Asatru Folk Assembly - July 2020 Facebook Live Chat

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 Hello. There we go. Got a member of our newest AFA kindred joining us all the way from Brazil.

00:00:46.880 Congratulations, Viter Folk kindred in Brazil. We're very proud to have you guys with you as an AFA kindred.

00:00:55.000 Hey, everybody. It's amazing that it's already July. This year has gone by quick, and it has been such an amazing year so far.

00:01:08.700 Welcome. I hope you guys are having a great summer. I hope everything is going good for you.

00:01:14.860 This is an exciting, exciting time for the Alistair True Folk Assembly.

00:01:19.480 I know we got folks joining us and coming in, but I wanted to go ahead and start this

00:01:29.760 thing off by officially announcing to you guys that we have acquired Baldur's Hoff.

00:01:39.020 The second Hoff we've acquired this year in 2020.

00:01:43.400 We have been extremely, extremely blessed.

00:01:46.560 I am so excited.

00:01:49.480 We've got our folk in the Northern Plains region, folks from North Dakota and our Minnesota people already hard at work getting Baldershoff all set up, getting things cleaned and repaired and all suitable and nice for our AFA family and most importantly, for the shining sun of Odin for Balder.

00:02:09.180 So, very excited about Baldershoff. Hail Balder!

00:02:19.160 That said, I also wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about the amazing midsummer that we had.

00:02:26.820 Since I talked to you guys last, we had our yearly midsummer at Odenshoff, and it was tremendous.

00:02:34.180 We weren't sure how many people were going to come out this year.

00:02:37.040 As you guys know, things have been kind of different this year with folks traveling and folks being able to get together.

00:02:44.680 So very, very excited about that.

00:02:50.360 We ended up, I don't know, we had thought maybe we'd get 80 people.

00:02:56.320 Turns out we had a record attendance for any AFA event ever.

00:03:01.560 142 souls were there.

00:03:03.980 and it was it was amazing to celebrate uh the 25th anniversary of the astro folk assembly with

00:03:10.060 with those amazing people um

00:03:16.300 if i'm looking down as always facebook is weird so i get more of your comments on my

00:03:21.500 phone than i do on the side of the chat over here so don't don't mind me i am

00:03:26.140 paying attention i'm just trying to make sure nobody gets uh gets overlooked

00:03:33.180 So at at Midsommar at Odinsoff, another thing that we did that I think was really special and and literally groundbreaking was we interred our first our first remains at the cemetery of Odinsoff.

00:03:52.180 um gothi gothi thorgrin uh aden his uh him and his wife katie they put their daughter's remains

00:04:01.360 to rest in the cemetery at odenshof and we are very very honored very honored to have her there

00:04:08.180 um that was a really special thing i was honored to be there and be a part of

00:04:12.140 and it's nice because no longer is that a theory or a something we can do one of these days

00:04:20.540 we now officially have a place to bury the ashes of our dead and to honor them with with monuments

00:04:26.940 um that's a really special thing in this time when so many folks around us are are tearing

00:04:32.860 monuments down and destroying the afa has been building been erecting monuments having a place

00:04:38.940 for our dead and we've been establishing two hofs so we're doing some really exciting things and i'm

00:04:46.220 excited to to share that with you guys looking at the chat tonight um

00:04:55.100 oh wow all right so gothy blaine qualls thank you and ulfheadnar clan so very much

00:05:04.060 blaine just mentioned that the ulfheadnar clan has just donated one thousand two hundred and fifty

00:05:10.700 to Baldershof. That is what it takes for us to be able to do amazing things like that. Thank you

00:05:19.540 guys so much for your generosity. I want to bring everyone's attention. We've been able to do some

00:05:27.740 really amazing things because you guys have been generous. As I said, this year, we've been able

00:05:33.160 to establish two Hoffs. In order to have nice things and to do things, it takes money. It takes

00:05:39.620 support and the support that we need quite often is financial um if you go to our website www.runestone.org

00:05:50.020 and you click on the donate link link there we really appreciate anything you guys can spare

00:05:56.740 to pay off these two hoffs and to to help us get in a position to to get more hoffs in the future

00:06:04.260 we're trying to pay off these hoffs we like i said we got two this year you can choose to donate to

00:06:09.620 thor's hoff or to balder's hoff and select that on there if you or if your kindred or your family

00:06:16.660 would like to donate 500 or more then you'll get your name on a plaque whichever of those hoffs

00:06:22.580 that you choose if you want to throw 500 at each you can get your name on each plaque but we do

00:06:29.220 really appreciate anything you guys can give you know 500 is a big number we appreciate 20 we

00:06:34.740 appreciate 10. whatever you guys can do it is much appreciated and i hope you guys see that

00:06:40.260 it is going to good use so thank you for the people who've donated

00:06:51.620 we have questions tonight does folks have anything you want to talk about

00:06:55.700 anything you want to hear me talk about um anything going on we had one gentleman reach out

00:07:03.780 to me by email a couple of days ago and he had a question about the use of facebook

00:07:11.620 and i know a lot of folks are wanting to move to different platforms there's a lot of talk about

00:07:16.100 me we and various different social media i know that facebook very often does not

00:07:21.300 share our values and more than that they very often treat our values and treat us very unfairly

00:07:31.140 and that's unfortunate i know a lot of folks are hoping that we you know make some big show of

00:07:37.940 migrating away from facebook to these other platforms and i think what's really important

00:07:42.740 is that we look at these things as tools and what we're trying to do i think when you look at other

00:07:47.060 platforms as uh as a way to communicate with your in-group with your friends with perhaps other

00:07:56.180 afa members certainly with afa members in your region with your kindreds i think there's a lot

00:08:01.060 of different options that could probably serve your needs much better than facebook

00:08:07.140 but the question is when will the afa get all the way off facebook and move to other platforms

00:08:11.860 And I think the answer has to be when Facebook stops being the number one social media platform in the world by exponential factors.

00:08:27.000 Right now, one of the reasons that we stay on Facebook, and it depends what you want to do.

00:08:30.760 But Facebook, and the reason that I'm talking to you on Facebook right now, is that it reaches the maximum number of people with the minimum amount of effort.

00:08:42.760 I'm all for the AFA using all the platforms that we can, but if we only get one shot or if we have one opportunity to talk to you guys, Facebook is the way to reach the most of our AFA family, the easiest.

00:08:54.760 And what's also very important is it's the way to reach outside of that.

00:09:00.160 One of the hardest things for ALSATRU in general is to reach outside of our circles.

00:09:06.100 We all have a few narrow circles that we run in with certain commonalities we have.

00:09:12.860 But getting outside of that circle and letting other people know that this that we all enjoy is here and bringing our folk home, which is the mission of the AFA.

00:09:22.740 it's most effective to complete that mission by reaching out to the largest audience that we can

00:09:28.260 on a platform that's gonna gonna get to those folks so that's why we still stay on it i have

00:09:33.940 nothing against branching out trying to use other platforms as well but right now we've got to ride

00:09:40.660 the tiger a little bit and not cut off our nose to spider face so i hope that answers that question

00:09:51.780 Trying to check on my phone here and do a little refresh to make sure I'm getting anything that maybe you guys are saying that I haven't seen.

00:10:12.700 Well, Chad, welcome back.

00:10:15.680 We have a member on the side saying they just rejoined and I'm glad to have them back.

00:10:19.460 It's always awesome and does our heart good to see members come back that have left in the past.

00:10:33.000 Hey, Brad.

00:10:38.260 So questions do folks have tonight to see what you guys have that you want to talk about?

00:10:47.680 While I have you, I would like to mention the dedication of Thorshoff.

00:10:53.140 I know it's kind of short notice, but on the 18th of this month, I'm going to be out in

00:10:58.920 Linden, North Carolina at Thorshoff doing the official dedication.

00:11:04.000 It's a very special thing.

00:11:05.540 It's a very sacred thing.

00:11:06.820 And I'm really looking forward to it.

00:11:09.740 A lot of effort went into getting Thorshoff.

00:11:12.420 it's been you know it's been one of my babies this whole time I've really put a lot of myself

00:11:19.240 into trying to trying to help that move forward and make that happen and I'm so excited to go

00:11:24.420 there and see it in person and to be there our folks in the upper south in that region I know

00:11:31.060 folks from Donner's Oak kindred and from the Iron Guard kindred have put a lot of time trying to

00:11:37.680 make that place nice for us, make it suitable for our folk, and make it someplace that truly honors

00:11:43.940 Thor. I'm looking really forward to that. I'm so excited. I hope I see you guys there. So I wanted

00:11:50.200 to put that out there. If anybody would like to attend that, it's going to be on the 18th. It's

00:11:54.920 in North Carolina. Certainly if you're close, get in the car and drive and get there, but maybe some

00:12:00.680 of you can figure a way to fly in and get there too. If you're there, I'm looking very forward to

00:12:04.940 seeing you. It's going to be a really special event. So I'm pretty

00:12:08.540 excited about that.

00:12:21.940 Got any questions tonight?

00:12:28.440 One thing that's been really, really nice, and I always

00:12:31.940 After the year that we've had with some of the difficulties as far as people getting

00:12:38.700 together in this country and around the world, it's been really nice to see everybody getting

00:12:43.780 together and celebrating midsummer.

00:12:45.820 Seeing the different midsummers around the country that our AFA family are celebrating

00:12:49.860 has been good for the soul and it's been really nice to see.

00:12:54.740 Like I was saying at the top of the show here, we had an amazing midsummer at Odinshoff.

00:13:00.960 A lot of people told us, you know, not just numerically was it fantastic with so many people

00:13:06.020 there, but the quality was amazing.

00:13:08.600 I say this a lot, but it never, never ceases to amaze me because of the quality of our

00:13:17.080 membership is better all the time.

00:13:20.900 Everything spirals upward.

00:13:24.720 We truly have the very best people in our AFA family, and I'm very honored to be a part

00:13:29.720 of it.

00:13:30.020 And, yeah, it was an amazing event.

00:13:36.020 It was great to have our founder, Steve McNallan, and his wife, Githya Sheila McNallan, there

00:13:41.360 celebrating the 25th anniversary.

00:13:44.840 25 years of the AFA is, it's a real big deal for us.

00:13:49.660 In the span of human history, 25 years may not be a big deal.

00:13:53.680 But when you look at some of the circles we run in and people who do similar things, there's

00:13:57.880 nothing that compares.

00:13:58.800 A 25-year tradition, a 25-year relationship with the Aesir through the gifting cycle.

00:14:07.780 25 years of us worshiping the gods, of us building a family in the AFA has paid off tremendously.

00:14:16.460 And it's really special to be able to share that with our AFA family.

00:14:21.520 And it's really special to be able to share that with Steve and Sheila McNallan that have done so much to get us here

00:14:27.080 and to lay the foundations and make this happen so i was very honored to to get to share that with

00:14:33.240 them at odin's off um thank you to everyone who attended midsummer at odin's off thank you to

00:14:39.480 everyone who donated at midsummer at odin's off the the auction was mind-blowing the generosity

00:14:48.040 of our people and people stepping up to help out it was truly an amazing thing to witness we have

00:14:54.760 we've got the very best people in the AFA.

00:14:59.820 So help me out, guys.

00:15:06.280 What's on your mind tonight?

00:15:09.600 Open to whatever questions you have about Ask True, about the AFA, about life in general,

00:15:16.680 whatever you want to ask.

00:15:18.180 In the meantime, I would also like to mention a couple of new apprentice folk builders that

00:15:24.720 we have.

00:15:26.720 Francesco Morrissey in Italy has stepped up, and he brings a lot of experience.

00:15:34.120 I believe he's been in Alistair Trues since 1993, and he brings all that experience to

00:15:39.520 serve our folk in Europe, to build that area, to make that area strong.

00:15:44.960 last couple of years we've had a surge of european membership and it's very exciting to see and

00:15:51.920 francesco is is really going to do great things for us over there and i'm excited to see that grow

00:15:58.400 i'd also like to mention connor norris who stepped up in vancouver washington

00:16:06.880 the northwest region the astro folk assembly has been growing tremendously in the last last year

00:16:13.120 but really hard in the last six months great things have happened there and they're building

00:16:18.400 a really strong team and connor is really going to add to that team so i'm very excited to have

00:16:22.800 him join or have him join the ranks of full builders

00:16:28.560 Well, other orders of business, I guess, to talk about this evening.

00:16:45.200 I mentioned that here on the 18th, we're going to do the dedication for Thorshoff.

00:16:49.480 I'd also like to mention that the idea, and this is tentative, but the idea is November

00:16:56.740 for us to view the dedication at Baldershof in Minnesota. So if for some reason you can't make

00:17:04.800 the dedication for Thorshof, if you can make it to Murdoch, Minnesota to celebrate the dedication

00:17:10.300 of Baldershof in November, I would love to see you there. Also, if you're in that neck of the woods

00:17:17.240 Coming up in September in Minnesota, we have Fall Fest. Fall Fest is a really special event. It is an event that was met with struggle and controversy in its initial year, and it was really special to be there because we bonded over that and have built that into one of the best events of the Astro Folk Assembly.

00:17:40.500 The hospitality of people in our Northern Plains region is amazing.

00:17:47.220 I look forward to that every single year.

00:17:49.720 I'm very excited to see folks there at Fall Fest.

00:17:53.820 Go through Blaine Qualls and our folk builder and our kindred coordinator, Jason Gallagher, have put so much heart and soul into making that happen.

00:18:05.540 If you guys haven't been to Fall Fest, you're missing out, and I really hope to see you there this year.

00:18:09.780 Crystal, yes. Fall Fest is slated to be its regular location this year, but I think once

00:18:18.720 we have Baldershof up and running, next year we may change that location and try to center

00:18:24.100 that around Baldershof. That's the plan. We're still working out the logistics on it right

00:18:28.800 now. Johnny, I see the wheels are turning. Hopefully you can make it out to Baldershof

00:18:36.940 in november that goes for everybody out there i think it's going to be a really special

00:18:41.100 really special time and i hope you guys can all join

00:18:50.940 so looking at stuff and I hope I'm not missing questions if there's questions out there

00:19:06.980 again this is kind of kind of a clunky interface I hope Facebook gets it figured out or

00:19:13.860 hope I get it figured out on my end I'm trying to answer everybody who's uh who's asking if I

00:19:19.560 don't get you. It's not, uh, not intentional. I'll go back, go back on it. Apparently my wife

00:19:25.600 is seeing questions that I am not seeing. So, uh, maybe by the team of us, we'll get these

00:19:32.100 questions covered, but it is encouraging that questions are getting asked, even if I'm not

00:19:37.160 So, you know, no, it's we said this a lot.

00:19:49.880 One of the really special things to watch at our at our events, especially at our national events, the families participating has been tremendous.

00:20:01.980 That seems to grow at every event.

00:20:04.000 the number of kids. And that's really special to have the children involved and have watching

00:20:12.060 the older children help the younger children bring them up within the AFA. We did a ritual

00:20:18.040 welcoming in a baby girl into our AFA family at Midsommar, and she is a third generation AFA

00:20:24.660 member. And that's something really special to be able to say that three generations of that family

00:20:31.140 so far are members of our AFA family. That's really what we're trying to build. This year,

00:20:37.900 we started our ninth year of that awakening, empowerment, and immortality cycle that our

00:20:45.320 founder, Steve McNallan, started nine years ago. We're continuing our focus on immortality,

00:20:54.380 but this is the final year of that cycle. We're focusing on the ruin ensues and on listening to

00:20:59.740 the gods, listening to the Aesir, listening to the All-Father, and, excuse me, opening

00:21:06.560 ourselves to that, paying attention to the signs, to the synchronicities, paying attention

00:21:13.420 to the voice of the gods in our lives and in our hearts as we develop and as we grow.

00:21:18.800 And by doing that, I think that we've really taken a big step as the Astro Folk Assembly

00:21:23.620 towards some of that immortality, certainly as a church, as an organization.

00:21:27.960 um this year's been a big leap forward in that because now we have we have baby namings we

00:21:37.400 welcome babies into the world we have a womb blessing even before baby namings and now finally

00:21:43.140 with the cemetery at odinsoff we have a place on our holy ground to inter the ashes of our loved

00:21:49.420 ones. So throughout the entire life of our AFA family, there's a place within the AFA.

00:21:58.240 And it's really a special thing. But with the increase of our Hoffs, and I've said it before,

00:22:05.060 but I'll keep saying it because it's really a special thing to me. My daughter will never

00:22:09.780 know a time that there wasn't Hoffs to honor our gods. And it was a huge thing to get that

00:22:14.860 first Hoff to get Odin's Hoff. But as long as we just have one of something, we're only one away 0.88

00:22:21.180 from not having anything. One disaster, one calamity, one bad slip of fortune. Now we have

00:22:30.280 three Hoffs. That's so much closer to a tradition that's going to be around for our children, 0.59

00:22:38.740 for our grandchildren, for our grandchildren's grandchildren. I'm really excited to be a part

00:22:43.180 laying those foundations and having you guys with me to lay those foundations.

00:22:58.760 So I've got a couple of questions on the side. The next big upcoming holiday that we celebrate

00:23:03.820 in Ausitru is Freyfaxi in August. And usually that's kind of the start of our end of summer

00:23:12.700 harvest season, and that's usually at the end of the month. I also have another question

00:23:19.080 over on the side about how I would recommend talking to folk that aren't of our faith and

00:23:28.260 explaining our, our Volkish beliefs without the other party shutting down the conversation

00:23:34.520 or being closed-minded. We live in a very polarized world. I can't guarantee any audience

00:23:45.060 you talk to is not going to shut you down or dismiss what you have to say or resort

00:23:52.240 to name calling. We live in a world that has been very, very conditioned. The enemies of

00:24:00.520 our folk have used name calling and humiliation to make our people ashamed of themselves and

00:24:07.800 ashamed of allowing any pride or any spark of pride to develop and take root in their heart.

00:24:15.080 That's what we're fixing. We're doing a great job. We're fixing it together,

00:24:18.760 but it's hard when you have a conversation with these other people. What I've always contended,

00:24:23.720 alexandria is these people need to get to know you as a person first if they know that you are

00:24:33.640 a good person are an honorable and noble person they know that you're not mean-spirited you're

00:24:39.960 not cruel you're not hateful when they learn those things about you and they've accepted those as

00:24:47.800 being true then when you want to talk to them about our our stance on focusness and on race

00:24:55.160 they're much more open because there's a there's a disconnect between

00:25:02.120 what they've been told they have to think about somebody who is proud of their race or a white

00:25:07.560 person who's proud of their race and who you are so when you know their their conditioning makes

00:25:14.840 them want to call names or or see something negative and hateful they already have the

00:25:21.000 precedent that you've said of being a good person so they're willing to hear what you have to say

00:25:25.640 the other thing that i would point out is try to make the connection between your beliefs

00:25:30.920 and how it's helped you in your life your beliefs and how it's made you a better person

00:25:36.280 um i think that goes a long way is connecting connecting our core values

00:25:43.640 to something that's actually beneficial in your life and that they can see and maybe that they've

00:25:48.200 noticed in your life and i think those are the inroads that i would make to try to avoid

00:25:53.480 them shutting down on you and i think the more polarizing the world is the more people are

00:25:59.000 tearing down the statues the more uh people are kissing the feet of other races of people in

00:26:09.000 humiliation I think that presenting our focus view is going to be easier and easier to to

00:26:15.080 some people that have really been marginalized um so yeah that's that's my advice

00:26:30.760 um we have a question from Michael about uh he's seen discussions about

00:26:35.640 baldur's hof and how we can make a smooth integration into the community and wanting

00:26:40.440 to know how that relates to experiences we've had with the other hofs well so far we don't have a

00:26:46.120 lot of experiences with thor thor's hof thor's hof is still very new uh we announced that in april

00:26:52.280 and we are going to dedicate that here in about 17 days so we're still feeling that out a huge

00:26:59.640 thing that helped us at odinsoff um and and rightly so when we enter you know we go to a community

00:27:09.160 most people have never heard about us and have no idea that this is a thing they have no idea that

00:27:16.120 there's serious people that worship our gods so they have to deal with that and then you know if

00:27:23.800 they hear other things about us or they hear about our focus viewpoint there's a lot of things that

00:27:28.360 are preloaded for them to think so that's a challenge when we go places um things that have

00:27:36.280 helped us are looking like reasonable regular people the more we interact in a community the

00:27:43.880 more we support support their local economy the more we interact with the people there and show

00:27:49.560 them that we're good folks that were honorable folks and the more we help out then the more

00:27:55.400 we're going to make a good inroad and a good integration in the community a huge thing that's

00:27:59.800 helped us at odin's office when we were approached to do the uh the food bank and now usda food

00:28:07.080 giveaway um to distribute food to the people who really need it there has helped out tremendously

00:28:13.640 and it juxtaposed us to other houses of worship in that town because us being you know this this

00:28:21.880 weirdo you know this weirdo thing up there that nobody knew about they went to all the christian

00:28:26.600 denominations first those people turned them down they came to us and we embraced it we jumped right

00:28:34.760 in said sure how can we help and that attitude of hey how can we help did a world of good for us

00:28:41.640 there and a similar attitude at thorshoff and at balgershoff i believe is going to yield good

00:28:47.720 results for us as well so we're looking for charitable opportunities there the food bank

00:28:52.600 may be a really important thing for us there maybe it's not maybe those communities have different

00:28:56.920 needs so we're looking into that but i think that that's a huge thing just like i said on how to

00:29:02.600 start the conversation with you know a friend or family member without them shutting down

00:29:07.320 how to start that conversation with the community is them to see us as good people first and then

00:29:12.920 they'd be open to our beliefs then they're open to you know thoughts that we have that maybe you

00:29:18.120 know they're not used to and uh so i think the key is to set that example to look good to act good

00:29:26.360 to treat them well to be kind once they like what they see once they like us

00:29:34.360 then they'll be open to hearing what makes us who we are

00:29:42.920 I got a question from Don. Do I ever hide my Thor's hammer away in certain company or certain circumstances?

00:30:00.980 And Anna mentioned that he felt like it would be prudent to do so when interacting with a DMV.

00:30:07.780 No, I don't. I never find it okay to hide my Thor's hammer. I'm proud of who I am and what I believe in. I'm proud of being Alcitru. And like I mentioned earlier, by seeing people behave well, act honorably, conduct themselves in a noble way, and wear their Thor's hammer.

00:30:33.460 It's funny, I'm hiding my Thor's hammer right now because I didn't pull it out when I put the shirt on.

00:30:41.100 But seeing folks wearing this and seeing those being good, honorable people, that's what's going to change those perceptions.

00:30:53.340 That's what's going to move us all forward.

00:30:55.800 Now, unfortunately, that may mean the first couple of people that do it take a hit and people prejudge them.

00:31:02.440 but if we don't if we aren't willing to do that small act to show pride in ourselves and what we

00:31:10.440 believe makes it very hard for us to ever make any of those inroads so no i don't ever find it

00:31:16.520 appropriate to hide my thor's hammer the only instance i think is appropriate to hide your

00:31:20.280 thor's hammer is if you're doing something you ought not be doing so uh you know if you're being

00:31:27.240 shady or someplace you shouldn't be or you're not proud of what you're doing

00:31:30.920 then by all means hide that horse hammer better yet change what you're doing

00:31:44.920 looking for other questions here i really appreciate uh appreciate my wife mandy looking on

00:31:51.640 on her computer apparently she's seeing a lot of stuff that i am not so i appreciate her

00:31:59.000 checking in and making sure we're getting to everybody

00:32:05.560 the thing with the thor's hammer that you mentioned i think it's extremely important

00:32:09.240 for people to see it because it raises awareness and i've noticed in the time that i've worn

00:32:15.480 my thor's hammer uh i'd say over the last last 20 years a lot more people recognize it for what it

00:32:23.080 is a lot more people won't even refer to it as a thor's hammer but will refer to it as mjolnir

00:32:30.520 and will some people will even understand what it is to be also true or to be an odinist

00:32:38.280 and those are really good conversations it's one of our only ways you know people seeing that hammer

00:32:45.240 can strike up a conversation you see that and you know hey maybe this person is also true as well

00:32:51.960 and that opens doors for a lot of conversation um i think that's really important i've seen that

00:32:59.240 happen to uh to steve mcnalen a lot um weird is really working through him to bring those kind of

00:33:06.360 people to him but people will notice his hammer he will notice their hammer and conversations ensue

00:33:14.520 almost, you know, seems very, very often with Steve. And I think a lot of the time those

00:33:21.940 conversations wouldn't happen if we didn't see, you know, each other's hammers. So if you have

00:33:27.420 the opportunity, if, you know, assuming there's some special rule against it with a uniform at

00:33:32.100 work or something, I would encourage everybody to wear your hammers.

00:33:44.520 James, you mentioned those two guys discharged from the military a while back.

00:33:57.240 Some of that's fake news. Some of it's legit.

00:34:02.620 But don't always believe the hype. Look into those stories. That story that you read is only half true.

00:34:09.700 And very often those things are half true.

00:34:11.760 So I'd encourage you to look out, you know, and reach out to the people that events allegedly happened to and ask them what really went down.

00:34:20.020 Because I think that adds to the story a lot.

00:34:36.540 Oh, Don, don't get me wrong.

00:34:38.000 I wasn't accusing anybody of living in fear on it.

00:34:40.720 I think we all try to figure out what's prudent and what's not.

00:34:44.240 And in the world we live in today with all the crazy things we see going on in the street,

00:34:49.540 I think it's always up in the air on what's prudent and what's not.

00:34:53.360 And, you know, we all got to figure out the best tactics that are going to work for us in a given situation.

00:34:58.140 all right guys we've got any more questions out there tonight

00:35:10.080 appreciate so many of you joining me I look forward to these

00:35:14.580 special to get a chance to talk to you guys every month like this

00:35:19.380 just checking on here to see if i've got other questions i'm not seeing to answer

00:35:29.520 yes indeed 17 more days i'll be at thor's hof making an official dedication of that hof

00:35:44.160 to Thor and sharing that time with our AFA Upper South family. And we're going to do a land taking

00:35:53.320 ritual. It's going to be really exciting. I think we've got some folk builder oaths. We've got a

00:35:58.160 baby naming. We've got some really good things planned. As far as people who are, you know,

00:36:12.160 am i okay with somebody using an alternate facebook when interacting with the afa to avoid

00:36:18.080 controversy i'm okay with it i don't recommend it i use mine i'm in a unique uh i'm in a unique

00:36:25.840 circumstance though you've got to figure out what's going to be best for you and your situation

00:36:30.880 you know who you've got as your facebook friends be it work or family or whatever and that's a

00:36:35.520 choice that that you're going to make and uh you know i don't think it's the end of the world if

00:36:41.040 If you've got an alternate account, one account for your house of true people and one account for work people or whatever, I would encourage you the closer you can to unify the circles in your life.

00:36:54.720 It simplifies things.

00:36:57.620 It gives you a lot more inner peace.

00:37:00.960 The more authentic you can live your life and be who you are, the better.

00:37:05.960 Now, again, we've got to do what we got to do to get by.

00:37:09.880 And I don't think there's anything wrong with, you know, practicing a certain amount of discretion when dealing with the outside world so that you can accomplish what you need to for you and your family.

00:37:20.460 But the closer you can be to living your life holistically and authentically in all aspects of your life, the closer you get towards a lot of mental peace and towards some of the nobility that we all strive for.

00:37:34.140 But again, you've got to do what you got to do. And I know a lot of folks are in that boat.

00:37:39.880 hmm

00:37:58.120 um 0.99

00:38:01.000 crap as far as a new uh a new updated book of blowtar 0.68

00:38:06.600 we're working on it uh that has proved a challenge we've got some good people working on it 0.67

00:38:14.040 when it comes out it's going to be great and i'm excited about it i wish i could tell you that it's

00:38:19.220 coming out super soon that's probably not the case but we are working on it the current book

00:38:24.420 of blowtar that's being sold um it's getting sold by amazon there's no way for us to take it off the

00:38:29.680 market, but the Austria Folk Assembly does not endorse the current AFA book. I say current AFA

00:38:36.100 book of Blotar. It's very outdated. It no longer is a good representation of the Austria Folk

00:38:41.020 Assembly. Many of its authors are no longer in the good graces of the AFA. And I believe quite

00:38:50.080 a few of them are no longer in the good graces of the gods in general. So we don't endorse that

00:38:54.900 any longer but we are working on something and hopefully we can get that out pretty soon

00:39:12.820 i'm sorry guys on my phone i've got to keep reloading the messages

00:39:17.060 and every time i check and i see things that they didn't show me the first time

00:39:21.060 so i'm working on that i appreciate you guys patience

00:39:28.020 if you guys have any questions please do throw them out there

00:39:33.460 the success of these depends largely on you guys asking stuff because if not

00:39:38.340 it becomes me rambling and saying uh uh uh uh and i want to do as little of that as possible

00:39:45.140 um if i do miss any of your questions i do go back over these uh tonight and tomorrow and i'll

00:39:52.340 try to answer all the questions that i may have missed so please don't feel ignored and please

00:39:57.380 don't feel like i'm ducking you because i'm not promise uh yes we need more large thorshoff

00:40:02.580 shirts we need more thorshoff shirts in general you guys you guys snarf those up right off the

00:40:07.780 bat and it was really exciting to see so much enthusiasm i'm putting in an order with sean

00:40:12.740 on that quickly. Hopefully we'll have Thorshoff shirts on the website as well as on site at

00:40:18.860 Thorshoff. That's the plan. And we're working on some Baldershoff shirts as we speak. I've

00:40:24.960 got Sean on those today. So we'll try to make that happen. Well, good, Jason. I'm excited

00:40:33.740 for Thorshoff also.

00:40:42.740 Eric yes we have contacts for the AFA in East Tennessee um hopefully Mandy if you're listening

00:40:51.980 to me if you could respond to Eric Hall there and link him up with uh our Upper South folk

00:40:57.860 builders so we can get him squared away

00:41:06.920 one of which we I just saw we got Rob Stam in the chat tonight he will be happy to do that

00:41:12.320 workout shorts. Raffanulf, I put them up on the website yesterday. So check in there. Our store,

00:41:18.820 we have workout shorts. They're amazing shorts. They're mesh. They're not too light to where

00:41:25.440 they're, you know, super form clinging or anything strange. They're a good length for men.

00:41:30.740 And what's really cool about these workout shorts is they've got a back pocket. You can put your

00:41:35.900 wallet in. It's always obnoxious when I go and I got my wallet and my keys and my phone and some

00:41:41.280 silly bulge on the side on my side pockets uh these workout shorts are really they're cool

00:41:47.380 workout shorts i'm i stand by them i'm glad we sell them i hope you guys go and enjoy them as

00:41:52.840 much as i do yes rob is in fact your huckleberry eric uh he'll get you squared away with folks in

00:42:00.300 that region because we got we got good things going on in your area now is a very good time

00:42:06.000 to be in the AFA Upper South.

00:42:18.160 Well, Monk, I am glad that you are in a situation

00:42:21.300 that you can live so proudly and so openly.

00:42:25.200 I hope that everyone finds themselves in the same situation

00:42:28.540 because there's a freedom and a liberation in that.

00:42:33.220 But we have to temper things that we have to

00:42:35.900 with wisdom so that we can provide for, uh, provide for our families. The all father talks

00:42:41.560 about, you know, having cunning when dealing with your enemy when necessary. So we do what we do,

00:42:47.500 but the closer you can live as, as authentically and as openly with who you are and what you

00:42:52.680 believe in, the better, the more people we have that are able to do that publicly,

00:42:57.520 not only that are able to do that, but do it with dignity that opens the door for the rest of us to

00:43:04.780 be able to to express that pride because they'll see the example of other people they know and i

00:43:10.940 ran into that i ran into that myself um where some people saw my hammer and they happened to know

00:43:16.720 some really good folks that were out so true uh and they were able to make that connection and

00:43:21.840 say hey you know someone i knew some i knew some odinists and they were some really good guys

00:43:26.900 all right cool i've had that happen a couple of times i had it happen to me when i was bouncing

00:43:31.080 with some some Evan Hugh gentlemen. And I also had it happen at the German restaurant here in

00:43:37.600 Reno. Monk, we do not offer any classes on runes per se. There's some really good books that I

00:43:52.220 could recommend on them. A lot of our local kindreds and local meetups have rune studies

00:43:58.160 regularly as far as the afa offering like specifics on that we don't we may in the future um

00:44:06.800 i would anything edward thorson does runically i would highly endorse i'm not saying that i

00:44:13.440 agree with everything the man's ever done in his life or you know his personality or any other

00:44:21.840 things about him but when it comes to rune scholarship there is none better very seldom

00:44:28.800 do you find a book on runes written by someone who is whose scholarship is documented and impeccable

00:44:40.080 who's also a religious practitioner with the runes uh i say with confidence that edrid is probably

00:44:47.040 the greatest rune master that may have ever lived. I think that his grasp is fantastic,

00:44:52.080 and I would really endorse Edward Thorson's rune books. I think Futhark is invaluable. I think that

00:45:00.000 his book Alu is really, really useful. That's probably my favorite one of his when it comes

00:45:08.640 to runic things. And as a really good introductory book, there's the Rune Workbook by a man named

00:45:15.800 Leon D. Wild. And that is my favorite to give somebody who's completely fresh or maybe a

00:45:22.660 younger person. I think that is the, as far as a brand new to the runes, that is the best

00:45:29.360 book I've seen so far. So I'd highly recommend that. It's okay, Katie. I'm glad you're here

00:45:39.640 with us. I hope you enjoyed your dinner.

00:45:45.800 Thank you.

00:46:15.800 AFA stickers. No, we don't currently have a stock of AFA stickers.

00:46:22.800 Send a message to the AFA store of sticker ideas you'd like to see.

00:46:29.800 Talking about like bumper stickers or decals for the back of a car window.

00:46:35.800 Sean, if you've got ideas on that, go ahead and send those to the AFA shop and we'll talk about getting some AFA stickers in.

00:46:42.800 Daniel I've got to admit uh runes from the woodpile I'm not familiar uh when we get off

00:46:55.100 of here tonight I will I will look it up and and uh see see what that is and the author and

00:47:03.080 I don't take a look and see what you're talking about but I've got to say I'm not familiar with

00:47:06.640 that um so edrid is a universalist isn't he was the question i'm or the statement i'm responding

00:47:21.780 to i wouldn't say that he's a universalist he is certainly not as folkish as i am he's

00:47:30.240 certainly not as focused as the Austria folk assembly. Um, I think to say that he's full

00:47:36.560 universalist would be kind of a stretch and I don't want to just use name calling a lot of

00:47:41.880 respect for the guy, but his runic interpretations certainly aren't, um, colored by liberalism and

00:47:50.320 covered and colored by the uni mindset. Um, seems like in a lot of his earlier stuff,

00:47:57.400 He was more folkish than he tends to be in his later years.

00:48:02.040 Again, like I said, I don't wholly endorse Edred for his philosophy, for his religious practice as the greatest human being that ever lived.

00:48:11.040 I'm not going that far.

00:48:12.760 But runically, his work on the runes specifically is impeccable and his scholarship is very solid.

00:48:18.620 He's one person that I don't think puts lefty political ideology on the stuff that he does.

00:48:25.440 I got a visitor.

00:48:26.920 Got a visitor.

00:48:28.140 Everybody, behold, the cutest little girl in the entire world, my daughter, Aubrey.

00:48:33.200 If you haven't seen her, take a look.

00:48:35.920 She's beautiful.

00:48:37.420 I appreciate you bringing her here.

00:48:38.940 I appreciate you not being fussy.

00:48:42.900 Thank you, Mandy.

00:48:46.680 That's Mandy.

00:48:47.520 She has been keeping me on top of stuff over here on the side.

00:48:50.860 she is sharing questions that everybody's asking that facebook has conspired to make sure i can't

00:48:56.220 see um so if if i have answered your question there's a good chance it's because mandy sent it

00:49:02.380 to me oh of course i'm happy to answer anything you guys uh ask i'm just looking for the questions

00:49:18.380 and you ask them I'll do my best to answer them. Let me reload here again. Every time I reload

00:49:26.840 more stuff pops up so hopefully I'm not missing you guys. I'm going to assume all those hearts and

00:49:34.660 love reacts are from my daughter. Can't blame you because she is she is pretty amazing. My wife and

00:49:41.620 I have been extremely blessed with with that little girl and having her in our lives. Fussiness

00:49:47.900 side we're very glad we have her and uh yeah when she when she smiles it's it's the most beautiful

00:49:57.640 thing I've ever seen. All right, so the tartan thing and the kilt thing. We have an official

00:50:19.300 AFA tartan for those of you guys who don't know. It is beautiful. It's amazing. We're

00:50:24.720 to get some kilts made and it's going to be fantastic um trouble is kilts are a little bit

00:50:30.800 pricey and because we have to have our own fabric made to get the kilt made the minimum order is

00:50:39.760 more than i was able to get people signed on for um so we're doing some things one of the things

00:50:46.800 we're going to we're going to work on our finances to make sure we're responsibly paying off

00:50:55.260 um paying off debt so that we're squared away for uh or for Baldrishoff and Thorshoff we want to

00:51:01.920 make sure we pay those off it's a really big investment to uh to get the AFA kilts I'm sure

00:51:09.540 that they'll sell I'm sure we'll do great I had talked about a price point of fifty dollars for

00:51:14.280 kilt I think realistically we may be looking at closer to 60 70 now that I look at it um but I

00:51:22.620 think they'll be really beautiful I want to get them made um as soon as the finances are looking

00:51:27.920 right for it we'll move on that and uh I'm sorry that's taken too long to get going because I'd

00:51:34.140 love to have those I'd love to represent our AFA family in that way and uh kilts kilts are great

00:51:40.760 Raffinol, no, we have no plans or desires to make AFA tunics.

00:51:49.480 We don't, AFA doesn't do a lot of dressing up in that way.

00:51:58.980 I know some folks used to do that in the past, and that was kind of a thing.

00:52:03.500 If that's something you want to do, if you feel like that connects you to the gods, go for it.

00:52:08.180 But officially, as the AFA, we don't we don't do that.

00:52:15.180 One of the reasons is we we want very much to be taken seriously.

00:52:19.180 And some of the the period dress gets taken the wrong way by folks.

00:52:24.180 And a lot of the time it takes us out of being being a relevant faith in today's world.

00:52:33.180 And it relegates a lot of people's minds to this being an anachronism or a reenactment of something in the past.

00:52:40.840 And it's very important to us that this is something that's present, that's viable, and that's real for today and not just aping practices of our ancestors.

00:52:50.680 Um, yeah, we have no real plans for our next official platform for the AFA.

00:53:05.780 I'm all for using all the platforms we can find, but that requires volunteers.

00:53:10.600 It becomes difficult for us to use Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and MeWe and Gab and VK and, and, and, and, especially for our members, the older that folks get, it becomes really, really hard to spread everything out that far.

00:53:30.560 I'm all for people individually wanting to go to those platforms.

00:53:34.000 I'm all for AFA volunteers taking AFA's message to those platforms.

00:53:39.280 But there's a limited capacity of what we can do.

00:53:42.260 And Facebook is exponentially the biggest bang for our proverbial buck.

00:53:48.360 And when I say that, we don't spend any money advertising on Facebook.

00:53:51.760 I don't want to give those folks a dime.

00:53:54.760 But as far as a free platform, we get a tremendous benefit out of using it for advertising.

00:54:00.560 and out of having discussions like we're having at night we've got any more questions tonight

00:54:14.560 you guys have been great we've had some really good questions come in on the side

00:54:18.000 bandanas or headbands uh Daniel you are the first to ask about an AFA bandana or headband

00:54:40.080 um I'm curious I'm curious what ideas that you may have on that or or whatever again if you send

00:54:46.080 message to the AFA shop, we can talk about that. Not opposed, just not really sure design-wise

00:54:52.140 what we do on it, but yeah, I'm open to talking about it if you'd like to.

00:55:02.420 Perifinal, when you talk about traditional dress being sacred, I think that means different

00:55:07.700 things to different people. Dressing in Viking period clothing is not particularly sacred to

00:55:20.460 the Austro Folk Assembly. It may be sacred to you. You may have an outfit that you feel like

00:55:26.120 connects you to the gods or you've done some ritual with that has a value to you. And I don't

00:55:32.160 to diminish that but no dressing in in period clothing isn't sacred to the astro folk assembly

00:55:39.760 dressing in traditional clothing clothing is but i think that means different things to different

00:55:44.480 people i think for some folks you know there's very that's a dirndl or a or a lederhosen or a

00:55:51.360 kilt but there's things that are traditional to our folk to wear those are fantastic but dressing

00:55:58.160 to emulate a certain period of time like for example the viking age

00:56:02.240 that that isn't something that the afa places a lot of stock in

00:56:14.560 well uh we're glad that we've got uh irene we're glad we've got somebody from ireland with us um

00:56:20.960 I hope that you saw that we have a folk builder now in Ireland, Fiona Edgar.

00:56:29.620 She is working for us over there and doing great things.

00:56:33.400 So hopefully we're going to have some big things happen in Ireland.

00:56:37.320 I'm excited to see that.

00:56:40.760 AFA polos, that's something that people have asked about that I'm open to talking about.

00:56:46.420 It's gone back and forth.

00:56:47.500 uh afa polos are something that typically we that right now we only have available for our folk

00:56:53.420 builders something that they wear in kind of an official way but i'm open to talking about afa

00:56:58.700 polos it's something people have a lot of interest in again if you want to go to the

00:57:03.180 afa shop and send a message if that's something you want uh we'll see about that if enough people

00:57:09.020 are interested 1.00

00:57:14.940 ladies scarves in our tartan would absolutely be cool i would love to see that happen again the

00:57:20.700 trouble is getting enough quantity of the tartan material made to make those products but i think

00:57:26.380 that would be really cool to have um yeah i'd love to see that happen i and i've looked into

00:57:33.980 that a little bit the source for the kilts doesn't currently offer uh scarves but i do want to talk

00:57:42.220 to them about that and see what goes on maybe by the time we are moving on the kilts we can move on

00:57:46.540 that as well yeah guys bear with me though i am uh i'm running the afa store now and so that's all

00:58:02.540 kind of going out out of my garage doing the very best i can on that you guys have been great you

00:58:07.020 guys have been generous you guys have been awesome shopping there we really do appreciate that try to

00:58:13.660 price things right try to deal with shipping the best that we can shipping is very very difficult

00:58:19.500 but you guys have been awesome and that money goes to a good cause it helps us move forward

00:58:24.460 and help support these new offs so uh thank you guys we really appreciate it

00:58:42.860 uh paul how do you order a kilt i need to get i i need to make a big order of kilts uh trouble

00:58:48.300 is i put out the call i got about 60 people saying they'd get them i have a minimum order i need to

00:58:53.420 get of well north of 70 and that's kind of a big chunk of change to put down right now once we get 0.69

00:58:59.660 closer to paying off these two Hoffs I want to try to move on the the AFA kilts because I think

00:59:04.780 I think it'd be a really special thing, and I'm excited about them.

00:59:28.000 David, you're welcome to send me a message.

00:59:30.680 I can't guarantee you that I'll have time to do a face chat with you,

00:59:33.940 but please do send me a message and I promise I will get back to you that way.

00:59:50.820 James, I agree that a polo and some slacks and some dress shoes is a good look. It makes us

00:59:56.420 look dignified and like honorable folk. So I think that's a that's a nice thing.

01:00:03.940 Yeah, a lot to think on some of these ideas. You guys got really good ideas as far as

01:00:11.300 merchandise and store stuff. I'm going to have to buy some new shelves for my garage to stock all

01:00:15.460 this. Brad, does the AFA have a presence in Scotland? Not yet. I would love to. I think

01:00:25.020 it'd be fantastic. I'd love to see a bigger presence in British Isles in general. I'm

01:00:32.880 hoping that'll happen with fiona putting in hard work over there we can get something going and 0.57

01:00:37.280 get something growing our trouble in any of these places that are far flung um we get members that

01:00:45.040 will join and then there's nobody close to them and they'll stick around for a minute and then

01:00:50.000 they'll quit in disappointment and then a few months later somebody else will join

01:00:55.360 and a few months later somebody else will join if all of those people would just stick around

01:00:59.120 and give it a shot you know over time we'd have a good presence a lot of places unfortunately

01:01:06.080 it really takes that anchor and that's where our folk builders come in so very handy as they

01:01:10.480 provide that stability in a region so it's it i'm very hopeful that with fiona's help we can

01:01:15.760 can get a presence in the british isles she's already doing great things in ireland hopefully

01:01:20.640 that will spread to scotland and england as well as well as wales

01:01:29.120 Glenn, AFA Hammers, we are working on that.

01:01:36.680 No timetable yet, but it is something that we're working on.

01:01:59.120 So Mandy already did on the side.

01:02:10.500 Sheila asked how many babies so far in the AFA getting born or in 2020?

01:02:17.220 25.

01:02:18.800 We're just over halfway through the year.

01:02:21.780 25.

01:02:23.660 That is tremendous.

01:02:24.860 Our AFA family is growing all around, and it is beautiful to watch these new lives sprout up in the AFA and grow and develop as part of our family.

01:02:37.500 It's really, really a special thing to be able to watch.

01:02:54.860 ah so an idea for uh afa button downs with trihorns uh embroidered on them i think that's a

01:03:09.880 really nice idea as well that's something i would absolutely look into i don't know the best best

01:03:16.000 deal on that it's it's it may be odd to wear button down with a with a logo and a tie i don't

01:03:24.100 how that works but i would like to look into it because you know that sounds really nice and that

01:03:28.580 gets a good look out there i think mandy make sure you're getting getting in touch with uh

01:03:39.060 the birdzels about uh josh's message he's gotten there congratulations by the way

01:03:49.220 well excellent

01:03:54.100 Well, Sean, if you want to see a presence grow in Nova Scotia, then I need you to stick

01:04:02.500 around and tell your friends and try to help us make one happen there.

01:04:06.520 Your folk builder, Adam Hudak, would love to help you with that.

01:04:10.880 I'd love to see more presence in Canada.

01:04:13.500 We've got people in Canada, but they tend to be spread out.

01:04:16.200 So I would love to see some folks in Nova Scotia got to reload this constantly so I

01:04:26.420 can see all of you guys questions by appreciate y'all being so interactive and being patient

01:04:30.680 with me on answering these questions Glenn we're getting things going in Mississippi

01:04:41.920 we've had several people apply in the past few months from Mississippi

01:04:45.360 and Lane and Trent are going to make sure stuff happens there.

01:05:11.920 All right. So looking at questions here, tell us about the new kindred in Brazil. We have new kindred in Brazil. I opened with that today because one of those kindred members was one of the was the first person watching tonight as of today.

01:05:30.920 And this is the first kindred that's gone through our our probationary period.

01:05:36.220 We wanted to make sure that our kindreds have some time to be AFA members to make sure they're comfortable with who we are and make sure we're comfortable with who they are so that we're fully united when we have a kindred become an official AFA kindred.

01:05:52.860 And yeah, the fighter, fighter, folk kindred in Brazil. 0.95

01:06:00.700 Leave them in Sao Paulo.

01:06:03.580 They are our kindred in Brazil and they've got a very dynamic and exciting flag.

01:06:09.260 Very excited to see that flying in all three of our Hoffs and we're very, very glad to have them

01:06:14.780 with us. It'd be really nice to see that develop in their country. It's I'm curious about how

01:06:22.220 widespread Ausitru is in their area. And it'd be really nice to see that grow and be very successful.

01:06:43.200 I feel guilty looking down at my phone to get these questions because I don't want you guys

01:06:47.040 to think I'm not paying attention. I really am trying to find any and all questions.

01:06:50.080 they're not even coming in on my side here they're coming in a lot on my phones but you guys have

01:06:54.300 been great tonight um it's always great to talk to you guys we're doing amazing amazing things

01:07:01.540 2020 has been a really strange year in the bigger world out there but it's been a really amazing

01:07:08.580 year for the astro folk assembly and i appreciate the part that all of you guys have played in that

01:07:14.960 so far and the part that you'll play in the time to come we've got amazing things ahead

01:07:21.200 we're dedicating our two new hoffs here in the next few months

01:07:25.760 anybody that can make it out to thor's hoff 17 days from now i would love to see you there to

01:07:32.000 share that with you um anybody have any last questions tonight or anything that i haven't

01:07:39.680 touched on that they'd like to get. Monk, if you're talking to me, you can just find me here

01:07:58.600 on Facebook and send me a photo or you can send me a picture at Matt Flabel, M-A-T-T-F-L-A-V-E-L

01:08:06.220 at runestone.org. That's my email and I'll get it. I'm going to do one last little reload here.

01:08:14.540 Like I said, if you guys have any last questions you want to ask, please do.

01:08:19.660 If you get a chance to throw a question up in the chat once we're done, and I'll try to go

01:08:23.740 back and answer those as well. I look very forward to this every month. It's exciting to get to talk

01:08:30.140 to you guys I hope you guys are having an amazing amazing summer and yeah well if there's no more

01:08:39.260 questions I'm going to go ahead and say good night we've got amazing things ahead it is a

01:08:47.260 very special time to be also true it is a very special time to be the Astro Folk Assembly

01:08:53.100 hail the gods hail the folk of the afa

Asatru Folk Assembly - July 02, 2020

July 2020 Facebook Live Chat

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