Asatru Folk Assembly - On Blótferð and Bucket Lists w⧸ Gyðja Sheila McNallen

00:00:00.000 yeah so yeah we just got back from newards hoth for their charming of the plow is the first trip

00:00:09.680 across the country we've taken in quite a few years um was it worth it yes absolutely this was

00:00:16.800 um was the fourth hoth we had actually been at sigerheim for a few hours one afternoon with our

00:00:23.920 wonderful nick nick rice um and that was um you know i can still visualize it i can still

00:00:31.840 hear the hum of the insects and feel the heat that you know beat down on us and that i think

00:00:36.560 was late july or early august i mean it is it was indelible in my life to spend a few hours there at

00:00:42.880 cigarheim of course i expect to be back at some point but something you may know that i have a

00:00:50.880 group that i call the eldry but in with the elderly which is our elders um people at age 50

00:00:57.600 and older if you're getting close you're welcome um um one i i generally will have a topic and one

00:01:04.960 of the topics has been bucket lists what's on your bucket list what have you achieved you know those

00:01:11.120 kinds of things light conversation for people that we all would have something in common

00:01:17.520 so i think about bucket lists i think about things i've done um you know some are are serious

00:01:25.200 goals and some are um very lightweight um and it kind of came um to me that this was a topic i was

00:01:35.140 aware of and concerned about because when we were flying back on the plane sunday night

00:01:40.460 There was a very large framed black man that was sitting next to my husband and they started talking military because Steve had his jump wings on his jacket lapel and immediately started conversation with this fellow who is also former military and ended up with a very substantial retirement income due to some disabilities he has.

00:02:09.060 enough so that he can play with the money he has enough to to make a bucket list and be able to do

00:02:17.240 lots of things on the bucket list he is in fact at this point as he described it every month he's

00:02:22.200 going on a cruise a cruise was the caribbean he's done hawaii you know all these cruises

00:02:29.120 and it's to the point where it's boring to him he can't remember which one he can't

00:02:35.100 can't, you know, tell them apart anymore. They've all just kind of piled up in his mind. And I'm

00:02:41.700 thinking, wow, you know, that was on his bucket list. But he's to a point where it doesn't bring

00:02:47.980 that wonderful sense of expectation and joy that he once had. And I thought, well, you know,

00:02:54.500 what do we have on bucket lists? A lot of people may put, you know, I want, they want a new car,

00:03:01.140 they want something very much in the material realm of things well yeah people do that um but

00:03:08.420 i want us to think what if you put things on your bucket list that would be exalting exciting

00:03:16.100 impactful and of historic value well we do that if you're in the afa if you're listening right now

00:03:25.140 you're probably doing that um that is exactly what we have you know in our church

00:03:34.100 um every hof has its own culture and ambience i've been to thor's hof i've been there for a star

00:03:44.020 i've been to balder's hof back when it was ball fest and certainly are in odin's hof now these

00:03:51.140 change over time and they change season to season and even who's there who's uh in leadership who's

00:03:58.700 there and all that so there is no across the board feeling you're going to get if you go to a

00:04:06.840 because it can change but it is so important to have um the temple um our half to our gods

00:04:16.660 And we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the AFA the other night

00:04:22.540 A cake was brought out with a 3 and a 0

00:04:26.060 And my husband and I each blew out a candle on that cake

00:04:30.460 And it really is a very remarkable thing that we are at this point

00:04:35.420 To have not just one Hoff, that was always the dream 0.63

00:04:41.120 But four Hoffs in Sigurheim and soon to have five or six 0.90

00:04:45.840 it's quite incredible to think that we're at this point but it's not just shouldn't be for

00:04:53.460 for us alone it should be for everybody who is involved um you know when we we're at the

00:05:02.300 we do rituals we honor the sir our holy gods and goddesses our ancestors we're constantly

00:05:10.040 calling on them and the land they do the land spirits that are there we also are with our folk

00:05:15.240 And one thing at Njortzow that they did so very well

00:05:18.260 Is they had a wonderful sambal

00:05:20.080 Which is the ritual we do

00:05:22.160 A toasting ritual

00:05:23.200 That really helps bind the folk together

00:05:26.140 And

00:05:27.440 I realize at our own Hof

00:05:30.140 We've been kind of missing that

00:05:31.320 We have so many things happening at Odensow

00:05:34.120 We often don't get to

00:05:35.420 The sambal until it's too late

00:05:37.840 And people have left 0.99

00:05:38.640 And that's a mistake

00:05:39.720 Because being at a Hof is about building those bonds

00:05:43.140 With each other

00:05:43.860 and when people do that it's natural for them to also perhaps be a volunteer to step in and

00:05:52.620 ask what they can do to help out or to offer to do some special dishes or to even take care of

00:06:00.240 the garbage you know take out the trash or help with parking or whatever or on work days come out

00:06:05.360 and do some painting or cleaning and there's so many times on that dark red carpet that we had to

00:06:11.560 get out the vacuum cleaner i won't say we did i know alexander who's on this call um was vacuuming

00:06:17.320 and they had the little carpet sweeper getting up all the little flakes of white this and that

00:06:23.260 and we need that um but some people come to a hof and it might be their first time and they just

00:06:28.740 kind of sit back and they just observe hey that's okay too of course we want you to do that we want

00:06:34.940 you to pick up on the feelings that you get in a hof and it should feel very very warm and inviting

00:06:42.100 everybody who is involved with managing a hof all of our leadership or even our regular members who

00:06:50.420 come month after month year after year they should make it feel like you have come home and that is

00:06:58.520 the way we want every hof to feel that you have come home that it's a family reunion especially

00:07:04.600 if you can come to the big events but even the monthly events it should feel like you're you're

00:07:09.080 back with family um um so but one thing is that all that ritual that we've done um imbues each

00:07:19.800 half with some subtle energy um it just it does feel peaceful it feels calm it feels um safe and

00:07:29.400 warm and you know nobody ever bothers our hoffs you would think with um the kind of reputation

00:07:36.840 that we have that there would be a lot of people um trying to do harm but they don't because we

00:07:43.320 are so well protected from all those holy spirits that we call on month after month after month

00:07:50.760 that's part of it and i think we ourselves exude that because again we don't live in fear we live

00:07:57.880 in wonderful expectation knowing that we've got strength and we can overcome and all those things

00:08:02.920 we all share when we're together in a united front and united family is what we are at every single

00:08:09.960 half you know some people may think about and other people not us but they may want to go to

00:08:17.880 lords or the sistine chapel or some place that had a particular religious event that

00:08:26.840 was very noteworthy that's very famous right and so that's on their bucket list back to the bucket

00:08:33.000 list but we have it in the afa we have our our own temples to the gods and that equals lord going to

00:08:43.400 lords or the sistine chapel or you know for muslim going to a mosque we have it right here

00:08:49.560 and it is amazing because it has never happened before i mean those are hundreds of years old

00:08:56.440 those other places well ours our temples are not but they are just as important to us if not more

00:09:04.280 because it's been such a struggle to get here you know a thousand years a thousand years since we

00:09:10.680 had hoss to the gods uh in in and never in our country never in the united states where people

00:09:19.000 um could come together and celebrate and know that it was not owned by a chieftain or by a king

00:09:27.160 or by even a farmer these hoffs belong to us every single one of us every time you you make that

00:09:35.240 donation payment every every month or you do an annual it may not be much money but it is shared

00:09:42.680 at each of the hops it goes into a general fund where it is shared and it goes to every single

00:09:48.440 one of those hops and always will and so you have you have you could say ownership but it's also

00:09:55.720 every one of those hops is your half too and know that that you have a right to to attend

00:10:01.880 every single half and to get the full experience of what it's like being in the far north in

00:10:09.240 minnesota or or in the south in florida where it was really quite cold this last week or out there

00:10:15.240 in the beautiful rolling pastoral area of north carolina and even in our kind of rugged mountainous

00:10:25.560 country the the foothills of the sierras where we have odin's hof um kind of uh very much like

00:10:31.400 an appalachian appalachian kind of a community because it's it's unincorporated it's rural and

00:10:39.640 um people struggle there it's just the way it's always been and so it suits us really really well

00:10:45.800 but everyone has its own every hof has its own way um of uh its own feeling and its own memories

00:10:55.320 it leaves the people who come there so i really encourage you to come to the hoffs you can be

00:11:01.800 passive or you can take on an active role and that will always be welcome you can in an area

00:11:08.840 if you don't have hoffs the active role you can take is to see if there are moots being hosted

00:11:16.680 near you and try to attend them i know a lot of you out in the east coast do get out to some of the

00:11:24.840 really cool moots you have out there the meetups but if there isn't one and you have an idea of

00:11:30.120 something you'd like to do reach out to your folk builder and just say you know we like for

00:11:36.520 instance i'm doing we're doing a celtic fair in two weeks way down central california and we'll

00:11:43.080 be down there for the weekend just so we can meet up with people it's not at our home it's at a

00:11:47.880 public place and it should be a good event but you know we even do those too and you can host

00:11:55.640 your own event if you're not near a half and get that feeling of being with others who share the

00:12:03.240 passion and the love of our gods and love of family and ancestors and love of our folk that we want

00:12:10.920 to continue forever so do do try to get out and meet others when you can

00:12:18.360 um you know we all through our right action build what we call hymenia it is that that strong um

00:12:29.000 blessings of the gods blessings that comes from from being strong and sometimes courageous and

00:12:37.800 again doing the right things that carries with us into our the other world when we pass through the

00:12:44.680 veil um and this almost can be felt when you're with people who have done a lot of wonderful

00:12:51.720 stuff and are comfortable with who they are and they give off that that uh sense of of peace but

00:12:59.320 also of strength and nobility right we use that word a lot too well i think our hoffs also have

00:13:05.880 that so as you come to a hof you are adding to that energy that is in that hof you will leave

00:13:12.520 your mark there at every hof you go to so i encourage you to play an active role if you can

00:13:20.280 help build our church choose your path and just as they say in the hospital be remembered be

00:13:28.840 remembered for what you do for what you choose to do um for your decisions your actions um make them

00:13:36.760 count um so you get to choose what's on your bucket list um if you can visit the hoffs you

00:13:43.880 can't do it all in one year nobody can matt does but or else harry gody but you know if it takes 10

00:13:50.840 years or 15 years yeah still put it on your list it's a good one it's better than being bored

00:13:58.840 by going on cruise after cruise, will it help you play a significant role in the future of our

00:14:05.100 folk? Yes, it will. History is in the making. We're doing it right now. You can become part

00:14:11.280 of a legend. You can be that legend by doing some great deeds for our church. So I began with the

00:14:19.960 words about choosing actions that are exalting, exciting, impactful, and of historic value.

00:14:28.400 i think you can see that being active in our church allows us all to do those things and

00:14:34.880 achieve all that so that's pretty much the end of my talk

00:14:44.160 that's wonderful ma'am uh you mentioned traveling to all the hoffs um go the trent east wrote an

00:14:50.880 article a few months back about the blotfeld as in that that that travel between the hoffs

00:14:57.040 And I know there's a there's a few of us in leadership that have accomplished what I guess I call the circuit of hitting all of the Hoffs and Sigerheim.

00:15:06.700 I reckon there's probably five or six or seven of us and some spouses of leadership that have done it.

00:15:13.620 But then we recently had one member at the end of last year, he went on a giant cross country trip and it wasn't during the events.

00:15:25.360 it wasn't during the national events it was just he wanted to travel the country and he's literally

00:15:32.040 he stopped by every single Hoff and Sigurheim got with leadership in the areas so he can you

00:15:38.200 know they could open the doors you can meet them and talk to them and see the Hoffs and um such

00:15:44.160 and I met him out at Sigurheim and such and he wrote an article about it a couple I want to say

00:15:52.900 it went in maybe the december runestone i think he did it in november and it went into december

00:15:57.260 runestone maybe i'm a month off but there's all kinds of ways to do it um or uh like i did i've

00:16:06.620 been to all of the hoffs i think i went just it took me like three years like you said it doesn't

00:16:11.880 have to be all at once just uh uh made a trip out i finally wrapped it up with midsummer last year at

00:16:18.840 uh odin's hof and uh it's wonderful and just getting to see and interact with all the different

00:16:25.000 people all the different folk and as you said every hof kind of has its own bit of culture

00:16:30.200 there's a lot of things that are in common but there's a lot of things that uh that each hof

00:16:35.220 does different unique a little special um i got i got the proper welcoming to uh california with

00:16:43.060 the wildfires and all that stuff so it was fun but i really i really appreciate it and yeah it's

00:16:50.500 absolutely something and even if you you know as you said even if it takes 10 years to get to all

00:16:54.920 the hoss just go to any of the hoss go to the moots hang out yeah it's yeah and as as uh heather

00:17:02.960 said if you're planning to start that journey to it's good times right now come on out to

00:17:09.380 doors off for ostara and uh oh just about just about a month it'll be the fourth weekend of

00:17:15.220 march uh what is that the 22nd 23rd 24th uh 20th 21st 22nd something like that

00:17:22.820 what's it gonna be it's gonna be 21st 22nd 23rd right so um yeah that'll be amazing too

Asatru Folk Assembly - February 28, 2025

On Blótferð and Bucket Lists w⧸ Gyðja Sheila McNallen

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