A Woman's Place in Asatru (from VNS Episode 14)
Episode Stats
Harmful content
Misogyny
9
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Hate speech
1
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Summary
In this episode, we discuss the role of women in the Aztec religion, the importance of a horn bearer, and how to connect with the gods and goddesses of Aztec society. We also talk about the history of the horn bearer and the role that women have played in the creation of the religion.
Transcript
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this next question i'm going to combine these two because they're kind of the same question
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and i'm going to give this one to anna tony king of cheese asks a question for you githias how
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would you suggest getting closer to the gods ritual or is there something more and nick asks
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how can a feller work on getting closer to the aces specifically or a lady the ace i'm assuming
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the gods and the goddesses uh get the applaud could you answer that for us um ritual is great
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it's not the only way it's not what i would recommend actually for the first thing the first
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thing that you need to do is acknowledge that your gods and goddesses are real you need to speak with
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them as they're real because they are um it's not just an idea they're not just some archetype
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they are actual beings um if you want if you want to start making that connection
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start talking to them as if they're real because they are
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and you know once you start doing that you know start reading about them some of the information
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is a little bit hard to find but do your best do your research do your homework
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start finding ways to connect you know it can it can be in ritual but it can also be
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just going through the woods and thanking them for that it can be
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an activity that you enjoy and keeping them in mind
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thank you ma'am this next one i'm going to give to gethia mcdallan because i think that she will
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be able to answer this very well growing up in christianity women were seen in a much different
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way. What is something you want our menfolk to know about women in Aztru?
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That's interesting. Because certainly growing up in the Catholic Church, there was no role at all
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for women except to be a nun. And gee, what kind of a life was that, right? And I know it changed.
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I lived through whatever, Vatican II, and saw the big changes of the priest turning around,
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facing everybody everything was in english and then they started bringing all the lay people
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but um i think what's really special and also true is the way that all of the women
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are involved in whatever level they want to participate um they're encouraged to continue
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learning on their own about the gods to choose their own gods i mean when we do stumble and talk
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about a simple ritual everybody takes part you all honor everyone honors a god or goddess and
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everybody honors an ancestor and then you thought that the third one we're all learning together
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it's it's uh it's definitely community when we do that and um there is the women have every potential
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for for learning as much as the men do um i really recommend that again when we talk about the gods
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and goddesses that spawn harrel and matt and having their victory never sleeps go into some
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really interesting things about all the layers of the gods we tend to look at them superficially
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but um there's there's so much to be learned about our gods and goddesses
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But our women are, I think we all live, we basically live as a true, we are as a true,
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We are as a true, we live our lives totally by as a true, by our standards and knowing
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that we are connected to our God, that we're descended from them and through our descendants
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through our physical, lineal ancestors, we have every right to be here and feel powerful
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we should all feel, all women should feel empowered being an alfabetist because there are no barriers
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set up for us. So I think the men need to know that they've got great potential in the women
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All right. Can I add something to that? Yes, ma'am. Go ahead. Something I would like the men to know
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is that we as women we are here to build with you we're not we're not trying to compete we
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we want to build this together with you it's like you are our half our other half and we are yours
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so we want to be here we want to be here with you
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Perfectly said. Daniel Young asks, can you explain the role of a horn bearer?
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So this is something I feel very strongly about too. When I was theodish, and it comes back to
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that a lot because that was my starting point and that what that built a very a very specific
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foundation for me in a lot of the way i i have formed my world view um and the world view being
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the way i view the world through our faith um and just about the only important role
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that thatism had for women was that of the horn bearer um i'm fortunately i'm not going to be
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able to give you an example from the Lord for a few minutes and I can't remember which one it was
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but there's one story in particular it might have been Beowulf but don't don't quote me on that um
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where the lady of the hall is the horn bearer and and it shows you in the story it shows you how she
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works the room as a frith weaver she carries the horn and uh when a new person enters her hall
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it's her job to greet that person and to offer them the hall the horn to offer
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them the hospitality of their hall and that creates a frithful bond right then
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and there I am giving you the gift of my mead and the gift of my hospitality and
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when you drink that mead you are accepting it you are agreeing that you
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are going to participate in the frith of that hall and then you see like there
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are two gentlemen in the hall at this feast day who are not on good terms with each other and
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she is able to walk up to the two men and pacify it simply by being there because men are supposed
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to behave better around women when there's a lady of the hall in front of you especially if she's
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carrying a horn you behave better because it's it's a holy thing that horn the horn is that
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our horn is our receptacle um for all of the things all of our gifts to the gods and it is
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often the receptacle in which those gifts are returned so the woman who carries the horn is
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extremely important because she is carrying the holy mead she's carrying that holy horn um and
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she is by her very nature um and that is that of a frithweaver because we are all inherently as
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women frith weavers um some of us are better at it than others um and by that i don't mean that
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in a negative way i mean there are women out there who are like the antithesis of frith
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who so discord wherever they go those are not our women thankfully our women uh have chosen
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to be above that kind of behavior but um a woman is a frith weaver by nature and when she's holding
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that horn, she uses her frith. She's connected to that horn. And one of the things that's really
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important about a woman who carries a horn, particularly during sumble, and this is where
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it gets really important for me, when a woman is carrying that horn, she is using her frith at all
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time. When somebody is extremely upset while raising the horn to a family member who is
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deceased if they get really upset because they're feeling some kind of way about it she can reach
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out and put a hand on that shoulder and sometimes that hand on that shoulder or just that light
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little little touch is enough to let that person know I'm here for you uh I can help you um you're
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not alone and sometimes that's all it's a you like I've done that before in some life with somebody
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who got so upset they were just really sad their father had just passed away and it was just you
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could tell he could barely talk he was so upset and I reached out and I put my hand on his arm
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just just a casual little like it's okay I'm here you're not alone and we became really good friends
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just from that little interaction because he I'd like to think he could feel it but he certainly
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knew that it was like a genuine moment i guess um and but that's a form of magic or energy
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manipulation or frith um there's also the concept of masculine energy versus feminine energy
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masculine energy is a lot more um has a lot more friction to it men men are men are the
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the doers they are the not that women don't do i'm i i always mess this part up when i'm explaining
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it because i think it's the right word for it but men have a very different energy i i often say it's
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a chaotic energy but i don't like calling that that because when we think of chaotic energies
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and ostrichery we think of things that are a lot more negative than masculine energy
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Men have a very penetrating energy, or women have a very receiving energy.
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Men are very penetrating and very powerful and very forward motion and very strong and forward movement.
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It's true, but it's also, it can be a little bit, their energy can be very over, not overbearing,
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overbearing is not quite the right word but it can it can sort of take over a thing it's strong
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and the woman who's carrying the horn her job is to make sure that when a man hands the horn back
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because we always during our high symbols the woman carries the horn and the woman is always
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touches that horn before the next person gets it and the reason why that happens is because
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by holding that horn her frithful energy it doesn't erase what that man put into the horn
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because that's not the point we're putting our energy into that horn because we want it there
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but what it does is it sort of neutralizes it it takes that that like super uh frictive energy
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and turns it into um not passive but you know it it it it just helps settle it down so that
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the next person kind of like you're calming the nutrients and protons of that masculine energy
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right yes uh but no she takes the horn that energy becomes it transforms into something else
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it goes into the horn and when you give that horn to the next person it is now ready to receive that
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person's energy and that person's wishes and that person's words so it kind of it doesn't
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empty it it doesn't erase it it just alters it so that it's it's ready for the next person and
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that's extremely important and it's a it can be a lot of hard work any woman on this call who has
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ever carried the horn around a very uh energy filled stumble knows that it can be very draining
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sometimes because you use a lot more energy carrying that horn around than you think you do
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um it's one of the reasons why um we like to have our giddies do it whenever there we have them
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because we literally have been trained to deal with that kind of thing um something i like to
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do that i'm sort of low-key and also not low-key because i keep talking about it on all of these
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calls i like to push is the idea that on the third round of stumble we don't choose a giddia
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to carry the horn we use that to honor a woman who has um been really awesome in some way so
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because the third round is the round where we toast the living we can we can we can toast
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ourselves we can toast our folk but it's kind of a lighter more energetic and um round it's um
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i like to choose a woman who's done something really awesome because um even though i just
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it's a lot of hard work to carry the horn it's also an incredible honor to be allowed to carry
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that horn because uh you are literally becoming a a tool in the ritual of symbol and symbol it
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absolutely is a ritual by itself it is an important ritual one of our most important rituals
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so being allowed to be a tool or a a very important role in symbol is an honor um just
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recently at the New York's Hoff dedication Miss Pam got to carry the horn around third round and
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that's because every single person who in her kindred who helped make the New York's Hoff
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dedication possible turned and pointed to her and said her she gets it she earned it
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unanimously across the board and she tried to deny it but I didn't let her she was you know
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She tried to say she wasn't awesome, but we all know she is.
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I've asked Heather Young to carry the horn before because she's worked her butt off to make Thorshoff successful.
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Yeah, so the hornbearer is a very important role, and it's one of the most honored roles that a woman can have.
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by no means the least role or the only role, though, like some other shoots of our faith
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would make you think. Sorry, that was a really long answer, but I told you I was passionate
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about it. That's all right. You were thorough. You did a good job.
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i would like to see of our folk a request of our folk number one um be courageous and be strong
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be brave for your gods be brave for your ancestors and be brave for your folk and
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your church that would be my first request my second request would be to be generous and strong
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being generous is being generous to your church is not just giving money to your church when you
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donate ten dollars to odin's off you're donating ten dollars to odin when you donate ten dollars
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to Thor's Hoff, you are donating $10 as a gift to Thor. The same with Balder, the same with Njord.
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A gift to the As-a-True Folk Assembly is indeed a gift to the gods themselves.
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We are not out here driving Porsches, buying $40 million homes. We're buying Hoffs for our gods.
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We are gifting our gods, and obviously our gods are gifting us in return, this many times so far.
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go to the websites and also go to runestone.org and go into, I believe it is in the donation
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section and you can donate to any of our Hoffs. You can donate to the Folk Services Fund.
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You can donate to the South African Fund. I bet we've got a link for that on here as well.
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there we go you can also donate to sigurheim sigurheim is a dream that will become a reality
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you can also donate to the as a true academy that is something that will always be amazing
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and build to the future of your children so when you ask what i would what i would ask
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and request of my folk be courageous be strong and be generous
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Ashley asks what makes a great Githia we'll do a round table on that one how about Anna first
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Anna what makes a great Githia genuine love for your folk genuine faith in your gods
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and then the combination having the faith in your folk that you can bring them to know the gods like
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you do. And patience. And sometimes being willing to be really annoying with people.
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Wow, that was wonderful. That was succinct and beautiful. But also know your people. Know who
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they are. Know what their needs are. Know what their pleasures are, their joys. Who's their
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family what are their challenges and uh you know be there for them no matter what
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katie i pretty much have to reiterate what anna and sheila have already said
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our folk are there's no point in being a giddia if you have no one to help there's no point in
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being a giddia if you're sitting all by yourself in the woods it's great you're you're honoring
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the gods and stuff but what's the point if you're not helping the your folk you need let's love
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them know them and we should always be striving to do to help them and to help ourselves be better
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so it's all about the folk you'll have i would say time and dedication if you do not have the
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time you need to learn how to bend physics to make it. Being a Gidea is the most important thing
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that you will do. If you ask me what I do, I won't tell you how I pay my bills. I will tell you that
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I'm a Gidea of the Azitru Folk Assembly. I am a priestess of Balder and I serve my folk in my
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church. That is what I do. Ask me how I pay my bills is an entirely different story. What comes
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first is that I'm going to give you the Azitra folk assembly. So if you can't find the time,
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you need to bend physics and make the time and have the dedication not only to the folk,
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but also to the gods. We are the priests and priestesses of the Aesir, and we can never
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forget that. That is our primary services to the gods and then to our church and to our folk.