Asatru Folk Assembly - November 05, 2019


November 2019 Facebook Live Discussion


Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 2 minutes

Words per minute

141.23

Word count

8,816

Sentence count

229

Harmful content

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Winter Nights in the Poconos is a great family friendly event that has been going on for over 40 years. This year was the 8th annual event, and it was a privilege to be there with all the families.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 hello well good evening guys it's good to talk to you guys again
00:00:30.000 Looks like we got folks starting to show up. I appreciate it.
00:00:34.620 I know it was kind of short notice for tonight's talk,
00:00:41.520 but I always look forward to talking to you guys.
00:00:49.420 Okay, here we go.
00:00:51.640 Sorry, a little technical stuff there, trying to get all set up for the event tonight.
00:00:58.020 Awesome. Hello, Fawn. I'm glad you were able to join us tonight. Hey, Jason.
00:01:06.480 All right, guys. Well, I guess to start things off, I want to talk a little bit about AFA Winter Nights in the Poconos.
00:01:15.220 That happened back in the middle of October, and this was our eighth event for AFA Winter Nights in the Poconos
00:01:23.120 I was at the same camp, at Camp Matemus in Pennsylvania, and what an amazing event.
00:01:31.980 I'm impressed by them every year.
00:01:34.700 Great event, good people.
00:01:38.060 But what's really, really interesting is watching how it's changed and how it's grown throughout the years
00:01:43.560 and how it's kind of developed.
00:01:47.140 This year it was very, very striking how many families there were,
00:01:51.440 how many you know how many children how many little children were there tons of
00:01:57.560 babies multiple pregnant ladies and something else that was really nice to
00:02:05.060 see is you know no offense to anybody but a lot of good-looking folks people
00:02:11.640 that look you know people look successful that have their things
00:02:15.080 together that are doing good things with their life and moving forward and it was
00:02:19.720 really nice to have that element there um super family friendly event like i say it was amazing
00:02:26.020 to see so many so many kids so many little kids and one of the things that's always striking to
00:02:31.360 me about these events when we have kids is they um almost instantly they they get together they
00:02:41.240 meet each other and they go on like they've known each other forever um we get the older kids very
00:02:47.140 often the older girls are taking care of all the little kids taking care of all the younger kids
00:02:52.260 and uh it just organically functions very very beautifully it's uh it's absolutely the way
00:02:58.560 things should be and it's a it's a really special thing um hi nathan watching this over time
00:03:06.280 i've said this a few times and i guess it's the old timer in me but back when back when i
00:03:12.500 joined as a true back when I joined the AFA wasn't like that it's a lot of guys a lot of guys it was
00:03:23.240 a lot of a lot of folks that didn't you know didn't necessarily find a lot of success in
00:03:29.360 their life and we're moving forward and as a church and as a family our folks are finding
00:03:35.360 success they're finding partners to spend their lives with they're starting families and we're
00:03:40.620 seeing something really beautiful happening, so it was a privilege. Winter Nights was an amazing
00:03:45.380 event. I'd like to give a special thanks to Cliff and Katie Erickson. They hosted the event. They
00:03:54.300 did all the hard leg work. I say that. They were assisted by their kindred, the Lansdale True Folk,
00:04:00.600 and also by the Stoneship Hearth Kindred out of Massachusetts. These guys all made this event
00:04:05.620 work well but cliff and katie they were really the driving force on making this happen as as
00:04:10.980 they are every year um so cliff katie thank you guys so much you provided us an amazing time
00:04:18.100 very powerful weekend and i'm looking forward to it again next year
00:04:25.140 what's good to hear rob we love having her at the events um i'm looking forward to seeing you and her
00:04:31.460 and oh okay that's right maybe you can't make it out to ostara this year we'll we'll see but i'm
00:04:39.540 looking forward to seeing you and your daughter at you know as many events as you guys can make
00:04:43.060 it to we love having y'all there we've still got still got folks joining in tonight that's good
00:04:55.140 i'd also like to mention a couple of things at winter nights so at winter nights we had the honor
00:05:02.500 of oafing in um first we oathed in trent east as a full-fledged oath then afa folk builder
00:05:13.140 trent folk builds in the deep south region he builds out of georgia currently and um
00:05:18.980 He came to the AFA as a very young man and he's grown with us and grown into the organization, into the church very, very well. He's done good things for us, consistent things for us.
00:05:33.960 And one of the things that's really special about Trent is he's stood up to adversity, he's held his head high, he's proceeded with courage, with integrity, and he's really shown an example to a lot of people, a lot of folks much older than himself, of dedication and what it really means to be part of the Austria Folk Assembly.
00:05:54.160 And we're very proud to owe him in at Winter Nights. So congratulations to you, Trent.
00:05:58.640 i would also like to take this time to mention the uh the swearing in the ordination of our
00:06:10.200 newest afa githya katie erickson was sworn in as githya at winter nights i had the tremendous
00:06:17.220 privilege and honor of being katie's mentor while she was going through the gothar program
00:06:22.340 uh katie is a fantastic addition to our go-thart she brings years of experience
00:06:31.520 but what's more is she brings a heartfelt dedication and she puts herself into all
00:06:37.720 of the things that she does via via ritual construction or how she counsels or you know
00:06:45.600 how she moves forward and does things for both the circle of air our afa ladies and the afa in
00:06:53.040 general katie has done an amazing job and i'm very excited to have her all official
00:06:58.960 sworn in and ordained as the newest giphy in the astro folk assembly so congratulations katie erickson
00:07:06.000 so how's everybody doing tonight um anybody have any questions or anything they want to
00:07:20.420 talk about starting out tonight
00:07:21.920 yes rob her ritual at winter nights was amazing
00:07:30.680 looks like a lot of you really got a lot out of katie's ritual of winter nights
00:07:39.740 katie did an amazing desire bloat like i said she puts a lot of thought a lot of heart into
00:07:45.640 everything that she does and worked out really well for our folk
00:07:48.500 any questions anything you guys want to talk about tonight
00:07:59.340 If not, I've got a couple more things I want to bring up, but I wanted to see if you guys
00:08:03.760 have questions.
00:08:04.760 After all, these are kind of set up in a question and answer format, and this is the opportunity
00:08:11.540 to ask me anything that you want face-to-face.
00:08:15.340 If you guys have any questions or anything that you want my take on or you want to know
00:08:21.100 as far as how the AFA is, you know, where we're going, what we're up to, anything you
00:08:27.680 guys want.
00:08:28.680 One thing that I wanted to mention while I have you guys tonight, and I notice this all
00:08:43.920 too often, and I like when the change from it happens, but just in a way people conceptualize.
00:08:51.440 A lot of our members, especially our newer members, when they talk to me about the Astro
00:08:55.940 folk assembly or what's going on they you know they they ask if there's ways they can help
00:09:01.380 you guys hey can we help you guys with anything hey we'd love to join you guys for something we'd
00:09:07.140 love to you know assist y'all and what you're doing or help you guys once you join the afa
00:09:13.940 family it's not it's not you guys it's us and i and i love when i hear that with some of our
00:09:19.460 members for the the newest the first time when it's not them asking how they can help help us
00:09:25.460 or help you guys it's when they mention that they're part of us like what can we do how can
00:09:30.980 how can we move forward because we're doing this as a family and that's one of the things that
00:09:36.660 i've tried to make a comment about lately i think um i think a lot of folks especially when they join
00:09:45.860 if they're in the middle of nowhere or they're in an area that we don't have a really thriving
00:09:50.580 group yet they always want the afa to provide them something they want you know what what are
00:09:56.740 what are we doing they're now a part of we um so if you want to see things happen in your area
00:10:04.820 it's really important to realize that there's no there's no magical afa genie out there what there
00:10:09.700 is is good dedicated folk like you guys that step up that decide to host something or be a contact
00:10:18.420 person in their area maybe even to volunteer to folk build the afa isn't some some magical genie
00:10:24.740 out west somewhere the afa is each and every one of us who who is a member of our church who wears
00:10:30.740 the trihorns with pride who is a part of our family that's where the afa is and and i love
00:10:36.740 it when folks feel that sense of ownership and they start talking about us um so yeah i just
00:10:43.540 I just wanted to speak on that briefly.
00:10:47.500 Rob Stam, looking forward to the AFA Scali Cap.
00:10:50.000 We're working on that right now.
00:10:51.120 You may want to talk to Sean Sandon on that.
00:10:56.500 He's the one handling that
00:10:58.540 and making that get squared away,
00:10:59.760 but I think we've got something really nice
00:11:01.660 to offer you guys as far as that goes.
00:11:06.400 Katrina, news on the Hoff in Minnesota,
00:11:10.460 possibly in Minnesota.
00:11:13.540 Yep, we continue to look.
00:11:15.440 We've got one auction we're very seriously considering
00:11:19.940 that's a little bit further down the road,
00:11:22.840 further down the road in terms of months,
00:11:24.300 not longer than that.
00:11:25.360 But in the meantime, one of our members went
00:11:29.780 and looked at another possibility of a Hoff property there
00:11:32.980 just this last Saturday.
00:11:35.000 So we've got one thing that's a very good possibility,
00:11:40.000 We've got one thing that's a very good possibility, and we're also looking for other things that may serve us better in the meantime, so we're continuing to look. We're being very diligent on it. Our folks are really putting in the effort to make this happen, so that is moving forward.
00:12:00.520 Thank you all for joining us.
00:12:10.000 All right. Well, we have a very serious question. What steps should folks take if they are doxed in their community because of their faith? And how does the AFA want folks to handle that?
00:12:26.000 i would like to tell you guys that i have some great solution to that um right now i really
00:12:35.640 don't uh the world that we live in is a scary place and right now is a really volatile time
00:12:43.140 not just in our country but around the world when it comes to forces on the on the left
00:12:48.780 doxing people or trying to damage their reputations due to their political stances,
00:12:55.980 their political beliefs, and also due to our spirituality at times.
00:13:07.300 I think that the best thing to do is to be proud of what you do and not to start backing down or
00:13:16.240 start apologizing. I think that when you do start apologizing and you start, um, you start backing
00:13:24.720 down and you start acting, acting shady or acting guilty of something, then you appear guilty of
00:13:30.220 something. If you've done nothing wrong and you just proudly follow our faith and you proudly
00:13:35.520 adhere to our values, I think holding your head up through it does a lot. I think not letting on
00:13:42.240 that it's shaken you if you're able says a lot i know that's much much easier said than done
00:13:49.200 i think if you if the doxing is in the workplace i would always use terms like religion and church
00:14:00.080 if your doxing is related to anything that way those things are protected and those things so
00:14:05.900 far have been a very very valuable shield to our people when folks want to maliciously dox most
00:14:12.260 often what I find though is when people are doxed it's not due to AFA affiliation and it's very
00:14:17.780 seldom due to their their religious convictions but it very often is is due to incautious political
00:14:26.600 posting or gratuitous off-color jokes and off-color memes that look really terrible out of context
00:14:35.660 so I'd advise everybody to tighten up on that if it's valuable and you believe strongly enough
00:14:41.340 that you need to say something by all means please do that and do it boldly but be aware
00:14:47.640 that the things that you say and how you present yourself in the world it may come back and there's
00:14:52.380 a record of it so you know as uh for any children that are listening I apologize but as folks say 0.99
00:15:04.200 these days, you know, don't shit post. When you post just to troll or just to get outrageous 0.99
00:15:10.420 responses from folks, that's what I've seen a lot get people in trouble for as far as doxing goes.
00:15:16.100 So that's what I'd advise. If it goes further and there's a legal concern, I'd ask you guys to reach
00:15:20.820 out to our law speaker, Alan Turnage, and he might have some good advice for you. So yeah,
00:15:26.120 please do reach out to Alan if there's a legal way he can help you.
00:15:34.200 I think that's an important point you bring up, Jason, finding work that you're not dependent
00:15:56.880 upon a hypersensitive HR department is also a very, very important thing that our folks
00:16:02.340 start to do when they can. And if you find that work, if you find yourself independently
00:16:11.180 employed or in a position where you can do hiring and you can support the rest of us,
00:16:17.620 please hire folks in the AstroFolk Assembly. Let's all look out for each other when we have
00:16:22.940 the ability to and the means to. If you're in a position where you can hire or you can
00:16:28.200 contract out to folk. Please try to look to the AFA first if you can. Going back over, so some of
00:16:35.300 these comments and questions are out of order. I apologize. Asking as an ex-Christian, what is the
00:16:47.620 AFA's take on the patriarchy? I don't want to be flippant with the answer because I do think it is
00:16:56.980 a very important question and it was asked seriously. I think that using the word the
00:17:05.300 patriarchy probably has a lot of negative connotations that don't need to be there and
00:17:11.520 aren't relevant. As far as male authority and male leadership, the AFA is absolutely
00:17:17.920 for it and we are very thankful for all of the men who've taken a lead in Western civilization
00:17:24.740 for our folk and our people to move us forward
00:17:28.200 and to allow us to have the nice things that we have today,
00:17:31.040 our fathers and our grandfathers and their fathers,
00:17:33.820 all the fathers that have came before them
00:17:36.020 that have provided order and structure
00:17:38.600 and that very important component to leadership and direction in what we do.
00:17:45.900 The AFA is in strong support of powerful male authority
00:17:51.760 and powerful male responsibility.
00:17:54.740 we're proudly in support of that specifically to put it in context though
00:18:02.260 as an ex-christian the christian idea and the abrahamic idea in general of the
00:18:07.640 patriarchy is very often male strength coupled with a a strong dislike and a
00:18:20.240 suppression of women and I think that separates the Ausatru patriarchy in that sense for men to
00:18:27.680 be strong and to lead and to be proudly masculine doesn't require the negation or the mistreatment
00:18:36.960 of women or in order to rise up shouldn't take holding someone else down and that's certainly
00:18:45.360 i think a distinct difference in house true versus in uh abrahamic faiths
00:18:58.640 so uh gothe blame quals asks how can folks donate to the hof 2 fund so while we're trying to make
00:19:06.480 this second half a reality one thing that makes it much much easier and much much quicker to happen
00:19:11.920 is you guys being willing to reach down and donate what you can.
00:19:16.260 If you can donate to the Hoff II Fund, go to www.runestone.org.
00:19:23.580 Go there and there's a donate page.
00:19:25.500 On that page, you can select where you'd like to donate if you want to donate to something specific.
00:19:30.180 Certainly to the Hoff II Fund, but also if you'd like to donate to our Folk Services Program
00:19:35.340 or to our relief efforts for folks that have been affected by the white genocide in South Africa.
00:19:59.260 Sorry, guys. I'm just taking a look to read through the comments.
00:20:01.780 You guys are asking some really good questions tonight that I think are very, very important.
00:20:17.440 Well, Mandy, you being self-employed puts you in a much better position than a lot of folks when they're being persecuted.
00:20:25.520 Again, I'd encourage everybody who can do business with you to do business with you.
00:20:30.180 And, uh, I think that's a really good step in having, having independence and freedom that way. Um, unfortunately, there's very little we can do to stop, uh, forces of, of cultural Marxism from unfairly and unjustly persecuting you and persecuting the rest of us.
00:20:51.520 that's a very tragic statement about the times that we live in but it's also something that
00:20:58.680 I'm hopeful that that time will pass and that we'll find ourselves on the other side of the
00:21:02.940 year at some point I think maintaining our dignity and our courage during this time is
00:21:07.620 extremely important like I said I know that's much much easier said than done so please don't
00:21:13.260 think that I say it lightly
00:21:14.280 hello Nicole welcome glad you could join us everybody Nicole is new say hi to her
00:21:33.960 Thanks, Eric. It's good to have you here.
00:21:57.100 Does anybody else have any stuff they'd like to talk about tonight or anything they'd like to,
00:22:01.980 to get my take on or get cleared up. To our previous conversation, I'd like to also add
00:22:17.400 that our list of noble virtues is very, very easy to talk about. It's very easy to post
00:22:26.740 memes of vikings with axes and helmets looking savage and posting words like like courage
00:22:34.820 like perseverance and fealty um not fealty uh fidelity talking about those things is very
00:22:46.020 it's very easy when we put them in the distant historical past it's very easy when we make a
00:22:52.340 meme with folks that bear no resemblance to our everyday lives. It's much, much harder when folks
00:23:00.600 have to live those values in their lives and have to stand by those virtues and put an actual
00:23:06.420 consequence and a risk with them. And for you guys that do, for all of us who stand by those virtues
00:23:14.880 and who hold up under pressure and under strain.
00:23:19.080 I am so thankful for you guys,
00:23:21.300 and I appreciate the example that you set for the rest of the folk,
00:23:24.660 and we've got some very courageous, very steadfast, loyal folks.
00:23:31.520 I say this all the time.
00:23:32.860 We have the best people in our AFA family.
00:23:35.460 We are all extremely, extremely fortunate for the wonderful folks
00:23:39.020 that we have around us and the beautiful, beautiful family that we're building.
00:23:44.880 So what else do we have going on tonight, guys?
00:23:52.000 Like I say, I'm happy to take any questions y'all might have.
00:24:00.100 Or talk about anything you guys might want to discuss.
00:24:03.420 in the meantime you guys may be uh gearing up to celebrate the feast of the iron you are in your
00:24:15.280 community um for new folks or folks that might not be used to that it's a celebration of our
00:24:23.320 fallen warriors that have uh that have fallen in conflict for lots of different reasons
00:24:32.220 in the AFA it's really important to celebrate our fallen warriors and I know that sometimes
00:24:46.780 there's controversy about maybe why they've fallen but it's essential to celebrate the fact
00:24:56.000 that men were and have consistently been willing to put their lives on the line for
00:25:02.400 things they believed in for causes for country for king
00:25:08.560 but very often just for the man next to them um the bravery to test oneself where uh
00:25:16.560 with their serious consequence on the other end is truly an amazing thing and all the respect in
00:25:27.240 the world for those those brave men who have paid that cost or who have put their lives in the
00:25:33.420 balance for us for their buddies for our folk we're very thankful for that and that brings
00:25:44.680 about a focus on sacrifice this season and something to think about I think it
00:25:49.560 pairs really well with the American holiday of Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is
00:25:55.440 not a Christian holiday it's a holiday for any of us that want to give thanks
00:26:00.100 to to the divine and to the others who've provided for us I think it pairs
00:26:05.260 well with the Feast of the Ironyar taking a moment to celebrate and to
00:26:11.140 enjoy and to feast but to be mindful of the sacrifice that has allowed us to have the
00:26:16.580 blessings that we have in our lives the sacrifice that have paved the way for us to have all of the
00:26:22.140 nice things that we all too often take for granted so this month as we celebrate let's be mindful of
00:26:28.800 that let's think about all of the things that have blessed us let's think about the gods that have
00:26:34.960 blessed us, our ancestors that have blessed us, and those brave men that have created,
00:26:42.420 built, and sacrificed, putting their lives in the balance for the things that we have
00:26:48.440 and the things we take for granted, and who have since the dawn of our folk.
00:26:53.160 So, hail the einherjar.
00:26:54.500 hmm bias any tips on getting kin together and getting off the ground um i think the answer
00:27:09.940 to that question is really different depending on where you're at and what your circumstances are
00:27:14.060 um i would first advise connecting with your local afa folk builder they have a lot of resources
00:27:24.320 they may know about a lot of people near you maybe even right next to you if not within driving
00:27:30.060 distance of you that may be very interested in anything you want to start up your local
00:27:34.940 folk builder would be really happy to try to connect you with those folks
00:27:37.980 I would suggest if you're going to start hosting anything locally but here's the thing somebody
00:27:45.400 needs to step up and host something a lot of people want to attend but a brave few step out
00:27:51.900 and say cool how about this i'm going to set up something let's see if people show up what i would
00:27:58.940 advise to start is setting a recurring monthly meetup perhaps around one of our holy days i
00:28:08.220 think a really good idea is to do it around our our days of remembrance to set it up somewhere
00:28:14.140 that's not a bar not somewhere very loud but what's called a pub moot i would do that at a
00:28:19.740 restaurant that you like going i don't know your situation if you got a girlfriend or a wife or
00:28:24.780 family but i think that if you set it up to where you and your you and your wife go to uh
00:28:30.860 go to a restaurant call it an afa get together if people show up you meet folks and you have a great
00:28:37.340 time if nobody shows up then you have a nice date night and you call it good but the importance is
00:28:43.100 the the important thing to remember on it is the consistency very often people won't show up and
00:28:48.140 and then they'll regret that they didn't, and they'll be looking to show up to the next one.
00:28:52.160 So I'd start trying to be very consistent with that for a while, but make sure it's not something
00:28:57.140 that's going to stress you out. Make sure you're not hosting an event where you're putting,
00:29:00.400 you know, a lot of your own money into, you know, some elaborate feast and booze and food for all
00:29:06.720 these people, and then no one shows up. It's disheartening and it burns you out quick. I'd
00:29:11.120 start small with someplace you like to go doing something you like to do. And if other people
00:29:16.200 show up, great. When other people show up, great. And when they show up, things will snowball and
00:29:22.320 you will build momentum. But that consistency is what's needed to get you through.
00:29:30.260 All right, Ostara in the South. It's going to be in South Carolina this year. It'll be here
00:29:34.640 before we know it. Do have a few months on that, but starting to plan now is really,
00:29:40.100 really the thing to do. We'd love to see as many people as we can. It's going to be a great
00:29:46.020 event we're we're all very excited about it i know i'm certainly excited to see you guys there
00:29:50.820 so do keep that in mind um march i think while i'm talking somebody can go ahead and find those
00:29:58.740 dates and post them in the chat but yeah it'll start in the south we would love to see you guys
00:30:02.820 there it's going to be a really nice time ah anybody who may or may not know my wife and i are
00:30:11.860 expecting a baby girl in April um do we have names picked out yes you guys you guys can find
00:30:21.920 out the one we choose in nine days after she's born but yes we do have uh have a name picked
00:30:27.600 out that we're we feel pretty good about um Marcus I want to make a real clarification here
00:30:39.820 I do not live in California.
00:30:41.480 I live in the United States of America.
00:30:43.060 I live in Reno, Nevada.
00:30:46.360 So the folks in California, our folks are fine.
00:30:50.360 As far as I know, our folks are all safe.
00:30:53.120 And they're affected, though.
00:30:55.780 These fires in California are terrible, and they do hit very, very close to home.
00:31:02.580 The Hoff is safe.
00:31:03.920 The Hoff is doing well.
00:31:05.020 it's scary because every time fires start happening, it seems like they get, you know,
00:31:12.520 within 30 miles of that Hoff. The Hoff is safe. One thing that is, it's a defensible space. One
00:31:19.560 thing that's really good about it is the local Brownsville, um, fire department. They like to
00:31:24.800 stage in the Hoff parking lot. So, um, being it's a place that they can stage and it's also
00:31:30.980 someplace that we volunteered to shelter folks if there is an emergency, I think the Hoff gets a
00:31:36.260 little bit special attention and a little bit better taken care of there, which is really nice
00:31:39.940 to have. 25th anniversary of the Ask True Folk Assembly is going to be celebrated all next year.
00:31:49.060 Next year we will have been around for 25 years. The Ask True Folk Assembly in its current
00:31:54.740 format will have been around for one quarter of a century. That's a really big accomplishment
00:32:03.100 and something we're extremely proud of, and next year is going to be a year of celebration of that.
00:32:07.720 So please stay tuned and join us in celebrating that next year.
00:32:24.740 Katrina, as far as the tradition of the baby naming in House of True, the idea is to name a child after he or she has been in Midgard with us for nine days.
00:32:40.920 that gives gives a number of things to happen certainly in our ancestors day that was a certain
00:32:49.080 amount of time to see if that baby was viable and if they could live on the outside also it
00:32:56.180 gives a time for the norms for our gods for our ancestors to observe the child for the parents to
00:33:03.080 observe the child and affix that portion of their inheritance to them that comes with that name
00:33:09.940 a part of our ancestors reincarnates in a way with that child depending upon the naming a part
00:33:19.040 of our folk is passed on a very powerful inheritance is passed on to that child upon
00:33:23.740 that naming when that name is affixed to them giving someone a name naming someone has always
00:33:31.200 been very important to our folk and has a very magical metaphysical significance once you name
00:33:38.420 something it becomes real once you affix a a name to it you vocalize that and we all vocalize that
00:33:45.220 it manifests something in midgard and it sets uh it sets a degree of orlog for that child
00:33:51.860 so that's why we we don't mention the name we don't treat that like it's a real thing until
00:33:56.820 that naming ceremony and then we affix that orlog we affix that inheritance we affix that protection
00:34:04.100 of a field gen of our ancestors to that child at the naming ceremony.
00:34:18.660 Faith, I'm really, really sorry to hear that.
00:34:24.660 No, the various things you're going through would not prevent you from joining the AFA.
00:34:31.220 if you'd like to join us please submit your application i'm looking forward to seeing it
00:34:35.460 um and you know we've we've got some folks that you could talk to if you want to about some of
00:34:41.700 the things that you're going through and dealing with but no please don't be scared that of that
00:34:45.780 that negatively affecting your ability to join us.
00:34:49.040 Please don't give that another thought.
00:35:11.940 It's a good point that you bring up, David,
00:35:13.820 good thing to talk about um health and fitness should be very important to all practitioners
00:35:19.020 of asa true it was very important to our ancestors um it should be a religious it is a religious
00:35:26.620 imperative that we be the best we can be in all things that we do that we be physically excellent
00:35:33.100 that we be mentally excellent that we live to our best potential we owe that to our ancestors and to
00:35:38.860 our gods. Our gods want to be proud of us and they want us to achieve heroic things. We need to do
00:35:47.660 that from a solid base of health and fitness. As far as making a religious imperative about
00:35:54.260 hormone pumped meat or things that you're mentioning, I think there's some folks
00:36:01.120 like to have some in-depth conversation on that. I'm not ready to issue a fatwa against
00:36:06.460 against the hormones in cattle, but I do think that we all need to be extremely, extremely
00:36:12.960 conscious of our health and fitness. Part of our soul complex, unlike other faiths,
00:36:19.820 is the body itself. This is part of who we are. We're not just an external soul that's in some
00:36:27.620 kind of a meat sack. The meat sack's part of who we are, and it's a way for our soul to manifest
00:36:33.580 who we are and how we how we present with our health how we manage our health how we how we
00:36:39.820 look physically how we're capable physically and whether or not we're maximizing that speaks to
00:36:45.360 our soul so I think that's something very important for us all to be mindful of
00:37:03.580 Jason, if you guys can see the questions on the side, our folk builder Jason Flurd asked
00:37:27.400 an interesting question on how we can tap into the power of balder assuming that we're in an
00:37:33.880 age of balder um i wouldn't assume see this is something i think is is fundamental to what we're
00:37:40.600 uh what we're focused on the austral folk assembly i think that all around us we're not really in an
00:37:45.640 age of balder i think we're absolutely in the kali yugo we're in a dark time externally but
00:37:51.560 internally within the the afa it's the golden age and we're going to embrace that full full
00:37:57.320 throatedly i think that to invoke the power of balder is to focus on hope focus on dreaming
00:38:05.240 rebuilding abundance doing and creating great things and i think that hope builds that i think
00:38:13.240 optimism looking towards the future looking towards what we can build as opposed to lamenting
00:38:18.360 what we don't have or things we see around us that we don't like i think that's the key to
00:38:23.800 harnessing that power of balder figuratively i think literally honoring balder giving bloat
00:38:30.520 to balder building a relationship with balder calling upon balder at your at your family altar
00:38:36.920 um remembering balder spending your time building that focus through the gifting cycle through the
00:38:44.840 bloat cycle um you know putting that focus putting your whole heart into our midsummer celebration
00:38:51.480 where we honor balder i think that can invoke the power of balder but i think also learning from that
00:38:58.520 example and focusing on hope on positivity and on building um on creating and rebuilding the
00:39:06.600 things that we want to see the things that are glorious the things that are golden focusing on
00:39:11.640 on things that folks may have lost or things that we don't have it's it's dark and it's
00:39:19.960 it makes your soul dimmer focusing on the things that we can do and the things that we will do
00:39:25.080 together makes your soul brighter and it makes it shine and i think that's a way to honor
00:39:30.040 balder and i think that's a way to bring some of balder's power into our lives
00:39:34.440 Yes, Thorfest, a regional AFA event in Colorado is going to be held in January.
00:39:42.440 Go out to Thorfest, it was a really nice time.
00:39:46.440 The first one was this last year.
00:39:48.440 We all had a great time.
00:39:49.440 Love to see you guys going to Thorfest this year.
00:39:52.440 So as Jason mentioned, the registration is open.
00:39:55.440 If you can go, you should.
00:39:57.440 should. Have a couple different dates posted. Do not be confused. Rob is posting about Ostara
00:40:07.760 in the south, whereas Jason is posting about Thorfest in Colorado. Congratulations, Eric.
00:40:17.880 I'm excited for you guys.
00:40:28.440 Updates on South Africa.
00:40:30.860 No huge significant update other than our kindred,
00:40:34.940 Volk Voxfone is doing very well there.
00:40:37.140 Those people are getting together more often.
00:40:41.380 In America it's kind of tricky to piece together
00:40:45.040 the geography of South Africa,
00:40:47.100 But if you look at it, the population centers are spread out over a vast distance.
00:40:52.760 So our membership there is split between.
00:41:02.320 Now, the words are not coming to me between Cape Town and Cape Town and the other one.
00:41:10.280 Yes, it will come to me and I'll feel silly later in this conversation.
00:41:13.380 But, yeah, they're spread apart by a great distance.
00:41:15.620 So we're building up a membership in both of the big population centers
00:41:19.260 so that they can come together and get together to bloat and to do more things.
00:41:23.760 That also goes with the planning and the implementation of our relief monies that we're sending.
00:41:45.620 Okay, so we got a question that came in, many of the AFA folk have a deep reverence for
00:42:00.900 famous people that the public narrative has deemed evil or oppressive.
00:42:08.020 Examples that come to mind are Christopher Columbus, Robert E. Lee, and certain war veterans
00:42:11.960 of other countries.
00:42:14.080 far is the afa willing to publicly go to honor these heroes and are we better off honoring them
00:42:19.760 privately to avoid public outcry it depends um what we've focused on on our days of remembrance
00:42:31.440 are religious figures folks who are being remembered by our church for their steadfastness
00:42:39.200 to our gods and their contribution to our faith i think that some of the people that you're uh
00:42:44.880 that you're mentioning have made tremendous uh social contributions and are certainly folk heroes
00:42:51.840 um and i don't want to deny them celebration and attention but our soul our big focus
00:42:59.040 is on celebrating as the afa the feast days for champions of our faith that have put
00:43:05.520 usatru to the forefront that have built usatru that have you know in the case of some of the
00:43:10.080 older ones that have died as as martyrs of usatru and so that's really what that focus is about
00:43:17.280 i think that you know while certainly the afa will honor some folks outside of that context
00:43:23.360 i think that pushing it or making a big point of it sometimes the juice might not be worth
00:43:30.080 squeeze and it might do more harm than good for us to do as a church especially retroactively and
00:43:36.240 rehashing old points of history um so i know that's not really a very firm answer for you
00:43:43.280 but it's just the thoughts that i'm having right now as you ask the question but yeah i would
00:43:48.560 encourage you privately to honor any of those people that speak to you that have have stood
00:43:53.040 and being heroic and done good for our folk and made accomplishments for our people and that's
00:44:00.960 an interesting point as far as columbus goes christopher columbus is a hero and an amazing
00:44:08.000 amazing person in a lot of ways he did an amazing thing i know that it's very popular in some of our
00:44:13.360 circles to to lee ferrickson did it first that may be and that's fantastic but i don't think
00:44:20.480 that in any way diminishes um the contributions in the the pioneering spirit of christopher columbus
00:44:27.760 and the voyage that he and his men went on when they when they landed in the americas i think
00:44:32.800 that's an amazing thing that changed the shape of the world that brought us those of us here in the
00:44:40.080 united states or in north america or those of us in south america for that regard over to this
00:44:45.600 continent um and lay the groundwork for us being able to be here today and in world history in
00:44:52.560 general so i think that uh there's nothing wrong with celebrating columbus day i know that that i
00:44:58.000 certainly am very proud of the proud of the work that christopher columbus put in um he wasn't an
00:45:04.800 also true man but he was a man of deep faith he was a man with tremendous moral convictions
00:45:10.560 um i think to retroactively looking back at history and try to portray him as some sort
00:45:14.480 of monster as the left does or is somehow irrelevant because a viking man 500 years
00:45:20.960 before columbus's time did something that columbus had no way of knowing about so i think that that's
00:45:27.600 an interesting one and because columbus day was so recently it's just something i wanted to speak
00:45:31.600 on for just a second awesome faith well i look forward to seeing your application and getting
00:45:40.080 it to your folk builder hopefully we can welcome you into our afa family here soon
00:45:53.040 um how can we help our loved ones that are joining their ancestors be welcomed in hellheim
00:46:00.080 so a thought that I have one that is trying to think the best way to put it one thing that I
00:46:15.860 think is very relevant is carrying along the cult of the ancestors after they pass I think
00:46:24.560 that we can improve the lot of our ancestors wherever they end up after this life by honoring
00:46:31.680 them and celebrating them by speaking their name by raising horns to them and stumble by doing great
00:46:37.760 things in their honor by erecting you know as our ancestors would do erecting cairns on the side of
00:46:43.280 the road beside us say um doing things to promote their memory and remembering them fondly i think
00:46:51.280 that transmits something to the other world i think by venerating them by by speaking about
00:46:59.200 them to your family and to your folk by keeping their name alive in a way that's honored and
00:47:04.880 celebrated i think that builds their reputation and when we talk about how they're welcomed into
00:47:10.640 other realms it's way deeper than our human experience i don't claim to know everything
00:47:15.840 about the other side of the veil um but the best that we have very often when we're contemplating
00:47:22.240 divinity or when we're contemplating the afterlife of the other world is to look at it through the
00:47:27.120 lens that we have and just as our ancestors to our ancestors and to us now reputation is huge
00:47:33.760 if you come to us with fame and with a name that we've all heard and we've heard your praises sung
00:47:39.920 and we've heard great things about you then certainly that makes me more inclined to welcome
00:47:44.400 you and i welcome you with a with a certain dignity if you're if you're a hero that people
00:47:48.320 have sung songs about i think the more we can do to elevate the good name and the reputation of
00:47:53.200 our ancestors the better they are received by others be them divine or ancestors or wherever
00:48:01.920 they might end up i think building their reputation and celebrating that reputation
00:48:07.360 does have a carryover and i think that's powerful johannesburg there you go i yes absolutely i feel
00:48:13.840 silly not remembering, but yes, Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa. Thank you.
00:48:34.720 Well, Fawn, we are all tremendously, tremendously sorry for your loss, and
00:48:39.400 And we are very, those of us who had any interaction with you in regards to that are tremendously
00:48:48.820 honored that we could be there in any way for you, for your family.
00:48:56.740 We're very, very glad to have you guys with us.
00:48:59.840 And you are more than welcome.
00:49:04.100 and I know on behalf of Brian he is very honored that he was able to be there and
00:49:09.720 help you same with Melissa and I am I'm very honored that you reached out to me
00:49:15.560 we're really glad that you guys are part of our family um Jason I think that's an
00:49:28.980 interesting question. Jason asks, how should we take outsider's views or historical record of
00:49:34.700 our ancestors as far as what, you know, to what degree of credibility? There's thousands of
00:49:42.540 different people that speak on different historical events at different periods and times from
00:49:47.380 different angles. Some of them are our enemies and want to portray us negatively or our ancestors
00:49:53.080 negatively. Some of them are our enemies, and they want to exalt our ancestors and exalt things that
00:50:00.220 they've done out of respect for an honored enemy. Some folk claim to be our friends and want to put
00:50:07.500 their own political agendas on our ancestors. Some people who are enemies want to put their
00:50:13.900 own political agendas on our ancestors. I think the study of history is always going to be
00:50:20.060 influenced by the historian and i think that it's a tremendous challenge to sort through that
00:50:25.980 and i think that the best we can do is like i mentioned earlier use our own perspective as a
00:50:33.260 lens um i think people whose character we genuinely you know have a trust for
00:50:39.900 and the more we believe in them as people the more we can
00:50:42.860 feel confidence the confident that their historical telling is correct or at least
00:50:50.700 correct to their knowledge but i think that's always going to be a challenge i think you know
00:50:55.820 i think that'll be a challenge you know 100 new years from now when people talk about us
00:50:59.820 in the times that we live in so um i think that's a really interesting challenge something else
00:51:07.180 jason to that point that i think is really interesting when we read a lot of historical
00:51:11.420 literature about alsatru or about our ancestors that practiced alsatru very little of it comes
00:51:18.460 from alsatru practitioners it almost always comes from someone on the outside be they hostile or not
00:51:26.460 it comes from someone from either a different time period or from a different civilization that
00:51:33.180 is going to have some disconnect as far as you know exactly how accurate they are with the
00:51:38.220 information on our ancestors and it's going to be how others saw us much much more often than how we
00:51:45.580 saw us very often in the writings when we read about ostrich we read about you know a historian's
00:51:51.340 perspective on some bygone pagan religion that they don't have a connection to so they write to
00:51:57.420 about it as a historical curiosity and not as a living religion and a living faith so that's an
00:52:03.900 interesting challenge now we're getting in a day in an age we have scholars who are also
00:52:08.700 true writing about our history sometimes and we're really fortunate when we can find those examples
00:52:14.460 so i don't think that answers your question in any convincing way but i think that's
00:52:18.940 the things we have to keep in mind when we're approaching that answer
00:52:25.740 yes we have one of our brazilians joining us we're very proud of our kindred in brazil
00:52:31.340 we've got some very enthusiastic folks for the first time ever the afa has a presence
00:52:35.580 in brazil so i think that's fantastic thank you very much for joining us tonight
00:52:42.620 all right guys tonight has flown by i got about eight more minutes with you guys and then i have
00:52:48.540 one of my my witten phone calls that i need to be on to do the best i can to move the afa forward
00:52:56.380 in the directions that we're going so i do only have about eight more minutes with y'all but if
00:53:00.700 If you guys have any last-minute questions or any things that you want to hear me speak on
00:53:06.100 or want to have me address, I'd love to take any of those for the next few minutes here.
00:53:22.740 Oh, Eric, no thanks necessarily.
00:53:24.500 I love this.
00:53:25.320 I look forward to it every month.
00:53:26.940 It's absolutely great to talk to you guys.
00:53:29.980 I genuinely love my AFA family,
00:53:32.680 and this just feels like a really nice format.
00:53:36.180 I can get questions, and I feel like it's a, you know,
00:53:40.060 without actually being there,
00:53:41.160 I feel like it's one of the best ways
00:53:42.480 that I can talk directly to folks, so I like this a lot.
00:53:46.940 Thank you guys for being here.
00:53:59.980 Connor, what needs to be done to join us, go to www.runestone.org, click the join button.
00:54:15.400 Before you do that, read through our statement of ethics and our, I'm sorry, yes, our statement
00:54:21.960 of ethics and our declaration of purpose.
00:54:24.600 Please read those two documents and make sure you're in alignment with our core values.
00:54:29.300 And if you are, click that Join button, and we would love to see you apply.
00:54:37.160 Travis, I'm looking at your post here.
00:54:38.840 I'm sorry, it's taking me a second to read it.
00:54:59.300 Oh, that's great. I'm born and raised in Alaska myself. I was born and raised in Anchorage.
00:55:19.080 Your question is about how do we do as far as keeping racism out of the exploration and celebration of our heritage.
00:55:27.660 It's a hot button issue these days that everybody's definition of seems to be really different
00:55:33.020 from one to the other.
00:55:36.660 The Astro Folk Assembly is...I'm trying to think of the most straightforward and clear
00:55:41.100 way to put this out there.
00:55:43.840 We're not obsessed with racism like everybody else seems to be.
00:55:46.820 I think there's far worse evils in this world.
00:55:50.120 The AFA doesn't spend our time policing against racism, but the AFA doesn't spend our time
00:55:56.540 complaining about other groups of people.
00:55:59.580 I think that the word racism is a really strange word
00:56:03.860 because it means different things to different people.
00:56:06.340 If it means, you know,
00:56:10.020 if your concern is that Ausatru or the AFA in specific
00:56:14.300 would promote any kind of negativity
00:56:16.180 towards people of other races, then of course not.
00:56:19.260 It's not what we're spending our time doing. 0.91
00:56:20.520 We're not worried about other people.
00:56:21.900 We're focused on good things and pride in who we are
00:56:24.980 and what we're doing.
00:56:26.540 um if you're worried about what the left terms is racism well that's just about anything so i
00:56:32.940 don't know what to say in that regard but no the afa announcer true is not about diminishing other
00:56:38.620 people like i said earlier when it comes to the idea of patriarchy the afa folks in general ought
00:56:44.620 not to have to lift themselves up by tearing other people down and it's just it's just not our focus
00:56:49.580 we're focused on pride in who we are and what we're trying to build um so i i don't know if
00:56:55.980 if that addresses your question.
00:56:57.140 If you have something a little bit more specific,
00:56:58.580 I'd be happy to answer that too.
00:57:09.120 Grayson, I talked a little bit earlier
00:57:10.620 about Feast of the Einherjar.
00:57:13.340 I think it, to reiterate again,
00:57:15.260 in a couple of minutes I have left,
00:57:18.220 it's a really important time for us to focus on the fallen
00:57:21.280 and the men that have put their lives in the balance.
00:57:25.980 For many different reasons, over eons, men that we may have known personally, men that our fathers may have known, men that have fought and died thousands of years ago.
00:57:41.440 the fact that men put their lives in the balance for a cause they believed in for their country
00:57:47.940 the king for our folk or simply for the man next to them is something worth celebrating
00:57:56.580 and worth making note of raising a horn of and uh being being thankful and in awe of
00:58:07.860 and I think we all need to be mindful and do that
00:58:11.540 and it's a perfect month to spend that time.
00:58:18.140 Robert, she asked about an official AFA song.
00:58:20.460 No, we do not, but I've got some folks
00:58:22.660 that are working on that right now
00:58:23.980 and have been working on that for a little bit.
00:58:26.080 We need more music and we do have some folks
00:58:28.180 working on some AFA music.
00:58:37.860 All right, well, last question, and then I do have to go for the Whitten call.
00:59:00.740 As far as ways of practicing our faith every day, as far as, you know, not just on the holidays.
00:59:10.220 I think we need to remember, first and foremost, and this is not a sexy answer per se, but it's something fundamental.
00:59:18.980 We're not like certain Christians that are Christian on Sunday when they go to church and then they go, you know, clubbing and doing whatever else they do throughout the week.
00:59:27.700 we're also true no matter what we do it's a way of life our ancestors didn't have a
00:59:35.280 smorgasbord of religions when someone asked who they were or what their religion was they would
00:59:40.220 have just mentioned what tribe they were from because their religion encompassed their entirety
00:59:45.820 of their existence so we need to remember that we are also true are when we work we're also true are
00:59:51.440 when we're sons we're also true are when we're fathers we're also true are when we're brothers
00:59:57.000 we're also true as bosses we're also true as employees we're also true are as folks on the
01:00:03.880 side of the road as drivers as pedestrians in all of the walks of life of what we do
01:00:09.400 we are also true and we need to keep that in mind and how we carry ourselves with a noble bearing
01:00:14.280 with a thought towards we are we are the sons and daughters of odin we have nobility within us
01:00:21.000 and we need to celebrate that and be mindful of it and realize the obligation that that carries
01:00:26.440 when we walk through the world when we walk in any spot in midgard um i think that one thing folks
01:00:34.200 do is they wake up with the sigdryphimol prayer often they will greet the sun in the morning as
01:00:40.760 the first thing to start their day in a focused way on as to true um i'm not sure if you guys are
01:00:47.560 familiar with that some other people do is is they'll sing the sigdryphimol you mentioned
01:00:52.440 music earlier so something folks do in the morning is uh hail day hail sons of day
01:01:02.920 hail night and her daughter look on us now with loving eyes waiting grant us victory
01:01:14.760 Hail ye gods, ye goddesses hail, hail the earth all giving, give to us wisdom, grant us goodly
01:01:29.320 speech and hands to heal all of our lives. Thank you guys for indulging me with that,
01:01:39.440 but that's something i try to do in the mornings to start off my day um acknowledging the holy
01:01:45.520 powers i think something else that i like to do at night is come before the altar burn incense
01:01:51.280 light a candle speak to the ancestors give reverence to the gods to open and close the
01:01:57.200 day that way i think does a lot to reinforce that um but there's many other things to do and i'd
01:02:06.320 like to talk to you guys a little bit more about that next time thank you guys so much for joining
01:02:11.280 me tonight looking forward to talking to you guys next month this has been great i appreciate you
01:02:15.840 guys showing up and i appreciate you guys asking really good questions tonight i hope you all have
01:02:20.400 Have a great evening.
01:02:22.480 Hail the gods.
01:02:23.640 Hail the folk.
01:02:24.840 Hail the AFA.