00:10:00.040Um, and that we have, uh, quite a few young fathers right here on screen with us right
00:10:07.300now um and their lovely wives are probably somewhere you know doing doing work or or
00:10:14.500getting the the kiddos uh tucked in and all that um so that they can be here with us tonight um
00:10:24.020let me hold on i can pulse um i can pull a number here there's something i can check i can tell you
00:10:29.860how many baby names we have done this year maybe a minute to look that up so i just want to throw
00:10:35.380in here one problem i'm sorry to autism about this but one problem i can think of with doing this
00:10:44.340at our size and the reforging of ossature right now is that we have a lot of people who come to
00:10:50.740us from all ages right and it's kind of like if some um elderly woman in her 80s comes home to
00:11:01.800the afa after living her whole life not ositru throwing her into a calculation of like
00:11:11.400babies per woman is kind of incorrect to do because she didn't spend her breeding years
00:11:18.720it sounds very clinical but you know what i mean she didn't spend her fertility window
00:11:22.780ositru so it's kind of like how would things have been different had she grown up
00:11:29.100also true and she lived her her her breeding years also true um furthermore
00:11:36.860as uh someone who is into fertility rates and the like and studying that kind of stuff
00:11:44.940it's a lot very much focused on society right like if you drop a single catholic family in
00:11:52.360a very non-catholic environment their fertility goes down if you drop that same catholic family
00:11:57.980into a catholic society their fertility goes up right i i don't think we can actually have like
00:12:05.400a demographic population that could make a statistical sample of like this is what
00:12:10.500also true fertility rates look like with any certainty right now i know that's kind of a
00:12:16.820non-answer but it's better than high you know like what is the fertility rate it's high you know
00:12:24.220Well, I think so. That's a pretty good point, Chris, because there are people are coming into Asatru at different stages in their lives. And also, I think a lot of people in my generation, at least, I'm 46. I'm one of the very the youngest of the Gen Xers, basically. And I didn't meet my wife until pretty late in my life.
00:12:47.840um a lot of that was because in my younger years I was stupid and didn't have priorities that had0.89
00:12:56.140anything to do with family um and then once I found Ossetru and was you know more serious about0.93
00:13:03.760wanting to you know have a a good family life I was really committed to finding an Ossetru wife
00:13:10.540So, like, I picked this real narrow path that I was going to try to go down.1.00
00:13:16.900And I was real fortunate to meet Katie and, you know, that she allowed me to court her and that we were able to build a family.
00:13:25.560But, you know, because we met each other and started our family late in our lives, she was 30 and I was 36 when we first started dating.
00:13:37.600Now, if we had met 10 years prior to that, like if we were, you know, brought up in the AFA or if we had lived in, you know, a Bronze Age village or something like that, we probably would have got started quite a bit earlier.
00:13:52.900And that, too, would be four and a half or nine or whatever it might be.
00:13:59.760And there's no regrets there, of course.
00:14:02.000You know, and perhaps the gods will bless us with another child still.
00:14:36.220oh yeah we keep track of that in the room oh yeah i know that with the baby blankets we track that i
00:14:40.980just don't know where to look for it so what is that number nick that number is 25 and 25 okay
00:14:46.940so that's there's some there's some cool stuff we can talk about in regards to those the difference
00:14:51.740in those two numbers um so five of our or so six of our six of our families it was yeah six six of
00:15:00.700families came to our gothar um for a baby naming right and had that done by a gothi or agithia
00:15:08.300often at one of our hosts but not necessarily um another 19 um either you know didn't have
00:15:16.460a baby naming or had that done in like you know a private family ceremony or something like that
00:15:22.060i want to make sure that all of our parents out there know that when you have a baby we would love
00:15:27.100to be part of that moment in your life and please do come to our gothar or contact your folk builder
00:15:34.460and and let us know that you want that to happen um we will work with you on the timing of that
00:15:41.260um you know a lot of times it'll make sense for that to be done at at one of our hofs but
00:15:46.300depending on where you're located or depending on um you know other logistical things we can arrange
00:15:53.260for one of our gothar to you know to meet you and to to take care of that in a way that's that's
00:15:59.900best for you and your family and especially for your little one um but that's a that's a pretty
00:16:05.740good number um you know in the australia folk assembly we have uh approximately 700 750 members
00:16:13.500right now so 25 uh over 750 is is is not too shabby um and isn't really you know isn't
00:16:24.460reflective of the of the range of our population in the afa as far as you know where people are
00:16:30.620in their life stages and and all that so that's pretty cool so just so people as the father of
00:16:37.340one of those uh six receivers of the outside of vatni um we call it a baby naming in english
00:16:46.060you you get to choose your kid's name you don't alter ego the mat does not choose your child's
00:16:52.140name for them it naming is in the sense of like i am pronoun introducing this child named x told
00:17:00.540to me by the family to the gods the ancestors and the folk right just just for clarity here
00:17:07.340That's an important detail. Yes. I don't want people thinking that, you know, you're going to come to the Gothi and the Gothi will be choosing your child's name for you.
00:17:17.320I guess in certain situations, the Gothi may coach you on making wise decisions, naming your child.
00:17:23.720But that's a good question. That is ultimately up to you.
00:17:27.480If the name is bad enough, can the ceremony be refused?
00:29:01.440um go to those talk to your folk builders about what's going on near you if there's nothing going
00:29:07.980on near you then talk to your folk builder um about hosting an event where you are um my
00:29:15.500my kindred keystone true folk literally was founded out of that kind of necessity i found
00:29:20.640myself in a donut hole where i had to drive not that far i was pretty fortunate but i had to drive
00:29:26.180like 90 minutes, 90 whole minutes, north, east, south, or west to get to some kind of
00:29:31.880Ossetru event. And the quality of them was variable. And so I felt like I needed to do
00:29:38.160something closer to home. And, you know, my folk builder, Pat Hall at the time, helped me do that.
00:29:47.320I wasn't a folk builder yet. I was just some AFA guy with some time on his hands. And,
00:29:52.840you know you raise that banner and people will show up they might not the first time
00:29:56.880but they will you might be surprised too there might be beaten down the door the first time too
00:30:01.340uh but participate in in whatever way it is that you can that's really important um
00:30:08.420now realistic goals and accomplishments that i'd like to see the afa hit in 2026
00:30:16.660So I think that it is realistic that we can pay off Frazehoff in 2026.
00:30:23.400As we mentioned at the top of the show, we're already a third of the way there.
00:30:29.000And, you know, that ties right in with starting work on Tearshoff.
00:30:35.780I know Al Shurgothi Matt very much wants to see some kind of ground broken at Sigerheim for Tearshoff in 2026.
00:30:44.300um that might be setting some cinder blocks out and and marking where the foundation perimeter
00:30:52.420is going to be but i i can pretty much guarantee something is going to happen on site there this
00:30:57.620year um maybe a lot more than that but at a minimum i think getting some basic like
00:31:04.840more than just like snow stakes in the ground um or um what do they call them
00:31:12.520surveying stakes in the ground where, you know, where it's going to be putting something that's
00:31:17.460a little bit more permanent in the beginning of a structure there, I think is a realistic goal in
00:31:22.3602026. I also think that it is, I think it's realistic that we could ordain another Gothi
00:31:38.380or githia or two that depends on a lot of things out of my control but i think that that is something
00:31:45.740that would be a that would be auspicious that would help us fulfill our declaration of purpose
00:31:51.660um so you know we've we've got people that are working to those goals and um you know i would
00:31:58.380i would be disappointed if zero uh accomplished that for all of 2026 i think we'll get at least
00:32:04.060one or two. I'd like to see a lot more folk builders. I don't know how many people out there
00:32:11.600know, but I've taken over our role of folk builder coordinator. And I really would like to see a lot
00:32:17.820of the areas where we know we have clusters of members. I'm looking at you, Texas. I want to see
00:32:23.620folk builders in these areas. New Jersey and the Philadelphia area is another one. I used to be
00:32:29.860the guy there, but I moved west partly because it was too crowded for me there, really more like
00:32:35.260too crowded to raise my kids there. But also, you know, I was becoming committed to where
00:32:41.400Frashoff was going to be. I'd lost the argument about it being in Eastern Pennsylvania. So I
00:32:46.040moved west to help make that happen where it needed to be. But that's an area we could use
00:32:53.820folk builders. And there's a lot of other places that we could use folk builders,
00:32:58.660including the places where we have no where we have no members it works kind of one or two ways
00:33:03.620we either have clusters of people that are getting together but that aren't doing much
00:33:14.100more beyond that and that's a good start i'm not criticizing that but we could really use
00:33:17.800a leader there to help drive things to the next level to um you know to turn it into a bloat
00:33:23.660group and, um, you know, move it forward from there. Um, or we have clusters of people where
00:33:30.000people aren't getting together. And that's super frustrating because, you know, I'm pretty sure the
00:33:36.320reason people join the Ossetru Folk Assembly is to meet other Ossetruer and to practice Ossetru.
00:33:44.640And when we know that there are people like half an hour, 20 minutes away from each other,
00:33:50.900and they aren't communicating with each other um that's not something that is you know we're not
00:33:59.980getting the job done basically so we need your help there you know meet up with your with people
00:34:06.040that that at least could be your friends even if they're not going to be your your your friends
00:34:10.400they're gonna they're gonna be people that are part of your religious congregation you can still
00:34:15.020learn from each other even if you're you know not into the same things outside of religion
00:34:20.580um and i think that uh yeah a folk builder in every state that's probably not going to happen
00:34:28.860in 2026 but that's something that i think everyone who's been folk builder coordinators
00:34:34.260wanted to see i'd like to see uh i'd like to see sweden more active again we still have members
00:34:40.300there and um we we struggle to get you guys together up there in sweden um so throw us a
00:34:46.680own. You know, we, we want to see you practicing Asatru in real life. Um, we know, we know that
00:34:52.600it's going to be good for you. We want you to be happier and more healthy. That's why, that's why
00:34:56.860we beat this drum. We're not, we're not, we're not judging. We're wanting you to, we want you
00:35:01.040to enjoy what we have here in America when we get together at our Hoffs or when the kindreds get
00:35:06.340together. Um, and I think that, um, I think that we could probably see a 10% increase in membership
00:35:16.280If everybody who really gives a damn about Asatru and who also gives a damn about the people that they love in their lives was willing to put those two things together, then we could easily bring in new people to Asatru and, you know, help share with them what we know is going to be good for them.
00:35:39.160whether that's your your father or your mother or your brothers and sisters or you know your your
00:35:45.400best friend from school or your work buddy or or whatever there are people that you know every
00:35:52.120single person watching this or on the show we're speaking right now um we all know somebody that
00:35:58.200we should have talked to about awesome truth but for one reason or another we haven't done it yet
00:36:03.000it's inconvenient. We're chicken shit about it, whatever. You know, those are, those are real0.96
00:36:10.380things. And we just got to punch through that and talk to these people about it. And, you know,
00:36:15.280as long as we're respectful, I think those things will go pretty well. We might not get the end
00:36:18.900result that we want where they're tagging along to the Hoff the next month, but at least they'll
00:36:23.700know it's an option for them. I talk about the people who've never heard the word Ossetru before,0.98
00:36:29.440right? Well, we have direct control about that for every single person in our lives that we know.
00:36:35.560We can make sure they've heard the word also true at least. So I think that bringing more
00:36:41.740people home is a realistic goal. So that's my wish list, if you will. I think it's actually
00:36:51.100fairly conservative. I think those are all doable things. But the question did say realistic,
00:37:34.600I don't have anything to add to it, but I can say the last thing you were talking about, about, you know, there are people in our lives that need to hear the word also true that haven't heard it.
00:37:44.820that's part of why it's so important where your hammer outside of your shirt
00:37:47.980and something else as big is, you know,
00:37:51.720if you're requesting time off work for, uh,
00:37:55.640an event at phrase Hoff or Njord's Hoff or wherever for a national event,
00:38:00.380uh, don't come up with some lame excuse like, Oh,
00:38:05.700it's a family reunion or whatever. Say it's a church event,
01:04:19.440And also, Githya Alt mentioned that we have a religious study program available for parents who cannot homeschool.
01:04:27.340So if your child goes to a public school or a private school, but you want to, you know, expose them to Ossetru education and, you know, probably have to, you know, re-educate them on some things that they might be bringing home with them from those institutions, that is a good place to do it.
01:04:45.160So all grade levels, no Asatrua University yet, maybe one day,
01:04:50.880but Asatrua Academy covers K through 12 starting in two hours.
01:08:45.440And for fertility and growth in the new year, I know that a lot of people, I think, including founder McNallan, also will honor Odin specifically on Twelfth Night and on New Year's Day for wisdom and knowledge going into the new year.
01:09:07.700odin is known as the the yule father so i think that's that's a very appropriate thing to do and
01:09:15.680i did see in the comments someone mentioning that our our rune era is the shares the same root as
01:09:23.260the uh the the english word year and um that turning over is you know is very much related
01:09:33.000It is a new era and it looks like we have a party
01:09:51.740I'm joined by folk builder, Tyler Bethea,
01:09:55.200Goethe Bodie Mayo, my wife, Githya Heather Young,
01:09:58.920and a few of our kinsmen from the Carolinas in Georgia.
01:10:03.000Nick, I believe that our our guests here have found a good way to get us past that 10 people
01:10:14.520on the screen at one time limit. Hello. We're only going to be on for a sec, guys. We're
01:10:25.260kind of wrapping this up. But I want to wish everybody a victorious and triumphant 2026.
01:10:33.000afa's accomplished so much in the past 30 years but 2025 has been a kind of a watershed year for
01:10:39.560us i can't wait to see what we can accomplish together in 2026 yeah hail victory victory
01:10:46.520hail the afa thanks for popping in it's good to see you thanks for having us guys love you all
01:10:52.600all right so here in erickson land we're gonna get some things set up for our yule candle lighting
01:11:04.900uh witten trent can you run with things for a few minutes while we do that
01:11:08.340yeah absolutely you okay with me moving on to questions i don't know if there oh there's a
01:11:14.180couple in line yeah yeah do some questions and be wordy about them all right do my best okay
01:11:22.440Okay. AFA New York. Cool username. What does it take to become an apprentice folk builder? With a username like that, I think you are a perfect candidate, probably, for being an apprentice folk builder.
01:11:36.940uh don't quote me on that but reach out to witten erickson if well you're in his district
01:11:45.580anyway but he's also the folk builder coordinator and he will get you uh squared away with that
01:11:52.940his email is probably c erickson at runestone.org uh nick can quote me on that if i'm wrong or
01:12:03.160correct me let's see yes okay there you go i wasn't sure his wife's you know githia katie's
01:12:12.920name is uh katie with a c so i wasn't sure cliff was around first they did her funny
01:12:19.540hers is cm dot erickson they did it funny i'm not gonna remember that just out of spite in fact
01:12:28.000um here's a fun one uh woodcutter mpc wait i i was gonna say i can ramble about this for a bit
01:12:36.340if you want me to sure sure all right um so as was said the first thing you have to do is you
01:12:42.180have to talk to witten erickson about it um upper leadership likes to see initiative when it comes
01:12:48.580to asking throwing your hat in the ring um as far as what the job actually entails um
01:13:00.820there's a few things um you have to run a monthly moot right this is made in advance um
01:13:08.660a month in advance is generally how it's set up i got my 12 month or 12 moots for the year
01:13:17.860squared away and on the calendar a few days ago wow it feels a lot longer than that but um
01:13:25.380so you have to host a monthly moot which is a gathering for religious observance and uh
01:13:32.980camaraderie between co-religionists do you want me to stop talking with erickson or keep going
01:13:39.220no keep going i'm just making sure that the camera is at a good angle
01:13:43.540and you have to let everyone who can I believe the official distances is within a three-hour drive
01:13:57.880is that everyone in your state yeah that depends on the state but everyone who could be expected
01:14:06.520make you know a three-hour drive you send out a text or an email or a call the flyer goes up on
01:14:14.120me we and on our website calendar calendars because it goes up on the the master calendar
01:14:20.600on runestone.org and then also on the hoff district calendar that that all happens nick go on sir oh
01:14:28.920uh yeah i was gonna make fun of you a little so bear with me uh if you're on me we uh uh you will
01:14:36.520And you're friends with folk builders on the whole other top half of the
01:14:42.120continent. And you're on the bottom half.
01:14:44.260A Michigan folk builder will blow up you and your wife's phones at the same0.98
01:28:11.120He's the Lord of Alfheim, which makes him the King of the Elves.
01:28:17.780He is a big deal, and something that I was reminded about reading about him recently
01:28:23.040that isn't talked about as much, but in the Hymnsgrimla, which is the history of the Norse kings,
01:28:27.960He was named after the Aesir-Vanir War, along with his father Njordr, as one of the two priests for the Aesir that would make the sacrifices for the Aesir after that war was settled.
01:33:17.500So I hope that was helpful for people, or I hope that gave some insight.
01:33:23.680There's more than one way to do that, right?
01:33:26.320um you know they're um in in founder mcnallan's 12 days of yule there are uh different gods and
01:33:34.980goddesses and some heroes um and some some concepts that are that are there um for for
01:33:41.940honoring through the the the 12 days of yule um so we've kind of as i mentioned towards the
01:33:47.880beginning of the show kind of fused together what founder mcnallan um had established and
01:33:53.060what uh what witness fawn has has shared with everyone to take those virtues and the the gods
01:34:00.980and goddesses that are that we named um into into what we do there and um later tonight i don't know
01:34:08.500if we'll do this on camera or not it depends on um how late the kids are up and all that but also
01:34:13.760something that we do is there's a a little nest in the yule tree uh it's like a like a burlap cloth
01:34:21.400that Katie kind of sewed into like looking like a little blanket and the children each night will
01:34:28.020leave a gift. Usually it's like from their leftover Halloween candy stash because they
01:34:33.760haven't burned through all that yet or something else like that. They leave a gift for the Yule
01:34:39.820White, the Yule Vatir, which is a spirit that we honor through Yuletide. And the Yule White will
01:34:49.580take those snacks usually they are and in exchange will will bring the kids gifts or on I think it's
01:34:59.980fifth night right Katie fifth night is ancestors the the Yule White actually brings brings gifts
01:35:07.020that are from our ancestors to us and and that is a really kind of special thing that we do too
01:35:14.160And then the kids are also super excited because we do not share our family gifts until daylight on the 12th day of Yule.
01:35:23.700So they are waiting for New Year's Day because that's when the big pile of presents from mom and dad is finally under the tree.
01:35:31.500So they get things from the Yule White and from the ancestors all through Yuletide.
01:35:36.160but the uh the the the mother and father load as it were um is is not until the uh the very end of
01:35:46.520yuletide at the very beginning of the year and so that's what we do and um i'm happy to have been
01:35:51.800able to share that with you um let's see if we have any questions or any comments or anything
01:36:02.860like that that um that we can move into from that all right we covered what does it take to be a
01:36:10.660folk builder all right so the next question and this is a fun one we can talk about this either
01:36:16.800super short or very long is there a difference between ositru and setianism so um
01:36:25.840setianism this is a s-e-d-i-a-n-i-s-m as i understand it
01:36:33.920is the noriana society's tradition and it it basically means
01:36:43.280the way of the way the way that they apply it i've always
01:36:49.680found a little confusing but it's been a while since i've read about it um
01:36:53.480witten trent or jordan or chris are either of you familiar with setianism and do you have any
01:37:00.420thoughts on the differences between it and also true do you want to go first uh
01:37:09.960witten east you outrank me even though i could say stuff so uh i'm sure you can say stuff yeah i
01:37:16.840i guess i'll go real quick uh it'll kind of just be reiterating a lot of what the all's
01:37:21.660Teregothi says, uh, yeah, Setianism is, I think I'm saying that right. I assume it's right. I0.93
01:37:27.580don't care too much though, uh, is yeah, an invention of the Narnia society, uh, which I
01:37:34.560was involved in at one point many years ago. Uh, and it's, they're constantly trying to
01:37:43.660reconstruct Alcetru, but they don't want to call it Alcetru because when they think Alcetru,
01:37:50.040They think Alcitru Folk Assembly, which to their credit is how it should be, but they want it to be as accurate or whatever they see as accurate to how our Alcitru ancestors practiced.
01:38:07.020So we tend, in the AFA, we tend to say we are reviving or reforging Alcitru, the faith of our ancestors.
01:48:20.820is that it needs to be true in all times.
01:48:26.760Like for it to be an actual Asatru religious belief,
01:48:30.260it needs to have been true 10 000 years ago it needs to be true today and it needs to be true
01:48:37.620in 10 000 years when we're colonizing alpha centauri the way founder mcnallan envisions
01:48:43.620and that makes it a religious belief um we we got hit with a lot of requests during covid
01:48:50.820about people wanting us to write um religious exemptions for vaccination for them and
01:48:57.700And to a lot of people's disappointment and frustration, I'm sure we would not issue such letters because as a matter of religion, the Aussie True Folk Assembly is not inherently against vaccines.
01:49:11.740We're also totally fine with people not wanting to take a government mandated injection and don't require people to be vaccinated or anything.
01:49:21.220But for us to actually take a religious position that, no, we are against the COVID vaccine would have required us to start, you know, kicking out people who did take the vaccine, like, because they're, you know, committing some egregious sin.
01:49:36.880um and it would require some kind of like foundation that that just wasn't there
01:49:43.580like literally in the conversations amongst the way and in the gothar at the time um
01:49:48.720you know we we we talked about the hypothetical like if there was some kind of
01:49:54.580super vaccine that would cure all white people of all cancers forever would the afa be against it0.88
01:50:01.560no, we would think that's a very fantastic scientific discovery.0.98
01:50:08.100And so that's the thing about orthodoxy and orthopraxy, to bring it back around.
01:50:17.120The Asatru Folk Assembly does have orthodoxy and what we believe and why we believe it does matter.
01:50:24.840And that's what we're trying to do with forward-looking Asatru is to be true to the Aesir.
01:50:30.080And when we look back to the past, whether it's archaeology or our lore or linguistics or genetic discoveries or any other piece of data that we might be able to get about the past and about how our ancestors practiced their Asitru, we can use that to inform our troth to the Aesir today.
01:50:51.380But we're not limited by that or defined by that.
01:50:55.720Their orthopraxy doesn't have to be our orthopraxy.
01:50:58.500But the orthodoxy, if we're doing this right, should be close.
01:51:03.800I mean, we can't discern every internal thought and belief that they had because the tradition was broken for time.
02:07:43.500But it's comforting to know that they look schizophrenic
02:07:47.600to even people with no knowledge of the situation.
02:07:53.660Yeah, you know, I think I should add just so that people know,
02:07:57.960I know them, or I knew them personally.
02:08:03.180Githya Eriks and I have slept over at their home.
02:08:08.920I went to many of their events and, you know,
02:08:13.940utilized their their camping facilities and and donated to them and you know purchased things
02:08:20.940from them both on their store and in auctions there so i don't say this stuff casually it's not
02:08:27.200like you know some abstract thing um for me these were these were personal friends of mine
02:08:33.920our third date was at one of their yule events a couple of many years ago now but
02:08:38.640we were you know friends with them after a fashion yeah absolutely and so it's not a it's
02:08:45.480not a casual thing um they they really did betray me they betrayed asher goethe matt they
02:08:52.840betrayed folk builder pat hall um and a lot of other people who who put a great deal of trust in
02:08:59.200them so there are a few a few broken sumble oaths that that linger as well
02:09:06.040i think a big thing that sets us apart from other groups in as much as it's even a meaningful
02:09:18.080statement to compare us to other groups because we're so far ahead of everyone else in heathen
02:09:23.780spaces is that at the end of the day we're trying to raise people up and make them better and to a
02:09:31.800certain point i mean that means that we want to make this something that we tell like you tell
02:09:38.900your grandma about and she's like oh goody that sounds so nice i can tell you it's making you a
02:09:44.360bigger person because it actually like is it's not weird and abnormal and strange and dangerous
02:09:50.740and edgy and all these other things that internet types flock to
02:09:56.420you are kind of like the afa's own dick van dyke chris you've got the the voices it's uh it's it's
02:10:07.200hilarious when you do them thank you for always making me making me laugh when you you do your0.92
02:10:13.260characters it's great i'm glad i could be of service me too um i think that you hit on something
02:10:21.400important though too and um you know this is going to sound chauvinist in i think the best way but
02:10:31.960sometimes the austral folk assembly is approached by groups um about like forming an alliance like
02:10:38.200hey we should team up and really do this also true thing the right way and we say no um there
02:10:46.520There have been attempts to do this stuff in the past.
02:10:50.040The International Asatru Odinist Alliance is probably the most noteworthy,
02:10:55.640which was really a nominal alliance between the Asatru Folk Assembly,
02:11:03.360the Asatru Alliance, and the Odinic Right.
02:11:06.520Githya may know a lot about it firsthand and can talk about it when she's on later,
02:11:10.340but it really was kind of a non-starter.
02:11:13.480But the thing that I wanted to really talk about in this is that when other almost always smaller and poorly established groups approach us, like, you know, the most successful kindred in Mississippi or, you know, the Confederation of Independent Disunited Heathen Tribesmen or, you know, other groups that
02:11:43.480um that i think maybe they probably have good intentions like i don't i don't i don't
02:11:50.260besmirch their attempt to be in truth with the gods and their attempt at doing it at the
02:11:57.980grassroots level level and starting it from the ground up that's that's a that's a reasonable
02:12:02.820thing to do um the problem is is that we're we can't deal on equal terms with them because
02:12:09.220they're not our equals um these groups don't have the succession of leadership that goes back to
02:12:19.220stephen mcnallan literally being the herald of odin and you know being the one of our
02:12:28.580our modern also true founders who was able to successfully establish an also true church
02:12:35.460a lot of others attempted to to do this thing but it it faltered or failed for one reason or another
02:12:42.020sometimes their fault sometimes not um but founder mcnalen is the one who
02:12:48.820was successful in that that's why we call him founder mcnalen right um and we now have dedicated
02:12:56.180five temples to the aesir and you know even the asa true fellowship in iceland with its state
02:13:01.940funding has not been able to finish building half of a temple we also have more gothar than they do
02:13:09.420yeah i counted yeah and and and i think that's because we actually
02:13:15.880because we actually believe in in in asitru and i think that you know other other groups that want
02:13:25.000to, you know, be as successful as the AFA that like, you know, that, that are maybe
02:13:31.620tempted to take a page from, um, you know, from the Ehrman folk book, they, they should
02:13:38.300instead just join us and do it sincerely.
02:13:41.080And, you know, have your kindred join the Ossetree folk assembly and, you know, have
02:13:47.120all your members join the Ossetree folk assembly and you as their, their chief or
02:13:52.180or however your group styles things become an apprentice folk builder and you know depending on
02:13:59.940your experience and you know the the establishment of your group we can talk about more beyond that
02:14:08.220but you know just just do it the right way join the successful team rather than trying to
02:14:13.420to attack it because when people do anything i think that works against the afa when they try
02:14:20.800to tear us down or when they try to, you know, fragment us, they are literally working against
02:14:27.560the declaration of purpose that founder McNallan put in writing so many years ago. They are working
02:14:34.260against the practice, promotion, and dissemination of the religion of Asatru. They are making it take0.98
02:14:39.720longer for Lord Tyr to have a Hoth. And it's wrong. It's, you know, I don't think that they,
02:14:49.920some people don't mean it that way other people do um but in all cases it's it's just not it's
02:14:58.060not appropriate for them to try to approach the asa true folk assembly as an equal um
02:15:03.600you know there's there's no other church in the world there's no other group in the world that
02:15:11.420practice is also true with the, with the blessings that the Aesir have bestowed on us.
02:15:19.480Those temples are really the, the blessings of the Aesir visibly manifest. There are others,
02:15:27.920but those five temples, there's no argument against that. There's no, ah, but we published
02:15:33.860some book or, you know, we have a campground or, you know, my buddy has, you know, a very nice
02:15:42.540backyard vey. Those are, those are good things that people should do, but they, they don't hold
02:15:49.680a candle to Odin's Hof, let alone Odin's Hof, Thor's Hof, Baldur's Hof, Nord's Hof, and Frey's Hof.
02:15:56.560So, and those, those, those temples are going to keep being established
02:16:02.480Um, so yeah, I think people, for, for a time in Austro history, it wasn't self-evident
02:16:12.560that the Austro Folk Assembly was the church of the Aesir in Midgar.
02:16:16.320That time did exist, but it's been at least a decade and a half since that was even a
02:22:53.200that's where a lot of these breaks and fractures have really come sorry what a lot of these breaks
02:23:01.040and fractures have really come down to like even universalist heathenry or whatever you want to
02:23:07.220call it kind of amounts to just a betrayal of dr stephen flowers in a certain sense
02:23:12.380but that one is approaching a little more theological but that's you get the point
02:23:20.260all right so next question which i'm going to put out to the panel uh are there practices
02:23:33.940you think people over emphasize or ones that get overlooked uh start with whit and trent and then
02:23:40.980we'll go in box order as far as practices that people over emphasize um
02:23:50.260Not necessarily. I think some people, when they first get into Alistair, they want to do bloat every single day. That's not necessarily bad or wrong-minded.
02:24:05.460ones that get overlooked though I think
02:34:54.620because the more of that that we know and the more of that we can share with
02:35:00.880our children and with our brothers and sisters and cousins and all,
02:35:03.680but the direct line of children I think is really where the focus needs to be
02:35:07.100and what we give to them. The more, I mean,
02:35:11.700they are what they are without us, but I think that, you know,
02:35:17.100we help to fulfill the Havamal about them.
02:35:22.680We help to fulfill them being remembered
02:35:26.760and making their life worth remembering.
02:35:31.220I think that has a metaphysical and real influence
02:35:36.080on what happens to their soul parts in the afterlife.
02:35:42.800I think that it's not so much that they die if we forget them, it's that they're stronger as we remember them, if that makes sense.
02:35:54.100And then another thing as far as like the, something that people overemphasize, I think, and it's not so much that they overemphasize it, I think that they just put it out of order, is runework.
02:36:05.640I don't think we should talk about runes less, but I think that people need to be patient with when they're going to be capable of dealing with the runes in a meditative and responsible way.
02:36:22.800I think that learning the lore should come before trying to do divination with the runes.
02:36:32.060i think that um before someone is trying to divine things with the runes they should be
02:36:41.320able to as the havamal says be able to mark them and read them like those basic properties of them
02:36:49.520need to be understood before you can really go deeper into them like they're not just letters
02:36:54.960but they are letters like that's a very base level thing and if you can't understand that
02:37:01.680part of it how do you expect to go deeper into them um and then i think with a proper maturity
02:37:10.720and i know this because i originally approached them without this maturity
02:37:13.880um then you're not going to go to the runes and try to divine them with like beggy kind of
02:37:21.740questions because i think that's the thing that people misuse them with that's the part where if
02:37:26.040they front load runic divination early what they end up doing is you know using them like a magic
02:37:35.360eight ball they're not that you know they need to be treated with a lot more respect and a lot
02:37:41.820more meditation and a lot more thoughtfulness so it's not that like people should learn the runes
02:37:49.660havamal says so right um but i think that they need to be learned
02:37:56.300in context because i think something we need to remember is you know for for the person hearing
02:38:02.620the havamal in an oral tradition they already knew all the etta stories about the gods that
02:38:09.980was assumed knowledge we need to have that knowledge to put things in context so that's
02:38:15.900that's really important i think just not being so eager to be a magician or a diviner
02:38:27.340and back to you hopefully you had some time to think now yeah so three things i uh
02:38:33.340i thought up were in that line of being a magician this like overly magical magic with
02:38:40.860like a k sense where they focus more on kind of people this is this is within a broad like the
02:38:49.020broad you know pagan heathen spheres i'm not necessarily criticizing anyone in the afa to be
02:38:54.220clear here right but i see a lot of people in like pagan spheres be very ritual very magic with a k
02:39:03.580oriented where it's like you know i've seen people like talk about doing like a banishing ritual
02:39:10.700after a prayer to thor and it's like are you trying to kick thor out you know like like whether
02:39:16.840they recognize it as that or not it's like but he's a god like if you want if you don't want him
02:39:23.160in your house why did you why did you pray you know treating it like summoning a demon in the
02:39:28.200craft or something as opposed to like religion where you are kneeling before a higher power
02:39:35.420and frankly hoping that they find you worthy of their attention to a degree like i'm not saying
02:39:40.600being slavish or something here but like if we're talking about a god surely they're not
02:39:47.280going to be too upset if your summoning circle wasn't a perfect circle or something like that
02:39:51.640right like it seems a little it seems a little silly um it's kind of like the other direction
02:39:59.160of viking larp where people like try to dress up as vikings or whatever as if like you have to
02:40:06.980to dress like someone who worships thor to worship thor instead of just being someone
02:40:14.440who worships thor um that's not to say that aesthetics aren't important or anything but i
02:40:22.300think people should think about like what are you trying to say with your aesthetics
02:40:26.620because we don't live in medieval scandinavia um going back to the
02:40:34.420the ancestors thing real quick here i apologize this is kind of rambly um
02:40:39.700one thing i see people often have a hang up with with ancestor worship is like well what if i have
02:40:47.140an ancestor who is bad right and i mean i'm not a goethe but i would at a certain level i think
02:40:54.880unless that ancestor committed you know the oath-breaking cowardice sexual deviancy
02:41:03.980got kicked into Nistrand kind of caveat isn't talking about their failings something we should
02:41:11.460do in the sense of like yeah be better than that I wouldn't have a problem with my children
02:41:17.940talking to their kids about my failings as like a warning be better than this here's a lesson I
02:41:24.900learned from him or here's a lesson he admitted that he learned to me learn his learn the lesson
02:41:31.660from him you know in a certain sense it's like what's the point in having ancestors if
02:41:37.580if we don't if we have to keep learning the same lessons every generation right yeah so you don't
02:41:44.400get to pick your ancestors i think everyone has a bad ancestor whether you know their name or not
02:41:49.160they're probably there in that tree somewhere along the line and i think even the ones that are
02:41:56.180um you know doomed to an astronaut i think you at least have to recognize because you don't exist
02:42:03.300without them like like it or not they're a part of you and i mean maybe that means you don't honor
02:42:10.980them you don't glorify them but but their existence is is so crucial like in sumble when someone says
02:42:19.300hail the ancestors the bad ones are in that group they're definitely a subset of the ancestors right
02:42:25.380the bad ancestors the good ancestors the ugly ancestors the beautiful ancestors they're all in
02:42:30.900the ancestors so um it's i think it's important to acknowledge all of our ancestors because
02:42:42.180i mean they're they're our direct link to the gods if you break any link in that chain
02:42:45.780then then it's broken right um so tyler what about you practices that you think people
02:42:57.080overemphasize or practices that get overlooked certainly so i think something especially in
02:43:06.420like broader heathenry that people overemphasize is the anticipation of what you guys were kind
02:43:14.120alluding to which is you know magic and stuff like that which is very cool and like you should
02:43:20.120never lose that you know that quest to find something greater but i think a lot of people
02:43:26.440undervalue the importance of what we do especially in the aussitrew folk assembly which is
02:43:32.680the more exoteric aspect of just gathering with your folk building a kin fence creating bonds
02:43:40.280with people um you know people don't see that as flashy but for me i look at it at its roots and
02:43:47.180it's like the most magical thing you can do is understand that you're connected to these people
02:43:53.360and and build frith with them and relationships you know having a community where i can call ron
02:44:00.940you know if i'm stuck in the snow at two in the morning like there's nothing more magical and
02:44:06.520spiritual than that is like knowing that you're going to these places to share meals with these
02:44:12.200people that are going to have your back. And, you know, it's not as flashy as, you know, seeing
02:44:18.120like when we've seen magic together, Cliff, I remember my first free faxy with you where the
02:44:23.880rainbow came right to where the flags were. And there's a lot of serendipitous stuff that I've
02:44:29.280seen. So I've seen both sides, but I think a lot of people undervalue how important it is
02:44:34.720to just gather with your folk share meals build bonds and that's what it's really all about and
02:44:41.540i think it's so underappreciated um you know because i i have some members where it's like
02:44:47.540um they're like oh well i wish you know what would be like this or you know they should do it this
02:44:55.480way and i wish there was a little more spectacle and it's like you got to focus on the fundamentals
02:45:01.440of you know building a kin fence and being with your folk and and that's magic within itself and
02:45:07.280sharing these memories and watching our kids run around together is one of the most magical
02:45:12.220things that we could experience as as uh people of our folk so that's that's kind of what i i try to
02:45:20.200emphasize to people is how special the exoteric folk aspect of of our practice is because
02:45:27.400you know if you go back historically a majority of our folk like chris had had mentioned it was
02:45:35.840just this was the default so not everyone was a religious scholar you know it was the full customs
02:45:42.440it was the traditions that kept everything alive and lifeblood flowing and those are those simple
02:45:49.780things such as gathering you know hailing your ancestors together you know and it and it's all
02:45:57.160encompassing and just being together as a folk and i think that's something that's underappreciated
02:46:03.120because it's almost taken as a given which is is a good thing it means that we're getting to a
02:46:08.560position where people are like all right the basics are getting boring but they can't you know
02:46:13.160you can't put the cart before the horse and you got to remember that those basics and fundamentals
02:46:17.840are what make what we do so important and so fulfilling so that's what that's what i would say
02:46:24.800yeah i think the uh the the exoteric is foundational um in order to have a healthy
02:46:31.920spiritual life there has to be the exoteric um that you know you can you can build esotericism
02:46:41.040on top of a healthy exoteric spiritual life and that's a good thing to do but if you have
02:46:46.560only esoteric practices if you're like you know a smelly tower wizard that's not a healthy way
02:46:56.000to be you need to have the the community you need to have the vitality that the exotericism
02:47:06.080brings i think um that that's how i look at it is that the the basic practices and they may be
02:47:12.720basic but they're fun they're they're so important you can't skip them um and you can have more but
02:47:18.160you don't necessarily have to i think for for most people they'll realize that exotericism is enough
02:47:26.880and then others that want more can can do that but it but it's got to have that foundation
02:47:33.840remember people a truly is not a substitute for a bath and deodorant no no it's not no it's not
02:47:42.880um and and if you're in a community you will find that out because people will tell you so
02:47:48.480um so i want to make sure that we uh we we welcome githya sheila mcdallon and our founder
02:47:56.080steve mcnallan welcome to our our new year's eve uh victory number sleep special
02:48:05.360happy new year everybody we're glad to be here yes indeed very much yeah we've been hearing about
02:48:11.120you know coming up in conversations but we knew we just had to kind of step in and
02:48:16.720sometimes add stories add clarifications uh just what you were saying about the exoteric
02:48:22.800there was a time when that's all that was expected of a leader who was going to be a godi um we had
02:48:30.240that where we had a couple who probably never even met another afa member until they came to an event
02:48:37.520you know it was not part of the program was to be involved and build community it was just enough to
02:48:44.480learn how to do bloat and do some research and know sagas and the gods you know and uh that was
02:48:50.560way back in the mid 2000s i can think back to 2007 um i believe it was and uh yeah we had a fellow
02:49:00.480who maybe lasted a year i don't know but you know there was no structure like we have now our
02:49:07.280go there program is so well defined um it has history to it it is continuing to get refined
02:49:15.600and is just near perfect so far as I can see for right now.
02:49:20.900And there's certainly lots of checks and balances
02:49:22.620and everything that happens, so much support.
02:49:25.280But there was a time when just we were glad to get a go-thee.
02:49:29.360It could be somebody who led a kindred, you know,
02:49:31.900and they kind of came in as a go-thee too.
02:52:01.680I did my best with nothing, with nothing.
02:52:05.780You just summarized a whole half an hour of what we were talking about in relation to
02:52:10.480setianism and you crystallized it so well.
02:52:14.080And I'm glad that you agreed with what we were saying and put it much more succinctly.
02:52:19.840I'm impressed with everything I've heard here tonight.
02:52:22.400And we've been listening for how long?
02:52:24.200good hour yeah so something like that and uh and no uh i'm really proud to see what y'all have
02:52:30.840accomplished and uh and to see the the direction you're going and the fact that you're going to be
02:52:36.680going farther um that's yeah works for me well done well a lot of us have had the good fortune
02:52:45.720of being able to spend time around people who've who've helped us to to get to where we are so
02:52:51.320thank you for that um got a couple of questions here these are these are from nick and i'm going
02:52:58.200to combine them into one because they all kind of relate together and and anyone can anyone can kind
02:53:03.720of jump in to to answer them um so triple play here what lessons did this year teach you what
02:53:12.760kind of year has this been spiritually and is there anything from this year that you're intentionally
02:53:19.560leaving behind anybody want to take that one or those three yeah sure uh as far as what kind of
02:53:30.120year has it been spiritually uh that's kind of the only one that applies to me i think i don't know
02:53:36.760that i learned any specific like profound lessons um but yeah uh you know we got phrase off that's
02:53:46.520huge um yours off we've had it since 2022 and it took three years to pay off uh
02:53:53.960orther goes ever as she shall so you know i'm not complaining but it was really nice to finally
02:53:59.880not have to be the hof goathy of the newest hof that matt's always looking at going hey did you
02:54:04.280get this done yet turns out he still does that even when you're not the newest off anyway but uh
02:54:09.000that's that was pretty big um oh i i became a father that was a spiritual
02:54:16.680thing for me for sure it's although like cliches you hear about how being a parent
02:54:22.120changes you're all true i hate acknowledging when cliches are true but those all are um
02:54:28.920it really was a a blessing and is uh i say that even you know when earlier today my son was in
02:54:38.520like a fussy phase because he's teething and it kind of sucked but i was still thinking like this
02:54:43.560is you know this is still great uh yeah i guess that and phrasehoff really uh just kind of have
02:54:51.320really made me appreciate being here with you all and uh and everything we've accomplished and we've
02:54:57.640still got so much work to do we're we really are just at kind of the tip of the iceberg right now
02:55:02.040believe it or not so it's made me appreciate everything we've done but more than anything
02:55:07.080it's made me look forward to the future so awesome i'm gonna i'm gonna just chime in real quick and
02:55:16.040i learned from this year that devotion matters and matters um
02:55:22.920for for me and and forget the academy um
02:55:28.760having a hoff to to care for and to to have our folk gather has has been something we've
02:55:35.800been wanting for a long time and there were different times where it was maybe going to
02:55:41.320happen and then didn't in different scenarios that you know in the moment there were feelings about
02:55:48.520and you know until you know you don't know and i know that sounds dumb that's like one of those
02:55:56.680cliches kothi trent was just talking about until you know you don't know obviously right but
02:56:01.280where we've ended up through all of that is better than what we could have imagined better
02:56:09.620for thing better than things that we were either um either lovingly jealous about but still jealous
02:56:18.080or um you know just just annoyed or or upset about things that didn't go the way that
02:56:27.480We wanted them to in that moment, you know, and and sticking with it and, you know, seeing the plan through and and supporting our folk and supporting the other Hoffs, our Hoffs, there are Hoffs.
02:56:46.040They're not other Hoffs, but, you know, the farther away Hoffs has brought blessings into our lives.0.65
02:56:54.260And I hope into the lives of our folk that, you know, that really can't be measured.
02:57:05.360And then what am I going to leave intentionally behind this year?
02:57:10.480I think just for this one year, planning for the future.
02:57:16.040I think that the moment up here at Frazehoff is going to be really important for about the next year, just being present in the moment, taking it as it comes, and then worrying about next year, next year, because for a long time, we've been thinking ahead for so long, you know, now we get to think about now, and that's really exciting.
02:59:03.920And both of those wishes were granted. So spiritually, it's been an outstanding year for me. Seeing my young daughters participate in our daily blessing of the meal and also in Sumble by knowing to hail gods, even though they're three and two years old, is just something spiritually that I can't even explain.
02:59:33.920And to see them resonate with their blood memory in a way that is genuine and not forced is just such a cool thing to bear witness to.
02:59:44.320And I'm so excited to see the kind of Vasa Truar they continue to grow up to be.
02:59:49.380And it's just been great in that way.0.95
02:59:52.980And if there's anything I'm leaving intentionally behind is the fear of more children.
03:00:00.760I always thought going from two to three was going to be tough.
03:00:03.920You just figure it out. We adapt. It's all good. Have more, have more white babies. We love them. They'll, they'll treat you well. There's no difference between two or three. They're, they're all going to make you laugh. They're going to make you upset sometimes, but you're going to get through it and there's nothing more worth it. Um, they're, they're blessings. So it's been a great year for the AFA and for me personally. So cheers to 2026 and I'm excited to continue to build with you all.
03:00:33.600and and see where we go so all right two minute warning to midnight on the east coast so i am
03:00:43.040going to go get something because i'm obnoxious and we'll be right back um if anyone wants to
03:00:51.200answer those questions while i do that feel free but i will interrupt you just so that you know
03:00:55.440i'll be right back awesome i can be quick i can't well yeah me being quick is is an oxymoronic
03:01:03.680statement but compare comparatively to chris uh it's true so um i i learned a lot spiritually
03:01:10.400this year i think especially just like as a person um my growth as a person within the faith
03:01:17.200has become exponential um for those of you who have been around for a while you know that my
03:01:22.160my goal has always been to be a Githya and so the opportunity came up this year for me to apply to
03:01:28.020be in the Gothar program and I actually instead requested to have a meeting to discuss what they
03:01:33.980want to see from me before I apply to become a Githya and that I think was a really big like
03:01:38.860step for me spiritually because normally I'd be chomping at the bit to try and get this done and
03:01:44.100like yes let me go let me do it but instead I took the time to realize like you know I'm I'm not ready
03:01:49.520right now but i want to be ready and what do you need from me to show that i am ready and so that
03:01:55.220was kind of a really big thing for me to look back and reflect on that i was able to realize that
03:02:01.140within myself um but and i have a daughter who wants me to look at things and that's definitely
03:02:08.620something i'm very grateful to for this year to have two beautiful children that i get to raise
03:02:12.700in this faith and they'll never know a world without ositru is amazing and cliff has a pan
03:03:04.660My wife would throw me out in the snow if I started banging on a pot and pan right now.0.54
03:03:10.580That's what we did with my dad as kids.
03:03:13.100we'd go outside we'd run around we'd make all the noise and then we weren't the only ones other
03:03:18.300people in the neighborhood would run out sometimes we had the store-bought ones the little clickers
03:03:22.140that would spin around you wave them like that um you're lucky i'm not wearing a party hat and have
03:03:28.460like one of those streamer things um all of that stuff which is which is not directly related to
03:03:36.460the uh the chasing out of of spirits on on mother's night that that we do that's a different
03:03:43.500different practice that we have but i i think they have the same origins but yeah make an
03:03:48.640annoying obnoxious amount of noise at midnight on new year's is is something my dad taught me if
03:03:55.220if we did it exactly the way that he taught me we would go outside we'd run around and we keep
03:03:59.600doing it for like 10 or 15 minutes until somebody told you to shut up so fireworks i'm very glad
03:04:07.840i'm very glad that i preemptively said you had pots and pans because all i can think of is the
03:04:11.760people listening to this podcast later not knowing what's coming for them and all of a sudden cliffs
03:04:16.400in here with pots and pans banging all right so now that i got that out of my system um
03:04:29.600yeah so i wish i wish jordan was still here because now we've joined him in the future
03:04:34.320at least uh chris tyler and i have how is the past feeling mcnallans and sierra
03:04:41.840it's it's a little spooky i feel like i'm being left behind it happens all the time
03:04:46.320i so i work and most of my company is on the east coast so everybody's posting happy new
03:04:52.080years and i'm still sitting here in the background like it's only nine o'clock you guys like calm
03:04:56.960down it happens all the time yeah but like for us on the east coast it's like oh i gotta send a
03:05:03.680check-in text to someone in california it's like how are you doing man he's like at work
03:05:08.800yeah that's a problem i have and so just as a preemptive like message to every afa member
03:05:15.140that's watching if you get a text message from me at an ungodly hour please do not feel compelled
03:05:20.420to respond i forget about time zones all the time i will message you at nine o'clock my time because
03:05:26.320that's appropriate not realizing it's midnight your time so you're waking people up sierra i do
03:05:32.740i had somebody chew my head off one time for it and i felt really bad and i was like it was just
03:05:37.260a text message it was one ding i'm really sorry but yes i mean people could set their notification
03:05:44.420settings and customize them and only have like their emergency contacts able to wake them up
03:05:50.400while they're sleeping but who does that maybe i was an emergency contact maybe they thought it
03:05:55.660an emergency who knows maybe i'm just that special i mean i guess that could be pretty upsetting they
03:06:00.620they think that there's an actual emergency and you're not calling about that you're just
03:06:05.260reminding them that vns is every wednesday and they already knew that uh some shots being fired
03:06:16.620shots fired shots fired yeah i mean that's just another day in tennessee around here
03:06:22.940i think i hear four or five of them a night you you've got some east coaster thinking that it's
03:06:28.380midnight there they're making a lot of noise you know all right so i've got a got another question
03:06:34.460from nick here um how do we face an uncertain future with courage instead of fear anyone can
03:06:42.220have that one yeah i think um the easiest way to answer that is that we are the result of winners
03:06:52.060since the beginning of time and that to believe otherwise is not adhering to your prestige
03:07:01.020um our our people have have conquered and faced everything the world has ever thrown at it
03:07:08.100and to think that we can't we can't do the same is just not listening to history we are all the
03:07:16.160results of winners that are here today and we will face whatever comes our way and we will succeed
03:07:22.760that's the beauty of our people and that's why we're here to protect it well said well said
03:07:31.000has the best toast at sumbo having to follow that is is rough tyler
03:07:40.400but sierra wanted to right well i'm like the icebreaker i give like the middle answer so
03:07:52.320that way it kind of breaks the ice after following something so profound right so
03:07:56.000everybody else doesn't feel as nervous about speaking but um
03:08:03.600i just had a brain fart what was the question leave
03:08:06.320how do we face an uncertain future with courage instead of fear so i um i recently actually went
03:08:15.980through a situation where i was very uncertain about what the future was going to hold and
03:08:20.860uh move moving into my own house out of my parents house and it's something that i've
03:08:26.280let hold me back for about five years now and eventually i just um i had to think about
03:08:36.320yes this could happen but also what if like what if it doesn't what if this is going to be the
03:08:44.400best thing that has ever happened to me and i am somebody who is like disgustingly optimistic
03:08:50.620i will find the good in every situation as annoying as it is and so just realizing that you
03:08:58.540have that there's always going to be those well what if something goes wrong and weighing the
03:09:03.860pros and cons and realizing that the good will always outweigh the bad you just have to be
03:09:10.160willing to make that sacrifice within yourself to accept it and now like i've got i've got my
03:09:15.100awesome little house i don't live with my parents anymore i can't commit to the afa 110 and not walk
03:09:21.480on eggshells about who's around me and it was one of the best things i did but i let it hold me back
03:09:26.380for five years because i was worried about what it is and we're also proud of you sierra seriously
03:09:36.540thank you very proud good job yeah so good job sierra um
03:09:45.340as uh my answer to this it kind of loops into the answers to the other
03:09:50.060prior questions here about uh lessons learned and what kind of year this has been spiritually
03:09:59.180not only did i enter fatherhood but also we got our first house as well as well
03:10:05.980you want to talk about exoteric versus esoteric there's got to be some kind of spiritual gains
03:10:12.620to changing a diaper i don't if you haven't done it you don't know what i'm talking about
03:10:18.300you should change that um and the way we faced uncertainty and the way we're going to do it
03:10:27.260continuing forward is for one with courage because you have to face the future whether
03:10:32.300you like it or not it's it's coming for you you get to decide when where the battlefield etc
03:10:38.860but i'll make i'll make that into a better quote at some point i apologize
03:10:42.700but uh planning is also very important i feel like i feel like figuring out what you actually
03:10:52.420want from the future and slaying laying down the groundwork for making it a reality is important
03:11:00.400i feel like that's a very important thing for when you're facing uncertainty i'm a man who
03:11:06.000worries easily and the best way to alleviate worry is to have a plan because you can always
03:11:15.380change a plan later if it starts to go a little astray but if you have nothing then you got
03:11:21.820nothing on your side so yeah i like um your bit about planning but then also being able to adapt
03:11:35.400I think flexibility is important. And that's the thing about uncertainty. You know, an uncertain future, you need to be flexible, right? Something else I would say, too, is you mentioned exoteric and esoteric. As far as like an exoteric way to face an uncertain future with courage instead of fear is you just take it one day at a time.
03:12:00.860And then you just get to go home at the end of the day, go to bed, and then reset and be courageous tomorrow and the next day and the next day, et cetera.
03:12:09.460And then for the esoteric, I would just copy and paste what Tyler said about our ancestors have conquered everything.0.50
03:12:17.260You know, they chased Suna West across the European landscape and into North America.
03:43:26.940can i go for yes please do you're on your one virtue right yeah that's see but that's what
03:43:34.940makes it hard because i love i've got 18 of them up here in front of me i have a board
03:43:43.340of virtues in front of me that i keep above my workspace i've got the noble
03:43:47.020and then the feminine and masculine that is a whit and brandy thing and it's hard because
03:43:52.300there's so many good but i would say that one that i personally try to instill within myself
03:43:59.100on a day-to-day basis and kind of carries me throughout the years is hospitality i think that
03:44:06.540one of the key components to being a good folk builder and maybe it's because i'm feminine so
03:44:13.500like homemaking is kind of my my thing right um i'm in the kitchen at the hof that's my place
03:44:19.420that's what i do i love it there that's hospitality is what brings the folk in being open and warm and
03:44:28.860just happy right like making people feel comfortable being around you is the first
03:44:34.140step to bringing them home and i can't tell you how many times we've had new people who
03:44:39.260show up to the half or show up to a moot and they're very shy and timid and i always joke
03:44:44.220that one of my superpowers is pulling people out of their shells nobody can be shy around me because
03:44:48.220i'll break you of it in like five minutes i'll talk at you until you talk to me and i think
03:44:54.620hospitality is one of the biggest things that we need one of the biggest things that we need in
03:44:58.620order to help uh get get over their um nervousness sorry the feedback kind of throws me for a loop
03:45:07.020uh get over their nervousness and so hospitality is one that i definitely myself try to bring in
03:45:12.780and i think that anybody who is in the afa that wants to bring more folk in should definitely do
03:45:17.180hospitality um or self-reliance self-reliance is a really big one as like a singular person
03:45:23.340but i'm thinking of the asa as a whole so singular person afa as whole one for each
03:45:37.020all right um githia sheila and and and founder steve did you guys want to name uh a virtue each
03:45:47.180i know you talked about oaths but i'm pretty sure that was a following off of uh somebody else's
03:45:52.780uh virtue right yes um i will say similarly i think perseverance is so important and for me
03:46:03.340um when people tend to kind of go into a negative spin kind of a downward spiral
03:46:10.220um and they're kind of losing that focus of what i can do next and it's stay with it stay with it
03:46:16.300long enough but to remember their blessings and that's what i would count your blessings that's
03:46:21.100what my my little mantras is um just know that there are people who are far worse off you know
03:46:27.420what that's kind of stuff that parents used to drum into kids to make them you know feel bad
03:46:33.100But the point is, that is true. And that for every one of us, that the day may seem horrible. And there are some things that people go through that are just devastating. But on the other hand, when it's just kind of routinely stuff, that's just piling up, and it doesn't change. But think, you know, you've got the house, you've got a roof over your head, you've got a meal, you know, what you need, you've got people who will be there to talk to you.
03:47:00.140if you need anything you know you can reach out to any of us as i said before so we all have things
03:47:05.300we have connections with ancestors we have memories thank goodness we've got thought and
03:47:09.800memory who can moon in um you know those are gifts and we need to see them as precious and
03:47:16.940blessings in our lives and keep that that's what we fill ourselves with when we get feeling kind
03:47:21.800of down that and i agree with sierra on hospitality i mean i'm big on hospitality and i
03:47:28.640i i get feel very hurt if somehow somebody does not want to come back to the hof because
03:47:34.480we both and other people there we go out of our way to make people feel really comfortable you
03:47:40.440have come home this is a reunion you know that's i i will tell people that this is your home you
03:47:46.000are you are here and you're you're welcome to be here um so hospitality is one of my big ones do
03:47:52.140you have anything, sir? Yeah, pretty much. I look at it, and I see, in my opinion, that loyalty
03:48:03.920and perseverance are actually very much related. You always run the mission. You always
03:48:13.800do that which you conceive to be right, and that which you have said you would do.
03:54:57.680um i would have gone with perseverance or loyalty myself um but i feel like i'll put on i'll put in
03:55:08.560honor there we do not have enough hello sir yeah we're going to interrupt you for just a minute
03:55:16.740there chris we have got al shirgothi matt with us uh driving home from some swanky party or
03:55:23.660something like that how's it going sir going fantastic i don't know how swanky it is this
03:55:29.720is the best camera shot you got and i'm not going to look at you because i'm i am driving but i've
03:55:35.200got it in a little handy holder, and I just wanted, at first, I'm excited that the episode
03:55:40.120looks like it is working out really well, we've got amazing people on the screen with
03:55:44.560me, I appreciate you gentlemen hosting on short notice, you know, Brandy would have
03:55:50.620loved to be here, she was looking forward to it, but unfortunately illness struck, but
03:55:55.420yeah, I was at a 12th night party, and I just wanted to pop in, and I guess first, kind
03:56:01.880to say what an amazing, amazing year 2025 has been for the Austria Wolf Assembly, and
03:56:11.380I'm sure I'm covering ground everybody else has said, but I just, you know, I'm very thankful
03:56:15.480that we've had the year that we've had, and that we've been able to share that, share
03:56:23.220that year together, and participate in some of the stuff, so I'm getting pretty big feedback,
03:56:29.660I don't know if you are, but, yeah, I appreciate you guys.
03:56:33.280I appreciate all of the amazing audience on BNS and all our AFA family for all of the great things we've been able to do together over this last year.
03:56:44.340And, yeah, just wanted to express that and tell everybody that I'm very excited to hit the ground running in 2026 and that we've got really great things ahead.
03:56:55.700But it's, I don't know, it warms my heart to come on and see you guys still, you know, four hours in with such an active group of luminaries on the camera.
04:08:42.120Our people were moral way before Abrahamism.0.97
04:08:50.440Marriage was between a man and a woman.
04:08:52.660you know bad things happening between people where i'm trying not to get too graphic but
04:09:01.260you know what i mean like our the what the framework of people that believe is like christian
04:09:06.440morals comes from our people way before that even came to europe um so that's the biggest
04:09:14.280misconception because you know people view paganism as a way to get back at their parents
04:09:21.120to be edgy and it's like a license for degeneracy and it couldn't be farther from the truth um our
04:09:28.480faith is is very moral and those morals came from our people and that's one of the most annoying
04:09:35.520things i see out there is that they view it also true as a license for degeneracy and it's
04:09:40.800couldn't be further from the truth i'll go next i the misconception that i want corrected about
04:09:55.600also true is that we are hateful because like we're not just because i want the preservation
04:10:02.800of my race doesn't mean that i hate your race like i want you to find your ethnic religion
04:10:09.200i want you to embrace your traditions i want you to embrace your heritage
04:10:13.440we can all live like i use california for an example because it's a place that's very
04:10:21.600integrated right and i know so many um african americans that want to shop at black owned
04:10:28.800businesses they want to live in black owned communities and that's okay for them but when
04:10:34.720it comes to us it's not okay and it's love for my race does not mean hate for another and i think
04:10:40.640the moment that people start realizing that is the moment that ossaroo will stop getting a bad rap
04:10:46.160because right now it feels like it's simply just because we're white i've got no problem with
04:10:50.560anybody else i just want to be left to my own devices for me and my folk and my family and i
04:10:55.280want us to survive and thrive just like i want you to survive and thrive within your own categories
04:11:00.000100 sierra everybody should be folkish everybody in the world should be folkish
04:11:08.120um you know we're not the only ones who were religiously colonized it happened to a lot of
04:11:15.680other people i think we were first but it proceeded after that and um i think that
04:11:23.340relations between different peoples would be a lot more honest and organic if we were all true
04:11:31.100to those roots like you were talking about. Does anyone else have any misconceptions about
04:11:37.240Asatru that they want corrected? What about the founder? Does the founder have anything he wants
04:11:48.060Yes. As a matter of fact, matter of fact, he does. But again, like I said, I'm Irish. I have to talk. So I think what was said in the last couple of minutes is very, very, very important.
04:12:04.860I also think it's important for people to realize that we don't live in the past.
04:15:48.100I would really like for the broader world, especially our folk, but everyone else too, to recognize that the gift giving and that the Yule tree and that all the winter elf stuff and the feasting and the Yule log and all that stuff that goes with the winter solstice holiday.
04:16:18.100that that's asa true that that comes from our people because it's shocking to me sometimes
04:16:24.860like i'm so steeped in in asa true now that i forget that people don't know that and
04:16:30.820shame on me i was watching fox news the other day and um they were talking about like christmas
04:16:38.680stuff right and it was from such an ignorant point of view and you know i can't always blame
04:16:46.840someone for what they don't know because they don't know it it's you know like like that innocent0.71
04:16:52.620kind of pure ignorance that yeah there should be some more intellectual curiosity but they they
04:16:58.340straight up just don't know any better but it was like i've known this for so long that it it becomes
04:17:07.020frustrating when when i'm reminded that that people don't you know that they think that that stuff has
04:17:13.620something to do with the birth of a baby in a desert manger in the levant which you know may
04:17:21.360or may not happen that's not really into my business but it doesn't have anything to do
04:17:24.320with that tree there behind me you know and and the same thing with with easter ostera i i would
04:17:32.320very like very much like for um you know the recognition of the eggs and the rabbits and the
04:17:39.320grass all those fertility symbols the flowers to to be recognized with their with their proper
04:17:46.720origins um you know and in some ways that that that applies to our also true folk as well you
04:17:53.420know calling astra easter is still kind of taboo even though that is straight up our word that's
04:18:01.080not like the the jehovah's witnesses get it right when they call it resurrection day you know for
04:18:06.480their faith um easter the word isn't even related to the holiday they're celebrating so um yeah
04:18:15.740it's not it's not a misconception about asatru i mean i guess if there is a misconception it's that
04:18:21.340it's not real that it's not ancient that it is you know made up rather than people not seeing
04:18:28.120that it's been all around them and all part of our culture this whole time
04:18:31.500get the altar do you have any misconceptions about us sorry i was about to know she's muted
04:18:44.160she was trying to talk sorry i was just going to say public relations you talk about um people
04:18:51.100being on newscasts for instance brought into and talking about christmas or oscar or something like
04:18:57.160that. And in fact, that's the kind of stuff Steve used to do in the very earliest days back in the
04:19:01.92090s. He was constantly being interviewed by newspapers and people would come around and
04:19:06.560ask him about Ewell. There's, you know, made the front page, you know, for Kennewick Man and Ewell
04:19:12.120and all those things. But we don't, we're not doing that kind of stuff. And I encourage our
04:19:17.020leaders, but also, you know, others who are interested, reach out to our leaders, go to your
04:19:21.860local um uh tv show you know a tv program in your town and see if they wouldn't like to interview
04:19:29.780you at yule about what we do and it's it's possible of course that we still of course have the else
04:19:35.540true focus assembly label to us which it can be very limiting but if you can get around that and
04:19:41.140say it's also true it's australia and by the way runestone.org which is what i would always say
04:19:46.900but there are a lot of opportunities for us to get the word out we're just really not reaching
04:19:52.420out in that way we're doing x very well and things like that but i hadn't thought about
04:19:56.660the idea of news programs because they do like local things what's going on locally for the
04:20:03.540holiday traditions i mean certainly hanukkah gets a lot of attention in just about any community
04:20:08.340right in kwanzaa to a certain extent not so much as it used to but we deserve uh just as
04:20:16.260prominent a role in the holidays all over our holiday this one because it is goes back to
04:20:21.760everybody's roots who's from Europe so yeah just again public 2026 let this be a good year for
04:20:30.280public relations and try to get the word out about who we are and what we're about so there
04:20:34.740is not the myth and the misconceptions about what we really are about
04:21:04.800that they think it's a bunch of drunken men around a fire yelling about woton and
04:21:15.980see you in valhalla those are the things that drive me nuts that they this is so family oriented
04:21:25.120it. And it has been through the whole line of our ancestors. I wish people would see that part of it,
04:21:32.900that we are, we're a family. And whether you have children or whether you're married or in a
04:21:38.520relationship, you are all welcome. It is all of us together worshiping our gods. And I wish people
04:21:45.940would see that more than the stereotypical drunk men with horns around a fire and and that is my
04:21:55.940biggest thing i would say awesome so i have a question for founder mcnally um you reminded me
04:22:11.380of something that i have always well not always but that i've wondered about lately um from from
04:22:18.740reading the spear and hearing some of your more recent talks um and um you know comparing that
04:22:25.700with with things that we've spoken about before and things that i've read that you've written
04:22:29.140before so i understand that you have long perhaps always been like a space travel and like stellar
04:22:37.860colonization enthusiast right you want to see also true in alpha centauri um but i also i
04:22:45.940also understand that you have um some serious reservations about artificial intelligence
04:22:51.540and how do you balance the the colonization of star systems and ai like with those concerns like
04:23:02.020Like, how do you get that kind of space travel without AI, and how do you see that playing out?
04:23:09.580And I know it's sort of an imaginary scenario.
04:23:12.140You're not the AI computer scientist that's going to do all this stuff, but, like, where's your head at on that kind of thing?
04:23:19.980Well, if AI were used solely as collections of, for example, scientific data, not sticking its nose into our lives, what we do, where we want to be, where we want to go, what do we think about politics, X, Y, and Z.
04:23:41.960If it were just a matter of collecting scientific data, for example, of putting together combinations of information that would help us to, for example, come up with faster than light travel or so-called warp drive, if you will, that would be one thing.
04:24:02.980But AGI, if you let that stuff go, frankly, we're screwed, in my opinion.
04:24:09.360I believe in freedom. I believe in the freedom of our minds, of our actions, and certainly of
04:24:18.220our future. And for me, that doesn't include some damn robot giving me, you know, building the world0.96
04:24:27.200for me that I have to fit into. Humanity comes first. We control it. It's not to control us.0.98
04:24:37.800If it wants to do some good calculations that will help me build space drive, awesome.
04:24:45.480If it wants to tell me what to think about X, Y, or Z, if it wants to limit me in any way, well, kind of put a little bit of TNT on it, baby.
04:25:46.520Vikings, another obvious example, exploration, go places, do things, become more than you are by doing things that you have not done before.
04:25:58.240That's kind of the way I see it. We are the space exploring race.
04:26:06.240I mean, everything from the V-2 on upwards.
04:26:12.240You know, I believe, was it Fawn Brown or one of those early guys who someone asked him how the V-2 rocket succeeded?
04:40:02.820For everyone watching, this is one of the great things about having multiple Hoffs.
04:40:07.520The more of them that we have, the more that we can learn from each other.0.96
04:40:13.540It's kind of like the experiment among the states, right?
04:40:16.360Like the more of them that there are and the more that they have some kind of success or even a failure, the better off the rest can be.
04:40:25.840You know, like if we mess something up bad at Frazehoff, I promise you that they're not going to do it at Baldershoff and they're not going to do it at Odenshoff.
04:40:33.880And vice versa, when they do something awesome at Odenshoff, we're all going to borrow or steal that idea and, you know, and replicate it and adapt it.
04:40:42.240of course it'll probably take on a local touch but it'll it'll spread if it's good and if it's
04:40:49.920bad it won't everything we do amazing just full stop yeah we're working on lighting and that's
04:40:58.620one thing that you that katie achieved at phrasehoff was um during the dedication was the
04:41:05.660beautiful ambient lighting of candles everywhere and i know she said i spent a lot of money on them
04:41:11.680but it was so effective. And then you also had the burner in there that was a propane, propane
04:41:17.960torch thing, but it wasn't just a little flicker. There was a real powerful movement of flame in
04:41:24.660that huge hall, which it needed something very minor, you know, a nice big candle wouldn't have
04:41:29.000done it. It was there. It was making noise. It was kind of clicking in the background, doing
04:41:33.080whatever. And it kept us aware that there was always this, this energy right there that we
04:41:39.420We were focused around, especially during the Summel.
04:41:41.940I mean, I was really aware of your flame during the Summel.
04:41:45.140It was beautiful, but, and I had to ask you, how is it made?
05:02:57.700oh no it's not it's mountain time right no yeah so all the time
05:03:02.340people yes all those folks in montana cool and colorado rocky mountains okay well anyway
05:03:10.980my favorite thor story is one thing that got me this direction is that um i was at a um
05:03:17.700environmental ed camp and um there was a teacher there and there was another teacher and his name
05:03:25.060was steve mcdallant and steve being you know into the viking stuff which i've never ever known about
05:03:33.940he came i think you had your helm with you your helmet yeah his uh kirby wise helmet and his
05:03:42.100blue cloak that everybody has seen in pictures and the whole thing and he he did the whole
05:03:46.500thor story thor thor dressing up as freya and the whole thing in front of the fire with all these
05:03:52.020kids these seventh graders and the high schoolers and it just kind of blew me away at so that i will
05:03:58.980always remember that because it was life-changing for me opened up my whole world to norse mythology
05:04:05.780which i've never really been acquainted with before and here we are here we are afa people
05:04:10.980blame it on the thor story i don't know what to say it was it was a wonderful night yeah
05:04:16.740influencing children at a very young age oh he did some wonderful things i have to tell you though
05:04:22.020when it comes to ritual you know we can say that ritual well our ritual is focused generally on our
05:04:28.340our ancestors and in the ice here but steve also did a beautiful ritual for the kids who are out
05:04:35.700there at this place called point rays and point rays is right where the epicenter of the 1906
05:04:42.180california earthquake was and the place is very powerful it also is a place where sir francis
05:04:48.420drake in the 1500s supposedly brought his ship into the bay there called tamales bay or drake's
05:04:55.300bay actually drake's day and um did repairs on his ship so um special place it is very special very
05:05:03.620powerful and that's what we always felt from the moment we were there um very unique for california
05:05:09.780and gorgeous gorgeous area but um one thing that steve did was develop this thing that he called
05:05:16.260the order of drake's drum and it was based on sir francis drake coming back in spirit and talking
05:05:24.980to the young people particularly these high school counselors and so what we did was develop a thing
05:05:31.540where we would wake them up early in the morning and blindfold them and all the other little
05:05:37.980seventh graders would fall along behind and we'd take them blindfolded up to the campfire area
05:05:42.500where there was a fire and the whole thing. And Steve actually took them through this beautiful
05:05:46.800ritual of connecting to the place. And I actually did hand calligraphy for every one of those kids.
05:05:53.360I did it in, you know, standard calligraphy signed by Sir Francis Drake and they all got it rolled
05:06:01.200up as a little scroll and they got a gift it would be a little bottle of water from the coast or
05:06:06.640sand dollar or something and steve just did this beautiful ritual with these children to connect
05:06:13.600them to this place um and say whenever and so it is actually said in the certificate that when you
05:06:21.200hear when you hear the the call what was it drake's drum drake's done when you hear drake's drum
05:06:27.120that is your call to come and help protect this place because it was an environmental
05:06:32.320ed camp we went there teaching science and ecology and all that kind of stuff
05:06:36.480it was very powerful years later in fact not that long ago we steve and i heard from a student we
05:06:44.000both had who was actually she was a i think she'd been through the seventh grade but she became a
05:06:48.880high school counselor and she said that when she we reconnected she was living over in reno over
05:06:56.400in nevada and found each other on facebook and and we had a phone call and she said you know
05:07:02.560and all the travels i did afterwards i moved to anchorage to be with my dad i moved here there
05:07:07.920there got married had kids she said but right now i'm in my bathroom and i can look up on that shelf
05:07:13.680and i see that same bottle of water that you gave me when we were at pointe rays i've carried it
05:07:20.080with me all along it means that much to me so that just shows the power of conveying a spiritual
05:07:26.800nature a love of of life a love of the world we live in lots of ways of connecting one would say
05:07:35.040to the lanve tear as well which is probably what we were doing as well at that place and we go back
05:07:40.480every at least once a year to the same spot we still walk the hike do the hikes all those things
05:07:46.240because it was so important to us at that point it really was a new beginning set me on this this
05:07:52.800course this this path we're on and you know talk about sacrifices there have been a lot of sacrifices
05:07:59.120made the whole time and i've been doing it now for well over 30 years almost 35 years
05:08:05.280i i don't regret when hardly any of it sure there are little things but i'm so glad i had this
05:08:11.680opportunity and that i'm here tonight to talk with people and say
05:08:18.880this is home this is where you should be this is this speaks to us it's where our ancestors are
05:08:24.080it's where our gods listen to us and hear you and wonderful things can happen when we put our minds
05:08:32.640hearts and souls to it and just know that we're such fortunate people to live in this time
05:08:39.600this is such a rare opportunity in this crazy world and we are here and we are the same ones
05:08:46.640and we can help bring um one can say good tidings but also balance and and normalcy to people's
05:08:54.960lives because of what we believe and how we do it i agree with that completely we we are fortunate
05:09:01.920you know we could moan about this this time that we were born into i say hell no hell no
05:09:08.960we are blessed we are blessed we are honored we are honored to be here to fight this battle yeah
05:09:18.080yeah we are i think we're in an age of heroes i think there are going to be sagas
05:09:22.480that our descendants have about this time i don't know exactly what they'll look like but
05:09:28.240if we're lucky we get some mentions you know um
05:09:32.000We have a question for Githiasara. Githiasara, can you please tell us the recipe for the
05:09:42.560Wisconsin fish boil so perhaps others can enjoy it for Thoroblo?
05:09:49.200That is something my husband perfected with the LC Fest that we used to have in Wisconsin.
05:09:57.000It is a Wisconsin tradition. It is an amazing dish. You have this big, huge pot that is filled with water and lots of salt, and then you put in red potatoes, carrots, and those tiny onions, and then it's a white fish.
05:10:21.560It's like a haddock or cod or something really solid as a white fish.
05:10:43.600A lot of the fire departments in Wisconsin use this as a fundraiser.
05:10:48.540Um, there are resorts and, um, campgrounds who feature this because when you do it on an open fire and at the end, all the, as everything is boiling, all the salt and, um, the fats from the fish come up to the top and it boils over and it makes the flames go up and it's a very big production kind of thing.
05:11:15.400it's it's it's pretty cool and it's delicious and as somebody's had it a few times as somebody
05:11:23.320who's had it a few times and has also watched y'all cook it put a bunch of butter in as much
05:11:30.120as you think you need and then quadruple that and maybe double that all the butter i don't know
05:11:39.160buy the store and then maybe go to the next store i've had the privilege of having this as well it
05:11:50.120is absolutely amazing really good so the only spice in it basically is the salt do you put
05:11:57.000pepper in or anything else there's no salt nope it's just the salt and it's it doesn't taste salty
05:12:03.480because all that stuff is is boiled up and stuff and well it depends if you you have we always use
05:12:10.600um carry gold for our butter because my oh yeah oh my gosh it's so yellow all the better there is
05:12:16.940is carry gold so we use that and it is an amazing dish is all of you would be proud
05:12:24.760is the fish dried salted fish that you put in or is it fresh it is a fresh fish okay well let's do
05:12:32.900that i'm all for it yes i wanted to take a quick second to shout out uh afa member adam he just
05:12:40.520messaged me letting me know he sees me on vns and he's tuned in right now so hi adam and happy new
05:12:46.040year i think he's a boulder top adam okay that'll work nice okay cool it's nice that people are
05:12:55.000still hanging in there with us how much longer are we going to do this guys we are continuing
05:13:00.460to get questions so we will see we're only 50 minutes to to new year's west coast so we we
05:13:06.780might make it okay maybe we might i'll i'll hold the fort down if we need to guys don't think no
05:13:12.620one is obligated to stay but um the next question we got here is from heathenhammer
05:13:19.980uh 2344 uh do you remember your first asa true bloat steve
05:19:09.440We fight our battles. And if we win, if our vital force, whatever you want to call it, is substantial enough, you're going to kick ass. Otherwise, you might get your ass kicked.0.99
05:19:29.740yeah i tend to go back to to the traditional of the gods and the norns being there at the well0.99
05:19:39.420and meeting every day to to determine the lives of of us human folk um i really think that there are
05:19:49.100these patterns that are set in place for us do you have opportunities to change yes i think that's
05:19:54.460where free will gives us that that little divergence we can go this way this way we
05:19:59.420sometimes choose that and um and that can make a difference you know does it lead us back where we
05:20:05.100should be i'm not really sure but i do know that um i think that it's our our roots are not made
05:20:12.460necessarily easy for us i think there are a lot of challenges that we need to deal with in life
05:20:17.260that may be even predetermined and we need to work our way through them and again part of that is the
05:20:22.860growth and determination and strength we have to make what we what we have and make it better and
05:20:30.700get through it and survive the experience and again grow through it so but that's kind of where
05:20:40.700i am well yeah and yeah i i think think things can happen to to interfere with you know from
05:20:49.100the outside to some extent so to a considerable extent good grief you know bam you you're in a
05:20:54.940truck wreck or something whatever you know yes uh but uh roll the dice baby and god is where we are
05:21:01.180that's the whole thing i always say you know people may say i'm just like i get that but had
05:21:07.340you not done that and then this and this and this you wouldn't be here today and you are here today
05:21:11.580for a reason right we say that when people come together at our at our house and sometimes it's
05:21:18.780it's not as great a group as we expected,
05:21:21.700but we say, you know what, you're here
05:21:23.760and you're meant to be here, and this is good.
05:23:19.300and I might be going on a bit of a tangent because it's late,
05:23:22.140but like when people do rune poles for the year, right?
05:23:26.220Like I'm going to do my rune pole for the year.
05:23:27.980These are going to be the runes that guide me throughout the year, right?1.00
05:23:31.720That may be the path that the Nornir have for you.1.00
05:23:34.720And you might hit those points along the way,1.00
05:23:37.840but unless you take the steps to achieve that on your own,
05:23:41.740it's not guaranteed that you're going to get it you can pull a burcano rune right and think that
05:23:48.180it means family and that you're going to have you know you can interpret it however you want
05:23:52.420i'm going to have the family i've always wished for i'm going to have um you know a new baby or
05:23:58.080i'm going to have great things happen with my family and the nornir will set it all out in
05:24:02.800front of you and go here is your opportunity here is like for me here is a husband right
05:24:07.600like here's a man so this is what should happen sorry uh gotcha here here is a husband right
05:24:17.120go do what you need to do but then it's up to me to foster that relationship and take care of it
05:24:23.680and nurture it to allow it to grow to that point i could just go no i don't want it i'm gonna go
05:24:29.420somewhere else that they they put it in front of me it was up to me to take that and do what i
05:24:36.140needed to do in order to make it grow and thrive yeah that makes sense i can see that i'm glad that
05:24:42.720makes sense because i felt like i went on a little bit of a circle oh no no i mean no yeah well you
05:24:49.480you explained it very thoroughly i'll talk in circles till it makes sense or people get confused
05:24:54.800and just smile and nod right yeah i think it worked i think it worked um yeah the concept
05:25:02.460later like predestination is uh i think it's one that people struggle with because in the
05:25:09.180lore it tells us that we have a thread that's been woven for us and you know that we we can't change
05:25:18.540the time of our death um but i wonder if sometimes it's more like a ribbon
05:25:23.980you know the thread has some width to it so that we can navigate around inside of it um
05:25:29.820But without breaking free of what the Norns did determine.
05:25:37.980And in a way, and I don't mean this in an impious way, I'm not sure that it matters.
05:25:44.100Because in our lives, I don't think that, like, if we can't tell the difference, like, if we don't know if there's free will or predestination,
05:25:53.880then we need to assume there's free will and own our actions and take right action at all times
05:26:03.540and if that was all laid out for us in advance then so be it if it wasn't then we we had better
05:26:09.820make the right calls right yeah good point yeah yeah that's true so i want to ask a question right
05:26:18.220total full circle how see our brain works i was watching disney movies with my daughter
05:26:25.040and we were watching hercules and hercules was one of my favorite movies as a kid like i've
05:26:30.320always had an infatuation with gods whether it be um you know the greek gods the norse gods what
05:26:35.960have you and as we're watching we're getting to the point where hercules is diving into the water
05:26:42.260to save meg and the three witches are there and they're trying to cut his cord and i kind of was
05:26:49.200sitting there looking at it and i was like it almost reminds me of three nornir watching him
05:26:54.020from their well and i'm wondering if anybody's ever like watched it and kind of had that same
05:26:59.160like huh this seems really familiar and i know there'd be some overlaps between you know greek
05:27:06.580mythology and and norse mythos kind of do have some overlaps but i've never noticed just how
05:27:12.420just how apparent it was they were literally sitting in a sitting over a wall watching him
05:27:17.940with three of them they had his string and they were attempting to cut it but because he was of
05:27:22.680the gods they couldn't determine they couldn't cut his fate i'm just curious has anybody else
05:27:27.200ever watched it or noticed that or made that connection or am i just searching for things
05:27:31.220that aren't there no it's there are you talking about the disney hercules yeah okay um yeah that
05:27:38.820was like one of the last good movies that disney made um where they were still actually drawing
05:27:43.960cartoons but um the the greek fates i mean we we don't like to syncretize right but it's so obvious
05:27:55.260it's like of course odin is wotan right we don't we're not being synchronic when we say that it's
05:28:00.960just so apparent and so obvious that to say otherwise would be would be foolish um the the
05:28:09.360greek fates the the moirai they call them i don't know if i'm pronouncing that correctly um but they
05:28:17.120they serve the same function in greek cosmology as the the norns do in norse cosmology and i think
05:28:25.280that's i think they go back um to you know some of our ancestors most most ancient understanding
05:28:35.600of the divine a lot like igdrazil the world tree exists everywhere like if that's not just a fourth
05:28:42.880thing that exists everywhere our people have ever gone and actually even beyond that like
05:28:49.120other peoples know about the world tree so um that's built right in there and i also
05:28:56.560want to just add on to that sierra i i shakespeare's three weird sisters are the same
05:29:04.400it's like he spells it with a y the weird sisters are the norms the three weird witches they
05:29:14.000They, they are, that Shakespeare is as far from us as he was from like the pagan Anglo-Saxons.
05:29:23.240He's like smack in the middle there.0.85
05:29:25.340So in Elizabethan times, they're still remembering their, their ostrich roots in a way that, in
05:29:33.100a way that we don't like, it's still fresh for them.
05:39:40.940But then we also see that Thor is capable of pausing his hand when the time is right.
05:39:46.120When Thor is standing over Thealfi and about to strike down this boy for breaking his goat's legs and causing Thor damage.
05:39:55.880I mean, I don't know what it means in the metaphysical realm to have your chariot goat's leg lamed and what impact that might have had on, you know, the order of the nine worlds for as long as it took for that to heal.
05:40:11.800but it shows thor in a moment of mercy that we don't see very often it shows that um you know
05:40:20.140even under that you know stern rough exterior which is necessary almost all of the time right
05:40:29.160in the aspect that thor plays as the protector of midgard and asgard like that is very vital
05:40:34.680and necessary to his function among the aesir um but it but it shows um a judgment it shows the
05:40:43.720ability to to not always strike against something that has wronged you especially when what has
05:40:50.920wronged you is is lesser than you and you know is almost pitiable um you know like if a dog bites
05:40:58.360you the right reaction is not necessarily to kick it right so uh that's that's the story that i like
05:41:06.520about thor because it shows that the complexity of our gods is something that that is real and
05:41:15.640you know that we that we definitely can learn from
05:41:17.960we were talking about this on uh vns pre-game that we had a few weeks ago actually because um
05:41:30.760correct me if i'm wrong but thor uh one of his kennings or and i could be using that wrong
05:41:38.760is a friend of man right like that's they call him thor he's the friend of men
05:41:44.200And again, correct me if I'm wrong, but we were talking about this on the VNS pregame because it was like, you know, Thor is this almighty, powerful God.
05:41:55.620But also, like, you know, in a lot of the stories, it's shown that he's quick to anger, but he also does have that reservation and knows when it is when it is the right time to kind of hold it back and take that softer approach when he's interacting with us.
05:42:11.980sorry my daughter is asking for up um you know he knows when to take that softer approach when
05:42:18.520he's interacting with us mortals um again for lack of a better term and i think that that's
05:42:24.700definitely something that people don't always think about is that specifically that story that
05:42:30.320you're referencing that story that you're referencing is actually one of my son's favorites
05:42:33.880um he has we have a book uh that my cousin uh ben jarvis bought no no it wasn't ben it was
05:42:44.160folkville to ron boardman ron bought it for my son and we read it to him almost every night
05:50:36.580However, if this weekend falls the way it does, unfortunately, I will not be there.
05:50:44.380And typically, we have a ritual at Baldur's Hof that does represent very well the darkness coming into the light, Thor beating back the frost giants and whatnot.
05:51:05.680But, sorry, I will not be at Ballershop for that event.
05:51:15.700This is my weekend to work so that I can support my family and the Ossetro Folk Assembly.
05:51:22.520You got to do what you got to do as a husband and a father, right?
05:53:04.180The biggest misconception about Ossetru is that it is racist.
05:53:07.900in the fact, well, not in the fact, but in the ideal that it is hated towards any other race
05:53:21.480or ethnic practice, whatnot. The biggest, that is the biggest question that I get confronted with,
05:53:31.980whether it be at work or socially or whatnot is that asa true in its true form the way we practice
05:53:41.500it here in the asa true folk assembly um is racist no we are not racist we
05:53:52.860appreciate and want to propagate our race
05:53:56.620um every other race we encourage to do the same and that's what's important each race
05:54:06.640pre-christian has its origins in some reality okay northern europeans it's not any different
05:54:19.700However, other races around the world, their indigenous practices and beliefs is celebrated and propagated throughout our culture these days, since everybody's connected to one another.
05:54:39.060However, the problem arises for us, as being ethnic Europeans, that it's a racist practice.
05:55:34.680If you don't pass it down to multiple generations over and over again, you're going to lose it.
05:55:46.240And it's not so different from the term, you don't use it, you lose it.
05:55:51.360And it's important that each practice, each religion, each race, explore and practice their indigenous beliefs with their indigenous gods and their indigenous deities, whatever that may be.
05:56:14.540But Asatru definitely is something that needs to be recognized as significant because over the millennia, it's been put to us that it's not.
05:56:44.540I like the term that you use there, race degenerates, you know, and I think the way that you meant that in that context is the people that are so focused on it that, like, that they don't see the forest through the trees in a way, whereas what we're focused on is that we love our people and that are, you know, that, as Founder McNally says, the existence of our people is not negotiable, right?
05:57:12.020Like, we matter, we're going to be here, and we're going to thrive, because we owe that to our children, right?0.76
05:57:21.040Like, they deserve to look like my grandpa and my great-grandpa, or your grandpa and your great-grandpa, that kind of thing.