Asatru Folk Assembly - September 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 hey everybody trying to get folks a chance to get in but now y'all are popping up ah

00:00:39.780 excellent excellent well welcome I've been looking forward to talking to you guys tonight

00:00:52.140 I always get pretty excited about these and give everybody a chance to get in

00:00:59.700 here but in the meantime Mandy and I are getting on the plane tomorrow night to

00:01:05.320 go to Minnesota for AFA's fourth annual Fall Fest if anybody's available to make

00:01:12.260 it this weekend and can get there I know it's short notice but if you haven't

00:01:15.420 already signed up we would love to see you at Fall Fest it's an amazing event

00:01:19.260 look forward to it every year. Jason and Blaine put a lot into making it a success,

00:01:24.860 and we're, as always, pretty excited about it. So if you're able to come out and join us for

00:01:29.500 Fall Fest, that would be fantastic. Aloha, Larca.

00:01:42.780 Thank you, Jessica. I'm glad you appreciate this hat. I'm inappropriately happy with this hat.

00:01:47.980 I've been going on and on about it all week.

00:01:52.180 Yeah, thank you.

00:01:59.500 I'm glad we have Grim Raven Kendrick joining us tonight.

00:02:02.940 Excellent. Good to have you here.

00:02:08.540 Well, while I'm talking about events, one thing I'd like to plug really quick

00:02:12.920 for all those who can make it next month.

00:02:16.020 We've got Winter Nights in the Poconos, the weekend of the 20th of October.

00:02:21.840 If y'all can make it, it's in central, I guess, central eastern Pennsylvania, and it is fantastic.

00:02:31.960 I love that event. It's a beautiful time of year there.

00:02:36.600 Cliff and the Lansdale True Folk are co-hosting it this year with Massachusetts' own Stoneship Hearth.

00:02:44.100 and it's going to be fantastic.

00:02:46.600 They've done a lot of hard work in making sure it's going to be great this year

00:02:49.400 and we're pretty excited about it.

00:02:51.380 It's one of my favorite events.

00:02:52.800 It's super special.

00:02:55.700 I've been able to be at every AFA Winter Nights in the Poconos,

00:03:00.360 which has been fantastic.

00:03:03.200 And it happens to be where I met my wife,

00:03:04.900 so it's a pretty special one to me.

00:03:07.480 And, yeah, I'd love to see you guys come out.

00:03:09.480 That's a weekend of the 20th of October in the Poconos.

00:03:14.100 so got any questions on that cliff would be really happy to help you and get you set up on it

00:03:24.980 hello steve good to have you on

00:03:31.220 well something else to go on about tonight before everybody's in and then we'll

00:03:36.020 get the questions rolling um i just have to say a big thank you to the stone ship hearth kindred

00:03:41.860 for hosting Freyfaxi in Massachusetts.

00:03:46.860 It was my first time in Massachusetts

00:03:48.820 and it was really nice.

00:03:51.860 It was a good turnout, solid, great folks up there.

00:03:57.420 The Boo Bars hosted me at their house.

00:03:59.500 Their hospitality was amazing.

00:04:00.840 Matter of fact, they hosted the event at their property.

00:04:04.620 It was beautiful, it was families.

00:04:06.360 It was really, really nice.

00:04:08.660 I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it.

00:04:10.740 Those guys are doing great things up there.

00:04:12.880 If you're in that part of the country,

00:04:14.860 you should really contact those guys and check it out.

00:04:18.420 Stoneship Hearth are really solid folks.

00:04:22.860 We're very glad to have them with us.

00:04:25.880 That said, does anybody have any questions

00:04:27.740 I wanted to start out talking about tonight

00:04:29.580 or anything they wanted to discuss or get my take on?

00:04:40.740 I promise I'm not a paid spokesperson but while I'm here this marshmallow

00:04:50.700 flavored Rockstar is amazing I would encourage everyone to give it a try if

00:04:54.420 you're out there Rockstar did want to give me some free ones for plugging it

00:04:58.140 I will take them and drink them but yeah anybody have anything they want to talk

00:05:05.540 about tonight anybody you got any questions got some more going about it

00:05:10.440 I can go on about energy drinks or whatnot.

00:05:19.260 So very seriously, this time of the year is when we start focusing on the harvest.

00:05:25.980 That's what I'm going to take a minute to talk to you guys about.

00:05:28.300 though few of us are you know in the agriculture profession most of our rituals or our seasonal

00:05:39.020 observances throughout the year are about the harvest they're about they're about planting

00:05:43.980 they're about tending they're about harvesting they're about celebrating we're entering the

00:05:49.240 time of the year we're finishing off summer which has been fantastic a lot of energy a lot of going

00:05:54.000 out there doing, hustling, working hard, trying to make things happen in our lives.

00:05:58.860 And now's the time where we take stock of those things.

00:06:02.440 We bring in that harvest.

00:06:04.420 We make note of the things that we've gained, the ways that we've benefited, the things

00:06:11.860 that we've tried to push forward, and the ways that we've advanced.

00:06:15.560 And hopefully we all have a lot of those things we can talk about.

00:06:20.440 Maybe we have some things that didn't turn out the way we wanted.

00:06:24.300 It's time to take stock of those as well.

00:06:26.300 This is the time to take note of those things, be thankful for what we have,

00:06:30.900 and be thankful for those along the way that helped us be successful at the things that we're harvesting.

00:06:36.780 Certainly the blessings of the gods are something we need to be thankful for.

00:06:40.780 Certainly the looking on of our ancestors and then looking after us and keeping us and taking care of us,

00:06:48.100 but also our fellow AFA family, you know, those that have helped us maybe in our kindreds,

00:06:53.740 maybe in our regions, maybe around the world in the AFA that have been part of our success this

00:06:58.300 year. Let's take time to appreciate those people and be thankful for them. Yes, Steve, Marshmallow,

00:07:05.560 turn that frown upside down. It is fantastic. You should give it a shot. I thought it was going to

00:07:09.680 be gross. It wasn't. Jessica, we do not do the jumping over the fire tradition at FallFest at

00:07:19.500 this time. If you want to talk to Blaine and Jason, we make an amend to that here this weekend.

00:07:30.460 Good nabbing to you as well, Trent.

00:07:32.480 But no, I don't believe the application for the 2020 Gothar class is up yet, but Blaine

00:07:42.880 would be able to tell you a little bit more specifically about that.

00:07:47.380 I think it's very similar to the previous one if that's still up on the site.

00:07:53.500 You got a little bit of time because we take those in, and the last time to apply for those

00:07:58.020 is I believe the 1st of June next year

00:08:04.280 so we can get everything sorted for mid-summer

00:08:06.220 for the next class.

00:08:07.660 So if that's something you're interested in

00:08:09.280 or anybody else listening to this,

00:08:11.120 if you're interested,

00:08:12.700 come the beginning part of the year,

00:08:14.800 we should start getting that Gothar application

00:08:17.220 up on the website

00:08:18.080 and the next round of Gothar classes

00:08:21.540 will start in June.

00:08:24.680 That being said,

00:08:25.760 we have a very very accomplished and quality batch of gothar that are are

00:08:33.260 fixing to be ordained here in the near future got a lot of really great folks

00:08:37.340 that have put in dedication to the Austria folk assembly put in dedication

00:08:41.580 to our gods and to our people some people were going to be very proud to to

00:08:47.620 be ordaining here in the coming months so you guys will be seeing those and like

00:08:52.340 said we're very proud of this year's class ah hail to you Terry glad you're

00:08:59.720 joining us hope you're hope you're doing all right there with the storm coming

00:09:05.740 your way hope all of our folks down in the deep south are doing okay with the

00:09:09.620 storm if any of you guys are in the areas affected by the storm and you need

00:09:16.220 anything or you find yourself in a rough spot please reach out to us please reach

00:09:21.380 out to your folk builders. We definitely want to hear from you, and if there's any

00:09:25.820 way we can help, we'd like to do that also.

00:09:33.820 Hey Bodie, good you can join us tonight. So let's answer some questions.

00:09:46.060 What do you guys want to talk about this evening? What's on y'all's mind?

00:09:51.380 Well, we're glad you're safe, Terry, and out of the path of the storm.

00:10:06.600 Oh, so for anybody tonight, we are looking, we're looking on the phone and on here on the side to try to get everybody's questions answered.

00:10:18.620 it's really tricky we're still trying to figure it out i know i don't always see your comments

00:10:24.100 when you make them so please know we are we're trying to be aware of that and we're trying to

00:10:29.640 trying to get that better um as always if you guys ask anything that i don't get to for some

00:10:35.900 reason or i don't see i'm not ducking yet i promise i will get to it either after this call

00:10:41.240 tonight or you know the coming day or so uh to make sure i'm answering any anything you guys

00:10:47.240 have or anything, any questions you guys have. It's all very much deserving of an answer

00:10:52.900 and I want to be able to do that for you. Update on HOF number two. Okay. So, and a correction

00:11:12.660 because Steve is asking, and it may colloquially be in the Midwest, but it's in our Northern

00:11:19.420 Plains region that we've been looking. We have a property that we've looked at that looks very

00:11:24.920 nice. We're in the process right now of, again, trying to figure out the situation with the

00:11:31.780 seller. Like I've said a couple of times now, and I promise this is moving forward,

00:11:37.680 but we're in a really good spot. We're in a spot where we get to make the decision on what we want

00:11:42.000 to commit to and what we don't and we're not at the whim of you know trying to figure out finances

00:11:47.840 or desperately scraping we're in a really nice spot now coming you know just eight months after

00:11:54.460 we paid off odin's off now we're in a spot where we can take a good look and we can choose the spot

00:11:59.320 that we want and we're trying to be very responsible about making a good choice one of the previous

00:12:04.080 ones we came close on i'd had a mold problem so we had to pass it up like i say we want to we want

00:12:10.220 to do the right things have a have a hoff that's going to honor our gods appropriately that's going

00:12:14.640 to be quality for our afa family and and that's gonna gonna look good and serve us well in the

00:12:22.140 right place at the right time so with the guidance of the divine we are trying to to do that the best

00:12:28.980 we can and like i said we've got a really nice one that we're looking at right now so got good

00:12:34.160 folks up in minnesota we're doing a lot of work for us on the ground trying to get it squared

00:12:37.780 So I think we'll have some news on that sooner rather than later, and I will keep you guys in the loop on it

00:13:00.700 Well the gods do rule

00:13:02.700 Danielle, please tell Mac that I said hi, and I'm glad that he's listening and joining us tonight.

00:13:12.700 No need for apologies, Steve.

00:13:14.540 It's always good to refresh and let people know where we're looking so everybody's on the same page.

00:13:20.060 Hey, Rob, glad you joined us.

00:13:22.460 And, Chad, that is probably my favorite little smiley face.

00:13:26.620 Call it the Evola face.

00:13:29.080 Monocle's looking classy.

00:13:32.700 So what else do people want to know about tonight?

00:13:35.700 What are you guys thinking?

00:13:37.700 What do you guys got going on?

00:13:40.700 Thanks for joining us, Mark.

00:13:54.700 Well, in some other news, I'll talk for a second about our folk in South Africa.

00:13:59.700 Africa. I always want them to join these calls, but this just comes in, you know, I don't know,

00:14:05.260 3 or 4 a.m. over there, so it's very difficult for them to join us. But talking to Christo,

00:14:11.040 our folk builder over there, they've got exciting things that they're really working on as far as

00:14:14.960 working with these camps and some children's organizations over there to get supplies to

00:14:21.700 folks. As I've said before, we actually have members over there who can go into these camps

00:14:28.800 and go to these places and distribute the supplies

00:14:32.820 that they're able to buy with the funds

00:14:34.580 that y'all have so generously donated

00:14:36.520 for helping out our people in South Africa.

00:14:38.920 It's much appreciated, and we've got people on the ground

00:14:41.680 actually able to make a little bit of a difference

00:14:44.540 and do something now.

00:14:45.900 So that is fantastic.

00:14:47.880 That being said, we have some new members in South Africa too,

00:14:50.740 so it's really, really exciting.

00:14:52.880 It's a really good time.

00:14:54.420 We've got a lot of international AFAA activity lately.

00:14:57.640 um it's got a heart eruption um that's that's always nice to see on the side like that a lot

00:15:04.300 better than the frowny faces um yeah so we've got members we've got an increase in our south

00:15:11.760 african membership and the other thing and i think i mentioned this last month but we've got a really

00:15:15.840 really active group of uh brazilians right now which is a first for the afa and we're we're so

00:15:21.900 honored to have those guys with us. So, yeah, FA internationally is doing extremely well

00:15:27.600 this past couple of months. Been a good summer for that. Ah, Steve, I didn't even see your

00:15:33.300 question. That's great minds think alike, I guess. Yeah, as I said, we're doing really

00:15:39.340 well around the globe. Not to mention we're doing really well in Canada to the north.

00:15:43.640 It doesn't seem that exotic for some of us in the United States, but it counts. It's

00:15:49.140 foreign country to those of us in the US and they're doing great really happy 0.99

00:15:54.520 about those guys really happy to see the growth fair and and I say this if you're

00:16:00.300 listening you are in a country outside the United States and find there's not a

00:16:03.300 lot of members next to you give us a shot stick around for a little bit

00:16:06.660 because what I've seen happen is when you do when people will join up and they

00:16:11.040 won't see people around and maybe they'll go away next thing you know a

00:16:14.400 couple months later somebody else will pop up in their area and if somebody

00:16:17.220 would have just stayed around a little bit longer they would have had something 0.70

00:16:19.860 there so if you are in a foreign country and you want to be in the I say foreign

00:16:23.640 country if you're outside of the United States and you want to be in the AFA

00:16:26.640 please let us know we'd love to help you get set up I think you'd be surprised

00:16:30.500 where we have membership and if you want to start building in your area we'd love

00:16:34.920 to do that too so yeah hit us up and we'd love to work with you and try to

00:16:40.560 try to help get that going where you're at any place our folk are that's a place

00:16:46.320 we should be honoring our gods and that's place the Astro Folk Assembly would like to be absolutely

00:17:04.140 Michael the spirit of vote on is absolutely stirring our folk and enlivening their hearts

00:17:10.080 and bringing people home and Astro Folk Assembly would like to do our very best to facilitate that

00:17:15.060 process and help out what else you guys want to talk about tonight does anybody

00:17:25.500 have any questions taking a look here to see if I see any on the on my phone in

00:17:33.000 because sometimes we get a little bit of different questions all right so Steve

00:17:43.080 thank you for asking Steve asks hypothetically at this point what is the

00:17:50.080 process for forming a kindred and is there a mid-step before full kindred

00:17:55.240 status so the bare bones of the AFA kindred program is gotta have three

00:18:04.920 adult members minimum of three adult members every member of your kindred

00:18:09.660 needs to be part of the Astro Folk Assembly and the idea is that these

00:18:14.400 kindreds are built on being loyal parts the AFA family being connected with our

00:18:19.100 other kindreds and kind of serving as a local congregation for the Astro Folk

00:18:23.760 Assembly to help bring our folk home those are the most important things what

00:18:31.620 we and we're working on this right now I'm actually working with Jason Gallagher

00:18:36.420 to get some guidelines as far as advice on helping people form kindreds and how to set

00:18:42.800 those up and get them going.

00:18:44.220 We've had a lot of requests for that.

00:18:47.580 As far as a mid-step, I don't know if I'd call it a formal mid-step, but it is a process

00:18:53.960 and we don't want anybody to rush into it.

00:18:56.280 Like I say, it's built on loyalty and loyalty sometimes comes with time.

00:19:00.360 I'd rather have AFA kindreds that are solid and going to stand with us forever

00:19:06.500 than ones that kind of pop in and pop out because they're not really sure yet.

00:19:10.760 So take your time.

00:19:12.080 And when you form a kindred, there's a process.

00:19:15.280 A lot of people will have a certain vetting process before they allow people to join their kindred.

00:19:19.440 They'll have, you know, maybe we need to know each other for three months or six months

00:19:24.400 and then become formal members of the kindred.

00:19:27.600 So there's a lot of intermediate steps in that sense, but as far as forming an AFA kindred, once you have three members, three AFA members that are adults that, you know, want to take that step and be an AFA kindred, then you need to contact Jason Gallagher.

00:19:44.880 he'll send you our kindred application and try to get you set up talk to you a

00:19:49.980 little bit more about it and yeah then the next step is to get yourself a cool

00:19:55.620 name and a and a flag that represents who you guys are and how you want to be

00:20:00.540 seen and yeah we would love to welcome more AFA kindreds so if that's something

00:20:06.360 you're interested in like I say Jason Gallagher is the kindred coordinator and

00:20:10.380 and he'd be really happy to help you with that process.

00:20:21.340 Speaking of that, we got one of our Brazilian members

00:20:24.080 just joined us now.

00:20:25.560 Welcome.

00:20:40.380 thank you we got one of my producers helping me find some of these questions

00:20:51.500 that we can't run down on on this screen that I got over on the side someone

00:20:56.580 asked if we had members in Eastern Europe yes not a ton but we absolutely

00:21:01.020 do that's someplace we would really like to see grow that's an area that we would

00:21:10.140 love to have membership and we've been extremely interested in our European

00:21:14.220 folk builder is Anders Nilsson and he and I have actually talked about that

00:21:20.640 about that being an area we'd like to see growth trying to pull up some some

00:21:28.480 numbers for you guys just so you can get an idea of what we do have in Eastern

00:21:34.080 Europe because I think that's a really good question and might be helpful to

00:21:39.300 you that's taking too long I'm not gonna waste y'all's time with that but we have Russian

00:22:03.300 members we have folks in the Czech Republic we have we have a number of

00:22:09.600 members in Eastern Europe but they are spread out really thin if that's

00:22:12.960 something you're interested in we'd love to work with you and try to get more in

00:22:15.780 your area because I think it's a really important place for our folk and it's

00:22:19.980 someplace that I would really love to see the Austria folk assembly thrive and

00:22:23.260 grow. No worry, Terry. Anybody else on here that doesn't catch all of this or doesn't have time

00:22:36.160 to listen to it live and may want to listen to it later, I do post these on the AFA's YouTube

00:22:41.440 channel, so go check that out. You're welcome to see these at a later time, and if you put

00:22:46.620 comments on there anywhere down the road, I'd be happy to answer those as well. But yeah.

00:22:53.260 know that that is there if you ever can't make it

00:22:56.860 or you want to check it out later.

00:22:59.740 Or if I say something interesting

00:23:02.220 and you want to share it with your friends,

00:23:03.600 there's that option too.

00:23:06.300 What else, guys?

00:23:07.200 What else would you guys like to speak about?

00:23:11.720 You can answer pretty much,

00:23:13.920 well, I can do my best to answer

00:23:15.760 pretty much any question you guys have

00:23:17.680 about Oustru, about the AFA,

00:23:20.920 about stuff that's going on now,

00:23:22.980 stuff that may be going on in the future. Anything you guys like to ask, I would

00:23:27.720 love to try to take a stab at answering for you.

00:23:36.920 Well, until I get some questions going, one thing I'd like to reiterate to you

00:23:40.800 guys that we're talking about this year, the theme for this year is the Rune

00:23:47.220 to Othala. And the Odal rune is about sacred space. It's about sacred space that is inherited,

00:23:55.120 that's ours, that has permanence. That's one of the reasons we're so excited that we actually

00:24:01.200 have a Hoth now. We have a temple to Wotan. We have that. And we're working on our second

00:24:08.940 Hoth right now. That's one of the first, it's a huge first for us, because for the longest time

00:24:15.040 we've conceived of Othala in you know you know in a spiritual sense as a

00:24:22.240 spiritual birthright in the spiritual inheritance which it certainly is but

00:24:26.560 in a very real and very tangible way these hops they are our sacred space

00:24:31.420 they are our odor lands so we're working really hard to make that happen and

00:24:35.920 that's a theme and something we're talking about is establishing that

00:24:38.560 permanence in that sacred space so you're also aware I've said this a

00:24:44.260 a couple of times, but just in case, we're working and trying to take the steps to make

00:24:51.420 sure everything's okay, to be able to inter our dead at Odin's Hof, the ashes of our dead.

00:24:57.640 We're working on getting, you know, a place where we can do that and have that sacred

00:25:02.440 spot to put the remains of our loved ones and our AFA family so they can be there with

00:25:07.640 us in a holy area.

00:25:08.660 um so that's something we're working really hard on and and we're trying to we're trying to take

00:25:18.060 our time to where we do it right to where we go through the right steps to where it's permanent

00:25:21.960 it's secure and we we know the process which will help us in the future as we establish more but

00:25:27.680 that's well underway and i'm i'm very glad that that's on the horizon and something we can do and

00:25:34.320 really important to us so as you go through the rest this year make sure you you just take a note

00:25:40.480 of focusing on sacred space on something that's that's ours that's permanent and that we can pass

00:25:47.760 down to those that come after us that's really a huge focus the astro folk assembly is building

00:25:52.880 something not just for us but for our children and for their children and their children into the

00:25:57.920 future someone asked about prison ministry at present the AFA doesn't have

00:26:15.040 any prison ministry going on but Blaine Qualls would be really happy if you

00:26:21.020 wanted to reach out to him our our go-thar coordinator if there's a

00:26:25.620 specific issue that needs help with if there's someone that needs us to provide

00:26:30.540 some information if there's ways we can help with certain things but as right

00:26:33.960 now we don't have a formal AFA prison ministry um advice in the best way to

00:26:41.640 introduce friends and family to the AFA well first and foremost and you guys

00:26:49.440 will hear me say this a lot but I think it's really important the best thing

00:26:52.800 that we have is our example you introducing them through you and you

00:26:57.800 being a living breathing example of our values of the virtues of what the AFA

00:27:03.300 stands for is going to be the most effective that way if something seems

00:27:07.500 strange to them or if you know anything else they encounter they will have that

00:27:12.000 as their base to say hey you know mates a good guy I know him I really like him

00:27:17.220 if this is important to him let's keep an open mind let's listen to it if this

00:27:21.600 is important to him maybe it's worth something if you're successful in your life not only are you a

00:27:26.160 good person a kind person a good son a good father a good husband a good employee a good employer

00:27:33.120 if you're those things and you find ways to be successful people can see that you've got

00:27:39.120 something they don't have you have some special quality and they'll want to know what it is

00:27:44.560 it would be great if that's the afa and i think that's your best bet on introducing friends and

00:27:48.960 family to the astro folk assembly also please feel free to you know send them to the website

00:27:54.480 show them all the pictures of the families and the good fun things we've got going on

00:28:00.240 you could also mention the food uh the food giveaway that we do for the food bank at odin's

00:28:04.480 off i think those things are all really good ways to show that we're doing good things

00:28:08.960 and that we're that we're friendly successful good looking family oriented uh church because

00:28:15.760 it's what we are and we're trying to be those things we're accomplishing it and i'd love other

00:28:19.680 people to be able to see it so i'd be proud for you to show your family those things but as i was

00:28:24.480 saying earlier it's all about your example and it's all about you being that representation

00:28:28.640 the astropholk assembly to the people that you're trying to show up to rob how should

00:28:39.600 Could someone incorporate Galder or other magic practice carefully?

00:28:46.220 I think that those are things that a little goes a long way.

00:28:50.140 I think they're important.

00:28:51.620 They certainly have a place.

00:28:53.000 But I think that a strong spiritual foundation is necessary

00:28:58.860 and very important to give those things context.

00:29:01.960 I think those are the kind of things that come slowly over time

00:29:04.720 to people who are attuned to them to people who who have a have a natural inclination towards

00:29:11.980 those things i think one thing that starts off really well that i would encourage is that galder

00:29:17.240 practice there's something very special about singing a room and singing it into into existence

00:29:23.300 and into your life it's something that i certainly like to do before rituals when i'm going to do

00:29:28.500 bloat is to have everyone in the circle Galdr together a room because it harmonizes it literally

00:29:35.060 harmonizes us but I think it also spiritually harmonizes us gets us all focused on the same

00:29:40.440 thing on that room by that same note when I do my meditations it's always been very important to me

00:29:45.800 to Galdr I think some people are very successful having really quiet meditations and they can sit

00:29:51.520 there in silence and achieve that state and get to that place for me it's always been very important

00:29:57.920 to galler to have something i'm doing a sound i'm making but galler over time when you're doing

00:30:04.700 meditative practice it drones out and you no longer concentrating on the word or the sound

00:30:09.780 your body is just making it but you're focusing on it and it helps you focus on that which you're

00:30:15.860 gallering or the purpose of that which you're gallering so i think galler is really important

00:30:19.980 in that sense

00:30:20.780 so the uh the ethos room that we were talking about at odin's hof

00:30:47.420 um yeah it's i think it's really interesting i think one thing that's really important uh being

00:30:54.980 that this last month we celebrated frey faxie we spoke at odin's off a lot go through my connor

00:31:00.540 led a discussion about about that room and about its association with horses and you know frey faxie

00:31:07.360 meaning in phrase horse is important this time of year to take note of and to think about and we

00:31:13.900 talked about a lot of associations one of the things I think is very meaningful

00:31:19.280 with that room and also with the room right oh is the idea of not just horse

00:31:25.020 by itself the connection of man and horse the idea of two things in

00:31:29.740 cooperation in the right ordering of man riding horse makes those two things much

00:31:35.680 more than they were individually and I think that's something really really

00:31:41.980 important to look at not only in a sense of hierarchy to where things are when

00:31:45.760 they're in the right order something I said at Freyfaxi that I think is

00:31:49.840 important a man riding a horse is a knight a man being drugged by the horse

00:31:55.460 that's a whole different story so when you have willpower and nobility atop the

00:32:02.860 beast and atop a powerful chaotic element they can work together and they

00:32:08.620 can synergize to be something great something much more than they are alone

00:32:12.200 but it has to be done in the right order and it has to be done with that that

00:32:16.740 willpower with the with the cosmos over the chaos and I think that's that's a

00:32:21.460 really important mystery both of those ones

00:32:38.620 Well, our Brazilian brothers and sisters are on here talking about how difficult it is

00:32:55.180 to find suitable members in their area, and I can imagine that being the case, but they've

00:33:00.980 got to be there.

00:33:03.180 That area has clearly got to have those folks.

00:33:05.740 if it wasn't you find people wouldn't be on this call tonight so you got folks

00:33:10.240 there we appreciate the struggle I'd rather have great people with us then you

00:33:14.740 know just getting who you find so keep looking they're out there they'll

00:33:18.940 reveal themselves as long as you're you're putting in the work you're trying

00:33:22.360 it will catch momentum it will catch momentum and I'm excited to see what you

00:33:27.280 guys can do in your country and one of the things is the harder it is the

00:33:33.340 greater the glory when you succeed the bigger the challenge the bigger the opportunity for success

00:33:38.380 and the bigger the you know the accomplishment once it does take hold and it will take hold

00:33:43.260 with the formation of your kindred it's already started to take hold so we're very excited to see

00:33:47.260 that a little bit about what you can expect at winter nights

00:34:03.340 And it's going to be your first time this year, Joe.

00:34:06.700 Well, that's great.

00:34:07.700 We'd love to see you there.

00:34:08.700 I'm excited that you're going to show up.

00:34:10.580 A couple of things to expect.

00:34:12.960 First and foremost, it's fall, it's beautiful, but it's also a little bit chilly at night.

00:34:18.940 So I'd make sure if you're coming that you bring or you arrange with some people who

00:34:21.960 are there to have warm...first, you should bring jackets and warm clothes to have.

00:34:27.980 You should also bring warm sleeping stuff, blankets, a good cold weather sleeping bag,

00:34:33.240 Just be prepared for it to be a little bit chilly.

00:34:35.600 It's a wonderful camp, I love it,

00:34:37.280 but it does get cold and the cabins are not heated.

00:34:42.400 Expect good folk getting together,

00:34:44.460 enjoying each other's company, honoring our gods.

00:34:46.840 There's going to, I'll talk with Cliff

00:34:49.840 about what he's got on the schedule,

00:34:50.880 but I assume I'm gonna do a Odin's bloat there.

00:34:53.200 I know we're going to have a DeSeer bloat. 0.96

00:34:55.400 Focus of our winter night celebration

00:34:57.280 is gonna be a lot about the DeSeer, 0.69

00:34:59.240 our female ancestors that have passed

00:35:01.220 and that look on from beyond the veil.

00:35:03.140 That time of year, the veil's thin,

00:35:05.560 and so our connection to those who've passed

00:35:07.780 is much greater than at different times.

00:35:11.240 That's where we're gonna work with that energy 1.00

00:35:12.760 and invite our female ancestors to be there with us. 1.00

00:35:16.160 So that's gonna be kind of a theme.

00:35:19.760 If you have any pictures of your female ancestors

00:35:22.200 that have passed, this is something kind of reminded me,

00:35:25.300 I'm gonna talk to Cliff about,

00:35:26.860 they have an ancestors table with pictures of the BCR on it

00:35:30.320 for people who wanna bring those and share those

00:35:32.140 so others can see and so you can share stories about your mothers and mothers, mothers, mothers

00:35:37.740 that have passed. Something else you should be prepared for, I guess, is families and kids

00:35:45.520 having a good time, is kindreds helping out and providing food that they've spent time and effort

00:35:51.440 preparing for you guys, and yeah, just for an amazing weekend with great people. I'm really

00:35:58.760 looking forward to it and I think that you'll really enjoy going. Rick, how would

00:36:15.040 you get into the GO-THU program? You would need to talk to Blaine Qualls. There

00:36:22.280 will be an application process next year. There's also a there's several

00:36:26.540 prerequisites that you'll need to have so check with Blaine he'd be happy to

00:36:32.660 help you through that process he's our go with our coordinator and yeah he'd

00:36:36.800 like to like to get you on that road and advise you know where to go from here to

00:36:41.000 get there. Shannon, I believe that is the plan. The person you need to talk to is Cliff. Clifford

00:36:58.880 Erickson is running that show and he's coordinating with both Hintz Kindred and the Stone Ship

00:37:05.140 Hearth. So reach out to him and I'm sure they would love to have your help as far as the

00:37:09.540 kitchen goes at winter nights. And I'm excited you're going to join us for winter nights. It's

00:37:12.660 fantastic. Oh, glad you're here, Elaine. I'm reading the comments. Looks like you're doing

00:37:27.060 all right with the storm. Like I said earlier, if you know of any members down there that are

00:37:32.640 having trouble, please let us know. If you are a member down there having trouble, please let us

00:37:37.100 So we're worried about our folk.

00:37:40.240 We want to make sure you guys are all safe and taken care of when storms and things happen.

00:37:50.300 I'm sorry to hear about so much difficulties down there in Brazil.

00:37:55.160 That's unfortunate.

00:37:57.840 I think it's been that way probably for a while there in Brazil, but it's really nice to have you guys with us.

00:38:03.520 I don't think we can do anything today that's magically going to fix everything going on in your country and the concerns you have.

00:38:11.860 But being here and being part of it is the start of fixing it in your life, in the life of your kindred, in the life of your community.

00:38:20.380 And we're really happy to have you with us.

00:38:23.320 All of us go through difficult times in our areas and we look around and see things we don't like. 0.52

00:38:27.980 But this here, this here is a pocket of golden age that we can build, that we can maintain, and that we can grow here within a wolf age, a Kali Yuga around us. 1.00

00:38:38.960 The Astru Folk Assembly is our opportunity to construct the world we want within the decaying one that we have around us. 0.99

00:38:46.940 And to focus on beauty and building and something really great, even when things aren't necessarily the way we want outside. 0.86

00:38:52.740 We can focus on what we have inside with our folk and with the Astru Folk Assembly.

00:38:57.260 and I'm excited about that process and have you guys with us for it that's

00:39:05.060 great Jessica Jessica mentions that the Midwest region is all getting in one

00:39:10.100 huge caravan coming down there I hope that's the case we would love to see you

00:39:14.060 guys it's it's really a great event at winter nights anyone who hasn't been

00:39:20.020 love to have you there it's a magical place if you come be sure to check out

00:39:24.500 the waterfall is one of the most beautiful spectacular things that that

00:39:29.180 you get the opportunity to see winter nights is great I love it come on out

00:39:34.460 please if coming out to AFA events is so important that was one of my first

00:39:39.800 things that's what really sunk in the reality of the AFA to me is when I went

00:39:44.300 to my first midsummer and I have chased after going to as many events as I could

00:39:48.980 ever since then because i realized that you know the 360 days a year that weren't at an event with

00:39:56.900 my folk with the afa were all preparation and wanting to be back there with my folk

00:40:03.700 so please if you can make it to one of our events get out of the house come to afa events and

00:40:10.820 participate because that's where it happens and that's where it's real and we've had such a surge

00:40:14.980 and participation. We'd love everybody to be part of it.

00:40:20.020 All right, so we're getting a question from

00:40:50.020 one of our Brazilian ladies, and it's not quite translating the best.

00:40:57.180 I'm not sure what moisture people are, but I think it's fascinating,

00:41:04.600 and I'm very entertained by the possibilities, I guess.

00:41:08.020 Why a lot of people that aren't our folk are interested in the Aesir and in Alstutra lately.

00:41:14.500 I think some of it's pop culture. I think some of it is just Vikings are cool.

00:41:18.300 I think that's a factor that we always contend with.

00:41:21.420 The other thing that I think affects a lot of people, and not just us,

00:41:25.580 especially in the West, as we've seen a decline in Christianity and the church,

00:41:31.300 people are searching.

00:41:34.840 It's not just our fault that have a soul sickness.

00:41:38.260 People are displaced.

00:41:39.460 They're not connected with their roots or their ancestors or their gods.

00:41:43.420 And so they look for something that seems authentic.

00:41:46.840 And I think it speaks well of us that we do have people from, you know, other backgrounds that like what we do and are inspired by it.

00:41:54.140 I hope that we can send those people on their way to their own gods, their own ancestors.

00:41:59.740 But the fact that they look to us as what we're doing is legitimate and they want some of what we have.

00:42:05.040 It's a little bit like how in the 70s and 80s, our folk used to look to the Native Americans and think that they had such a great thing with their connectedness to their ancestors. 0.75

00:42:16.100 and their ancestral faith, and it was important we stepped away from that 0.98

00:42:20.220 and drunk from our own well, and so I would encourage those people to do

00:42:24.220 that as well, but I think it speaks highly of us that other people see what

00:42:28.240 we're doing and want a piece of that. They should go out and build it and find it for themselves

00:42:32.400 in their own community, and I hope they're inspired to do so.

00:42:39.520 Yes, Jessica,

00:42:40.240 I'm looking forward to that DCR bloat also.

00:42:42.300 So, fun fact, a de-sear bloated a few winter nights ago was the most powerful ritual I've ever been a part of.

00:42:52.780 It was visceral and real and powerful and shook everyone there to their very cores.

00:42:59.180 So, de-sear bloats can be extremely powerful, and I'm sure this one will be.

00:43:02.660 that's great rob i'm glad you feel that way about uh rob says that being at an event's like like

00:43:15.900 coming home and that's certainly certainly what we try for and uh that's certainly what i felt

00:43:22.860 that's what we hear from our from our membership all the time and i hope that all of our afa family

00:43:27.400 feel like they come home when they come to one of our events

00:43:29.540 that's hmm so Jason that's a it's a complex question but I think the answer is kind of

00:43:53.660 simple uh jason asks what is your advice from shifting your focus from causes to meaningful

00:44:00.300 spirituality and from white victimization to becoming successful and powerful along the path

00:44:05.820 of ostrich it's almost as though that question answers itself when you read it shifting your

00:44:13.420 focus from external things to internal things that you have some control over and that doesn't mean

00:44:19.740 just being passive about the political situations in life or other things in life you have to deal

00:44:25.280 with. But as far as the Austro-Folk Assembly is concerned, I think that what's really important

00:44:31.860 is making that focus about things that you can build and things that are positive, like our folk,

00:44:38.000 like our church, like your kindred. You have the opportunity to affect hundreds, perhaps thousands

00:44:44.400 of people in meaningful ways by focusing your attention on making that better make yourself

00:44:51.200 your life your family your kindred better make the afa better by you succeeding and by you keeping

00:44:57.760 your head up and focusing on on the big picture and what you want to build and what you want to

00:45:02.560 accomplish it's very easy to focus on all of the things that you don't like or the things you wish

00:45:07.680 you could tear down but that doesn't accomplish anything it burns you out and it burns your soul

00:45:12.960 out. What I think's great, and one of the reasons I love talking to you guys every month like this,

00:45:18.680 is we can focus on building what we have, making that greater, making that better. And I'm watching

00:45:24.240 that happens a little bit every year. I talked earlier about building a golden age within the

00:45:31.220 wolf age that surrounds us. And we're doing that. And I think that's the way to do it. I think when

00:45:37.080 he mentions victimization it's very easy to look out at any problem and find

00:45:43.500 whose fault it is and don't get me wrong there are plenty of things that happen

00:45:48.960 to you that are someone else's fault somebody gave you you know short end of

00:45:52.800 the stick somebody did you wrong but that doesn't get you anywhere when you

00:45:58.320 take responsibility and everything is your fault then everything is within

00:46:02.880 in your power to fix, to change. Any route you're going on that's going in a direction you don't

00:46:09.440 want, you can change it. You can turn it around. You can make yourself better. We can all do that

00:46:14.420 starting today. There's not one of us here, no matter how bad we've been victimized, that can't

00:46:19.240 make tomorrow a little bit better than today by focusing on what we can build and not what's been

00:46:25.140 taken from us or what, you know, we feel we've been blocked from building. We have so much

00:46:30.340 opportunity ahead of us. The sky is the limit. You know what? The sky's not even the limit. Our

00:46:36.120 folk are the space-faring folk. We've traveled to the moon. The sky is no longer our limit.

00:46:41.020 But we've got to stand together, and we've got to push, and we've got to achieve great things,

00:46:44.380 and try things. And when we try, we succeed as a folk.

00:46:55.480 You're right, Lane, by building community. And that's what we're talking about, and that's what

00:46:59.420 doing and matter of fact since the last call lane you've stepped up as a folk builder for

00:47:04.700 the deep south anybody who's not aware lane ashby of florida is an afa apprentice folk

00:47:09.420 builder now in the deep south so lane you are you are working to build that community we appreciate

00:47:14.460 it a lot. So our folk in the southern hemisphere, it's pointed out that everything's opposite there

00:47:34.880 as far as the calendar goes. And Yule there is when we're celebrating midsummer and vice versa.

00:47:41.560 I don't think there's really a wrong way to do it. It's a process we've been discussing, but certainly our folk in New Zealand and Australia have some pretty ingrained traditions in how they celebrate, and they've kind of made it their own.

00:47:54.900 I think it's really interesting, and I think it speaks to the scope of the Austro-Folk Assembly, that we have AFA family in both hemispheres.

00:48:06.360 It's something special, I always think, when we're celebrating Yule, and I see our folk down in the Southern Hemisphere celebrating Midsummer.

00:48:15.040 It's something really special that we can say that, that I don't think other people can.

00:48:18.860 And it's really, I think it's really a special thing.

00:48:23.340 And I think that, you know, you're certainly free to do it the opposite if you want to sync up with what we're doing.

00:48:29.540 But the fact that we have the ability and the scope and the range of members in our family that can celebrate at those different times really speaks to how big that we are.

00:48:40.460 Something that I've enjoyed saying lately is the sun never sets on the Astro Folk Assembly.

00:48:45.420 And that is absolutely true.

00:48:47.040 And it's an amazing time to be part of it.

00:48:48.860 suggestions for folks that want to be involved in local charity work go do it

00:49:02.600 you know if you see an opportunity to make the world we live in better

00:49:07.700 especially if you can help your community and your people please go out

00:49:11.300 and do it let's make it happen we've been really really blessed with Odin's

00:49:15.740 off that we've been able to participate in food banks uh food giveaways for folks in brownsville

00:49:21.340 that's been an amazing thing for us i feel like it's genuinely helped the community and the folk

00:49:26.380 in brownsville that are desperately in need of some help but it's also helped us it's helped us

00:49:32.220 to to feel good to focus on doing something good to like we're talking about earlier instead of

00:49:39.980 focusing on the problem we get to focus on helping and a solution and you know maybe we don't fix it

00:49:46.300 for everybody all the time but that day in that moment somebody who was going hungry is getting

00:49:52.060 fed and that's that's huge that makes all the difference in the world somebody who didn't have

00:49:56.620 hope now has a little bit so we've been really fortunate to be a part of doing that and if you

00:50:02.300 have the availability to to do things like that in your area swing for the fences go do what you can

00:50:07.980 and help out make things better place as far as suggestions a little side thing

00:50:29.440 just go on the the charitable situation as far as suggesting the ways that

00:50:34.140 people can get involved. I think something that's really important is networking. There's big

00:50:40.340 charities that may or may not have room or space for you, but they may know of smaller charities

00:50:45.840 that do. There's a lot of charities around that are missing pieces. Maybe they need a location

00:50:52.580 to work from or to distribute from. Maybe they have a location, but they don't have anybody

00:50:57.000 who can do transportation or who can do web things. So I think there's a lot of niches that

00:51:03.520 can fill especially if you're able to find smaller charitable organizations that are local to you

00:51:10.080 one thing we have a community member who works with the red cross in brownsville and she's been

00:51:14.240 very helpful in networking us with the community because she knows everybody she knows those local

00:51:19.600 charities so if you can find someone like that even if they don't have a spot for you or it's

00:51:24.400 not the right fit they can probably find somebody who does that would be very happy to have your help

00:51:29.280 it's a good question Paul as far as who's what leadership are coming to winter nights

00:51:57.020 Mandy and myself are coming for sure.

00:51:58.760 Other than that, I'm not really positive.

00:52:00.520 I think Steve and Sheila would like to show up.

00:52:03.260 I can't guarantee that right now, but I think that they want to this year.

00:52:08.540 Yeah, ask us after Fall Fest.

00:52:12.280 I know a lot of the leadership are really focused on getting Fall Fest figured out.

00:52:15.400 But, yeah, I mean, I know Cliff's going to be there.

00:52:21.020 Hopefully we'll have quite a bit of leadership at Winter Nights.

00:52:24.380 Look forward to it every year.

00:52:25.420 I know it's a special thing and I'm excited to see you and as many as Sandhills kindred that can make it up there as possible.

00:52:32.320 It's really going to be a nice one this year.

00:52:38.440 Oh, that'd be great if Blaine could come. We'd love to have him back out there. It's been a while.

00:52:49.040 I think that's interesting, Jessica, again, talking about the charity work as far as getting pre-certified to help out with Disaster Stride.

00:52:55.420 It's something that Mandy and I learned when we were in Santa Rosa and we wanted to help

00:53:00.420 out with the Red Cross.

00:53:01.420 They put out a call for volunteers, but it turns out there's a lot of preliminary things

00:53:06.220 that you needed to do.

00:53:07.220 There was a number of fires out in Santa Rosa when we lived there, so we were trying to

00:53:10.220 help out, and we found out that we couldn't because we didn't go through all the preliminaries.

00:53:15.920 So maybe getting certified and getting prepared in case something happens, I think that's

00:53:20.820 probably a really smart thing to do.

00:53:23.220 And you also, you mentioned the food drive is some positive work to counter negative

00:53:31.980 perspectives that some people have.

00:53:34.500 It's not to do that, but it certainly does that.

00:53:37.600 We don't do that in order to try to make good publicity.

00:53:41.460 We do it because we want to help.

00:53:43.640 But in doing so, we show who we really are, and we show what our focus really is.

00:53:47.820 And it's helping people out, it's, you know, we're happy people and honestly, as corny

00:53:52.540 as it may say sound, the AFA is about love. It's about love for our gods. It's about love for our

00:53:57.180 folk. It's about love for our ancestors and love for who we are. And we'd love to help out and be

00:54:03.380 big parts of the community. And in doing so, it does counter some of the negative propaganda out

00:54:08.500 there. But negative things are going to happen one way or another. We're not focused on those.

00:54:12.620 We're focused on doing positive things and accomplishing. And I'm really, really glad

00:54:17.520 able to do that in that way all right guys well I got a Witten call here in a

00:54:27.960 few minutes so I can't stay too much longer but if anybody has any last

00:54:31.680 things I'd like to talk about any any questions I would be really happy to

00:54:36.420 answer them any kind of final thoughts anybody has or anything they want to

00:54:41.780 Want to have me chime in on why you guys got me here?

00:54:48.360 Seems like time went by really fast tonight.

00:54:58.340 That's fantastic.

00:55:00.540 Just had greetings from Uruguay.

00:55:04.100 That's what I'm talking about, about the expanse of what we're doing,

00:55:08.120 is having someone in Uruguay for the first time.

00:55:10.600 so that's fantastic that's great Santiago I'm really excited about seeing seeing that develop

00:55:18.020 I would love to see things spread there and if there's any way we can help or or help make that

00:55:23.800 successful please reach out because we'd love to have membership there that's great Lane I'm glad

00:55:32.840 you guys are going to help out with a cleanup I think I think they're going to need it I think

00:55:36.980 that's uh that's a really good way to put put your face on doing something positive so well done

00:55:42.340 oh you're very welcome jessica i uh i'm very honored to be able to be in the in the position

00:55:56.500 i'm in and to be part of the austral folk assembly and to have all this wonderful people

00:56:03.260 surrounding me, very, very blessed, and there's nothing in the world I'd rather be doing,

00:56:08.880 so you're very welcome.

00:56:15.920 All right, guys, just got a few more minutes here, so if anybody has anything they want

00:56:19.840 to ask, hey, Jason, our folk builder coordinator, or sorry, our kindred coordinator, Jason Gallagher,

00:56:25.720 just signed into their chat here.

00:56:28.920 Only got a couple minutes left, but if anybody has, like I say, anybody has anything they want to ask,

00:56:34.820 now's the time and I'd be happy to answer it.

00:56:42.320 Jason wants to see if I will be in Colorado for Thorfest coming up in January.

00:56:47.840 We'll see. I was talking about that a little bit earlier.

00:56:52.820 I don't want to give you 100% and then not be able to, but I'm planning on it.

00:56:57.640 I would love to, and it's certainly something I'd like to do.

00:57:00.220 I enjoyed it last year.

00:57:01.960 For anybody who didn't know Thorfest first time last year,

00:57:08.560 the Ace Folk Kindred and Jason Plurd hosted that in Colorado,

00:57:12.880 and it was a really, really nice event.

00:57:15.020 It was up in the mountains, there was snow,

00:57:17.720 it reminded me of a home up in Alaska,

00:57:20.180 what I grew up with.

00:57:21.540 It was really a nice time.

00:57:25.380 The crowd, it was a small crowd,

00:57:26.920 I'm sure that'll grow this year, but it was a really intimate time to be able to make friends

00:57:30.900 and meet people and have those kind of interactions, and I'm really looking forward

00:57:35.020 to it this next year. So, yeah, Jason, I'm really going to plan to try to make

00:57:39.080 that happen. That's certainly my intention.

00:57:43.480 Oh, thanks, Will. I appreciate that.

00:57:47.280 No reason to be sorry, Jason. I'm glad you showed up at all. That's fantastic.

00:57:52.180 Any of you guys who are taking time out of your evening to join

00:57:55.120 me on this call. I really appreciate you guys being there. Like I say, any questions that you

00:58:01.220 guys had that I didn't answer, I'm going to go back through over the feed tonight and tomorrow

00:58:06.100 and make sure I answer everything. And yeah, if you guys post on it, anything that comes up or

00:58:11.300 whatever over the next day or so, I'd be really happy to answer those. Oh, that's great. I'm

00:58:18.100 I'm looking forward to seeing Saga and Jeremiah also.

00:58:22.960 Yeah, I'm very excited to see those guys.

00:58:27.040 That was an interesting thing.

00:58:29.060 When AFA leadership and myself were over in Sweden in May,

00:58:32.500 we happened to run into two Colorado members

00:58:34.760 that were over there.

00:58:35.980 So that's really also talking about that sun never

00:58:38.660 setting on the House Tree Folk Assembly.

00:58:41.740 So yes, I'm looking forward to Thorfest.

00:58:48.100 I agree, Paul.

00:58:55.340 I think that a leadership conference would be fantastic.

00:58:57.840 I'd love to see that happen at a time where everybody can organize and be at it.

00:59:02.600 I think that would help and I think that building teamwork and esprit de corps is always a great

00:59:09.840 thing for us to do.

00:59:10.840 So I'd be really happy to talk to you about trying to set something like that up.

00:59:16.100 All right. Well, thank you, Jessica. Thank you, guys. Thanks to everybody who's been

00:59:21.080 here tonight, everybody who had questions or comments, everybody who just joined and,

00:59:25.620 you know, listened to me tonight. I look forward to these every month. It's really special to be

00:59:31.400 able to take the time and get to talk to you guys. I hope you all have an amazing, amazing September.

00:59:37.080 I hope you guys show up to Fall Fest, barring that, or even if you do, I hope you guys show

00:59:43.720 to winter nights um if i don't talk to folks between now and then i hope you guys have a

00:59:48.360 really amazing winter finding and yeah we'll catch you guys next time hail the gods hail the folk

Asatru Folk Assembly - September 04, 2019

September 2019 Facebook Live Discussion

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