Asatru Folk Assembly - June 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

00:00:00.000 Hey Rob, thanks for joining me tonight.

00:00:23.320 Let me give it just a second while a couple of people trickle in here.

00:00:39.320 I did, it's summertime and it gets warm out here.

00:00:43.320 Yeah, I cleaned it up a little bit.

00:00:49.320 nope no more beard look for it again this winter

00:00:55.320 well how's everybody doing tonight i hope y'all are doing good um i am fantastic coming back

00:01:01.400 from our vacation over to to sweden it was amazing and uh it was absolutely a trip of

00:01:08.360 a lifetime over there those people are fantastic and we saw things that you could never imagine or

00:01:15.400 dream of seeing. We got so much packed into the seven days we spent over there. It was absolutely

00:01:22.120 amazing. So I came back fresh. I'm excited. We've got a lot going on this summer. We've got a lot

00:01:28.420 going on this month. A couple of things. I figured I'd just give a big thank you to our AFA Sweden

00:01:42.120 members and uh our two members from the or our member for the united kingdom and our member from

00:01:49.480 italy that showed up also our uh our norwegian members that helped get us from the airport

00:01:55.960 um you guys were absolutely fantastic your hospitality meant so much to all of us that

00:02:02.520 were over there uh the event was fantastic but you know the the love you guys showed us taking

00:02:08.760 care of us and showing us places is really appreciated and we thank you so much for it

00:02:22.520 steve beards are funny like that i can keep growing them it's all good

00:02:26.360 it'll be okay and i'll probably bring it back this fall ah appreciate you guys joining me tonight

00:02:33.320 how's everybody doing does anybody have anything they want to start off start off asking or anything

00:02:38.680 been on people's minds? I'm trying something a little bit different this time, checking in on

00:02:45.900 Facebook, regular Facebook, as well as the thing over in the corner, because it seems like I've

00:02:51.720 been missing some of you guys' questions, and it's certainly not intentional. I appreciate you guys

00:02:56.000 putting forth the effort coming out and talking to me during these, so I'm going to try really

00:03:03.960 hard to see if I can make sure we're accessing all the questions. Well while we're getting going

00:03:14.220 I'd like to also do kind of a almost last minute plug for Midsummer at Odenshoff. It's our premier

00:03:21.780 event of the year. It's going to be amazing. We've got a really good time lined up for you guys

00:03:27.420 and we always love you guys coming out and seeing the hoff and the more of our AFA family we can

00:03:33.720 get out in our sacred spaces the better it's it's really something special so if you guys can the

00:03:40.000 21st through the 23rd of this month we would love to have you guys there get registered if you're

00:03:45.120 going and midsummer is going to be amazing so if you can do it let's make it out and see if we can

00:03:52.120 uh, see if we can make it happen. Checking something here so I can get all situated just

00:04:05.840 in case I'm receiving questions. All right. Hmm. Without listening to my video and hearing

00:04:20.560 myself make noise. I'm not sure I can access some of the questions, but it is going on there.

00:04:26.020 So yeah, we're going to work on that, and I think Mandy's going to help me out with that.

00:04:36.300 No worries, Victor. The age of technology, we all got various signal problems here and now.

00:04:41.080 You can hear me going on about trying to get this thing to work the most efficiently,

00:04:45.340 so I know how that is hey Jason good to see you here so I talked a little bit

00:05:01.960 about midsummer Jason popping one reminds me if midsummer is too soon and

00:05:08.080 you can't quite make something happen that fast I encourage everyone here to

00:05:12.220 come out to Fall Fest. Fall Fest is being held in Minnesota. This is going to be the fourth

00:05:18.800 Fall Fest, and they've been fantastic so far. I've been fortunate enough to be at each one

00:05:27.020 of the Fall Fests, and it's really been something. So I'm looking forward to it. It's going to

00:05:34.320 be fantastic. We've got a bunch of people coming in for it. It's been bigger and better

00:05:39.360 every year. And so I'm really excited about that. That's coming up in about the second week of

00:05:45.040 September. So if you guys can't make it out to midsummer, or even if you can, we'd love to see

00:05:50.320 you guys go to Fall Fest and help support what they've got going on. They've got a really great

00:05:54.620 community there. Some of our very best people, certainly some of our most hospitable, generous

00:05:59.740 people that'll go out of their way to help you get situated, help you get to the event,

00:06:04.460 you know, help you get taken care of with bedding and things like that. They're fantastic.

00:06:08.160 safe. So yeah, if you can make it out to Fall Fest, love to see you there. So let's start

00:06:23.420 off the questioning tonight if you guys are so inclined. Does anybody have anything they

00:06:28.020 wanted to make sure I talk about today or anything they wanted to make sure and ask

00:06:31.500 me. I'm happy to answer anything, and now is certainly the time. If I'm looking down,

00:06:43.720 don't bother. Like I said, I'm just trying to make sure I'm getting the questions. See,

00:06:48.740 here we go. I'm glad I did. Garrett Norris is asking if there's an AFA group that he

00:06:54.220 can join in Texas. We've had a lot of changes recently in Texas, but what's very exciting

00:06:59.880 is Sheila McDowell and herself is now folk building for Texas and she's getting that all

00:07:04.680 squared away and she would love to help you find other Texas members we do have members in Texas

00:07:11.400 we do have activity and Sheila would love to help you if you reach out Sheila at runestone.org

00:07:19.560 and Sheila can get you all set up if you send an email that way she would be very

00:07:24.600 she'd be very glad and very excited that you asked. Oh wow, we got somebody joining us from

00:07:31.660 Austria. Gerald, thank you for joining us. I'm glad you're here. I would love to go see your

00:07:37.500 country someday. I'd be here. That is extremely beautiful. Rob's complimenting me on my interview

00:07:47.800 I did with Steve McNallan the other day. Thank you, Rob. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm glad you

00:07:52.620 gave it a listen. It's always a good time talking to Steve. I'm really glad to get that opportunity

00:07:59.420 to talk to his audience there. And yeah, I certainly enjoy coming on whenever he wants

00:08:05.180 to have me. So we have a gentleman in New Hampshire wondering what they can do to get

00:08:18.920 involved in the AFA?

00:08:20.820 Well, I would first suggest you reach out

00:08:24.740 to your folk builder.

00:08:25.720 We actually have a new folk builder

00:08:27.460 helping out in your region,

00:08:28.840 alongside Cliff Erickson,

00:08:30.560 who's been the folk builder for the entire Northeast

00:08:32.680 for a very long time.

00:08:33.680 We now have Eric Thibitat up in Massachusetts,

00:08:38.300 and he can get you all set up.

00:08:42.240 There's not a ton of members in New Hampshire yet,

00:08:45.520 but there's quite a bit of members in New England,

00:08:47.480 and he would love to get you set up

00:08:48.900 help you find your feet and give you some ideas that you can do to help out locally and to get

00:08:53.360 involved locally. So that's going to be etibetat at runestone.org. And these email addresses I'm

00:09:00.640 giving you just in case, if you go to www.runestone.org, they can help. And also we'll try to go through

00:09:07.080 these comments and tag the folk builders afterwards to make sure that you guys end up getting together.

00:09:14.080 But yeah, we'd love to see more of a community further up north on that coast. That's fantastic.

00:09:18.900 Eric Strong says, hi, asks how life's treating me.

00:09:33.960 Life is treating me fantastic.

00:09:35.960 I am a lucky guy in all ways and I'm a very happy guy.

00:09:40.140 Things are going good for me.

00:09:44.400 Oh, Chancey. Hey, good to talk to you. I'm glad you're on. I'm glad you like the pictures and the, you know, getting to see what happened on the trip. That's all thanks to Deedee. Not all, but on our end, that's thanks to Deedee. And then we had quite a few of our Swedes taking really great pictures. But Deedee takes fantastic pictures and I'm really glad she did because I always forget to.

00:10:14.400 Bakersfield. You're going to want to talk to Heather Klinkenbeard. It's going to be at hklinkenbeard at runestone.org. Heather would love to help you get situated and find members down there. We have, you know, quite a few members in that part of California. And yeah, talk to Heather and she'd love to help make that happen.

00:10:35.500 And like I say, any of these addresses I'm throwing out to you quickly, I'm going to try to go back through the comments after this and tag the relevant fold builders in them and help you guys get set up.

00:10:45.600 I appreciate you guys reaching out, and I'll do more than just throwing an email address at you and get you set up.

00:11:02.760 All right, well, a whole bunch of people have joined us.

00:11:04.800 I appreciate you guys all for coming out.

00:11:07.220 Thanks for being here.

00:11:08.120 I look forward to this every month, and it's really nice to talk to you guys.

00:11:17.360 Things going on, if you guys didn't hear it, I want to brag a little bit more about our amazing members in Sweden

00:11:23.000 and Scandinavia in general and what they did for us.

00:11:27.360 The event, Ultima Tula, I've been advertising it on here the past few times I've talked to you guys,

00:11:32.720 and it was a really big success.

00:11:34.800 It was such a nice event. The family feeling was absolutely there, and it was something really special to have an AFA event to where we had folks from six different countries speaking five different languages at the event, so it really felt like an AFA Europe event.

00:11:50.220 we met some truly amazing people and we made some really really good connections it was

00:11:56.940 really amazing to me and I think to everybody who went over with me just how close we felt

00:12:03.660 to those members even though we're separated by so much distance we were we were immediately like

00:12:09.540 close friends and in the course of three or four days we felt like family so uh thank you guys for

00:12:14.820 that and I think it's a powerful statement about the AFA and and just what we're building here

00:12:20.060 because it's really something special.

00:12:32.080 Hey, Anna.

00:12:32.640 Hey, Mark.

00:12:33.340 Thank you guys for joining us.

00:12:36.100 See, Dave joined us.

00:12:37.280 Thank you, Dave, for helping out with Steve and I the other night on that interview.

00:12:40.960 I appreciate you keeping company while we were trying to get Steve's connection figured out.

00:12:50.060 Hey Brian, thank you for joining us. So does anybody have any questions for me

00:12:56.840 tonight? If you guys are getting tired of hearing me say that, ask me some

00:13:02.240 questions and give me something to talk about because I'd love to go ahead and

00:13:05.540 answer anything you guys need. Who's gonna be speaking at Midsommar? I will be

00:13:11.380 speaking at Midsommar, Mike Hunter will be speaking at Midsommar, Heather

00:13:16.580 clinking beard will be speaking at midsummer sheila mcnallan will be speaking at midsummer

00:13:22.020 uh sean sandin will be speaking at midsummer

00:13:27.940 now i wish i had the schedule right in front of me and i could tell you you know some of the other

00:13:31.460 things we have planned we have a women's workshop going on we're gonna have a kids bloat going on 0.78

00:13:37.060 heather always does an amazing job with the kids bloat that's something really special if you are

00:13:41.300 coming and bringing bringing your family it's really nice to see the kids get started and get

00:13:47.140 that figured out early on it's a it's a special thing now that does a great job with it um we're

00:13:52.100 gonna have an odin bloat we're gonna have our midsummer bloat um we're gonna be ordaining a uh

00:13:59.220 a new gothi and we're also going to be oafing in a new folk builder

00:14:04.260 so we got a lot going on and it's gonna be a very special time

00:14:11.300 The secret to your AFA membership pin. Do you have a really old one or one of the new ones?

00:14:21.460 Our newer pins seem to fasten really well, and you're the first person I've heard say anything

00:14:26.160 about them, but our previous pins, not so much. If you've got one of our older pins with a little

00:14:32.020 bit brighter colored blue, let me know after this, and we can see about getting you a new and improved

00:14:37.740 the pen with a better backing on it. Our new pen so far have been really good. You can kind of tell

00:14:42.140 it's a little bit richer and a darker blue. So yeah, let me know. We'll get you squared away on

00:14:47.140 your pen, Shane. All right. I asked for questions and Rob comes in with the heavy ones asking me

00:15:01.800 about the nature of divinity. Before I get to that, I want to say thank you, Rob. Those of you may not

00:15:06.860 know Rob Stam just stepped up to be our newest folk builder. He's going to be an apprentice

00:15:11.440 folk builder in the Upper South region. So folks in the Upper South, feel free to reach

00:15:17.680 out to Rob. He can get you guys set up and help you all out. It's a complex question

00:15:25.820 and I'm not sure whether you're asking what aspect of it you're asking, but

00:15:31.320 there are forces that exist in the cosmos and in reality that are are greater than us that

00:15:50.600 created us that shaped who we are and what we've become and i think that's like the most basic way

00:16:03.220 i can i can place the nature of divinity there are divine personalities divine wills that have

00:16:10.700 caused uh caused actions to take place and set things into motion and we the afa believe that

00:16:17.900 those wills have guided our folk and certain of our our leaders and our elders towards great things

00:16:25.300 and certainly have encouraged our heroes to accomplish greatness um with our divinity and

00:16:32.020 the divinity that we worship in the astra folk assembly we worship the the aesir and the vanir

00:16:37.100 and the aesir certainly uh embody consciousness and uh in order and one of the key themes of that

00:16:46.780 is in primordial chaos, our divinities shaped that chaos into order, into the world that they

00:16:56.080 wanted, into the world that we have, that's all around us. They also shaped our consciousness

00:17:03.240 and elements of our soul, and they shaped Aryan mankind into what we are. And our consciousness

00:17:14.600 and our our reality into what it is and i think that we access that divinity through right action

00:17:22.520 and ritual practice if we do the right things and we have the right heart condition

00:17:27.600 and the right intent and we're able to to perform certain functions ritually we can

00:17:34.520 interact with that and through the exchange of gift and the exchange of energy

00:17:40.000 we we bring some of that divinity into our lives and into our sphere and we

00:17:47.520 let them know that we're here that we love them and that we're loyal to them and that we wish to

00:17:52.800 carry on you know a faith in them that has laid dormant for quite a while and i'm not sure if

00:17:59.920 that touches on what you wanted to ask about divinity but that's my my quick thing on divinity

00:18:06.400 well brian looks like you got a fan we got somebody saying you're their favorite author

00:18:12.220 and yes the kid the kid's bloat really is awesome so if you haven't seen that it's

00:18:23.000 really something special to see heather does a great job

00:18:25.480 Thank you. 0.76

00:18:55.480 Okay, a little bit more to the whether the deities are real personalities or whether they're personified archetypes.

00:19:08.480 Unequivocally, there's absolutely personality when we're reaching out in bloat, we're speaking to a consciousness and that consciousness is interacting with us.

00:19:19.480 So I certainly believe that in a very real sense that the divine is real.

00:19:25.480 archetypically I think certainly they set divine examples for us to hearken

00:19:31.300 towards or bring ourselves in alignment with I think they serve an archetypical

00:19:36.860 function but they're more the creators of the archetype than a personification

00:19:43.240 of our creation in that sense a question about reincarnation in our lore

00:19:55.480 the afterlife is described a number of different ways but i think that there's three basic concepts

00:20:08.500 of of what happens and i think that one of the things to consider is is our soul complex is a

00:20:15.960 multifaceted thing i think there are elements of ourselves that certainly get passed on within the

00:20:21.700 family line we can see that with the practice of naming children after

00:20:27.260 ancestors of those ancestors or pieces of those ancestors souls being reborn or

00:20:33.280 being imbued in in the shaping of that new child soul I think for most of us

00:20:40.780 for most people there's a portion of yourself that lives on in in the mound

00:20:48.220 or with your ancestors when we talk about people going to the halls of their

00:20:51.660 ancestors i think that for the average person that is that's the the afterlife is going with

00:20:58.460 those ancestors watching on after your descendants and interacting in that way i think there's

00:21:04.620 probably a reincarnating element into that um i think there's also folks that have messed up so

00:21:14.540 badly and are so misusing their space that uh that they get less options that perhaps their

00:21:22.460 afterlife has uh has less opportunities and less things but one of the things that also is important

00:21:28.280 is the afterlife for the heroes the path of ascension and getting to go and and and feast

00:21:34.080 with the gods and pursue struggle with uh the divine when we see the stories of of the eye

00:21:41.660 there you are i think that for the heroes there is the possibility of of escaping that sort of

00:21:47.420 reincarnating loop and that uh continuing on in an earthly existence and i think that there's heroes

00:21:55.460 that go on and have have a higher form and move on to something a little bit different a little

00:22:00.380 bit better and i think that's evident in a lot of different aspects of our lore and a lot of

00:22:06.320 different closely related lore. Well, thank you, Zach. I'm glad that Brian and myself have fans.

00:22:19.440 Brian certainly deserves it. He does a great job. He's always looking for new ways to

00:22:26.600 find aspects of our lore and our belief that can help people live productive lives and find

00:22:33.300 success in life. I think that's extremely important that he finds ways to put our faith to practical

00:22:38.760 use. So yeah, I'm really glad that Brian does have fans.

00:23:03.300 A couple of questions related now that we're talking about afterlife and reincarnation. As far as my views on entering Valhalla, I think we do ourselves a disservice when we try to get overly literal with all the passages of the lore and when we try to take one very small story and claim that we know all the depth and breadth of everything because of

00:23:33.300 the way Snorri chose to word something I think that at the time a lot of the

00:23:40.140 stories originated one of the best paths of the hero one of the best most

00:23:46.560 relevant paths of ascension is reaching a place in in battle to where one was

00:23:55.100 selfless one was not concerned with outcome one was detached from those

00:24:00.420 lesser things and became something higher and a higher version of themselves when they went out

00:24:05.700 into into combat and died heroically and i think that's fantastic um and i think that gives birth

00:24:12.420 to the description of valhalla i think that when we when we look at people going towards the halls

00:24:18.260 of the gods and towards ascension i think there's probably many paths to ascension i don't think

00:24:23.220 it's about just living a good honorable life though i think it's about pursuing more than we

00:24:29.140 are i think in order to ascend to something better we need to aspire towards greatness

00:24:36.100 and you know in this life we're not going to come to perfection but i think that in order to

00:24:42.100 get the rewards of a hero we need to live heroically we need to challenge what our

00:24:48.340 limitations are and find ways to push our consciousness our souls our our wills past

00:24:55.220 that and become something more than we are and i think that's um i think that's one of the keys

00:25:02.660 to understanding ascension to the halls of the gods uh matt waldrum to your question on whether

00:25:10.900 people reincarnate in whole or in part i don't think our lore really gives us a very clear view

00:25:18.180 of that um i think in part certainly in whole perhaps um i tend to think more that there are

00:25:32.900 pieces that there are elements of a person that do reincarnate within that family line and i think

00:25:37.860 that there are elements that probably don't i think that there are elements that maybe go back

00:25:43.780 and get reused in other ways.

00:25:47.480 I think that when we talk about ascension,

00:25:49.520 I think that one does ascend in whole.

00:25:52.780 But when we talk about our soul complex,

00:25:54.640 there's a lot of that that, you know,

00:25:56.100 your body is a piece of that as well.

00:25:58.520 Certainly that doesn't ascend.

00:26:00.440 So it's a complex question,

00:26:02.600 but I think much more ascension in whole

00:26:06.320 is the odinic path and the path of the hero. 0.84

00:26:09.540 I think that the rest you deal with

00:26:12.500 with different portions of the soil complex but again i don't want to get too far in the weeds on

00:26:17.620 that we apparently we have a lot of folks tonight missing my beard um don't worry it's it it may

00:26:28.740 very well make a return this fall but summertime it's hot in nevada and i'm gonna keep it clean

00:26:34.740 for the next couple of months here, but we'll see a little bit later.

00:26:58.440 Well, Steve, you ask about people reincarnating in a family line,

00:27:02.020 And, you know, what if someone's childless and what happens with them and reincarnating in the family line?

00:27:10.660 And again, I can't tell you with any great degree of certainty on that, but you said no one ever talks about it.

00:27:18.020 I think that they don't like to talk about it because it makes people uncomfortable.

00:27:21.920 And I say that as someone who has no children.

00:27:27.140 Reincarnating in the family line is very important.

00:27:29.220 is there some way that maybe you reincarnate into nephews or nieces or things in that regard perhaps

00:27:35.940 again i'm not sure um i think that you stand a much better chance of having elements of yourself

00:27:45.120 reincarnate into your descendants i think that probably makes the most sense and probably not

00:27:51.720 necessarily answer that people like the most but i do think that makes the most sense but i don't

00:27:56.760 think that we have reason to believe that you know there aren't exceptions to that and again

00:28:03.480 I wish I had the perfect answer that question but I think to get close to it your best your

00:28:08.520 best and most direct path reincarnate portions of yourself reincarnating would certainly be within

00:28:13.320 your family? Matt Waldron asking again about heroes being reborn in whole I

00:28:33.060 think perhaps I think we get a little bit further afield I think that we see

00:28:37.540 it in other Aryan traditions things like that but what I was speaking was less

00:28:43.000 reincarnation and reincarnation in that sense and more leveling up if you will towards something you

00:28:50.200 know closer towards divinity something closer towards the spiritual realms then you know you

00:28:57.000 just reincarnating is as you know a bigger better version of yourself here in midgard i think that

00:29:04.120 keeps you back in the same loop and the idea is to expand beyond that but again that's that's

00:29:10.600 getting a little bit far in the weeds. Thanks Lou, I'm glad you liked the

00:29:16.780 conversation. I'm glad people are asking some good questions tonight, some deep

00:29:20.560 questions. How do I recommend someone to live a life worthy of the heroes? I think

00:29:31.220 that's different depending on your circumstances. One of the things I think

00:29:34.120 is really important, heroically, is how you face the struggles you find yourself

00:29:40.240 in um i think to our ancestors it was much easier to display that in a martial context because those

00:29:48.880 were the struggle of their time i think now some of those struggles are in a lot of different ways

00:29:55.440 but whatever the afterlife implications are it is heroic to try to make yourself more than you are

00:30:06.080 to go past your limitations and your boundaries and to be willing to be a

00:30:12.020 force of will outside of attachment and outside of outcome going out and living

00:30:21.580 in a pure way as a force of will unencumbered by all of the fears and

00:30:29.320 worries of life, I think that puts you on the right path towards doing things that are truly heroic.

00:30:48.920 And yes, Lou, that's one of the big things about the AFA in general. Yes, all ethnic European folk 1.00

00:30:56.220 are part of an extended family and that's kind of the basis of metagenetics and the basis of

00:31:01.180 of why we're here in the Austrian folk assembly um i think we're all in agreement on that

00:31:26.220 Zach, I think some of the things you're talking about can be looked at certainly metaphorically. I think that the idea of, you know, going into a cave and accessing the realm of the dead is kind of, kind of fanciful.

00:31:45.540 i think the idea of i think some of those things are allegorical to to doing certain things i think

00:31:52.100 traveling across the river traveling across the waters in general traditionally is an allegory

00:31:58.980 for overcoming chaos for overcoming um the tumultuousness of emotion and attachment

00:32:06.100 and being something regal and something more pure of will i think that that's very common when you

00:32:11.140 talk about passing over waters and i think that speaks to uh to some of the reference i was talking

00:32:17.060 about earlier about the heroic existence and heroic path oh no worries matt i think that's

00:32:30.020 good and it furthers the conversation and if you ever want to talk about it more i'm happy

00:32:33.780 to talk about it with you it's certainly a fascinating thing to discuss

00:32:41.140 Rob asking about if we're going to sell the mid-summer t-shirts.

00:32:50.900 The design is really cool.

00:32:51.900 I was just telling Sean about that today.

00:32:53.900 I'm going to have to ask Sean if he's going to plan on selling them.

00:32:58.800 Typically those are valuable because they're a one-off and they're just for people who

00:33:03.900 decide they're going to go out to the event and kind of a special deal for those folks

00:33:08.340 that make the trip and something special.

00:33:10.180 I doubt they're going to be sold in the store. Maybe if miraculously there's some extras,

00:33:14.620 they could be auctioned or something. Okay. Following the major success of the California

00:33:23.820 Hoff, what areas are we looking to expand? We're looking to expand everywhere, Lou.

00:33:31.660 The regions that we're currently expanding at the most rapid pace, I would say, are in the upper

00:33:38.280 south and the midwest we've had a lot of interest in the midwest lately so i think those are our two

00:33:44.760 biggest areas of expansion currently um certainly domestically but we've had a big

00:33:52.280 a big boost in membership in south africa this year which you know we went from zero to now

00:33:57.080 having a little community there but yeah i'd say the upper south and i'd say the midwest are our

00:34:02.040 biggest areas of growth right now when you're looking at when we're looking at hoff building

00:34:06.520 and things in the future though i think the next place we're looking on that we're looking very

00:34:10.600 seriously in is in the northern plains they've not only they've had a really good surge of growth

00:34:17.240 but one of the other things they've done has been extremely consistent and so that's really

00:34:23.400 important when we look at expanding in successful things like HOFs.

00:34:29.580 Let me check again for a second and see if there's questions I'm missing on the other

00:34:56.460 situation here Eric Strawn never fear I'm going back to try to look at the

00:35:10.500 comments that you say we're missing all right well I'm trying to look back over

00:35:32.580 it I don't want to have you guys sit here and stare at me as I play around on

00:35:37.020 Facebook I'm trying to access some of these comments because we do have folks

00:35:40.080 that the comments don't show up and that's unfortunate um yeah Eric Eric

00:35:49.200 strong I missed your comments I'm looking at it in my hand now so if you

00:35:52.080 send them again I can get to him oh hey DD thanks for joining us I was telling

00:36:04.640 everybody that you're responsible for so many of the great pictures we have from

00:36:07.740 our trip um matt's asking about the relationship of of suna soul as far as deities that we honor

00:36:26.920 at midsummer because so many people put an emphasis on balder um at midsummer i really

00:36:34.720 like to uh to focus attention on balder as a solar deity um i think it's really important to our

00:36:43.040 people and i think that you see i think that you see a a good cult around balder and around

00:36:52.960 around the divinity of that around the solar deity that comes back and is resurgence and is the sun

00:37:00.640 coming back and having victory over a very dark time and bringing back prosperity bringing back

00:37:06.560 the rule of the gods bringing back the golden age i think that's the hugely important focus

00:37:14.000 metaphysically of midsummer i think that uh very often um suna is kind of a a literary device if

00:37:22.880 you will to describe the sun in a lyrical way but i think balder represents that solar energy in a

00:37:31.680 very powerful way that uh that certainly i connect with and that i think that our ancestors really

00:37:37.600 connected with i think the balder is certainly a deity that we have specific evidence that they

00:37:43.200 exist and we're worshiped and we're a powerful force for our ancestors so yeah

00:37:52.760 I think that's where the where the focus is I think a lot of the the things we

00:37:57.720 see in the lore and reference to Sunna are are more of a creative storytelling

00:38:04.300 than I think are our true devotional worship towards a deity. 1.00

00:38:21.600 Well, Shane, I'm sorry to hear that the Odinist group in your area 0.99

00:38:24.440 is doing rituals that you don't like. 0.98

00:38:27.700 I hope that you check out the AFA close by

00:38:29.800 and that you can be part of some of our rituals

00:38:31.620 because I really think that our Gotha are able to connect with the divine in a really good way,

00:38:36.860 and we always try to be better at that.

00:38:38.520 So, yeah, please do reach out to us.

00:38:44.800 Absolutely, Zach.

00:38:45.940 Honoring Valder at Midsummer is extremely important.

00:38:49.440 He is the hope of the future.

00:38:51.520 He is the promise of something great and something wonderful, even through the darkest times.

00:38:56.340 he is the the return of of victory and of abundance and he's that promise of the golden

00:39:03.480 age to come and that's something we need to always keep our eyes on that prize and keep

00:39:07.780 our eyes on being hopeful and keep our eyes on bringing back that golden age in our time

00:39:12.660 in our lives oh I see mark trying to make some deals with Rob there mark may

00:39:28.500 be able to pull it off he knows some people

00:39:42.660 I'm gonna check one more time. I know this was a trouble before. Eric Strawn, you think your

00:39:56.900 comments aren't being seen again? If you have any, please send them out. I'm looking on two

00:40:00.940 different places now trying to find them. It's really unfortunate that we're not getting them

00:40:06.400 through, but I want you to know that I am trying to look for them. And if I don't get to them,

00:40:10.440 I promise I will go on after this and later this evening and try to answer them in writing,

00:40:16.080 even if I don't see them on the screen.

00:40:18.700 We're trying every week to get a little bit better with that.

00:40:21.140 I'm not sure where they disappear into, but we're able to find them on the Facebook page after the chat.

00:40:26.540 excellent Jessica thank you we really appreciate anybody anybody who does want to donate anything

00:40:45.560 for the midsummer auction donations are always appreciated and yeah we thank you very much for

00:40:52.160 folks out there that have sent stuff already we have quite a few of you guys

00:40:55.220 and that really helps it goes a long way and it contributes to our ability to to

00:41:00.140 do successful things at Odin's off

00:41:03.820 All right, well, I got you.

00:41:15.140 I got another question.

00:41:22.660 Oh, okay. 0.66

00:41:24.380 So, Wotan's Wolves.

00:41:31.100 Somebody wanted me to talk about that.

00:41:33.820 If you are interested, it is a program that Cole and Tiffany Distel started for children within the AFA to be able to learn together and have some activities to do together within our community.

00:41:50.740 And people have really, they really seem to like that.

00:41:54.880 It's something that's been needed.

00:41:56.300 It's something I've heard talked about for so many years, but we've always had an issue.

00:42:01.240 There's not kids close enough.

00:42:02.800 there's always some reason not to do it and Cole and his wife just stepped up and decided to do it

00:42:07.280 one day and so from what I hear it's a fantastic situation if you guys do have AFA kids that you

00:42:14.640 want to get involved in it reach out to Cole and Tiffany Distel you can find them on Facebook if

00:42:20.480 you reach out to the rest of us we can get you guys in touch if for some reason you're having

00:42:24.080 trouble connecting but yeah we're very proud of them and what they've put forth on it they really

00:42:29.280 stepped up to a need that we've had. And so far, I've heard nothing but great things about it. So

00:42:34.900 I'm really proud of them for doing that. Good, I'm glad, Zach. All right, well, while I have you,

00:42:44.900 I had another question that was asked outside of this, but they wanted me to speak about on it.

00:42:50.560 And that question was about the Hofftoller. I don't know if you guys are familiar with it,

00:42:55.000 if your folk builders have talked about it um i mentioned it uh once this so starting this year

00:43:02.520 we've we have another way or a different way for folks to contribute to the astro folk assembly

00:43:08.040 that's instead of membership dues um for since our inception we've uh collected membership dues

00:43:18.040 like some sort of a club and what we're trying very hard to transition towards is to function

00:43:24.280 more like more like a church more like a religious community and so the hoff toller is a is a planned

00:43:30.760 giving program that's people stepping up and deciding to give a percentage of their income

00:43:36.760 as opposed to a monthly membership dues and it it helps out it allows us to do a lot of things and

00:43:43.880 we're so thankful for the folks that have stepped up to do it so far um the hoff toller is a minimum

00:43:50.440 of one percent of your income and it goes towards the afa being able to function and do things and

00:43:59.000 keep up our mission it's the thing that allows us or that will allow us in the future to be

00:44:05.080 successful with our establishments of hoffs throughout the country and around the world

00:44:09.480 we're very committed to that we've got big things that we want to do but it does take resources

00:44:15.640 and we're very appreciative of anybody that wants to to step up and commit to the afa success on

00:44:21.160 that level um it's a really special thing and we're very appreciative of those folks that have

00:44:26.120 stepped up and thank you guys very much you know who you are if anybody is interested in uh in

00:44:40.840 paying by the hoftoller um we'd be very happy to help your folk builder would be very happy to get

00:44:46.760 you all set up it takes the place of the membership dues it also gets you out of a situation where

00:44:52.360 you're not having to go uh deal with paypal you're not having to deal with um deal with that hassle

00:45:00.360 it goes to it would go directly to the afa and not through a third party that way which is helpful

00:45:06.040 and it also makes it very easy if this is something that you itemize with your taxes

00:45:09.960 And I want folks to know, all you guys that have been so generous to us, when you donate to the AFA, if you donate to any of our fundraisers or anything like that, we are absolutely a 501c3 recognized charity.

00:45:22.680 Your donations are tax deductible.

00:45:25.060 Please get with us and we can get you all squared away on that if that's something that you need.

00:45:34.540 Thank you, Zach.

00:45:35.460 Zach points out that he is, Zach is actually the first AFA member that signed up for the Hofdoller and his contributions are extremely appreciated. He really was instrumental in blazing that trail and setting that standard and I appreciate it, Zach. Thank you so much. You help us be able to have nice things and do nice things.

00:46:05.460 Sorry, guys, I'm just checking in again to make sure I'm not missing stuff.

00:46:11.700 I'm glad to see so much talk about Botan's Wolves, and the folks there in Ohio are stepping

00:46:16.520 up and saying some stuff about it.

00:46:18.000 That is home base for that program, and I'm glad we got some people on this conversation

00:46:23.140 that have some good information to tell you.

00:46:26.540 Like I say, I would love nothing more to see that be successful and all our AFA children

00:46:31.420 be able to be involved in that and make those connections.

00:46:34.780 Making those connections is the kind of thing that's going to pay off in the years to come

00:46:38.640 as they grow up within the AFA, as they grow up within our church and our community.

00:46:43.700 Them being friends and making that contact when they're young is going to be crucial to that second generation,

00:46:48.900 and it's really beautiful to see that happening.

00:46:58.840 All right, guys, I do have a call right after this tonight.

00:47:01.660 so we got about I got about 15 minutes left with you guys I'm enjoying talking to you is there

00:47:07.420 anything else you guys want to want to ask about want me to speak on anything you're curious about

00:47:12.940 or just anything you guys want me to address or to hear me ramble on about

00:47:31.660 Looking at the feed. I'm hoping I'm answering folks' questions. Like I say, if you're asking

00:47:44.060 something, I'm not ducking you. I promise I will go back in after this and answer stuff

00:47:49.240 if I'm missing them. I look forward to this all the time. I'm happy to be able to talk

00:47:54.440 to you guys. Oh, while I have you, if you guys haven't seen it on the Facebook page,

00:48:02.240 you haven't noticed, we have four new folk builders in the course of the last week.

00:48:09.760 Jessica Lambert has stepped up out of Ohio to be an apprentice folk builder in our Midwest region.

00:48:16.200 We are extremely excited. I got to meet Jessica at Ostara. I think she is a great lady. I think

00:48:22.960 she's going to bring a lot to that region and our folk there, and I'm excited to see what she's

00:48:27.680 going to do. Zach, who's been a big part of this conversation, Zach Cato, who is the leader of

00:48:33.680 Heimdall's Midgard Kindred in Indiana, has also decided to come back to us as an apprentice folk

00:48:40.540 builder, which is fantastic. Zach's been super active trying to get folks together in his area,

00:48:46.260 and I think now that he's an official apprentice folk builder with us, that's only going to go

00:48:52.040 further and faster. And I think between him and Josh and Jessica, they're going to do really

00:48:57.200 great things in the Midwest. And we thank you guys so much for stepping up and helping us out

00:49:01.900 in that way. I also want to take the time to acknowledge Christo LaRue. Christo LaRue is a

00:49:08.660 member in South Africa. He is one of the leaders of Volk Vakstam Kindred. And he is hitting the

00:49:16.160 ground running as far as helping to lead our charitable endeavors there and distribute a

00:49:21.720 resources and our relief efforts. He's excited about being our interface with that region and

00:49:28.140 building the AFA in South Africa, and it's really something special to have a real live AFA folk

00:49:33.800 builder in South Africa helping those people out. I'm very excited about that, and I know Christo

00:49:40.980 will do a really good job for us. And then, as I mentioned earlier, if anybody wasn't here at the

00:49:45.760 beginning of this call tonight, Rob Stamm has stepped up as our very newest folk builder in

00:49:51.640 the Upper South. Rob's in Central Virginia, and he's excited to hit the ground running and be

00:50:00.540 part of our Upper South folk building team. Please reach out to Rob if you need anything.

00:50:05.180 Rob is fantastic. I got to meet Rob at Ostara as well, and blown away with the guy. I think

00:50:13.500 I think the world erupts him, and he's going to do amazing things.

00:50:17.940 We're going to do amazing things together.

00:50:29.240 Lou, you ask why I prefer the term Aryan over Indo-European.

00:50:33.760 Indo-European describes a place and a continent and a spot on a map.

00:50:40.460 Aryan is a self-identifier that means noble and it means shining with nobility and I think 0.99

00:50:49.340 the one is cold and sterile the other is rich with power and and relevance and it's not just 0.96

00:51:00.860 a pat on the back or a self-congratulatory term to describe our folk it's a challenge for us to

00:51:07.300 step up to a standard and us to be more, it's a mandate that we be noble and that we choose to

00:51:13.960 shine with nobility. It's setting that bar high for ourselves and not just describing us as people

00:51:20.540 that happen to be from Europe or around the Indus Valley. It describes us as the noble people,

00:51:28.520 the people that shine with nobility. And I want us to aspire to that. And I don't want us to be

00:51:33.960 afraid from being proud of ourselves so that's why I prefer that term oh it's key

00:51:44.100 to building in your area key to building in your area is consistency consistency

00:51:51.640 and just going into it with the right heart one of the things that I find very

00:51:56.400 difficult with people is they get all fired up and they're so excited and they

00:52:00.480 want to build something for the AFA they want to build something for their gods

00:52:03.060 and their folk and they go out and they take their best swing and it doesn't work and then they're

00:52:08.340 defeated and they disappear um i know for uh the work i was doing folk building in alaska it took

00:52:14.340 a really long time we've got a great kindred and a great group of people up in alaska now

00:52:19.860 but that was a lot of years of trying and it was a lot of times of hosting something and no one

00:52:24.900 showing up or maybe you host something and you know only the weirdo shows up that you didn't

00:52:30.020 want to show up but you keep a smile on your face and you do it again the next month and the next

00:52:34.900 month and the next month and you pick up momentum and eventually it it starts to snowball and it

00:52:40.740 grows and you can nurture something but without that consistency it's very hard to make something

00:52:45.700 happen so what i say if you want to build something in your area invite people out to to a restaurant

00:52:52.020 you and your wife you and your girlfriend like to go to say hey this is an afa event come on out

00:52:58.740 worst case scenario you have a nice evening with your wife or girlfriend uh best case scenario you

00:53:04.180 get afa members coming out you make friends and you you plant the seed of something that grows

00:53:09.220 i think that's a win-win situation and that's what i would really advise to build folks in your area

00:53:19.860 i did not see the question about interacting with zealous christian family members

00:53:24.740 I appreciate you keeping an eye on that for me.

00:53:27.960 If you can, just shoot me what the question was, and I'll get to it.

00:53:31.240 If not, I'll try to answer it generally here in just a second.

00:53:39.160 What I heard about the rune ban in Sweden, it actually happened while I was over there.

00:53:45.760 The discussion of the potential of a rune ban happened while I was over there.

00:53:49.180 And ironically, we're getting texts blowing up my phone about this rune ban as I'm in a museum over there looking at a wall full of runic pendants and, you know, runes as far as the eye can see.

00:54:05.000 The Swedes at the time thought that it wasn't going to be a big deal.

00:54:09.060 That's not something that they were going to do or they were going to enforce.

00:54:12.020 It turns out that that's the way it shook out.

00:54:14.020 A lot of people may not know, but it was explained to us in Sweden that the way their rules are, they're very contextual and situational.

00:54:23.020 Symbols and slogans and things are fine if people who are politically correct and acceptable say them or wear them or display them.

00:54:36.020 But if they think you've committed thought crimes or that you don't have the right group think

00:54:41.480 Then the exact same symbols and expressions and and things all of a sudden become criminal and some form of hate speech

00:54:49.580 So they continue to have that very nebulous situation

00:54:53.460 But no, they didn't move forward with that runic band, which would have been 0.99

00:54:58.780 Disgraceful culturally, but it just would have been a poor decision for them economically the runes and their their Viking heritage

00:55:04.840 is such a huge part of their tourist industry it would have been a really silly thing for them to

00:55:09.080 have tried to do solitary house true um yeah try not to do that it's a lot better than nothing but

00:55:21.880 and a lot of us started out that way i i certainly started out that way but if you can and as soon as

00:55:27.720 you can when you find a group of people that are doing it right um astro is about community it's

00:55:33.560 It's about the bonds you build while sharing with each other, just in a community building way, but in a metaphysical way as well.

00:55:42.760 All of our rituals are designed to synergize with the people around us, and we build a strength and a presence before the divine by interacting as a community and as a group.

00:55:53.340 And as soon as you can find a group of folks, and like I say, reach out to us and we'd like to help you find a group, I think that that's certainly the way to go.

00:56:03.560 sorry guys we got several people right now trying really hard to access any

00:56:22.880 questions that we're missing if we're missing you I'm really sorry but I

00:56:26.540 promise you we are Mandy and myself are trying really hard to make sure we get

00:56:30.480 them hey Karen thanks for joining us um so going back I didn't see any in a

00:56:45.020 specific deal with the what the question was about zealous Christian family

00:56:49.680 members that's difficult there's not an easy answer I don't have a magic formula

00:56:55.200 that will make that okay and disappear but something I do think is really

00:56:59.980 important to consider they're your family they will be your family as long

00:57:06.520 as they live you know depending upon who they are in your family they will be

00:57:11.200 your ancestors long after they live they will be your descendants they will be

00:57:17.280 they will be intricately tied to you into your weird forever try to make

00:57:25.380 peace with your family but I wouldn't do that at the sake of compromising your

00:57:28.960 beliefs are compromising who you are. The best thing that I've found and that I've seen with

00:57:34.140 other people as well is to live nobly and live in a dignified way. If they accept you for how you

00:57:41.160 behave and the things that you do, they will be better able to associate that with your belief

00:57:47.240 set and the things that you value and believe in. If you live in a way that's consistent with our

00:57:53.700 values, there should be a very clear connection between our values and who you are and who your

00:58:00.500 family sees you being. And I think over time, that's the best way. But I'd say you do the best

00:58:07.640 to try to maintain your cool and maintain your presence within your family without blowing up

00:58:14.160 without allowing them to bait you into a situation where there's a family fight or a big family row

00:58:20.400 about it the more you can do to exercise sovereignty over your own emotions and your own

00:58:26.080 will when dealing with your family and to treat them as your family regardless of of what they

00:58:31.280 may do i think will show your steady and even keel values being something to if not outwardly

00:58:40.240 embrace to at least have a respect for and i think that's what you can build on and i know

00:58:44.720 it's a really general way i'm not sure what the specific question was but that's my advice in

00:58:48.560 general on it all right guys so I mentioned I do have another call here in

00:59:00.600 a few minutes about AFA business so if there's anything else we have any last

00:59:07.240 minute questions anybody would like to ask anything else you guys like to hear

00:59:13.640 me give some final words on um until you do and while we give the chance for the last couple

00:59:20.400 questions to maybe roll in i just want to say again if you can if it's at all possible get in

00:59:26.220 the car stick your thumb out whatever you can do get out to odenshaw for midsummer uh june 21st

00:59:32.980 through the 23rd it's going to be something very special i'm looking forward to seeing you there

00:59:37.740 it's a big year for us

00:59:41.120 it's always a very special event

00:59:42.680 and it's always great

00:59:45.060 to get you guys to come out

00:59:46.320 to our sacred space

00:59:47.480 that we've established here

00:59:48.780 and it's something that

00:59:50.160 every year that goes by

00:59:51.540 with our events there

00:59:53.600 with the rites and celebrations

00:59:56.840 that we've had there

00:59:57.880 with our worship and devotion

01:00:00.000 at that Hoff

01:00:00.900 we make that more special every year

01:00:03.940 it gets even more powerful

01:00:05.640 and more potent

01:00:06.400 with our might and our uh our spiritual meeg in there so it's a very special place it's a powerful

01:00:14.500 place and we'd love to have you guys come out and see it so if you make it midsummer we'd love to

01:00:18.820 see you there if not come to fall fest even if you do make it to midsummer come to fall fest

01:00:24.800 because fall fest is spectacular um all right guys thank you so much for coming out on this

01:00:32.840 call tonight and for being here and for letting me talk with you guys. I look forward to it every

01:00:37.840 month. It is a pleasure. I love my AFA family. Hope you guys all have a good night. Hope you guys

01:00:43.440 are enjoying your summer and I will talk to you again next month. Hail the gods, hail the folk,

01:00:49.340 hail the AFA.

Asatru Folk Assembly - July 01, 2019

June 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

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