Asatru Folk Assembly - Giving Thanks

00:00:00.000 All 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.

00:00:15.160 but it also occurred to me that that's really not what we are talking about not just that casual

00:00:21.940 thank you but truly the giving of thanks and it occurred to me that yes this is the end of the

00:00:30.720 harvest season which I'm going to touch on at the end but it's also these two months are all about

00:00:37.140 giving thanks and the idea that we are gifting we're gifting receiving gifts that we put our

00:00:48.060 blessings into way back charming of the plow and astara when we're planting those seeds and

00:00:58.220 nurturing them along and getting through the summer to this final point of harvest and that's

00:01:03.360 part of what we're doing at thanksgiving which is this tradition has been with us for a long long

00:01:08.560 time um but i'm also going to kind of take it in a couple of different directions at the very end

00:01:15.120 which is kind of interesting i think um to to just simply say thank you it's wonderful to do it we do

00:01:24.640 it a lot but it is so casual in terms of its usage with us thanks thanks a lot you know we have all

00:01:33.520 these things it is actually thanks goes back it's a very old expression it has proto-indo-european

00:01:40.560 roots it was used by in the 14th century in old english it means to thank to thank is a verb that

00:01:52.880 is also was used as a noun it has been found in old saxon old norse and frisian it's even tied

00:02:00.160 to the word think i'm not sure if spawn will agree with this but that's what i saw and also

00:02:06.720 the mini or the memory so that kind of brings forth this idea of thought and memory that we

00:02:13.440 we have with Huguenemunin and you know at this point in my life many decades what seven decades

00:02:22.880 seven score whatever I've got a lot of memories and I am a very sentimental person grow more so

00:02:32.420 and I think that's probably something that happens as we grow older so memory is incredibly important

00:02:37.440 to me keeping those memories alive and thanking my life for what has brought me and i hope that

00:02:44.400 everybody focuses on the idea that there's plenty to give thanks for i i hear people who really do

00:02:54.000 is kind of pointed out by katie we don't want to go um turn negative on things we want to always be

00:03:01.520 forward seeking and bright and and optimistic and how we deal with things and part of it is just

00:03:08.320 simply stopping to think of those blessings that we have that we've received the people we've known

00:03:16.320 the circumstances that we've had where we have grown strong through them they may have been

00:03:23.600 tough times but we got to the other side we learned strength and i like to think and i know

00:03:31.920 my husband says it you know these are unique times these are very unique times we've been chosen to

00:03:37.840 be here uh the nor near um kind of set everything in place for us to arrive at this time so i want

00:03:45.520 everybody to be thankful for being in this time in this place and for the opportunities and the

00:03:50.000 challenges that are before us and sometimes we can't take joy in it but when we get through it

00:03:57.200 we need to be thankful for what it taught us and that we can help others during the more

00:04:04.160 challenging times and there's thanks involved in that it's a give and it's a take it's a sharing

00:04:10.720 um um but everybody from the the way the day starts what you can do it starts with thanks

00:04:20.480 you know um start the day by by being thankful for another day here in mcgarth to be able to do more

00:04:27.620 as you've probably heard my husband say many times do more be more achieve more

00:04:33.640 change the world make it better and that's in our own hands to do that in our own ability

00:04:42.140 to make that attempt whether or not we achieve it we should at least try to do it and part of it

00:04:48.620 is being thankful for what we have but also appreciating the people that we see and helping

00:04:55.460 them feel that they are being blessed and are receiving um a good day um kind of goes back to

00:05:03.540 even our food pantries i thank them i thank the people who come because they've made our time

00:05:11.520 worthwhile um we they've made us feel that we did matter in their lives that they are better for

00:05:18.680 having known us and so it seems kind of silly when we're giving food but it is an exchange

00:05:24.160 and the intangible feelings you get from doing that is very very powerful and so um there are

00:05:32.400 many ways that we can all say thanks and thank you uh in simple ways in just our daily lives

00:05:39.840 of course doing meal blessings thanking for the sustenance for the food that is there before us

00:05:46.000 Thankful for the connections we have is also true being part of our AFA family.

00:05:56.760 One way that we can be thankful and look at it in kind of a structured way is something

00:06:02.080 that we came up with many years ago and we called it the connections.

00:06:05.380 We had a little flyer that was about connections.

00:06:10.060 husband described it as the vitruvian man that was da vinci's creation shows a man in a circle

00:06:17.580 in a square and it's supposed to represent balance but we kind of took that idea and came up with this

00:06:25.980 as a model and it kind of explains where we and alsatru can see ourselves our place here

00:06:33.980 in this world midgard where we are right now and i think would work for any any people any of our

00:06:39.020 ancestors could probably say pretty much the same thing we think above us is our holy powers the

00:06:45.420 holy gods of our folk the aesir and the asenir below us is the earth itself that we call midgarth

00:06:52.460 all the life that contains there watched over by nerthes our earth behind us is the long line of

00:06:58.700 ancestors the dsir and alvar who still live on in us you know they're still i love that in genealogy

00:07:06.860 to point out that those genes are in us that came from so far back before us so the future folk each

00:07:14.540 blessed child born who can further the the destiny of our ancestral lines of our church and continuing

00:07:23.420 goodness to the world and what it needs again a balance to the world and this is something very

00:07:29.500 very important to each of us on either side our current kin our families and our friends with

00:07:36.780 whom we support share love and give thanks and it really shows us as being very balanced in how we

00:07:45.660 approach the world around us but also how our church gives us that sense of balance where

00:07:55.260 things are are well set out and give a structure in our lives that's what so many people are

00:08:02.140 missing and not having structure going back to the idea of hugan and munan from hugan we learn

00:08:10.040 the processing of our thoughts from processing our thoughts and experiences of the decisions we made

00:08:16.620 why did we do that we have the ability to learn from our mistakes to teach others about the

00:08:22.460 pitfalls in lives and to let them know that it's up to not give up but to push forward be stronger

00:08:28.120 and do our best at being noble folk in a way these are saga times and we're all playing a role here

00:08:35.100 and we need to be thankful for the opportunity to do that we are really special people here in this

00:08:42.500 time all of us are the right people and I hope that when people have left that they find their

00:08:50.000 way back because this there is a center it's like a magnetism a center of gravity with what we have

00:08:56.940 here in our church and it is a place of change it's also a place of calmness and stasis in the

00:09:04.600 middle where we have we're in our own bubble which i love when everything else is kind of chaotic

00:09:09.460 outside and we have our own bubble and that's why i feel so wonderful when we're together

00:09:14.240 We 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.

00:09:30.740 being thankful is important dealing with all of our folk and instilling that in others especially

00:09:39.160 our children who need to learn to be thankful and respectful and all those those values that

00:09:45.260 aren't made part of our nine noble virtues but they certainly build on those get us to the point

00:09:50.040 where we can be self-reliant and things like that and hospitable the children need to learn these

00:09:55.020 very basics and I think we all we do that very well but of course being thankful and appreciative

00:10:01.180 and feeling gratitude for what we have is something that we need to encourage

00:10:08.020 especially with our children. In giving thanks our AFA way we show others the respect for our

00:10:16.420 ancestors and traditions and one thing I wanted to bring up is here we are at Thanksgiving if you

00:10:23.680 think of one of the symbols that we have not necessarily we have but it's always been there

00:10:29.680 kids get to do this at school you know they make the artwork and what do they do they make the

00:10:33.520 cornucopia so what is the cornucopia anyway well the translation is the horn of plenty and yes it

00:10:41.920 looks like one of our drinking horns if you think about it they're often made out of wicker but

00:10:49.040 originally the idea was it was a goat horn and that story comes from the greeks it comes from

00:10:56.720 zeus who had a foster mother he was hidden away from his father and he was with a foster mother

00:11:03.840 who was a she goat named amalthea and in the story she gave him milk and that is what he was raised

00:11:12.560 on he accidentally broke off one of her horns which possessed the divine power to provide

00:11:18.080 never-ending nourishment. Zeus gave it to Almathea and her sisters, endowing it with the magical

00:11:23.540 power to insulate filth with whatever its holder wished for. And so the first cornucopia was 0.82

00:11:28.860 created. That, of course, is something I read. I started thinking about the idea of the cornucopia

00:11:34.380 and looking at our Futhark, and I thought, whoa, what do we have there that's kind of similar? And

00:11:39.980 I kind of focused on the idea of parathrow. And parathrow is, quote, the dice cup, right? It's

00:11:47.740 it's on its side looks like something can spill out and let's face it that's what the cornucopia

00:11:52.300 it is it is the harvest it is all the produce everything that came out from all that the

00:11:59.860 fertility of the seasons prior to that all the male all the male and feminine powers that went

00:12:07.860 into the production of the food and now the final harvest of the food are in and outflowing

00:12:16.660 through the cornucopia through the horn of plenty we have also horns we use our horns also

00:12:23.340 receptacles for magical power for transference of energy and very similar we don't typically put

00:12:34.820 fruits and vegetables in we can put the juices from those of course but again going back not

00:12:43.560 to the horn so much but the idea of parathrow and i was reading um what thorson says about it

00:12:53.020 and he says that you know it's i've always thought of parathrow as just being that

00:12:58.220 random totally random uh rune or the the outcome that comes from just basically more of a weird

00:13:07.040 thing where it is is unplanned and you just deal with it kind of a thing it's a gift or perhaps

00:13:15.120 a curse one doesn't really know and you know i'm sure swan has some thoughts on this but

00:13:22.320 thorson reminds us that it actually is based he calls it the well of weird the well of earth

00:13:30.720 and that um it is the holder of all those deeds again the urlog

00:13:36.640 urlog is is the container is what is inside um pair throw that it contains

00:13:43.840 urlog and out from that we take but it comes from putting deeds in but also

00:13:56.320 So 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.

00:14:16.900 In 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.

00:14:28.140 But 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.

00:14:40.260 And 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.

00:15:05.180 um and so i i just thought that that was uh one way of looking at our connection with

00:15:13.160 thanksgiving in a different way whether we see the cornucopia as our own horns that we use with

00:15:20.040 our precious mead or if we can even think of it as as parathrow which um really is not so random

00:15:28.340 as i always thought but that it does have uh layers in in a pattern within it that we can

00:15:37.780 then take from if we have done well in the same way you harvest good crops when you have taken

00:15:44.660 care of them and nurtured them properly so i just thought that that was something to also remember

00:15:50.660 that this time of year we give thanks we offer thanks we receive thanks it is very much part of

00:15:58.820 that gifting cycle that we do with our holy powers with our gods and goddesses but also with each

00:16:05.140 other at this time of year and with our ancestors never forgetting the benefits the blessings the

00:16:11.300 gifts and the legacy that they have left all of us so that we can be our best and that should be

00:16:18.260 part of it is remembering to be grateful to have gratitude and appreciate that which we have

00:16:26.900 because it is so healthy and wonderful to think on the good things in life and not

00:16:32.660 dwell in the darkness that is easy to slip into so we do we all have our blessings

00:16:38.580 we have our memories we have our connections we must continue to do the best with all that

00:16:44.020 And that is my thoughts on being thankful this time of year.

00:16:52.860 I don't know if it feels almost disingenuous to say thank you so much, Kipia.

00:16:58.980 You're very welcome. No problem at all. My pleasure.

Asatru Folk Assembly - November 27, 2024

Giving Thanks

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