Asatru Folk Assembly - February 2021 Live Chat

00:00:00.000 Hello, folks, joining me tonight. I appreciate you guys spending the evening with me here.

00:00:21.120 Got a couple folks already reaching out a little bit over in the side chat.

00:00:27.340 Joel asks if there's a date set

00:00:31.020 for the dedication of Baldershoff yet

00:00:32.940 there is

00:00:34.760 contact your local folk builder

00:00:38.140 actually contact Brandy Callahan

00:00:40.260 and she can get you the information

00:00:41.600 we're not being super public

00:00:44.300 about that date right now

00:00:45.760 just because of all of the

00:00:48.340 I don't know

00:00:50.580 all of the hate we're getting

00:00:52.120 from various fake news sources

00:00:54.580 about it

00:00:55.180 so we want to

00:00:57.340 i don't know not invite undue attention on that but yeah we're making great progress we're getting

00:01:03.580 set very soon to open to have the grand opening of Baldur's Hoff and the dedication our people

00:01:09.180 out there put in amazing amazing work done beautiful things with that place we're very excited about

00:01:15.420 that um Mary you are very welcome uh folks that may not know okay so we've got a couple of

00:01:25.820 a lot of topics tonight actually um

00:01:31.740 mary on the side mentions uh thanks to everybody who posted pictures on vk some of you may or may

00:01:36.860 not know but there was a a massive uh purge by various uh left-wing and mainstream social media

00:01:47.900 earlier this month that found the afa and many other um groups that are not subscribing to a

00:01:56.940 leftist worldview uh d platform so the astro folk assembly was was kicked off of uh facebook

00:02:03.740 as well as instagram um we did not violate any of their community standards

00:02:09.340 but there is a there's a purge going on in this country uh on social media and in the public

00:02:18.560 square and unfortunately that hit us uh last month so is what it is youtube is a very good

00:02:26.300 outlet for us right now we're exploring a lot of other options we're looking forward to getting

00:02:30.500 back involved with parlor when parlor opens back up but in the meantime we've been very active on

00:02:35.500 vk uh working on our page establishing the pages for our house there and you know getting right

00:02:42.380 back to what we do so i appreciate you guys bearing with us on that um also uh this last

00:02:52.780 month we had the regional event thor fest in colorado and that's a four corners region

00:03:01.100 regional event. And that was really nice. That's always a very nice event. Jason Plurd,

00:03:09.980 the folk builder for that area, has put this on for three years now. And it's always a very nice

00:03:17.420 time. It's a very friendly, intimate atmosphere to get to know members and folks in that area.

00:03:23.820 I've enjoyed it every year so far. I'm looking forward to going back next year.

00:03:26.860 But, yeah, thanks, Jason, for hosting that and making that such a success.

00:03:33.420 Also, this coming weekend, we have the first AFA national event in the Northwest in several years now.

00:03:44.160 So we've got that going on.

00:03:46.160 Charming of the Plow in Washington State.

00:03:49.280 Joe Rosenich is taking the lead in hosting that, our folk builder up in that area.

00:03:55.280 and he's got some great help by the leadership up that way and I'm looking very excited to that.

00:04:00.180 I'm going to drive up that way probably on Thursday and I'm looking forward to seeing as

00:04:04.020 many of you as can possibly make that event. If you have any last minute folks that want to go,

00:04:08.980 do reach out to Joe Rosenich. Hopefully Mandy can link him up in the side chat there.

00:04:14.680 hey Michaela great I'm glad that you reached out to your folk builder

00:04:24.680 I'm sure they will get back to you um and I hope that moves forward really

00:04:29.580 really well I really appreciate your interest I'm glad you're here tonight

00:04:32.740 all right well uh there it is there's the link for Joe over there inside anybody

00:04:44.660 wanting to go to Charming of the Plow or anybody who's interested that finds themselves in British

00:04:49.760 Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Montana, or Idaho, please do reach out to Joe Rosenic over

00:04:57.460 on the side and he would love to get you connected. Yeah, so that brings us up on a

00:05:06.120 couple of things. One thing that I did want to talk with folks tonight about a little bit is,

00:05:11.880 And while I do this, if we can get folks with questions or whatever they want to ask on the side, we'll get that all set up.

00:05:19.540 And I'd be happy to answer any of you guys' questions.

00:05:22.500 But in the meantime, I wanted to touch a little bit on Ausitru and relationships.

00:05:31.540 Relationship building is the fundamental bedrock that Ausitru is based on.

00:05:36.340 and I want to try to help folks understand that because I think it's really important.

00:05:44.940 Everything that we do is based upon relationships, our ritual structure, our bloats. It's all part

00:05:52.980 of a gifting cycle with the gods and our interactions with each other are part of a

00:05:58.820 gifting cycle with our folk. That was always the essential day to Ausitru is valuing

00:06:05.820 your life and yourself by your position in your community, by what you brought to your community,

00:06:11.660 by what worth you had amongst your folk. And we do that as the Ausatru Folk Assembly with

00:06:17.740 establishing our worth before the gods. And that's all about relationship building.

00:06:25.100 Ausatru doesn't mean belief in the gods. It doesn't mean knowing a lot of

00:06:30.860 facts about the gods, but it means troth with, it means loyalty to the Aesir.

00:06:39.340 And you build that through relationships.

00:06:43.640 And, you know, we get a lot of, I hear from a lot of folks wondering how to get started. And

00:06:48.280 they're very concerned about how to perform a bloat or to make sure they're doing it right.

00:06:53.280 Or how do you pray in house of truth?

00:06:56.400 And I really appreciate the sentiment.

00:07:01.180 I really appreciate the sincere concern by those new people.

00:07:04.600 But I want to allay some of that fear and concern.

00:07:08.640 And I want to say that it's about making that effort.

00:07:15.580 And it's about opening yourself up to the divine.

00:07:17.920 And it's about putting the best intentions forward and letting good things happen because of it.

00:07:31.380 It's beyond our understanding to fully grasp every bit of the gods.

00:07:36.400 As we grow as Ausatruar, we come to know them better.

00:07:40.140 But our human mind will never comprehend all of the depth and breadth of divinity.

00:07:46.760 Now, hopefully we comprehend much more of it by the time we pass through the veil than we have right now.

00:07:53.500 But the very least we can do, the very first step we can do, and I don't think this is insulting.

00:08:01.160 I think this is genuine.

00:08:04.620 Is to use the basis of everything we have for empathy and for understanding as people.

00:08:09.820 We put ourselves in their situation.

00:08:12.580 We imagine our gods not simply as people, but as the very best people.

00:08:20.220 And we work from there in our understanding.

00:08:23.280 Now, if that's the case, how would you feel if you had folks genuinely reach out to you?

00:08:35.540 Or how would you feel when you're one of the ancestors and your descendants reach out to you?

00:08:40.420 Would you be more concerned that they followed a formula or that they read a script or that they were super knowledgeable in your life?

00:08:48.040 Or would you genuinely appreciate them coming with an open heart and doing their best and opening up and just reaching out to you and telling you how much they care and how much they want to get to know you?

00:09:01.400 And I think the answer is the latter and not the former.

00:09:03.920 If you think how you are as a person when you're approached, do you have a relationship with

00:09:11.200 someone who stalks you and knows all about your life and knows about your credit history and

00:09:16.840 whatever else? Or to somebody who reaches out a hand, who gives you a hug, who shares a meal with

00:09:22.900 you, and who genuinely cares about getting to know you and building a relationship? And that may sound

00:09:28.700 silly, but I think we need to approach Ausatru in the same way. It's not that we shouldn't develop

00:09:34.160 deep understanding of the gods and we shouldn't study things. Of course we should. But the most

00:09:39.640 important thing is going out there and actually doing Ausatru, actually practicing our faith,

00:09:46.080 actually building relationships. And the same goes with the folk. I hear a lot of people that

00:09:51.860 say, you know, they'll proudly talk about how they're individual practitioners.

00:09:57.260 And that's not something to be, it's not something to be proud of.

00:10:03.640 One can certainly individually practice Ausitru, but you're missing out on so much of it if you do.

00:10:10.640 It's certainly better than nothing, but Ausitru is about those relationships you build with your community, with your ancestors, and with your gods.

00:10:18.760 And I think that's really important.

00:10:24.020 So I'm looking, what kind of questions do we have tonight?

00:10:26.860 what do you guys want to talk about? Mary, I see you over on the side asking about virtual

00:10:41.980 gatherings. Certainly, folks can have Zoom meetings and Zoom interactions.

00:10:48.780 And with COVID restrictions, it has been more difficult, but we've been hosting our gatherings

00:10:54.780 where we can, in our own homes, in places where we're able to be outside and certainly at our

00:11:00.540 Hoffs. And we've hosted those unaffected by the COVID precautions this whole year,

00:11:08.300 which has been a real blessing. I really encourage you to try to come out and meet

00:11:13.260 with people in real life because it's still going on right now. But if folks in your region or if

00:11:20.380 your folk builders want to help set up a Zoom call with people in your region, I think that's

00:11:24.620 a great idea as well to bring people together.

00:11:50.300 I like that interdependence is better than independence.

00:11:55.420 We've spent so much time thinking about being strong individuals, which is very important.

00:12:01.580 But we need to come together and have strong individuals form a strong community.

00:12:05.980 And that's what the AFA has done so beautifully. And that's what anyone who hasn't taken part in

00:12:10.300 that yet, I really hope you come to join us and be part of that because we're building something

00:12:15.420 very beautiful. All right, James. So just started this last month. We're only one month into it.

00:12:26.140 For the very first time, we have an adult introduction to Ausatru and the Ausatru Folk

00:12:31.900 Assembly class. And people are really enjoying that, really diving in and participating. That's

00:12:38.840 something that one of our folk builders, Brandy Callahan, is running, and she's doing a great job 0.99

00:12:43.880 with it. It's not just a telling you about Oustatru, but it's very much interactive and

00:12:53.320 asking questions and getting you to think and to process on the lore a little bit and about our

00:13:00.920 worldview and to kind of come to understand what the AFA is about, how we do things, and to get a

00:13:07.080 better understanding of Oustatru itself. And this is for anybody that just wants to bone up on some

00:13:12.540 things or for brand new people to kind of find their way into what we're doing. So if you're

00:13:18.300 interested in that, Brandy Callahan is the one to talk to, and hopefully Mandy can throw up her

00:13:24.540 email address on the side.

00:13:35.040 And you guys are right over on the side. We definitely take strength from one another.

00:13:39.320 That's one of the most important things about community is that we get to benefit from each other's strength.

00:13:46.440 There's something very magical that happens when we gather in community, especially when we do it in a sacred context and as a faithful people under the sight of our gods.

00:13:59.120 When we gather together to practice ausiture, when we gather together as our AFA family, we're more than the sum of our parts.

00:14:08.820 something happens that our value isn't just, you know, if there's five of us, it's not just one

00:14:15.500 plus one plus one plus one plus one. There's an X factor there that makes us so much better than

00:14:22.420 we would be just as individuals. And it's hard to explain that if you haven't participated in it,

00:14:28.220 but it's palpable. You can feel it. And so, yeah, I really do encourage everyone to come out and be

00:14:34.580 part of this. Sherrilyn, absolutely. Our apprentice folk builders and folk builders

00:14:44.580 are absolutely the tip of the spear. They're the ones out there laying the groundwork for real life

00:14:50.460 interaction, real life meeting, and for the beginnings and maintenance of that community

00:14:55.500 that we talk about. A lot of folks, you know, wonder how things work and, you know, imagine

00:15:00.740 some sort of AFA genie that can conjure up AFA events places. It doesn't work that way. I really

00:15:08.740 wish I had those powers, but I don't. If AFA things happen in your area, it's because men and women

00:15:16.100 have stepped up to volunteer to lead those endeavors, to make those things happen, to host

00:15:20.900 meetups, to gather people together, sometimes at their home, sometimes at a restaurant,

00:15:26.900 sometimes for a hike. It's an interesting question, Nathan.

00:15:49.920 I'm not sure how this looks on the other end and if you guys see questions, but Nathan asked,

00:15:54.820 What does it mean that Thor's hammer was won and forged through Loki and the Jotuns?

00:15:59.820 Does that show us that power is realized through the interaction of order and chaos? 0.99

00:16:09.220 Yes and no. 1.00

00:16:14.740 It's more forged and won through Loki and the dwarves than the Jotuns. 1.00

00:16:19.860 But the point remains that there's there's a catalyst of chaos in there that allows for it to happen or maybe necessitates its its being there. 0.99

00:16:31.100 But I want to be really careful on that.

00:16:38.160 Power and greatness is a direct result of struggle, of overcoming adversity, of doing battle with the forces of chaos.

00:16:53.900 And there's absolutely power and greatness that comes through that.

00:16:58.160 But that in no way means that that chaos or that that struggle in and of itself is a good thing.

00:17:07.520 We want to battle that and through doing so become powerful and become become great.

00:17:14.200 We want to take the chaos. Very well put, Jim.

00:17:17.120 We want to take chaos where we find it and order the chaos.

00:17:21.520 um and but that is that is the source of not only power but it's the source of opportunity in life

00:17:30.840 um when situations arrives often when challenges and negative situations arise

00:17:38.140 that's the crucible that forges and welds together and creates for those who are able

00:17:47.820 to stand up to it for those who are able to harness that negativity and shape it into something

00:17:53.980 beautiful that's the the very tale of of our creation that's that's what odin and his brothers

00:18:01.100 did with with the primal giant to build the beauty that's all around us and that's fundamental to what

00:18:08.020 we do. I hope that that addresses what you're asking.

00:18:16.980 Michaela, I'm glad. I hope that your folk builder in your area is getting you integrated.

00:18:21.620 We've got amazing AFA community, you know, all across this country and surprisingly in 15

00:18:29.060 different countries around the world. So yeah, the AFA community is something we're so very proud of

00:18:36.020 and it's growing every day and getting better.

00:18:42.940 What else we got tonight?

00:18:44.300 What's on y'all's mind this evening?

00:18:47.560 uh james is asking if there's an option for families to join the afa

00:19:10.840 as in like a family membership uh yes and no so

00:19:17.560 So, this brings us to the Hofftoller. For the longest time, the AFA's membership was

00:19:25.380 kind of a membership dues model. And that was based on individual members paying a monthly fee.

00:19:37.440 And that's what a lot of folks do. But two years ago, we started to shift things. And a major

00:19:43.220 advanced in the AFA has been folks paying Hofftoller. And the Hofftoller is much more of a,

00:19:48.600 it is a percentage-based giving. It's people giving a percentage of their income, 1% or greater

00:19:57.120 to the AFA so that we share in each other's success or we share in each other's lean time.

00:20:04.520 And that's been a big leap forward and a huge helpful thing. And this does, this is getting

00:20:08.980 into the question. No, a standard application is one individual and we would encourage every adult

00:20:16.440 in a family to become AFA members. But if you're choosing to get in with the Hoftholler and you 0.89

00:20:23.520 want to base that on your family income, then absolutely anyone who does that, we certainly

00:20:29.040 want to acknowledge their spouse or the adult members of their family as part of that. So be

00:20:37.340 sure to let your folk builder know if that's the case. Either way, families of AFA members are

00:20:43.540 always welcome to be part of what we do. Family is such a key to everything we're about.

00:20:55.880 So Michaela asked what advice I would give somebody starting out.

00:21:00.360 um it's a really broad topic but here's here's some things that uh that come to mind i guess

00:21:10.220 i think one of

00:21:15.400 i think you need to have courage and i think you need to have openness i think you need to

00:21:23.820 have the courage to get out of your comfort zone to meet people that you don't know

00:21:29.160 and to do something that may be different than something you've done before

00:21:34.140 and to have the openness to make those friends,

00:21:40.340 to become part of what you're doing, to take part in ritual,

00:21:44.280 to take part in the AFA activities, even if they seem different to you,

00:21:49.100 even if you're not naturally outgoing, to push yourself to do those things

00:21:55.940 because I think that's the only way you're going to find those rewards.

00:21:59.160 I know that was important to me when I started, and I think that's important to anybody just

00:22:03.440 starting out.

00:22:04.580 So I'd say jump right in enthusiastically, get to know people, open yourself up to the

00:22:10.900 gods, but very importantly and often overlooked, especially at first, open yourself up to your

00:22:17.020 ancestors, invite them into your life, invite them into your heart, invite them to be in

00:22:24.400 your home and part of your daily life.

00:22:26.420 And I think when you do that, everything starts working better. Everything comes together. So I think courage and openness are extremely important.

00:22:36.140 Tyler, as a matter of fact, this last weekend we have been having discussions about creating

00:22:45.540 a homeschooling curriculum for AFA families.

00:22:49.280 We are not very far along on it.

00:22:53.140 As the person right behind your comment mentioned, we do have a youth program, but I know that's

00:22:59.000 far from a true homeschooling curriculum.

00:23:03.760 a project that's going to take a lot of time and a lot of effort on but it is something that we're

00:23:09.680 talking about it's something that behind the scenes we're trying to see what we can do what

00:23:14.720 we're able to accomplish i don't want to make any promises right now but i would love to see that

00:23:19.680 happen um here in a couple years i'm going to be homeschooling my daughter and uh like so many

00:23:26.960 parents i think that would be an amazing thing so that is something i'm going to try to work

00:23:30.960 on and I'm going to see what we can do about. Thank you James. I too encourage everybody to

00:23:40.240 do the Hoftholler option. It's changed the game for the Astro Folk Assembly. The folks that are 0.92

00:23:46.240 willing to donate in that way, we appreciate your generosity first and foremost, but that's enabled

00:23:52.880 us to in a very short amount of time do amazing things. I think it's the reason that in 2020 we're

00:24:00.080 able to establish two Hoffs in one year. The Hofftoller makes things that used to be just

00:24:08.720 dreams. It brings those things within our grasp and it makes this move forward at such a better pace.

00:24:17.680 So thank you so much to folks who've chosen to donate by Hofftoller. And if you're interested,

00:24:24.000 please reach out to your folk builder. They can get you all set up. It's a very easy process.

00:24:28.640 there's a lot of options on how to do it to where it works the best for you and your family

00:24:40.080 yeah jim um go ahead and reach out to crystal there she will get you all set up

00:24:45.040 and she'll teach you how to get other people set up on it as well

00:24:58.640 All right. Sorry, guys, I'm scrolling through the questions on the side.

00:25:14.240 Got somebody on the side asking, for someone looking to join the AFA with an interest in

00:25:18.600 eventually becoming a leader in the AFA community, what steps can they take to shield themselves

00:25:23.640 and their family from cancel culture? 0.55

00:25:28.640 if there is one thing i wish that i had the magical answer for or i could give you a magical

00:25:38.480 shield for it would be that i wish there's something i could sit here and tell you that you

00:25:44.100 can be super active and never have to worry about cancel culture i wish i can but i can't

00:25:52.600 world that we live in, we have enemies all around us. And we have the cancel culture is in full

00:25:59.280 swing. And it's something very important to think about. And it's very easy to just say, hey, you

00:26:06.580 know, sack up and go out there and swing for the fences and don't worry about it. But folks have

00:26:12.800 careers, they have families, they have people depending on them. I know that it's much harder

00:26:17.440 than all that. What I will say is the best thing you can do, because if you want to be a leader

00:26:22.820 in the Austro-Folk Assembly, we need to see your face. We need to use your real name.

00:26:27.660 We pride ourselves in the AFA and the fact that we practice Austro-True in the daylight.

00:26:33.040 We're not hiding. We're proud of who we are and we're proud of what we do.

00:26:36.700 That said, the best shield you have from cancel culture, and it's not perfect,

00:26:41.220 is to act with nobility and with maturity. It may feel really good to go out there and say

00:26:53.860 something extreme or to let off some steam or to let your guard down and express yourself

00:27:00.200 in a way that might not be becoming. Sometimes there are things that are politically incorrect

00:27:05.980 but need to be said. By all means, say those things, but say them in a way that you would

00:27:13.160 say in front of your children, that you'd say in front of your grandparents, and that ultimately

00:27:19.440 you'd be willing to say in front of the world. Say those things in a noble way that presents

00:27:26.380 you in a dignified light and presents us in a dignified light. Most of the damage that I've

00:27:32.560 seen in cancel culture has come from people who thought that they were on a secure platform and

00:27:38.760 with a fake name and a fake picture, just let off some steam, you know, go and buck wild for a little

00:27:45.240 bit. And then people put two and two together, connected them to their alter ego, and took

00:27:52.080 everything with no context, with no humor, and made them look like comic book villains. Don't do

00:27:58.620 that. Um, present your views in a way that you'd be proud to. And, uh, it does take a little bit

00:28:06.400 of that courage though. So, uh, yeah, I think that's the best, that's the best advice I've

00:28:13.380 gotten. I wish it was better. I wish it was something foolproof that could prevent any kind

00:28:17.480 of cancel culture. If I knew how to do that, I'd still be on Facebook. But, uh, I think standing

00:28:24.140 up for what we believe in, being true to the gods, being true to each other, and living in an

00:28:30.720 authentic way is more important than that. But yeah, thank you very much for your question.

00:28:43.840 Okay, I'm not sure I understand the question. What if I'm part of another group that is

00:28:48.160 non-religious, but it's folkish. Werewolf of Odin, please clarify that a little bit for me.

00:28:58.220 I'm sorry if I'm missing what you're saying.

00:29:00.480 it's okay rob we'll be around for a while yet don't worry i'm glad everybody who's coming in

00:29:19.800 joining us a little bit later thank you um this has proven such a better platform to do this on

00:29:25.340 than Facebook was. And surprisingly, we're getting just as many, if not more people

00:29:31.040 joining us for these conversations. I'm really happy about that.

00:29:39.520 Can I talk about the AFA kindred program? Yes, I can. So what we have that's kind of

00:29:46.060 the closest thing to local AFA congregations is our kindreds. Since the early days in

00:29:53.740 House of True, folks that have gotten together to practice House of True together in small groups

00:29:58.360 have been referred to as kindreds. The kindred is kind of a local branch of the AFA made up of

00:30:06.560 three or more AFA members. Everyone in an AFA kindred has to be an AFA member.

00:30:14.800 And yeah, they have a local face and a local character to the AFA in their region.

00:30:20.840 um it's different places that we have hoffs but so far we only have three hoffs

00:30:27.160 a couple of years ago if i said we only have three hoffs you know it that'd be crazy talk

00:30:32.660 having three hoffs is you know that's a distant dream and now that's a reality very soon we'll

00:30:38.140 have more hoffs than that but in the meantime our local kindreds are the the face of the afa and

00:30:44.660 they're really a driving force in a lot of local practice of the astra folk assembly i believe we

00:30:50.660 have 27 kindreds right now, but it could be wrong. They're all listed at www.runestone.org.

00:31:00.760 And yeah, those folks are really good source of contact and source of activity for the AFA

00:31:07.680 in your area. Jason Gallagher, who asked the question on the side, one of our amazing folk

00:31:14.500 builders, he heads up the kindred program and he's the guy you want to ask if folks near you

00:31:19.780 want to form an AFA kindred. So James asked kind of a follow-up on that. If I'll speak about a

00:31:34.120 misconception some folks have when asking if there's a kindred in the area as opposed to

00:31:38.180 getting involved in making a kindred. So something about, I compared them to AFA congregations,

00:31:48.020 but something that's interesting about AFA kindreds that's different is it's a voluntary

00:31:53.720 association of people that are very close together. So while you may, they may host

00:31:58.960 something that you're invited to, it's not just open season to be involved in whatever kindred's

00:32:04.680 close to you. That depends on if you fit and if those people invite you into their kindred.

00:32:10.140 But if you see AFA kindreds and it's something you want to do and you have two other AFA members

00:32:15.920 in your area, you guys want to form a tight bond as a local community bonded together by

00:32:22.600 practicing oustrew within the AFA, absolutely, you can form your own AFA kindred. We'd love to see

00:32:28.920 that. There's no upper limit on how many kindreds we want to have. If there's multiple kindreds in 0.97

00:32:36.680 a town because those folks just get together really well and form a good community, because

00:32:41.580 that's what this is all about is building those relationships, then by all means, contact Mr.

00:32:47.680 Gallagher over on the side there and become an AFA kindred. We would love to see that. That's one

00:32:54.340 of the big special things for me is seeing when those kindred flags, every kindred flag is up on

00:33:00.080 the walls in our Hoffs. And to see those flags go up is always such a big source of pride and

00:33:06.460 something that makes us all happy. And it's cool because at a local Hoff, you'll see these flags

00:33:11.040 from all around the world of others that are gathered, likely at the same time to worship

00:33:16.320 our gods together as part of that big AFA family. And yes, that's a really beautiful thing. And if

00:33:22.720 you're interested, do reach out to Jason Gallagher, and he'll get you get you what you need to know

00:33:27.640 to think about becoming an AFA kindred.

00:33:41.040 Michaela, as far as homeschooling stuff, if it's something you really have looked into

00:34:06.500 quite a bit and you know a lot about. If you can get in touch with your local folk builder and

00:34:12.280 also if you can send an email to brandycallahan at bcallahan at runestone.org. It's a conversation

00:34:20.140 that we'd like to start having. So by all means, please do that. Please feel free to email me,

00:34:25.980 mattflavell, F-L-A-V-E-L, at runestone.org. I would really like to continue this conversation

00:34:33.880 about homeschooling. Thanks.

00:34:49.240 Eisenrock. I'm glad that you're enjoying them. I've wanted to do that for the longest time.

00:34:56.680 I didn't know how to get all of those far flung AFA videos and get them all on our YouTube channel until just the other day.

00:35:07.060 So I've hit it kind of hard the past couple of days, but it's something I've wanted to do for years.

00:35:11.800 And I'm really excited to have all those up. A lot of those bring back really special memories for me.

00:35:17.420 So I'm glad you're enjoying them. Those who may not know, over the past couple of days, I must have uploaded 20 or so.

00:35:26.680 Some older videos of AFA things, some videos of AFA gatherings, some interviews I've done,

00:35:34.200 some interviews that our founder, Stephen McNallan, did, and also some videos that Steve

00:35:39.960 made.

00:35:40.360 Some of those videos brought many of us, myself included, to Ousitru.

00:35:44.280 So we've tried to find those, all that we could, and get them uploaded.

00:35:48.080 And I think there's more hiding in some places we're going to try to get uploaded as well.

00:35:55.580 Hmm...

00:35:56.680 So, I guess trying to catch up over on the side.

00:36:20.060 Werewolf voting.

00:36:21.300 Thank you for clarifying your earlier question.

00:36:24.760 Come on down, you're fine.

00:36:26.180 no competition there um what uh what your other group does doesn't have anything to do with or

00:36:34.000 i mean any competition in any way with the afa or with our membership we got folks that are

00:36:40.880 part of all kind of different groups that join the afa um yeah we don't want you to to be a member of

00:36:47.800 a different ostrich like a different church that would be very strange but your other groups that

00:36:54.140 you're a part of that's fine. Come on down. We'd love to have you. Hello. A beautiful little

00:37:02.400 daughter is joining us tonight for just a second. This is Aubrey. Aubrey learned how to walk

00:37:06.880 yesterday. She's just nine months old and she's walking and she's amazing. And I'm so

00:37:12.800 very proud of her. And I'm so very, very lucky to have this little girl. Very happy guy.

00:37:24.140 community is uh reading over on the side community is concentric circles and folks who we we would

00:37:40.420 like everyone who is one of our folk who meets our values that wants to practice house true to join

00:37:47.020 the afa i know people are involved in a lot of other groups like i said i you know dual church

00:37:52.920 memberships is is a strange thing and i that would question the the loyalty of the true part

00:37:59.080 of australia in my mind but other than that um we we'd like folks from a lot of different groups

00:38:05.340 to be part of the australia folks

00:38:06.520 yeah and i uh jessica over on the side is is clearing that up really good for you and can

00:38:23.940 talk to you more about it werewolf of odin if you've got any more questions but absolutely

00:38:29.380 we don't see any conflict ah daughter stealing my finger making it hard to scroll over here

00:38:35.140 GW Farnsworth. I appreciate that. I'm glad you enjoy the videos and the website. We try really

00:39:04.220 hard on that. I tell you what, these live conversations, I look forward to them every

00:39:08.160 month. This is a great way to talk to you guys, and absolutely, this is something that

00:39:14.020 I really enjoy doing, and I'm glad that you like it, and you're getting something out of it.

00:39:25.060 Werewolf Odin, let's get you and Trent talking. He's our man in Georgia. He's a great guy. He's

00:39:33.700 a personal friend of mine. And yeah, keep trying with him. And if you need to reach out to me and

00:39:39.400 I'll get you guys in touch. I'll make that happen. Anytime you guys want, if you guys need, if you

00:39:45.080 can't get ahold of somebody, mattflavell at runestone.org. And I'll help connect the dots

00:39:50.600 behind the scenes if something's getting clogged up. I saw your application earlier today. I'm glad

00:39:59.500 to see that. We've got a lot of people applying lately. We've had quite a bit of growth

00:40:04.980 over the past few months, and it's been a really, really nice thing to watch. Not just

00:40:10.120 numbers, but the people we've been getting have been great. So it's a really good time

00:40:13.900 to be part of the AFA. Hello, Robert. It's good to see you on here. I haven't heard from

00:40:21.920 you in a little bit. I'm glad you're checking in tonight, and I'm glad you're looking at

00:40:27.480 those older YouTube videos. All right, guys. What else do we have tonight? What else would

00:40:38.720 you guys like to talk about? Anybody got any questions or any stuff that you want to know

00:40:45.160 a little bit more about? Got a question over on the side about similarities between Charming

00:40:56.220 of the plow and embolic. And I think there's similarities in time of the year and in springtime

00:41:05.640 rituals all throughout pre-Christian European culture. So I think that similarities are there

00:41:11.880 and are good and are obvious. One of the things that I think is such a hallmark about Charming

00:41:16.360 of the plow is the emphasis on will and on work. So, and this is a good thing, and I wanted to

00:41:28.540 talk about this tonight, so thank you for asking a little bit about it. Very few of us in this day

00:41:37.280 and age spend a lot of time on the farm cultivating the land. Now, some obviously still do,

00:41:43.660 but the idea of preparing the plow and of tilling the soil is, it's different for most of our

00:41:52.540 existences. But I think it's more than that. I think what's really important with Charming of

00:41:57.860 the Plow is that we're prepping the tools of our work. What's a powerful, powerful symbol to me of

00:42:05.860 the plow is the idea of of steel of something man-made penetrating the hard soil the unyielding

00:42:14.700 soil breaking up the earth and implanting and impregnating it with our will it's all about

00:42:22.820 forcefully inserting our will into the ether into reality into the ground and that's what 0.93

00:42:32.600 Charming of the Plow is to us in the Astro Folk Assembly. It's preparing ourselves to 0.81

00:42:38.520 make our will happen in the world. You know, fields don't just randomly produce the harvest

00:42:47.740 that you want. You have to break them up. You have to cultivate. You have to clear land. You

00:42:53.360 have to plant things. You have to make things happen. And that's what Charming of the Plow

00:42:58.540 is to us is a time of making things happen, of preparing ourselves and the tool of our industry

00:43:04.740 to make our dreams come true, to make our families better, to make the AFA better, to build Hoffs,

00:43:12.320 to do all these overtly religious things, but also to feed our families, to succeed at life,

00:43:19.500 to build our dreams, to establish our business, to make our will manifest in the world around us.

00:43:28.540 And that's what the point of charring of the plow is to me.

00:43:33.660 And something I'd like us all to think on as we celebrate this year.

00:43:48.840 Yeah, if you like what we're doing, James makes a good point.

00:43:51.900 If you go comment on videos, hit like, everything you can do to beef up those algorithms,

00:43:58.540 and get more people to see them, that would certainly help out.

00:44:02.860 We want to cast a wide net for our folk

00:44:05.900 and bring as many of our folk homes as we can. 1.00

00:44:18.500 Bike trailing.

00:44:19.840 Yeah, kind of. 1.00

00:44:20.900 Are kindreds made up of friends?

00:44:22.600 If you aren't friends with those in a kindred,

00:44:24.740 are you therefore not invited?

00:44:27.100 Yes, sort of.

00:44:28.540 But I don't ever want our kindreds to be, you know, some cool guy club.

00:44:34.500 It's not just a friends.

00:44:36.880 Well, I say that.

00:44:39.300 Yes, to be a successful kindred, you need to be friends.

00:44:42.460 You need to be more than friends.

00:44:44.040 You need to be like a big family.

00:44:46.860 And it's easy to be friendly with a lot of people.

00:44:51.520 But it's important that there's a compatibility there to form that core unit of the kindred.

00:44:56.720 So I don't think it's just a friends thing. I think it's a fundamental compatibility thing. And that's really important because those people interact like a family. So it's a subtle difference, but I think it's an important one.

00:45:26.720 So, one of our folk builders, Jason Plurd, is asking why universalists seem to miss the context of the term All-Father.

00:45:49.920 I've always found that really interesting.

00:45:52.740 The forces of diversity, or at least those who like to use that word, would presume that the person who they call their all-father or the king of their gods would be the all-father of negating all the other faiths. 0.88

00:46:23.460 negating all the indigenous faiths of all the different rainbows of people that they want to

00:46:28.020 let into Ausatru, they would demand that Odin is the all-father of all different shades of humanity.

00:46:36.580 And they don't see how fundamentally racist and offensive that would be to all of the other

00:46:44.100 people that they court support from. And I've always found that really funny.

00:46:48.740 um odin is the father of all of our folk um he is the all father not just because of that but as

00:46:56.980 the lore specifically says he is the all father because he is the father of our gods that doesn't

00:47:03.660 relate to other people's gods that doesn't relate to other groups of people and individuals that's

00:47:09.760 completely out of context and we would never supposed to tell all of the different indigenous

00:47:16.480 this cultures of the world, that our gods are the only gods and that their gods don't count.

00:47:22.640 That in and of itself is quite offensive and certainly not something that we would suggest.

00:47:38.140 Hey, Alice, I'm glad you're joining us.

00:47:40.280 I heard that we had a moot in Syracuse, New York, the other day, and I heard that was amazing.

00:47:49.180 I've heard great things from folks that attended that. Sounds like you guys had a good time.

00:48:02.920 Hi, Shannon. I figured.

00:48:10.280 no odin does not ever claim to be the all father of the the utengard or the outside those outside

00:48:19.580 of the kin fence um that just shows a fundamental lack of understanding of history and people and

00:48:30.520 context and a lot of different things and i don't think it's a a sincere position i think it's just

00:48:36.640 a fun thing for folks on the left to say. Excellent, excellent. I'm glad you sent the

00:48:55.180 email. I will talk to you more on this homeschooling issue because I think it's very, very important,

00:48:58.880 especially since all of the folks

00:49:04.580 that have been forced to homeschool

00:49:05.880 because of the various responses to the China virus.

00:49:10.800 So yeah, absolutely, I wanna talk more

00:49:12.940 and the AFA is going to have a very serious discussion

00:49:15.380 about homeschooling,

00:49:16.960 the very least about pooling resources,

00:49:19.260 but I'd love to see us come up with some sort of curriculum

00:49:22.760 and to move towards that.

00:49:28.880 How would I address the term Aryan being an exclusively Nazi, neo-Nazi term?

00:49:48.500 Go say that to folks in India and see what their answer would be.

00:49:54.300 And that's a very small and pop culture thing. And in the wider sense, the term Aryan is an ancient, ancient word. It's the root word of the country Iran. It's also the root word of the name of the country Ireland.

00:50:16.920 Both mean the land of the Aryans. It's an ancient word. And to ascribe it to only have a value from, you know, the 1930s to now in a political context is, I think that's willfully ignorant.

00:50:38.600 I think that's choosing to be ignorant of the fact. It's still a word that's commonly used, to my understanding, in India and by folks who speak and use Sanskrit. It's a noble word. It literally means noble and shiningly noble. And it's a beautiful word.

00:50:57.400 Now, we don't use it all the time in all places because the left is co-opted it and tried to make it ugly and made it made it their their villain to pile stuff on.

00:51:10.600 But it's ours and I wouldn't, you know, wouldn't hide from the use of it.

00:51:14.140 it's a beautiful word and it's a really special way of thinking as ourselves and challenging

00:51:19.580 ourselves to be Aryan in what we do to shine with nobility through our actions and through

00:51:26.860 how we carry ourselves and so I think that's a it's an important thing and I

00:51:32.940 I don't think the people who complain about it being a Nazi or neo-Nazi term

00:51:37.660 are doing it genuinely I think those people would complain no matter what you said

00:51:44.140 What else we got tonight, guys?

00:51:52.720 Is there anything else on your mind or anything else you'd like to make sure we discuss while we have this time together?

00:52:04.580 Well, like I mentioned before, and I talked about it at the top of the discussion tonight,

00:52:12.860 But for folks just joining, I really want us to think this year about relationships and how Ausatru is so fundamentally the building of a connectivity and a relationship between us and the gods, between us and our AFA family, and between us and our ancestors.

00:52:36.920 relationship building is fundamental and i want us to think about that when we go into ritual

00:52:43.260 practice i want us to think about that when we contemplate what alsatru is so many people get

00:52:49.620 so wrapped up in studying obscurity and studying archaeology and all these other things that are

00:52:57.720 really cool things to know but all of that is frosting on the cake that is your relationship

00:53:04.800 with other practitioners of Alistair,

00:53:09.000 with the gods, with your ancestors.

00:53:12.640 So really keep that at the forefront.

00:53:26.240 Jim, I think the confusion comes from up until very recently,

00:53:30.100 religious, cultural, and linguistic were racial.

00:53:34.800 the culture religion and linguistics were very specific to groups of people and

00:53:42.800 the group of people that practiced our culture religion and linguistics

00:53:49.600 were were our folk our race of people and those people were known as as aryan um the word comes

00:53:56.960 into a little bit different use in india because there's been such a mixture of peoples there

00:54:02.560 that it's been relegated to to more of a linguistic sense but originally it was

00:54:08.240 you know a a group of a group of related peoples which is what racial means

00:54:14.480 I think that's a good question, Jason. Jason asked how I would encourage our folks to

00:54:34.660 ride the tiger instead of being chased by the tiger. And for those of you who don't

00:54:40.720 know what that means it's basically when forces around you are violent and chaotic and scary

00:54:50.800 you can spend your time being chased from that and hiding from that and battling that

00:54:56.720 and maybe getting devoured by that or you can find ways to use that to your advantage to ride the

00:55:04.160 tiger. I think there's lots of different ways to do that. One of the most important ways I think

00:55:14.000 is to hold your head up and not be so...

00:55:20.720 Our folk, especially younger members of our folk, get very hyper focused on political situations

00:55:31.120 going on. There's a lot of really depressing stuff going on. There's a lot of terrible things

00:55:36.700 going on in the world. Absolutely. It's not going to pretend there's not, but when we obsess about

00:55:44.820 it and we just get so hyper-focused on either sarcastic meme culture or on negativity,

00:55:54.960 we miss very realistic opportunities that are presented by every negative circumstance

00:56:01.360 to build and to grow and to do. And there's plenty of those around us. In one of the most

00:56:08.640 crazy years I've ever seen, we got two Hoffs, our membership grew. We had the largest AFA

00:56:16.560 gathering ever during the year where most people weren't able to gather at all.

00:56:21.120 um the ways to ride the tiger are they're going to be different depending on every circumstance

00:56:29.260 but being calm looking for positives and more important than just looking for positives

00:56:35.680 looking for opportunities that's what I would advise folks to do we are living at a time where

00:56:44.640 However, however bad the politics are out there, we've all got food, we've got heat, we've got water, we're comfortable, and we've got each other.

00:56:57.980 We're in a really good spot to seize on opportunities and make the best out of things.

00:57:04.920 Focusing on the AstroFolk Assembly is a huge thing to do that way.

00:57:08.580 And I know it's really self-serving as me being the AFA guy trying to tell you guys to do that.

00:57:14.640 but there's so much in the world that we don't have direct control of fixing.

00:57:20.480 A lot of these bigger problems, there is nothing we as individuals, I say that, I don't mean to

00:57:26.580 be hopeless on it, but there's very little ways we have of accessing those problems in a way to

00:57:31.760 fix them. But within the AFA, we have a very significant group of people that are all here

00:57:38.560 together and what you do here can have huge impacts on all of us it's relatively small but

00:57:48.880 right now you know we have 764 members of the astro folk assembly number's not huge

00:57:57.840 but in your day-to-day how many other opportunities do you have to affect the lives of 764 people

00:58:04.960 not many even you know big deals of small companies don't have that many people involved

00:58:11.340 you have that many people in your AFA family you participating in doing something and building

00:58:18.120 something within the AFA is a is a way to do something good even when everything outside is

00:58:24.620 crazy the AFA in of itself I think is one of the best ways to ride the tiger

00:58:30.860 and it certainly is very therapeutic to me when so much outside is crazy.

00:58:37.740 We can make sure things here aren't.

00:58:46.540 Absolutely, Sherilyn. We want to avoid, you know, succumbing to or being scared of name

00:58:51.860 calling. Anyone the left doesn't like is a racist or a Nazi now. We've seen them do it.

00:58:58.080 doesn't even matter what you look like if you're if you're a black man that happens to you wear a 0.99

00:59:02.720 trump hat you're a racist and a nazi uh according to the folks on the left those words don't really 0.99

00:59:08.320 have that much meaning anymore um no doug i'm we mean aryan and it only started getting referred 1.00

00:59:18.960 to as indo-european when scholars became uncomfortable with the term uh during and

00:59:25.920 post-World War II. But the term Aryan and Indo-European are synonymous.

00:59:40.000 Can Christians and pagans get along?

00:59:47.440 If we are Euro-Americans. I mean, it's hard to say what that means. Because of the current 0.64

00:59:54.480 state of christianity i'm sure that we can i get along with a lot of christians i think in a in a

01:00:00.960 very practical real way in life of course we can get along with each other in a very fundamentalist

01:00:06.320 way um the more christians get along with pagans the less authentic i think their christianity is

01:00:16.480 um and i take that from from their teachings not from ours but i would encourage all of our folk

01:00:22.560 to get along well. The folks that still find themselves Christians, I'd love for them to

01:00:27.180 come back home to their authentic faith. And I hope that they do. And in the meantime,

01:00:32.940 I'm very happy to get along with them. The Christians of today don't seem to be 1.00

01:00:39.160 following the Christianity that would persecute us so bad. So yeah, of course, in a practical way, 0.99

01:00:47.120 we can get along with Christians all the time. I get along with Christians. Most of us have

01:00:51.400 you know, large portions of our family that are Christian. But I would encourage you if you find

01:00:57.660 Christians that are not bothered by your paganism, bring those people over. Maybe those people would

01:01:02.640 like to come home to House of Truth. How does personal practice or daily practice look as an

01:01:13.500 altar work and meditation, et cetera. I think that looks as different as we have different people.

01:01:21.960 I think one of the ways that looks is sincere. There's plenty of wrong ways to do it, don't get

01:01:31.560 me wrong, but there's a lot of right ways to do it too. I think fundamentally, having a special

01:01:38.860 place in your home, or I mean, maybe it's a place you do something outside, but I personally have

01:01:43.780 my altar in my home. I have it in my stairwell set up with all, it's kind of a, you know, a set

01:01:50.960 aside place in my landing in the stairwell, which is the center of my home and spiraling up the

01:01:55.680 stairs are photographs of my ancestors. So that's kind of a special thing I have in my house, but

01:02:01.540 depends where you're at in your apartment, wherever you're at, a special shelf, a special

01:02:06.280 corner a special altar whatever you may have some image of the of one of the gods or many of the

01:02:13.560 gods some pictures of your ancestors maybe some relics and things that are important to you but

01:02:20.600 having a set aside space a quiet time a still time that you can reach out um and give of yourself and

01:02:32.480 commune with the gods and the ancestors. People often will light candles. They'll often offer

01:02:38.500 some incense or maybe, you know, a shot or a swig of, you know, a preferred beverage. Our people

01:02:47.880 like meat a lot, but if you're doing something with your ancestors, maybe it's something, you

01:02:51.700 know, maybe your grandpa really liked, you know, my grandpa really liked Jim Beam. Sometimes if I'm

01:02:56.080 trying to connect with my grandfather, then that's what I'll offer. But as I was talking about

01:03:03.360 earlier on tonight, the key is that openness, approaching our gods in a way that, and our

01:03:11.060 ancestors, in an authentic way that we're open, that we care, that we're there, and that we want

01:03:18.500 to do right by them. We want to honor them, and we're open to them sharing with us. And I think

01:03:25.300 just doing that amazing things happen one thing i like to do in front of my altar is to do

01:03:30.900 affirmations of things that i will do things that that i've you know reaffirmed promises

01:03:36.420 or commitments that i've made um i think that helps me to be motivated to fulfill them and i

01:03:44.100 think it makes fulfilling those uh a sacred act um i think bringing your family involved in those

01:03:51.140 things is very important. I'd also say as far as altar work and meditation goes,

01:03:58.000 sometimes atmosphere is really important to get you in that space. A lot of times people will do

01:04:04.720 it in the dark with their candles lit, with incense going because the smell brings them

01:04:09.520 to a spiritual place. Maybe a certain kind of music in the background will help get you there.

01:04:15.200 Very often when I meditate, I'll meditate through Galdor work, and that helps, gives me something to intone and something for me to hear that triggers some things for me and helps me get there.

01:04:27.900 But I think the key to personal practice is just doing it.

01:04:31.780 And no matter how awkward it may feel, going through doing it, being wide open, and even if it's just, hey, you know, grandpa, I just want you to know I care, thinking about you.

01:04:45.200 um here's a here's a shot of jim beam i hope you're doing well as simple and as lame as that

01:04:51.700 may sound if you've never done it that's huge um how much would it mean to you if you passed away

01:04:59.420 you're beyond the veil and time goes and people think about you less and less and one of your

01:05:04.180 descendants 20 years after your pass you know raises a shot glass and speaks your name and

01:05:11.300 remembers you with, you know, with love in their heart, I think that would mean a lot.

01:05:16.420 And I hope that's something that my descendants do for me.

01:05:41.300 Doug, I don't think that's wholly accurate. I'm sure that's one person's theory or something

01:05:52.080 that they said, but it doesn't account for the linguistics that we find in the West very often.

01:05:56.660 And it certainly doesn't account for the linguistic root of the word Ireland.

01:06:11.300 now I'm trying to find my spot every time I scroll over on the side it makes it really

01:06:26.820 Difficult to find my spot.

01:06:28.080 Sorry about that, guys.

01:06:39.820 I think that's a really smart thing about focusing on this finish line.

01:06:44.280 We need to focus on our goals.

01:06:47.280 And as long as we stay with a mind towards our goals, whatever blockages come in between now and then,

01:06:53.880 we look for ways around them to get to those goals instead of focusing on just the bad thing

01:06:59.040 in front of us. Yes, Robert, Steve did say that he would gladly work with Christians. 0.87

01:07:19.720 um i think as long as we're working towards our goals there's there's a lot of folks that i would

01:07:25.000 work with but i would highly encourage you know if you're a christian and you find nothing wrong

01:07:31.080 with our being pagan i think that should cause folks to question their christianity a little

01:07:37.080 bit and those folks maybe should come on over to our side

01:07:49.080 Sorry guys, I'm just catching up on the side.

01:08:10.380 What about those of us who don't know our ancestors?

01:08:14.860 So I think that's a special thing and we've got a number of people and a number of really

01:08:18.560 cool stories of folks in the afa who were adopted and they uh like i said the first big thing was

01:08:25.760 they opened up to their ancestors now they did the work on their own too trying to trying to

01:08:31.200 research their genealogy trying to look into the records and figure out where they came from

01:08:36.560 but um one thing that i've heard and from several different people in the afa who were adopted

01:08:44.800 they started doing rituals to their ancestors and you know in varying ways but the commonality being

01:08:51.120 you know hey i didn't know you guys but i want to know you guys here's this offering

01:09:01.200 i would love to build a relationship with you my door is always open you'd be surprised but

01:09:09.280 just from that all of a sudden people are finding out where they came from people are having dreams

01:09:15.680 that are meaningful to them people are reconnecting with ancestors that they didn't know they had due

01:09:22.080 to their adoption and uh and i think that's a that's a beautiful thing and it's helped a lot

01:09:28.080 of people um so i really encourage you either way to do that and just see what happens um you you

01:09:34.880 won't be worse off than you are and i think you might be surprised at some really really cool

01:09:39.120 things that could happen because of it um shannon absolutely i would suggest you bring your own

01:09:52.800 children into the afa i would want everybody's children um all of our folks children to be

01:09:58.240 to be involved in the Astro Folk Assembly.

01:10:01.060 We're a place for children and for families.

01:10:03.560 We want that.

01:10:05.160 That's the key to what we're doing.

01:10:06.480 It's key to our future.

01:10:07.620 Please bring them.

01:10:09.180 The youth program is a great way to get them started

01:10:12.360 and to get them involved so that when they're old enough

01:10:14.580 to be officially AFA members,

01:10:17.000 they can have that backing and have that foundation.

01:10:22.840 But yeah, absolutely.

01:10:23.920 Please bring your children, have your children be involved.

01:10:28.240 That's one of the important things on the subject of maybe you don't know your ancestors.

01:10:50.440 One thing that we can all say completely factually, we all have ancestors.

01:10:56.100 If we didn't have all of those lines of ancestors, we wouldn't be here.

01:11:00.320 And that's a really simple and whatever thing to say, but it's a very important thing to

01:11:05.040 realize.

01:11:06.460 Connecting with your ancestors, they're there and they exist.

01:11:10.440 Whether you know their names, they still exist.

01:11:14.500 And I have to believe that beyond the veil, you may not know them, but they know you.

01:11:20.400 And the more you reach out and make that effort, things have a way of happening.

01:11:25.020 But just the realization that you may never know, you know, a name or a place, but those people exist and you have a line of people back to the very beginning of our folk that exist, that we're able to bring you to the place that you are today.

01:11:41.920 Just acknowledging that in a ritual context adds something to your practice.

01:11:47.820 So I'd really encourage you to do that.

01:11:55.020 um okay so we have somebody asking about books in our store that are sold out it depends on the

01:12:22.860 books that are sold out in the store. If you're seeing them pop up as sold out, then I'm not

01:12:28.040 doing a good enough job on the back end of making, of taking them down and I will try to get better

01:12:33.680 at that. Steve's book is almost sold out or as of this broadcast may be sold out. We have a back

01:12:40.140 order of that whenever the next round of publishing goes on that, we'll get it. A lot of those books

01:12:47.000 were in talks on whether or not we're going to restock. We want to stock books that are AFA

01:12:51.540 specific certainly but the generic history books about you know Vikings or

01:12:58.220 whatever else those are very easy for folks to get and much more economic for

01:13:03.500 folks to get on Amazon or other booksellers so we're talking about

01:13:08.260 whether we do want to buy any buy an amount of stock in that because it

01:13:11.860 involves us housing the inventory and shelling out the money for the stock

01:13:16.140 when so many people are able to get those at a much better a much better

01:13:19.560 price and much easier on other booksellers. We really want to focus on our own material though

01:13:24.600 and make sure we have that there. So we are talking about whether or not to restock some of those books.

01:13:49.560 Is there a plan to get a Hoff in the Northeast? Absolutely there is. What time and when that's 0.58

01:14:08.280 going to happen? I don't know. But that is something that we've thought about. We're

01:14:12.180 considering a number of different locations for our next Hoff. And that is a strong, you know,

01:14:19.000 one of the regions that's up front in that consideration.

01:14:23.440 We're gonna keep building Hoffs

01:14:24.880 as long as we have the sustainability

01:14:26.940 to operate them properly.

01:14:29.280 And we have the folks and the volunteers in the area

01:14:32.280 to do them justice and to take care of them.

01:14:35.180 So there will absolutely be a Hoff in the Northeast.

01:14:37.920 It's just a matter of when that's gonna happen.

01:14:40.680 um print on demand services for the sold out items the trouble is the sold out items that

01:14:51.880 he's referring to aren't our material there are other books that are you know like penguin or

01:14:57.800 various other publishing people's books that we're selling or reselling through our site

01:15:03.320 so we can't print those on demand having a print on demand option for afa materials is absolutely

01:15:08.600 something to think about but we don't have a problem stocking those either uh but no looking

01:15:15.320 into to print on demand is a really smart thing for us to do for some things

01:15:25.800 all right guys we're a little bit over how long we usually go

01:15:29.640 if anybody has last questions please go ahead and and get those to me um

01:15:34.840 In the meantime, I'd like to address, James asked what my vision is for 2021 and how we can best

01:15:44.520 be part of the vision. And I'll do that here. I see Jim asked about stocking other things such

01:15:50.340 as shirts. We have a couple of things we're working on behind the scenes, Jim, to get stocked

01:15:55.340 on the store. Figuring out how to stock the merchandise on the store is kind of a process,

01:16:03.260 But we're talking to a number of different people about that right now.

01:16:06.620 If you have ideas on stuff you'd like to see, please hit me on the back end and we'll see about having that discussion.

01:16:12.820 But to James's question, vision for 2021, I would like to take the momentum that we had by establishing HOFs and by having such a successful midsummer in 2020 and push that momentum forward in 2021 by really maximizing the community specifically around our three HOFs.

01:16:39.920 um we're fixing to open up and do the dedication of Baldur's Hoff and then we'll

01:16:46.000 for the first time have three Hoffs up and running to worship our gods to gather our folk

01:16:53.500 to be involved in our community to do charitable outreach to do all of those things and in 2021

01:16:59.060 I really want to see those things happen also I want to continue

01:17:05.860 an artistic effort that was started last year. Last year with the beautiful mural that Witten

01:17:17.200 Svon Harrell painted at Thorshof, we really started to incorporate more art and more beauty

01:17:23.440 in a lot of the things that we do. I'd like to see that continue throughout 2021. I'd like to

01:17:29.540 continue this growth. So we planted the seeds in 2020 of getting all of these fold builders. And

01:17:35.620 You guys may notice, but we've had a massive influx of apprentice folk builders.

01:17:39.980 I want to see that roll into an increase in our membership.

01:17:43.720 I'd like folks in 2021 to be empowered to tell their friends, tell their family about the Astro Folk Assembly.

01:17:51.740 Share these videos with them.

01:17:53.440 Send them to www.roomstone.org and get those folks joining.

01:17:58.420 If everyone here went out and talked to their, people are often so scared to talk to their friends and family.

01:18:04.340 that's where we should start on trying to bring people in um there's some kind of a misconception

01:18:12.980 that we don't proselytize no we absolutely do proselytize and should proselytize we don't go

01:18:20.440 door to door and harass people but we want to bring our folk home we want to get everybody who

01:18:27.000 should be here and at least give them the invite to be here and that's how you can be a part of

01:18:33.220 what the 2021 vision is. Bring people around. If you are fortunate enough to live anywhere near

01:18:40.860 Murdoch, Minnesota, Linden, North Carolina, or Brownsville, California, bring folks out.

01:18:47.120 We've seen Odenshoff be such a magnet for so many of our people to come home.

01:18:51.820 We've got so many people who, because of Odenshoff, have joined and become such an

01:18:56.800 important part of our AFA family. Do that at Thorshoff. Do that at Baldershoff. And then

01:19:02.720 we'll move on to the next Hoff. So that's how you can be part of that vision for 2021.

01:19:10.180 All right, guys, I really appreciate y'all joining me tonight. We got great things going on. I hope

01:19:16.560 I see many of you up at Charming of the Plow in Washington. I also hope I see you guys next month

01:19:23.600 at Ostara in the South for the first time at Thors Hoff in Linden, North Carolina. That's

01:19:29.740 going to be an amazing thing and i'm so excited to be there uh thank you guys for joining me

01:19:34.280 tonight i hope you all have an amazing evening and uh look forward to talking to you guys next

01:19:39.760 time hail the gods hail the folk hail the afa

Asatru Folk Assembly - February 02, 2021

February 2021 Live Chat

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