00:03:30.000all right i think we're having a entropy struggle going on but hey guys welcome again to another
00:03:42.480exciting edition of victory never sleeps with me tonight i've got a good friend of mine and
00:03:50.420spectacular goethe trent east welcome trent hey thanks for having me ah thanks for thanks for
00:03:57.360coming on and spending a few hours with us. To start with, could you give folks a little bit
00:04:02.300of background on yourself, how you came to Ausatru and how you came to the Ausatru Folk Assembly?
00:04:08.300Sure. So I'm 25 years old. I've been practicing Ausatru since my senior year of high school,
00:04:17.280right after I turned 18. So it would have been a star 2015. That's when I started practicing.
00:04:23.660I found Ossetru because of the AFA, a good friend of mine who's still an AFA member in good standing.
00:04:30.600He went to a Star in the South 2015 and came back to school and told me about it.
00:04:37.360So instead of doing our math work in class like we should have been doing, probably, we just talked about Ossetru.
00:04:44.480And something really interesting about that conversation is that I've been like one of those militant atheist types up to that point.
00:04:52.640But hearing about Stephen McNallan's Odin bloat, it was like a flip or a switch was flipped.
00:04:58.900And I just I had to learn everything I could about Ossetree right then and there.
00:05:03.960And I just haven't looked back. I joined the AFA about two months later after kind of checking it out.
00:05:11.460And, yeah, that's about it. The rest is history.
00:05:14.160well i'm i'm glad all that happened and i would would argue that uh
00:05:21.440also true has probably served you better than high school math a little bit
00:05:28.720math teachers out there i apologize um well excellent so um we got a question already from
00:05:36.240sarah sarah asks ah that's kind of question already asked she asked what your journey to
00:05:41.840uh to the afa was like and just to refresh everybody how long ago was that uh seven and a
00:05:49.280half years ago so started in uh march of 2015 when i was 18 years old all right so that dates
00:05:58.560you a little bit there um to my knowledge you are the youngest gothi that we've ever had in the
00:06:04.400as true folk assembly uh i think that sure that may cut both ways but i think that affords you
00:06:12.160a unique perspective um how have you i don't know how has that affected your time being a goathy so
00:06:19.280far um it hasn't affected it too negatively i don't think uh i mean i'm sure there are people
00:06:30.320when they need like counseling for something they think well i'm not gonna go to the kid i'm gonna
00:06:34.080go to go the stam or go the young you know but other than that i don't think it's really had much
00:06:39.040of an effect other than like you know just comments about my age occasionally good deal
00:06:47.920well so uh folks make sure you're getting your questions in here we're trying to figure out a few
00:06:54.240entropy glitches but uh for folks that do want to join us over on entropy
00:06:59.520nick can throw you the link up there and it's a really nice way to throw some tips at us if
00:07:05.600you'd like to all those donations go to the astro folk assembly um and if you donate enough and you
00:07:12.560want to they're certainly all tax deductible as well also we've got super chat it's real easy for
00:07:19.200our questions section to get overloaded with questions because you guys have so many amazing
00:07:25.440questions for us and we all appreciate it if you want to move here so front of the line we do have
00:07:29.840a super chat function over on entropy as well um you know we appreciate any and all donations you
00:07:37.440guys do but please realize you know we're very happy to answer any and all of your questions
00:07:42.800and as long as you stay on with us tonight we will definitely even if you don't stay on with
00:07:48.240us we'll answer your question whether you hear it or not i suppose it's up to you but we will
00:07:52.000get to all the questions before we leave you a couple of a couple of more things i guess off
00:07:58.640the top so i don't forget about doing it i'd like to invite all of you guys to come out next month
00:08:06.000for winter nights it's going to be in ohio and nick can throw up a link for that for the dates
00:08:13.280and such but it's going to be really nice it's going to be our first time at a new event venue
00:08:17.840we're really looking forward to it traditionally winter nights has gone on in eastern pennsylvania
00:08:24.960and so we're moving a state over this year and probably going to get a lot of folks that haven't
00:08:29.440been there before hopefully we'll get to see a lot of our winter nights regulars as well
00:08:33.840and that's always a special event it's a cool time of year it's it's a neat part of the country
00:08:38.880i'd love to see you guys there um also while we're on the subject the following month in
00:08:45.520oklahoma the afa will be celebrating feast of the iron hair yarn i'll be out at that i know
00:08:51.360the mcnallan's plan to be out at that as well if you guys would like to join us there you're
00:08:55.200welcome and we'd love to have you guys cool and with that i agree asks does the afa have any
00:09:07.040scope in the future to look into possibly teaching the esoteric side of aussitrew
00:09:12.960or are we concentrating on the exoteric for now so that's an interesting question when you ask that um
00:09:23.200yeah we certainly have a scope to do some of that um i'd be curious the best way to
00:09:29.120implement that though it's a conversation that we often have internally um but it's
00:09:36.080one of those conversations we have with people with the requisite experience um
00:09:42.960One thing, when you look at our faith in a holistic way, it's meant to be a faith for all of our people.
00:09:51.720And certainly in the days where that was the case, most folks were farmers and they wanted to come to the Hoffs and participate in the sacrifice and the feast and, you know, make prayers and offerings to their gods.
00:10:08.340and the the more specific magical practices and more esoteric elements weren't really something
00:10:18.040that everybody was involved in it was something for kind of an initiated group of people that
00:10:22.740took that special interest and so when we're just talking to the the random member or person
00:10:30.020interested in also true talking about the fundamentals the values and the worship of our
00:10:35.980gods is much more of an immediate thing for us to to discuss than the finer points of esoterics
00:10:43.820or rune work or say their practice or things that way but it is a discussion that if you have
00:10:48.860questions on that we're very happy to to talk to you about that individually it's kind of something
00:10:53.340that up to this point is a word of mouth thing from our gothar to to those members that are
00:10:58.940specifically interested but i hope that helps and it is something we'll give some thought to
00:11:03.180uh sarah asks you were oath does a few trent that you were oathed as a gothy with two of
00:11:10.380your closest friends what was that like uh it was just really fitting it felt right it was uh
00:11:18.460you know the three of us were the last in our class to be oathed i like to think it was just
00:11:22.540because we didn't make it out to midsummer or it may just because it took us the longest to
00:11:27.820get where we needed to be to earn that i don't know but it it just felt really fitting because
00:11:32.860because the whole time we were going through that together.
00:11:36.600We were always critiquing each other's work and hyping each other up for things
00:11:42.180and having each other's backs the whole time.
00:11:44.620So, yeah, to go through that with my two best friends, it was a really memorable event,
00:11:52.140and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
00:12:47.140despite the grumbles i would also recommend sweet and spicy by good earth tea the sweet
00:12:55.540and spicy orange spice is excellent as are many of their other delicious flavors
00:13:02.420you should you all should i would highly encourage it uh the king of cheese asks um anyway
00:13:09.620a question for both of you for folk unawares could you explain what aryan means and how
00:13:16.420it's used in our lexicon as aussitru trent go ahead and take that first okay so the arians in the
00:13:25.460i guess strictest most mundane material sense of the word were our proto-indo-european ancestors
00:13:34.580that came over the steps uh around the uh was it the pontic caspian step kind of near ukraine
00:13:41.860they came westward expanding and conquering and creating all of western civilization
00:13:49.380uh as far as how it relates to asatru i would just say you know we're an ethnic faith um our
00:13:56.420ethnicity is arian in the same way that you know english people would call themselves anglo-saxons
00:14:02.740or the irish would call themselves celts you know it's it's a broad thing sort of but uh
00:14:11.860it's it's true whether people you know see that as a bad word or not is irrelevant it's
00:14:19.220our ancestors and it's us so the word arian is has gone out of favor in recent years
00:14:27.540but uh it's an ancient word uh a lot of people have different 20th century associations with it
00:14:34.340but it's a it's a very ancient word that's preserved in sanskrit and it means
00:14:38.820noble the noble people and it it implies a shining nobility or a shining example of nobility
00:14:47.460it's a self-identifier that we see ourselves as noble people not only is it that we identify
00:14:55.560ourselves that way but that's a standard we hold ourselves to and that's why i think it's
00:14:59.800particularly valuable. For point of information, both Ireland and Iran, both in their relative
00:15:09.400languages, mean the land of the Aryans. So those are kind of the two distant fringes of where the
00:15:15.700Aryan migrations ended up before the New World. So that's why we use it. That's why it's important.
00:15:22.820As Trent says, it identifies us as a distinct people, and it identifies us in a positive way, in a way, something for us to aspire to and to be worthy of.
00:15:35.800And so that's why it's something that we certainly don't shy away from using.
00:15:42.180Robert asks, is a Hoff in Europe a possibility?
00:15:47.940A Hoff in Europe, I would love to see.
00:15:50.560it's something that we talked about early on but what we really need to see to get a hof somewhere
00:15:56.640is a very active membership that can maintain it and upkeep it but also committed leadership
00:16:06.640that's consistent and that's that's putting in the effort on that so far a lot of our
00:16:12.240international membership has been either too few in number in a location to justify a hof
00:16:19.680Or, and we were getting very close to the idea of having a Hoff in Sweden, but with the global reactions to COVID-19 and such, the enthusiasm for international membership has really decreased from the height that it was at.
00:16:37.000Now, we have members in 14 different countries around the world, so it's absolutely a possibility and it's a dream of ours.
00:16:43.600I would love to have a Hoff in Sweden. We've talked about, we've at different times had a
00:16:49.760very active membership in Australia and New Zealand. So it is something that I'd love to
00:16:55.840see one day, but I don't think it's going to be one of our next couple.
00:17:04.100Katla asks, what's your favorite type of pie and why is it pumpkin? Trent, go for it.
00:17:10.520uh that's cool that you guessed that and you guessed correctly why is it pumpkin
00:17:16.900i don't know it's it's just the best and that's an objective fact and anybody that disagrees is
00:17:24.940just wrong i guess that's the only that's the fairest answer i can give you so gothe east is
00:17:30.060asking to get booted from the program i apologize guys best pie is clearly cherry pie and it's
00:17:36.440magnificent. Um, Madison asks, Trent, could you explain to us what words are wind style is iron
00:17:46.460means? Uh, caught me off guard there. Uh, at Thorsoff, we've developed a culture of, uh,
00:17:58.600dressing nicely and Thorsoff's motto, which was adapted from the iron guard kindred's motto,
00:18:05.720uh words are when deeds are iron uh I think I originally had said it to Daniel while he was
00:18:13.960trying to pick out a tweed suit for Ostara a year or two ago so it's it's a meme more than anything
00:18:21.840else I gotta say I'm impressed with y'all wearing tweed in uh in North Carolina um it's a little
00:18:30.680bit warm for for tweed I have found so it's impressive that you gentlemen can wear a three
00:18:35.340piece tweed in that environment um to get to a little bit more of a serious subject josh asks
00:18:43.340gothi trent uh how you've been working with the folk futhark and what do you like about it
00:18:54.140and then he asks i was harry gothi any thoughts on the folk futhark yourself go for it trent okay
00:19:00.380okay so uh spawn mentioned it to me kind of offhand a couple years ago and i've been bugging him about
00:19:07.620it to finish it ever since because i thought it was a really neat idea uh what i like about it
00:19:12.340is that it takes runes from all four of the you know main futharks i guess uh older younger anglo
00:19:21.040frisian and uh armanin and it creates sort of a pan-arian rune row for us to use whereas with
00:19:29.000elder futhark is proto-germanic and the younger futhark is icelandic i think anglo-frisian futhark
00:19:36.760of course is uh it's like english dutch and the armonian futhark was given to us by meister guido
00:19:43.880von list so the folk futhark brings all those together and makes it into one pan-arian runero
00:19:52.280for all of us. And it's something that's going to be specific to the AFA. You're not going to see
00:19:59.540any of our detractors using that. So that's, that's what I like about it. So, you know,
00:20:06.560my thoughts are a couple on it. First, there's no pretension that, you know, we're adding some
00:20:13.060extra layer of esotericism to it it's really like trent said it's the brainchild of of witten spawn
00:20:24.340and it's really an homage to our futharkic heritage if you will uh it's something that
00:20:35.460the best way to put it um linguistically certainly other futharks were adapted
00:20:41.620to the linguistics of the area um as trent said the elder was was proto-germanic
00:20:48.740um the younger futhark is much more uh viking aged norse uh the anglo-saxon futhork is
00:20:56.900you know good for anglo-saxon words and even you know probably your best bet to translate english
00:21:02.660into uh but we find ourselves in the united states as a mixture of all of the european peoples who've
00:21:13.860who've come here uh and so to kind of celebrate that and the things that bond us together the
00:21:20.180folk futhark was created as an homage to all those different that rich runic heritage that we have
00:21:26.820um we picked the the stave or the symbol of of each of those futhark uh runes that you know
00:21:37.140we found most fitting and that's kind of what we like to use in some of our afa signage and
00:21:42.900artwork and things of that nature but it's not really a you know any any diversion it's it's
00:21:48.500an evolution of of using those runes and yeah it's one of those things we also like to use
00:21:54.260is because we're not trapped in a, in an ancient era.
00:26:34.440I mean, so I think this was mentioned last week on Gothi Young's episode,
00:26:40.100but the old Latin word for a Roman priest, pre-Christian, was pontifex.
00:26:48.200and it meant bridge and uh that's something that as gothar we talk about a lot with rituals that
00:26:54.420we build the bridge between folk and gods and so that is something that's important to me and
00:27:00.100that's something that i actually visualize specifically when i do bloat um and then of
00:27:05.180course there's the more uh mundane side of being like the counseling and uh just as important
00:27:13.300stuff, of course, but just being here to help people when I can. So I would, they're equally
00:27:18.200important to me. And those are both things. And I try and be a role model too, as best I can,
00:27:23.400because I've, I've had the AFA my whole adult life and I've had awesome guys like Mark McLeod
00:27:30.260and Cliff Erickson and Carl's hair. I go through here to like, look up to, and to kind of help me
00:27:34.700walk in the right footsteps in life. So I'm trying to sort of pay that forward.
00:27:39.920Yeah, to throw on there, there's so many hats that our Goethe are aware, and they synergize really well with one another.
00:27:52.280I think that the idea of serving the people could be misleading, depending on what people are used to hearing, if they're used to hearing that in a Christian context.
00:28:03.120I think we need to take care and tend our people and care for our people absolutely 100%. But I
00:28:11.700also think that the goal isn't just to serve our folk, the goal is to lead our folk as well. And I
00:28:17.180think our Gothar do a very good job of that. But also, that bridge between our gods and our folk
00:28:25.400is so important. And we're living in a day and age where that bridge is literally being rebuilt.
00:28:31.060And it's pioneering work that our Gothar are doing to reforge that connection between our folk and our gods and between our gods and our folk.
00:28:40.700So that's an essential, an essential job function of being a Gothi.
00:28:45.500Our Gothar are asked to shoulder a lot of responsibility and they they do amazing work.
00:28:52.020And so much of it, like Trent mentioned, is counseling and things behind the scenes that you guys may never see because there's a lot of confidentiality involved.
00:29:03.280But the work that's put in is tremendous and we all appreciate it very much.
00:29:08.920Got a couple of a couple of tips over here on the side.
00:29:13.620Ruben gave us ten dollars. Thank you so much, Ruben.
00:29:15.940Good evening, folks. To both gentlemen, if you could have a drink and a chat with one of our gods or goddesses, who would you choose and why? Trent, you first.
00:29:29.660I think I would want to have a drink with Tyr, actually. I'd like to hear his thoughts on why he did what he did, putting his hand in Fenrir's mouth.
00:29:41.320i mean we all know the answer but i think it'd be really interesting to hear him put it into words
00:29:46.440yes uh it's an interesting question and these kind of
00:29:52.760these kind of navel gazing questions are stuff that i overthink a lot um
00:29:57.960i think as is this cheating because i'm gonna give you two i think it would be
00:30:08.360exciting to have a drink and talk with and hear stories from Thor. I think that would be amazing.
00:30:21.700I also think it would be very, very interesting to sit and listen to the Allfather and hear
00:30:30.560whatever Odin would want to tell me. I think it might be less of a fun experience,
00:30:36.580but I think it'd be extremely profound. And I, I would be in, I'd be ecstatic to be able to sit
00:30:44.760and to speak with or drink with any of our gods and goddesses. And, you know, hopefully one day
00:30:50.660through some form of ascension that can be closer to be in my reality. Sunshine sucks gives us $10.
00:30:58.520Thank you. I appreciate that. You are a loyal follower of this program, and we really do appreciate you.
00:31:07.500I think you're here for every one of these we've done.
00:31:13.420Daniel Young asks, Gauthier East, what inspired you to ascend to the clergy class, and who inspires you?
00:31:28.520I don't really, I wish I could give a better answer than this, but I don't really remember
00:31:34.380a specific moment where I was like, aha, I want to be a Goathe.
00:31:38.720My initial plan for leadership, in fact, was just to be a folk builder.
00:31:43.360And I, you know, I didn't think I'd ever want to do something like lead bloat or do a baby
00:32:48.180Following Bragi's Hoff will be Heimdall's Hoff, then Vidar's Hoff, then Valli's Hoff, then Uller's Hoff, and then Forseti's Hoff.
00:32:59.760And that's what we're firm on at this point.
00:33:03.120And that's the order that's presented in the Edic poem, The Gildhagening.
00:33:07.840And that's a poem that Goethe Svahn and I will be discussing here in about three weeks, I believe, on on one of these episodes of Victory Never Sleeps.
00:33:20.540Sarah asks, what has been the most memorable bloat you have performed?
00:39:23.580And then like the next day, he's just excitedly texting me all this stuff he's read like like I hadn't heard it before.
00:39:30.480but he was just so excited about it and he was apologizing like oh i'm sorry you already know
00:39:35.200all this and like yeah you know i i did but well like you said that's that's probably the best
00:39:41.640moment is when it kind of becomes real for someone and they just have like this new life
00:39:47.420and then this like kind of vigor to just really jump right into everything
00:39:52.680and I got to do that guy's daughter's baby naming at the Njortzhov dedication so that was a huge
00:40:01.720honor as kind of a bonus answer on that not really a story but just something that ends
00:40:09.180up being really cool and we'll get this with couples often but what's really special is when
00:40:18.820someone does this and their parents see the impact it's made on their life and when they can bring
00:40:26.580their parents with them and we've had you know we've had a number of times where folks were able
00:40:33.300to to through their example and through you know the impact that also true's had on their life
00:40:40.180to have their parents go ahead and join and become part of the afa and that's always a really special
00:40:44.980thing to see. It's so nice when you can get your family to participate in something that
00:40:52.900is so important to you and that you love so much. And it's such a difficult transition to get your
00:40:59.300parents that are oftentimes very much older to be involved in this that we do. It's a major
00:41:04.660change in maybe what they grew up with. So I've seen that a few times and that's been a really
00:41:10.680special testament to to our gods and to house the truth don asks what would be your advice
00:41:18.680for young married couples today and the daily struggles uh they encounter trent
00:41:26.920um advice uh i would say don't feel like you're alone in the world
00:41:36.120I know society is kind of set up in a way right now where it feels like young people, especially young, traditionally minded married couples are kind of like set up for failure.
00:41:47.620But even if that is the case, you have your fault to lean on.
00:44:33.500I think it's a lot of people's favorites.
00:44:34.820Um, so I got deleted at, uh, Thorshoff, Sigur Blur a couple months ago and it was,
00:44:43.020I don't really know how to put it into words. It was just really cool
00:44:45.720to, uh, kind of be the big guy sitting at the head of the table and telling everybody the rules and
00:44:51.620stuff. I don't know. That's probably my favorite. So my favorite, uh, has always been baby namings.
00:45:00.120um it's just such a happy and such a special time and such a special thing to be there for
00:45:10.100um you're there with this with these new parents that are so happy and these little babies that
00:45:15.760scream and cry at the worst possible moments during the ceremony you're trying to do
00:45:21.360but it's such a it's just such a beautiful thing to be part of and i'm ridiculous i can't do a
00:45:29.560baby naming without crying and tearing up and blubbering. And that's just kind of how I'm
00:45:34.840built. But I love baby namings. I would say the most, the biggest honor of a ceremony to perform
00:45:43.560has been the few funerals that I've performed. I can't say it's my favorite, but I'm very honored
00:45:51.000that families would trust me to do that as a send-off to their loved ones.
00:45:59.560Martin asks, do you guys have any other podcasts you like on the topic of Ossetru or just interesting subjects in general? Trent, go ahead and go first.
00:46:11.940uh i'm not really a podcast guy honestly uh and if it's not afa it's not awesome true
00:46:19.980so um in my spare time i listen to the british history podcast on spotify just because you know
00:46:27.580i'm english i'm a nerd so that's what i do other than that no you know i i get these questions and
00:46:36.400I'm not trying to dodge them. I'm just not really a podcast guy either.
00:46:42.220When I know when I'm at the gym, I always like to listen to books on tape or when I'm on a long
00:46:46.240drive. I listen to a lot of things on Audible, a lot of history stuff. I'm listening to Adrian
00:46:54.720Goldsworthy's books on ancient Rome right now. I've listened to quite a few of his stuff and
00:47:00.340working through that catalog right now but i a lot of a lot of history books on on audible i really
00:47:06.820enjoy um yeah it's the best i got i'm sorry i wish i could give you better advice on podcasts
00:47:13.860hopefully some folks over in the the side chat may have something a little bit more for you
00:47:17.700uh tim asks gothi trent as practitioner practitioners of our ancestral faith how
00:47:29.700does attending european cultural festivals further our connection to the ancestors and gods
00:47:36.580matt can you share your thoughts as as well
00:47:41.300um i mean it just helps insofar as kind of putting you in touch with i guess any european
00:47:52.900cultural festival would put you in touch with that greater aryan culture but there's probably
00:47:59.700something particularly special about attending a festival that relates to a culture that your
00:48:06.180ancestors were a part of like uh highland games uh irish fests things like that i mean i would
00:48:15.380imagine it connects you more to your ancestors than the gods specifically but uh yeah it just
00:48:23.460i haven't been to anything like that but i would assume it really just makes you feel
00:48:27.620at home in a sense and just helps you connect with those ancestors
00:48:34.020you know what trent said but also it's one of the few times in the modern world where folks
00:48:43.200specifically white folks get to be proud of where they come from um and that's really nice to be
00:48:50.160part of they're folks that you know maybe aren't aren't part of what we do but for that moment for
00:48:56.600that time that they're there they get to full-throatedly celebrate their european heritage
00:49:01.680and that's really nice to see and be a part of. I've had some really good experiences with the
00:49:07.060Highland Games. I used to participate in the Alaska Highland Games pretty regularly,
00:49:11.340and I also did one while I was in Florida. It's been a long time. My joints are not what they
00:49:17.100used to be, but that's a lot of fun, and it's something really special about going out there
00:49:22.520and competing in something seriously. When you're wearing your family's tartan, I have an ancient
00:49:30.500ross hunting kilt that i was wearing and still got it in the other room and it's just it's it's
00:49:36.500it's special it's hard to it's hard to put words around but it's neat not only when you attend it
00:49:41.700but when you're part of it in that way and being a competitor in the highland games is
00:49:45.620you know one of the one of the really neat things i've got to do in my life
00:49:51.780um daniel asks can you speak on the importance of physical excellence as it pertains to spiritual
00:50:00.020health trent you can go first okay uh so there's a thing people always say they talk about like
00:50:09.700mind body spirit and that's like one of those cliche things that people say and it doesn't
00:50:15.060really have any meaning when they say it but it it is a real thing the mind body spirit connection
00:50:20.580is very real so when you go and you work out and you apply your will to something especially
00:50:27.460something that's going to make you stronger or make you better or make you healthier it really
00:50:33.060does wonders for your i mean your mental health of course and your spiritual health as well it's
00:50:39.300like we always you know people always say onwards and upwards or whatever it is that's that's a real
00:50:45.860thing and working out is uh is a big part of that is you're taking what you have and making something
00:50:54.740from it you know i think there's a couple of really important things to be said about it
00:52:30.800The other thing that folks certainly know is being in good shape requires discipline.
00:52:37.800It requires discipline as far as you're working out and your athleticism, but it also requires a lot of discipline in the kitchen.
00:52:45.800You showing the world that you have that discipline and that you're a person of that kind of bearing speaks volumes about your spiritual health.
00:52:53.800And I think it's a really important thing.
00:52:55.800thing. And it's a conversation that I had with our founder, Steve McNallan, a number of years ago,
00:53:01.320I think when I first became, I was Harry Goethe. And we both certainly agree that
00:53:06.040your physical condition says a lot about your spiritual condition. And I'd love to see all of
00:53:12.200us get as spiritually healthy, as mentally healthy, and as physically healthy and beautiful as we
00:53:18.140possibly can be. And, you know, we all got areas we can improve on it. But the important thing
00:53:23.660is that every day is an opportunity to be a little bit better than we were the day before.
00:53:31.280And I want us all to reach out and strive for that. Lawrence Forbes, thank you, sir. You are
00:53:37.780a loyal viewer and contributor to this program. Thank you so much. And you just gave us 10
00:53:45.000Canadian dollars. We appreciate that. Good evening, Matt and Trent. I get that Arian
00:53:50.700is a politically charged word in our current environment.
00:54:19.660but we are also true and i guess the two are one in the same in a way but it's the also true folk
00:54:26.340assembly and i me personally i'd like to see it stay that way i would i would definitely be open
00:54:32.900to using the word arian in the future more uh i know people like when we call ourselves white
00:54:38.860that's a great identifier and it's really clear and cut but i think words like arian would be
00:54:45.800cool to bring back more mainstream, I guess. Yeah, I agree with Trent. First, branding is
00:54:56.340important. Asatru Folk Assembly is really important. It's important because as a church,
00:55:03.140our fundamental basis that defines our existence is our troth to the iser, is us being literally
00:55:12.520also true um race is very important race is certainly a a necessary thing for you to be
00:55:20.920able to participate in our spiritual uh our ethnic spirituality our ethnic religion
00:55:27.960certainly is the astro folk assembly but it's a it's a requirement to get in the door it's
00:55:33.480not a completion of what's required you don't just have to be um an aryan man or woman you
00:55:40.920have to be an aryan man or woman who is loyal to and defines themselves by their loyalty to our gods
00:55:48.200and that's that's really fundamental and essential but also like trent said i would love to use the
00:55:53.080term more often it's something i'm proud of it's something i certainly don't shy away from using
00:55:57.880now but you know i think that we are strategic and we try to make sure there's a context when
00:56:05.000we use it because there is so much confusion out there in the in the larger world
00:56:10.920um nathan asks trent uh what for you is the most difficult and the most important part of being a
00:56:20.900gothi um i would say probably just missing time with my wife and my family uh having to answer
00:56:29.840calls um but i don't want to make it seem like it's a burden i guess but i would say that's the
00:56:35.500closest thing to being difficult to having to answer, answer calls at any hour. But like I
00:56:42.140said, it's, it's, it's an honor to be the one that's charged with taking those calls.
00:56:52.920That's legit. I want you guys to all realize that, um, our GoTar choose a responsibility
00:57:00.500for themselves to where there's no, there's no office hours. You're a gothy 24 seven.
00:57:10.320I mean, there, there are times where you're more or less engaged in the more, you know,
00:57:15.280administrative aspects of it when it comes to being there for our folk who are in need.
00:57:20.980Our goth are always there and you guys can reach out to gothar at runestone.org anytime.
00:57:30.500And we will respond to you. One of us will respond to you very, very quickly, and we will do our very best to help any of you guys that are having a problem.
00:57:40.880And that's members or non-members. If you're having a problem and you need to reach out to Agothi, please reach out there.
00:57:46.120um if you don't remember that or whatever matt flavel at runestone.org please reach out to me
00:57:54.640and i will help you or i will get you somebody who can help you or both as quickly as i possibly can
00:58:02.160we're here for you guys all the time and it's really important to us that you know that and
00:58:06.320that you take advantage of that um so we've got it queued up to show off the work of trent's
00:58:13.280lovely wife madison here is her artwork on the wheel of the year
00:58:24.560everybody take a gander it's beautiful um madison does lovely work she is very very talented
00:58:31.600and we're really appreciative of the the time she puts in she helps with our
00:58:37.360our hoff design and our hoff flags in various visual projects that we're working on matter
00:58:44.000of fact tonight when we get off of this i have a project i want to talk to her about a little bit
00:58:50.480um nathan asked trent a follow-up to daniel's question what is your take on
00:59:00.240what is your take on one-arm push-ups and how many can you do
00:59:03.440uh that's a that's a dirty move nate they're really impressive looking i can do a lot of
00:59:13.840two-arm push-ups i would ask you how many pull-ups can you do and we can compare those
00:59:19.840but i will allow you the satisfaction of knowing that i currently can do like 0.75 of a one-arm
00:59:27.200push-up at this time so that's that's unfortunate uh go the east i would like to see you increase
00:59:34.320your your one-arm push-up abilities um so there's not a hole in our our gothic kin fence when it
00:59:41.040comes to that um and i'd like to also venture that i think nathan can probably destroy quite
00:59:47.600a few of us at the pull-ups i would be curious to see you guys do a pull-up off uh maybe i will
00:59:53.680insist upon that the next time you two are together uh one arm push-up advice it's all
00:59:58.640about making that triangular base a lot of people try to have a really narrow leg position it's no
01:00:04.960good for the one-arm push-ups put your hand in the center of your chest get your legs wide across
01:00:10.640do those one-arm push-ups it's a good thing it's an impressive thing nate can do quite a few um
01:00:17.600Robert asks, is being a folk builder required before becoming a Gothi? Yes, it is. And I'll
01:00:25.680explain a little bit of why that is. For a long time, it wasn't. When I got ordained,
01:00:32.960the folk builders and the Gothar were two kind of separate paths that serve separate functions.
01:00:39.220And one of the things that we've worked to do is to unite those into a progression of
01:00:45.460responsibilities. A lot of folks don't realize the hard work that goes into being a go-thee.
01:00:56.460And that just is what it is. It's not anybody's fault, per se. Like I mentioned earlier in the
01:01:01.920program, so much of what we do is behind the scenes that, you know, you may never know about.
01:01:08.620But the responsibility is really important. I've had a lot of people when they first join,
01:01:14.740And, you know, immediately ask, hey, can I be a Gothi? How do I be a Gothi?
01:01:18.120And I think a lot of people, when they're new to House of Truth, think that what that largely entails is basically being a master of ceremonies when it comes to rituals.
01:01:28.380And that's one thing that we do, but it's it's not it's not the most important thing that we do.
01:01:33.640And it's not the majority of what we do. Being a folk builder makes people in touch with the work that goes into running this church.
01:01:44.740Being a folk builder gets you acquainted with your local membership to where you deal with those people regularly and you know how everything works and it prepares you because as a Gothi, you not only do all the Gothic responsibilities, but you're an overseer of the folk builders in your district.
01:02:04.940so you're really involved in the running of things and this equips you to know that job and be able
01:02:10.620to do it because you don't really stop being a folk builder you just become a folk builder plus
01:02:16.060the gothy responsibilities so it really is essential and we've had a lot of success since
01:02:21.020that's been a requirement we've gotten a lot more very serious people into the program
01:02:25.820and i think it's served us really well another um misunderstanding i think some folks have
01:02:31.420have, when they get involved in Asatru, they see Asatru as a means to their personal spiritual
01:02:40.080advancement. And sometimes they act as though us giving them the opportunity to be a Gothi
01:02:47.960is something that we owe them for their own spiritual benefit. Being a Gothi isn't about
01:02:53.140your own spiritual benefit. It's about serving our gods, our folk, and our church. It's about
01:02:59.940taking on tremendous responsibilities. And it's something that, you know, it's not about whether
01:03:08.260you want to be one or not. It's about whether we trust you to be one and you're going to be a value
01:03:14.000to our gods, our church, and us for you to be one. And so that's why that's structured the way that
01:03:20.880it is king of cheese i tried to explain to a friend of mine the afterlife of our faith and i
01:03:31.040feel i only did a half service i explained what i've picked up from elder mcnowen's book and
01:03:38.400elsewhere i'm trying to read the second half of the question i'm sorry guys uh that we either go
01:03:46.480to hellheim or go to one of the gods or goddesses may take you to them if you formed a good
01:03:53.440relationship with them how would you explain it and where did i mess up well okay first uh tony
01:04:01.200i don't think you messed up at all i think that um we are in a in a time and in a society where
01:04:11.280everybody wants a really really clear answer on everything and i think that there's more variation
01:04:19.760in our afterlife than in some other people's religious traditions um
01:04:27.760first i think that at the very least what typically happens in our afterlife is one goes to the halls
01:04:35.200of their ancestors and that's the most common afterlife experience it's something that is
01:04:42.080confirmed by many many near-death experiences it's something that you know we're pretty solid on is
01:04:48.960in your in in your afterlife experiences you go and reside with with your people with your
01:04:54.480ancestors um we do have mentions in our lore of after of you being judged in your afterlife
01:05:01.280and i think that's absolutely the case uh people who are are very very dishonorable and very bad
01:05:10.160i think those people lose more and more of themselves in a process of uh dissolution
01:05:17.920i think that's described in our lore in the term of of venom and other things dissolving that
01:05:24.080person i think with the worst extreme being that you're washed from existence and your component
01:05:30.160parts go back into the greater folk soul to be hopefully put to uh to better use in the future
01:05:37.280but i think most people go to their ancestors i think there's another thing that happens though
01:05:41.360and this is what uh steve mcnellen talks about about going to the halls of the gods i don't think
01:05:47.040it's just your personal relationship with that god i think it's your uh spiritual evolution in
01:05:52.960your your personal evolution there's the idea of ascension and for those heroes for those who have
01:05:59.200gone above and beyond i think that they have the opportunity to ascend to something closer
01:06:06.320to to where our gods are and to commune with our gods in a closer and more special way and i think
01:06:12.560that's what's described as as feasting with the gods um and so you know i think that we all
01:06:19.680should aspire to that and it would be amazing if we have that opportunity and i think that
01:06:24.960in the afterlife we may have opportunities once we get there to to ascend in the afa we also
01:06:31.200believe in the idea of posthumous ascension if you have created such a reputation for yourself
01:06:36.880that you're continually celebrated worshipped exalted uh stories told about you and honored
01:06:43.440after your passing that increases your reputation in the afterlife and i think that helps
01:06:49.840propel you towards higher towards higher things and that's that's the afa understanding of our
01:06:56.400afterlife none of us knows perfectly until we go there but that's the best that we have to go on
01:07:01.520at this point amber asks how do we bring more folk home when i mention the afa to those that
01:07:09.760are interested the first thing they usually do for research is google the afa and it tells them
01:07:15.680that we are wrongly hate group so and you know let trend answer this in a second but i want to
01:07:23.280address this first um unfortunately we can't make google be fair to us though we've tried many many
01:07:34.960times we can't make wikipedia be fair to us either um but it do unfortunately that's just how it is
01:07:45.680What we can do is direct them to alternate sources when they do that.
01:07:51.280So that's fine that they read that, but ask them critically, okay, well, in those sources
01:07:57.060that say that we're a hate group, what hateful things do they say we've done?
01:08:01.480If you carefully read the SPLC article or any of the others, they don't mention any
01:08:06.200specific acts of hatred or mean-spirited things that we do because we don't do those things.
01:08:13.060um they their evidence evidence with the air quotes for those of you listening in
01:08:19.680podcast land they don't have any they say they know what we really mean or they randomly throw
01:08:29.280in people that aren't members of the afa in the same sentence with us and imply that we have a
01:08:34.020connection that we don't have but they can't point to hateful things that we do because we don't
01:08:39.760i would encourage all of those folks to watch our youtube channel and they can listen to
01:08:46.720to me and trent blab and whatever but what i think is really special is getting them to watch our uh
01:08:54.000the little clip shows of our events or of our year you know we have the 2021 year in the afa
01:09:01.040of just slides of us doing nice things and families and it's beautiful a picture's worth
01:09:07.200a thousand words and it's very hard when they know us or when they see us to uh
01:09:14.320to think of us in the way the media has portrayed us um i'd also say a couple of other things first
01:09:24.160courage is essential and unfortunately uh courage is is not a commodity that everyone possesses
01:09:31.360For our folk to come home in this day and age, it takes a certain amount of courage to step
01:09:38.480outside of the paradigm that this world has placed everyone in and to think critically.
01:09:44.580And it also takes courage to do this next step that I would encourage everybody to do.
01:09:49.180If you have a problem and you want to ask us, if you are concerned, you have a question,
01:09:55.980you have to reach out and ask. And I don't expect you to trust our answer,
01:10:00.820but at least give us the opportunity to give you our side and you can see which one sounds true and
01:10:06.100which one proves to be true anybody who is listening right now if you want to if you have
01:10:11.860questions give me a call 907-350-8252 if you call during this podcast or during this broadcast i'm
01:10:21.540probably not going to answer but other than that you guys are welcome to call um we're happy to
01:10:27.300answer any questions and that's unfortunately that's probably the best i can do right now
01:10:31.860uh what does happen and is true is the more successful we become and the more of you guys
01:10:36.980that come home the easier it is for the next guy to come and join us so i appreciate your courage
01:10:43.700and uh if we can instill more courage in our folk much more of our people will come home
01:10:49.060trent what are your thoughts on how we bring more people home
01:10:51.380uh honestly it yeah a little bit of courage is needed but the biggest the biggest thing is just
01:11:00.760being uh out so to speak as australia being openly australia and i mean real australia
01:11:08.240afa australia not like the wiccan bs that you see because like we keep saying afa people are all
01:11:17.820good righteous normal people you know it's if you can just be that and be also true that's
01:11:28.280a shining example of what the afa is and what the afa is about i mean feel free to
01:11:35.680wear some of our awesome afa t-shirts or hoodies while you do it use our slogans so people
01:11:43.940hear the mottos and ask what it's about um you vouch for folks you can have them come to uh
01:11:52.260events to kind of get an idea of what we're about uh like like y'all's hair ago he said show them
01:12:03.780uh it the biggest thing is just having a little courage and being openly afa
01:12:13.060All right. Christine asks, and we'll let you start on these, Trent. Can you share with us the reason why the AFA dresses up for rituals and events? Also, Gauthier, Trent, how many bow ties do you own? And when are we getting AFA bow ties?
01:12:36.800um we dress up for rituals and events because we're going first and foremost just to be with
01:12:49.140our folk and we don't want to look like slobs and second we're going before our gods and we
01:12:55.060don't want to look like slobs um i mean you can think of when maybe a couple generations back
01:13:03.180probably your grandparents or your great grandparents when they would go to church
01:13:06.800they would dress up right because they were going to be before their god
01:13:11.440and in front of all their local congregation or flock or whatever and they would dress nicely
01:13:20.560because they were in the presence of their people and the uh abrahamic god so i figure if uh people
01:13:32.020are willing to dress up for an Abrahamic God, we should absolutely dress up for our gods
01:13:36.640and for our folk, for our ancestors. As for bow ties, I really just got the two that I
01:13:46.040wear that match my tweed suits, but I think I own half a dozen or so.
01:13:51.740all right so here's a real question do you tie them yourself or are they already tied
01:15:03.560And from that day forward, it's been very important to me.
01:15:07.580If we're willing to dress up for a wedding,
01:15:11.240for a funeral for you know a work christmas party for going to court for anything that we would
01:15:22.520dress up for why would approaching our gods in ritual be a lesser occasion than that don't we
01:15:32.120owe our gods putting our best foot forward isn't the day that we go and speak to our gods and ritual
01:15:39.000more important than those other mundane occasions that we think nothing of dressing up for
01:15:45.820the other thing um in the west that's what white people do when they go to church
01:15:51.600not just that that's what all people have done historically when they go to something that's
01:15:57.220religious that they take seriously and when you dress up you take you hold yourself differently
01:16:03.480i've known a lot of people in the afa that were very resistant to the idea but i talk them into
01:16:08.480it. And they'll put on a tie and a button up shirt and they hold their head higher and they
01:16:11.920stick their chest out and they feel like there's somebody and they like, man, I look good. They do
01:16:17.080look good. And we should all look good before, before our fellows, before our gods, before our
01:16:22.720families. Dressing up is always better than not dressing up. And I would encourage you guys all
01:16:28.920to when you come before your gods, be your best self, present your best self. And Trent is
01:16:37.020certainly a fine example of doing that. Antonio asks, my question is, will there be a Hoff in
01:16:45.020Michigan? Antonio, absolutely. I promise you there will be a Hoff in Michigan. When will there be a
01:16:51.100Hoff in Michigan? That's the question. We are working towards it. Hopefully, Frey's Hoff will
01:16:58.880be just south of you guys in Ohio. When we'll have a Hoff in Michigan? I don't know. Get your
01:17:04.840friends to join the AFA. Bring your friends home. We would love to have a Hoff in Michigan and we
01:17:09.640will get there someday. You could help us get there faster though. Nick asks, someone mentioned
01:17:19.440it in chat, so tell us about it. The AFA has a Tartan? Yes, we do. The AFA has an officially
01:17:26.620registered Tartan. A member of ours in Minnesota got that set up for us. It's really cool. It's
01:17:34.340awesome if i had thought about it before this broadcast i would have gotten nick the graphic
01:17:41.220just so happens i have it pulled up here on my screen so if you guys excuse me for a second i
01:17:47.460will send it to nick and nick can show you all we do in fact have a tartan and uh it's pretty cool
01:17:54.020now here's the trouble because there's not a lot of demand for our tartan and for them to do the
01:17:59.620tartan right they have to make special cloth it's very expensive to get anything made in our tartan
01:18:05.380but our tartan is officially registered you can get whatever items you're willing to pay for
01:18:10.420in our tartan so i just sent it to nick and he will have that up very soon for you guys so you
01:18:19.380can see a picture of the beautiful afa tartan um nick please throw that up as soon as you get it
01:18:26.660I think people will know the... Whoa, look at you, Nick. So Nick Rice, this guy deserves a round of
01:18:33.780applause. Trust me, they're applauding at home, Nick. You do a fantastic job producing this
01:18:42.240program. You make it look like a million bucks. Thank you so much. We appreciate you.
01:18:50.500And got another monetized question. 10 more Canadian dollars for Lawrence. There you go.
01:18:56.060look, behold, the beautiful AFA tartan. You can get that done. I would love to see you guys get
01:19:02.720that done. I'd love for that price point to get something that the rest of us can get that done,
01:19:06.920but it is beautiful. And I really appreciate the effort that went into getting that made
01:19:12.980for us. And it is official and it is registered. So Lawrence with his 10 Canadian dollars. Thank
01:19:20.080you so much, Lawrence Forbes, for your contributions. We really appreciate them.
01:19:23.860thanks to the answer to my last question i have strong political leanings but i'm trying to chill
01:19:29.120on that a bit despite my serious side i have a light-hearted and fun side i know that loki is
01:19:35.500not recognized by the uh by the afa but is there a god slash goddess who exhibits similar fun-loving
01:19:43.460traits. All right. So there's a spectrum of Loki things that go from lovable prankster to the
01:19:59.280murder of Odin's son. So I don't want to say that any of our gods have any sort of similarity to
01:20:07.280that. But question was asked in a lighthearted way. So I'm going to try to give a lighthearted
01:20:13.100to answer. There is humor amongst our gods. You see that a lot with Thor. You see a very serious
01:20:22.520side when lightning flashes in his eyes and it terrifies mortals. But you also see him laugh and
01:20:29.160feast and celebrate. And I don't think you see the same prankster element, but you certainly see
01:20:34.960joy and a jolliness. I think that if you look for joy in our gods, Frey and his father Nyorder
01:20:42.420I think they exhibit that happiness, and you feel that.
01:20:49.480One of the things that was really striking, I felt, at Njordshof was standing before Njordshof there and just that feeling of joy and abundance and happiness and life is good.
01:21:05.240And I think the idea that life is good and life is abundant is shared by many of our gods and goddesses.
01:21:12.420And I think that that playful, that happy, that fun spirit, I would say Frey and Thor and Jorther were probably the ones I would I would suggest most for that.
01:21:25.500What are your thoughts on that, Trent?
01:21:26.660I don't have a specific god or goddess in mind for that, but the scene, so to speak, right before Balder is killed, you'll notice it says many of the gods and goddesses are throwing things at him to just watch them bounce off, and they're making a game of it, and they're having fun.
01:21:45.360so that's that's just what comes to mind for me is that the ice here as a as a collective they do
01:21:52.560have fun they enjoy life and they make little games of throwing things at balder because they
01:21:59.320know it won't hurt him so human uh human manipulation nation has a question hey thank
01:22:10.720you so much for being here. You've been on all of these. You've been a very eager participant
01:22:17.040in these. Thank you for that. So he asks, when we step into the world, do you have any
01:22:23.100recommendations on how to approach social or political issues that we face? Trent, go
01:22:33.900That kind of goes back to what we said earlier about courage. You just need to kind of have
01:22:38.280courage. There's a, I would say the biggest reason that so many of our societies like social
01:22:44.500and political issues have come about is because people have been afraid to speak up. That's a
01:22:49.620thing with our people, especially where we've always been so altruistic, I think. And lately
01:22:55.200it's gotten to the point of, you know, we don't want to hurt feelings or whatever, but you can
01:23:02.020be assertive on your social and political views without you know being a douchebag it
01:23:09.600you know you can just calmly say no to whatever it is or calmly say i'm not changing my stance
01:23:18.320on whatever it is and at the end of the day i mean yeah some people are going to get upset and
01:23:23.560go cry on twitter or whatever it is people like that do but for the most part i think you'll find
01:23:30.060people will respect you for it even if they're like okay well i want nothing to do with you
01:23:34.220they'll they'll just move on that's the biggest thing with a lot of this stuff is just having some
01:23:40.140courage to be and you know what to quote the odin's hawk motto uh just do right and fear no one
01:23:50.300so uh all of that but i think the other thing is
01:23:54.940is, and Trent said this, but just to elaborate on it a little bit.
01:24:05.060Don't be naive. Be courageous and stand up and say what you mean and mean what you say.
01:24:13.540But there's a big difference in that. There's this phenomenon amongst our people is when they go on
01:24:20.420internet and they create a fake name and use a fake picture they say the most outlandish ridiculous
01:24:26.900things in the most in your face possible way because it feels so good to finally be able to
01:24:34.260say the things that you've been afraid to say and so they spew it out in the most repulsive
01:24:39.940way they can think of because it's been repressed for so long what i would say is speak nobly
01:24:47.460Realize that what you say and how you say it is going to be seen by everyone, not just your friends, but your enemies, your employers, your family.
01:24:57.080So own it. Believe what you believe, but say it in a way that's honest and that reflects your real feelings.
01:25:05.600Most of us aren't bad people. We're good people who have good values and good things to say.
01:25:11.300Keep that in mind when you're speaking. It's really easy to become embittered and frustrated
01:25:17.860by all of the things we don't like, and rightly so. There's so many things in this world that
01:25:23.020are so far askew from how they should be. It's easy to get mad. Don't speak out of anger. Speak
01:25:30.600out of love. Speak about the things you love, the things you value, the things you want for you and
01:25:36.820for your family i think that we do much better speaking politically or about anything to people
01:25:44.260when we talk about what we love rather than all the things that we don't like or all the ways
01:25:48.660things are messed up think about what we do want to see and the world we do want for our children
01:25:54.820talking positively about what we're trying to build and who we want to become those those
01:26:01.300are beautiful things and i think we need to speak those courageously and thoughtfully
01:26:06.820Uh-huh, Zoe, Gauthier Trent, is there any specific moment in your time in the AFA where you felt, this is where I belong?
01:26:23.540This is going to be one of those answers that's going to make you kind of roll your eyes a little bit, but every moment I feel like that.
01:26:29.600But I guess the first moment I felt like that, though, was me and my kindred pulling up to Ostar in the South 2016 and seeing, at the time, Altair Yargothi McNallan sitting on the porch of this 4-H camp in a rocking chair.
01:26:50.720And, of course, I'm kind of, like, freaking out because this guy is, like, he's Steve McNallan.
01:26:56.200And I was going to just kind of walk past him and not try and, like, bother him by being like, oh, my God, you're Steve McNallan.
01:27:03.220But he stopped me and introduced himself to me, and we talked about the Army a little bit because that was, like, a month before I left for infantry school.
01:49:10.000I think that in 25 years, we'll certainly have, you know, five or more digits worth of membership.
01:49:18.960I think in 25 years we'll have active AFA communities and hopefully Hoffs in all 50
01:49:29.160states. 50 new, you know, 26 new Hoffs in 25 years. That's a big ask. We'll see. We'll see
01:49:38.100how close we get. I think we will have thriving AFA communities in different parts of the United
01:49:44.040states than we see today certainly i think as trent said our leadership will evolve exponentially
01:49:51.160one of the cool things about our leadership and our gothar in specific is we uh we get to share
01:49:58.360each other's experience every new gothi gets to come in with the wealth of experience of all of
01:50:06.520the gothar who've come before them who've seen who've experienced who've done uh you know i'd
01:50:13.480like to think that we do a good job as gothar and we certainly do our very best but we learn from
01:50:20.520our successes and even more we learn from our failures the more we have leadership come in
01:50:28.200they get to learn from all of that and bring that knowledge into the future with them
01:50:34.36025 years is going to be in it's going to be amazing and i'm excited to see what the next 25 years will
01:50:40.200bring um don asks actually first before we get to that we're almost two hours in we've got two more
01:50:52.520questions left if you guys got questions please go ahead and throw them up like i said we'll gladly
01:50:58.680answer any of you guys questions uh if you don't that's fine too and we'll call it a night but
01:51:05.160we've got two more questions so if you got more please go ahead and get those out there for us
01:51:10.200Oh, good call. So if you want to join us on entropy, I forgot to mention this at the top of the seven o'clock hour, you're able to give us tips and super chats. We really appreciate those. So go ahead and throw those up if you'd like to. But we appreciate you guys.
01:51:27.620Anyways, Don asks, Trent, what are some daily rituals you do or recommend to begin your day?
01:51:44.020There's a lot of little things you can do.
01:51:47.820Honestly, when I first wake up, I just start running through my head of whatever AFA stuff I might have to get done that day,
01:51:55.900like people I have to get back to or whatever.
01:51:57.620or i'll just think about one of the gods or something but that's that's just me you know
01:52:04.500my brain's kind of all aaa pretty much um but something i used to do i need to get back into
01:52:14.640doing because it was really cool is uh doing a rune pull every day and i would just pull one
01:52:19.860rune out of my folk futhark set and uh i would just kind of think of how that could relate to
01:52:27.780my day and uh you know you'll find a way to relate it and learn a lesson from it i think
01:52:34.460uh other things you can do if you wake up and you have time when the sun rises you can greet the day
01:52:41.840that's a fun thing that a lot of people do um another thing you can do is just when you get
01:52:48.720time go outside take a little walk through nature or just outside in general and just sort of
01:52:54.960think about the work that went into making all that happen when odin billy and bay kind of crafted
01:53:01.360midgard so yeah there's not like uh like a process of steps i can give you i guess there's lots of
01:53:12.480little meditative things like that that sort of help enrich your worldview and your day a little bit
01:53:23.360you know something really simple that i do and it i'm more of a nighttime guy than a morning guy
01:53:30.640i think any of my ritual work i do come before my altar is is done in the evening but in the morning
01:53:37.840so i wake up with my daughter because i've got a two and a half year old and when she decides
01:53:45.680it's time to wake up it's time to wake up let's take her down the stairs and on doing that we go
01:53:52.000by my picture wall with all of our ancestors and we we say good morning to the ancestors
01:53:58.240and it may be simple but it's really neat when we go downstairs and descend into to our day in the
01:54:06.080world we greet our ancestors and say hail the ancestors and you know i hold up my little daughter
01:54:13.120and say good morning ancestors and she very often will point at one that's i don't know the picture
01:54:19.920stands out to her or something you know i'll tell her who it is and maybe a little bit something
01:54:25.440about them and i'll reassure that our ancestors love her and they set her down and go about our
01:54:30.400day. It's such a simple little thing, but it's something that we do every day and kind of a nice
01:54:36.660way to check in, I think. Notice over in the side, people talking about classic country. Appreciate
01:54:44.520that. Somebody mentioned Marty Robbins. If you haven't heard it, if you don't have it, if you
01:54:48.860don't listen to it, Trail Songs and Gunfighter Ballads by Marty Robbins is amazing. Although now
01:54:55.460i'm a little bit more racially aware i don't like el paso as much as i once did
01:55:03.060um that being said go see trend you mentioned earlier being in georgia
01:55:09.940do you find it hard to follow such a traditional european religion in the bible belt
01:55:17.300uh that's another one of those things that goes back to courage
01:55:21.860my personal experience with this a lot of times the worst absolute worst reaction i'll get when
01:55:27.800i tell someone i'm also true is they'll be like well that's weird i'll pray for you you know you're
01:55:33.240going to hell but you're a good guy so whatever that's like the worst reaction i get so uh no
01:55:41.280not really but you have to also keep in mind that while yes we are in the bible belt here in georgia
01:55:46.800We're also living in a time where pretty much any religion and especially religion for our people is kind of looked down on as like superstition or old or obsolete, I guess.
01:56:02.740And so, you know, Christians don't really care too much.
01:56:08.980A lot of them are kind of just glad I have some sort of faith.
01:56:11.500You know, I've said this before, but the paradigm we face today is atheism and progressivism
01:56:23.940versus traditionalism and Christians or religious people in general that have a traditional
01:56:35.660outlook and traditional Western values are much more natural allies to us than quote-unquote
01:56:44.580pagans who have completely degenerate and misguided senses of morality. And I find that
01:56:53.420that's a reaction we get from traditional folks of all different religions more often than not.
01:56:59.160Now, some of them may have doctrines that say that we're destined for damnation,
01:57:03.220but they kind of brush that off and are just happy that we're we're good normal folks that
01:57:10.300have values that them and their families can recognize as opposed to the other end of the
01:57:15.960spectrum that's very scary to all of us with traditional values and with children
01:57:20.960so while i'm thinking of it on the album i just mentioned uh trail songs and gunfighter ballads
01:57:29.580by Marty Robbins. Hanging Tree is a really good song. It's a song I don't think enough people are
01:57:34.260familiar with, but I really enjoy it. I used to listen to that album, as a matter of fact,
01:57:38.940with my grandfather. I can remember we'd go for, you know, we'd just go for drives in his old,
01:57:45.100he had a Eddie Bauer Bronco 2. And that was my first car. I actually inherited that after he
01:57:53.740passed and we would drive around town and we'd sometimes get some some fried shrimp from skippers
01:58:00.460sometimes we'd get a get a whopper from from burger king and uh we we'd listen to some marty
01:58:08.700robbins and remember some good times with my grandpa uh thanks for that just kind of random
01:58:14.860aside but i'll put it out there um shovelhead i'm a new subscriber and i have a question
01:58:21.020Are y'all's mission the preservation of the white race or just paganism like Old Norse worship?
01:58:28.820So for our mission, I'd really encourage you to look at runestone.org.
02:06:38.660how hard was your transition to never go back out to true from the
02:06:43.240Christian life with concerned others or your former
02:06:47.880indoctrination telling you you're going the wrong way?
02:06:51.780He didn't put a name on it. So we'll start with you first, Trent.
02:06:57.180Well, I was raised kind of this weird combination of Southern Baptist.
02:07:02.460and Mormon, sort of back and forth. And then, like I kind of mentioned at the start of the video,
02:07:08.900I was super, like, liberal, atheist, always skeptic of everything type. And for me, going
02:07:17.980into Asatru from, you know, nothing is sacred, whatever cringy mindset I had at age 18, I guess,
02:07:26.760going from that into Asitru was pretty easy for me in a way just because I like to believe that
02:07:38.880I was meant to be Asitru. And so when I heard about it and I was hearing all these experiences
02:07:45.120of it from my friend, it just pulled me in and I haven't looked back. But I remember I was still
02:07:54.100in high school when I went from being an atheist to Osatru, you know, it was a couple months from
02:07:58.380graduation and all my friends, uh, were kind of like taken aback by my, my change in, uh, outlook,
02:08:07.320I guess, not necessarily in a negative way, but just there was a noticeable change, I suppose.
02:08:13.940And yeah, nothing really, no negative consequences of what I suppose just kind of happened. And I
02:08:21.300was young enough where I guess a change like that is like, you know, well, whatever, he's a teenager,
02:08:25.300he's going to change his mind about things. So everybody just went along with it. And here I am.
02:08:31.740So my, my experience is a little bit different. I was, I was raised as generically Protestant as
02:08:42.260you could possibly be. When I was real little, we went to church. But as you know, any of my
02:08:49.880conscious memory really after that we didn't we're in a church going family when you ask my
02:08:55.360parents what religion we are they kind of shrug their shoulders and we're protestant and that's
02:09:00.500the best i got um but i was a real spiritual person as a kid i remember in junior high
02:09:07.940um having a real need that way and my parents didn't have much to offer to me spiritually
02:09:15.160So I started reading my Bible and I read through it several times.
02:09:19.580And at that time, I didn't really know what options there were for me.
02:09:23.100I was, you know, I'm not Jewish, so I wouldn't pursue Judaism.
02:09:29.520I'm not Middle Eastern, so I wouldn't be Islamic.
02:09:33.440You know, I'm not Asian, so I wouldn't be a Buddhist or a Hindu or Shinto or something.
02:09:39.840So I thought all we had as white people was Christianity.
02:09:43.260And I tried that. I tried that really hard for a while. My aunt and her family were Jehovah's Witnesses. So I ended up being part of that and becoming a Jehovah's Witness for a time.
02:09:59.180Um, I will always really respect the Jehovah's Witnesses that they try as best as they can to be biblically accurate. They remove all of the paganism that they notice from the scriptures, and they keep it, you know, Middle Eastern, Jesus era Christianity as best they can.
02:10:20.000And I'm very thankful to that because that faith is very incompatible with our folk soul, especially if you take away all of the European elements that are part of most of Christianity.
02:10:34.460If you take all of those out and you keep it to biblical Christianity, it makes the choice much more clear, I think.
02:10:43.780So I tried that the best I could, but I was a young man and, you know, in the 19 or 20 year old part of my life, I tried so hard and I read my Bible over and over again.
02:11:00.600But one of the other things that contributed was a mainstream Christian thing.
02:11:06.000This wasn't a Jehovah's Witness thing, but the what would Jesus do slogan was a big deal back then.
02:11:11.300And I started thinking about what the right thing would be to do and what would Jesus do.
02:11:18.240And I found that very often those didn't intersect and those weren't the same.
02:11:23.660And I started, you know, I'd go to the kingdom hall and I'd listen to the elders up there and they'd say, you know, they'd say these things that I thought were ridiculous.
02:11:35.960And my friends in the congregation would, amen.
02:11:41.300And I knew damn well that they didn't believe those things.
02:11:45.420You know, they'd talk about movies or video games or this activity or hunting or whatever.
02:11:50.380And we had plans that weekend to do that thing.
02:12:19.340This is before I knew how it was true as a thing, where I knew I didn't want to live my life that way.
02:12:28.940But I also didn't understand that there was another option.
02:12:33.280So when I broke with Christianity, I very much chose that the God of the universe was on one side and I was going to go and be on this different side.
02:12:44.920So weirdly, syncretically, the first house to event I ever celebrated was a day of remembrance for King Radbot.