Asatru Folk Assembly - April 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

00:00:00.000 Hey, guys.

00:00:30.000 Good to see y'all tonight.

00:00:36.660 Giving everybody a second to get on and get situated.

00:00:46.840 If you guys will excuse me a little bit, I'm getting over a cold that's been kind of going

00:00:51.960 through my house, so bear with me if there's a little bit of coughing, maybe even the occasional

00:00:58.260 nose blowing or some such. How are you guys doing tonight? I hope everybody's

00:01:09.180 doing okay. Surprises me that we're all the way into into April of 2019. The

00:01:21.540 years gone by so fast so far. Well, before we get too far into what we're doing tonight,

00:01:32.200 I wanted to just once again reiterate how amazing O-Star in the South was this year.

00:01:41.300 I noticed a couple of you on the call were there with me, or on the live chat were there with me,

00:01:46.420 and it was fantastic.

00:01:50.280 What a great event, what a great weekend.

00:01:53.680 Thank you so much to Paul and Kelly Hester

00:01:56.300 for all their hospitality and all the work they put in

00:01:59.040 to make that so successful.

00:02:02.320 If you guys, anybody, this goes for anybody on this call,

00:02:05.200 if you guys haven't interacted with Paul or his wife Kelly,

00:02:10.660 they are fantastic people, absolutely amazing.

00:02:14.400 They're the most warm, hospitable, just amazing folks to be around you've ever met.

00:02:20.800 They did an amazing job hosting Ostara in the South.

00:02:24.080 I was blown away at all the women, all the children.

00:02:27.440 It was such a nice, family-friendly event, and really what a lot of folks needed.

00:02:33.340 It was a really good recharge and a wonderful way to start off the spring.

00:02:37.600 So to everybody who made Ostara in the South, such a success.

00:02:41.220 Thank you to Paul and Kelly.

00:02:42.620 Thank you so much for hosting, guys, and I'm really looking forward to it again next year.

00:02:48.080 It goes without saying, any of you guys that weren't able to make it, please, it is worth your time to come out next year.

00:02:54.540 It's a lovely site.

00:02:55.900 The people are amazing, and I would love to get to see you guys there next year.

00:03:03.420 Getting started off tonight, does anybody have anything they want to make sure we talk about?

00:03:09.220 early birds get the worm and you guys are you guys are the first here so if anybody does have

00:03:17.540 questions they want please go ahead and shoot them out and I'd be happy to happy to answer

00:03:22.580 them or talk about anything you want to make sure I talk about.

00:03:39.220 well um until we do have something that you guys would like me to answer uh next thing i want to

00:03:46.900 plug that's coming up for the astro folk assembly not sure how many of you guys are are that mobile

00:03:53.180 or if we have any of our european members here yet i don't think that we do tonight so far

00:03:57.740 but we are having ultimatula afa ultimatula in sweden and anders is putting that on for us and

00:04:08.100 it's going to be an amazing, amazing weekend on May the 24th through the 26th. So if anybody

00:04:14.360 has the ability or, you know, wants to make a plan to go over to Sweden next month and make that

00:04:20.440 happen, please reach out. Andrews will help you get set up with what you need. But I'm looking,

00:04:26.720 I'm looking really forward to it. It's going to be a great time and I would so much love to meet

00:04:30.740 our Scandinavian membership. A lot of great people over there, a lot of good energy. Andrews

00:04:36.180 worked really hard to build something really good for us over there so i'm looking forward

00:04:40.420 to going and celebrating and meeting folks so that's coming on um again maybe 24th through

00:04:47.220 the 26th that's going to be in sweden so hopefully we can see some folks there i know it's kind of a

00:04:52.820 long shot for a lot of folks but it's one of those things that i guarantee if you go to you're not

00:04:57.380 gonna regret and well Rob think about it you got a month got a month maybe you

00:05:06.740 can make something happen about a month and a half we'd love to see over there

00:05:09.680 if you can't don't worry because I'm sure that we'll have another event over

00:05:13.880 there in some time I know a few and far between when we're doing their national

00:05:17.840 ones like that but I guarantee you won't be the last over and over in

00:05:22.220 scandinavia we've got a really healthy membership over there um and everybody else and everybody

00:05:29.980 who's at ultimate tula i invite you guys to come out to odenshoff for midsummer um

00:05:38.860 looking for the dates for us here on midsummer but um yeah june 21st through the 23rd and that's

00:05:47.980 going to be at Odenshof in Brownsville, California. It's always a huge event. It's, you know,

00:05:55.580 can't say enough about how special it is to be at a temple for our gods, something that we own,

00:06:02.860 something we've put a lot of love into and really made sacred over the past few years.

00:06:09.100 I'd love to see you guys out there for it. If you can come out to midsummer,

00:06:12.300 You know, I encourage anybody if the traveling is difficult, carpool with somebody, long

00:06:18.660 as there are folk and good solid people, get them vouched for, get them in the car and

00:06:24.360 come on out.

00:06:25.360 We'd love to have you guys at Midsommar.

00:06:36.360 All right, one of our folk builders, Jason Clard, is asking how I would encourage and instruct folks on inviting the divine slash the gods in and engaging with them with piety.

00:06:48.340 i think it's really important that we be cognizant of the divine and all the things we do

00:06:56.260 i think very simple things like um morning devotional practice a lot of the time people

00:07:03.860 like to pull runes in the morning and be inspired by them i would encourage some sort of a prayer

00:07:09.720 or an interaction with the divine while you're doing that i think that's a really good way to

00:07:13.800 start that off. Some folks really like to do their altar work and their spiritual practice

00:07:20.500 at night. I know depending on what I'm doing at night, I'm just seems like I'm in a more focused

00:07:27.640 mood for spiritual things. So that's when I end up doing a lot of reading and a lot of the work in

00:07:31.620 front of my altar. But I think that that hearth cult and building up your ancestral altar and

00:07:37.740 interacting with with the divine in your own home is really important and if you

00:07:44.100 can find ways to engage your your spouse in that and you know any children you

00:07:49.740 have or anyone else living in your home to really make that altar practice an

00:07:54.000 important part of your day when I when I've been able to implement that it's

00:07:59.360 been it's been a really important thing for me and it's something I've tried to

00:08:02.820 get better at over the years so that's something the first step I'd like to

00:08:06.240 encourage. Also in the stuff that we do, trying to think of the best way to put it, but I think

00:08:14.040 to interact with the divine, not just going through the motion, but making it very real to

00:08:21.040 yourself when you're doing an offering or you're doing something, something spiritual, really talk

00:08:27.820 to the gods and give them a chance to listen to you if they're so inclined. Interact with them

00:08:34.060 in a very real and visceral way

00:08:37.180 and be very assured

00:08:39.100 that the beings on the other end of that offering

00:08:42.520 are hearing what you're doing,

00:08:44.400 are observing what you're doing.

00:08:45.940 So be mindful.

00:08:48.260 Speak appropriately when you're addressing the gods.

00:08:52.220 Present your best self.

00:08:54.060 Be aware of what you do.

00:08:55.200 Show up clean before the altar,

00:08:58.360 before your holy space.

00:09:00.440 Take the little extra time to prepare

00:09:03.020 because you are interacting with beings much higher than yourself you're

00:09:08.180 interacting with something great if it's a step that you would take to interact

00:09:12.680 with your great-grandparents then certainly you should do it when you're

00:09:15.920 interacting with the gods being cognizant of that and cognizant of how

00:09:22.100 we present ourselves I think is a really good way to invite the gods in I also

00:09:26.120 think that small offerings you know no don't always try to overdo it everything

00:09:31.580 and every gesture you make doesn't need to be grand and spectacular, but it does need to be

00:09:35.980 heartfelt and consistent. And I think that those things are kind of keys to bringing the divine in

00:09:41.660 and interacting with them on a more daily basis.

00:09:50.380 Uh-oh, Lane, go find yourself a computer because we don't want to lose you if you're not having

00:09:53.740 the bandwidth for it on your phone recommendations on creating an altar at home some people have

00:10:04.520 multiple altars some people even have altars for different deities as well as their ancestral altar

00:10:09.980 one thing that I would encourage especially new people that don't have a lot of stuff just set

00:10:16.180 aside some surface area that's just for that purpose. It can be the top of a

00:10:22.400 bookshelf. It can be a window ledge. It's nice if you have your own designated

00:10:28.340 altar table or altar space for that. And I would suggest getting pictures

00:10:34.840 of your ancestors or items that used to belong to your ancestors that are

00:10:40.060 special to you, you know, maybe a watch that was special to your grandfather or, you know,

00:10:46.460 maybe your, your grandparents' wedding rings, right? I'm not sure what relics you have for

00:10:50.460 your ancestors, but getting those little touchstones and placing them upon the altar to be

00:10:55.420 kind of a focal point, I think is important. And something I have always found very important on

00:11:00.060 an altar, no matter what you're doing is have some sort of flame, have a little candle,

00:11:05.420 something but fire is very important and it always has been to our ancestors

00:11:09.900 and i think that uh using that and focusing on that to set aside that portion in your home is

00:11:16.460 is the first step so you know even a a nice looking little piece of cloth

00:11:23.820 you know i don't know if you have a nice scarf or something and putting it over some sort of

00:11:28.620 special surface area that you have set aside and a simple candle and

00:11:34.780 you know maybe some pictures of your ancestors would be a really good way to start your altar

00:11:38.860 work and get you going that way so that's what i would suggest katrina

00:11:50.860 ah leticia photos are cool because they're very visual and they're such an instant connection

00:11:58.620 certainly our ancestors you know pre 1800s didn't have photos like I said if

00:12:05.400 you have any any objects that remind you of your grandparents or I say your

00:12:10.920 grandparents of any of your ancestors that you want to put on your altar or

00:12:13.920 objects that remind you of the gods little pieces of just pieces of art also

00:12:22.140 very simply you can just print off as far as representations of the gods if

00:12:27.940 there's a painting of the gods or a picture from online, you can print that off and put it in a

00:12:32.320 nice frame and make it something special there. There's also, you know, a lot of places that you

00:12:37.500 can go and get little idols that represent the gods to put on your altars. One thing that I've

00:12:45.080 used a lot on my altar is I actually got it on Venice Boardwalk. If I would have thought I would

00:12:51.340 brought it up here. I don't know, maybe Mandy will run it up, but it's a little metal stick

00:12:59.460 guy that's kind of got his arms around holding a spot for a little votive candle. And I always

00:13:06.380 use that just as a generic representation of the ancestors in general, of ancestors that I may not

00:13:12.120 know or may not have a representation of, and just have that flame. As long as you have something

00:13:17.020 there. It's really the intent that counts. You want something that you can direct your energy

00:13:22.920 and your worship towards that's going to connect you with what you're doing and make sure it's

00:13:27.860 purposeful and meaningful to you. And as long as it's respectful and dignified, that's really up

00:13:33.940 to you and your home and how that's going to work. Steve, as far as incense goes, I certainly use

00:13:40.200 incense um when i do altar work or whatever it's always nice to to offer a little something

00:13:47.720 to the divine to the divine to your ancestors to the gods um historically our ancestors very often

00:13:55.800 leave a portion of their meal on the altar i think that's a good thing to do i think it becomes

00:14:01.560 tricky depending if you have pets in your house that can become problematic you know having a

00:14:06.520 little cup or something that you pour any kind of libation that you're offering you know pour

00:14:11.240 a shot in pour a drink of your beer in something that way i think is a is a nice way to give a

00:14:16.200 little uh offering but i think incense is great i think it was important to many of our ancestors

00:14:23.640 in kind of a symbolic way the smoke itself rises up to the heavens rises up to the divine and i

00:14:31.320 and I think that's a special way to do an offering.

00:14:34.380 But something else the incense does

00:14:36.520 is the smells trigger you and subconsciously

00:14:39.540 put you in a more spiritual place

00:14:41.440 where you're doing something set aside,

00:14:43.220 you're doing something holy.

00:14:45.780 So I'm a big fan of using incense.

00:14:48.100 And it's cheap and you've got a lot of different options

00:14:51.880 on the smells and the aromas that you think that you enjoy

00:14:56.060 and that you think your ancestry would enjoy.

00:14:58.040 Or you think that the gods or a particular god

00:15:00.760 making offering to enjoy it so I think think incense gives you a lot of a lot

00:15:06.280 of options that way here we go there she is so this is the little thing I was 0.98

00:15:14.620 talking about it's just a little little stick dude with some kind of triangle

00:15:20.440 helmet thing and an axe but it's got a little place for a votive candle and

00:15:23.740 that's something I have on there on my altar place I picked that up on Venice

00:15:27.940 boardwalk a long time ago. Yeah, it was like 10 years ago or more now. But that's what I would

00:15:35.040 suggest if you don't have pictures. And even if you do, as a matter of fact, I mean, I've got a

00:15:42.980 lot of pictures, but I still use it. And then, yeah, I am a big fan of using incense on the altar.

00:15:47.100 good point Jason points out that you can really use tea lights or dirt cheap and you can set

00:16:00.820 them up on your altar and it adds a lot of atmosphere it's really special and they burn

00:16:05.380 out quick so if you're doing something at night you have people over or whatever you're doing if

00:16:09.540 you burn little tea lights they'll be done and over and you don't have to worry in case you

00:16:15.780 fall asleep and forget about them not sure the burn time on them but you know

00:16:20.100 you can get a couple hours and it's like I say it's a very nice thing and they're

00:16:25.020 they're easy to come by and they do add a lot

00:16:34.300 hey Heather

00:16:37.580 Uh-oh, Lane, I'm sorry to hear you're having phone trouble, but it's good to have you.

00:16:45.500 I'm glad you came on tonight.

00:16:48.640 Does anybody else have any questions or anything they'd like to ask or make sure that I talk

00:16:54.720 about today?

00:16:55.380 well one thing I did want to mention I don't know how many of you guys have VK yet

00:17:09.260 this last week there was a lot of people concerned that Facebook was gonna you know

00:17:17.340 amp up their their censoring and various other stuff that we don't like and that it may not be

00:17:22.560 you know best platform for us long term so if you'll notice a lot of us have created accounts

00:17:28.320 over with vk and are setting up a presence there we're going to keep using facebook as long as we

00:17:34.880 as long as we can and as long as it's the most efficient way for us to reach to reach folks and

00:17:41.200 to get our message out but we want to you know there's no sense not using all the avenues

00:17:45.520 available to us or at least you know those that we feel be advantageous so we are going to

00:17:51.040 going to try to do things there and be more active on VK. So if that's something you guys

00:17:56.800 want to do, please look, you know, please add me as a friend if you want, but also look

00:18:01.540 and look for the AstroFolk assembly because I did set up a page for us over on VK. And

00:18:09.180 so far it doesn't look like the Facebook purge has begun in any kind of meaningful way.

00:18:13.820 I still see folks, still looks like this is a good way for us to communicate, but we are

00:18:19.940 exploring other options just in case. I think having a plan is always a good idea.

00:18:31.060 Does anybody else have anything they wanted to talk about tonight or make sure I addressed

00:18:35.540 or you know anything going on that they wanted me to comment on or anything that way?

00:18:41.060 well while we wait for any questions that may come up I hope you guys are enjoying doing these

00:18:51.740 I'm having a lot of fun with them and I like having a way to talk to you guys so I kind of

00:18:59.180 look forward to these every month and as long as people still want to do them and still enjoy

00:19:02.660 am I planning on keeping going with it.

00:19:07.820 Terry as far as news on the second half, the struggle continues. Things are going

00:19:15.280 things are going really well. We're still searching. We're absolutely looking at

00:19:20.160 properties and trying to figure out the properties that best suit our needs

00:19:25.780 geographically building wise lot size um but yeah we're we're set and ready and trying to find the

00:19:34.180 just the perfect fit for us so we're actively doing that we've got our financing figured out

00:19:40.420 and we're doing great um you guys have been very generous and uh yeah so second half thing is

00:19:46.660 absolutely moving forward um that's where we're at on it but uh we should hopefully we'll have

00:19:54.180 more news for you as things go on but yeah we're fully engaged and finding a spot and getting all

00:20:01.220 set and i think you guys will be very happy with what we end up coming up with um

00:20:14.900 oh yeah uh jessica hansen northern blood is going to be starting another fundraiser so please keep

00:20:21.060 an eye out I think that's connected to the Hoff number teams getting set up but

00:20:28.440 yeah I don't know if you guys got any of these but Jessica and her kindred did a

00:20:35.100 whole program of selling these beautiful little AFA bookmarks and they're

00:20:41.460 awesome I really like mine and she it was very generous they set this up as a

00:20:46.080 a way to raise money to pay off Odin's off.

00:20:49.580 And it's that kind of stuff and that kind of generosity

00:20:53.460 by you guys that has allowed us to get that thing paid off

00:20:57.020 and be set and ready for a second one here this quickly.

00:21:00.420 You guys never cease to amaze me.

00:21:02.200 And Jessica, thank you so much

00:21:04.280 for starting these fundraisers and putting in all the work

00:21:07.900 to make beautiful stuff like this

00:21:12.160 to help us get where we're trying to go.

00:21:13.600 I appreciate it a lot.

00:21:16.080 Steve mentions that he saw an article today saying Australia plans on finding

00:21:28.440 social media that don't screen out hate speech it's unfortunate that free speech

00:21:37.260 is getting getting demonized and pushed aside like that I hope that doesn't

00:21:41.560 happen I hope that's not going on for folks in Australia that run social media

00:21:46.960 and yeah keep us keep us posted and it's really unfortunate that things go like

00:21:53.860 that in the world sometimes I really appreciate the freedom of speech that we

00:21:56.860 do have here in this country and I hope our brothers and sisters around the

00:22:01.300 world get to exercise as much of that as possible and I hope we're helpful to

00:22:06.100 find ways for them to stick around just in case they they do end up running a

00:22:10.960 foul of these crazy policies that keep changing all the time. Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that.

00:22:20.080 Oh good, thank you very much for reminding me on that. I was certainly planning to,

00:22:23.680 but there's no sense not doing it more. Folk Services.

00:22:33.760 I'm not sure how many of you guys know about it and hopefully you all do. If you guys need

00:22:38.640 to know more, your folk builder would be very happy to help you. But one thing that's really

00:22:42.080 special about the Astro Folk Assembly is our folk services program. And we started creating a fund

00:22:49.440 to where when our membership finds themselves, you know, when the bottom falls out on their lives,

00:22:59.040 it's been really nice to create something to try to help them, be it a natural disaster or something

00:23:05.520 unforeseen or death in the family tragedy can hit and it's really important that we as a church are

00:23:12.720 there for our members and there for our people when bad things happen in their life and so we

00:23:18.400 started raising years back we started raising money for folk services so we always have an

00:23:23.840 account ready with some funds so just in case we can jump right in and get help where it needs to

00:23:30.240 be and you guys have been very generous with that over the years um funds in that account are are

00:23:36.640 dwindling a little bit here we've had a couple of things this year and a couple of families who've

00:23:40.720 been in need that we've had to help out so i would encourage all of you guys to go to www.runestone.org

00:23:47.280 on our donate uh link there you can donate money to afa folk services like i said that money goes

00:23:55.280 to afa members that find themselves in crisis and need a little bit of help um we've been able to to

00:24:01.760 do a lot to help people over over the past several years and something i'm very proud of

00:24:06.560 um it may not always be enough money for us to us to fix it or make everything right but it is

00:24:13.680 enough money that you know people if they need a place to stay we we can we take care of them

00:24:18.080 for a little bit if they need food we can make sure they've got some place warm and something

00:24:23.040 need uh if things happen in their life we can help get them by and i'm really proud that we're doing

00:24:29.280 that um so like i said please if you get the opportunity www.runestone.org and click that

00:24:36.000 donate button one thing people like to do is click on a recurring donation that's something people

00:24:40.400 like to do a lot to where they can um set aside you know five dollars a month or something they

00:24:46.640 don't really notice it but it starts filling up those coffers very quick so we have resources

00:24:51.440 is available to help folks. So thank you guys. And thank you for reminding me to plug back.

00:25:00.980 Cole, what's plan on dealing with the new drama in New Zealand?

00:25:06.260 Keep on keeping on and move forward as things arise. I don't know if you guys have paid

00:25:14.660 attention to the situation in New Zealand, but there was a very, very nasty article that came

00:25:19.720 out trying to demonize a number of people in our AFA brothers and sisters

00:25:24.820 in New Zealand and somehow loosely connect them with the the shootings in

00:25:30.760 Christchurch and it's ridiculous our people have had no involvement with that

00:25:36.580 as a matter of fact some of our people were first responders that helped clean

00:25:40.820 up in the aftermath of that there's very little we can do when outside forces

00:25:48.760 want to lie and scandalously and irresponsibly trying to demonize people. Best we can do is

00:25:57.200 make sure that we are doing the right things, that we're not doing anything wrong. And we're not.

00:26:03.440 And to try to support our brothers and sisters the best way we know how, if there's ways that

00:26:07.640 they need help, or if there's help that they ask for, or things we can do. And I'm always

00:26:12.440 open to that. And I'm always got my ear to the streets in case something comes up that we can

00:26:18.100 do to be helpful. It's tragedy that some reporters would rather get a get a

00:26:23.420 flashy story than be responsible with the things they write because those

00:26:27.220 things have consequences. Many hints at locations. I'm assuming you're talking

00:26:32.680 about Hoff number two. Big hint at location. We are looking, we are

00:26:39.640 primarily right now looking at the Northern Plains region. We're trying to

00:26:44.920 look at a lot of things are off the table just in case but we're heavily heavily looking for

00:26:51.160 something within a few hours of the twin cities trying to find something in that area that's

00:26:56.440 gonna gonna meet our needs and and be there the community that we have in the northern plains in

00:27:01.880 that area has really taken off they've been extremely consistent we've got three different

00:27:08.520 kindreds right there which is very helpful for support we've got a number of volunteers that

00:27:14.600 have been very consistent so we have some redundancy and that's that's where we're

00:27:19.880 spending a lot of our time looking like i say nothing's off the table so far well a few things

00:27:24.760 are off the table but uh we're keeping our options open but that is where we're spending a lot of our

00:27:29.640 focus we always need items donated for the auction at midsummer we will we will always take donations

00:27:39.720 for our auctions they're a really great way for folks to get some cool things and for us to raise

00:27:45.720 money for upcoming hoffs and afa stuff so if anybody ever does want to donate to an afa auction

00:27:53.320 we appreciate it and the money gets gets used very responsibly so thank you for thank you for asking

00:28:00.040 And yes, absolutely, we need donated items.

00:28:30.040 Sorry, guys, I was taking a second to read the discussion coming up in the chat on the side.

00:28:38.740 Gothar coordinator, Blaine Qualls, would like me to talk a little bit more about the family's role in doing things around ancestral altars and home altars.

00:28:49.200 And it's very important that so many of the things we do are based on a macrocosm, microcosm concept.

00:28:59.340 And within our own homes, it's really important that husbands and fathers step up and serve the function of the high priest of their house, of the gothy of their house.

00:29:12.320 So it's important that in that aspect, in our homes, the father or the husband can take on that role of representing the family before the gods and being the gothy for the purpose of that. 0.51

00:29:26.840 it's also important that our ladies can consider themselves githias in their own home in that sense 0.68

00:29:32.840 when you approach the altar to do something holy

00:29:36.000 to take on the mindset that you are stepping into a priestly role for that time while you're in that

00:29:42.880 sacred space i think is really important i think it teaches a reverence and a respect for what

00:29:49.100 you're doing. When you take on that mantle of performing a priestly function, it really does

00:29:57.240 change how you look at things and the seriousness with which you approach stuff. So I think that's

00:30:04.520 important. And I think it's important that you feel empowered to approach the divine at your

00:30:08.980 house. Now, given the best circumstance, it's great to have Gotthar that can go and approach

00:30:16.440 the the divine on your behalf and the behalf of the community but if you're isolated and that's

00:30:21.880 not an option for you you should feel encouraged to in your own way when you're being humble and

00:30:29.800 respectful to approach the divine and not shy away from that and then in a the sense of your family

00:30:36.440 altar you're representing your family before your ancestors so you have a very powerful connection

00:30:43.560 to to those those entities you have a very powerful connection to your ancestors and you

00:30:49.160 should feel inspired and um and encouraged to take that step as a priest within your own house

00:30:55.720 especially when you're dealing with the ancestral cult and uh and your house cult

00:31:00.760 Ben Peterson asks that when you get a local inquiry, is there a guide that you could give

00:31:14.980 out or should you direct them to your folk builder? I would encourage you always to direct

00:31:19.000 them first to our website, www.runestone.org, but then also try to get them in touch with

00:31:25.260 their local folk builder. That way there's a face there, there's a voice there, and

00:31:29.620 there's a real connection that they can can speak to and in a very interactive

00:31:34.300 way we'd love to have people interacting with a real person from day one and I

00:31:38.920 think that does a lot to to make it real from the very start and it's got the

00:31:44.320 benefit of someone who's interactive and can answer questions so yes Ben

00:31:48.100 please direct them to the local folk builder anybody that has questions if

00:31:52.280 you go to www.runestone.org we've got a contact page that's got the folk

00:31:58.360 builders and what regions they're responsible for so I'd highly encourage

00:32:01.960 you guys to go there if you have any question on who's folk building for a

00:32:06.220 particular region

00:32:15.300 events for the Northeast I think there's some local things in the works I know

00:32:22.780 that bottle for stone ship kindred has some things they're working on as far as

00:32:27.340 local events. But our standby in the Northeast that we can always count on is winter nights.

00:32:35.500 In the middle of October, winter nights in the Poconos down in Pennsylvania.

00:32:41.820 That's something we do every year. I have to stop and think now, but I think we're on

00:32:47.740 year seven this year. I'm sure Cliff will correct me if I'm wrong on that one, but

00:32:52.300 it. That's something I look forward to every year. It's a very special one to me. It's where I met my

00:32:57.560 wife. It's a really, really nice event. It's a really cool time of the year. It's beautiful

00:33:04.700 because the fall colors are coming out. So I would really encourage anybody who can get out there to

00:33:09.580 Pennsylvania in middle of October. We're going to have winter nights and I would love to see you

00:33:15.440 guys there. And that's going to be the one that we can count on for the Northeast, but I'm sure

00:33:19.980 there'll be other local things. Cliff Erickson is your folk builder and he'd

00:33:23.820 be really happy to get you squared away and help keep you in the loop in case

00:33:28.380 do things do come up when local things happen. Oh lots more folks joined us.

00:33:33.540 Welcome guys, good to talk to you all tonight. 1.00

00:33:41.940 Alright, so one of our folk builders Heather Clinkenbeard is is making a 1.00

00:33:47.980 point here. Um, she wants to point out, and I think this is a really good point, that everything we post

00:33:56.220 and how we conduct ourselves, especially on social media, is out there for the world to see, and it

00:34:02.180 does have impacts. Um, the more, the more people want to try to hurt us and hurt our members for

00:34:13.400 their association with us and our church and our faith, the more we see people scouring over social

00:34:21.040 media. I was talking about freedom of speech earlier, and I think it's really important

00:34:25.700 that we be able to express ourselves, but I think it's equally as important, if not more so,

00:34:32.420 that we realize the responsibility we have when we say things. A lot of folks get really free on

00:34:39.560 social media and they'll post a picture that's not them and a name that's not theirs, but they'll say

00:34:46.540 things that wouldn't say in person. Sometimes they'll say things just to be silly. Sometimes 0.90

00:34:50.820 they'll say things to get a reaction. Those are the kind of posts that HR departments go over

00:34:57.580 when somebody gets doxxed and has trouble at work. Those are the kind of posts that really

00:35:04.660 can affect people negatively. So I don't want you guys to not express yourselves. I would never want

00:35:09.940 you guys to not stand up for what you believe in, but I want you guys to think really carefully

00:35:14.080 about how you express yourself, about the things that you say and the pictures that you share.

00:35:20.020 And your meme may be hilarious and we all may laugh, but it's a lot less funny when somebody's

00:35:27.200 HR department is going through and has no context for it. And it's a lot less funny when the enemy

00:35:32.400 is looking for ammunition to use against us so i would just advise some caution um you know i harp

00:35:39.840 on the word arian and i don't do it to be scary and i don't do it to be edgy and whatever i do it

00:35:45.760 because it's a uh it's a call for us to rise up it's a call for us to become the noblest versions

00:35:54.320 of ourselves to shine with nobility and that should come through with how we conduct ourselves

00:36:00.320 important in person certainly but it should also be there and how we conduct ourselves online

00:36:06.560 and keep in mind when you do post things online those things don't go away

00:36:10.800 so all of us myself included should keep that in mind when we post stuff because it is a

00:36:15.040 responsibility we represent ourselves we represent our gods and our folk we represent our brothers

00:36:21.120 and sisters that may you know have their hr department looking at what you post sometimes

00:36:25.520 Just keep that in mind.

00:36:43.840 Okay, so Jason Plurd is asking us what other ways besides financial

00:36:50.320 contributions can we do to move the move out to true into the future and to move things forward

00:36:57.460 and he does it it does bear mentioning that financial contributions help a lot because they

00:37:04.280 allow us as a whole to move forward but individually I think one of the big things we can do to move

00:37:10.040 forward is what I just talked about behaving nobly and acting no being conscious of the things that

00:37:18.880 we do and maturing past a point of just trying to be edgy getting to a point

00:37:25.180 where we take ourselves seriously we take our church seriously we take what

00:37:29.020 we're doing seriously and the other thing is to bring up our brothers and

00:37:35.860 sisters with us when we have advantages when we have job opportunities we have

00:37:42.200 things come up in our life that we can bring our folk along with us that we can

00:37:46.780 help give them opportunities and help move them forward. That's how we can bring a lot of things

00:37:52.820 into the future. When we conceive of what we do as a serious way of living and not just as a hobby

00:38:02.180 or not just as a point of interest, that's how we're going to move things forward into the future.

00:38:07.820 When we pursue success in our lives, see, the more successful we all are as individuals,

00:38:15.340 and I don't just mean financially, the more successful we are in all aspects of our lives,

00:38:20.320 the more we bring our church as a whole up, the more we bring the man and the woman next to us

00:38:27.120 up, we can do that and we can find the resources physically, mentally, and spiritually to help

00:38:34.400 each other out. So I think by all of us focusing on winning and being successful, that's going to

00:38:40.800 bring us all up financially, health wise, and just spiritually. And everyone wants to be around

00:38:47.820 winners. So let's go out there and win. Everyone would love it if we all could be winners and that

00:38:54.020 inspires others to win. And that's what I want us all to do. So that's what I would suggest, Jason.

00:38:58.620 Mandy thinks it's year 10 of winter nights that may well be uh going back um years are kind of

00:39:11.220 sneaking up on me like the like the gray in my beard here um but yeah it's we've been doing

00:39:17.440 winter nights for a long time and it's it's got a lot of momentum and a lot of a lot of

00:39:21.820 really special things attached to it

00:39:23.320 all right guys another note that Blaine would like me to make to y'all if you are interested

00:39:38.500 in becoming a go through your gift here in the house true folk assembly I'd ask that you go on

00:39:44.200 our website again www.runestone.org and see if you meet the qualifications if you're serious

00:39:52.000 something you'd like to pursue we do have an application there for you to

00:39:55.680 print off so everybody is aware I'm putting the call out you got a little

00:40:01.000 bit less than a month all of the applications are due on May 1st so that

00:40:05.840 we can vet them and make the decisions we need to make and pair people up

00:40:10.420 because we need to start our start our classes in in June at midsummer so

00:40:15.720 anybody who is interested in that I would encourage you to go check it out

00:40:19.420 and look for the application there on the website and Christina I agree with

00:40:39.940 you completely we need to rise above and live life that shows respect for the

00:40:44.660 gods and I think that's really important for all of us to think about when we're

00:40:48.740 doing things. Everything's not always going to go perfect in the world. And the more successful

00:40:55.180 we are, and the more we're trying to do big things, there will be people that try to stand

00:41:00.720 in your way. There'll be people that try to stand in our way. And through all of it, no matter what

00:41:06.760 we do, because a lot of that depends on the circumstance, but we're always well served in

00:41:11.940 rising above and behaving a little bit better a little bit more noble a little

00:41:17.680 bit being a little bit wiser a little bit more dignified because people see

00:41:23.780 that and it does have an effect it has an effect on how we take ourselves how

00:41:28.200 we conduct and see ourselves and it absolutely has an effect on how other

00:41:33.180 people see us and oftentimes that's the best antidote to some of the the

00:41:37.960 naysayers and the back biters we have out there

00:41:47.080 oh Mike Richardson asks is the route to go see similar to the nine doors of 1.00

00:41:52.900 Midgard program

00:41:58.520 no not really because a lot of it is more broad than that the nine doors of

00:42:05.200 Midgard program is a very personal esoteric program whereas the Gothar

00:42:11.140 course is very exoteric it's very much about practicing religion in a group

00:42:16.600 setting and providing religiosity for a group of people and in the community

00:42:21.220 context we do have rune work in there and a lot of the runic material that we

00:42:27.160 use is from dr. flowers and you know as is the nine doors so there is some

00:42:34.380 overlap in that sense but no mostly the nine doors is focused on internal improvements and

00:42:40.860 and the go through program is focused more on on how we would interact with the group or with the

00:42:45.260 AFA so that's another thing Jason plurred points out to us that a big thing is

00:43:12.220 knowing how to pick our battles and choose what's worth going after and

00:43:16.720 what's not. When you do something or you get in a petty fight or you want to, I

00:43:23.440 don't know, whenever you find yourself in a struggle or at a quandary is what to

00:43:27.880 do or what to say, I think it does us all good to contemplate what we're trying to

00:43:32.460 accomplish and is what we're about to say, is what we're about to post, is how

00:43:37.860 we're about to present ourselves going to get us closer to that goal or gonna

00:43:42.540 move us further away from that goal because like I was talking about

00:43:45.840 earlier on all we do we need to focus on winning I think somewhere along the

00:43:51.120 way folks stopped thinking about winning and they started thinking about you know

00:43:55.980 just making a point and you know going out with a bang and losing in a big way

00:44:00.420 no I don't want to worry about that that's I suppose that's an okay plan B

00:44:05.220 but I want to win I want us all to win and so we need to be thinking at all

00:44:10.900 times how do we win how do we accomplish what we're trying to achieve how do we

00:44:16.540 get there how do we help move our brothers and sisters closer to what

00:44:20.880 we're trying to achieve I think we'd all do good if we kept that in mind and I

00:44:26.340 think that's that's extremely important thanks for pointing that out Jason

00:44:31.220 uh sure april uh april's asking about the nine doors and just what that is and some of some of

00:44:40.060 us who haven't been around for forever may not be really aware of that the nine doors of midgard

00:44:45.240 is kind of the basic curriculum for the rune guild and it's an esoteric program of study

00:44:53.700 that involves internalizing and becoming familiar with the runes

00:44:58.080 and working with your spiritual energies that way

00:45:02.340 and really developing an understanding of the runes

00:45:05.560 and how to work with them for your own esoteric practice.

00:45:11.400 If you plan on being a member of the Rune Guild,

00:45:14.320 if I'm correct, I'm under the impression that's still their core curriculum

00:45:18.560 and something that you're required to do.

00:45:21.080 But even if you don't want to, I would encourage you,

00:45:23.920 if that's something that's important to you,

00:45:25.180 that kind of um internalization of the runes and working on those esoterics i would encourage you

00:45:31.020 to get a copy of the nine doors of midgard and take a look at it practice some of the lessons

00:45:35.900 they have in there uh the program is really solid um i've done a lot of the doors in that program

00:45:42.620 and had really good results so i think that is a very worthwhile thing for you to look into if

00:45:47.580 you'd like like i say you can read the book and do the you know do the work without trying to be

00:45:51.900 part of the rune guild so if that interests you do check that out um dr flowers his writings on

00:45:59.660 the runes are spectacular and i genuinely believe that he has the most knowledge of the runes of

00:46:05.820 of perhaps anyone who's ever lived um so his work he spent his entire life doing it

00:46:11.740 and he's very good at what he does he knows what he's talking about certainly as it comes to rooms

00:46:21.900 Does anybody else have anything they'd like to talk about tonight, like to have me comment

00:46:29.620 on, or any questions anybody might have that you guys would like me to answer?

00:46:41.620 Hey Bodie.

00:46:42.620 Got a couple of folks just joining us.

00:46:44.460 Again, I'm taking questions if anybody has any that they come up with.

00:46:50.440 the little blank time here i'll make a make another plug to if you can if you can get over

00:46:55.880 to sweden next month for ultimatula it's going to be fantastic and i'm looking forward to it

00:47:01.240 um but if you can or if you can't please do keep in mind the possibility coming out

00:47:07.000 to midsummer at odensoff that's going to be the 21st through the 23rd of june

00:47:16.200 and we're really looking forward to that that's usually our biggest event of the year

00:47:19.960 It's going to be a great crowd of people, and we're going to be celebrating and worshiping our gods in our own holy, sacred space that's ours.

00:47:29.220 And that's a really special thing.

00:47:30.640 If you guys haven't made it out to the Hoff, please do.

00:47:33.900 Even if you have, we'd love to have you out there again.

00:47:36.140 so one of our other folk builders spawn harrell asks is there going to be an updated bloat feigning

00:47:49.480 and stumble book in the astro folk assemblies future yes absolutely um can't give you a

00:47:56.600 timetable on that but that is something that's being worked on it's something that uh we're

00:48:02.200 going to get squared away. The AFA book of blowtar is very old and outdated at

00:48:07.440 this point and we're absolutely trying to get that get that updated and

00:48:13.000 codified and taken care of. That is something that we are going to have in

00:48:17.320 the future, hopefully not too distant future.

00:48:21.240 Well, Bodie was late because he was out rucking and working out,

00:48:33.380 so I suppose that's worthy of a pass. 0.90

00:48:39.340 Glenn, you might be the only outstrucker in Mississippi.

00:48:45.680 I wish I could say that Mississippi was a big growth area for the

00:48:49.040 Astro Folk Assembly, but as of yet, it hasn't been, which is unfortunate. My mom's family has

00:48:54.540 lived in Mississippi since shortly after the Revolutionary War, and I got a lot of roots in

00:48:59.360 Mississippi. They're from this little town called Wiggins. So I would love to see a bigger AFA

00:49:05.220 presence in Mississippi. If you know people, I would love to have your help in starting to build

00:49:11.300 that. But yeah, as of right now, I don't know too many AFA members of Mississippi.

00:49:19.040 what else we got guys anything else anybody wants to make sure we cover or

00:49:24.920 talk about tonight um don't want to put anybody on the spot but I'm I enjoy

00:49:31.140 talking with you guys and this is a good opportunity if anybody does have have

00:49:35.600 questions or things that have been on their mind they want to make sure I

00:49:38.240 react to or say something about this is a this is the time for it so anything if

00:49:44.280 you guys think anything or have anything please feel free to ask me okay

00:49:49.040 ah you live up up in northern mississippi glenn i haven't uh haven't spent any time in northern

00:50:04.040 mississippi i've spent a little bit of time along the coast there and then i've been up

00:50:08.600 to Wiggins several times, especially as a child. Interviews and podcasts. Yes, for sure what they

00:50:24.460 are. I couldn't tell you right now. I've got a couple of people that have expressed some interest

00:50:30.220 in having me on. There's a couple of programs as related to South Africa that I want to get

00:50:35.580 involved with and be on. Um, and then, uh, Dave Martell is going to have me on his show. So

00:50:42.180 be looking out for that. If you have, you know, I don't know how y'all are connected to people,

00:50:48.120 but if there's any spot that, uh, it'd be beneficial to do an interview on, or, you know,

00:50:53.880 anybody has a podcast or a show that they're, that they're doing, I'd love to go on. I'd love

00:50:58.760 to be a guest whenever that happens. I've always had fun doing those and I'd love to get the,

00:51:02.840 the message of the Ask True Folk Assembly out there. So if you know anybody that is looking

00:51:07.660 for guests or whatever, I'm always, always down to do something like that.

00:51:14.680 Hmm. All right. Michael, Michael Ross asks, what are my thoughts about Votan's nation?

00:51:24.780 i hope we're talking about the same thing because i think that's a name that's gotten used a lot

00:51:35.860 over the years um if you're talking about the group over in the north uh i guess northeast

00:51:43.240 isn't fair in the upper south area of the country i don't know them overly well and i certainly

00:51:52.040 wouldn't want to speak out of turn or say something insulting about people. Our interaction

00:51:58.200 has not been great in the past. My bigger thoughts in general are oftentimes people

00:52:07.780 come through and everybody wants to start their own thing. Everyone has some great idea

00:52:12.020 about how to do Asatru better. So they try to reinvent the wheel and start from scratch 0.90

00:52:17.160 in their own backyard I would encourage everyone who wants to practice house to

00:52:21.360 true to join the house to folk assembly get on a team that's been around for a

00:52:26.340 long time that's moving forward and accomplishing and then let's make it

00:52:30.120 better together so that's that's kind of my thoughts in general about a lot of

00:52:36.720 these things that kind of kind of prop or a sprout up overnight or or recently

00:52:44.520 I'd much rather see us pool our resources with something that's

00:52:48.840 established that's moving forward and try to well fix is the right word but

00:52:55.560 try to maximize what we have then you know always trying to start some new

00:53:02.160 thing and getting distracted by something shiny I think that putting in

00:53:05.940 the work on something that's established really accomplishes much more for us in

00:53:09.540 the end it's like I said a little bit ago what are we doing and what are we

00:53:13.200 trying to accomplish by it and so I think we're accomplishing the goals that

00:53:20.220 I've heard from Photon's nation better as the altitude folk assembly and see

00:53:27.000 that's my thoughts on that real quick

00:53:30.720 well Jason talked to Carolyn I'd love to come on her show if she wants me on

00:53:34.560 there yeah I'd love to come on Carolyn the

00:53:37.180 emirate show she'd like to have me on there but that's entirely up to her I

00:53:43.200 but yeah as far as I know I can still travel to Europe don't don't tell

00:53:49.560 nobody get me in trouble cuz I'm really excited about my trip over there

00:54:01.420 yeah Michael then we're talking about the same the same organization

00:54:13.200 Mississippi is close to Alabama that's one of the other things that I think is

00:54:21.960 worth pointing out and I mentioned that we don't have a lot of members in

00:54:24.960 Mississippi but Mississippi is really close to Louisiana and we have members

00:54:28.760 there and it's really close to Alabama and we have members there and it's very

00:54:32.600 close to northern Florida and we have a lot of members we have a lot of members

00:54:36.540 in northern Florida so just because there's you know a state line between

00:54:41.260 somebody that's not relevant for your ability to practice house and sure with

00:54:45.640 other houses sure we've got tons of members in the Deep South Glenn I would

00:54:50.680 encourage you to reach out to your folk builders to tread East to Ralph Viola or

00:54:55.780 even up to James Dover in South Carolina they'd love to get you set up and meet

00:55:01.660 some folks that are close to you and in your region within just a couple hours

00:55:07.100 driving you there is quite a bit of people and I'm sure would love to interact with you

00:55:13.820 yeah no problem Michael I I'm that's what I'm here for us to respond to stuff and

00:55:17.980 answer questions and thank you for asking a question about that

00:55:26.460 oh Bodie that's a good question Bodie asks how other pro-european groups view us and

00:55:31.740 ALSATRU? I don't know. I guess that's a better question to ask them, and I'm sure the answer

00:55:38.940 is very different depending on which group you're talking about. I have not experienced any

00:55:44.300 negativity from any other pro-European groups in regards to ALSATRU or the AFAN specific.

00:55:50.860 As a matter of fact, I've seen a lot of support and a lot of people like what we're doing. So

00:55:55.900 So I think that question kind of runs the gamut depending on who you ask.

00:56:02.800 But so far, the solidarity and support I've seen has been really great.

00:56:09.220 Good, Glenn, you go blaze that trail.

00:56:11.380 I really would love to see something happen down there, so that'd be great.

00:56:16.760 Awesome.

00:56:17.260 Looks like you're already in touch with Trent.

00:56:18.740 Trent's a great guy, and he would love to help you get set up and interact with some folks.

00:56:23.720 I know he's got some people in Alabama,

00:56:26.100 so he may have some very direct connections to get you set up.

00:56:31.860 All right, guys.

00:56:33.240 You got anything else tonight?

00:56:35.200 I've been talking for about an hour, and as always,

00:56:39.020 I thoroughly enjoy talking to you guys.

00:56:40.840 I absolutely love my AFA family.

00:56:44.840 I am the luckiest guy in the world to be where I am

00:56:50.960 to be part of the Astro Folk Assembly. So it's been a pleasure talking to you guys. If anybody

00:56:56.480 has any last questions or things they want us to talk about, I'll give you a couple more minutes to

00:57:02.880 throw those out there. And if not, I'll be talking to you guys again in May.

00:57:08.400 questions going once question going twice

00:57:17.880 no Clinton thank you you've given us something to talk about here for a little bit don't worry

00:57:26.220 about that at all oh you're very welcome Rob like I say I enjoy these I look forward to these all

00:57:34.980 right guys thank you so much for for listening to me tonight and for being

00:57:38.580 part of the conversation thank you for being part of our FA family thank you

00:57:42.900 for all the support if you want to donate folk services like I was talking

00:57:48.420 about earlier www.roomstone.org go to the donate section you guys are amazing

00:57:55.440 and yeah guys have an absolutely fantastic April and I look forward to

00:58:01.980 talking to you guys again in may if not sooner thank you guys y'all have a good night hail the

00:58:06.560 gods hail the folk hail the afa

Asatru Folk Assembly - June 30, 2019

April 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

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