Asatru Folk Assembly - March 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

00:00:00.000 For any of you watching this later, I'm just kind of giving it a few minutes for a couple

00:00:20.640 people to show up here hey guys got Ryan and my lovely wife Mandy downstairs

00:00:35.420 hey Ron Josh good to see you I'm not a lot Ryan just kind of enjoying a good

00:00:52.100 evening here at my house I got a friend of ours in town a good friend Julian's

00:00:56.840 here staying with us so he just fixed us a nice dinner and I'm relaxing and

00:01:00.700 having a glass of Chianti here, and trying to reach out and talk to my AFA family tonight.

00:01:08.620 Connect with you guys. Had a really good time last month, so hopefully it's something people

00:01:14.180 enjoyed, and if y'all do, we'll keep doing it. Well, since last month, when I last spoke

00:01:28.420 to you guys I had an amazing time down in Texas the AFA charming the plow it

00:01:34.660 was really really nice it was something that the black Sun kindred and folk

00:01:40.840 builder Clyde Brown and his his lady Christina put a lot of work into it was

00:01:46.360 a very nice event I met some great people it was the first first official

00:01:51.940 AFA event in Texas and I think it went off very well met some really great

00:01:57.280 people the camp was beautiful and I had a great time so you know big thanks to

00:02:03.520 them for putting that on and making that happen yeah so it's happy about that

00:02:11.440 starting off this month if any of you were interested in able coming up the

00:02:18.840 weekend of the 23rd yeah the 22nd 23rd and 24th we've got AFA charming the

00:02:24.380 plow coming up in North Carolina. We would love to see you guys at that. It's going to be

00:02:30.560 fantastic. It's being put on largely by the AFA's Upper South region. It's one of our fastest

00:02:37.020 growing and most dynamic areas. And I'm really looking forward to seeing AFA family, not just

00:02:45.140 from the Upper South, but also from the Deep South. And then I believe we're going to have

00:02:48.520 people coming in from the Northeast as well as people from all around. So if you guys can make

00:02:53.540 that at the end of the month I think you'd be well worth your time and I'd

00:02:56.040 love to see you guys there so we've got plenty of stuff going on to talk about

00:03:05.420 but kind of the the focus of this is to see if you guys have any questions or

00:03:09.860 anything you would like me to talk about so the people we have here tonight does

00:03:13.980 anybody have any questions or anything they want to want to ask or you know get

00:03:19.100 word from you on and if you do ask questions and I don't get to them I

00:03:29.660 learned last time not all of the questions come through like they should

00:03:34.640 so if I miss anything I'll try to go back through tomorrow and in the

00:03:37.860 following days and answer any questions folks have I know that's important to

00:03:41.240 people. Well, so one thing that we've noticed so far this year that's been huge is we've

00:03:56.880 had a massive increase in AFA membership and people signing up. And it's been really neat

00:04:02.520 to watch because it's not coming from any one area or any one type of folks. It seems

00:04:10.920 like an enthusiasm that's been all over the place, geographically and all different, you

00:04:16.720 know, all different ages and all different types of members. So that's been really, really

00:04:20.340 nice to see. And I'm kind of, I don't know, in awe of just why that is, but I'm very thankful

00:04:27.600 for it. And I think that it shows that we are doing something right and that our AFA

00:04:32.440 leadership and volunteers are putting in some really good work and doing good stuff. So

00:04:36.120 really happy to see that. So does the AFA offer any educational programs for newbies? No, not

00:04:47.740 officially. What I think is probably the best option on that is to talk to the AFA Gauthier

00:04:57.160 closest to you because they would be able to help. There's a lot of books and a lot of ways that we

00:05:02.240 can recommend. And if you get with one of our GoTar, we can set that up and we can give you

00:05:08.240 some advice on where to go and stuff for newbies. But I think the idea of some educational programs

00:05:16.200 or at least some materials and maybe a new reading list would be really nice for people

00:05:20.560 who are new so maybe a lot of folks would enjoy that all right Steve

00:05:31.200 unfortunately currently it is not in New Mexico as Steve asked he mentions that

00:05:38.300 we have new new kindred in Italy in South Africa I'd also say since we last

00:05:42.700 talked we have a new kindred vote on southern kindred in Australia so very

00:05:48.360 excited to see growth in those areas um but yeah he asked where vfa is seeing its biggest growth

00:05:55.560 and he points out that we're not seeing that great of growth in new mexico but i'd love to

00:05:59.880 see that change all it takes is for a couple of people in the area to get together and to start

00:06:04.920 flying the flag and getting together and doing things i think we'd be surprised at how many

00:06:10.520 people come out of the woodwork where we're seeing our biggest growth a lot of

00:06:20.180 areas that do really well the Upper South is certainly growing as always and

00:06:25.280 that's been very steady we are seeing a lot of international growth lately not

00:06:31.160 so much growth in membership but in people coalescing and getting more

00:06:34.580 involved. Certainly we're seeing that in Australia and New Zealand. We saw this unprecedented new

00:06:41.880 growth in South Africa, which I think is an area that's very important for us to see growth and

00:06:46.840 something that a lot of us, it's very near and dear to our hearts and something we would really

00:06:50.500 like to see. Seeing growth there, as you mentioned, we've had a big influx in Italy and that's exciting

00:06:59.480 to see over there i think those are our biggest you know like in this last month growth areas

00:07:05.080 but we've seen a lot of growth in the midwest over this last i don't know since 2019 started and

00:07:13.720 yeah i'd say upper south um the northeast up around new york massachusetts uh pennsylvania

00:07:20.840 a little bit we've seen quite a bit of growth in the last couple of months those areas are all

00:07:25.320 them really good oh thanks Ryan I'm glad you guys like the physical excellence

00:07:34.060 page I think it's really important and I think it's absolutely a spiritual thing

00:07:39.780 that we get our bodies healthy and that we look our best and try to get in the

00:07:44.260 best shape we can be I think one of the things that's a hallmark of our faith is

00:07:48.420 its holistic approach to things and every facet of our being of our life

00:07:53.340 for our existence should be about being the best we can possibly be in the

00:07:57.420 easiest and most readily accessible thing we have access to is taking care

00:08:03.380 of our bodies taking care of our physical state in and doing work on that

00:08:07.020 it's been so nice to see people do that and I mean it goes without saying a lot

00:08:10.680 of folk especially here in the United States but I think the West in general

00:08:15.000 we have this obesity epidemic and I think that's something it's really cool

00:08:19.260 to see people getting on top of and trying to work with um so i'm really glad to see that and

00:08:24.140 like i said if you you look good you feel good and you carry yourself better you carry yourself

00:08:28.220 with the pride that you wouldn't otherwise have um all right um

00:08:39.900 Um, Jezka Vex mentions that, oh, about the Black Sun Tribe study sessions via Facebook.

00:08:52.420 How was that?

00:08:53.160 I hope that turned out really well.

00:08:54.240 I didn't get a chance to catch it, but I think that's kind of a cool idea, and it can get

00:08:58.020 people from a great distance to be able to come together for a study group.

00:09:01.540 So, kind of curious to see how that turns out.

00:09:05.340 I thought that was a really good idea, and I think it was really innovative for them

00:09:08.020 to kind of step up with that.

00:09:09.200 So I hope that's working out good for you guys.

00:09:17.840 Does anybody else have anything they want to ask tonight?

00:09:24.700 If anybody does at any point, go ahead and say something and shout it out.

00:09:29.800 And if I see it, I will answer it.

00:09:31.580 I'm glad to hear that you that again Jessica Vex says that the the event was

00:09:38.720 really good with the Black Sun study group and I'm glad that's good and I'm

00:09:43.280 sure they'll do more of that so it's really good to see yeah while I have you

00:09:51.900 guys you may have noticed in this math last month we started really talking

00:09:56.960 seriously about making the second half for the Austria folk assembly happen we've been very

00:10:04.600 blessed we have people that are very generous and we've been been really successful in the last year

00:10:10.640 and we are at a point where that's a serious thing that's taking shape we're very seriously

00:10:15.560 looking at properties and financing and making half to happen I think you guys would be pleasantly

00:10:21.880 surprised with how quickly we get that established that's an amazing thing to be able to do just a

00:10:27.800 couple short months after paying off Odin's Hoff and that's thanks to you guys your generosity and

00:10:33.640 and sticking with us and your support so thank you guys very much for it i'll keep you guys appraised

00:10:37.880 as that moves forward and we're working really hard behind the scenes on it something we're all

00:10:42.120 all very excited about Ryan's asking about any new podcast plans soon AFA

00:10:53.640 official I don't have any AFA podcast planned if you know anybody that does

00:10:59.100 podcasts that wants either myself or one of our go thar to do an appearance on

00:11:03.120 there I think we'd be very interested in doing something like that yeah Ryan we

00:11:08.760 have none of them on the on the docket right now but I'm always hoping I'd love

00:11:12.900 to talk to people and get our message out there and what we're trying to do

00:11:16.260 and kind of also brag on you guys and share the good things we've been up to

00:11:19.860 and the good things we've been able to accomplish and I think our go thought

00:11:25.580 would love to get a chance to speak to people too and share that so if you know

00:11:31.020 anybody who's doing it or who wants some interviews please do send them my way

00:11:34.140 because, like I said, I'd be very happy to talk to them.

00:11:39.500 So we've got some new people that have joined in the last few minutes here.

00:11:44.640 Any other questions folks have tonight?

00:11:47.320 So someone in the chat room is letting us know, just as a point of interest, if the average

00:12:07.820 AFA member were to donate $50 per quarter to the Hoff Fund, we could average on one

00:12:16.420 half per year I haven't really looked and checked those numbers but if the

00:12:21.880 average AFA member were to donate 1% of their income which is you know less than

00:12:28.640 kind of the Christian tradition of the tithe but just 1% would allow us to get

00:12:34.420 get a half as well as maintaining all the other financial commitments we have

00:12:38.200 we'd be able to afford a new half every every other year with just 1% of income

00:12:43.360 from members. And I ran the number for 10%. If all of the AFA members across the world

00:12:49.440 gave 10% a year, we'd be able to build like five Hoffs a year of equivalent value to Odin's

00:12:55.240 Hoff. So not that we would rush out there and do that, or we have the folks in the right

00:12:59.680 places to support that, but it's just kind of an idea if people were donating on that

00:13:04.260 level. That's just kind of a response to Matthias' comment on that one.

00:13:13.360 Yes, there will be an itinerary for Ostara in the South sent out.

00:13:17.680 What you want to do, it's probably only going to be sent out to people that register for

00:13:20.960 it, but if you're curious and you have questions, Paul Hester at phester at loonstone.org, he's

00:13:28.940 kind of taking point on running that and putting it together, and he'd be very happy to let

00:13:32.680 you know what's on the docket so far, and as it gets shored up and there's more information

00:13:39.540 about an actual itinerary, he'll be able to let you know, and he could also hook you

00:13:42.940 up if you need any accommodations or help with getting there and getting it figured out.

00:13:47.140 We would love to have you there, so please do reach out to Paul.

00:13:50.600 It is not Merlot.

00:13:52.300 Merlot is delicious, and if we break into another bottle, it will probably be a Merlot.

00:13:57.420 It's Chianti.

00:13:58.580 I really like Chianti.

00:14:01.060 It's delicious.

00:14:03.640 When I was younger, the only reason I tried it was because it used to come in those little

00:14:07.980 straw baskets, but I learned that I really do like it.

00:14:10.920 It's nice.

00:14:12.940 In what area is the new Hoff going to be? I hate to be too specific until we're really

00:14:24.100 finalized on a property and it's all in the books, but there are certainly areas that

00:14:29.740 we are looking for. And one of the standout areas, and I don't think this is any secret,

00:14:36.480 been um the northern plains our folks in the northern plains um shored up by the good work

00:14:43.040 of our dothar coordinator blaine qualls and the really hard work of last year's folk building

00:14:49.040 excellence award winner jason gallagher they've done an amazing job they've got a really good

00:14:54.400 community they've got three solid kindreds up there putting in towards it a lot of really

00:15:00.000 committed folks so i do think that that that tends to be towards the front of the line

00:15:04.160 but once we once we're really settled and we've got something secure will be a

00:15:08.400 little bit more forthcoming about exactly what what we're doing on where

00:15:12.740 it's going to be but yeah those are the kind of things that we are looking at

00:15:23.320 difference in membership levels I'm going to be completely and totally

00:15:28.460 honest, as far as what each of the levels mean in terms of your interaction with the AFA or your

00:15:36.740 ability to participate, absolutely nothing. The difference is at those different levels,

00:15:43.340 you're able to contribute more to what we're doing and help us accomplish things at a faster

00:15:48.140 rate. It's very appreciated if you do give at a higher level, but other than the way that we

00:15:55.920 benefit as a church and as a folk because of it there's not really a big membership difference

00:16:01.440 folks have talked uh kind of on the back end about maybe changing that and i'm open to some ideas

00:16:07.440 but right now it's just um a way of you being able to give if you're able at a higher level

00:16:12.660 and like i say all that's appreciative and appreciated and the fact that people are doing

00:16:17.040 that has enabled us to be in this position to look very seriously the second half you know like i

00:16:23.100 said, just about two and a half months after paying off the first one. So that's the only

00:16:27.340 real difference at this point. Josh asks, who would we contact to donate a percentage

00:16:39.520 of our pay directly from our payroll department? So what Josh is asking about is something

00:16:45.880 that we have instituted as an option as the beginning of this year. It's called the Hof

00:16:50.880 toller. And it's a way to do percentage giving based on your paychecks. There's different ways

00:17:00.660 to work around it, but very often your HR department can just take a regular percentage

00:17:06.380 cut out of paychecks. And a lot of people do this towards their churches. Like I mentioned

00:17:12.180 earlier, it would make a huge difference for what we're trying to accomplish. And Josh,

00:17:15.700 asked who to contact um your folk builder is jason plurred but anyone out here your folk builder is

00:17:22.100 the primary person you should contact on it and we've got a really great woman who's helping us

00:17:27.700 make the hoftoller work who you're also free to contact her name is verona qualls um that's uh

00:17:35.220 blaine our gothar coordinator's wife and she has generously stepped up to help out

00:17:40.500 So if you guys are interested, either Verona or your folk builder,

00:17:44.980 and if you need to know who your folk builder is, there's a list at www.ruinestone.org.

00:17:49.800 I hope you guys already are in contact with your folk builders,

00:17:52.980 and they would be very happy to get you set up.

00:17:55.300 And Josh, if you are considering that, thank you very much,

00:17:59.240 because that level of commitment helps a lot, and it's much appreciated.

00:18:04.020 If anybody also has any questions, just get with me, send me a message,

00:18:07.480 and I can direct you towards your folk builder, and I can get you all set up.

00:18:10.500 Looks like Ryan's leaving us, he's got to go back to work.

00:18:17.840 Thank you for joining us, Ryan.

00:18:18.840 It was good to have you here and good to talk to you.

00:18:26.000 Alright, looks like Jezka Vex will be at Ostara in the south.

00:18:33.440 I'm very much looking forward to seeing you there and I'm glad that you registered and

00:18:37.060 going to support that.

00:18:38.060 Like I'd say, I encourage everyone here if you can, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of this month,

00:18:44.520 North Carolina, Ostara, and South.

00:18:48.200 Mandy and I will be attending, and we would love to see folks there.

00:18:54.260 Greetings, Terry.

00:18:55.180 Thank you for joining us.

00:18:57.800 That thing that you just wrote and shared on Facebook was really, really cool about

00:19:04.900 stepping up and seizing the day and taking action on things i found it really inspiring and i'm glad

00:19:10.340 you shared that with people hey anna anna lee is one of the uh great people i got to meet when i

00:19:21.700 was down in texas list this last month it was a it was a really good time and one of the one of the

00:19:27.060 standouts was us getting to meet her. Good, I'm glad you're joining us tonight.

00:19:40.880 Eric asked if

00:19:42.480 him being a member automatically makes his wife and kids

00:19:46.920 members.

00:19:52.240 No, it doesn't automatically. Something that we

00:19:55.080 have talked about if you choose to donate by Hof toller that's kind of a family

00:19:59.040 income thing and certainly that would make the other adults in your home

00:20:02.520 members just the way we do things and how we've structured things from just

00:20:09.900 legal things and other reasons and honestly it's something that predates my

00:20:14.320 time all of our members are adults so I would encourage your your children if

00:20:19.740 they'd like to sign up once they become adults then we'd love to have them as

00:20:22.800 members. But this goes without saying, your family is welcome at any AFA event. So yeah,

00:20:29.260 when you sign up, they're not members. I'm not sure exactly how the form looks, but they're

00:20:34.000 absolutely, they're with you and they're welcome and we would love to have them there. We love

00:20:38.140 families, especially kids. And kids at our events are free. So we would love to see you guys there.

00:20:44.080 Hi Mark Bolt Odenson is also a gentleman that I got to meet down in Texas I'm glad to have you on

00:20:56.560 this yeah he had a good advice on some shrimp and barbecue po boys after the event that I

00:21:02.440 still appreciate and enjoyed good to see you here with us Brian Wilton's letting us know he's gonna

00:21:09.680 to be at Osara, that's always a good time. I say this unequivocally, I believe that

00:21:17.680 Brian Wilton is the best natural speaker, not only in the Ausatru Folk Assembly, but

00:21:24.360 in Ausatru in general, in our day and age, and getting to hear Brian speak is always

00:21:30.520 a great thing. So that'll be exciting and definitely something you guys don't want

00:21:34.200 to miss also just the ability to chat with Brian afterwards and and at the

00:21:40.020 event I think he's got a lot to share and he's a he's certainly a great guy to

00:21:43.380 talk to I always enjoy it

00:21:51.200 ah Matthias you want to look up Terry Rumpf are you mph on Facebook and look

00:22:00.140 there it was something he shared earlier today and it's got it's illustrated with

00:22:03.120 really cool some kind of a picture of the Allfather with Hugen and Moonen on his shoulders.

00:22:09.920 It was just kind of a very inspirational thing he wrote, and it's always a good idea to send

00:22:14.660 out a friend request to Terry anyways.

00:22:18.880 Sean McDonald, hey thank you, I'm glad you appreciate it.

00:22:31.040 I did my best.

00:22:32.340 I will always do my best in those situations.

00:22:34.740 So, thank you and your words of encouragement mean a lot.

00:22:39.200 I'm glad you were able to make it

00:22:40.100 even if it's just for a few minutes tonight.

00:22:44.980 Eric, excellent.

00:22:46.380 So I'm looking forward to seeing you and your family there.

00:22:49.480 Hello, Jessica.

00:22:53.100 Brian, I talked about the Nexhoff, where were you?

00:22:55.180 You showed up late to the party.

00:23:01.040 And we also talked about our growth in the world. For anybody that did miss it, we are getting very close to our second half. I've talked about it a little bit. We're looking into funding, and we're looking into locations right now. As I mentioned to folks, one of the front runners certainly is the Northern Plains region, because we've had great things going on there consistently for, I think, about four years this year. So they've really done great things and been very consistent over the past little bit.

00:23:28.260 Oh, where else in the world does the AFA have new chapters?

00:23:32.760 We talked about this a little bit earlier, but I know some of you are just joining us.

00:23:36.500 Big growth in Italy, big growth as far as new kindreds in, I know Cameron's working

00:23:45.420 on a couple of things.

00:23:46.420 We just have a new kindred in Australia, like I mentioned earlier, Botan's southern kindred,

00:23:52.040 and we have that new kindred in South Africa.

00:23:54.680 have wanted to have an AFA kindred in South Africa and help be there in a very

00:24:00.320 real way for our folk in South Africa for a long time and it's beautiful to

00:24:03.780 see that happening there and I'm so proud of it all right if you're if you're

00:24:18.900 over 50 and you are venerable in years and you would like to join mr. Terry

00:24:23.240 Rumpf in an AFA over 50 group. He's putting the word out there. I hope anybody who meets those

00:24:29.400 qualifications joins that group. I hope one day we can all reach those qualifications and join

00:24:35.320 that group. Yeah, I think that's a great idea and I would encourage anybody who's who is over 50 in

00:24:42.040 the AFA to join and give Terry some support with what he's trying to do.

00:24:49.700 Looks like we got another happy customer on your Astro Book of Days, Brian, and so you

00:24:59.380 got somebody looking forward to meeting you for sure at Ostara.

00:25:05.400 Anna says she's old, but I don't believe it.

00:25:19.400 There we go.

00:25:23.400 Always, Terry, I thank you for taking the initiative on setting up that group and trying to get people going.

00:25:29.400 It's always cool to find more ways for AFA members to connect with each other, so that's really a nice thing to do.

00:25:35.400 Terry, in case you can't see it, Steve is wondering how to join that group you talked

00:25:44.720 about and if it's a Facebook thing.

00:25:49.820 So yeah, Steve, if you send Terry a message, maybe he'll answer you here in chat.

00:25:54.460 But if not, if you send him a message after this, I'm sure he'd be happy to get with you.

00:25:57.940 And if you guys don't connect communication wise, let me know and I'll get you guys in

00:26:02.260 touch afterwards. Well, it's great to have so many of you with me here tonight. Does

00:26:14.940 anybody have anything else they want to make sure we talk about or any questions they might

00:26:20.260 have, anything on their mind they want, I don't know, me to say something about or to

00:26:25.820 react to or give you all my perspective on Brian says he'll be joining you all

00:26:44.420 in the the venerable AFA members group here in a couple of years but he's

00:26:52.040 taking his time to get there trying to elongate his uh his youth brian i don't think if you told

00:26:58.200 anybody they would know hey letitia

00:27:07.320 so Brian touched on something it was kind of what I was going to default to here until somebody else

00:27:27.300 had had a question something wanted me to answer I mentioned last time I spoke to you guys about

00:27:32.400 increasing piety and i appreciate that brian is bringing that back up about ways to make the gods

00:27:38.880 real to people and i think that one fundamental and it is something i wanted to speak to you tonight

00:27:44.080 about is your your own home practice and i don't know how many guys out there have um home altars

00:27:54.640 to a lot of people this would be an ancestral altar um some people refer to this as as the

00:28:00.160 hearth cult because originally this was around people's cooking hearts in the

00:28:04.480 center of their home so to our ancestors this was the most fundamental way of

00:28:12.240 accessing the other world and in spiritual things and the smallest unit

00:28:17.860 of worship to our ancestors wasn't the individual it was the family so I think

00:28:25.600 that the folks in your house and having the family gathering around an altar to

00:28:29.980 your ancestors into the the gods of your family is essential and I think it puts your home in the

00:28:39.560 right order I think it helps the energy in your house be a healthy one and I think it brings

00:28:45.440 people together at the most basic and fundamental level in a way that that puts us on a spiritual

00:28:53.200 trajectory for the way that we react with the rest of the world and interact and coming before

00:28:59.060 your your family altar with regularity builds up habits that are extremely helpful and it puts you

00:29:06.800 in a very spiritual frame of mind and it also enlists the holy powers in a way that's that's

00:29:14.060 beneficial to your life in its most basic sense I think that's a real fundamental and I think all

00:29:19.600 of the rest of our spirituality can be built out from there so I'd really like to encourage you

00:29:24.760 guys I'm not sure how many people do that but to have an altar that you

00:29:30.000 regularly you know pour out a libation on burn some incense on let your

00:29:36.000 ancestors in the spirit of your family of your clan know that you're there that

00:29:41.680 you're receptive that you're listening and reaffirm your resolve to do good

00:29:46.960 things it's another question it's just brief to touch on here but people often

00:29:53.400 tend to shy away or be hesitant to pray in a Christian or in a heathen context because the

00:29:59.120 only way that we know about it or the most accessible way we know about prayer is in a

00:30:04.720 Christian context. But I don't think there's anything Christian about beseeching the divine

00:30:10.260 and speaking to our ancestors and to our gods. One of the best ways to do that is in your home

00:30:18.460 and in front of your ancestral altar to make a little offering and to reaffirm commitments that

00:30:25.140 you make to do things, to accomplish things, to live your life in a certain way, to uphold duties

00:30:32.480 that you have. I know that's been very beneficial to me, and it's something that's been very nice

00:30:37.480 in Mandy and my new home to make a place for the gods. It was really essential to us. The first

00:30:43.240 thing we did when we moved in was set up that that family altar so hope you guys

00:30:49.840 are doing that

00:31:13.240 Ask if there's any plans for the AFA to put out in-depth literature with a heathen, with a heathen world.

00:31:25.240 I think I understand the comment. Are we going to start putting out more in-depth things?

00:31:30.240 I know we go over 101 stuff a lot and I think that there is a great hunger for things of a little bit higher depth.

00:31:37.240 and up to this point very often that comes in personal conversations and discussions and i'd

00:31:44.760 like to see that get formalized a little bit i know that our gothar are hard at work on building

00:31:50.600 up the institution of our priesthood and developing those things that we can provide to you guys a

00:31:56.680 little bit more detailed on that if you have questions please do reach out to your local

00:32:01.480 go for you or feel free to reach out to me and i'd be happy to answer them um and yeah we'll try to

00:32:07.960 work on on coming up with some literature that way i think it's a good idea and i think there's

00:32:13.000 definitely need for it I think that's a great comment what I love is doing is

00:32:41.260 every morning sending my intentions and goal uh goals for the day and asking guys to assist in

00:32:46.460 those goals i think the idea of living your life intentionally with a set set goals and set manner

00:32:54.380 that you want to live and that you want to address the concerns of your day i think it makes you more

00:32:59.340 effective i think it makes you more driven at what you're trying to accomplish and in general

00:33:04.540 i think that's really sound advice and i'm glad that you posted that um some people are different

00:33:10.460 some people like to approach their their family altar at night to other people it's a good way

00:33:15.260 to start the day on the right track to some others the nights closer to them and they like to uh to

00:33:21.100 end the day on that note and i think either of them is valid and i'd encourage you guys to do both

00:33:40.460 yeah Kevin I I really agree that with that I think that it's essential and one thing that

00:33:51.320 does separate us from a lot of other people and how they practice their faith we're also true when

00:33:57.080 we get up we're also true when we're husbands when some of us are our fathers or at work or

00:34:02.900 in how we're sons or and how we relate to our families and how we relate to our neighbors we

00:34:08.480 should be also true and all that we do and being very aware of that is

00:34:14.240 fundamental and it builds something really powerful within us it builds

00:34:18.320 character and it builds ourselves I would encourage us to find ways to do

00:34:24.620 that in every aspect of our life if we can and I think that things like meal

00:34:29.120 blessings and again that that that hearth cult worship really adds to that

00:34:35.780 and puts that perspective on things.

00:34:53.240 I will alert Mandy that there's a good opportunity

00:34:58.700 to buy yarn for the Baby Blanket Project. 0.93

00:35:01.080 If any other ladies out there are listening 1.00

00:35:03.160 and you need yarn, Jessica Vex has the yarn hookup 1.00

00:35:08.400 on I guess a good deal on a going out of business sale

00:35:10.820 for some yarn, so look into doing that.

00:35:14.040 I believe we've got 13 AFA babies either already here

00:35:20.120 or on the way in 2019, which is amazing.

00:35:24.700 And I really appreciate all the hard work 0.99

00:35:26.720 that ladies have put in to making sure that each new AFA

00:35:30.720 baby has a special baby blanket made by our folk, the ladies of our folk, taking care 0.83

00:35:35.620 of our own. It's a really nice thing and it's something very special that they're doing

00:35:39.760 and I can't thank them enough for it. I know it's touched a lot of people and it's a really

00:35:44.640 beautiful thing to see all right we got a happy happy penguin looks like it's

00:36:14.220 going for a hug. I appreciate that. Does anybody else have questions or stuff they want to make

00:36:25.780 sure we talk about tonight? I'm happy to talk about anything you guys want, anything you guys

00:36:32.180 like discussed it looks like I may have missed a discussion about about hell

00:36:44.540 earlier and I think it's as far as how she connects I don't want to answer

00:37:01.040 wrong and lead people astray on anything but i think as far as order and chaos are developed

00:37:08.880 i think that she certainly serves a function within order the fact that she rules over the

00:37:16.720 land of the dead and provides order in in that structure i think there's certainly a darker

00:37:24.160 aspect and the darker element but i think we when we take um our myth cycle too literally and we

00:37:35.520 yeah when we take it too literally and we try to overly associate people uh

00:37:43.600 gods and goddesses and different mythological figures into two very uh very rigid frame

00:37:50.640 works as far as you know, their their paternity and their relation to other gods and goddesses.

00:37:56.680 I think sometimes we extend we extend that a little bit too far. And I think that it's

00:38:02.220 worthwhile to. View and research hell in her own right, and not as just as some kind of

00:38:09.280 monstrous extension of Loki, certainly as as his other children, Fenrir and Jormungandr.

00:38:16.560 think it's definitely something to look into i think brian's points about a uh a dark aspect

00:38:24.000 to the major female goddess as it relates to other pantheons does certainly play a part in

00:38:30.080 our imagery of hell i think it deserves a little bit more looking into but like brian says i don't

00:38:36.400 she is certainly not somebody that i would read regularly reach out to with my worship

00:38:40.800 but i do think there's there's something to be looked into there and it's not nearly as

00:38:44.480 as a simpler case as Fenrir or Jarmungand.

00:38:54.940 Terry, what do you want to know about the status of your AFA membership?

00:38:58.860 You can check it by asking your folk builder.

00:39:03.580 I would encourage you to reach out to Trent East, I believe, is your closest folk builder.

00:39:09.900 And he can tell you and get you squared away if there's anything strange about it.

00:39:14.480 I can also check for you if you want to reach out to me Odin's Volk that is a

00:39:27.240 really complex question and not one I can answer in anything one word as far

00:39:32.660 as new traditions being created we're living in a vibrant people and I think

00:39:37.540 we need new traditions I think there was an initial phase of Alcitru that

00:39:43.440 involved a lot of rediscovery of things that were lost to excuse me things that were lost to us

00:39:50.240 but i think new traditions are essential and i look forward to being part of creating and enacting

00:39:55.920 those with you guys um how symbolism and lore play into new traditions i think that's far too

00:40:04.160 broad of something for me to be able to give you a substantive answer on but i think that our lore

00:40:09.600 should always serve as a guidepost for us in helping to craft new traditions on how we do

00:40:15.680 things so i think it plays in but i don't think we should be trapped by it or we should be trapped

00:40:21.440 in a in days gone by on it i think new traditions need to be relevant to the world that we're in

00:40:27.520 and the situations we find ourselves in i think that's certainly in keeping it in the spirit of

00:40:32.960 our ancestors and it's it's not only something we can do but it's a duty of ours going forward

00:40:39.600 Sorry, guys, I just got a Facebook message.

00:40:59.340 I wanted to make sure it wasn't something to be asked or relevant to our conversation

00:41:03.640 here.

00:41:04.060 Is there anything else you guys would like to have me touch on or any other questions

00:41:11.000 that you might have about what we're doing, where we're going, anything involving the

00:41:16.540 AFA and what's going on here in 2019?

00:41:21.120 Like I say, I really do enjoy this opportunity to talk to you guys.

00:41:27.060 I hope you guys enjoy it too.

00:41:29.140 I like the format.

00:41:30.140 I think it works out pretty well.

00:41:33.720 a different time or a way it could work a little bit better let me know but yeah

00:41:42.120 everybody who's who has showed up so far thank you guys for joining I noticed we

00:41:46.260 got three more people just joined the conversation

00:42:03.720 Okay, looks like Mandy's helping Terry get any of his membership questions

00:42:08.920 figured out, which is nice to see.

00:42:14.380 Alicia, Shane, Corey, it's good to see you guys.

00:42:16.920 Thank you for joining tonight.

00:42:18.300 I know you guys are joining a little bit later.

00:42:21.420 David, good to see you.

00:42:24.020 Do you guys have any questions or anything you wanted to hear me talk about

00:42:27.760 tonight for those of you kind of joining a little bit later in the game?

00:42:33.720 Yes, David, I did mention the new Hoff, but I'm so excited about it that I will mention it again.

00:42:48.480 Two months and seven days after paying off Odin's Hoff, we are very seriously exploring

00:42:56.940 financing and location for hoff number two it is happening it is happening quickly and we are very

00:43:05.820 excited about it and folks are putting in a lot of effort behind the scenes on it one person i do

00:43:10.540 want to acknowledge that's put in a lot of work on it is our law speaker gothi alan turnage he is

00:43:19.180 invaluable when it comes to things like this um it's very much in his sphere of influence and

00:43:25.580 stuff that he is more qualified and comfortable dealing with than a lot of us and he's done a lot

00:43:31.020 of the heavy lifting on it behind the scenes so we'll have him to thank for a lot of stuff when

00:43:36.620 that becomes a thing and i want you guys to know what's happening and quickly and the only reason

00:43:41.580 we're able to do it this quick after paying off odenshoff is for you guys being generous

00:43:47.580 and you guys supporting us throughout the years um i've told you guys this for a while now and i

00:43:53.820 know it's a tough sell but the quickest way for a hoth to happen close to you is for us to pay off

00:44:01.900 first odin's off and now for us to establish and figure out that second half because as soon as 1.00

00:44:09.420 these hops are paid off it is absolutely our intention to continue building them because we

00:44:16.220 need places of worship for our gods in midgard again it's long past time and it's beautiful to

00:44:23.100 be at a day and an age where it's actually occurring you guys are a huge part of that

00:44:29.020 this is a special time that our children and our children's children will look back on and see the

00:44:34.940 things that we're accomplishing with pride and like i said your guys generosity and support is

00:44:40.220 a huge part of making that happen and i thank you guys so much for doing that but yeah half number

00:44:46.700 two is on its way. Yes, and Mark McLeod, our folk builder coordinator, has built us two

00:45:01.900 lovely redwood showers with warm water outside of Odin's Hoff. There will be showers, and

00:45:09.340 we would love to see you out there. I'm excited that you're going to make that trip out to

00:45:12.540 the Hoff. We always love having our folk come out and see the Hoff. It's something to be

00:45:16.180 proud of it's okay Alicia we're glad that you're here playing some board

00:45:32.560 games I hope you won but yeah thank you for joining us coming in lakes better

00:45:37.300 coming in not at all so good to have you. Hey Mark good to see you tonight and I'm

00:45:50.680 gonna have to agree with Terry Mandy is a great person I'm kind of fond of her

00:45:56.380 see I'm excited for you guys to get a chance to meet at Midsommar. Do I see a

00:46:06.040 a lot of expansion in 2019 as it pertains to membership? Yes. Now, the real world doesn't

00:46:12.820 always happen in the bounds of a calendar year, so some of this growth has been since

00:46:18.720 December, but we have seen, and I can run the numbers and try to do the math, but we

00:46:23.580 have seen about 130 new applications since December, which is huge for us. So growth

00:46:36.520 has been amazing so far in 2019. We are being extremely blessed and very fortunate. And

00:46:44.640 a lot of our people are waking up and a lot of our people are coming home. So we've seen

00:46:50.160 a ton of expansion so far in 2019, and I only imagine that's going to continue as long as

00:46:55.060 we're doing good things and moving forward. And I think if we can hurry up and get

00:47:00.540 established on that second HOF, that's always a good thing to drive more membership as well.

00:47:05.380 It's one of the cool things about having HOFs is something tangible in that way really gets

00:47:11.260 a lot of people that sit on the sidelines and are maybe hesitant to join when they see real

00:47:16.760 things real activity and real accomplishment something they can reach out and touch it's that

00:47:23.240 extra thing that gets them to join and it's a really nice thing it's certainly um i think as

00:47:29.120 uh brian wilton may have said to me before it's a force multiplier so i'm looking forward to that

00:47:34.100 but yeah i see a lot of growth in 2019 hey eric good to good to see you eric from bottle for

00:47:41.540 stoneship kindred's joined us well Terry I hope you get that because we'd love to

00:47:53.300 see you come out to Odin's Hoff it's really something to behold our members

00:47:58.060 in in Northern California there have put in so much work to make that place home

00:48:03.140 and to make it very special for our folk and our gods we would love to have you

00:48:08.520 come out and see it and be a part of it. I want everybody to know that these Hoffs aren't just,

00:48:13.600 you know, the exclusive property of the membership in that area. As a member of the

00:48:18.960 Auschwitz Folk Assembly, that's your Hoff. This second Hoff that we're going to make, 0.72

00:48:23.720 that's your Hoff too. You guys are part of our AFA family and those things are all of ours

00:48:31.900 and something I want everyone to be able to experience, to enjoy, and to put their might

00:48:38.020 in their main and their truth into maintaining and getting to worship that and so if you contribute

00:48:46.180 to them and you're helping out even though you're at a great distance i want you to know that we all

00:48:50.340 appreciate it and it raises us all up and like i said we're going to keep going until we get one

00:48:55.860 very near you once we get that one we're still going to keep going so it's very exciting time that

00:49:02.980 way yes John this is live right now David no we don't ever coordinate with the 0.59

00:49:21.400 odinic right and certainly not opposed to at present there is no relationship

00:49:27.280 between the AFA and the Odenic Rite for good or for ill. I know a number of

00:49:33.280 the Odenic Rite members and have a lot of respect for them. I have a lot of

00:49:37.120 respect for Heimgist. The things that I've seen from the Odenic Rite and that 1.00

00:49:42.960 I've seen them do I like and I appreciate but so far there hasn't been

00:49:47.980 much interaction. AFA has tried to reach out a little bit and we certainly would

00:49:54.380 love to hear from folks in the Odenic Rite. And because it is an organization that we

00:50:00.320 do have a lot of respect for, any Odenic Rite members that do want to come to AFA events,

00:50:06.040 we certainly welcome that. Make sure you get in touch with the AFA folk builder in your

00:50:10.320 area and we can get you squared away. But that's kind of where we stand as far as any

00:50:15.320 official relationship with the right as it is right now. But David, if you know people

00:50:21.220 or you want to see that change or something, let me know or send them my way,

00:50:25.640 and I'm always very, very happy to speak to any representative of the right.

00:50:39.260 I agree, Anna.

00:50:40.480 The further things sink in society at large, the more we have people looking for something,

00:50:45.800 and looking for something wholesome and authentic

00:50:49.640 to help build their lives and their families around.

00:50:52.580 And I do think the worst things may get out there

00:50:56.080 the more we do see people come to us and grow

00:50:58.300 because we do our best at providing something meaningful.

00:51:02.140 And I think we do a good job

00:51:03.940 at providing something meaningful.

00:51:05.340 And I'm glad so many people are finding their way home.

00:51:08.000 John, could handouts be made to help spread and can the AFA name be used in doing so?

00:51:22.160 Yes, but if you do want to use the AFA name, I do need you to run that up the chain and

00:51:26.240 I'd like to take a look at it.

00:51:27.760 Contact your local folk builder and if you have an idea for something you want to do

00:51:31.520 as far as handouts, let's make it happen.

00:51:35.120 Get with your local folk builder, they'll get with me.

00:51:37.320 We'll make sure something good happens if that's something you'd like to build. 0.91

00:51:40.720 Because I think that would be a great idea.

00:51:52.260 Alicia, I think that the HOF is very handicap accessible.

00:51:56.340 I don't know how the outside areas are.

00:51:58.840 I think that all depends upon what the disability is and what that person may need.

00:52:05.520 but there is a ramp into the Hough and out of the Hough I know the doors

00:52:11.220 between the main hall into the kitchen area are plenty wide enough so I

00:52:16.440 guarantee you it's it's good we can make something happen and if we need to you

00:52:21.360 know put any elbow grease in to help and facilitate any of our members that do

00:52:24.960 have disabilities and getting around I'm sure we've got plenty of strong young

00:52:29.280 guys that would love to help out and make that happen so if you have any

00:52:32.940 special needs that way and you need something particular please reach out

00:52:36.840 we'll make sure to make it happen we want all of our folk to be able to

00:52:40.020 experience the Hoff and and get to share midsummer with us so if it's something

00:52:45.480 you're thinking about please do reach out we'll do what we need you to make

00:52:48.300 happen hey Harley good to see you Trent's asking how one would go about

00:53:04.620 applying for the AFA gothar program so we start a new class at midsummer so we

00:53:16.260 You want all your applications in by the end of June.

00:53:22.140 I'm checking something really quick on our website

00:53:24.180 to see if we have it there.

00:53:25.440 If we don't have it currently,

00:53:27.320 an application should be up there very soon.

00:53:40.080 All right, I'm gonna work on getting a link

00:53:43.700 a little bit more obvious on the page,

00:53:45.460 But if you go to www.runestone.org,

00:53:48.840 and you look at the Gothar section,

00:53:51.520 underneath the lovely picture of Blaine,

00:53:55.040 we have Gothar qualifications,

00:53:57.660 and it tells you a little bit about what's required

00:54:00.120 if you'd like to be a Gothian the Austrifolk Assembly.

00:54:03.500 And then it has a link that you can click

00:54:06.880 to download the AFA Gothar program application for 2019.

00:54:11.140 So if that's something you're interested in,

00:54:13.240 and you meet the qualifications listed on the site,

00:54:16.620 please do apply, and we would love to see it.

00:54:20.000 Also, don't be dismayed if you don't make it

00:54:22.600 for some reason.

00:54:23.640 There's a lot of people that apply

00:54:25.280 and want to be go-throughs within the AFA,

00:54:27.680 and there's not always enough mentors

00:54:29.460 to give those people the quality instruction

00:54:32.760 that they deserve.

00:54:34.120 So we're very selective about who gets in the program,

00:54:38.120 and if you don't make it this year,

00:54:39.480 we would encourage you to continue to try again

00:54:41.800 until you do make it.

00:54:46.020 So yeah, go check that out, like I said,

00:54:47.680 on our website, runestone.org,

00:54:49.480 we do have an application for 2019's class.

00:54:56.860 Hmm, so we got a couple of more folks that joined us,

00:54:59.540 have a few more minutes here.

00:55:01.620 Anybody else have questions,

00:55:03.580 things they wanted me to address tonight,

00:55:05.500 or maybe something that you thought I would talk about

00:55:07.480 that I hadn't?

00:55:11.800 Anybody at all?

00:55:33.180 Questions going once.

00:55:35.560 Questions going twice.

00:55:37.300 All right.

00:55:38.300 Sold.

00:55:39.300 guys. It's been about an hour with y'all tonight. I have really enjoyed it. This is the second one

00:55:45.960 of these that we've done and I've had a good time with them. I love my AFA family and I think getting

00:55:54.160 a chance to speak to you guys in this kind of a candid setting is really nice. I hope you guys

00:56:00.240 enjoyed it if if this is something you like doing I'd be happy to do this

00:56:07.120 monthly if you guys have any suggestions on ways to improve it or something else

00:56:12.420 you'd like to see please let me know yeah but it's been a fun time thank you

00:56:17.560 guys for coming out and participating and asking questions so I got another

00:56:26.220 questions popped up about the current strength of the folk services fund we have a number of people

00:56:33.020 that set up regular recurring donations to folk services folk services fund is doing really healthy

00:56:38.780 right now um i'm not aware of a time that it's ever done better than it is it's plugging along

00:56:45.500 pretty good and um fortunately we've been able to help a lot of our folk that have had needs

00:56:52.940 and reached out in a in a substantive way we've been able to provide some help it's kind of a

00:56:58.220 special thing that we're able to do that i'm really proud of we try our best to look out for

00:57:04.060 our own anybody who doesn't know about folk services um it's a fund that we have said we

00:57:11.100 have funds set aside in case any of our members have you know unforeseen catastrophes in their

00:57:17.420 life and they need some help to get past them any kind of emergency you have a family emergency

00:57:22.540 health thing. We don't pretend that we're of a scale and a scope that we can fix it for you,

00:57:28.840 or we, you know, we can't always give you back anything that might be lost, but we can help.

00:57:35.360 We can get you through, you know, we can get you through the night, we can get you through a couple

00:57:39.460 of days. We can do what we can. And the other thing besides money that's actually sitting in

00:57:44.400 the folk services, what we also do is once we know, and if you guys are willing, we understand

00:57:49.920 that some people don't want any of their uh information to get out there but if you're

00:57:54.080 willing to work with us we would also be very happy to help fundraise and help get funds to you

00:57:58.880 if you find yourself in need or your family in need and that's really something that i'm proud

00:58:04.320 of we're able to do as a church for one another so do reach out if you have any problems to that

00:58:10.640 are an emergency you know we don't we do have a little bit of looking into it and seeing if it's

00:58:17.280 something that meets those qualifications, but if you need folk services, please reach out to your

00:58:22.220 folk builder. Last thing that we want to ever hear about is one of our folk going through a

00:58:26.640 catastrophe in their life and us not knowing about it and us not being able to be there for them

00:58:32.560 and help them. Our GOTHAR want to help them spiritually and the rest of us, including our

00:58:38.620 GOTHAR, want to help if we can materially. So do please reach out if anything does come up.

00:58:44.680 And if you know another AFA member in your area that has something come up, please reach

00:58:48.960 out to us because we'd love to help them.

00:58:52.280 Oh, Terry, you're very welcome.

00:58:56.360 There's very few things I'd rather do with my time than get to speak to my AFA family

00:59:01.360 and talk to you guys and share with you and kind of share an evening with you.

00:59:07.400 I really enjoy it.

00:59:11.520 Jason, where you been? 0.86

00:59:14.360 I've been talking about that second Hoff all evening. 0.96

00:59:17.520 We will be announcing it officially

00:59:19.860 as soon as something goes through.

00:59:21.300 But what I've been telling everybody,

00:59:22.680 and I said this earlier,

00:59:23.680 I thank you for bringing it up again

00:59:24.900 because I love talking about it.

00:59:28.520 Less than three months after paying off Odin's Hoff,

00:59:30.820 we're at a stage where we are securing financing

00:59:33.340 and we are looking at locations

00:59:35.720 to establish that second Hoff.

00:59:38.640 So it's coming, it's coming quickly,

00:59:42.320 and Jason will be announcing the specifics

00:59:44.260 as soon as we get something concrete

00:59:46.800 that we can count on.

00:59:51.800 Tell Diesel I said hello.

00:59:56.680 All right, okay, real quick,

00:59:59.520 and then I don't wanna make this too long

01:00:02.280 or ramble on too much,

01:00:03.580 but we did just have five people join.

01:00:07.300 It's good to see you guys.

01:00:09.780 I was fixing to sign off,

01:00:11.380 but if you guys have any questions

01:00:12.920 anything you wanted me to touch on tonight, please speak up, and I'd be happy to try to

01:00:18.980 answer those for you guys before I duck out here. Yeah, Brandy, Karen, Adam, Bodie, Ben,

01:00:30.880 thank you guys very much for showing up. Anything that you missed, you can watch a replay of it. I

01:00:35.500 think it'll take a few minutes when we're done here for me to get that in. All right, last chance,

01:00:41.520 anybody who just joined have any questions hey buddy um terry i uh i appreciate your vote for

01:00:56.880 a location of the second hoff i think that the upper south region is a very strong contender for

01:01:02.480 a hoff in pretty quick order we will absolutely look into it and think about it i don't make any

01:01:08.160 great promises on that but um the your region is moving in the right direction for us to get that

01:01:15.600 going and make that happen so all right guys thank you so much for coming out tonight and uh

01:01:20.960 and listening to me and answering er and asking questions and participating um like i say i love

01:01:27.440 my fa family i'm very proud of you guys and i look forward to these so i will see you guys next month

01:01:34.700 Thank you guys very much.

01:01:35.860 Y'all have a good night.

01:01:36.820 Hail the gods, hail the folk, hail the AFA.

Asatru Folk Assembly - June 30, 2019

March 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

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