March 2022 Live Discussion
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 4 minutes
Harmful content
Toxicity
3
sentences flagged
Hate speech
8
sentences flagged
Summary
In this episode, we talk about video games and their place in society. We also talk about the upcoming New York s Off Push, and what we are doing to help raise money for it. Finally, we discuss the future of the event, and how to apply to be a part of it!
Transcript
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hello it's been a month already it's good to talk to you guys again tonight
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i was reading uh first thanks so many people have lined up already for uh
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for this evening's discussion and i'm sure we've got more coming in i appreciate you guys showing
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up early king of cheese i look forward to you applying don't hesitate uh go to our website and
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apply right now it'd be great to see your application when we get done with this
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i'm just going to start with stuff i've seen populate over here and i have a couple things
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i'd like to like to talk about off uh off the beginning here um
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gigasquid what do i think about video games and have i ever played skyrim
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yes i have absolutely played and defeated skyrim um i think video games have their place i think
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it's really easy to take some really hard stand one way or another i think that video games
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ought not become a lifestyle choice but they're fun i've played plenty of plenty of video games
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in my time kind of go through spurts i know one thing they do is if you're antsy and you got a
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lot of nervous energy and you need something to focus on because you're waiting on something
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video games are kind of a kind of a cool way to cool way to work with that um
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but yeah i don't i don't think there's any one size fits all video game answer other than don't
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let your life suffer due to some huge amount of video game plan um even man glad you're able to
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make it here tonight i try to you know i mix it up on the days and times a little well i say times
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mix it up on the days at least a little bit so we can get the most people available to be able to
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get a chance to come on here i look forward to talking to all of you guys um something i'm sure
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on a lot of people's minds and i already saw some some talk about it in the chat
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is everybody's hoping to hear some great things about florida and about new words off
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one more month one more month and hopefully i'll be able to tell you something better
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since last month actually since the end of uh since the last week of january
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we have had a huge amount of support with people stepping forward and being generous both in
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straight up donations which have been amazing in straight up donations since we started raising
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money for New York's Hoff just here's some money for the Hoff we have raised
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just over 70,000 um but as far as asking for people to lend a lot of AFA members I say I've
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Out of AFA members, we have an offer to lend of just north of $300,000, like I think $330,000 due to AFA members just wanting to lend.
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And we have another about $300,000 on top of that of friends of members and just friends in the overall community that would like to help.
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So we have a lot of people who stepped up. Money is not our problem right now. We're currently working on some stuff. We've got about four different irons in the fire right now on planning. I hope you guys respect I can't go into super detail on it or else, you know, there's people out there that would like to muck it up for us.
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but we are working on it, working hard on it. And as I promised way back when we started this,
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and I think we started the New York's off push June or July of last year. And I know it's been
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a long time, but we're going to get there and we're not going to stop until we get a Hoff
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from your there. We're going to honor him with his own Hoff in the state of Florida. And that's
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going to happen. We're just going to keep pushing until something falls through. And we've got some
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really, we got some really cool options that we're working on right now that I'm excited about. But
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You guys have been super generous, super supportive.
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And it's my sincere belief that Njorther is appreciative of your guys' generosity in this.
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So I've got a question about what a thula is, or oftentimes it'll get pronounced in different
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circles as thial. And I think it's because it's spelled that way in Old English, but
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makes a little linguistic sound different point being um it's i guess a bailiff when it comes to
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assemble it's somebody who's empowered at assemble to judge the words that are spoken and to speak up
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for the luck of the people participating in assemble those of you who may not have been
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part of a symbol. Basically, a symbol is one of the major rites of Al-Satru, and it is a
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communal toasting event that happens. And in a high symbol, there's usually three rounds.
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There's a round to our ancestor, or I'm sorry, there's a round to the gods.
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Second round is to our ancestors. And the third round is kind of a freestyle round. We call it
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around to the heroes, but often it's things that you'd like to raise a horn to that you haven't
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gotten a chance to say in the first couple of rounds. Raising a horn out of respect to someone
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that you admire, somebody who's done something really worth noting. It's also a time people will
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make oaths. It's a time people will recite songs or poetry maybe. It's really important that,
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But I think the best way to describe it, Sambal is basically a microcosm of our macrocosm
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with the world tree being fed by the well of earth.
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So our actions and our deeds fill this well and it shapes our reality.
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In a Sambal, the people gathered there are sharing their luck.
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and the words that are put into that well, the well being the horn, we all share and something
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magical happens. If we all put in good words, we benefit more than the sum of our parts.
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But if we speak poorly over the horn, or importantly, if we make oaths that we don't
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fulfill over the horn, then everybody there bears some of that burden and takes a little bit of that
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hit. So, um, especially because some involves drinking and sometimes people get a little bit
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overanxious and stuff they want to say, or have a brain fart and say something they shouldn't.
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It's important to have somebody there who's clear thinking, who represents the luck of the
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folk gathered there. And who can say, Hey, stop. Um, we're going to refill the horn. We don't,
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don't accept that toast and protects the luck and the decorum of things going on in sumble it's
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also folks are getting a little bit rowdy or folks are having a problem then we can
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we can deal with that and there's somebody empowered to do so so they're not just standing
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up being a jerk it's their responsibility that whoever's officiating the sumble bestows on them
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to keep track of the luck of the group and to protect that by monitoring what's getting set
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over the horn um ghost nasty uh you live in the capital of california and you want to take your
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family up to uh the main location so it's not really the main location but it is certainly
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our first Hof, and it's one of our very important locations, Odin's Hof up in Brownsville. And if
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you're in the capital, if you're in Sacramento, that's about a little bit over an hour from you.
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No, it's not generally open to the public. It is open to people who are interested
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when we have people up there. The trouble is it's not like we've got a guy on site where it's open
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all the time. We've got several folk builders, and hopefully our folk builders or my wife Mandy can
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put up the contact information on the side of the people in california you should talk to
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who can let you in and let you guys see what's going on and hopefully if you talk to these folks
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maybe you and your family could come up for an event and see what it's like you certainly don't
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have to be a member but because we're going to be around our families we do want you to you know
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have somebody who's talked to you and and who can you know invite you there so a good one to talk
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to be Sheila McNallan, Sheila at runestone.org. Another good one would be Sierra Chapman, a folk
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builder of ours in the area, schapman at runestone.org, and those people would love to help
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you, and it'd be great to have you and your family come check the Hoff out. John Cleason
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in Fallon. Hey, John, where you at? Are you a member? If not, you should be. I'm not far from
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you. I'm over here in Reno. So, yeah, that's interesting that you're so close.
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All right. Gigasquid, what is... So, you asked what my position is on the current Russia-Ukraine
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situation i don't know if you're asking me as me or if you're asking me in the afa but i'll i'll
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say this in general and i understand that the world doesn't work this way and unfortunately
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a lot of our conflicts we have end up being with other other white folks um in general and as best
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as we can we don't want to see any more brother wars there's been too much blood spilled by folks
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that are so very close in our ancestry and that are that are related and we'd like to see as
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little of that as possible i know geopolitics doesn't always work that way but the closer we
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can the less dead russians and less dead ukrainians we can see that's the best outcome and that's my
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position on that other thing is i'm not going to claim to be an expert on eastern european politics
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i think it's really important for us to remember that most often in every conflict
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it's not just good guys and bad guys it's different groups of people with different
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interests that you know sometimes are very important worthy for them to fight for on each
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side so it's not always a good guy bad guy thing and i think those are important things to think
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about you know if you're out there and you're you know of russian extraction or of ukrainian
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extraction you have family and loved ones over there i'm sure you may have a very passionate
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opinion on it and you may be right um but either way i think it's important to realize that there's
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there's good people that are our extended kinfolk on both sides and i hope that can get resolved
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with a minimal loss of life and that's really where I'm at on it sorry guys just catching up
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on the chat on the side um all right Robert Lee how is the architecture for the Hoffs decided so
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as of yet we have yet to construct a Hoff each of the Hoffs that we currently have are we have
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purchased an existing building and converted it to our purposes Odin's Hoff used to be a Grange Hall
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it was used for a number of charitable purposes so the zoning was right
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it's also set up really good for what we were trying to do it had served as i think a youth
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retreat it also served as a community center and as a church for a time and so that's that's our
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our first Hoff there. Thors Hoff. I don't, I don't want to misspeak on what congregation
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it was before. It was a former church. I think it was a Methodist church, but I'm not certain.
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And I believe that Balders Hoff was originally a Lutheran church. And we've repurposed both of
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those. In the future, I think that a lot of Hoff architecture is going to come from, I mean,
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we want a building that's beautiful. We want something that glorifies our gods and our folk,
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but I think that in the day and age that we live in, a lot of that at the stage that we're at is
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going to be about getting the best building for our dollar, for what we can afford, getting
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something that is a going to meet our needs going to look and feel nice going to be a nice respectful
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temple to our gods but also something that we can afford and that we can build on and uh you know
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make better as time goes on and so we have some ideas on what that would look like in the future
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it kind of is going to depend on the location um but i'm really curious to see how that develops
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as we do start being able to build our own structures.
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All right. Got a question about the hearth cult and domestic familial worship.
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Ancestral veneration and your home religious practice is extremely important.
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And I think it's something that if you haven't done it before can be confusing as where to start.
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I think a lot of people assume they have to do something very elaborate or don't know quite where to start.
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Honestly, a picture of your ancestors and lighting a candle is a good place.
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Leaving out a shot or, you know, a plate of food and saying some words to your ancestors is a really nice place to start.
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A lot of people have, you know, a section in their house that has the pictures of their ancestors or maybe artifacts,
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things that used to belong and have a connection to one of your ancestors.
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I'll go and light incense, light a candle there, make an offering,
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and importantly, bring their children, bring their wife,
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bring their family in front of that regularly to connect with our past,
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to connect with the spirits that watch over us, that watch over our household.
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And that ancestral veneration, part of the question was how that plays out
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in the broader Ausatür folk assembly or in the broader Ausatür practice, it's really the center
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of what we do. Ultimately, our gods, the great gods of our folk, are our most ancient ancestors.
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So they're an extension of that ancestral piety. I think that us being respectful and coming before
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the altar of our grandparents and great-great-grandparents and folks that we may not have
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even met but have contributed to us being here and we believe that they watch over us as their
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as their descendants our respect for that should translate over in a general respect for family
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broadly for the sanctity of someone's household when we go in there's an altar space there there's
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a section of the home that's sacred the home itself is sacred so when we're a guest in other
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homes it should transfer to that as well and it should also and i think this is really important
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and often overlooked today a respect for it's very easy for us to after someone passes put up a
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picture and treat them with respect it's a different story when they're still here and i
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think that we need to i don't know the hearth cult ultimately should help us be more respectful
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to our elders more respect for to everyone's elders to the elders of other families and
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specifically to the elders in our own families um and that's what i that's how i think that the the
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home hearth cult affects the broader outs of true practice at least that's the short version
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heathen man i'm glad you like uh glad you like the book i recommended culture of the two times
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by vilhelm groenbeck is one of the one of the best resources on
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how our ancestors conceived of alsatru and of values in their time and i think it speaks a lot
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to how we can conceive of these values in our time um z moon does the afa have a manual or a code of
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conduct to follow during our meetings no not really um I talked to Whitten Brandy Callahan
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last night about this as a sorry I'm a day off I talked for Monday night about this
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I think over time something to a degree that way will get closer what we do have and you can find
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this on our website www.runestone.org we have a statement of ethics we have our declaration of
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purpose and then we have the law of the hall and i suppose the law of the hall is the code of
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conduct that you're looking for as far as how to behave within the austro folk assembly to other
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members to each other we certainly have an understanding of what those values are but
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i don't think it's quite as codified or in a manual form like perhaps you do at other services
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um i know that in catholic services there's a lot of callback and very scripted
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um very procedural interactions and very specific prayers it'd be nice to have a little bit of that
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but we don't ever want to take the heart and soul out of vows to true practice and so much of what
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we do have to offer our gods is being able to speak in a heartfelt way to them when we're in
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prayer or when we're interacting in those environments. So we don't want to overly
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script that and take that out of it, because that's a big part of what we offer is that
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ability to speak from the heart. So we're working on that. But I think the closest thing to a code
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of conduct that you talked about, take a look at our law of the hall.
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The Solutrean. It's a good question. For the folks living in countries like Russia, Italy,
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and Greece, could they worship their own pantheons and still be a part of the AFA?
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So that becomes a little bit complex because some of those places are further outside of
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the afa is pan-arian we always have been we certainly always will be
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um the religions of each of those places that you mentioned harken back to a root spirituality that
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we all have in common so yes people in those countries should all join the afa and yes they
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can venerate the deities that are native to their area but in the afa as official afa practice
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we honor those deities under the names the attributes and the identities that we know them
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in the germanic culture because that's what's come down to us and it unifies us in our worship
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but we do believe those are all reflections of the same same root deities and yes there's
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obviously some variants especially when you get into greco-roman pantheons there's some mixing
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and matching and things that doesn't always translate the most comfortably or the most
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easily i think when you see russia and you see slavic deities it translates a lot more
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a lot more one for one a lot a lot easier of a of an understanding
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but absolutely i would love for us to have an increase in our members
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in those places we already have several members in italy i'd love to see more of that
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oh Robert if there's not on our website I'm going to okay so Thorshoff apologize Robert
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asked to purchase a Thorshoff flag we have flags in stock on our website I know we're running very
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low in the Thorshoff ones I'm making another flag order here very soon and so check back in
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um i think we may have a couple of left so if you haven't already please check our store again
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at runestone.org and uh hopefully we can get you one we'll make one happen for you eventually
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imperium press i'm glad you can make it tonight i try it's tricky one of the really nice problems
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to have is literally the sun never sets on the ask true folk assembly we've got members from
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i don't know south africa italy sweden other places further west in europe all the way over
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to australia and new zealand and it's just not possible to have a perfect time where everyone
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can make it so i appreciate you guys that you make the effort to show up i love getting the
00:23:53.220
the opportunity to talk to you and those that haven't yet I hope to talk to you in the future
00:24:23.220
Melinda, I think I understand what you're asking as far as home properties and such.
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I don't have anything really cool to tell you right now, but I may very soon.
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A lot of what you're talking about, about the idea of intentional communities float around.
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There's been a lot of discussion behind the scenes and check back with me when we're on the other side of the Nuretoff purchase and we may have something really interesting to talk to you about.
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Gigasquid. That is a very loaded question. Are we Germanic peoples superior to other races?
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You hear something to the effect of there's an idea of equality but separate and everybody
00:25:38.720
should be proud. Well, here's the thing. You root for the home team. Of course, I am the most
00:25:44.220
excited about and I think my team's the best. I'm sure people on the other team say that about
00:25:50.020
there is, and I hope they do. One thing the AFA does not ever believe in, there is no such thing
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as equality. No two races are equal. No two genders are equal. No two people are equal.
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No two anything is equal. Everything has its own strengths, its own weaknesses,
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its own objective values. I'm not in a position to tell everybody that I'm better than them.
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I don't think it's productive, and I don't think it does anything. I'm certainly the most proud of
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my people. And I think we have a tremendous amount to be proud of. I think that when we
00:26:25.440
start rubbing it in people's face that we're better than them or that they're better than
00:26:29.520
someone else, it's not productive. And all it does is bring, I don't know, unneeded controversy.
00:26:40.080
But I think everybody likes their team the best. And I think we certainly got a tremendous amount
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of things to be proud of. And I think we all know that. But I have no interest in telling other
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groups of people how much better I think I am than them or whatever else, or comparing and
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contrasting, because it really doesn't matter. Regardless of where anyone is on that ranking of
00:27:01.260
value, we want to be the best. We want to be the best that we can be. And even, you know, there's
00:27:08.220
no end to how great we want to make our people. So we always want to strive for the best, no matter
00:27:13.280
where we find ourselves on that scale but no there's no such thing as as equality that doesn't
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exist and it penalizes those that are successful and it limits the expectation of those that maybe
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a question from heathen man he says he's never been inside a hof but he's noticed all the
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beautiful murals he wants to know if there it was common to have carved statues inside temples in
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the past i'm sure it was um we have a couple examples of that we have very little literature
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on what it was like all together but certainly throughout all arian religiosity carved statues
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have been a thing um those are difficult they take a lot of skill i would love to have carved
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statuary at our hops and that would be a fantastic thing we've seen a lot of that on a small scale
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i think we'd all love to see big carved statues right now it's amazing to watch the murals that
00:29:10.700
we have when they go up um whittens von harrell has done all of our murals so far and
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it's hard to describe exactly i know he puts a lot of himself into that he puts a lot of devotion
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you know doing those as an act of worship and devotion to our gods doing those those murals
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and i've watched and even at odenshoff and we didn't odenshoff we got six years ago and we
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didn't have that mural up until last year but something really special and really magical
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happens when one of these murals is painted and it's been experienced in a lot of different ways
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but in a superior way in an enhanced way the god that that temple is devoted to
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occupies that space more there is a power there in those murals when you look into the eyes
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of Odin, of Thor, of Balder in those murals, that god is present in those hoffs. And Witten's
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Fawn facilitated that by his amazing art and his art that I believe is truly, truly inspired.
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It'd be cool to have statuary in there, but what we've got is beautiful and amazing,
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and we're so very honored to have that in there.
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um z moon are there chapters coming to alabama we have a lot of alabama members
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we have alabama members that are part of kindreds in surrounding states i think one of the things
00:31:11.900
is right now and this is way better than it's ever been and you know every every month that
00:31:16.540
gets by this gets even better but got to be willing to travel a little bit to meet up with other folks
00:31:21.900
but um very close to you uh like a state over in florida we're having a hoff here very soon
00:31:31.100
we've got kindreds um trying to think of what's close to you we've got one in tennessee
00:31:36.220
right now. We've certainly got one in Florida, one in Tennessee, got a kindred in South Carolina.
00:31:48.500
We've got kindreds close to you and we've got a lot of activity close to you. So don't let
00:31:52.260
that hold you back. There's plenty of great AFA members in your area. And if you want an AFA
00:31:56.020
kindred, join up, link up with a couple other AFA members, and we'd love to see one get founded in
00:32:01.460
Alabama. Matthew Gordon, that's great to hear about your brother. I always love hearing about
00:32:14.460
people's family getting involved. Or brother-in-law, rather. I'm sorry.
00:32:52.840
It's awesome that we've got so much chat and so much activity.
00:32:55.580
um so we had somebody ask me to talk about something tonight that I haven't gotten to
00:33:03.720
yet and I want to go ahead and get to it before I forget about it um
00:33:07.240
a couple few things and I mentioned earlier when we talked about the the hearth cult how important
00:33:17.300
ancestral worship and veneration is and I think that goes hand in hand to the appreciation that
00:33:23.400
many of us have with history and we always look back to these you know bygone ages and great
00:33:29.320
things that people of the past have done and i think it's really important that sometimes we
00:33:35.960
stop and realize that history is happening now um we can't just rely on the achievements of the past
00:33:43.800
to inspire the future we want our children our children our grandchildren our great-grandchildren
00:33:50.120
people 100 years from now, 200 years from now, are going to look back to this time
00:33:55.240
and see what we did. And I think we're in a really special time for that. We are their ancestors
00:34:02.500
right now. And we want to make sure that we leave them the things to be proud of and that we do
00:34:08.820
great deeds to be celebrated in the future. And we are. You know, decades from now, centuries from
00:34:19.320
now people will be able to look back and say this is when our our faith was reawakened this was when
0.99
00:34:25.640
hoffs came back to our gods and they were re re-worshipped in temples this is when you know
00:34:33.080
new life was was breathed into to also true and it's going to be a really special thing these
00:34:39.580
first few hoffs are already tremendously important and i think they're going to be
00:34:45.880
even that much more important in the future. So think about that. We are all ancestors of
00:34:53.080
our descendants, and we want to do stuff now that makes them proud and that inspires them
00:34:58.240
to be great and do great things. And I'm really excited to be part of that. And that follows up
00:35:04.240
with another thing I was asked to talk about a little bit. And I've said this before on our
00:35:08.480
lives, but I think it bears repeating. How it's true is about doing. It's not about study. It's
00:35:14.420
not about the best of intentions. It's not about theory. It's about practice. Now, those
00:35:21.060
theory and study and intention is really important. But if it doesn't involve practice,
00:35:29.060
then it really is a very little value. The value is in doing. We've become very accustomed over
00:35:35.900
the past 30 years to say we are our needs. But we need to be really, you know, it needs to not be a
00:35:42.560
catchphrase, needs to be something we internalize. We are what we do, not what we wish for, not what
00:35:48.740
we want, not what we hope, not what we dream, but what we build, what we accomplish, what we're able
00:35:55.600
to say we've brought to the table for our gods and for our folk. And I'm really proud to be
00:36:01.180
sharing this with you all. We're in this time where we're actually accomplishing, we're doing.
00:36:06.620
The AFA has officially now reached a new record in membership. We are bigger than we have ever been.
00:36:18.460
We are doing powerful things for our folk and for our gods.
00:36:26.720
And every now and again, we need to stop, sit back, just take that in and appreciate it.
00:36:32.780
Because not long ago, we didn't have those things.
00:36:38.920
And a lot of people have worked very hard for the great things that we're able to enjoy.
00:36:42.560
wild wolf yes there's tons of stuff for you to join in florida we have an amazing kindred in
00:36:55.320
florida um american crow kindred headed up by folk builder and soon to be gothe lane ashby
00:37:02.040
um they're doing amazing things they've been the tip of the spear on getting yordshoff
00:37:07.280
established. That's coming around very soon in the state of Florida. So there's awesome stuff
00:37:12.620
happening in the state of Florida. Reach out to L. Ashby at runestone.org if you want to get
00:37:17.220
involved and Lane would love to help you get started.
00:37:19.700
I notice all our Florida people on the side are welcoming you into the fold right now.
00:37:42.440
the salutrian um we've talked about he asked if the afa gives medals to people to its membership
00:37:56.040
for doing doing good things uh he mentions from others having multiple children and uh for long
00:38:03.360
time membership? Yes and no. For those things, no, but I would certainly consider those things
00:38:14.620
and things that have been talked about. We give out to folk builders that are excellent. We give
00:38:19.520
out a folk building excellence medal every year to folk builders that have done a really great job
00:38:23.860
that year. We also give out AFA honor rings to people that over the course of time have put in
00:38:34.280
exceptional amount of work for our AFA. And that doesn't have to be somebody to any particular
00:38:38.620
level of leadership. It's people who, as members of the AFA, have really gone above and beyond for
00:38:46.400
their folk. And only a very few of these have been given out. But we do give those out. And
00:38:52.400
And then we, you know, once you are ordained, our gothar have special rings for that.
00:38:58.060
In the future, we'd love to give medals, though, for those kind of things that you mentioned.
00:39:01.220
I think that's always a special thing to acknowledge people that have gone above and
00:39:34.840
We're joined by the most beautiful little girl in the entire world, my lovely daughter, Aubrey.
00:39:46.460
Yes, I do recognize that you've been asking questions for a long time on here.
00:39:58.100
I really have no point of reference to have any real thoughts about it one way or another.
00:40:04.840
but I do certainly appreciate you being on here and asking so many questions.
00:40:08.120
I think a lot of your questions have been insightful
00:40:10.680
and have been useful to other people hearing the answers on them.
00:40:13.000
Oh, so one of our folk builders, Zach Cato, is asking if I can, I don't let you down, baby,
00:40:41.320
is asking if i can tell you guys a little bit about the black sun and about the um
00:40:48.040
bloat space that we have at odin's hof so some of you may have noticed that we
00:40:54.040
utilize the black sun a lot in our imagery um the solar
00:41:04.520
solar imagery is super important to our folk and it always has been
00:41:08.840
the idea of the sun wheel generally has always been very sacred to our people
00:41:15.320
archaeologically there are just the the equal equal angled cross sun wheels in ancient gothi's
00:41:23.400
staves it's always been a symbol of sacrality for our people the black sun harkens back to ancient
00:41:33.480
Alamannic bracelets and other jewelry. Also, I forget what they're called, but the
00:41:49.100
fasteners to cloaks and things that way. It's always been an important symbol to our people,
00:41:57.540
and it's evolved the design but the 12 spoke sun has a lot of a lot of solar imagery and the idea
00:42:04.820
of things orbiting that central um unmoved moving point and that perpetual motion of us moving
00:42:12.500
forward has always empowered our folk in the afa the black sun is a symbol of that sacred gift
00:42:18.740
cycle and of divinity and it's ever moving ever churning nature so we use that in our ritual
00:42:28.740
circle at odenshof we use that same movement that ritual circular movement to enter our sacred space
00:42:35.860
and to leave it we also use the black sun very prominently as a halo around the heads of our gods
00:42:43.220
and around our heroes a special gold color being around the heads of our gods and divine figures
00:42:48.740
We have that in all of our murals to show that they shine with that that solar divinity.
00:42:56.600
And that's what we use the black sun for in the Austro-Folk Assembly.
00:42:59.740
Courtney, not having seen the art piece, it's hard for me to just blanket say yes,
00:43:21.840
but I'm inclined to. We would love to see a devotional piece of art for Jorgzhoff. I'm
00:43:28.660
sure what you had in mind or what space requirements there are but um i think we'd be very very open
00:43:34.820
to that not only open but extremely appreciative of uh of art so you may want to reach out on the
00:43:41.620
side to l ashby at runestone.org lane is kind of heading up the the njordshoff project for us down
00:43:49.620
there and uh yeah i'm really curious what you have in mind on that i think that would probably be
00:44:13.880
So as far as we got a question about, is there any rituals or ceremonies regarding the birth of a child?
00:44:19.760
The one that comes to mind, and so a number of our ladies perform womb blessings to an expecting mother and the child while the child's in utero.
00:44:32.260
But once a child's born, nine days after they're born, we perform a baby naming.
00:44:38.220
And yes, there's historical examples where in the literature I can't point out right this second.
00:44:42.700
but the idea is um affixing the name and the luck that goes with that and pieces of that
00:44:52.540
ancestral folk soul to that child and introducing that child to the gods and the folk as a member
00:44:59.320
of our afa family and the baby namings are one of the one of the most special things that we get to
00:45:05.100
do as gothar one of the most special rituals that we get to perform um and we've done that
00:45:13.680
And like I said, it's one of the most special things.
00:45:19.280
it's hard to keep a dry eye when you're doing it.
00:45:41.800
And it ceremoniously and in a holy way introduces and integrates that child into their family, into their ancestral inheritance, and into our community.
00:46:04.820
I believe without looking at the calendar, that's going to be on the 19th.
00:46:35.420
um all right guys I am I always feel bad I don't I don't like having the dead air but I got to
00:46:45.080
read over on the side and I can't can't do them simultaneously I appreciate everybody's
00:46:49.700
participating so much over there um that's fantastic and I can't stay super late tonight
00:46:56.160
I have a Witten meeting directly after this we have some important stuff to talk about
00:46:59.580
so at top of the hour I'm going to be having to having to let you guys go and wait another
00:47:19.360
I think that those 12 Aesir, and you go beyond that number when you talk about the Aesir after that, and we want to honor our goddesses as well.
00:47:29.180
But the 12 Aesir in the poem, The Gilfagening, and what we're basing the order of our Hoffs on, I think there's absolutely a solar symbolism between that, between the months of the year, and between the rays of the black sun.
00:47:59.180
Oh, so we have had a number of people donate items to Baldur's Hoff in the last little bit here.
00:48:15.500
um last month people have donated all kind of items that our folk there need
00:48:20.860
that venerate and honor balder that help our folk to be able to gather to celebrate
00:48:25.560
utility items beautiful items art items ritual items thank you so much everybody who has donated
00:48:32.860
things to baldershoff um and anyone anyone who's interested in doing that or helping
00:48:38.780
And with stuff like that, please reach out to folk builder Cormag Elaine, C-A-L-A-I-N-N at runestone.org.
00:48:53.900
Hopefully somebody will post a link to that over in the side.
00:48:56.420
Also, Witten Brandy Callahan is over in the side chat, and she can direct that too.
00:49:01.300
But thank you so much for the folks that have donated.
00:49:03.400
You guys have been so generous in so many ways.
00:49:08.780
um question how does your physical health inform your spiritual health
00:49:15.740
so something that is essential to our concept of the soul is the connection between your physical
00:49:24.620
your physical body and your appearance and your soul and the one is a reflection of the other
00:49:30.780
to a degree our faith is holistic and we believe that things that go on internally things that go
00:49:38.200
genetically and things going on physically are all all create are all related rather there's a
00:49:51.960
taking care of yourself and being physically healthy now again we've got to play the hand
00:49:57.720
that we're dealt and some of us have uh conditions beyond our control all of us can be healthier than
00:50:04.120
we are today all of us can be a little bit fitter a little bit stronger a little bit faster a little
00:50:12.840
bit prettier a little bit more handsome we can all be a little bit better than we are always
00:50:19.320
and the better we are physically it helps us be better spiritually i think in turn the more sound
00:50:25.880
we are spiritually the more apt we are to look good to present ourselves well to hold our head
00:50:31.960
high and to be in a better physical condition. The two are very, very intricately related.
00:50:37.920
One of the other things I'll say to your physical health, and like I said, there's plenty of
00:50:43.220
exceptions to the rule, but so much of your physical well-being is within your control.
00:50:48.180
And it's a literally on the face of it testimony to your willpower and to the strength of your
00:50:59.100
will that strength of your will is is the your fundamental spiritual power having the will to
00:51:05.900
get in shape to be in shape to keep yourself healthy to look good to present yourself well
00:51:13.420
those things are all an exercise and will and one of the cool things about those
00:51:18.620
no matter where you are they're an easily accessible thing now when i say easy it doesn't
00:51:23.660
mean it's easy to achieve those things but it's not confusing it takes a lot of willpower but
00:51:31.340
it's something that you can start right now you can start tomorrow and make progress on your
00:51:37.740
physical condition and so i think they are intimately related and i think the one speaks to
00:51:55.540
Zach, please have, I am very sorry to hear that.
00:52:00.600
Please have the expecting mother reach out to Argothar,
00:52:07.220
specifically to have them reach out to Githya Katie Erickson,
00:52:10.780
And she can help get her in a situation where where we can do what we can to help her have the best odds and to to put as much blessings as we can into the success of her pregnancy.
00:52:29.900
Excellent. King of cheese. I'm very glad to hear that.
00:52:40.780
All right. So Zachary Clary asked an interesting question about the odenic right.
00:52:54.860
Now, I don't want to speak out of turn on this. There may be somebody in the side chat that
00:52:59.880
knows some things I don't. I'm asked what the difference is between the AFA and the odenic
00:53:05.520
right and you know it's identified that one is is uk based and one is u.s based i think that would
00:53:12.560
have been an okay thing to say 20 years ago when i first got involved in also true the odenic right
00:53:20.640
was was relatively active and the afa was was less active than we are now um i will say this
00:53:29.440
i have not seen any activity from the odenic right certainly not from the odenic right europe and
00:53:35.200
over a decade um i've seen some odinic right members i know there's some guys in texas that
00:53:42.320
are very active that are part of the odinic right and i know there's a couple in oregon that are
00:53:46.720
very active that are part of the odinic right outside of that maybe six people i have not seen
00:53:52.560
any odinic right action in a very long time i've heard that they're very active in the prison
00:53:59.440
system as far as prison outreach and i heard there's a number of kindreds in correctional
00:54:04.240
facilities that are odinic right affiliated i have heard and seen nothing of their leadership
00:54:11.920
in my entire time one of the one of the things that i do appreciate the history of the odinic
00:54:16.800
right very much that i did when i became australia goethe was to reach out and send a letter to a
00:54:22.960
heim guest and try to uh try to form some kind of a relationship with them and i didn't get much
00:54:31.440
anything back i spoke to again that one member in portland and that's all i can tell so i don't
00:54:38.400
when i talk to folks in england when people apply every now and again i ask and they don't
00:54:43.600
seem very familiar with the odentic right at all i think the odentic right has a really important
00:54:48.400
history uh way back but like i said it's been well over a decade since i've seen or heard them
00:54:54.240
do much of anything so i don't really think they're much of an active concern these days
00:55:00.320
Again, somebody may know more and I'm in no way trying to say anything disparaging. I've just looked and I haven't been able to find it.
00:55:08.320
Um, do I have any knowledge on the deity Leshy or Sfiat, Sfiat boy?
00:55:43.460
I'll have to look that up when we get off the call or get off of this and see, because this is the first I've heard of what you're talking about.
00:55:53.300
well i'm glad you appreciate these heathen man i love doing them i look forward to them every month
00:56:08.880
i love talking to you guys and uh like i said i'm really glad you guys appreciate these because i
00:56:14.820
sure love doing them. Tracy, I know what you mean about hearing somebody else pronounce something
00:56:27.680
that you thought you had the right way and they pronounce it different. And it's always, it's
00:56:33.160
always odd to hear things that have become familiar to us one way get pronounced differently.
00:56:37.740
And, you know, sometimes we're right on it. Sometimes we're wrong, but it always sounds
00:56:57.080
Ozzy Moon, who determines each location's flag design?
00:57:07.660
When we get a new Hoff, we carve out what's called a Hoff District, and those are the
00:57:11.380
states and areas that are connected to that hof administratively and usually the the gothar in
00:57:18.180
that region closest to the hof they get together and talk about those things and decide on it
00:57:24.580
um i'm fortunate because i kind of get to put ideas out there and i get a little bit of sway
00:57:28.980
with it but it's really important that the people there who are officiating who are are putting so
00:57:36.260
much of themselves into those hafs into those temples have that say and get to express themselves
00:57:42.820
in those flags and that they're meaningful to those folks so those are the folks that get to
00:57:46.900
decide on those and i know that some of those you know people talk with other members of leadership
00:57:52.420
in their area and other members that are maybe particularly involved in it but usually that
00:57:57.940
decision is up to the the local gothar in those areas um kruger yes i have experience with the
00:58:16.740
ermine folk odinus community um my experience is very negative with those folks
00:58:26.180
I think that those folks tend to be very negative. I think they tend to be dishonest and I think that
1.00
00:58:36.260
the leadership of that group is very dangerous and I would stay very far away from that.
00:58:42.940
I have no idea who all their members are. They're very secretive. They may have some amazing members.
00:58:49.040
I can think of at least one of their members who's a great guy,
00:58:52.160
But there's other members there that I would very much stay away from and I would not trust.
00:58:58.720
hey king of cheese so many people i think the other team doesn't realize
00:59:20.400
so many people have come to the afa by listening to other people criticize us and by checking it
00:59:26.720
out for themselves. The people that spend their time hating on what we do and making so much
00:59:32.320
noise about how much they don't like us have done us a great service by sending so many great people
00:59:37.140
to us. Okay, guys, I'm gonna have to wrap it up real quick. I'm gonna try to answer the things
00:59:59.520
that you don't always have a lot of familiarity with?
01:00:04.580
I think that overthinking it is to our detriment.
01:00:15.580
and i think that the best and first step is just make an effort the simple act of opening up coming
01:00:24.120
before your altar and saying hey i'm here i want to know you better here i poured you out a shot
01:00:30.920
and i lit a stick of incense and i'm just going to sit here and open myself up and if you want to
01:00:37.460
if you want to reach out i'm here and i'm listening that sounds so very simple maybe even
01:00:44.840
sounds childish, but I have found that that's profound. That is the root of the relationships
01:00:50.660
that I've tried to build with our gods. That's exactly how I started out when I first became
01:00:56.440
also true on trying to establish a relationship with the gods. And I could not recommend that
01:01:02.820
more. Just keep it simple. Come before your altar. Say, hey, I'm here. I'm listening. I'm open.
01:01:40.740
it your question on how we should describe the afa and what it is and what we're about when you're
01:01:47.620
trying to explain it to family and non-members i think the best thing that you can do and i would
01:01:52.360
really really encourage this is to get them to watch our youtube channel anything on it they can
01:01:58.840
come here and listen to me talk for an hour that's great if they want to but what i think is really
01:02:04.000
really good to do and usually it's small enough you can get folks to do it and get them to watch
01:02:08.880
our videos of events. Get them to watch the thing I made of the AFA year 2021. Seeing the pictures
01:02:18.840
of who we have at our events, of the families, of the children, of folks looking nice, folks happy,
01:02:25.840
involved in community and worship and food distribution. A picture is worth a thousand
01:02:33.220
words and I think showing them those things is very, very helpful. If they're not going to sit
01:02:38.740
down and you know even watch a couple minutes of a little video clip i would describe us in words
01:02:44.500
that they can use the more you describe us as a folk way or an ancestral path or you lose people
01:02:52.100
that way they don't know what you're talking about we're church we're a church we're a religion
01:02:57.060
dedicated to the indigenous gods of europe that's how i would describe it i would go on after that
01:03:06.020
to talk about our community and our families but that's the first steps that i would do and again
01:03:12.660
i think that those videos of what we do is a great first step forward also
01:03:17.700
you could send them a copy of the runestone you could email that forward one of our runestone
01:03:21.620
copies to them and they could you know see and read that and see what we're about i think that
01:03:27.060
all of those things are a great way to introduce us and they put our best of us our best foot forward
01:03:55.160
All right, guys, thank you so much for being here tonight.
01:03:57.640
I'm about four minutes late to the meeting I got to be at, so I do have to let you guys go.
01:04:01.340
I hope I can see you all at Ostara coming up here in just a little bit over a week
01:04:07.240
at Thorshof. I'm looking forward to seeing my AFA family there. If I don't see you,
01:04:13.040
I hope you guys have an amazing Ostara and I will talk to you guys again next month.