spiritual head on a swivel
01:47:18.520i think it makes us much less likely to be victimized by forces that are looking for
01:47:25.080soft targets to victimize and i really do believe that um i believe that in you know and
01:47:35.080i think we make a mistake by conceiving of the non
01:47:43.320physically perceptible as other and like some unknown completely different thing
01:47:50.680I think a place to start is the rules that we exist by in our physical experience and work with those concepts in the metaphysical or the beyond the physical.
01:48:11.060And this is my own thing, and Alan may disagree, and I think there's room for people to have some different ideas on this.
01:48:18.060There was a time, and I know that other pagan traditions do a lot of warding against bad spirit stuff.
01:48:29.260There was a time in modern Ausatru where a lot of people spent time and effort, you know, doing a lot of protection ritual and practice to try to stave off all of these bad spirits all the time.
01:48:48.060I have never been a big fan of doing a lot of that.
01:48:53.300I think a certain appropriateness of that given a situation or given a threat, it makes sense.
01:49:03.100Like I don't act scared of all the stuff all the time, because that's the surest way in my experience to become victimized.
01:49:12.300When I engage in the spiritual and when I reach out and I open myself to spiritual things, I do so aware and with my head up and my chest out and confidently, not arrogantly to try to flex on malevolent spiritual forces, but confident in my connection with the gods, with my ancestors, with the forces looking out for me on the other side.
01:49:42.300And I think it's done me well. I think if you start, okay, now's the time of the program. I get into one of my mat bouncing stories. There's this guy I used to work with.
01:49:54.500okay first when i started in fights a lot of the time when i finished in fights almost never
01:50:06.440the difference i believe was how i carried myself when i started i didn't know what would happen if
01:50:13.820there was fights what if what if the guy doesn't leave what if what what if this what about we
01:50:18.900You can smell that fear and that uncertainty, and it starts conflict.
01:50:27.040When you don't have that going in, like, well, I'll handle it, I guess.
01:50:32.100And you go in without projecting that, it doesn't escalate the situation,
01:50:37.000and you're less likely to be somebody that gets picked on.
01:50:40.600This guy I worked with, he was always getting in fights with everything
01:50:43.820because he was so scared all of the time about whatever was going to happen.
01:50:50.980So every situation would escalate because everybody in there could sense
01:50:55.680that he wasn't confident in what he was going to do.
01:51:00.020So having a certain amount of confidence when dealing with stuff,
01:51:03.660and I know this is meandering, but it does go to the question.
01:51:07.660When you are aware of the spirit world and you accept it as a real thing
01:51:12.700and not something that you're scarif scared of the unknown of but that you're confident in your
01:51:18.940i don't use matrix in the the thing but that you're conf you're confident in your relation
01:51:24.780to the spiritual i think it makes you much less likely to be victimized by something metaphysical
01:51:32.940and that was a strange and meandering conversation i hope that it made some sense
01:51:38.140law speaker if you would like to add anything or bring i agree 100 and i have said many times and i
01:51:44.780and i'm um i think i'm echoing uh mr mcnallan on this you know that the the problems in our
01:51:55.420civilization right now are a soul sickness um that's why we have these
01:52:01.420These aberrant manifestations of psychosomatic illness in all of its many iterations is that people don't have those psychic defenses against these malevolent forces.
01:52:20.140And, you know, whether you want to think of it as something that's more mundane, you know, at a more mundane level, you know, the whispering of Gimli Wormtongue in the ears of these teenagers, you know, about how many genders there are, you know, or about all these other insane expressions of radical egalitarianism.
01:52:50.140and all that stuff that has never existed anywhere in any civilization that lasted very long.
01:52:57.480But people don't have that unified confidence because they have been taught
01:53:05.620that to even discuss these sorts of ideas is wrong think.
01:53:11.660So it lets those psycho-spiritual influences in
01:53:16.900because you don't have your defenses up.
01:53:20.980And, you know, when you're sitting alone at home by yourself,
01:54:16.080But in a lot of ways, just erodes your self-confidence. It doesn't make you whole and healthy. The fact that there are psychosomatic effects on your health illustrate this in a profound way.
01:54:30.940The fact that placebo things, you know, magic feathers work tells you something. There's a capability there and a health there that absent external stimulus, you are not accessing.
01:54:46.080And some of that is because you don't have a confidence in who you are, a pride in who you are.
01:54:55.020Pride in who you are and where you come from and sincere faith in your native, inborn, blood-tied spirituality and religion.
01:55:08.860When you separate a person from that, it weakens them.
01:55:13.140And it weakens them in a very fundamental way.
01:55:16.080And we've seen it with a number of different peoples of the world in different ways.
01:55:24.100I don't think if we're having this conversation, anybody listening, if you're, you know, an American Indian, if you're an Inuit, I think that, you know, you guys agree with us in this spiritual sickness way.
01:55:38.980When you're separated from your culture, your tradition, and your gods, leaves yourself open to addiction, to an addiction to alcohol in their situation, addiction to drugs, addiction to food, addiction to just lazy, nihilistic, wasting your time, an addiction to a lot of things.
01:56:05.720addiction to self-pity, but it leaves you open to a lot of unhealthiness when you don't have a
01:56:13.240confidence in who you are, where you come from, and your connection with the divine.
01:56:20.660We absolutely suffer from a soul sickness, and the thing is, we're a robust people. It's taken
01:56:27.120a long time for that to fully manifest. You know, you watch in medieval times,
01:56:34.320christianity was a much more like masculine you know it was a a merging the percentage of
01:56:47.440our folk soul and the jewish christianity was you know 99 us one them then you know 50 years later
01:56:57.20098 and two of them now it's you know 70 them 30 us in a good situation in bad situations yeah maybe
01:57:08.72090 10. when you get there you get to a point where people are rootless
01:57:16.080our connectivity to our gods and our ancestors and the spiritual realm of those who've come before us
01:57:24.560us. That's our lifeline that keeps us healthy, that buttresses us against the challenges we face
01:57:33.920in the world. And that's been eroded. But I'm happy to say we're 50 years into rebuilding that
01:57:41.380and to healing that. And I've seen a tremendous amount of healing happen with our folk in a very
01:57:47.660short amount of time. And it's inspirational to see how far we've come in a short amount of time
01:57:54.500and given longer the potential for how far we can come is tremendous so we've got really good
01:58:02.000things in the work to heal that spiritual sickness that soul sickness as our founder put it
01:58:07.580um yeah if you're listening to this if you are watching us if you are listening to this
01:58:15.040wherever you find us if you're a heterosexual white person if you're an afa member awesome
01:58:21.900we're glad to have you with us if you're not you should be get on the team there's no better time
01:58:27.660than today get on the team come with us we're healing it we're healing it together we would
01:58:33.340love to have your help we would be grateful for your help um yeah so what else we got
01:58:44.060all right for a palate cleanser alan turkey or ham and why is lamb superior
01:59:44.440In my life, this week, it has been turkey for the win.
01:59:49.860And if you're wondering why we had our turkey already, it's because my kids are traveling to be with the other half of their family for Thanksgiving.
02:00:03.540So we did Thanksgiving over here Sunday afternoon and had all the kids and all that stuff.
02:00:10.240So I've had my turkey, but lamb would not be wrong either.
02:00:17.120So first, you were wise to leave out of the equation beef, which is superior to all of those things, and king crab, which is superior to all the things of all the flesh of all the creatures.
02:00:42.760As long as you have butter, you got to have some butter for your king crab.
02:00:47.120You don't got to, but it helps. It enhances, but king crab is amazing. Growing up in Alaska
02:01:01.880before you're paying the prices some other people are paying for the things, man, I miss
02:01:08.660the king crab legs. That's delicious. A lot of people will get the tiniest little serving
02:01:29.900If my choices are turkey, ham, or lamb,
02:01:34.980now I'm reading into it by your choice
02:01:37.640that you were referring to Thanksgiving.
02:01:41.000A lot of memory and nostalgia and stuff.
02:01:44.440I like a turkey Thanksgiving. But in any other day out of the year, you know, 364 days out of
02:01:53.100the year, I think ham is the superior of those things. Lamb, I would like to eat more lamb.
02:02:02.320I've had relatively little lamb in my life. I'll eat it. It's never one of my go-tos, but I think
02:02:09.500that's just I haven't had enough of it and I'm happy to to remedy that should one provide me
02:02:14.760with some lamb I will say this lamb is really gamey and it's like uh it's like goat cheese
02:02:25.240I didn't used to like goat cheese I've eaten a lot of goat cheese and now I
02:02:30.620you know very much like the goat cheese and I know that it's called something I just don't
02:02:37.920to mess up the french uh whatever the french noise that it makes is but it's uh there you go
02:02:49.280it's delicious and i will i will venture this further because it's not about the goat cheese
02:02:54.960but now that i brought it up the goat cheese that's encrusted with the berries sometimes you
02:03:01.360got cranberries sometimes you got blueberries that's fantastic and that on a cracker you can't
02:03:08.000get a better i don't know if this is a frequent thing but growing up with the crab and the butter
02:03:13.520we used to eat it with rich crackers i know that is a low class like addition to a very fine dining
02:03:20.400meal but it's good you can't beat saltines man let you saltines whoa that's no stop because it
02:03:30.000doesn't it doesn't have that Ritz flavor in there messing up your uh it's not messing up anything
02:03:36.560it's enhancing your life Alan you're smarter than that you are you are a an esteemed barrister you
02:03:42.480you surely you know the value of a Ritz cracker Ritz and peanut butter now that's what's happening
02:03:50.480although what before we get too far what this whole discussion reminded me of what a joy it
02:03:56.160has been to see raw milk come back onto the market um my dog because you can buy raw milk
02:04:04.320in florida for your pets but my dogs share their raw milk with me
02:04:09.520and it has been a wonderful experience to return to the joy of drinking milk again
02:04:20.240it just hasn't been around me i haven't had that much raw milk i would like to have more
02:04:26.160dude more than just that what I would really like sometime that I've never experienced I just haven't
02:04:32.940been on a farm at the time whatever like raw raw milk like
02:04:40.620I mean somebody else can go and milk the cow but like while it's still warm I would be interested
02:04:47.220in that with like the layer of the cream and the stuff I've never experienced that and
02:04:53.820I've heard that's really good. I've never experienced it, but hopefully someday.
02:05:05.000I'm interested in joining the AFA. Would it be best to fill out the form or to speak with a
02:05:10.220local folk builder first? Yes. All, both. Yes. Don't let... So here's the... Okay. Here's the thing.
02:05:21.200If you have questions or anything, ask Folk Builder, ask me right now. Email me right now at mattflavell, F-L-A-V-E-L, at runestone.org. I don't want to strong arm you into anything. If you have questions, absolutely get those resolved and ask whoever you need to.
02:05:44.240but yeah if you know that you want to join go ahead and join up join up and get involved and
02:05:51.280then you can experience stuff we have things that go on every weekend somewhere hopefully close to
02:05:59.340you i have no idea where you find yourself but thank you for wanting to join i would say go ahead
02:06:06.380and fill out your stuff and join and we'll get you situated and you'll get welcomed by a local
02:06:11.940thing to say is that if you fill out an application a full builder will get in touch with you that's
02:06:16.580what i was going to say that'll be the thing so you fill out an application we'll run it to make
02:06:22.020sure that there's nothing you know particularly scary on the background and that you're not a sex
02:06:27.620offender and that being the case you will get welcomed in by your local folk builder and
02:06:34.420and shuffled into stuff. And we will, you know, go from there. But yeah, I would encourage you
02:06:41.680to go ahead and join up. And I look forward to seeing your application. And, you know,
02:06:45.280congrats to you for taking that step. What else we got here tonight? Oh, I am about three hours
02:06:55.760from Frazehoff. So that's a wonderful time to join. Three hours sounds like a long time.
02:07:02.740my family is currently two and a half hours from Odin's Hoff usually three hours is about the
02:07:12.860you know circle we draw around a Hoff that people attend from so it's a little bit of a way for you
02:07:21.340but I would I will invite you I encourage you I would love to meet you at the dedication all of
02:07:29.980would everybody on this program would that's a great you know first start into being part of
02:07:36.300house true you can also meet our founder steve mcnallen it's going to be a really fun event
02:07:41.500the hof is awesome yeah we'd love to see you there if you can do it the other thing about
02:07:48.140yeah you know we we are all in this mentality that three hours seems like a long way but
02:07:54.140But, you know, 200 years ago, it would have taken you an hour to hitch up the team, you know, to plod an hour to get six miles to the, you know, to the local meeting house.
02:08:07.660So getting in your car and putting in the key and driving for three hours is not a burden that you should not be willing to overcome to rejoin your ancestral faith.
02:08:19.820and so I'm glad that you want to join as Ron pointed out in the chat and Ron is a folk builder
02:08:26.520of ours from New Hampshire within three hours of there like I'm I'm in my head looking in any
02:08:34.540direction we've got a lot of stuff going on so depending on where you're at in that three hours
02:08:39.860chances are there's a lot of activity near you and you have that Hoff within three hours of you
02:08:45.480which is really, really fortunate for you.
02:09:12.820um alan do you know about the origins of krampus and things of that nature
02:09:20.280um yes krampus you know i should have read this book already but i i have a couple of books on
02:09:31.900Krampus. And I know it is an evolution of the, you know, when we talk about, like, is it, does it have an origin in also true? Not that I'm aware of. Is it, does it have its origin in the pre-Christian folk way of the Indo-Germanic people? Absolutely.
02:10:00.000It's manifested in, you know, in hundreds of lore tales, the Brothers Grimm, and just the fact that it has survived into the current era is ample evidence that it is our own creation, you know, and it's a manifestation of our own folk way.
02:10:28.400absolutely yeah certainly it is i don't have any cool like direct connection thing to give you on
02:10:36.800it it's absolutely a um indigenous aryan european people's cultural phenomenon celebration
02:10:48.960i am envious of you being in prague i would love to visit prague someday i'm not sure how
02:10:54.000long you're staying in prague i know you talked about being there i don't know how long the
02:10:58.400the hitch is that you're there for but that's awesome and uh hopefully i'll get to see prog
02:11:03.920one day it sounds absolutely amazing you know that's as i want to say uh around the upcoming
02:11:12.720yuletide season we need more krampus and less santa we certainly need yeah i i wouldn't fault that
02:11:21.600uh every every yule season i am entertained by uh chocolatey pete of the uh of the dutch
02:11:29.440um which i think comes from a similar kind of tradition
02:11:36.320ah finwraith says he is there for one to two years possibly longer well that's exciting
02:11:42.880uh i hope it is easy for you to get back home if and when you need to sounds like it is over there
02:11:49.360but um good for you that's that's awesome
02:11:57.760Alan is there more that you would like to add for our folk this evening
02:12:01.680in reference to gratitude or anything else
02:12:04.960um no except to express my gratitude again
02:12:09.520to you and to all of our folk for allowing me to serve our people in this
02:12:15.920spot and you know really I would again suggest that that we all be more
02:12:29.900grateful I have great fond memories of our family expressing gratitude around
02:12:40.100the dinner table and I think that's a tradition that we would all be well
02:12:43.160served to uh reinstantiate absolutely um
02:12:59.240we are living in an amazing time uh those of us that have been at this for any amount of time
02:13:07.960can see all around us the blessings of the icr manifest themselves we are very fortunate we are
02:13:17.640fortunate for the ways the gods have blessed us we are fortunate for our afa family we have
02:13:27.080a thriving community of amazing people and we're doing wonderful things together uh the blessings
02:13:33.800in our life are all around us they're there for us to see if we stock and stop and take stock and
02:13:42.280look for them with an eye towards gratitude it is absolutely also true and appropriate
02:13:50.600to give thanks to the icer for the things that we have and to let our loved ones on both sides
02:13:58.680of the veil know how much we appreciate the way that they have contributed to all the wonderful
02:14:05.320things that we appreciate and that we have um let's take you know let's take this time and
02:14:12.280this opportunity to be thankful and to express our gratitude uh to those that have done so much
02:14:22.200and continue to do so much for us we are we're fortunate life is good we live in an amazing time
02:14:29.640with abundant blessings and we are very thankful for it uh until next time
02:14:35.640Hail the Aesir, hail the folk, hail the AFA, and remember, victory never sleeps.