00:25:57.480One of the other things that this charity does is they also help with vet bills for homeless animals that are hurt or injured and their homeless owners can't afford to help them.
00:26:10.660they also help with those kind of cash donations as well to help with veterinary bills
00:26:21.860all right so looking at just our questions that are stacking up back here
00:26:28.100um raven wants to know question from matt and nick and uh assume also for you lane this was
00:26:34.340asked before you were on program with us what ethical dilemmas have you encountered within
00:26:39.220the outside community and how have they been resolved
00:26:49.540so i'm curious about the framing of the question um
00:27:03.540i wonder a little bit on clarification what you mean by the outside true community
00:27:08.020because when i'm used to hearing that it is a theoretical idea that there's some point
00:27:15.060of connectivity between the afa and other people who are not in the afa that um
00:27:23.940purport to be practicing house true and i don't
00:27:26.980think that that community really exists certainly not in this day and age um
00:27:32.100So I'm going to think on that. I want you to go ahead and answer that first. Nick, what do you make of it? And I guess kind of answer the question in whatever way, I don't know, whatever way makes sense to you or you assume it applies to. And I apologize, there's just some in-group terms that probably mean something different depending on where you're coming from.
00:27:56.100um i'll just take it at the most basic i think um an ethical dilemma in regards to the austro
00:28:04.020community the the situation is most of the com most of the people who would consider themselves
00:28:10.260also true don't have ethics okay we do have a clarification this just in he said sorry he meant
00:28:17.860the afa only cool and that is the proper way to use the term house true community in my opinion
00:28:22.740so under that under that understanding please continue i'm sorry i don't know well i'll just
00:28:31.080even say most of the people who consider themselves to be awesome true outs who uh are like out and
00:28:36.440about don't have ethics that are founded in our folk in our history in our lore and our gods and
00:28:46.700our culture so i mean combating an ethical dilemma or whatever i'm just what does our
00:28:54.980what does our morals and ethics say about this is it good for the folk is it is it honest to
00:29:02.280the folk and etc etc is it healthy does it does it protect our women our children our our folk
00:29:08.560our inner guard uh lane what do you have to to offer i'm going to take it from the from within
00:29:20.780the afa uh also even even before the clarification but i would say um one one thing to start with
00:29:29.380we have one of the most ethical communities i've ever been fortunate enough to be a part of uh
00:29:34.360There's not many places you can go or people that you can be around that you can have complete trust that.
00:29:42.880People are going to behave properly, that if you leave something of value, it's going to be there when you come back for it.
00:29:50.240This is used to be a lot more common and it's good to have a community again like the ones that I grew up with, even even though they weren't also true.
00:30:01.960but i think we have a very ethical community so while while conflicts arise i don't usually see
00:30:09.800them as uh being ethical ones they're they're more conflicts with personality um strong strong
00:30:17.160personalities you know also true is a strong religion of strong folk and people will butt
00:30:22.920heads and but we work it out we know what's important uh the gods our family our community
00:30:28.520so uh raven i want to encourage you to ask follow-up questions if there's more specifics
00:30:36.140that you want to kind of dial in on there are so i wish there was a cool like answer
00:30:47.600to give you and it's hard most of the time
00:30:50.840a lot of it depends on what you perceive as an ethical dilemma and not
00:31:00.140um as we have a lot of people that come to us as gothar for counseling and with
00:31:11.060questions and concerns about ethics that apply to their family to their personal life to things
00:31:18.080And to go in detail on any one of those two specifically would be inappropriate.
00:31:24.680But if it is an ethical dilemma that an individual is facing, we get them in touch with Agothia or Agithia to talk about it and try to figure that out.
00:31:38.080If it's two parties that are having a perceived ethical conflict between the two of them and their AFA members, even if they're not, we offer this sometimes.
00:31:49.040we like to send one to one gothi and one to another and kind of the counseling way that
00:31:59.920we try to work that is for each you know each gothi to work with that party
00:32:07.520towards their best interest of them winning and being successful and doing the right thing in
00:32:14.000their life and then when we get together behind the scenes and work together as as priests as
00:32:21.440gothar to figure out how to pair those two concerns in a way that will work to move that family or
00:32:30.800those two individuals in the right direction to get them resolved ethically we also send folks
00:32:39.360to our law speaker for mediation from time to time if that can help resolve an ethical dilemma
00:32:47.600if someone who is a member is behaving in a way that is objectively grossly unethical then
00:32:56.720if it's something that they can change course on we certainly counsel them about that and
00:33:02.000encourage them to do so and try to help them do so if it takes some untangling
00:33:07.280um if that ethical violation is dangerous to the safety of the spiritual well-being of the afa then
00:33:15.920we remove that member promptly if it's something that needs to be worked on and grown and adjusted
00:33:22.400from then we take the time to do that because we want to we want to fix problems ideally but
00:33:29.520not at the cost of not the cost of our members so it really depends of like our members well-being
00:33:35.680so it it's a complicated question because the answer is going to be different in every situation
00:54:20.720Once I came home, and I can honestly say this, that's not bravado, I've had a lot of challenges, a lot of disappointments, but never doubt.
00:54:32.760So when I broke from Christianity and I came home to Alistair, it took a little bit to fully feel the reality of our gods in my life.
00:54:50.960but there's never been a moment of doubting them or of questioning them of not believing them
00:55:01.840in them or of resenting or being disloyal to them never never once and i can i can honestly say that
00:55:09.320a lot of challenges though a lot of different ones and i'm trying to think of
00:57:41.000being honest by trying to bear my soul before the ice here and
00:57:52.440dedicate myself to trying to do more and build bigger and stronger and better and uh
00:58:01.800And to stay the course, even when it gets really rough, and sometimes it can get really rough, but that's another reason I talk about victory never sleeps.
00:58:15.620When you stop, that's when entropy sets in and doubts and, you know, negative thought loops and obsessing about things.
01:00:19.880all right well welcome to the program so bode have you had no doubt and have you had challenges
01:00:28.920in your house true journey and how have you overcome them yes you were there for a lot of
01:00:34.220them uh well for at least some of the big ones oh you gots to clarify that you were there for
01:00:41.420a couple of the ones uh specifically where what was it 2016 2017 somewhere around in there um
01:00:49.980the good folks watching and listening don't need to know all the particulars but suffice it to say
01:00:53.820that i had at one point reached into my rope and told the else year ago that i was just going to
01:00:59.260quit and he said what in the world who wins if you quit and uh gave me a good talking to and uh
01:01:09.100And explained to me that I was needed and that I was valuable and that the church would lose, that you all would lose, that I would lose, more importantly.
01:01:22.480So, yeah, and that was a pretty big challenge.
01:01:27.340I had some what I thought was good reasons at the time for wanting to just walk away.
01:01:32.220And they'll share to go. They quickly disabuse me of that notion.
01:01:36.700And here I am today and somebody that's not on this screen yet, but I think I don't think he's scheduled to be.
01:01:45.120But. The small guy in the big chair over there, him and his equally small guy, brother, also my brother, go to the east a couple of years ago.
01:02:28.800are roughly the same height with my hands roughly the same height yet they argue eternally about
01:02:34.960who is the tallest which is funny because i'm five inches taller than both of them so uh
01:02:43.040so it's a good good it's good it's a good thing but you know when you're when you're when you're
01:02:49.200members of the elite kindred of the afa you can make jokes like that so only short guys argue
01:02:54.960about height by the way that's right those of us that are six foot don't care about our lessers
01:03:00.000you're you're a tall fella tell folks how tall you are so we have a point of reference here for
01:03:04.240those of us who are this for those of us listening on the podcast version how tall are you me yes
01:03:10.880six foot two six foot two how tall are uh gothe's east what five eight five seven
01:03:18.720they're out i was gonna say like five four all right i'm out that's it good night ladies and
01:03:25.520gentlemen six feet of reference look at the chair uh i kid i kid we kid we kid we kid
01:03:36.080because we love good good things come in small packages they do um
01:03:40.720so and coke i see what you did there uh one of our newest apprentice folk builders asks
01:03:48.320is there a pdf for the fundamental beliefs of the afa this is a good time beginning and i wanted to
01:03:55.840bring this up and kind of release it on the 100th episode so i mentioned earlier
01:04:00.160one of the reasons i did this is because i'm not good at writing down stuff voluminously
01:04:04.960and this has been a way to get out our core theology and beliefs in an accessible way
01:04:13.900but we need stuff written down so folks can reference it I've known this forever when I
01:04:19.760first got involved in Allison True way back when you know like 2001 ish I've wanted some kind of
01:04:27.720document like cool what what's the core tenets here what do you guys believe and over the years
01:04:33.800people ask me like hey what is this also true thing what do you guys do and so we well you know
01:04:39.400it's kind of like um well you know they're and because it's so vast it's hard to narrow down
01:04:47.480in a step-by-step way this is who we are this is what we believe this is what we do and so um
01:04:55.640It's way overdue, but I'm glad it's here today. We're releasing the Ausatru Trullamal, and it is an Icelandic word that means the codified statement of belief.
01:05:11.520So you can find this in the library section at runestone.org, but this is a reference guide to what the AFA's fundamental doctrine is on the core essentials of Alcitru.
01:05:27.880this is a starting point not a stopping point but something so you guys go there and you know
01:05:34.120okay this is what the afa believes these are the core tenets that make up
01:05:39.880ausitru as practiced by the austral folks and um something we put a lot of time into put a lot of
01:05:49.240prayer into um it's meant to be very simple so it's very straightforward and not confusing and
01:05:59.000so that it's very clear both for our members to be able to reference and for folks who are curious
01:06:05.960hey what what are you guys doing what do you guys what what's this thing else true i've never heard
01:06:11.560of it well this is what house true is and so hopefully that uh expresses the will of our
01:06:19.000our icer in the best way and hopefully it's something that uh is of use and beneficial to
01:06:29.000you guys spiritually so there it is and coke thank you very much for asking that question
01:08:04.960Well, something that, a quick one that a lot of folks around here will,
01:08:11.360especially a couple of the people on the screen
01:08:14.580and a couple of people watching at home will understand.
01:08:19.800I was at the first, I was at the first Winter Nights,
01:08:23.100and it turns out through Strange Twists of Fate
01:08:25.180that that's the only one I've attended until last year.
01:08:28.380So 2012 and then 2023 has been my only winter nights. I've missed all the ones in between then. However, at the first one, and I believe that Go the East was referencing this earlier when he said that at founder, one of founder McNallan's bloats, he had us all in a call and response portion of the bloat repeat in German that we are all Germans.
01:08:52.860And at that bloat that he's referencing in 2012, or maybe he's talking about another one, but at the same time, it was the same thing.
01:09:00.660But that bloat, and I know that a lot of folk who have been to the Hoffs and have seen the Asperia Gothi do his Wotan bloats, his Odin bloats, have felt the same sense of spiritual charge.
01:09:17.980um but founder mcdallan had us so spiritually whipped up into a frenzy which is pretty cool
01:09:27.300because that's one of the meanings of all father's name is frenzy he had us so whipped up
01:09:33.580that uh and with the the yelling and the calling response that when it was all over with uh i felt
01:09:42.300like i couldn't talk i was immediately hoarse i felt like i couldn't talk and uh felt the need
01:09:47.240to cough. And when I coughed, there was blood. So I screamed so hard in that bloat that I had
01:09:53.480blood in my throat. And, um, that was one. Another real quick one was in 2003,
01:10:02.240I had the fortunes to stand in a different Odin bloat that
01:10:06.540Senator McNallan did in Missouri. And, um, and, and these things, they changed me in a profound
01:10:14.680way because they connected me to to the acer themselves and made me feel that coli connection
01:10:21.720made me feel that that time out of time and place out of place that can occur when you were in the
01:10:27.940proper bloat setting and uh founder mcnalen was standing in the bloat space probably 20 or 30
01:10:36.980yards away from me uphill. And at the beginning of the bloat, he raised his arms and he said
01:10:44.700Lord Oathen's name, but he said it as a breath. And from 30, 40 yards away, I could hear it
01:10:51.220loudly in my ears. And so could everyone else. So yeah, those two experiences, plus a handful
01:10:59.600of other ones. I've been fortunate to have a lot of them. I think that a lot of us on the screen
01:11:05.280And a lot of us in leadership and a lot of us just regular folk in the church have had multiple, multiple experiences that have attracted us to or made us come home, has held us here and keeps us going for the future.
01:22:50.460Anyways, sorry, somebody wanted to go play Bubbles outside, so she had to ask Mom.
01:22:55.260Anyways, what I'm saying was I can't even think of it without tearing up because it bypassed everything, any rationality, any thought of doubt or skepticism or is this real or am I really, it bypassed all that.
01:23:18.140i asked my grandmother to be in the circle with me and um you know i i say that she i believe she
01:23:28.580passed in 2003 but the last time i was physically with my grandmother was in 2016 i uh i gave her a
01:23:45.200hug and i could feel i could feel what it felt like to give her a hug 13 years previous i could
01:23:55.120smell the old lady hair product in her hair because you know she was up to my chest um
01:24:06.800i say and i pass any polygraph polygraph in this world my grandma was in that circle with me 2016.
01:24:12.720hey most visceral most powerful bloat i've ever been in and it was i can't do it justice if you
01:24:25.360haven't experienced that in your life but that was my most special bloke that really was just
01:24:34.160absolutely blew me away and does to this day um welcome so we got a double team here because
01:24:42.400people talk for a long time man that requires no introduction we got witness who's joining us and
01:24:53.040is this the first time if it's the first time it's a damn shame we got folk builder
01:24:58.960ashley mcstocker joining us it is how you doing good great first time long time watcher first time
01:25:08.320appearance well i i apologize i've been remiss not having you here earlier
01:25:15.120so tell us and this is what i do to anybody on their first time on the program
01:25:20.240tell folks who you are and how you found ausitru and beyond that how you found the australian
01:25:28.240sure yeah so um it's actually one of my favorite stories um so my name is actually next talker i'm
01:25:34.560a folk builder in minnesota in faldersoff district um i had originally found um aussitrew through my
01:25:44.320my um late husband um is who introduced me to aussitrew um very uh solitude practicing um
01:25:54.240aussiturer so we were a part of any organization or really anybody else um so all my information
01:26:00.160was from him and he had passed away when i was um about six weeks pregnant with my youngest rowan
01:26:07.280and i had my nine month old tear um and i was in a very small christian town in in minnesota and
01:26:16.320really really concerned that i wasn't going to have the right information to teach my children
01:26:22.480what i wanted to teach them because my my guru was um you know no longer here um so i started
01:26:30.160trying to to do a lot of reading which i found very difficult at first um and so i was um listening
01:26:37.120to them on audiobook first and then reading them to try to retain the information and
01:26:41.040and getting some some um you know making some news there but um all of a sudden i had um heard
01:26:48.320through the grapevine of friend of the friend that there is these um this uh this scary group
01:26:55.040of people opening a church you know in the area somebody had heard uh the name odin in it and then
01:27:03.120they had told me about it you know they were like there's like an odin church opening i was like
01:27:06.800what you know and so i googled it and um sure enough there's a um kind of a negative article
01:27:15.200that came out and um you know you kind of you read through the nonsense and i found um you know the
01:27:21.200the name and um i think website that was associated with the article and then i
01:27:25.040um mapped it and it was 42 minutes from my doorstep was baldersoff at the time so so here i am in this
01:27:32.800in this very very christian great community but nobody that i could go to with any questions um
01:27:39.840in 42 minutes from my doorstep uh you know these terrible people and i had bought in a church in
01:27:46.400in murdoch and um um and by that night i was a i was a member i had reached out and i talked
01:27:52.800to jason gallagher right away um and we had a great long conversation and i was a member
01:27:57.280um that night and it was truly curious speaking of yeah and it was uh it was just a truly
01:28:04.640fundamental moment um you know there's so many people that um that travel so far and long to be
01:28:10.960at a half you know when i was in such a time of need um to for for people and folk and information
01:28:17.560and everything and it was right there you know and even though there was this this bad press
01:28:23.220because people fear that that they don't know you know um you know i was able to to get connected
01:28:28.840with my my people and the rest is history so well awesome welcome um we've got a nut because again
01:28:38.700I think I should have planned for half-hour windows instead of 15, but this is fun, and we'll stack.
01:58:49.320Jason, where do you see us 10 years from now?
01:58:52.720Multiple generations of AFA members, you know, right now where we have three, four generations, or I'm not sure, but it would be great to see several and more and more descendants of them.
01:59:05.300And, of course, more hops, more properties, more places for our folk, for people to go to.
01:59:15.520Nathan, what do you see next decade for us?
01:59:18.380I'm kind of going off of Jason and Ashley both. I think it would is absolutely feasible
01:59:26.540to start seeing some of the younger members that had families here for some time now and
01:59:37.100start to build their own families in that time. So brought up in the AFA and then creating families
02:04:49.200you are welcome to butt in on any of these calls whenever you want at random if you show up nick
02:04:55.400will put you on doesn't matter when you show up you can pop in and you are certainly welcome to
02:05:01.540and it goes without saying but i have not said it as an invitation i probably should
02:05:06.920um your husband our founder is also welcome to pop in whenever he wants and he immediately has
02:05:12.640the floor that in my mind it is a given perhaps that's not the case in his because he is more
02:05:19.920polite than that but please you know do let him know that's the thing we'd love to have you on
02:05:24.320how are you doing sheila i'm doing great tonight i've enjoyed this immensely um you talk asked me
02:05:33.840about 10 years from now i'm going to be sitting in my rocker at siegerheim i've no doubt it's
02:05:38.800going to be at least two decades of that so that's kind of where i'm seeing myself
02:05:44.960but i i have to look at the uh the rate of growth in in growth and i mean um
02:05:53.600proficiency um preciseness all those things that you have built in as kind of the corporate model
02:06:01.360that we could never do you know steve and i did really well that kindred the individual
02:06:07.360members and all that but it was really hard to ever make that leap into something bigger and
02:06:14.560you immediately started that and you had the witten and then you got the cadre of folk builders and
02:06:22.480gave people responsibilities and as we all know everybody is a folk builder now um there is no
02:06:28.400rest it is ongoing but it's it's wonderful it's exciting it is um dynamic and
02:06:37.360And because of that, there's a lot of work, but it shows. It shows in our progress. And sometimes, you know, the numbers aren't really showing, but we're kind of preparing ourselves for big growth. We've got things in place. You know, we've got the structure in place. The model is there.
02:06:55.340and it can be expanded sideways to have more folk builders so at some point we've got these
02:07:00.740various tiers of people who are there to step in as all of a sudden there's a breakthrough you know
02:07:08.220Tucker really wants to talk to Matt and when he does we end up with a thousand members overnight
02:07:13.700how do we do that Matt is the guy who could get us through that and there's no doubt that's why
02:07:20.240I think we're all here. We support Matt entirely, and as Steve and I do. Besides being friend and family, you know, I truly admire his methodology of leadership and loyalty he has in all of us and his decisiveness.
02:07:39.520um matt and i almost share a birthday his birthday is one day after mine and i'm always kind of
02:07:46.240amazed at how sharp how clear he is in his in his viewpoints you know you ask a question
02:07:53.840matt has it it's it's never a gray area i tend to be one of those really wishy-washy great people
02:08:00.480and so i really admire that when i'm around people and i have even leaders in this district
02:08:06.320odenshof district where i am where i truly admire the clarity of thought that they have that they
02:08:10.960give me so that's kind of where i'm starting today guys a little a little verbose but i'm
02:08:16.240happy to be here be as verbose as you want i am that's why we're stacking all these people um
02:08:24.560so for those that don't know um first thank you sheila all those things
02:08:32.320if a rando person said that to me it means a lot coming from you it it means the world um
02:08:44.560i am able to be confident and to stand
02:08:53.040firm for this because of the rock solid foundation that you and steve built over so many years
02:09:03.200sheila is the prototype for folk building and still is today even as a githya i've never met
02:09:10.000somebody that had a like one of the things that always impressed me in the way back is sheila
02:09:17.680at random if you asked her about any member of the afa she could tell you like what sports their
02:09:26.960kids were involved in and it was it was mind-blowing and it still is um
02:09:36.640literally the beating heart of the afa sheila mcnellan it always has been
02:09:40.960um that's why we can't stand tall today as we've got those foundations
02:09:47.760um but yeah we're glad that you're joining us we've got a question and i asked trent in um
02:09:57.840I'm a little bit emotional this evening.
02:10:00.040I'm sure that the copper can has assisted me.
02:15:58.800And hopefully you get 40 more years than now.
02:16:02.080But just in case you don't, don't leave anything on the table.
02:16:08.180Can I say something? Of course you can.
02:16:11.180So for just in the aspect of when a good time is for folk building, you know, we always have life things that happen and what we plan usually never goes that way.
02:16:23.180Right. But I think the core of it goes back to just how fundamental folk builders are.
02:16:29.180are. You know, Jason Gallagher was available and ready and excited to talk to me that night that
02:16:37.280I found, you know, this golden, you know, shining beam of hope. After reading that article and
02:16:45.060finding everything, I got to speak with Jason and it really just propelled my ambition and
02:16:51.000just the core of everything forward. And if there weren't folk builders, there wouldn't be that
02:16:57.600um that bridging there in the middle and that that um that path to to bringing everybody home
02:17:03.680you know so it is a lot of work um but it's such fulfilling work that um that you know it's it's
02:17:14.240it's tiring but it's not draining you know it's um there'll be there's hard days and there's good
02:17:19.600days but at the end at the end of it you're you're full of so much purpose that it's um just so very
02:17:24.880much worth it so that's what came to mind when i mean i heard the question excellent well i
02:17:31.200appreciate you jumping in so finn wraith asks and this is silly but it branches off into stuff that's
02:17:37.200not um anybody who doesn't know he is tuning in in the wee hours of the morning over there in finland
02:17:46.000to be part of the program and we appreciate you doing that so much i'm not a morning guy so i
02:52:17.120You can do that, certainly, but I think that what I've always thought, and I think is a real thing, is that people, we go to what we know that's familiar.
02:52:35.220And if we're used to monotheism, sometimes, and this cuts both ways, and I'm not criticizing anybody.
02:52:47.120If we come from, you know, I don't know, 20, 30, 40, shoot, 70 years of monotheism, wherever we are in our life and we find out so true, maybe our way of doing that is we pick one of the gods and we go whole hog, that's our God, and that's how we get into this.
02:53:08.420That's not wrong, and I'm not criticizing anybody.
02:53:10.680And I think the full expression of polytheistic faith is to embrace and to build a relationship with as many of our gods as you can.
02:53:23.380And one thing that I found doing this for 23 years or so now is you have a different relationship with different gods and goddesses in the different seasons of your life.
02:53:40.680there's times where maybe one is particularly relevant to who you are at that moment or where
02:53:50.560you are in your life and at different times and in different places you find yourself
02:53:56.480very much more drawn to uh to different gods and goddesses and you don't have to choose one over
02:54:04.200the other i always draw it back to building relationships with with people and any other
02:54:12.360sentient thing you interact with just because you're friends with one doesn't mean you can't
02:54:18.120be friends with a few if they're aligned just because you have a relationship with
02:54:25.080your mom doesn't mean you can't also have a relationship with your grandma
02:54:29.480and your grandpa they're not mutually exclusive um so don't feel compelled to but yes it was a thing
02:54:36.440we have a lot of people that were you know the name that's come down to us were you know so-and-so
02:54:42.200thors go for your so-and-so phrase go for your so-and-so you know you'd name your kid you know
02:54:49.480thorsten as the stone of thor or thor bjorn the bear of thor you name you often we see in a naming
02:54:58.520tradition devoting your child in a respectful way at naming to a particular god or goddess
02:55:07.480so that's a thing um so time out hi everybody clearly i'm not going to be staying i'm having
02:55:15.480some computer issues we're already outside of my depth i was told we're talking about wrestling
02:55:21.080um so already I'm out of my league but medium show is here and he can help us but uh
02:55:32.240um anyway I just wanted to pop in and say hi I know that space is limited so I don't want to
02:55:37.580keep anybody important sitting in the waiting room especially since my computer we got room
02:55:42.920for two more people you're not keeping anybody off I'm super disappointed when I came on and
02:55:47.960nine it didn't it didn't arrange just like the brady bunch look see we got it moving now because
02:55:54.840i played with the camera and i didn't turn it back on um so it does crazy stuff no that's fine
02:56:00.760i'll adjust it no i didn't i didn't do makeup for this here's a story of lovely lady bye you guys
03:04:18.060wants to a boat he told me do you mean the giant that the giant and his wife that escapes
03:04:26.280because it is bergamir and his wife and they escape their forebears their progenitor's blood
03:04:34.660torrent which becomes the seas of the world and a hollowed out tree trunk canoe
03:04:39.100And there's a very famous, famous to me, English storyteller who uses quite the amount of alliteration, O.P.D. Brown, where he says that they rode the rapids of gore.
03:04:54.900And the way he says it in his English accent, he just kind of he makes you see that they rode the rapids of gore.
03:05:03.720And then he adds on the tagline that from them two, from those two, the race of Frost Giants would rise again.
03:05:25.520I keep telling you people, I keep telling you people, that next to Witten Harrell, I'm like that gorilla that can make the sign for grapes.
03:19:08.600So, Bodie, can you tell us about, can you delve, Ryan Skinner asks, in on the concept of frith and its deeper implications within both personal and community contexts if it is built or broken?
03:19:29.960I can tell you this used to be one of my favorite topics to talk about as far as new folks getting it slightly wrong.
03:19:46.380In the early days, my early days, in the early days of the internet,
03:19:53.400hospitality internet i would say for me is that people would think that frith is the absence of
03:19:59.080all conflict and that is completely and utterly wrong frith is not the absence of any and all
03:20:05.560conflict it is keeping that conflict gentlemanly or ladylike for the women um it is not the absence
03:20:16.040of all conflict hello hello steve hello founder mcdalen hello so it is not the absence of all
03:20:25.120conflict it is the being fair and square with each other and not delving into depravity or
03:20:34.520delving into you know malignity with each other it is keeping the communication lines open
03:20:42.940it is being forthright and honest with each other you know if uh they'll show you go that does it
03:20:49.460all the time when he's talking to us um in our back channel leadership chat you know if one of
03:20:56.680us says something that's not quite correct he'll say pause time flag on the play you know that
03:21:02.120is incorrect you know fix yourself you know whatever and you know us all being adults and
03:21:08.500forthright with each other we don't well who does he think he is telling me i'm incorrect blah blah
03:21:12.840You know, we don't delve into that. So by way of definition of what Frith isn't, like I said, that's one of the things I used to harp on was that it is not the absence of all conflict.
03:21:24.860It is. Keeping your head about yourself and not letting your emotions take hold when there is interpersonal conflict, when you do have a problem with one of your folk that you deal with it as an adult and that you deal with it as a level headed adult who hopefully has a at least a modicum of common sense so that you cannot devolve into just unnecessary arguing.
03:21:54.860You know, it is, you know, frith is everyone getting together and getting along and being able to speak your mind freely without fear of gross and misguided retribution.
03:22:10.480So I think Witten Swan could give a much better answer.
03:22:14.360I'm just kind of rambling because it's midnight 30.
03:28:45.240I mean, in that moment, he trusted that by frith, I had his back in, like, I literally had his back, and that meant a lot.
03:28:57.360And so that's kind of, frith isn't just about not being offensive.
03:29:03.060It's about actively taking care of the people that you're in a frith relationship with to make sure you're not in that spot.
03:29:11.160So, random side note, just because I'm being rhapsodic about my friend Barry that passed away.
03:29:20.440The moment that he developed a frith relationship with me, we're closing down the bar one night.
03:29:29.520And one of the things we had to do was I had to go out and clear the parking lot.
03:29:36.800And that was a real crapshoot. In the bar, we could control the environment. We knew what
03:29:44.460you're coming in with, at least to a degree. We knew the environment. We were in control. We go
03:29:49.720out in the parking lot. There's all the X factors. So we went out. It was, again, it was like a
03:29:55.600weekday night. Barry's sister was closing up inside. Me and Barry were doing the parking lot.
03:30:00.620and there was this dude that uh there was a ebbing huge gentleman that was walking by he
03:30:09.900was not a patron of the bar but he was walking by on spenard boulevard in anchorage alaska
03:30:16.300and he decided to try to engage barry and myself in a rap battle
03:30:21.340he did not have bars and uh me and barry were not interested in engaging him in said rap battle
03:30:31.720he took umbrage at this so when we you'd have to know the front of the building but
03:30:40.900there's kind of it funnels into this doorway that happened to be locked and there's kind of this like
03:30:49.240um i guess walkway with like kitchen post in front of it it's an old like log cabin bar
03:30:57.880and so we were okay we're gonna go back inside parking lots clear and the uh
03:31:04.620the ebbingu gentleman decided to charge at us decided to charge at us while we were going in
03:31:11.500he ran and jumped because again my buddy barry's like six seven he jumped and punched barry in the
03:31:18.040head and then he thought he would escape into the bar bar is locked you're not escaping into
03:31:24.520the locked bar no sir but you find yourself i've been facing barry and myself
03:31:32.840so i remember barry had this i had the dude hemmed up and barry proceeded to uh
03:31:40.760uh deliver blows to this dude's mince midsection while we're up against the door so the bar staff's
03:31:48.040inside and they just keep hearing this door like wow wow wow up against the door and they're
03:31:54.640wondering what's going on so the guy's subdued and he's no longer fighting us he's on the ground and
03:32:02.400he decides to get up pull his pants up and uh i don't know he was out of his mind or whatever
03:32:13.260he's like no no cuz i'm your favorite son i don't know what that means barry didn't know what that
03:32:20.000either but he put on his pants we said get your pants up go home he went home but barry at that
03:32:27.740moment like knew that i had his back when stuff went sketchy in the parking lot that's the moment
03:32:33.740we established a frith relationship went back inside nobody knew what was going on but uh yeah
03:32:42.300it's a random side note but i will take it ah ashley and jason jason's not here so you're
03:32:49.580answering on behalf of the state of minnesota ashley what made you become a folk builder
03:32:56.540and do you have any advice you would give to apprentices or those interested in becoming a
03:33:03.460folk builder um what made me become a folk builder um is called nathan and brandy
03:33:11.500but um no in all seriousness it was um it was something i did push back a little bit at first
03:33:19.880just because um i wasn't sure i could that my life would open up for what it entailed um and
03:33:29.480then i saw um what especially like nathan was doing and i wanted to too and so then um
03:33:39.240sidebar i i did introduce do stathan into membership of the afa just just for her note um but
03:33:47.240But then I started with apprenticing and it was much differently structured than it is now when you first start out.
03:33:56.380But it was a really good time for somebody to start doing that because we were booming at Baldershop and it was there was such a need for us to kind of find our our structure and our groove there.
03:34:08.580and it really just my life did open up for it you know um and I think I have I have one
03:34:17.480lifestyle you would say of how people go about folk building so in my life my my whole family
03:34:26.460in my life revolves and is included um as AFA so my partner is in AFA my kids are also true you
03:34:34.620know, it's all conducive. But I also know a lot of people in leadership where that's not
03:34:40.720necessarily the case. And it's a nice balance for them in their lives and how it works out. So I've
03:34:45.980seen it work well in scenarios where it's not necessarily the belief system of everybody in
03:34:54.100their life. I am fortunate enough where that is what we do. But we also have to find our own
03:35:00.600balance, too, where we're not viewing things as a job over spirituality. And I found this out
03:35:10.860two midsummers ago that I had been doing this incorrectly for a bit of time. I had come to an
03:35:19.560event and realized that I had been to the Hoth 12 times in 30 days, and I had not walked into
03:35:26.780sanctuary one time because i was busy you know i was doing things i was running to to get donations
03:35:32.060and drop them off and doing stuff downstairs and i i had hadn't gone upstairs at all and i was it
03:35:37.580was the one it was probably the most stress that i had been before an event and i couldn't quite
03:35:43.820figure out why and it was apparent then why you know i didn't take the moment to be in it you
03:35:49.660know i was just doing the busy work and so having that balance of yes we have these these tests to
03:35:55.420to do in these you know spreadsheets people to call and like all that all of that is fine and
03:36:00.580good but we're doing that so that we have the opportunity to walk into the sanctuary and take
03:36:05.880a moment and then to to bring our our folk home and and spend all the time with the people that
03:36:10.880we love so so i think the advice that i would um give for people that would want to start doing
03:36:16.720this is to you know really see the big picture of it always and don't get lost in the um in the
03:36:24.160very important um day-to-day things but it not be all consuming
03:36:35.760as a side note and i appreciate everybody in the chat um we just looked and we have uh
03:36:42.960ashley telling us that 26.74 percent of our people pay hoff dollar two hours ago
03:36:55.120for those of you catching up so that's how far uh behind we are uh so sheila i want to
03:37:01.600ask you this first what was your favorite event that you have been to oh
03:37:07.520Oh, I've loved the events out at Winter Nights in the Poconos, and I think that doing first
03:37:23.920Winter Nights Bloat with Katie Erickson was really powerful for me.
03:37:28.020She adds the theatrics to it, but not in a way that it is oppressive or it takes away.
03:37:34.320but she taught us our song that even though she's changed it and she does different ones
03:37:40.520she has a couple of different versions or different songs she does for winter nights
03:37:44.560and calling in the deezer our ladies all do that one song i will never not do it to me it is
03:37:51.520it's truly sings to our mothers and honors them so i got so much out of that and i have used that
03:38:00.260kind of as my model for winter nights which is my favorite time of year that connection with
03:38:05.460mothers and that the autumn the color the all the things that happen the shadows the dark the
03:38:12.780candles everything the fires um are just very very it's a very dark but passionate time of year
03:38:20.000And I appreciate Katie Erickson for helping me realize that.
03:38:35.780Bodie, what's your favorite event you've been to?
03:38:39.960The first winter nights in the Poconos.
03:38:43.180That was a legendary event in my mind.
03:38:50.000Lots of fun things happened there. Lots of powerful, spiritual things happened there.
03:38:57.240I don't know if you would be chagrined at me mentioning your old nickname, but that was back when I was introduced to Matt Flavell as the man, the myth, the mountain, Matt Flavell.
03:39:09.780so you know he was he he came um he came uh highly highly front-loaded as far as reputation goes
03:39:20.640like you got to see this guy he's super swole he's like big as a mountain and you know he's
03:39:26.040very imposing and um we um when we were in the cabins that came to team us you know it's
03:39:33.940October. And there was no heat in those cabins. And so we were all in our sleeping bags and kind
03:39:42.300of huddled up. And it was quite interesting, the after hours culture. You know, folks staying up
03:39:51.380late around the fire and getting to see Steve and Sheila again. It was a pretty good time.
03:55:54.280So, Hofftoller is the way that we're trying to get most of our members to push their donations to the church
03:56:02.340because it is a percentage-based donation as opposed to like a tier level so if you think
03:56:08.740about the tithings that the like christians do they all do percentage-based because they're
03:56:14.480giving a percentage of their earnings to their god and so that is essentially what our what our
03:56:21.120hoff dollar is is any what you earn you can pick a percentage to give as tithings to the gods
03:56:27.400goddesses and the afa as a whole and um all of it goes towards the betterment of the hoffs in
03:56:32.440general i know here at odin's hoff we definitely put it to good use there's been some great upgrades
03:56:37.720uh come see it at midsummer there you go um who wants this uh question how do you interpret the
03:56:47.800interplay between fate and personal agency in ausitry and how does this understanding influence
03:56:56.440your daily life and decisions can i just add down that and then i i have to sign off and go to bed
03:57:04.600here absolutely you can so um this this ties into a lot with with um what myself and um
03:57:16.680apprentice folk builder uh ryan skinner um are pushing through with our virtue recovery meeting
03:57:23.240So we recognize the kind of common knowledge of the terms of fate and what people fall in line with.
03:57:38.440If anybody has any knowledge of or experience with anything AA or NA related, all very much, you know, based on a Christian mentality of that there is one plan for you.
03:57:53.860Every single step that you have is planned out for you.
03:57:56.700You give your will and your everything over to your God and you're their puppet.
03:58:01.240and they you know you give your your will and yourself over to a god and it it kind of takes
03:58:05.720the um the burden of choices off of your off of your chest um that being said we do appreciate
03:58:12.920and respect everything that um the Tulsa program has brought forward and how far it's gotten people
03:58:19.080however there's that aspect of of having this absolutely defined fate and um kind of a storyline
03:58:27.720of our life that is laid out that doesn't necessarily fall in line with what Asitur
03:58:32.940believe. The fates that have been laid forth are what could happen. The steps that are taken,
03:58:44.500we have our own will. We do what we want. We're so exciting that the gods come to Midgard just
03:58:50.080to watch, right? Because we have this will and we do these extravagant, ridiculous things,
03:58:57.480all the time because we just make these choices and i think that's a component that's really
03:59:01.640really important in faith so as to not get lost in a a group of people that are that you're
03:59:11.080supposed to turn your will over to them um and it's it's the the being in in the now um being
03:59:20.040your own person taking responsibility for yourself um in the good and the bad and i think that's how
03:59:25.640how it turned, you know, the, the question that he asked me, how that ties into kind of the
03:59:31.760definition of fate. And I think ours is a little bit more realistic and, and honestly beneficial
03:59:38.000for the greater good, because we don't have anybody to blame our trips and our falls on.
03:59:45.380Excellent. And Sheila, can you add, add your two cents on this, please?
03:59:51.520oh the uh the more i do baby namings the more i feel like we're connecting with the norns
04:00:01.280we do connect with the norns um there are um messages that come to us through the runes
04:00:10.320and with that um there are indications of where we should go but we always have that
04:00:16.560that ultimate decision of the fork in the road and what we do and i i don't feel like we're
04:00:24.000necessarily faded but sometimes you just have to wonder the way things fall into place and
04:00:28.240the people we end up with on the other hand we have all these terrible things that can happen
04:00:32.960in life but they still move us along to this point don't they and we grow through them it is so
04:00:37.920important to understand why we do have the travails we do what we learn from it what others learn every
04:00:44.400time we know someone who loses a close friend or relative we feel for them but we also somehow feel
04:00:52.480the loss for everybody you know those are just important things we learn and um it's just
04:00:59.120important to uh to move on to not give away our own personal will to anything but to make the best
04:01:09.040choices we can just uh as ashley was saying it's up to us to really um develop ourselves and be
04:01:17.040better every day that's kind of our thing in our family um yeah we make mistakes we put it behind
04:01:22.960us and move forward and this is pretty much where my philosophy comes from uh plurds what you got
04:01:32.400i look at it uh very much like an onion but like at the core of it you know our mythic cosmos we
04:01:40.720got the tree and the well and that well is huge um so there's all sorts of forces that are going on
04:01:48.640that might not even have anything to do with you it could involve your ancestors
04:01:52.720but things are being placed in that well and there's nothing you can do about it
04:01:56.160it however what you can that's that's kind of the fate as in things should be right if they're not
04:02:04.020changed or a different course or some outside influence is applied it's going to go a certain
04:02:10.120way however we have our agency here in the moment where we can make that decision to go a different
04:02:18.980direction or how we're going to handle ourselves and that in turn is also going to put something
04:02:23.240back in the well um very much often you know i i look at that as like a process of um you know
04:02:31.000things happen there's nothing you can do about it however you can choose how you're going to react
04:02:35.640about that and if it's not something that can be completely removed from the well or stamped out
04:02:41.240you could at least reintroduce it in a mitigated way so that the next time it has to come out
04:02:47.640it's it's less so and less so and less so um and much in that same sense you know we mentioned
04:02:54.920that outside influence is going to affect that that fate that's going to come back out um being
04:03:01.420mindful of one's actions as well you know because you you're contributing to that well and i think
04:03:08.060that's a lot of um it kind of spreads out through a lot of undertones and also true like looking out
04:03:14.200for your folk, being there for your kin, you know, making sure you're a good, sturdy fence post
04:03:21.100when you read Culture of the Teutons about Prith. So it's a very layered and complex thing. But at
04:03:29.280the end of the day, as far as we're concerned, whatever comes out of that well at us, we have
04:03:34.780a choice to either be a victim or a hero in how we're going to handle it and put it back in the
04:03:41.420well or improve the situation so you know yeah things are going to happen you can't do anything
04:03:46.760about it but you do have a decision you do get a choice in how you're going to deal with it
04:03:51.700all right hey man i have to sign off it's late my husband's gonna wandering around waiting for
04:04:01.360me to go to bed so it's been lovely guys thank you all for speaking here good night
04:04:08.220send steve our appreciation and you have a great night sheila you are amazing you are such
04:04:14.940we're here doing what we're doing and we appreciate you guys both so much
04:04:19.500thank you i love you all bye-bye good night
04:04:29.100so donald hudson asks do you have to pay hoff toller or are there other dues amounts
04:12:23.060that was a very great experience for me.
04:12:27.540excellent uh tracy what is your favorite memory of the afa well i have a lot of favorite memories
04:12:40.320because i feel like i make a new favorite memory like every every time i get together with anyone
04:12:46.820from the afa you know from just meeting you know members of my kindred for the first time
04:12:54.320You know, one of the really good memories was, was it Yule 2021? And that was like the first AFA event I actually went to. We didn't even have Njortzhoff at the time. And it seemed like that was, that was a really good event.
04:13:17.440you know I met a lot of people that I still you know know now and I love them and appreciate them
04:13:25.660and talk to them every day that's my first time meeting Lane and after talking to him on the phone
04:13:32.180for like a few years even you know but um that was a good that was a good memory also um one of
04:13:40.900one of the nice memories is like meeting new members when they first come for the first time
04:13:48.680and especially meeting little Irene that was one of my favorites
04:13:54.260you know and I even remember we had like a little shower at the Hoff like a baby shower for Anna
04:14:02.420that was very nice so it's just like everything I think all all of my memories are my favorite
04:14:08.820with my favorite all right jason what's your favorite and fade memory
04:14:14.720well i mean you got you got anna over here just being like so um
04:14:22.720yeah i wanted to say the barbershop that you and swan i think we're talking about that um
04:14:29.120that that last week actually that was that was actually something really special but um
04:14:35.020probably one that's pretty close to it um i hate to go on to an event that i hosted but
04:14:41.960it was the auction at ostara 2017 um it just really stood out because there was some tension
04:14:50.100in the beginning and we all kind of came together pulled it off um and it ended up being really
04:14:55.740great but there was this this horn right um that i could blow through and i thought it was it was
04:15:03.840super awesome because there's no extra
04:15:33.840folks showed up for meals but um you know come saturday night the auction's going i'm like man
04:15:40.800i love that horn so much this weekend and you know they're just people were bidding and bidding and
04:15:46.880bidding and i'm like got down to two people myself and one other guy and i'm like hey
04:15:52.960yeah you know that horn you heard all weekend going for like meals and everything that was me
04:15:58.160slobbering all over it and then i immediately won the horn um but like the origin story right is um
04:16:07.460you know it's it's fun for me but all of the memories from every place that i've carried that
04:16:12.380to and then like sharing that with folks and perhaps the luck that's that's kind of grown in
04:16:19.020it um just kind of moved forward from that day forward and it was just kind of the start of
04:16:24.580something, just one more little thing that just makes the, the AFA something richer in my life
04:16:29.480and brings back fond memories. So, um, next to that barbershop, that's, that's what I got.
04:16:36.700Fair enough. Uh, Sierra, what's your favorite AFA memory?
04:16:44.940Okay. So most recently would definitely be my daughter's baby naming. That was something very
04:16:51.220beautiful to be a part of. I was a blubbering mess, very near and dear to my heart. But
04:16:57.500on a different note, my all-time favorite AFA memory is midsummer 2021. Specifically
04:17:06.860after auction, I had won an Africaners flag and I had decided to adorn it around me like a little
04:17:15.000dress and mr flavel was behind me and he made that exact face and i took a picture
04:17:23.400that picture has become a giant meme within the afa and is now the tell your go think this
04:17:29.240approval t-shirt that was the gift that kept on giving and i think about it all the time i made
04:17:35.480matt so let me back up for about dude like a year of me being in the afa i love matt and i like to
04:17:43.960think matt loves me and every every time i took a picture he was behind me making the most sour
04:17:51.240face like as if he could not stand my presence so i took every photo i had with matt in the background
04:17:57.880cut his face out of it and put it on a cup and i gave it to him for yule 2021 and um
04:18:05.800doll's hair disapproval was on there probably about seven different times and it's just become
04:18:10.920a giant meme in the afa and i think that's like my favorite memory because nobody knows really
04:18:16.360the origin other than the actual folk builders and so it's kind of funny when i see people like
04:18:21.560buying the shirt or or putting it up somewhere i'm like i remember that day it was right after
04:18:26.920i became a folk builder and matt had the look of oh great this is what we're bringing on the team
04:18:31.400okay so the next question um from eric the red light do you have advice for a parent
04:18:48.920and does that advice change for the two genders i have a daughter and expecting a son soon
04:18:58.040So, Jessie, what are your thoughts on this?
04:19:06.880There are definitely masculine and feminine things you need to teach each of your children.
04:19:14.420I have three daughters myself and two sons, so you have to make sure they're balanced
04:19:21.820and, you know, have mother-father figure is definitely important in their life.
04:19:30.780As far as a different upbringing, you know, I run a tight roost here and, you know, rules are rules.
04:19:44.260There's those golden rules, you know, treat everybody the way you want to be treated or, you know, pick up after yourself, simple things like that.
04:19:51.820But, yeah, you really want to instill those masculine and feminine aspects in your boys and girls, for sure.
04:24:55.840So that said, we've got a graveyard at Sigerheim.
04:25:00.200We want to get that squared away to where it's nice.
04:25:05.580It has not received a lot of love over the last, say, the last century.
04:25:13.120So we're trying to work with that to get it nice.
04:25:18.000so what we want to do is clear ground around the graves that we have so that's spaced out
04:25:27.520hopefully in doing so we might find a couple of the missing graves so as far as we know in the
04:25:37.200In the graveyard, we got one guy, one gentleman who was interred there, and his dates are even off, but the records have it that he was in an unmarked grave in the graveyard, so that's going to be kind of hard to come.
04:25:57.300No, we do know the dates of this guy. I apologize.
04:26:01.120He passed away in 1936, and I think that his grave is unmarked.
04:26:07.340So we may find some kind of something for that.
04:26:12.760We still have three other graves that we'd like to find to make sure we know where they're at.
04:26:24.760There's kind of two sections where folks were buried, so we're working at cleaning that up.
04:26:29.920In the landscaping and cleaning up process, I think we may discover stones that we haven't already found.
04:26:36.820And the other thing is we also have a couple of, we have three stones right now that are broken that we are going to repair.
04:26:54.680And we've looked into that process as well.
04:34:30.040sorry about that all right um question for any females still on what would you say to a woman1.00
04:34:45.960who doesn't understand why any woman would want to be part of the afa jesse let's start with you
04:34:51.560oh hey ryan welcome how's it going matt
04:34:55.320what would i say to a woman that doesn't understand what a woman does in the afa is that
04:35:04.800kind of yeah like why would it why would a woman want to join the afa says this um really i mean
04:35:11.080why wouldn't you um the women that i've met in the afa have been like some of the most grounded
04:35:19.780and, you know, I've got your back.1.00
04:35:22.900You don't got to have drama women in your life0.99
04:35:26.200because, you know, we want to help each other.1.00
04:35:30.120We don't want to compete with each other.
04:35:32.180And, you know, yeah, if you are worried about other women,0.98
04:35:39.420you know, that is one place that they're there to welcome you,
04:35:43.400not to, you know, judge or anything like that.0.99
04:35:45.980So, yeah, there's definitely a place for womenfolk0.69
04:35:49.980in our doors in our church and everywhere so there's no reason you know to shy away
04:36:00.380say you tracy i wonder where this person lives and i wonder like what what they think like if
04:36:09.180they're near a half or if they have a lot of afa members because i remember way back when i first
04:36:15.820joined the afa and there was a long time where i didn't go out to moots or anything but i was um i
04:36:22.780was really busy every single weekend so once my schedule cleared up that's which took several
04:36:30.540years that's when i finally went out to uh to yule in 2021 but it was nice that that yule was actually
04:36:39.900like at a house because a lot of people probably think that the afa is just going to be like not
04:36:47.980for women because it's just going to be five guys in the woods and then like one woman like hi i'm
04:36:55.100just here by myself and it's really not like that in in a lot of areas so if that's what they're
04:37:02.700worried about i mean they could probably get um some reassurance that it's not like that in that
04:37:10.060area because you know we have hoffs it's definitely not like that at the hoffs and um if the folk
04:37:18.140builders in those specific areas have their moots and their their events in places that are like0.94
04:37:25.500mom friendly and kid friendly and woman friendly then those women shouldn't you know feel like any
04:37:32.940kind of hesitance about joining because um it will be a great experience for them but i can
04:37:40.540understand where maybe some people would be if they'd shy away if they thought it was just like
04:37:44.860five guys in the woods type of thing from the olden days fair enough what about you sierra
04:37:52.780so my experience i'm going to speak on from odin's hof perspective um like women are so
04:38:01.240celebrated at the hof like without us the hof probably wouldn't run as smoothly as it does
04:38:07.140i mean odin's hof all of our folk builders aside from ryan are women and we have a githya and you
04:38:14.200know we we are celebrated there we i cook pretty much all of the meals whenever i'm there and when
04:38:22.320when it comes time for dishes, I don't touch a single dish. The men come in there and they're
04:38:25.560like, you've done enough. Like you've been working hard. I'm going to come in. I'm going to wash
04:38:28.480these dishes. I'm going to clean up, you know, um, the women go and we, we, you know, we bless0.75
04:38:33.120the mead and the men, sorry, I'm at a loss for words. Like the men there don't treat us like,
04:38:39.940oh, you belong in the kitchen and you can't be a part of what we do. Like women are an integral1.00
04:38:43.960part of everything we do. If we weren't there to bless the meat, we wouldn't have1.00
04:38:47.080need for the bloat. The need needs to be blessed. The women bring in that home feeling when you're
04:38:55.300at the Hof. I mean, not to say that men couldn't do it, but they don't have the same softness that0.98
04:39:00.320women have. So we're that smiling, shining face when you come in. We're the ones walking you into
04:39:04.680the home. I think because Odenshof has mostly women in leadership, we tend to do things a little
04:39:12.540bit more feminine like with the desire bloat that's supposed to be towards women you know we
04:39:17.000were like okay we're gonna wash your hands we're gonna dry them off we're going to do this and that
04:39:21.240it's the women are put in especially in leadership we're put into so many different role roles that
04:39:27.340make us see be seen and feel as equal to the men we're not seen as beneath them we're not treated
04:39:33.360as if we're beneath them we're treated as equals and i think that a lot of people who aren't
04:39:39.380familiar with the AFA and they're coming into the AFA with the mindset of things that they may have
04:39:43.800heard, you know, maybe on a more political side of things, think that the women aren't going to
04:39:47.760be treated fairly or nicely or in any way, shape, or form as an equal. And that's absolutely not1.00
04:39:53.520the case. And if we weren't, I wouldn't be here, you know. All right. Cool. So Ryan joined us for
04:40:05.060the first time. Ryan, tell us about yourself. What brought you to Ausitru and what brought
04:40:13.200you to the Ausitru Hope Assembly? Thank you for having me, Matt. So I've been practicing
04:40:19.280Ausitru since about 2015. I discovered the AFA about 2016. At the time, I lived in Fairbanks,
04:40:29.360alaska very remote where i lived another alaska 907 guy um i spoke to it was folk builder eric
04:40:38.960wisman at the time uh we interacted on it was facebook uh i've been with the afa since 2017
04:40:49.840and from there in 2021 i moved down to california for a number of reasons but i am located only
04:40:57.840about an hour and a half away from Odin's Hof, so I'm there quite frequently, and I see one of my
04:41:04.400folk builder sisters I see over there all the time, and Sierra. Yeah, and I love the atmosphere,
04:41:12.120I love the camaraderie, the people that I deal with are just the top tier, most genuine people
04:41:18.700I've ever met in my entire life, and I have great appreciation for the AFA, and I would like to give
04:41:23.980back all right um okay that said i'm gonna sneak off for the night you guys all right
04:41:39.020thank you for coming on everything congrats victory have a good night we'll talk to you later
04:41:53.980Okay, so Raven asks, question, how do you navigate the teachings of Ausatru in developing an ethical framework that addresses contemporary moral dilemmas, i.e. abortion, public anti-white rhetoric, LGBTQ+, push?
04:42:14.760Okay, so what I've tried to say a lot is that principles are timeless.
04:42:36.040Specifics are based on condition, their condition.
04:42:42.180so one of the biggest things is to learn the larger truth from our lore and our relationship
04:42:51.620with our gods and you have to apply that to different situations one thing that's very
04:42:59.060uncomfortable is everything isn't black and white there's very clearly some things that are
04:43:05.780absolutely evil and that are absolutely glorious and righteous there's a lot of things in between
04:43:14.260and the principles in our lore help us address those um you're never going to have a complex
04:43:23.540listing of every possible permutation of political and social developments that's just not realistic
04:43:31.380but you can have principles that guide you in making those choices and i think our lore when
04:43:38.500viewed fairly helps us quite a bit to navigate those things in ways that make sense something
04:43:46.260else i want to say is the lore doesn't exist in an ancient encapsulated viking era
04:43:53.780uh our the collected wisdom of our folk and our spiritual leaders goes well before the viking age
04:44:05.480and exists in the age we live in today um to discount that is
04:44:14.720illogical and a little bit disrespectful and disingenuous we're not attempting to
04:44:21.200ate what the vikings once did or pretend that we're vikings we're not our gods are eternal
04:44:28.720our folk is eternal we're practicing ausitru in 2024 and the political and social ramifications
04:44:38.000of that are likely very different than they will be when folks are practicing ausitru in
04:44:44.400you know 30 24 but the principles will remain the same um
04:45:03.360looking a couple things we're still really behind in the chat i'm sorry about that guys
04:45:07.840uh somebody i wish i would have gotten to this when sheila was here how is the founder doing
04:45:15.120these days oh so sheila could have told you how steel steve's doing a little bit better than i
04:45:20.320could um but he's doing good as of when i talked to him two weeks ago at the hall sounded like he
04:45:33.600was doing all right he led one of the best men's groups that i've had i've been part of it at an
04:45:39.840event for a long time talking about the alfar seems like his health is doing really well
04:45:46.880uh he did a really nice uh alfar bloat on friday night so i think he's doing pretty good i'm sure
04:45:56.160he would appreciate you asking and we'll pass that along um anna i got a question githya anna
04:46:03.440plurred uh can you delve into the difference between how we view our holy powers versus how
04:49:16.100small and irrelevant as possible and giving it all to their god whereas in ours you want
04:49:23.620to make yourself as great as possible so the gods take notice of you and are proud of you
04:49:29.860and i think it's just so polar opposite we want to boast our boasting draws the attentions of
04:49:38.260the gods to judge us and hopefully to deem us worthy we want them to be proud of us it was one
04:49:45.720of the fundamentals um when i was in christianity i it really rubbed me wrong and they
04:49:53.960by describing their god as you know the heavenly father if a human father did that to their son
04:50:06.620they would be considered a terribly abusive person you know if your child went up and won
04:50:14.960an award for something for them to have to like present you the award and tell the audience that
04:50:22.580they're only able to do good things because you're so awesome and you gave them life and you fed them
04:50:29.140man you know having a daughter now and it's different i wouldn't want her to do that i'd
04:50:35.540want to celebrate her winning something and i would be so happy and so proud of her doing
04:50:40.580something good um and that's a really fundamental difference between our relationship to our gods
04:50:49.780and the abrahamics in relationship to theirs
04:50:55.700but there's a lot of different ways uh ryan do you see a difference fundamentally in how we
04:51:04.180our relationship with our gods versus the abrahamics with their god uh yeah so just to kind
04:51:12.020of piggyback off of what you said uh the the way that the monotheistic abrahamic god is is viewed
04:51:20.740in my opinion i'm not a goatee so take that with a grain of salt uh is that everything that you do
04:51:28.900as an individual is not yours it's you have no credit to be taken there's nothing to be earned
04:51:36.740everything you do is in the glory of that god and our gods my perspective want to see you to
04:51:44.580succeed they created order in in they created us to maintain order and the more that we succeed the
04:51:54.180more that we advance the more that we accomplish brings um brings a good reputation to them
04:52:04.660It shows that they're worthy to be followed. And I feel that our gods have the ability to bestow an example for us to follow instead of orders. And that's why I find Alcetru to be a lot more fitting for me.
04:52:24.740Yeah, I'd like to make the point, and I feel like this is kind of a, I don't know, I don't
04:52:42.140make the point to be rude, but to directly answer the question.
04:52:49.080If you listen, and this maybe doesn't speak to Judaism or Islam, I don't know.
04:52:54.740speaks very specifically to Christianity.
04:52:59.760The Sermon on the Mount and the fundamentals
04:53:02.900of what has come down to us about Christianity
04:55:14.460So as long as you're learning, you're growing, you're pushing yourself forward, you're going to find that heroic moment.
04:55:21.080You're going to build your might, your main. And there's no there's no out for that.
04:55:25.460Right. You either do it or you don't. As opposed to as long as you keep your head down, keep yourself small and go through the right motions.
04:55:35.960It just doesn't seem like a way to live. It doesn't celebrate life like Asuku does.
04:55:41.440yeah the story the stories of our ancestors inspire the heroes of our future
04:55:49.220absolutely so tracy what's your favorite have them all stanza
04:55:56.580oh i wasn't even on mute well i was thinking about that recently and um i think it's like
04:56:08.020stanza i think it's 23 it goes something like um like a fool is the person who stays up all night
04:56:17.780worrying only to wake up and find out everything is like the same as it was something like that
04:56:27.300with the addition of and they're tired yeah they're tired that's that's a really a really
04:56:35.540Google and I like as well. Jason, what's your favorite