00:00:29.860This is Steve McNallan of the Asatrum Folk Assembly bringing you the latest on the revival of the ancestral faith of Northern Europe and the awakening of the European descended peoples everywhere.
00:00:42.860The gods and goddesses never went away. They are with us always and now they stir and we reclaim our spiritual birthright.
00:00:53.860A glorious dawn awaits. Hail, our awakening. Hail, Alsatru, rising.
00:01:06.680I've always lived in rural areas and feel a deep affinity with nature and the earth, especially here in New England.
00:01:14.020And the more I thought about it, the stronger the attraction to Alsatru became.
00:01:18.540When I came upon Asatruh's Nine Noble Virtues, it didn't take long for me to realize that this was and always had been my code, my religion, and the essence of my spirituality.
00:01:34.160I just hadn't known that it had a name, a history, and organized practitioners.
00:01:40.540A follower of our faith in California writes to explain why he joined the Asatru Folk Assembly to grow as a man, to evolve, to learn, to lead my people back home, to be a better father, to be the best man that I can.
00:02:02.320well his determination to grow leads me straight into the subject of this podcast
00:02:09.700what does it mean to evolve personally why should we do it and how can we change ourselves
00:02:18.280we've all known people who were not dependable or who betray a trust or who let weakness get
00:02:27.060the best of them, and unfortunately some of these folks follow our faith of Asatru.
00:02:33.500No, they're not typical, but even one such person holds us back, tarnishes our
00:02:40.940reputation, and makes it harder for us to achieve Asatru's potential. Folks are
00:02:47.780fond of saying that nobody's perfect, and they're right. None of us are. We may not
00:02:53.300have their particular set of faults but none of us are where we could be if we
00:02:58.280were we'd be old then but does it matter if also true works for us as individuals
00:03:05.660isn't that enough my answer to that question is no it's not enough to just
00:03:13.760sort of stumble along failing dramatically to meet the minimum also
00:03:18.680TRUE standards. Here is why. We are trying to build ALSA TRUE as a strong coherent way of life
00:03:27.160in the modern age. We've come a long way. Years ago in the old days, drinking was a problem, but
00:03:34.380anybody who has been at our gatherings in recent decades can testify that folks who have too much
00:03:40.200alcohol are rare and they tend to not get invited back. Similarly, we have turned away those addicted
00:03:48.020to negativity or who have agendas that they would impose on us. We are now much more attractive to
00:03:54.540normal people with real lives, real jobs, real families. Forging the sword of Ausatru requires0.71
00:04:02.680high-grade ore, impurities burned away, tempered and hardened by spiritual discipline into a fine1.00
00:04:10.260blade also true maybe the last hope for the European descended peoples I won't
00:04:18.960attempt to justify that statement in this podcast but all the evidence
00:04:23.820demographic cultural political spiritual screams that we as a people are in
00:04:31.980trouble we have a duty to the gods to the ancestors and to those yet to be
00:04:38.580born to ensure the survival and the high status of our kind. To fulfill our
00:04:46.260responsibilities, we must develop our virtues, our capabilities, and our
00:04:51.420spiritual prowess to the highest possible level. Years ago, I had a friend
00:04:57.540who was deeply involved in politics. He tried it all—newsletters, meetings,
00:05:02.760distributing literature, forming a community—but as the months turned into
00:05:07.960years he realized that there was a problem, namely the quality of the people with whom
00:05:13.560he was trying to work. Some were stupid, others were bright but twisted with negativity, others1.00
00:05:21.280were incompetence or cheats or unreliable. Almost no one met the standards needed to1.00
00:05:27.680form a functioning community of dedicated activists. Finally, my friend jettisoned the
00:05:34.460riff-raff. No more meetings, no more newsletters, no more entertaining bums. His ideals remained1.00
00:05:42.180unchanged, but he turned to other methods to promote them. In the years that followed,
00:05:48.140he worked with a relative handful of idealists, teaching meditation techniques for personal
00:05:54.080spiritual evolution. He accomplished more for his cause and for himself in the next
00:06:00.240year or two than in all the painful and discouraging years that had gone before.
00:06:07.340Change yourself and you will change thousands, he wrote.
00:06:50.740Members of this community are expected to meditate twice a day.
00:06:54.460Before they are allowed into residence at the community, they undergo a year's screening process that involves living under primitive conditions and meditating a lot.0.95
00:07:06.200Once admitted, their financial contributions to Ananda shames most Christians and, almost all, Asatruar.0.90
00:07:15.360Of course, you can always dismiss this level of commitment as the result of brainwashing or of cultism.
00:07:21.880But I've known these people, and I don't believe it.0.99
00:07:25.420Some Asatruer rationalize their lack of effort on behalf of the gods
00:07:29.260and lack of monetary commitment as a sign of independence and freedom.0.96
00:07:35.480These are the Asatruer who think they're being generous
00:07:38.400when they pitch in the change from their beer money.0.92
00:07:41.200Similarly, they scoff at any form of spiritual discipline.
00:07:44.740We're rough, tough Vikings, and we don't do stuff like that.
00:07:49.400They would have nothing but contempt for the yoga practitioners at Ananda
00:07:52.960and label them as misguided and exploited.
00:07:57.240But are the folks at Ananda mindless robots, hypnotized sheep?
00:08:02.240On the contrary, I found them intelligent, friendly, and dedicated.