Asatru Folk Assembly - December 2021 Live Discussion

00:00:00.000 hello appreciate you guys making time to join me this evening

00:00:15.760 um shocking how fast uh how fast december is here this year seems like this year's gone by in a flash

00:00:27.520 um it's been a good year it's been certainly a good year for the AFA it's been a great year for

00:00:34.980 the Flavelle family and I hope it's been a good year for you guys as well um since last time I

00:00:42.500 spoke with you we had a absolutely fantastic um regional feast of the Einherjar in Missouri

00:00:52.580 and I want to thank the folks that put that on that was a lot of hard work by folk builder

00:00:59.620 Nathan Erlandson by folk builder Melissa Mills and by some of their folks that they had helping

00:01:08.020 them out it turned out it turned out amazing it's a powerful experience for everybody there

00:01:13.340 I think it was it's one of those nice ones it was very very intimate experience it was in a

00:01:19.620 you know, kind of a house type retreat. So we all got to hang out together and,

00:01:24.940 you know, live together there for a couple of days and share with each other. And I think it

00:01:29.060 brought a lot of us closer together and it was a very powerful experience. So thank you guys so

00:01:33.240 much for putting that on. I know this month we had a lot going on in the AFA in general. We had

00:01:43.420 a whole lot of Feasts of the Iron Her Yard around the country and around the world.

00:01:47.760 It looks like those went fantastic. I'm sure that our veterans and I'm sure that the heroes in the All Fathers Hall are are happy with how that all went.

00:02:00.220 Certainly hope so. And what was really neat to see this year also was for Thanksgiving.

00:02:07.580 We had a lot of folks givings, which was we had a lot of AFA members getting together with other AFA members and celebrating and being thankful for for our AFA family, for the blessings the gods have poured out on us and continue to pour out on us and to share that and to celebrate that with their AFA family.

00:02:27.840 and that was really nice to see. This last month we had I think just about the best food

00:02:35.820 distributions that we have ever had at all three of our Hoffs. Odin's Hoff and Baldur's Hoff were

00:02:44.160 able to give away turkeys for families so they could have a nice Thanksgiving and get to celebrate

00:02:50.540 that with the traditional fixings and with a nice turkey. That was a really special thing to do this

00:02:57.520 year I know that at Odenshof that was in addition to their their regular food distribution which we

00:03:04.300 had cars backed up for a long way we ended up running out of food we had so many people stop

00:03:09.780 by and get food and that was really nice record number of people stopping by getting food cleaning

00:03:15.060 out Baldershof which is also a great thing and the biggest number yet at Thorshof getting food

00:03:20.540 this month we got some local folks at Thorshof wanting to help out wanting to supply us with

00:03:26.280 food so we can do more food

00:03:28.360 giveaway in the months to

00:03:30.320 come. That was a really nice thing

00:03:32.320 and all around those really great

00:03:34.220 interactions with our community. So that

00:03:36.200 was awesome.

00:03:46.900 So it is

00:03:48.220 it is Yule

00:03:50.120 time and it's

00:03:51.900 my favorite time of the year.

00:03:56.280 It's a wonderful time to get together with your families and with your folk and to really, really be in that holiday spirit and share that warmth with each other and come together.

00:04:08.780 And that's a time of year I've always loved, but it's something that I'd like us to be aware of this year and just looking out for.

00:04:18.940 As wonderful as this time of year is for most of us,

00:04:24.320 around the holidays can be a very hard time of year

00:04:27.240 for people who are going through depression,

00:04:29.800 for people who have had losses in their family.

00:04:36.200 A lot of people have a very hard time this time of year,

00:04:39.980 and it brings up a lot of bad memories for some folks.

00:04:42.380 i want to encourage any of you out there if you guys are having a hard time or if you guys are

00:04:50.420 struggling or if you're feeling feeling down reach out to one of our go thaw we would love

00:04:56.460 to help you we'd love to talk to you and really really importantly i want to encourage anybody

00:05:01.960 out there our go thaw would love to talk to you and love to help please do not be afraid or ashamed

00:05:10.380 to reach out to psychological professionals to get help that you need.

00:05:18.920 I would much rather you get the help you need before something bad happens than your family

00:05:25.340 getting help that they need after something bad happens. So please, from the bottom of my heart,

00:05:33.160 I encourage you guys, if you need that kind of help, or if somebody in your life does,

00:05:36.660 don't be ashamed or afraid to go and get that kind of help. And always, always, always anyone

00:05:43.500 on this call, please reach out to your local GoFee. We would love to help you. We'd love to talk to

00:05:48.340 you. We'd love to share and be able to help when you're having a hard time. We'd also love to share

00:05:56.940 and be able to help when you're having a great time. So just keep that in mind.

00:06:06.660 um

00:06:16.660 j link the seventh absolutely i think it's always a great thing to do when our folk can

00:06:23.700 economically be there to help um the rest of our afa family if you're in a spot where you are hiring

00:06:31.060 and you are in the position to make good things happen for uh for our folk it's great to be able

00:06:37.780 to hire um hire other members of the afa and help share share success and things that work for you

00:06:45.060 with them uh in my life a couple of times i've been in a spot different times to hire fellow afa

00:06:52.260 members and to get them jobs and that was a great experience i would encourage everybody out there

00:06:58.580 If you can, that's certainly a great way to help.

00:07:01.320 And I appreciate you bringing that up, J-Link the 7th.

00:07:15.960 So does anybody have any questions off the bat tonight or anything they wanted to ask?

00:07:21.160 In the meantime, we've had somebody reach out with some questions that question that he had, and I would encourage any of you guys, if you think of stuff throughout the month that you want me to address on one of these live chats, I mean, certainly you're welcome to ask me whatever you want throughout the month.

00:07:43.160 But if you want to have them addressed in one of these chats, send me an email, mattflavell at runestone.org.

00:07:49.000 And I'd be very happy to do my best to answer your question and at least comment on it and give you some kind of direction on it.

00:07:58.560 So a gentleman reached out and wanted to know Alcetru's take on something.

00:08:05.060 He had experience with the Latter-day Saints, and they've got a lot of, first, they've got a very heavy focus on the family, and that's certainly something we have in common.

00:08:16.560 But what else they have is a focus on those familial bonds after death.

00:08:22.380 They've got the eternal family concept, and they've got a whole theology based about, you know, family relationships after death and how that works.

00:08:33.300 I do want to know what else to choose view of that.

00:08:36.680 Do you still have those family connections?

00:08:39.180 What happens to your spouses or people you've made oaths bonding yourself to after death?

00:08:46.080 And I figured I'd share my thoughts on that a little bit this evening.

00:08:55.020 Certainly, there's no lore that gives us exact answers on all of those things.

00:09:00.920 But one thing that we do know, very certainly, certainly the bonds of blood family, that does carry on.

00:09:11.660 Our ancestors look on from the other side of the veil.

00:09:15.820 It's the entire concept behind our desir, behind going to the halls of your ancestors, beside the ancestral veneration and worship we give our ancestors after death.

00:09:27.040 We believe there's a very strong connection within the family to our family who's passed on.

00:09:34.540 It seems by every indication that we have that the love and the affection that we have for our family transcends death and carries on into the next stage of life.

00:09:47.180 I would have to surmise and extrapolate that that extends to people we're in an oath relationship with as well.

00:09:55.080 I can't imagine a situation where we pass on, we no longer care about our spouse, no longer care about comrades that we've made oaths to, people who we were close to, adopted family, spiritual family.

00:10:13.160 I have to believe that we care about those people and still have that affection.

00:10:17.060 I don't know exactly how that plays out in the terms of service on the other side of the veil, but through the gift cycle and through our celebration of not just our kin, but the people that are special to us in Sambal and in altar work, I believe that connection is still there.

00:10:40.580 Whether it's exactly the same as it was with our relationship here, here in Midgard, can't say. But there's absolutely something there. And I think that those bonds still have power once we're once we're on the other side of that veil.

00:10:57.420 um there's countless stories and countless experiences of people greeted by their loved

00:11:04.240 ones when they have near-death experiences of having that interaction with the spirits of

00:11:11.620 those who've passed i've shared some of my own as far as things that have happened at dc or bloat

00:11:17.460 so i know that to be true and i think that's the best we have to go on i know sometimes it's

00:11:23.380 uncomfortable that we don't have an exact this is this and that's that's that after you pass

00:11:28.820 and I think we have some good ideas but to know for 100 certain all the mysteries of the other

00:11:35.300 side don't think we have that I think that's part of I think that's part of the experience of life

00:11:41.780 is that great mystery and is seeking and trying to learn as much about it as we can but we believe

00:11:48.980 very much in the afterlife. We believe very much in being reunited with your family. We believe

00:11:55.240 very strongly in the concept that you can overcome the condition of your earthly humanity and that

00:12:04.280 you can ascend to something more and something better and something closer to our gods. So

00:12:10.000 I'm excited to see what that's like when that time comes. Hopefully it's a long day off.

00:12:16.160 hope that gets to your question

00:12:20.060 all right joel's asking us how new york's off is progressing slower than i would like um i tell

00:12:37.040 you what even if it was lightning quick it'd be slower than i'd like because i'm always wanting

00:12:41.580 more and better and faster. It is progressing. We've got a property lined up that we're very

00:12:47.400 excited about. We have paperwork in the works right now with a financial institution that's

00:12:56.040 considering and running and processing the loan that we'd need to secure the property.

00:13:00.500 And I'm hoping, I wake up every day hoping that we get that acceptance and find out about it.

00:13:05.980 Hopefully we'll know something tomorrow morning. If not, hopefully we will find out something for

00:13:10.920 sure next week and then we can proceed i know each one of these times i'm so excited i want to tell

00:13:15.800 you guys it's here and we got it um hopefully hopefully i can tell you guys that uh this time

00:13:22.360 next month we'll see but every month that goes by we're a little bit closer we've got a little bit

00:13:27.240 bigger war chest to throw in a down payment on it and a little bit closer to making it happen

00:13:32.120 but it is progressing and it's progressing steadily okay so eric is asking us uh is asking

00:13:49.640 me rather if i could go over how to become a folk builder and how to start a hof

00:13:56.280 so there's two different questions first on how to become a folk builder

00:13:59.400 honestly the most simple answer to that is join the afa be an active member of the afa

00:14:08.500 and reach out to your local leadership the closest folk builders to you the closest gothar to you

00:14:14.640 and express your interest say hey i'm interested in folk building they'll talk to you and if they

00:14:19.960 think that's a good idea they'll talk to me what i will send you at that point is a uh

00:14:26.400 like a write-up that I like to send to potential folk builders with stuff that they may or may not

00:14:32.860 have considered about what all that position is what all it entails and you read that think on it

00:14:40.840 make sure it's something you're committed to wanting to try out and then you become an

00:14:45.420 apprentice folk builder we'll get you set up at that point interacting with some mentorship by

00:14:52.560 the the already oathed folk builders in your region and the gothar in your region and you can

00:14:58.520 start building the folk and making it happen it's really important to realize that our folk builders

00:15:02.940 aren't tied to one location all the time in this day and age we move a lot and so if you're a folk

00:15:10.480 builder in one place that didn't have anybody and then all of a sudden you move across the country

00:15:15.820 or around the world as long as you're still wanting to folk build and and we are satisfied

00:15:21.140 that you're representing us well then you're a folk builder wherever you go at that point

00:15:26.100 and you go through an apprenticeship process usually at least about a year and if you feel

00:15:31.140 like it's something you'd like to continue doing and that's something you're good at and if it's

00:15:35.940 something that we would like to continue with you then at that point you would take your oath and

00:15:40.180 become an official folk builder now the other question about how to start a hoff um a lot of

00:15:47.940 people have ideas about you know they're going to get together with some buddies and establish a

00:15:51.540 hoff in their backyard that doesn't typically work out very well the best thing that i've seen

00:15:58.980 working and you know we're about to have four of them is the afa establishing hoffs and if you want

00:16:04.900 a hoff in your area with the afa so we look for a couple of things we look for stability of

00:16:12.180 membership in your area groups of people that get together regularly all the time stay afa

00:16:18.260 enthusiastic we're looking for people that volunteer become folk builders and if we're

00:16:23.860 going to have a hof we need to go through the hof so we need somebody who ends up stepping up through

00:16:27.780 the folk building ranks and becoming a gothi um that may take a little time but we are steadily

00:16:36.260 committed to continuing to establish hofs throughout midgard we're going to keep doing that

00:16:41.220 as wherever there's a need wherever we can make that viable but having that local support that's

00:16:47.700 going to make the hof happen because we can we can get a building and put it anywhere but we owe it

00:16:54.020 to our gods if we establish a hof to take care of it and have people that are you know going to be

00:16:59.860 there going to worship in that place going to make that place sacred and thrive and that it's not

00:17:06.260 going to come up abandoned sometimes so we we look for that stability there and that's the fastest

00:17:11.220 way i could could suggest you that we'll get a hoff the other thing is consider donating to the

00:17:17.620 hoff that we're working on now um the sooner that we get neward's hoff not only purchased but all

00:17:25.620 the way paid off the sooner we can start on our next uh our next projects and get to our next hoffs

00:17:32.180 So that is the fastest route, I believe, to getting off established.

00:17:48.580 Well, Eric, if it's just you and one other member there, first, I'm curious where there is and where you're located.

00:17:54.840 But it sounds like a great time for you to step up and help us build some AFA presence there and make that happen.

00:18:01.540 We got a whole whole team of folks that would love to help you be successful at making that happen.

00:18:23.520 Robert Lee is a Hoffman, New England, a possibility of the future.

00:18:27.200 Absolutely. It is just talking about that with Witten last night.

00:18:31.240 as as something to think about in the future we've got a ton of membership in new england

00:18:37.000 trouble in new england is getting folks to get out of the house and get together and do afa stuff

00:18:41.400 together we're always looking for some folk builders up there to make that happen in order

00:18:46.920 to get a hof up there like i was saying earlier we need folk builders we need a community that

00:18:51.480 gathers regularly and we need one of those folk builders to make it all the way and become a

00:18:56.200 gothi because we definitely need you know we need priests for our temples so we need gothar for our

00:19:02.040 office

00:19:15.880 uh katla asks a really interesting question and i know it's something a lot of folks struggle

00:19:19.640 with and think about unfortunately uh she says

00:19:23.320 what about when you have a family member who's a person better better left unconnected somebody

00:19:32.540 evil dishonorable or abusive unfortunately a lot of a lot of our folk have abuse in their past and

00:19:41.500 have family members that are kind of better left uncelebrated that's unfortunate honestly

00:19:52.000 that was one of the biggest, the most dreadful things that could happen to our ancestors was

00:20:01.140 strife amongst kinsmen, because we all kind of share cool points, for lack of a better term,

00:20:08.060 and if another family and yours are competing, you can compete and score points or lose points,

00:20:16.140 but when it's the same family, when something bad happens to one of you, you guys both lose,

00:20:20.400 So there's no winning. It's something that the more harm you do to your family, the more harm they do to you, your whole family suffers. And that's a really hard thing. And it's a hard cycle to break.

00:20:31.440 there's a connection with those people on whether we want it or not to a degree but I think that

00:20:43.720 your time is much better spent focusing on the the further your family tree goes back there may

00:20:50.900 be only a handful of your family who've passed that you knew personally and certainly having

00:20:55.900 that relationship and maintaining that with them when they're on the other side is very important

00:21:00.000 but there's hundreds and thousands of ancestors in your family tree and just because one of them

00:21:09.040 is was unfortunately not an honorable person or did bad things to their family doesn't mean that

00:21:16.060 that person's parents that person's parents parents aren't worthy of you honoring and spending that

00:21:22.200 time in ancestral worship about so you know put that person aside if you can't if you can't

00:21:29.380 reconcile the trauma that person's caused or the person they were. That's okay. It is what it is.

00:21:34.780 That's weird. They've woven for themselves. But I would urge that you don't let that cut you off

00:21:40.880 from that side of a family or from that branch of your ancestry. Because I think that when we look

00:21:48.640 back, chances are there are a lot more great ancestors that you have than abusive or dishonorable ones.

00:21:59.380 Jared Williams, we are absolutely accepting members. I am really sorry and frustrated to

00:22:20.020 hear that you have emailed people and they haven't gotten back to you. I hope there's

00:22:23.940 kind of a technical problem and not anything else but i promise you right now if you tell me who

00:22:30.500 you've reached out to or you send your email address on the side we will have for sure one

00:22:38.100 or more of our folk builders reach out to you uh this evening so you let us know over on the side

00:22:44.900 or if you want reach out to me personally matt flavel at runestone.org and i promise i will get

00:22:50.740 back to you and i'll make sure that somebody does get back to you like i said i'm very sorry that

00:22:54.580 happened and i'm glad you're still listening tonight and hopefully you'd still like to join

00:22:59.780 and be part of our family trey there is a folk builder near central montana ryan harlan is in

00:23:11.940 central montana and he would love to talk to you r harlan at runestone.org

00:23:19.620 hopefully uh mandy or someone can link that in the side for you

00:23:26.740 hey bo good to have you with us tonight

00:23:41.940 Okay. Ruben asks, how do the Hoffs work from the inside as far as structure and who does what? First, we absolutely do. It depends on what official leadership we have close to that Hoff. If we have Witten members, if we have Gothar, if we have folk builders.

00:24:04.720 like i said earlier we are pretty selective we don't like to get a hof unless we have

00:24:09.200 some you know hopefully multiple uh gothar lined up to be able to help run that place

00:24:16.480 our ordained gothar are in charge of the spiritual functioning at the hof certainly

00:24:22.800 and of making sure that the religious services go on well there they also are in charge of making

00:24:29.840 sure our folk builders are organized and doing their part our folk builders very often take a

00:24:36.160 lead in running events and doing logistics for events setting up the food distributions

00:24:43.920 setting up meals what we have at each one of our hoffs is a hoff manager and they're someone that

00:24:52.640 works with the bank account and the funds and make sure the bills get paid and it's financially

00:24:58.720 sound and projects are budgeted for at each of our hoffs we also at each of our hoffs have a hoff

00:25:05.440 historian that's been a little bit rocky start getting that all figured out but history is

00:25:10.160 important to us it's important to our folks we have a historian at each of the hoffs keeping track of

00:25:15.040 the history of that location the development of that hoff and of our folk in that area

00:25:21.040 and that's kind of how they work we have a lot of volunteers though and volunteers don't have 0.95

00:25:26.320 to be folk builders or go thar to be big parts of making those hofs work it takes a lot of folks

00:25:32.560 and a lot of people that don't have any title are the people that are there putting in the work 0.99

00:25:36.400 on repairs on maintenance on staffing any of our community interactions or any of our food

00:25:43.840 distributions got a whole lot of a whole lot of good folks that way and it depends what you have

00:25:48.960 in your area at your hof sometimes we've got we've got people in the afa with all different

00:25:53.680 backgrounds and all different skill sets luckily at odenshoff we have a lot of people in the trades

00:25:59.440 that are able to do electrical things do plumbing things do carpentry work so that's very fortunate

00:26:06.400 other places we may have people that are really good at grant writing or you know figuring out

00:26:13.680 resources as far as our food distribution or community interaction so we got different people

00:26:18.640 and we try to try to help everybody who wants to help have a place in a way that they can help make

00:26:23.680 those work i hope that gets what you're asking if not feel free to ask me something a little bit

00:26:28.000 more specific we got a got a visit here from my favorite human my beautiful daughter aubrey i think

00:26:37.120 she's sleepy it's getting a little bit late in the day for her but i love her very much and i'm

00:26:44.080 excited and she's certainly somebody i'm excited about celebrating the holidays with coming up here

00:26:50.000 and celebrating yule and and all those fun things she's starting to get old enough to where maybe

00:26:56.880 she'll have a little bit of memory about what we're doing but i appreciate her joining us 0.96

00:27:01.600 She's wiggly, so I'm going to let her go to her mama. 0.98

00:27:04.760 There you go. 1.00

00:27:18.880 Sorry, guys, for the dead air.

00:27:20.260 I'm just reading the comments over on the side.

00:27:22.000 Looks like we got a lot of you talking.

00:27:23.540 I'd like to see that, certainly.

00:27:29.060 All right.

00:27:30.020 And Eric, you are in Alberta. You are going to want to talk to, I'd like you to talk to Ryan Harlan, the gentleman that I mentioned earlier, who's in Montana.

00:27:49.300 But I'd also like you to talk to our go-fi, Joe Rosenic.

00:27:54.920 Hopefully somebody can link him over on the side and tell you his email address, jrosenic at runestone.org.

00:28:03.080 But he is in the process of moving to Idaho.

00:28:07.320 And either of those gentlemen, both of those gentlemen, would love to get you set up and help you connect with people.

00:28:14.080 I know that interacting across that border has been very difficult since all the COVID lockdowns, but we really want to build a stronger community in Canada.

00:28:24.660 And since our last call, we've had several Canadians express interest, wanting to get together and wanting to do something.

00:28:31.060 So please do reach out and we would love to see more happen in Alberta.

00:28:34.420 As a matter of fact, one of the people we spoke to in this last month about this was from Alberta.

00:28:44.080 jesse uh in north georgia you're in a you're in a decent spot if you're willing to drive a little

00:28:55.360 bit we're about to have new york's off down in uh central florida and uh we have thorshoff

00:29:01.920 up in north carolina so uh we got another uh one of our gothar trent east and he makes that drive

00:29:08.960 up to thorshoff pretty regularly so you may want to talk to trent maybe y'all can carpool maybe

00:29:13.520 y'all can figure something out but got plenty of people to connect you with in north georgia

00:29:21.920 ah obsidian skull what is the afa's position on heathen tribalism i would love to answer

00:29:29.520 that question i want to know a little bit more i want to understand what you're asking a little bit

00:29:34.640 and i'll throw this out here in the meantime

00:29:36.880 tribalism's gotten thrown around in us true circles a lot and it means different things

00:29:45.220 to different people so it's hard to address so yeah if you tell me what you mean by heathen

00:29:50.880 tribalism i will absolutely give you an answer on that

00:30:06.880 Folk builder James Ault is over there putting in work in the comments section.

00:30:14.120 James, I appreciate you getting everybody connected.

00:30:17.580 We've got great folk builders and AFA folks in this chat on the side

00:30:21.680 that really helped me out a lot by connecting you guys

00:30:25.020 and giving you help getting connected on the side.

00:30:28.720 And I appreciate you guys stepping up and doing that.

00:30:36.880 So, Eric asks, what's the proper way we can promote the AFA to possible future members?

00:30:57.060 It's a complicated question because it's not a one-size-fits-all answer.

00:31:01.320 I'd say the first and foremost, most important thing you can do. Make yourself a vision of success. Be happy. Look good. Live a good life. Be in good shape. Be successful. Try to be the best version of you that you can be.

00:31:22.800 and beyond that when you do that wear your hammer wear it out be proud of it that lets

00:31:29.880 other people know that you're also true and from there when people ask or when you have an

00:31:37.380 opportunity don't push them to join but push that the AFA and also true has made you a better person

00:31:46.180 and has been a part of your success, assuming that that's true.

00:31:50.960 I think that's the best thing you can do because you're a living

00:31:54.340 billboard for the Ask True Folk Assembly.

00:31:58.680 And it's made your life better and it's helped you to be the

00:32:01.940 you can be. That is the best way

00:32:06.100 you can sell the AFA to other people who are interested. The other thing I'd say is

00:32:10.400 don't shy away from the conversation. Very often it seems like

00:32:14.380 a really big topic and when somebody casually like oh nice hammer or it somehow comes up it's

00:32:21.160 very easy to brush it off and be like oh yeah cool thanks and walk off use those opportunities

00:32:26.480 you know say hey oh I appreciate that are you also true also true what's that let me tell you

00:32:33.200 let me tell you about the house true folk assembly and if they're interested tell them more and if

00:32:37.240 they're not don't push it let them know who you are and that you'd answer questions if they want

00:32:41.460 down the road. But that's the first thing I'd suggest. I'd also suggest that the most success

00:32:48.220 that you'll find is with friends and family and people you already know, as opposed to,

00:32:52.700 you know, going out on the street corner. Do that if you want. But I think you'll find success with

00:32:58.980 the people that know you, the people that trust you, and the people that you that you interact

00:33:04.020 with regularly. That's often, you know, maybe co-workers, friends, family. Those are the people

00:33:09.380 I'd suggest reaching out to first. Anthony asks, with the environment these days, do the

00:33:25.600 Hoffs have issues with vandalism? No, we've been very, very fortunate. We have had very

00:33:35.440 few incidents of any kind of vandalism. Not a lot of damage. We did have early on years

00:33:44.880 ago some vandalism at Odenshof, but it was homeless people that appear to have a drug

00:33:51.080 problem broke in, and I think they stole a ham and some sardines. But we haven't experienced

00:33:57.500 a lot of vandalism. We've been very fortunate. We do our best to be insured properly, and

00:34:03.280 we do our best to have cameras and security systems set up at our house to take care of

00:34:09.820 our responsibility to keep those sacred places safe and protected. And I think we've think

00:34:16.600 we've earned some good favor and some blessings of our gods that they've looked out in. And

00:34:21.600 we've been very fortunate so far not to have vandalisms at our house. We have had people

00:34:27.180 on the other team that have threatened vandalism. The left threatens violent things with impunity

00:34:36.980 a lot. But so far, we've been very fortunate and haven't experienced that.

00:34:57.180 See, look, we've got another Albertan for you right now.

00:35:15.420 It's two on this live chat.

00:35:18.420 That's great.

00:35:19.020 I hope you guys can get connected.

00:35:20.260 um as far as western montana versus central montana i don't think we have that big of

00:35:29.860 montana coverage right now ryan is our guy for the entire state but he will do his best to to

00:35:36.480 get you connected with other people that we have there and you know it's a big state but

00:35:41.900 i don't think it's too big to to make that connection work out

00:35:44.920 So, Yamnaya, Kimbry, we, Ohio is one of our densest populated, most active AFA states.

00:36:06.180 It is one of the hottest places right now for AFA activity and AFA growth and AFA folk builders.

00:36:12.960 we've got four folk builders in ohio right now so if they've the austro folk assembly was there

00:36:23.360 um hopefully mandy can link them in the side but uh christian williams joe drotos jessica

00:36:32.080 lambert and tim dumas are all folk building in your state and they're doing great things

00:36:37.760 so you are in a really good spot to get involved if you'd like to

00:36:42.400 Thank you.

00:37:12.380 be appreciated if you wanted to send in articles and thanks for the rune stone art is always

00:37:17.740 welcome we love art we need art um still waiting on some some contributions for the uh

00:37:27.180 art for aegil um contest that we're running for pictures of aegil uh skylar gremson

00:37:35.340 uh before his day of remembrance that's coming up here on the ninth

00:37:39.260 but the piece you submitted is really cool i like it a lot but yeah articles and art are always

00:37:45.340 welcome we do look them over and it may not be the right thing for that issue so don't get hurt

00:37:50.620 and offended if it doesn't make it in but yeah we'd love uh contributions that way so send those to

00:37:59.820 runestone press at runestone.org

00:38:08.540 I'm glad to see our Albertans getting together over on the side.

00:38:15.360 That's really cool.

00:38:21.740 I'd have to look at a map.

00:38:24.500 I'm sorry, our Ohio person's asking if we got folks near Cincinnati.

00:38:30.400 I'm pulling up my handy-dandy AFA member map here.

00:38:33.960 Yes, we've got tons of people in the Cincinnati area.

00:38:36.760 I'm looking at, like, 20 folks right now real close in and around Cincinnati.

00:38:41.540 So folks, they can get you connected and get you all set up.

00:38:54.100 Ruben, as far as a virtual moot, we like to do stuff in real life and get together, but we do.

00:39:00.760 And we're looking for chat opportunities for folks to get together on regional phone calls, regional meetings.

00:39:05.780 i know some of our places do that regularly i'm not sure where you're joining us from tonight but

00:39:13.120 your local folk builder may be very interested in having those kind of calls um like i said we have

00:39:18.560 a lot of those going on um so yeah reach out to your local folk builder and if it's something

00:39:23.240 you'd be interested in suggest that and if something you'd be willing to to host or be a

00:39:28.360 part of i'm sure they'd be happy to happy to try to get that going for you i know we've got people

00:39:33.560 that are spread out and sometimes it's harder to get together with people in person than we'd like

00:39:39.480 it to be. So I think that's a really good idea. We got a lot of good technological resources that

00:39:44.720 we can use to keep ourselves close together and to keep that family feeling going. So please do

00:39:51.140 reach out to your local folk builder. He or she would be very happy to help you.

00:40:03.560 um so we got a question how should we try and relate to universalists i'm unsure of the proper

00:40:25.720 things to say um i don't it's very tempting to just give a flip response to that and i don't

00:40:34.440 i don't mean this harshly or the way it comes off um i think in order to understand that

00:40:41.960 the first big thing is why are we relating to using universalists is there somebody you know

00:40:48.200 that has questions or that's questioning whether or not they should stay universalist or become

00:40:54.600 folkish because i think the answers are really different i think in general when i've encountered

00:41:00.040 universalists certainly in the last several years i haven't found them really wanting a dialogue i

00:41:06.600 haven't found them really wanting to come to understanding i found them just to be hostile

00:41:10.760 to what we do because their worldview is so different one of the things that's gone on in

00:41:16.120 politics and everything certainly in the west in the last i don't know five or six years has been

00:41:23.880 this erosion of the middle to where everybody's polarized into dramatically different extremes

00:41:31.320 and so i think relating to universalists i would advise that you have a good reason to on what

00:41:39.160 you're trying to accomplish and if they're coming to you and they're wanting to explore your beliefs

00:41:44.920 i would relate to them proud of who you are and what you believe in i wouldn't start um feeling

00:41:50.600 you need to justify yourself or to qualify what you're saying or to get on the defensive no we're

00:41:57.560 not doing anything wrong be proud of who you are and what you believe and approach them with that

00:42:03.480 in mind not aggressively but just proud of who you are and proud of what you stand for because we're

00:42:09.160 not doing anything wrong we're doing the right things if they have questions be open and honest

00:42:13.720 and answer them truthfully i think we also get in trouble when we hem and haw about our answers

00:42:19.560 because we know they may not be politically correct or the universalist may not like them.

00:42:24.880 Be open and be honest. And you'll find even universalists, a lot of them will respect

00:42:29.200 honesty. But I'd encourage you to do that. Pick your battles. I don't think it's worth a lot of

00:42:36.440 fussing and fighting with people that have no interest in having a serious dialogue. If they're

00:42:42.560 just set on being insulting, then I wouldn't engage them. But if you do, like I said, be proud,

00:42:49.120 Stand up for who you are, what you believe, and express those things boldly and straightforwardly.

00:43:19.120 I think some folks are on the side. Joel's making a really good point.

00:43:26.720 As far as to spread the message of Ausitru, if you're a successful person and you show symbols of your faith, you wear your hammer, you do Ausitru things, you talk about your faith, it draws people to you.

00:43:41.640 Success attracts success and people want to be with winners.

00:43:45.440 if you are successful and you make your life better and that's the thing don't get caught up

00:43:51.300 thinking that you need to you need to be here but you're here worry about where you were versus

00:43:58.280 where you are we're all going to be at different levels but if you are the best you've ever been

00:44:03.340 if you're the best version of you that you can be or you're working towards it that success and that

00:44:09.740 positive trajectory it's attractive to people they want to know what you've got they want to

00:44:14.600 be part of what you got. They want to stand in your shine. So if you can use that to bring

00:44:20.300 people towards Ausatru, that's fantastic. And it's a good service for your folk and for your gods.

00:44:24.980 so i was assuming with the universalist question that we were talking about um you know

00:44:50.180 know white universalists if we're not if we're talking about different people from different

00:44:56.560 backgrounds that are universalist if they're uh people that are wondering about you know why we're

00:45:02.620 folkish and they're uh they're african or or asian or whatever they might be a good point is to point

00:45:11.480 out that all races of people have their own indigenous faiths and their own indigenous folk

00:45:18.240 religions and celebrate those encourage them to look into those encourage them to embrace those

00:45:24.480 there's a lot of really great ones out there not for me they're not for us but they certainly are

00:45:29.040 for their people and that's a good way to keep the conversation positive but express you know where

00:45:36.800 we're coming from in a way that they can relate to and that in their own way they can participate

00:45:41.120 in a way that's relevant to their ancestors.

00:45:54.120 So we get the vaccine question a lot.

00:45:58.120 I wish that I could tell you that the AFA issues religious exemptions for vaccine mandates.

00:46:06.120 We don't.

00:46:07.120 And we've talked this over with our lawyer.

00:46:09.120 I'll tell you the reason that we don't is because the issue of this vaccine is a political one, and while the vast majority of us, myself included, don't want to get the vaccination, don't believe it's good, believe this vaccination for this disease implemented by these particular regimes is all bad.

00:46:35.300 But in order to issue a religious exemption, we have to do it on principle.

00:46:40.380 And in order to do it for the vaccine, we would have to believe that vaccination is bad.

00:46:46.040 And we don't. There's a lot of vaccinations that are really good under the right circumstance with the right disease that we all believe in the severity of and a vaccine that we trusted by administrations that we trust.

00:47:00.520 You know, many of us would absolutely be for that vaccine.

00:47:04.360 The issue is this vaccine for this disease at this time. And so it's a really hard thing. I want you to know that myself and the members of AFA leadership fight the same struggle you do. We're not pro this thing, most of us.

00:47:19.580 But we take the religious exemption super seriously because we only want to use that when we can defend it and justify it on the right principles so that it stands up and so that when the AFA issues a religious exemption it's respected.

00:47:36.580 That said, there's a lot of options depending on where you're at. Many states and many places, you don't need a note from your church. You just need to demonstrate that this is a strongly held belief that you have.

00:47:49.540 There's a lot of ways around it.

00:47:51.380 So I'd encourage you to look into that locally and to ask local people who have the same concern about vaccines, local AFA people, because a lot of our members and some of our leadership have had to do that.

00:48:02.860 And we'd certainly help talk to you, you know, talk you through the process or help you find resources.

00:48:08.620 Like I say, I would love to be more helpful on it because we're absolutely at least I'm absolutely with you in spirit on it.

00:48:18.740 Um, you know what, that's a fair question, Jesse, I asked him about we

00:48:41.700 strange. A lot of folks in their 20s, weed isn't a big deal. It never has been a big deal in your

00:48:55.660 lifetime. Since you've been an adult, it's been legal a lot of places. There's a lot of us that

00:49:02.740 grew up, weed is the devil's weed. It's the most evil thing. It's a gateway drug. It's going to

00:49:09.180 ruin your life. It's going to do all this stuff. A lot of that turns out to be overblown. But a lot

00:49:15.800 of us still associate it with degeneracy and a bad culture. And a lot of people don't. The AFA

00:49:22.460 doesn't have a weed policy other than we try to be respectful to parents and how they're trying 1.00

00:49:29.720 raise their kids um we would encourage that you don't do a bunch of weed around afa children and

00:49:40.920 families um you're an adult and if it's legal where you're at then you know we we don't have

00:49:46.120 any any sweeping condemnation of it i don't want to get on it that way the biggest thing like i said

00:49:52.120 our biggest concern about it is we don't want to disrupt what parents are trying to teach their

00:49:57.720 children and we want to be respectful of that and that's all if you smoke weed then cool i hope it

00:50:02.740 helps you i hope it's you know getting you what you want from it in a productive way but like i

00:50:08.880 said just do please be mindful if you're at afa events shoot be mindful in general of other

00:50:14.220 people's kids and you know we don't want you blowing weed clouds on them and we also don't

00:50:20.560 want you sending a mixed message of maybe what their parents are trying to teach them do keep

00:50:25.220 in mind that a lot of those kids' parents were raised maybe very differently than you

00:50:28.680 when it comes to their concerns about weed.

00:50:37.960 Giga Squid, how do I feel about groups like NSM?

00:50:49.340 I feel that a lot of, it's hard because you can't paint,

00:50:53.340 you can't paint all of the groups on the far right end of the spectrum as with one brush

00:51:02.220 a lot of different people a lot of different groups with a lot of different ideologies the

00:51:07.680 only groups whose ideologies i'm ready to go out here and fully endorse is the austro folk assembly

00:51:13.360 um i think it's great for people to be politically active as long as they're politically active in a

00:51:21.360 legal way. But I think that fetishism of different movements of the past isn't helpful. I think it's

00:51:30.720 more divisive than it is helpful in building something for today. I think that needless

00:51:39.640 shock value and extremism in a way that's going to scare normal people is not effective and not

00:51:50.260 helpful. I don't think it does anything to bring your cause forward. I think it just sets other

00:51:55.960 people who may agree with you on a lot of points. It sets everyone back when you scare people with

00:52:02.860 whatever your LARP might be. If it's Nazi dress up or if it's Viking dress up. If it's dress up

00:52:11.540 like something scary in the past, I don't think that's necessary to push good values in today's

00:52:18.080 world so i think there's a there's a wide spectrum there and i can't talk you know i'm not knowledgeable

00:52:22.720 enough about nsm to have a lot to say about them but what i've seen i don't think that's helpful

00:52:30.400 for what we're trying to do i think there may be some good intentioned people i think there's bad

00:52:34.480 intention people too the other thing to look out for in groups like that i'd say and you know we

00:52:41.840 we run into this, anybody who tends to be politically right runs into this is folks that

00:52:48.380 are just out for shock value and just out to be contrarian. Some of the most extreme right-wing

00:52:54.580 people right now are extreme that way because that's the edgy thing to do. And if we were living

00:53:00.500 in the society they say they want, they'd be extreme communists or extreme lefties in this

00:53:05.320 way or that way. They would find whatever is counterculture, and their point isn't really

00:53:09.800 about positive values they support as much as much as it's about rebelling against whatever's

00:53:15.000 currently in vogue. So look out for those kind of folks. That's about the best I could say in

00:53:20.680 a general way about that question.

00:53:39.800 a little bit behind on the questions guys you guys have been awesome with having stuff to talk

00:53:54.600 about tonight the hours this is me um but yeah it's been a really good chat tonight on the side

00:54:01.840 it looks like sorry guys I know there's dead air while I'm reading over here on the side

00:54:29.400 But like I said, it is a very good conversation.

00:54:52.400 OK, so Jesse asks a follow up to the vaccine question that people do bring up.

00:54:58.400 Because there's an element that does affect or have to do with DNA in some way, he wants to know if we would object to that.

00:55:07.820 And then the question that we've had behind the scenes is, would we in all circumstances?

00:55:15.920 If we retroactively decide we want to make an exemption for this vaccine and then we look for reasons, we can find something and we can make something up and come up with something.

00:55:27.380 but that's wrongheaded and it's not an honest way to deal with it. I say it's wrongheaded.

00:55:31.540 I don't mean that. I understand. We feel that for the AFA, it's the wrong way to go about it.

00:55:38.660 We want to base it on actual and sincere principle and not on trying to justify a specific particular

00:55:46.500 case. And it's important on how we do policy and how we make any of these stands that we don't

00:55:52.660 make them based on every new specific thing but that we're on solid principles that are timeless

00:55:57.860 and that's how our exemptions are going to stand up in courts and in society to have value

00:56:04.340 if there was a dna altering you know something that messed with some part of the dna that could

00:56:09.060 eliminate down syndrome or eliminate spina bifida or make it to where none of our children

00:56:15.540 could possibly be you know mentally handicapped or crippled in other ways would we object to that

00:56:21.780 I think most of a lot of us wouldn't, you know, if we could have something that if we could take some kind of a vaccine that messes with DNA that can ensure that you'd never have Alzheimer's or dementia, would we be opposed to that?

00:56:36.420 I wouldn't. So there's a lot of cases that a great many of us would be OK with that.

00:56:43.800 Now, if that's a personally held belief of yours, that's sincere, then again, please absolutely state that and write that in an effective way to your employer or whoever's trying to mandate that you take a shot.

00:56:56.360 And I hope that works out if that's what you believe.

00:56:59.060 But we've we've run that. And to be honest, there's a lot of cases to where something did affect genes in a way that eliminated some really terrible stuff from our folk.

00:57:11.060 We'd probably be in support of that, or at least a lot of us would individually.

00:57:15.060 And I'd say Jesse you alter your blood all the time by choosing who you procreate with

00:57:28.300 by choosing who you have children with by making those choices by advising who your

00:57:33.640 children have children with think we make choices all the time to.

00:57:42.040 protect or get the best situation that we can to affect our bloodline and i'm not i'm not advocating

00:57:50.120 for dna-based medical stuff honestly i'm not a doctor and i can't talk educatedly on it

00:57:56.520 but that was our thought process about that

00:58:05.000 good question mary mary asks what the afa's position on abortion is

00:58:12.040 So the AFA's position on abortion, just to start with, is what most everyone's position

00:58:25.260 on abortion was until very recently.

00:58:28.000 Abortion is bad.

00:58:30.840 Now, sometimes it's the best of a lot of bad options.

00:58:36.760 and during most of our lifetimes that was the discussion we live in an age today that's been

00:58:45.420 shocking to where within the last couple of years we have deranged people on the political left that

00:58:52.820 celebrate abortion and literally are in the streets celebrating the killing of babies 0.94

00:59:00.720 And that is disgusting and evil.

00:59:06.720 But the AFA's position is to give families the leeway to make decisions that are best for their family.

00:59:17.720 We can conceive of a number of situations where an abortion might make sense.

00:59:24.720 There's a lot of medical circumstances where it may make sense either for the potential child

00:59:34.080 or for the mother. There's times where there's situations where I can see families making that

00:59:46.400 choice and we want to give them the space to make those decisions for their family.

00:59:51.200 But in no way does the AFA support the cheapening of life or the celebration of killing babies.

00:59:58.200 It is always bad.

01:00:03.200 Sometimes it is the least bad of two options, but it is always bad.

01:00:09.200 always bad. And I feel very sad for families that are put in a position to make that choice.

01:00:18.860 Or to choose between two things that are that magnitude of bad. And I know that despite

01:00:26.380 the left celebrating it, folks that have gone through that and have made those choices choices

01:00:32.480 have consequences on those families and those people for the rest of their lives. So the

01:00:38.240 The AFA is, you know, though we are tolerant, we understand families need to do what families

01:00:42.200 need to do, and we don't pry into it.

01:00:46.600 It's always a bad thing.

01:00:50.060 And we don't ever want to get that line twisted that killing babies is ever good.

01:00:54.360 It's not.

01:00:55.360 But that's where our stance is.

01:01:02.480 So you guys asked about groups like NSM

01:01:30.840 And we have a guy on the side that's making a very good point.

01:01:37.840 A lot of the more extreme groups that are more overt with very extreme things, sometimes those groups have agent provocateurs, not this guy.

01:01:51.920 I know that we all run into these people that everybody they don't like is a fed.

01:01:55.620 But there are folks that infiltrate some of these groups, and we have seen in the past that they try to lead these groups in very dangerous directions and lead individuals within those groups to make very bad choices that mess up the entire rest of their lives and can wind them in a lot of trouble.

01:02:19.680 Do be aware that that is a possibility in some of these more extreme groups, especially if anyone in that group advocates any form of illegality or pushing that line towards accelerationism.

01:02:32.680 Please be very aware of that and stay away from that.

01:02:49.680 Tyler, I answered your questions. I answered them. I'm glad that you showed up on this. I answered them at the beginning of the hour. You should, if you listen to this tomorrow, it should be in the first five or 10 minutes. I did my best to answer your questions. This is the gentleman that asked about the Latter-day Saints and our relationship with family after they pass.

01:03:12.600 so please listen to that and if you have any follow-up questions please email me and i will

01:03:17.400 talk to you about them tomorrow or i'll address them next month or whatever you'd like and thank

01:03:21.560 you for emailing me that and asking that question so ryan's asking if we're going to get more afa

01:03:33.000 hats more afa stuff in stock soon we are working on our store and our merchandise

01:03:40.440 i don't want to lie and say soon when i don't know we are working on getting some more of that stuff

01:03:45.240 set up um we've got some actual afa members that want to be involved in the production of those

01:03:50.120 kind of products and so we are working on it it's going slower than i'd like can't promise

01:03:56.360 when we'll have more afa stuff in stock we're always going to have books in stock we've got

01:04:01.240 calendars a little for next year that'll be in stock very soon um as far as hats and clothing

01:04:07.640 It's a little bit harder because you get those in different sizes and you end up with a lot

01:04:12.440 of back inventory that doesn't move and a lot of waste.

01:04:15.640 So we're trying to resolve that right now.

01:04:32.680 Eric, we absolutely have flags on the website.

01:04:37.640 Sorry, guys, again, I'm catching up over here on the side.

01:05:07.640 I have not seen that show. I did hear about it. It's ridiculous and it's offensive. I think

01:05:25.700 anything where you deliberately misportray real people that existed is a slap in the face to

01:05:31.380 actual people that lived an actual life. Those shows are silly, but I've always felt this way. 0.86

01:05:39.860 I don't think that time and space within how long ago in history something happened 0.88

01:05:47.400 makes a person and personal dignity and personal reputation any less serious or any less important.

01:05:56.060 And it's just as important for me to make sure that my father or someone I knew once they've passed is accurate, accurately represented.

01:06:08.240 When we talk about military folks who have done done their service, anybody who falsely claims things that they didn't do and does stolen valor is absolutely unacceptable to most anybody, most anywhere.

01:06:21.680 I think when you go back in history and you deliberately misrepresent a real person that lived and did things, it's shameful.

01:06:30.580 And I think when you misrepresent a culture like that to try to make it conform to today's political correctness, it does a disservice to everyone who doesn't know better, who watches it, and it starts teaching people things that aren't true.

01:06:45.900 I think lying to our children and I think lying to people about our history is a shame to all the people who've come before us.

01:07:15.900 Mm-hmm.

01:07:45.900 Guys, I'm just checking any last minute stuff here.

01:07:48.220 Let's get some last questions in if you have them.

01:07:51.620 I'm not in a big rush, but we are coming, you know, it's been a little bit over an hour now.

01:07:56.320 So I'm going to look and see what other stuff we have, answer anything in there.

01:07:59.480 And if you guys have any last questions, please go ahead and throw those in.

01:08:12.500 Gigasquid.

01:08:15.900 and want it to become an afa i think that sounds amazing i'd love to hear more about that

01:08:24.400 um if you could message me on the side send me a message at matt flavel at runestone.org

01:08:31.400 if you're serious about that i would love to talk to you about that

01:08:45.900 Uh, Jesse is asking about an obscure Christian sect that only believe that whites are eligible to enter in heaven and wants to know if the AFA would like to interact with those folks. Depends in what way.

01:09:00.260 Um, we certainly are advocates for our folk, but Christianity is fundamentally, you know, opposed to our faith, opposed to our values, opposed to our gods, and opposed to everything that we're that we're about, I'd certainly be willing to talk to anybody. 0.57

01:09:18.960 And if there's some point of commonality we can work on, I have the conversation. 0.95

01:09:24.520 I'm just not sure what kind of kind of form that would take.

01:09:31.380 That sounds like a very strange version of Christianity, but I'm open to talking with just about anybody and seeing where commonalities lie.

01:09:48.960 um

01:10:09.120 um charles asks how do i feel the afa compares with native american tribal organizations

01:10:16.960 It's a broad question. I'm not sure in what aspect. I think that first, it's not monolithic. Tribal organizations in North America are very, very different depending on what part of the continent they're in and what their specific traditions are.

01:10:43.100 um i think there's a lot of things we have in common i think there's respect for ancestry and

01:10:49.940 for tradition and history we have in common there's a respect for our folk and our people

01:10:56.320 and our nation that we have in common that they have uh you know for theirs as well

01:11:01.040 um i think in a lot of ways their veneration and their appreciation of the natural world

01:11:08.620 coincides with ours i think in a lot of ways it differs as far as their organizational structure

01:11:15.020 they're much more fortunate than us in the sense that they have autonomy for lands and in space

01:11:22.460 and reservations in alaska they have native corporations that are very successful with

01:11:28.380 payouts from the government so they're an entirely different reality that way but i think the core

01:11:33.580 principles about them being an indigenous faith overlap with us in a lot of ways

01:11:45.100 upcoming food drives there's always food drives we distribute food from each of our three hoffs

01:11:50.380 every single month so if you want to get involved in that um we have odenshoff in brownsville

01:11:57.980 california we have thorshoff in linden north carolina and baldershoff in murdoch minnesota

01:12:04.140 and they are involved in distribution of food every single month

01:12:10.620 how do i spell my email m-a-t-t-f-l-a-v-e-l at runestone r-u-n-e-s-t-o-n-e dot o-r-g

01:12:23.980 um in a way kindreds are like tribes i'd say more they're like families i'd say a tribe

01:12:40.020 tends to be a much bigger unit more like the afa as a whole i think the closest thing that

01:12:45.340 kindreds are similar to uh is congregations afa kindreds are local groups of afa worshipers

01:12:52.960 but hopefully those kindreds come together into tribes and families and that's the biggest thing

01:13:00.540 in the in the time that we're in is considering the entire afa to be our our big tribe our big

01:13:05.780 family and building those kind of bonds along those lines i think

01:13:10.000 all right talk tonight i really enjoy talking with you guys i hope you guys have an amazing

01:13:37.240 Yule. I hope that 2021 has been amazing for you guys. And I hope that 2022 will be even better.

01:13:46.320 And I look forward to talking to you guys in January. Hail the gods, hail the folk, hail the AFA.

Asatru Folk Assembly - December 03, 2021

December 2021 Live Discussion

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