Asatru Folk Assembly - October 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, hopefully October is treating you guys good so far.

00:00:30.000 Just giving it a couple few minutes here to get everybody who's going to join us

00:00:35.520 start coming in.

00:00:39.660 I'm shocked at how fast this year is going by.

00:00:42.680 It's almost 2020.

00:00:47.320 Guess that's part of getting older as time goes by quick.

00:00:51.860 Hey, Verona.

00:00:53.920 There everybody is.

00:00:55.020 All right, guys. Well, as always, thank you for joining me tonight. I'm sorry it was

00:01:01.460 such short notice. I say usually, but it seems like the past two or three have not been on the

00:01:08.100 first Thursday. I try to make it on the first Thursday of the month, but it seems like I've

00:01:12.940 been traveling a lot during that time. So I'll try to give a little bit more notice next time.

00:01:18.680 Hopefully people can all join us and we can have a good conversation tonight and we can

00:01:23.560 and get questions answered if questions need be answered.

00:01:31.320 Cool. Looks like we got some good folks joining us so far.

00:01:36.480 How's everybody doing? Hope you guys are all doing great.

00:01:43.920 With the crowd that just popped in, does anybody have any questions?

00:01:49.360 Anything they want to make sure I address?

00:01:54.680 Looks like we've got a friend of ours from New Zealand on the little sidebar chat.

00:02:01.720 Malenka, thanks for joining us.

00:02:13.040 Alright guys, well until we do, I want to start off between now and the last time we spoke.

00:02:18.660 We had Fall Fest 4 in Minnesota, and I just wanted to take the time to say what an amazing event.

00:02:26.840 Thank you so much to the Oaf Hednar clan and the Northern Blood Kindred.

00:02:32.200 You guys are fantastic.

00:02:34.120 Another amazing event, and already looking forward to Fall Fest 5.

00:02:40.860 It was really special this year.

00:02:42.780 We had a great crowd, really solid people.

00:02:45.740 I met a lot of new folks that I hadn't seen before. It was a really good time.

00:02:51.160 That event is run so smoothly, and the hospitality of our members up in the Northern Plains region is like none other.

00:03:00.820 Now, we have individuals that are the exception of this rule, but I'll go ahead and say that Northern Plains is leading the way in AFA hospitality

00:03:09.040 as far as members all stepping up, all trying the best they can to help out, to help those who are

00:03:14.900 traveling in, to cooperate in the kitchen and make everything run smooth. It was, like I said,

00:03:20.820 Fall Fest was an amazing event, and I was so glad to be able to be a part of it.

00:03:26.740 Something else that I always bring you guys about, but trust me on it, we've got winter nights coming

00:03:32.280 up. We've got winter nights coming up on the, I had it pulled up, now my brain's getting

00:03:38.840 fuzzy, I believe the 18th through the 20th of this month, and that's in the Pocono Mountains.

00:03:50.000 It's beautiful. The leaves are changing. I think that by doing it a little bit like a

00:03:55.900 week later this year, and we've done it in the past, it will be even more autumnal-y

00:04:00.900 spectacular. Um, I've said this before, but it's, it's one of my favorite events. Winter

00:04:06.400 Nights is fantastic. Uh, it's where I met my wife. It's really special to us. Um, it's

00:04:12.860 such a beautiful place and I always look forward to going there. And I know that, uh, Clifford

00:04:17.840 Erickson who's hosting it, um, with the Lansdale True Folk Kindred are going to do a really

00:04:23.060 good job of making it, uh, making it really perfect for you guys. Also this year for the

00:04:28.040 first time um the stone ship hearth from massachusetts is going to be co-hosting i know

00:04:34.840 those guys are really going to give it their all to make it a great event so if you guys can make

00:04:38.300 it out we would love to see you guys there um yeah if if it's at all doable it's well worth

00:04:46.400 your time if you haven't been to one of these national events it's life-changing i know it

00:04:50.340 changed my life if i wouldn't have gone to my first national event my life would be such a

00:04:55.800 different place right now. So come on out, be a part of it. Oh yeah, spring has sprung in the

00:05:06.480 southern hemisphere. I get to point that out, Malenka. I hope people are joining us. I know

00:05:11.160 it's difficult sometimes with the time change. It's hard to get a time that's going to work for

00:05:14.880 everybody. I was just thinking about that this morning. I'm so glad you're able to be here this

00:05:19.100 time. Antonia, sacred sites in Germany. I would definitely recommend going and seeing the

00:05:30.920 Eksternstina in, I think that's in Westphalia, but I was there a few years ago. It's a really

00:05:41.660 special place. It's a really, really interesting place. I'm not sure whether you're going to the

00:05:46.900 southern half or whether you're going up north or just where in Germany you're traveling to but

00:05:50.600 it's going to be a great trip and I'm excited for you guys your honeymoon that's that's really

00:05:54.840 a fantastic place to get to go see

00:05:57.360 Steve's asking who should handle it if an afa members ask for an interview

00:06:08.580 I suppose that's good to get out there. If anybody asks you to do an interview on behalf of the

00:06:18.540 Ask True Folk Assembly, please run that up the chain. You want to talk to your local folk builder,

00:06:23.360 but in pretty short order, you want to talk to myself or a member of the Witten, please do reach

00:06:29.860 out. We don't have some kind of blanket wanting to avoid those things. As a matter of fact,

00:06:36.700 Those are very often a really good opportunity to get our message out there, but we do want to make sure that it's handled appropriately and that it's, you know, if it's representing the Astro Folk Assembly, that it's with a voice that we're all comfortable with, that it's handled the way we'd all like.

00:06:51.380 So please, absolutely, if you find yourself in that spot and people ask to interview you, pass that up the chain because it may be a good opportunity or it may be something that we want to steer away from depending on who's doing the interviewing and what the audience is.

00:07:06.700 Oh, Rob, you're not late. You're just on time.

00:07:09.920 Glad you're here tonight.

00:07:18.080 So does anybody else have anything they want to ask

00:07:21.020 or anything they want to make sure we're talking about tonight?

00:07:30.660 Well, one thing I would like to talk about tonight is

00:07:33.880 big focus of the Astro Folk Assembly has been and will continue to be, but we're kind of putting a

00:07:40.140 name to it and really giving it a lot of thought now, is the concept of building a golden age

00:07:46.720 within the AFA, within our folk, within our church, and really wanting to focus on the

00:07:54.100 positive things that we can do to really shore up what we have and make it a special place

00:07:58.760 for all of our AFA family, and we've been doing a lot with trying to see what things we can do

00:08:05.800 out there in the world to make those things happen. The Hoff and the second Hoff that

00:08:12.960 we're attempting to acquire are a big part of that. I've mentioned this before, but we're

00:08:18.640 working on interring ashes at Odins Hoff as a first of its kind place where our folks can

00:08:28.740 be can be put to rest in the unsanctified ground that's that's special but we're really working on

00:08:36.220 stuff that we can do to bring folks together one of the biggest planks in that idea of building

00:08:40.660 that golden age has been the just blossoming of the afa kindred program we've got 26 afa kindred

00:08:48.900 right now and that's amazing considering you know the time that that program's only a little over

00:08:56.220 three years old now. And our kindreds have really stepped up to give a local face to the Astro Folk

00:09:03.960 Assembly and to be there and to provide stuff so when we have folks that join, they see that they

00:09:08.760 have things going on in their area that they can jump right in and participate in. That's been a

00:09:13.420 really special thing. So one of the things I always try to focus on, no matter what's going on in the

00:09:21.760 world outside is what we can do to build up the world inside to make that golden age for the

00:09:27.120 Astro Folk Assembly for our family for our church what can we do to build up the world that we want

00:09:33.540 to see within the confines of our membership and in our AFA family because that's what's going to

00:09:40.240 be lasting because we're we're focusing and I've talked about this before but we're focusing in

00:09:46.000 these the three years we're in the middle year of right now our big afa focus is on the idea of

00:09:52.460 immortality and within the afa that means building something that's going to last that's going to be

00:09:58.080 there for our children and our children's children and beyond that something that's going to stand the

00:10:03.160 test of time and be a solid rock and a place for people to build the world that they want to see

00:10:08.600 as opposed to you know being adrift in a world that often doesn't conform to the way we want to

00:10:14.840 see it. So we're always looking for opportunities to build that, and that's been really important

00:10:21.980 to me lately.

00:10:35.860 Fadius, how can one get more involved in the AFA? And you say you're in Minnesota. The

00:10:41.380 first step you reach out to jason gallagher j gallagher at runestone.org or find him here on

00:10:47.700 facebook he is he is an amazing folk builder he has really built certainly that state and

00:10:57.460 been a huge part in building that region into really a shining shining star for the afa

00:11:02.820 he runs the northern blood kindred and those people are fantastic and they've really

00:11:07.940 Lee, about the last four years built something amazing there.

00:11:14.380 Talk to him, he would be the best bet to get involved with that also.

00:11:19.760 I don't recognize your name.

00:11:21.620 The other thing I would say is, you know, if you're not a member join the AFA at www.roomstone.org.

00:11:28.560 If you are a member.

00:11:31.460 Make sure that you're part of the AFA volunteers group, I'm not sure what skills that you have.

00:11:36.020 here on Facebook, we have a volunteers group where we can try to get you shuffled around

00:11:39.800 to places that you can be more involved if you want to help out that way. But to get

00:11:44.080 more involved locally, the first thing you need to do is talk to Jason. He's fantastic

00:11:48.020 and I'm sure he'd love to get you all set up.

00:12:06.020 um aris anytime i've got a question about charity work when y'all do charity work in your community

00:12:14.420 can you do it under the afa banner or is it something you need to run up by the higher ups

00:12:20.420 if you can use the afa name with it please always run it up by the higher ups but that doesn't have

00:12:24.420 to be a tedious process uh reach out your local folk builder or reach out to me um we love to see

00:12:31.780 our people doing good things for their community and helping out and your desire to do that while

00:12:37.540 you know while carrying the afa banner and being part of what we're doing we all benefit from the

00:12:43.300 luck of that so i don't want to discourage any of that we just really like to make sure that that

00:12:49.380 everything's everything's a-okay so please do run that up the chain but like i say if it's not moving

00:12:55.140 quick and it's something you got to do quickly reach out to me and i will get back to you as

00:12:58.980 soon as possible and i'm usually very quick with that if i'm not keep bugging me because we would

00:13:04.660 love to see our people be active in their community helping out and being a force for something

00:13:10.180 positive hey fine glad you could join us again tonight looks like we got a

00:13:35.080 decent crowd watching does anybody else have any questions or anything they

00:13:38.740 want to see me focus on or talk about this evening. One of the things that I'm pretty

00:13:50.640 excited about is it's starting to get chilly outside, the leaves are starting to change,

00:13:54.420 and growing up, fall and winter were always my favorite seasons, and they still are. Something

00:14:02.700 about the cool crisp outside makes spending time inside with friends with family uh really that

00:14:09.740 much more cozy and that much more special i'm always very excited this time of year and i think

00:14:15.180 it's really something for us to focus on is how to make the time that we have with our folk with

00:14:26.620 our kindred with our families something special you know little traditions and

00:14:31.900 things that you do at certain times a year build those things I was thinking

00:14:37.120 about it just today and with the fall we start seeing the veil between the

00:14:42.020 worlds grow very thin and at this time of year and into into the winter and

00:14:47.980 towards Yule the veils of its thinnest and our ancestors are close to us you

00:14:53.200 can hear them on the wind if you listen i think focusing on things we can do to remember our

00:14:59.680 ancestors and bring them in to events and all the celebrations that are you know coming in

00:15:04.800 fall and winter is very important i think it's really important to remember them when people

00:15:09.920 are gathered especially families i know whenever we have people over to our house or we host an

00:15:15.120 event it's really it's really important to me and i try to mention my grandmother

00:15:21.040 my mother's mother, Mary Ann Davis. She was always that person in our family that brought

00:15:28.880 everyone together. When we'd have Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter, it'd always be at my

00:15:34.260 grandparents' house. And it was such a special time and so many good memories. And I hope we

00:15:40.160 all have the opportunity to have people over. I would encourage, you know, have friends over,

00:15:46.680 even if you don't live close to your family ideally have afa kindreds and part of your afa

00:15:51.560 family over but when you do just always make the make the point especially this time of year of

00:15:57.240 acknowledging your ancestors talking about them you know raising a horn maybe even setting a place

00:16:03.080 at the table to honor them and make sure that they're present they're with you i think it's

00:16:07.000 really important and i think it's essential for our luck as we as we go through life is to have

00:16:11.880 that strong connection with our ancestors. Rob, I am sorry for your plight of it still

00:16:23.460 being in the 90s down there in the South. I know that I was in Florida for two years

00:16:28.800 and it did not ever really get crisp and cold like I was talking about, but you can turn

00:16:37.080 on the ac and pretend um it's one reason i'm really happy that i live where i live we do get

00:16:43.160 we do get a nice fall we do get a nice winter we get some cold temperatures and

00:16:47.640 snow in the mountains and yeah i'm really fortunate

00:16:59.480 uh david asked any of our gothy our our gothar traveled to the middle of nowhere to

00:17:05.560 to hold bloat with people yes not nearly as often as as i'd like um you know most of our gothar have

00:17:13.560 full-time jobs and other commitments and they can't always make that possible but especially

00:17:17.720 if there's a way to arrange in advance and ask i know a lot of our gothar myself included would

00:17:23.480 love to come someplace that's a little bit you know underserved or you know doesn't have a big

00:17:28.600 AFA community around it to try to help those folks too. I've tried to do that several times.

00:17:35.000 I'm always looking for an occasion to do that and a lot of our GoTar are very willing to travel as

00:17:40.920 well. Right now we are kind of spread out or at least communities of AFA members are very spread

00:17:47.640 out. It's so much better than it used to be and it gets better every day. At some point here we'll

00:17:54.520 have gothar near everybody but until we do always reach out and the more time you can give us to

00:18:00.440 to plan for it the the better able we are to we are to do that and to come to your area but yes

00:18:06.520 we do we certainly do that and it's a really special thing to be able to do and it's often

00:18:12.600 a very intimate time to get to meet our membership in those places and get to really interact with

00:18:17.800 some folks that don't often get that interaction so i look forward to know i always enjoy those

00:18:23.400 kind of things ah yes mr. Geiger we do absolutely do a naming right I have been a I've been very

00:18:40.020 very fortunate to do seven they're my absolute favorite AFA ritual that we're able to do is to

00:18:47.220 welcome a child into our afa family uh it's a really special thing and it's a very it's a huge

00:18:54.580 honor to be asked um so if you are having a baby if someone in your area is having a baby

00:19:03.940 please reach out to our dotar please reach out to your folk builder because we would love to

00:19:08.820 perform those rights and welcome your child into the astro folk assembly and into the world in an

00:19:14.580 in an appropriate way and give them the best leg up 0.83

00:19:18.860 to start with that we can.

00:19:20.560 So yeah, that's a very special ritual

00:19:22.880 that we do get to do.

00:19:40.680 Hey Lane and hey, anybody else joining us from Florida? 0.99

00:19:44.580 My wife's from there. I spent a couple of years in Florida. There was some nice things about it. The heat and humidity were not amongst them, but there were definitely some nice things down there. 0.78

00:19:57.580 Anybody on from Florida, I'm hoping we get to see you guys at Ostar in the South in March. We'd love to have you guys come up and come out. I think it's been a while before I've seen a lot of our Florida folk.

00:20:08.580 What else do we got going on, guys?

00:20:15.480 Anything out there you want to get any thoughts on or know a little bit more about

00:20:21.460 or I guess know where the AFA is at or where I'm at with anything?

00:20:29.920 Trying to get all the comments.

00:20:31.580 I know invariably we end up missing a couple people, and I'm trying really hard not to.

00:20:40.640 I'm going to check here on my phone and make sure there's nothing getting missed on my end.

00:20:48.980 Well, at least the best I can, nothing's getting missed on my end.

00:21:01.580 Again, I know it was kind of short notice tonight on being here and showing up.

00:21:14.040 We always do this the first week of every month.

00:21:17.640 Like I said, usually it's on Thursdays.

00:21:19.740 Very often it's on Thursdays.

00:21:21.700 If I'm traveling, not so much.

00:21:24.860 This weekend, my wife and I are going to travel up to see my father and my stepmother in Oregon.

00:21:31.220 so we're going to be on the road Thursday night or else we'd be in there.

00:21:38.600 Looks like Jason Gallagher showed up.

00:21:40.620 Jason, we had a Minnesota gentleman saying he wanted to be more involved in the AFA.

00:21:44.860 He would love to hear from you.

00:21:48.180 And yeah, I told him you'd help him out and I knew you'd be very interested in doing that.

00:21:54.080 So if you scroll up in the comments, I'm sure you'll see that.

00:22:01.220 Alright, Robert, well I'm glad you could join us. Thanks for being here for, you know,

00:22:10.880 on your break at work. It was nice to see you here tonight.

00:22:14.280 Alright, updates on the Hough number two. I know it's taking a little bit longer than

00:22:22.820 we want it to, but like I've said before, it's because we're trying to find the exact

00:22:26.780 right spot a place that's going to be worthy of all the blood sweat and tears and money that you

00:22:36.300 good folks are putting in to make it work but also a place that's going to work well for our folks

00:22:40.940 and properly honor our gods we have a spot we're looking at right now we're in talks there's some

00:22:48.140 things with the seller as far as a timeline and things that way but we do have a spot that we're

00:22:54.460 looking at currently and that we're talking about offers and such on. Now, it was still

00:23:02.160 very early in that process, so we'll see where that goes, but we are actively moving, trying

00:23:07.020 to see a better property right now.

00:23:13.020 Antonius, any good books on Audible in regards to how it's true in our faith?

00:23:29.000 I really don't know about Audible.

00:23:31.540 I've never used Audible.

00:23:33.260 I would suggest, best bet I would suggest is Goethe Brian Wilton.

00:23:40.160 he'd probably know about that know the lay of the land there and he'd probably have some good

00:23:45.580 recommendations for you and books that aren't necessarily written by world-around author go

00:23:51.260 through brian willton but those are good too and definitely check them out but yeah brian probably

00:23:55.880 a good resource on helping you find those oh and to the gentleman who mentioned being in minnesota

00:24:07.680 and want to get more involved.

00:24:09.400 We have our newest AFA Githya in Minnesota, Anna Funk. 0.99

00:24:14.160 I don't know if she just signed in.

00:24:15.660 It's the first time we saw her talk tonight on the side chat.

00:24:19.020 But she would also, along with Jason, be really happy to help you out

00:24:22.760 and get you involved in your community there.

00:24:24.500 You guys got something beautiful that you're building in your state.

00:24:27.960 And, yeah, it's great that you want to jump in and be a part of it.

00:24:33.880 Hmm.

00:24:34.320 Anniversary of Odinsoff.

00:24:40.320 I think you might be talking about the anniversary at Odinsoff and our big celebration.

00:24:47.060 So next year, the AusTrue Folk Assembly will have been around for 25 years.

00:24:53.200 And the entire year, we're going to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

00:24:57.340 But it's going to be highlighted at midsummer at Odinsoff.

00:25:00.980 That's going to be our big celebration where we're going to celebrate 25 years of the Astro Folk Assembly.

00:25:07.480 And we're going to stack 25s on top of that over and over and over.

00:25:11.940 But these first 25 years really say something about this beautiful, beautiful church that Steve and Sheila have spent so much time building.

00:25:21.460 That I'm doing my best trying to build on amazing foundations and take it even further. 0.95

00:25:27.960 And hopefully there will be a long line of, you know, not hopefully, there will be a long line of Al-Sherry Ergothis following me, moving it even closer to where we want to see it, even better and even bigger.

00:25:42.700 This first 25 years is a huge step in that.

00:25:46.340 That's something a lot of people aren't able to say, that they've been around for that long, functioning, worshiping our gods, serving our folk, building what we've built.

00:25:55.240 And it's a beautiful, beautiful accomplishment.

00:25:57.020 We're going to be celebrating that all year, but like I say, the big celebration for that

00:26:01.240 is going to be at Midsummer at Odin Song.

00:26:08.760 As far as who's bringing the beer boot for winter nights, I'm going to have to ask somebody

00:26:13.080 locally for that.

00:26:14.180 I think they'd look at me funny trying to take it on the plane.

00:26:22.960 You can already see it over in the side.

00:26:24.900 Apparently, Brian Wilton is the guy to go to for the Audible books.

00:26:29.180 Hey, Mark, glad you joined us.

00:26:36.880 Hey, Bobby, that's great. We're glad to have you.

00:26:39.120 I hope you're finding it useful, and if you have a question, please make sure you ask.

00:26:43.360 Doesn't matter what it is. We all start somewhere, and we're all learning.

00:26:46.500 So if you do have a question, please do ask.

00:26:49.740 Ah, so I see you're in Oregon.

00:26:52.320 Bobby, if you want to get in contact with anybody locally, the guy you want to speak to is Joe Rosenic.

00:27:00.140 He is a fantastic guy in the Portland area, and he's our folk builder up there.

00:27:05.440 He would be really happy to get you situated.

00:27:10.760 I don't know if you're just telling me where you're at in general, or it just occurred to me, probably because I said I was driving up to Oregon.

00:27:17.000 Bobby, what part of Oregon are you in, out of curiosity?

00:27:22.320 Well, RSU got good taste, Jason is pretty awesome, and that kindred, Northern Blood

00:27:34.320 kindred is amazing.

00:27:35.320 We're very, very fortunate to have those guys with us.

00:27:45.320 John thank you very much for that practicing our faith is really really important to me and it's

00:28:01.400 been really something that we've all in AFA leadership tried to hard to focus on is taking

00:28:07.540 our faith seriously we would never want to do something that is a mockery to our gods to our

00:28:13.460 full core to our faith. And, you know, I think we've all seen some of the other groups and some

00:28:18.980 of the things they do that lack piety, lack seriousness, and we would never want to bring

00:28:25.640 that. So I'm really glad that you've been watching. You know, I like it when people join right up,

00:28:31.220 but it means a lot when somebody takes their time and really observes what the AFA does

00:28:35.500 and then decides this is where they'd like to be. Look forward to seeing your application when it

00:28:41.700 comes in and I'm means a lot that you appreciate what we're doing then you

00:28:46.200 know especially after paying so much attention for a while

00:28:57.300 Malenka is asking about Steve McNallan's book in electronic or audio format then

00:29:05.460 a lot of requests for that um you know what just to touch base on it again as soon as we get done

00:29:12.960 with this or at least later tonight I'm going to send him a message and try to remind Steve about

00:29:18.140 that because I know there's probably a lot of people who would love to get his book in an audio

00:29:22.920 format and maybe listen to it when they're driving or you know whatever they'd like to do I know

00:29:28.120 there's a big demand for it so I'll try to talk to Steve and and see see what we can do on that

00:29:35.060 if that's something that he's able to do. Jordan, Winter Nights is taking place in the Poconos in

00:29:41.920 Pennsylvania. If you reach out to Clifford Erickson, see erickson at runestone.org. He's,

00:29:50.860 you know, the primary point man on it, and he'd be really happy to get you more specifics on where

00:29:55.440 you got to be and how to get involved with something you'd like to go to. Like I said,

00:29:59.940 that's gonna be 18th through the 20th of this month it's fantastic it's it's

00:30:06.780 beautiful we look forward to it every year and I would love to see you there

00:30:10.020 so make sure to reach out to Cliff and he can get y'all situated okay Bobby his

00:30:20.440 last name. Oh, Joe's last name. Rosanek, R-O-Z-A-N-E-K. Eric, life was treating me fantastic.

00:30:41.980 I am a very, very blessed man. Thank you for asking. Hope things are going well with you

00:30:47.840 also. Um, yeah, I'm doing really good here. Things are great. Um, been in, uh, been in

00:30:59.920 Reno now for almost two years. And, uh, my wife and I, we still stop almost every night

00:31:10.860 and look at the sunset and just try to take in, in awe of how blessed we are to live here

00:31:17.020 and I have the blessings in our life that we have so we're doing fantastic thank you for asking

00:31:23.060 Seth it's difficult for you to find kindreds in your area

00:31:42.600 um northwestern indiana we have uh heimdall's midgard kindred is our indiana kindred uh zach

00:31:52.460 cato who is an apprentice folk builder in the area he's the point man for that um z cato at

00:32:00.480 runestone.org he would be really happy to talk to you and you know help you network and see what

00:32:06.720 you need to do but like i said he does have a kindred in indiana and he would love to hear from

00:32:11.060 yep see there folks

00:32:37.020 there's testimonial chance he says it's a good

00:32:39.060 event um yeah we've missed you there we'd love to see you at winter nights again chancy if you

00:32:44.080 can come on out but do trust what she's saying it's an amazing event it's a good time it's

00:32:48.980 powerful and we got really good folks there um just trying to look at the comment feed and make

00:33:01.620 sure i don't miss stuff but asked to speak a little bit about about winter finding and wild

00:33:08.040 hunt I think it's important that this time of year is hunting season lots of

00:33:17.580 places at least it was in September I know some of those hunts have probably

00:33:21.240 already closed the fall and the winter have always been a very wild time for

00:33:29.800 our folk in the dark forests of Europe and then you know primordially that

00:33:36.480 continent was covered in forests and there was a lot of darkness and the hunters would go out

00:33:41.120 into the woods they'd go travel far from where it was safe in you know in their fenced-in area

00:33:47.680 in their town and they'd go into foreboding places and they'd they'd push the edges of

00:33:55.680 their comfort zone and they'd be in spots where the world was wild to where chaotic forces of 0.82

00:34:01.040 nature, Jotun surrounded them. It was very, very spooky, and I suppose it still is spooky to go

00:34:07.920 out in the woods and hear strange rustlings and sounds in the trees. I think that gave birth to

00:34:15.040 a lot of the imagery we have with the wild hunt. I talked earlier about the veil between the worlds

00:34:20.320 being the thinnest during the fall into the winter, and I think that's really important

00:34:26.720 when it comes to the wild hunt the idea of you know odin riding through the sky with

00:34:34.880 with the fallen with spirits of the dead in the winter time howling and and hunting and you know

00:34:41.360 coursing through the ether i think that's i think that's real i think we need to be very aware

00:34:47.120 of our of our ancestors around us at this time i think there's something to be said of being

00:34:54.400 you know excited and welcoming them in and certainly mother's night or i don't know the

00:35:00.080 desir bloat and mother's night we invite our female ancestors to look on and to join us and

00:35:06.640 it's a special time and it's a warm and a loving time but i think it's also something deep within

00:35:11.760 our soul to be very aware that we be respectful during this time of year that we respect and honor

00:35:17.680 our ancestors and we honor the spirits of the fallen because they can see what we do and they

00:35:25.120 see what we do that's happy and joyous and they celebrate with us they also see what we do that's

00:35:30.400 not they see ways that we don't live up or ways that we don't honor them appropriately

00:35:35.520 and we wouldn't want them to judge us harshly we wouldn't want to lose their favor so i think

00:35:39.920 that's you know just one tiny thing to be aware of and think about you know during the season of

00:35:45.520 the wild hunt. Well, while people are talking about hunting season, I want to tell you guys

00:35:56.840 a little story really quick about my first, my first Uller bloat. It was up in Alaska

00:36:04.720 in 2009. Yeah, 2009. And then it goes 2009. Anyways, it was the year that we had the big swine flu epidemic.

00:36:23.420 and I'd gone out with a hunting party of the backtrack so we gathered for our

00:36:34.820 September event the folks that I was getting together with at the time we

00:36:39.080 would get together and do bloat went out to my friend's place he lived kind of

00:36:43.980 out of town in the sticks a little ways and for the first time we did bloat to

00:36:48.360 uhler um it was the start of hunting season and we both made offerings you know we'd been out on

00:36:56.680 moose hunts before but uh the gentleman whose house it was and myself we'd never come away with

00:37:02.260 one we'd been on moose hunts we'd never come home with moose we did a bloat to uhler and we felt

00:37:08.300 very powerful and i still remember when you do bloat you you often perk your ears up for signs

00:37:15.120 in the environment around you that something special is happening sometimes it's really

00:37:19.280 opportune gusts of wind sometimes it's you know animal noises at the right time or birds flying

00:37:25.840 over well this time the wind picked up and it swirled around us while we were doing the bloat

00:37:31.200 it was really special we all had a good bloat we all had a good evening um i was leaving i believe

00:37:38.720 the next day for the moose hunt so i went on this hunt with a number of experienced hunters and

00:37:45.120 And as soon as we got out there, we were 20 miles up a river off in the middle of nowhere hunting.

00:37:55.440 And we were spotting with a scope for animals to come down the hill.

00:38:01.080 And so we're out there hunting.

00:38:03.600 And I was the new guy.

00:38:05.080 I wasn't as experienced as these hunters.

00:38:09.420 But I was excited.

00:38:11.100 And I discovered as soon as we got 20 miles out that I was getting sick.

00:38:15.120 When I came back and ended up seeing about it, I had the swine flu.

00:38:20.680 But we were out in the middle of nowhere hunting, and we were out there for about a week.

00:38:26.840 In that part of Alaska, there needed to be a certain distance between the tines on moose antlers.

00:38:34.320 And we saw a lot of bulls.

00:38:37.400 They were all young, and the antlers weren't quite big enough, weren't quite big enough.

00:38:41.140 in fact one of the young bulls walked right through our camp knowing that uh seeming to know

00:38:46.100 that we couldn't shoot him because he wasn't big enough yet so we're all out there and we were

00:38:51.700 last day of the season um and it was starting to go dusk and you can't hunt by artificial light

00:38:57.780 sun was going down this was kind of our last chance and they looked through the scope

00:39:02.100 and sure enough a bull that was big enough was walking down the hillside so we all spread out

00:39:07.940 knowing that i was sick and that i was the junior guy there they they put me on kind of a you know

00:39:16.020 long shot spot and said hey if he comes down you know shoot him whatever and then they went

00:39:20.820 on on the more serious business of posting up in the good spots well i was there delirious with

00:39:25.780 fever um watching up the hill for this thing to come down next thing you know i hear a grunt behind

00:39:34.180 me but I'm delirious and I'm not thinking so I keep looking up the hill looking up the hill nothing

00:39:40.820 I hear a grunt again so again I get up and start looking around I heard a third grunt and I turned

00:39:49.060 around and from say maybe 15 to 20 yards away there that bull moose was it looked at me

00:39:58.500 me, turned its side to me and just stood there. And I got I got my first moose. It was certainly

00:40:08.780 not due to my great hunting skills. So I like to always look back this time of year and

00:40:13.860 remember the blessings that that will have provided on that day. And that was just really

00:40:19.220 special time for me and talking about that I brought it up hey Daniel I'm

00:40:26.600 doing great oh no worries it's one of the cool things about these live videos

00:40:32.180 is you know I put them on YouTube and people can look at them later if they

00:40:36.080 want you know we'd love to have you guys here during them so we can talk but

00:40:39.740 you'll always be able to see them the next day and if there's questions that I

00:40:42.860 don't answer or things that I don't get to I do always try to go through over

00:40:46.820 next couple of days and make sure I get those questions and I respond I know you guys put

00:40:51.380 thought into them and have stuff you want to know and I love the opportunity to get to talk to you

00:40:56.580 guys so I will try really hard to go back through in a case I've missed anything respond over the

00:41:02.820 next day or so

00:41:16.820 That was one of the most special things about living in Anchorage for as long as I did is just moose

00:41:22.040 Everywhere it's pretty much guarantee in the wintertime if you're looking for them in town. You can find a moose

00:41:27.500 You know see them an animal that big in your yard just kind of wild in the middle of town

00:41:32.520 It's really a special thing and that's one thing. I really do miss about living in Alaska

00:41:36.980 somebody else have any questions tonight or anything they

00:41:40.160 Want to make sure we talk about or anything they want?

00:41:44.760 You think on their mind?

00:41:46.820 Yeah, I love hunting stories too. I think that's a really special thing and it's something that

00:42:07.500 men used to always could do with each other. And I worry that, you know, today kids aren't

00:42:12.560 getting that opportunity very often our young men and boys aren't getting the chance to to go

00:42:17.740 hunting and experience that and some of that's just the sign of the times and you know where

00:42:23.340 things go but I think it's neat and I think it's really special when you can if you can

00:42:27.220 take kids out and give people the opportunity to experience the hunt and go out in the woods like

00:42:33.200 that meant a lot to me my my cousins especially my uncle and a couple of my older cousins really

00:42:41.660 showed me a lot I got to go spend a lot of time up there in the winter and a lot of time in the

00:42:48.700 summer too when I was growing up they showed me a lot that took me out in the woods and took me

00:42:53.760 on the trapline with them took me hunting took me fishing and I was very blessed to have those

00:42:59.000 opportunities so it's sad that some of our kids they aren't getting that as much and I hope we

00:43:04.100 can do something to turn that around a little bit

00:43:11.660 Congratulations. I'm glad you got moose. I miss moose meat. It's absolutely delicious. I wish I had some right now.

00:43:21.660 yeah Terry that would be cool if we had had a really good storyteller to tell

00:43:40.260 stories from our lore good friend of mine Bodhi is kind of working on on

00:43:45.300 memorizing some stories to be able to tell and I think that's exciting that

00:43:49.980 He did a really nice one at Ostar this last year,

00:43:55.060 and it was, people really liked it.

00:43:56.420 Really nice, I don't know, about 20 minutes,

00:43:58.640 but it was a good long story around the campfire,

00:44:00.580 and I think it worked really well.

00:44:03.860 So yeah, I'd love to see more story time

00:44:05.580 with that kind of thing.

00:44:20.860 Robert, I'm glad you're doing that.

00:44:22.460 I think that's really special, and thank you for providing for the kids in that way.

00:44:29.220 Oh, it's the AFA's stance on patron gods and goddesses.

00:44:36.200 I don't jump in on that as enthusiastically as some other people.

00:44:44.060 I'm certainly not opposed.

00:44:45.340 The AFA certainly is not against it.

00:44:47.200 But I think it's become very, very common for people to, you know, pick a favorite, and on day one, they're going to be an Odin's man, and they're going to be a phrase man.

00:44:58.760 I think developing a very special relationship with one of the deities is, it's a nice thing to do, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

00:45:07.320 But one of the very special things about being polytheists is that we have an entire pantheon of gods that are worthy of our worship and our time and our devotion.

00:45:15.820 and when we spend all of our focus on just one it becomes at the exclusion of the others and i think

00:45:24.160 that i think in one way that doesn't show due respect and i think in another way it closes us

00:45:32.580 off to a lot of opportunities to develop as a person and to build those bonds and forge those

00:45:37.420 things so i don't really see the need to limit ourselves to just one of our gods

00:45:42.280 um i i think we'll all have gods that's we all go through different seasons of our lives

00:45:50.140 and i know that there'll be times where we all feel closer to different gods or to a different

00:45:55.040 goddess or maybe we really feel that deity helping us out in our lives and we really are aware of

00:46:02.140 them so you know for a time we give them you know more attention or we build a special relationship

00:46:07.340 and that's not there's nothing wrong with that i just want the afa would like everybody to keep

00:46:13.140 their eyes open and to realize that all of all of our gods are worthy of worship and they need

00:46:20.400 that attention and building those bonds and that we make sure to open our eyes to the things around

00:46:28.500 us and not narrow our focus too narrowly because there's there's a lot to see out there especially

00:46:35.300 when we deal with things in a spiritual way or when we're dealing with the gods um yeah i just

00:46:40.980 wouldn't want us to get tunnel visioned and i think sometimes that happens when people start

00:46:44.980 from day one with a patron deity hey derek thanks for joining us

00:47:05.300 got somebody over on the side talking about a boar hunt that's something that I would really

00:47:11.540 love to do yeah Terry I think that storytelling is a lost art and certainly was really important

00:47:19.160 to our ancestors I think it does a lot I think it teaches it teaches the person doing it public

00:47:25.880 speaking and helps them hone their charisma but there's something really nice about being

00:47:31.880 able to sit back and listen to a story that's well told and receive information in that way so often

00:47:37.960 now we're seeing it on the screen or we're reading it there's something special about being told a

00:47:44.440 story um i know that i know that when i hear a good story or even when there's a book study and

00:47:53.400 someone's doing a reading and reading out loud it kind of takes me mentally back to a place when i

00:47:58.360 I was a kid, you know, teachers or parents would read books to me. I think there's something

00:48:03.300 special with that, and I think there's definitely a place for that. I would love to see more

00:48:06.640 storytelling done in the AFA. Well, maybe I appreciate you trying to illustrate my story

00:48:20.120 about the moose. Those antlers, we've got, okay, other story on it. So those antlers we have on

00:48:27.000 wall downstairs. I mentioned that moose antlers had to be a certain distance apart. So my

00:48:34.260 mind was in a weird place when I was out hunting and I was a little bit delirious. At the time,

00:48:38.620 I was a bouncer. In the bar I used to bounce at, there was a midget bouncer that used to 1.00

00:48:43.940 bounce with me. So I was thinking in my head, doing the math on how many inches apart these 1.00

00:48:50.120 antlers needed to be. Just so happened the limit on the antlers was the exact

00:48:56.300 height of Joe the Midget. So in my mind I kept picturing Joe and like picking him

00:49:05.120 up and like positioning in between the antlers, see if it would fit. Like that

00:49:09.680 was my mental exercise to see if the moose was big enough or not. Sure enough

00:49:13.460 the moose I had was exactly could fit Joe in between those antlers so there you go that's the

00:49:21.500 other part of that story all right guys anybody got anything else tonight anything else I'd like

00:49:42.800 to touch on or you'd like to, you know, like to get me to say something about?

00:49:49.040 Well, for those of us joining a little bit late in the talk tonight, winter nights, Poconos.

00:50:19.040 in Pennsylvania, October the 18th through the 20th. It's coming up quick. We would love to have

00:50:28.380 you guys out there. It's going to be amazing this year. I'm really looking forward to it.

00:50:35.980 Stoneship Hearth and Lansdale True Folk are going to be the ones hosting it and putting it on.

00:50:41.020 Those folks are fantastic. I know they're going to do a great job, and I'm so much looking forward

00:50:46.080 to it. I want all of you guys to be there enjoying it with me. If you can make it, please

00:50:51.440 do. If you need help, if you need help figuring out a ride or figuring out how to register

00:50:55.900 or getting that all squared away, like I said, Clifford Erickson, cerickson at runestone.org

00:51:01.560 would be very happy to help you get set up. Yeah, do it. It is well worth your time. It's

00:51:08.900 It's an amazing, amazing weekend, very special event, if you can do it, come on out.

00:51:21.460 What would I like to see the AFA become in the next few years?

00:51:32.780 really an issue of what I'd like to see us become more how I'd like to see us grow and develop.

00:51:40.300 I would like to see in the next few years, I would like to see another Hoff or two. 0.86

00:51:45.900 I'd like to start seeing those Hoffs get developed across the world. 0.56

00:51:51.740 Like I said, we're working on the second one. They always take a little bit, 1.00

00:51:54.620 a little bit longer than you planned to get started, but we're able to take care of the

00:51:58.780 one we have and pay it off really quick. I think that's very doable.

00:52:02.780 what else i'd like to see them uh the kindred program flourish more i'd like to see us have

00:52:08.220 kindreds in the areas where we don't currently i'd like to see them grow and really reflect the

00:52:14.780 astray folk assembly in their area afa kindreds are the closest thing that we have to local

00:52:20.460 congregations of our church the astray folk assembly i'd like to see our folk become more

00:52:25.900 successful. We have a lot of people that join the AFA from all different walks of life.

00:52:33.040 But we have some folks join that struggle, I would like to get some folks joining that

00:52:37.340 are currently being successful. And I'd like to see the folks we have now find ways to

00:52:41.940 help each other succeed. So that the AFA members can become more and do more with their lives

00:52:48.580 and achieve the things and the dreams that they want for themselves and their family.

00:52:52.960 I would like to see like to see our piety increase like see our members find more find

00:53:05.400 serious and meaningful ways to interact with the divine divine in a pious way as the serious

00:53:11.220 religion that we are and we're moving that direction we're doing great with that I'd

00:53:16.240 like to see more both are become ordained we're very very careful with who we let through

00:53:22.680 who we ordain it's a very difficult process and we want to make sure that the the very best and

00:53:27.960 the people who are putting it out there in the right way and with the right mindset of the ones

00:53:33.080 that are representing us before the gods and representing the gods to us um but yeah i'd like

00:53:38.760 to see that growth continue it's really special to watch the afa grow around the world um mentioned

00:53:44.440 this before we have afa members in 15 countries now so that's going really nicely um i just

00:53:52.520 like to see that ramp up i'd like i'd love to see our membership grow um the other thing that

00:53:58.760 i'd like to see happen is i'd like to see the way we do things become

00:54:04.120 more like you know more like a religion and and less like a like a hobby group or a or a club

00:54:13.800 i'd like to see our membership get to where they're donating through the hoftoller

00:54:18.840 and sharing a percentage of their income with the AFA.

00:54:22.920 That way we can advance, we can rise and fall together, and we can synergize.

00:54:29.820 That's a much better model in my mind than the current membership dues that we have to do.

00:54:35.620 We've got to do what we've got to do to keep the lights on,

00:54:38.280 but I think getting folks to pay the Hof toller would be a big step towards something more organic

00:54:43.440 and something more like we'd like to see.

00:54:45.220 So there's a little bit of the things I'd like to see the AFA do in the coming years also like see us find.

00:54:53.220 Find some other opportunities to do international events going to ultimate Tula in May was amazing our Swedish members did a fantastic job of hosting the.

00:55:04.220 People from.

00:55:09.220 Six different countries were at ultimate to so I'd like to see more opportunities for things like that.

00:55:20.220 Well, Mathias, are you are you looking to start a kindred in Texas?

00:55:24.220 If you are looking to start an AFA kindred in Texas, Sheila McAllen is your local folk builder.

00:55:28.220 I'm sure she would love to help you get one going.

00:55:32.220 lot of people think that there's you know the magical afa genie that exists you know somewhere

00:55:37.980 out there that when they want something man i wish the afa had something going on where i live

00:55:43.180 man i wish the afa was doing something over here well the afa is uh is folks like yourself the afa

00:55:51.420 is people who volunteer step up join the afa and volunteer in their area to build those things to

00:55:57.420 host those things to start AFA kindreds. So if you want to see something where you're

00:56:02.800 at and if you have the grit to try to stick it out and make that happen, we would love

00:56:07.480 to work with you. We would love the help to build things where you're at. I would love

00:56:12.080 to see an AFA kindred in Texas too. So let's see if we can make that happen.

00:56:17.960 Hey, Olivia. Well, I've got my every other week Witten call here in about four minutes.

00:56:30.820 So I'm going to have to let you guys go. Anybody have any last minute things they want to ask

00:56:35.080 or make sure I touched on before I go? Like I say, I'll try to give you guys a little

00:56:39.560 bit more notice next month. But I love these. I look forward to them all month. I appreciate

00:56:46.200 the opportunity to talk with you guys. I love my AFA family. So yeah, if there's any last things

00:56:52.580 that you have or that you want to get me to say or talk about or react to, I've got a few more

00:57:00.320 minutes here and then I'm going to have to call in a night until next month.

00:57:16.200 well it's like I said it's my privilege it's it's my pleasure it's my honor to

00:57:33.300 be able to do these I love doing them I'm glad you guys like them I hope

00:57:38.640 they're good if you'd like to see me talk about anything else or if you want

00:57:42.240 me to talk about something on the future once again reach out let me know and I'll

00:57:45.200 I'll make sure to hit on it next time.

00:57:50.840 Hail to AFA, indeed.

00:57:54.080 All right, guys.

00:57:54.780 Well, if nobody else has anything,

00:57:56.160 I will talk to you guys first week in November,

00:58:00.460 if not sooner.

00:58:01.900 Thank you guys for all you do.

00:58:05.640 Yeah, it's been great talking with you.

00:58:09.080 Hail to gods.

00:58:10.320 Hail to folk.

00:58:11.840 Hail to AFA.

00:58:15.200 Thank you.

Asatru Folk Assembly - October 02, 2019

October 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

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