00:00:00.000All right, guys. Well, my topic deals with being thankful. And in starting this topic, which sure, that kind of fits me. I've got kind of the soft virtues and all that. I say thank you a lot.
00:00:15.160but it also occurred to me that that's really not what we are talking about not just that casual
00:00:21.940thank you but truly the giving of thanks and it occurred to me that yes this is the end of the
00:00:30.720harvest season which I'm going to touch on at the end but it's also these two months are all about
00:00:37.140giving thanks and the idea that we are gifting we're gifting receiving gifts that we put our
00:00:48.060blessings into way back charming of the plow and astara when we're planting those seeds and
00:00:58.220nurturing them along and getting through the summer to this final point of harvest and that's
00:01:03.360part of what we're doing at thanksgiving which is this tradition has been with us for a long long
00:01:08.560time um but i'm also going to kind of take it in a couple of different directions at the very end
00:01:15.120which is kind of interesting i think um to to just simply say thank you it's wonderful to do it we do
00:01:24.640it a lot but it is so casual in terms of its usage with us thanks thanks a lot you know we have all
00:01:33.520these things it is actually thanks goes back it's a very old expression it has proto-indo-european
00:01:40.560roots it was used by in the 14th century in old english it means to thank to thank is a verb that
00:01:52.880is also was used as a noun it has been found in old saxon old norse and frisian it's even tied
00:02:00.160to the word think i'm not sure if spawn will agree with this but that's what i saw and also
00:02:06.720the mini or the memory so that kind of brings forth this idea of thought and memory that we
00:02:13.440we have with Huguenemunin and you know at this point in my life many decades what seven decades
00:02:22.880seven score whatever I've got a lot of memories and I am a very sentimental person grow more so
00:02:32.420and I think that's probably something that happens as we grow older so memory is incredibly important
00:02:37.440to me keeping those memories alive and thanking my life for what has brought me and i hope that
00:02:44.400everybody focuses on the idea that there's plenty to give thanks for i i hear people who really do
00:02:54.000is kind of pointed out by katie we don't want to go um turn negative on things we want to always be
00:03:01.520forward seeking and bright and and optimistic and how we deal with things and part of it is just
00:03:08.320simply stopping to think of those blessings that we have that we've received the people we've known
00:03:16.320the circumstances that we've had where we have grown strong through them they may have been
00:03:23.600tough times but we got to the other side we learned strength and i like to think and i know
00:03:31.920my husband says it you know these are unique times these are very unique times we've been chosen to
00:03:37.840be here uh the nor near um kind of set everything in place for us to arrive at this time so i want
00:03:45.520everybody to be thankful for being in this time in this place and for the opportunities and the
00:03:50.000challenges that are before us and sometimes we can't take joy in it but when we get through it
00:03:57.200we need to be thankful for what it taught us and that we can help others during the more
00:04:04.160challenging times and there's thanks involved in that it's a give and it's a take it's a sharing
00:04:10.720um um but everybody from the the way the day starts what you can do it starts with thanks
00:04:20.480you know um start the day by by being thankful for another day here in mcgarth to be able to do more
00:04:27.620as you've probably heard my husband say many times do more be more achieve more
00:04:33.640change the world make it better and that's in our own hands to do that in our own ability
00:04:42.140to make that attempt whether or not we achieve it we should at least try to do it and part of it
00:04:48.620is being thankful for what we have but also appreciating the people that we see and helping
00:04:55.460them feel that they are being blessed and are receiving um a good day um kind of goes back to
00:05:03.540even our food pantries i thank them i thank the people who come because they've made our time
00:05:11.520worthwhile um we they've made us feel that we did matter in their lives that they are better for
00:05:18.680having known us and so it seems kind of silly when we're giving food but it is an exchange
00:05:24.160and the intangible feelings you get from doing that is very very powerful and so um there are
00:05:32.400many ways that we can all say thanks and thank you uh in simple ways in just our daily lives
00:05:39.840of course doing meal blessings thanking for the sustenance for the food that is there before us
00:05:46.000Thankful for the connections we have is also true being part of our AFA family.
00:05:56.760One way that we can be thankful and look at it in kind of a structured way is something
00:06:02.080that we came up with many years ago and we called it the connections.
00:06:05.380We had a little flyer that was about connections.
00:06:10.060husband described it as the vitruvian man that was da vinci's creation shows a man in a circle
00:06:17.580in a square and it's supposed to represent balance but we kind of took that idea and came up with this
00:06:25.980as a model and it kind of explains where we and alsatru can see ourselves our place here
00:06:33.980in this world midgard where we are right now and i think would work for any any people any of our
00:06:39.020ancestors could probably say pretty much the same thing we think above us is our holy powers the
00:06:45.420holy gods of our folk the aesir and the asenir below us is the earth itself that we call midgarth
00:06:52.460all the life that contains there watched over by nerthes our earth behind us is the long line of
00:06:58.700ancestors the dsir and alvar who still live on in us you know they're still i love that in genealogy
00:07:06.860to point out that those genes are in us that came from so far back before us so the future folk each
00:07:14.540blessed child born who can further the the destiny of our ancestral lines of our church and continuing
00:07:23.420goodness to the world and what it needs again a balance to the world and this is something very
00:07:29.500very important to each of us on either side our current kin our families and our friends with
00:07:36.780whom we support share love and give thanks and it really shows us as being very balanced in how we
00:07:45.660approach the world around us but also how our church gives us that sense of balance where
00:07:55.260things are are well set out and give a structure in our lives that's what so many people are
00:08:02.140missing and not having structure going back to the idea of hugan and munan from hugan we learn
00:08:10.040the processing of our thoughts from processing our thoughts and experiences of the decisions we made
00:08:16.620why did we do that we have the ability to learn from our mistakes to teach others about the
00:08:22.460pitfalls in lives and to let them know that it's up to not give up but to push forward be stronger
00:08:28.120and do our best at being noble folk in a way these are saga times and we're all playing a role here
00:08:35.100and we need to be thankful for the opportunity to do that we are really special people here in this
00:08:42.500time all of us are the right people and I hope that when people have left that they find their
00:08:50.000way back because this there is a center it's like a magnetism a center of gravity with what we have
00:08:56.940here in our church and it is a place of change it's also a place of calmness and stasis in the
00:09:04.600middle where we have we're in our own bubble which i love when everything else is kind of chaotic
00:09:09.460outside and we have our own bubble and that's why i feel so wonderful when we're together
00:09:14.240We do a wonderful job at keeping the calmness, the nature of that when we're together, supporting each other and being respectful and the frith weaving and all that happens when we're together as folk.
00:09:30.740being thankful is important dealing with all of our folk and instilling that in others especially
00:09:39.160our children who need to learn to be thankful and respectful and all those those values that
00:09:45.260aren't made part of our nine noble virtues but they certainly build on those get us to the point
00:09:50.040where we can be self-reliant and things like that and hospitable the children need to learn these
00:09:55.020very basics and I think we all we do that very well but of course being thankful and appreciative
00:10:01.180and feeling gratitude for what we have is something that we need to encourage
00:10:08.020especially with our children. In giving thanks our AFA way we show others the respect for our
00:10:16.420ancestors and traditions and one thing I wanted to bring up is here we are at Thanksgiving if you
00:10:23.680think of one of the symbols that we have not necessarily we have but it's always been there
00:10:29.680kids get to do this at school you know they make the artwork and what do they do they make the
00:10:33.520cornucopia so what is the cornucopia anyway well the translation is the horn of plenty and yes it
00:10:41.920looks like one of our drinking horns if you think about it they're often made out of wicker but
00:10:49.040originally the idea was it was a goat horn and that story comes from the greeks it comes from
00:10:56.720zeus who had a foster mother he was hidden away from his father and he was with a foster mother
00:11:03.840who was a she goat named amalthea and in the story she gave him milk and that is what he was raised
00:11:12.560on he accidentally broke off one of her horns which possessed the divine power to provide
00:11:18.080never-ending nourishment. Zeus gave it to Almathea and her sisters, endowing it with the magical
00:11:23.540power to insulate filth with whatever its holder wished for. And so the first cornucopia was0.82
00:11:28.860created. That, of course, is something I read. I started thinking about the idea of the cornucopia
00:11:34.380and looking at our Futhark, and I thought, whoa, what do we have there that's kind of similar? And
00:11:39.980I kind of focused on the idea of parathrow. And parathrow is, quote, the dice cup, right? It's
00:11:47.740it's on its side looks like something can spill out and let's face it that's what the cornucopia
00:11:52.300it is it is the harvest it is all the produce everything that came out from all that the
00:11:59.860fertility of the seasons prior to that all the male all the male and feminine powers that went
00:12:07.860into the production of the food and now the final harvest of the food are in and outflowing
00:12:16.660through the cornucopia through the horn of plenty we have also horns we use our horns also
00:12:23.340receptacles for magical power for transference of energy and very similar we don't typically put
00:12:34.820fruits and vegetables in we can put the juices from those of course but again going back not
00:12:43.560to the horn so much but the idea of parathrow and i was reading um what thorson says about it
00:12:53.020and he says that you know it's i've always thought of parathrow as just being that
00:12:58.220random totally random uh rune or the the outcome that comes from just basically more of a weird
00:13:07.040thing where it is is unplanned and you just deal with it kind of a thing it's a gift or perhaps
00:13:15.120a curse one doesn't really know and you know i'm sure swan has some thoughts on this but
00:13:22.320thorson reminds us that it actually is based he calls it the well of weird the well of earth
00:13:30.720and that um it is the holder of all those deeds again the urlog
00:13:36.640urlog is is the container is what is inside um pair throw that it contains
00:13:43.840urlog and out from that we take but it comes from putting deeds in but also
00:13:56.320So consciousness and energy into it so that we want to bring out of that, that which is healthy and good and usable, beneficial is what we get when we use parathrow.
00:14:16.900In the same way, we also want that from a horn of mead, where we're using it for blessings, and we're connecting with the Holy Powers using the horn of mead.
00:14:28.140But it is interesting that we also, at this time of year, you know, pair throw, we can take from what has been put in there and taking out.
00:14:40.260And if we have done what we should in putting those layers in in Urlog and give it the right intentions, then we too shall have something perhaps similar to the cornucopia, something that can give back and produce pleasure and well-being at harvest time.
00:15:05.180um and so i i just thought that that was uh one way of looking at our connection with
00:15:13.160thanksgiving in a different way whether we see the cornucopia as our own horns that we use with
00:15:20.040our precious mead or if we can even think of it as as parathrow which um really is not so random
00:15:28.340as i always thought but that it does have uh layers in in a pattern within it that we can
00:15:37.780then take from if we have done well in the same way you harvest good crops when you have taken
00:15:44.660care of them and nurtured them properly so i just thought that that was something to also remember
00:15:50.660that this time of year we give thanks we offer thanks we receive thanks it is very much part of
00:15:58.820that gifting cycle that we do with our holy powers with our gods and goddesses but also with each
00:16:05.140other at this time of year and with our ancestors never forgetting the benefits the blessings the
00:16:11.300gifts and the legacy that they have left all of us so that we can be our best and that should be
00:16:18.260part of it is remembering to be grateful to have gratitude and appreciate that which we have
00:16:26.900because it is so healthy and wonderful to think on the good things in life and not
00:16:32.660dwell in the darkness that is easy to slip into so we do we all have our blessings
00:16:38.580we have our memories we have our connections we must continue to do the best with all that
00:16:44.020And that is my thoughts on being thankful this time of year.
00:16:52.860I don't know if it feels almost disingenuous to say thank you so much, Kipia.
00:16:58.980You're very welcome. No problem at all. My pleasure.