00:00:00.000Hello, appreciate you guys joining me this evening got a lot going on we got some some topics I definitely wanted to make sure I talked to you about tonight.
00:00:29.000about tonight we've got some folks in general that have asked some questions lately that i think we
00:00:33.960all could uh could maybe use kind of a refresher on or an answer to um and yeah i'm excited to be
00:00:43.640here and talk with you it seems like august went by very very quickly seems like this whole year's
00:00:48.600gone by very very quickly but yeah thanks for joining me tonight and uh as my wife just noted
00:00:55.640We have a special guest, Toaster Strudel.
00:01:01.780She's a good cat, depending upon who you ask.
00:01:04.960And maybe she'll chime in if she has some answers for you guys.
00:01:13.600I did get a little bit of tan this weekend.
00:01:16.540I guess that's a good enough place to start.
00:01:18.720I'd like to share with you guys an experience I had from this last weekend.
00:01:25.640so um as you guys may or may not have been aware um i think the very closing days of july
00:01:35.960maybe the beginning of august there was a very tragic marine training accident off
00:01:43.080the coast of southern california unfortunately a lot of young men just starting out and training
00:01:51.560lost their lives and uh come to find out one of those young men uh happened to be
00:02:00.360also true wasn't an afa member um didn't know anything about the kid before uh the family
00:02:08.680reached out but i'm assuming they found our contact information at runestone.org
00:02:16.040but however they came across it this young man's family reached out and asked for help
00:02:21.160and assistance and eventually asked if um if we could supply a gothe to go and perform this young
00:02:29.720man's funeral and it was a tremendous tremendous honor to be able to do that to do that for him
00:02:36.360for his memory and for his family so i got in the car and first i waited around a long time
00:02:43.800for the military to figure it out and kind of being on call there was a lot of unknowns
00:02:48.120because it was out to see that recover the remains um so there's a lot of things going into it
00:02:55.400but uh i drove down from reno to san diego this last weekend and was able to do that and perform
00:03:04.520his service at miramar national cemetery and it was a tremendous honor to be there amongst so many
00:03:12.200so many very honored dead of our military uh military folks that have lost their lives
00:03:21.620it was very special it's a very special thing to be able to be a part of um very moving
00:03:28.420this young man had full military honors uh just just 19 years old but what was really important
00:03:37.060to me is that the family and this young man took AusterTrue serious enough that they wanted an
00:03:45.140AusterTrue funeral and not kind of a private pretend AusterTrue funeral for friends and family
00:03:52.260at a different time but no the funeral for this young man was an AusterTrue funeral and I think
00:03:59.140that marks a really really special time that we are in to where folks are taking this very seriously
00:04:06.340and where folks are recognizing the AFA as a legitimate, you know, the legitimate source for
00:04:13.260that spiritual authority of having someone officiate these kind of events.
00:04:20.100Just like to say so that his name gets out there, because I think it's important that
00:04:25.000we always speak the names of the dead, Lance Corporal Chase Sweetwood, and it's my tremendous
00:04:32.880honor to have been able to be in his service. I hope that his family appreciated it, and I hope
00:04:38.800that he appreciates it. So that said, it got me in kind of a serious mood this last month,
00:04:50.260and I think there's time for that. I think it's important that we take note of serious things.
00:04:56.480One new addition to our website and to our contact page, and something I'll be talking more about throughout this month, is a special emergency contact link to an emergency at runestone.org email address.
00:05:18.460we have more of our people these days who are as i said taking things very seriously and willing to
00:05:28.640reach out to the afa when they need help when things go wrong in their life when things are
00:05:34.840important that they need someone to to help them with and that's really important and our gothar
00:05:40.340have become very good over the years at being able to counsel people being able to help people
00:05:46.300and being able to be there for folks and their families but it's always in the back of my mind
00:05:52.400haunted me you know what if we get a really important message and somebody misses it or
00:05:57.660somebody doesn't check their email or or something something slips through the cracks and our job is
00:06:05.480too important for that to happen so on our contact section in red it has for anyone who needs it
00:06:13.440who's experiencing an emergency, emergency at runestone.org.
00:06:19.800And that will go immediately to all of our leadership.
00:06:22.960So, you know, someone reaching out may get too much help,
00:06:35.040anyone within the sound of my voice, know that's there.
00:06:38.500um you know obviously one of those big uh scary things is people who have come to the end of the
00:06:46.580rope and they're contemplating suicide um september is suicide prevention month and i think it's worth
00:06:52.420saying right now anyone out there if you're having that struggle in your life um if you're at that
00:07:00.500point where you feel like that's something you're thinking about and i would ask you please
00:07:06.820reach out give us a shot to talk to you about it that's not the answer it's not the solution
00:07:15.220there's always so much more to be done so much more we can do but i would ask anybody to uh
00:07:22.420please reach out and at least give that a shot um so yeah not to be too too morose but any kind
00:07:29.620of an emergency if you need the immediate assistance of a gofi or afa leadership
00:07:34.660emergency at roomstone.org like i said that'll immediately go to all of our leadership so
00:07:40.340somebody will be getting back to you with a quickness on that i want our afa family to
00:07:45.460know that there's always somebody there that's really important to me also to mention on that
00:07:54.660naval veteran and afa member in san diego grayson wilson was a huge help to me
00:08:00.980uh gray thank you so much i really appreciate your help with the service i appreciate your
00:08:07.620help with the setup and i also really appreciate you know having having that time having that day
00:08:14.260on on friday to spend with you and having you with me through that thank you very much it was a huge
00:08:20.340help and uh and the family noticed that helped too so i mentioned earlier
00:08:30.180This month went by real quick. And that being said, it's fall fest time. I am really stoked
00:08:39.140this weekend. We're going to have fall fest. It's going to be amazing. It's always amazing
00:08:45.740up there. And I'm really excited to see our Northern Plains family and any of the rest
00:08:50.460of our AFA family that's able to make it up to fall fest. Like I said before, Southern
00:08:56.840hospitality is a thing but we don't often hear about the hospitality of folks up in minnesota
00:09:03.880and the dakotas but that hospitality is top-notch it takes a back seat to no one
00:09:09.480so if you know last minute if you can make it to fall fest sign up get registered and we'd
00:09:15.800love to see you there this weekend we've got big things going on and it's going to be a very special
00:09:19.800time i'm gonna check on here anybody have any questions tonight is there anything anybody
00:09:25.960wanted to uh make sure they heard me talking about or uh yeah got a reaction or a an answer to
00:09:34.760uh we're gonna do our very best to to answer all the questions but i saw mandy post over here that
00:09:41.240you know she's having a difficult time managing the questions so uh yeah we're we're looking up
00:09:48.420we're trying to figure it out and if there's any way to i don't know go ahead and ask anything you
00:09:54.200want, and we'll do our very best to get to it, and I'll do my very best to answer it for you.
00:10:04.820Not seeing a massive amount of questions yet, but a couple of things have come up inside
00:10:10.220conversation over the past couple of weeks, and I think they're, I don't know, worth saying,
00:10:16.920because I think sometimes people may not know. One of the questions that we get is,
00:10:23.600how's the afa structured and like how how does the structure of the astro folk assembly work
00:10:29.600how are things done what does that look like and i'd like to start and this is new this year we
00:10:36.560changed around how we did our folk builders and our gothar uh used to be those were two very
00:10:41.120separate systems the folk builders did one thing our gothar did a different thing and they were
00:10:47.200separate often we'd have folk builders who were also gothar and uh you know in the paths would
00:10:54.640cross in that way but they're very separate uh separate trees we brought that together this year
00:11:01.360so i'll start out the the first level of if a leadership is your local folk builders now folk
00:11:09.440builders start out uh as apprentices people who want to be a folk builder want to uh organize
00:11:16.640things in their area they want to help manage the afa membership not only just grow it but make sure
00:11:23.360that those folks are in communication with each other that those folks feel like they're part of
00:11:28.480the bigger afa picture and really take care of those people locally and see their area thrive
00:11:35.440those folks start out as apprentice folk builders after about a year or so if it's something that
00:11:41.200they want to want to continue doing then they'll oath in and become an oath folk builder or just
00:11:47.520a regular folk builder um it's important to to know that those people aren't just you know some
00:11:55.200guy that helps connect each other they're not just just an organizer they're they're a level
00:12:02.320of leadership in our church and what we're trying to do and we appreciate that leadership and what
00:12:07.280they put out there for our folk um so after that and again new this year we've limited our applicants
00:12:16.640to our gothar training program to only oath folk builders so once one becomes an oath folk builder
00:12:24.720if they feel like it's something that they want to pursue if they have that spiritual calling and
00:12:32.320that relationship with our gods and if they want to serve our folk in the capacity of gothar of
00:12:38.800priests and priestesses of our faith then they go ahead and they apply for that we look that over
00:12:46.480and we consider a lot of things on it we consider whether we think those people are ready or whether
00:12:51.600there's steps that they need to take beforehand maybe some things we'd like to see them work on
00:12:57.680or some material we'd like to make sure they're familiar with before we we let them in
00:13:02.320we also have to consider you know um something people also may not know about it our gothar
00:13:08.080program is done in a mentorship model so when we have students each student has a mentor that
00:13:15.360instructs them through the through the materials and all the way up until they become a gothean
00:13:20.240and hopefully keeps helping them and bringing them along after they're after they're ordained
00:13:25.520but so one of the other considerations when someone applies to the gothar program is
00:13:30.240how many mentors do we have and and pairing those with the students so a number of those
00:13:35.360things go into uh go into play if someone's accepted into the gothar program then they
00:13:41.200have about a year of year of really comprehensive study on uh book learning so they got a year of
00:13:48.480studying the lore reading different things reading different essays and going through
00:13:54.480the scholastic portion but this is really important to be a gothi somebody needs to know the lore
00:14:04.000they need to be well versed in in theories and in in our history and our lore both our ancient
00:14:11.360history and our modern history but all of the lore knowledge in the world doesn't amount to much
00:14:18.400if it can't be applied um it's much more important to the astro folk assembly
00:14:25.040that some you know it's prerequisite you have to be fluent in our lore and know that but your
00:14:30.080ability to to serve as a counselor to help lead our people to help um yeah to help our people
00:14:38.240when they're in need and to to provide that counseling um ritual is really important and a
00:14:45.760And a lot of people, when they want to be a gothi, they want to be the center of rituals and perform those.
00:14:49.880And that's important. But it's really important to realize that ritual is not about the spotlight or getting out in the circle and doing a performance.
00:15:00.240There's certainly those elements. But fundamentally, ritual is about connecting our gods and our people.
00:15:07.040ritual is about the the alu formula it's about connecting the gods through that ritual to the
00:15:14.640folk and vice versa it's about establishing and maintaining that gift cycle so we make sure that
00:15:21.700people can really do that so that goes to once you've completed your year-long scholastic portion
00:15:28.180of the gothar program then there's an indefinite amount of time where that's put into practical
00:15:34.620application and we guide our gothar through practically applying that and really serving
00:15:39.740the folk as gothi um so we do that it's very important uh that's something we take really
00:15:50.220seriously uh historically many more people have joined the uh the gothar program than have graduated
00:15:59.020but once you make it through there you take a holy oath and you become ordained as a gothi
00:16:04.140or githya in the astro folk assembly our gothar are the ones that manage our regions and serve as
00:16:10.540as helpers and as supervisors to our folk builders now above the gothar there's the witten
00:16:21.740and the witten was established in 2016 and the witten is a group of of wise men that
00:16:30.700serve as that kind of high council of the astro folk assembly the witten are an advisory panel
00:16:38.220and i discuss things with them we meet uh we meet through conference call twice a month
00:16:45.260to make sure we're on top of things but we also are in constant communication back and forth
00:16:50.620very often several times a day to discuss the issues that face the astro folk assembly and
00:16:55.740and what we're dealing with right now,
00:17:13.360Newest member of Witten is Gothi Svahn Harrell.
00:17:17.300Svahn is the officiating Gothi for Thorshof.
00:17:21.700He is a very deeply qualified spiritual man. He is an amazing artist and somebody who brings a lot of very wise counsel to the table.
00:17:35.180We also have Gauthie Blaine Qualls, who's our Gothar coordinator. He manages and leads our Gothar, and he's done a tremendous job on helping structure our Gothar course over the years, on making sure that's up to the high standard that we need it to be, and of leading and taking care of our Gothar.
00:18:00.800So he is also a tremendous resource. He's also the driving force behind making Fall Fest that's coming up a thing. Blaine really has a knack for getting things done and making things happen.
00:18:13.480We also have Clifford Erickson. Cliff has done a lot for the AFA, but very specifically, he handles our technical things, website-related, email-related, and all of the ways the AFA interfaces with technology.
00:18:31.920uh cliff's been doing that for a very long time he's been doing that since before the
00:18:35.600witten existed he brings an awful lot to the table and he does any number of side
00:18:41.440tasks for us and cliff runs uh winter nights which is coming up in october and i encourage
00:18:47.040you guys all to come out to that then after cliff we have law speaker alan turnage um
00:18:54.480Alan is his counsel is invaluable. Very often, you know, I'll get very passionate and very excited
00:19:04.700about an idea. And I talk about this a lot. But, you know, sometimes Alan's the wheat side to my
00:19:10.440frosted side and discussing things with him and getting his counsel and stuff is extremely
00:19:14.660important. Also, him being a practicing lawyer is very beneficial because he's he's an incalculable
00:19:22.140help when we have to deal with legal things or, you know, purchasing property and how best to do
00:19:28.200that, dealing with any of those kinds of issues. He's been amazing. Basically, Alan propels us
00:19:34.820forward in huge ways on adulting and he's, he's excellent at that. So that's the Witten. And like
00:19:42.440I say, we, we discuss things constantly. They counsel me and they advise me and do an amazing
00:19:50.480job of that. And then ultimately, it's my responsibility to make the final call on things
00:19:56.160and to make the decisions that guide and that direct the OSTU Folk Assembly and that lead us
00:20:02.180moving forward. And that's kind of how the AFA is structured. Some of you guys may be old hat
00:20:07.620and you guys know it. Some people may still be curious. So I'm going to go back and see if you
00:20:13.060Do you guys have any questions? Mandy tells me there's a question about minors coming to events.
00:20:22.060So in general, for people coming to events, they're for AFA members and vouched for guests. You have to be an adult to be an AFA member.
00:20:31.060But as far as the vouched for guest category, we would love to have minors there, but we run into we run into some issues.
00:20:39.060So it's really important that we have that parental consent if minors are going to be there.
00:20:43.440Minors are welcome to attend if they are vouched for guests, but they do need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
00:20:49.940And if their parent or guardian is with them, then we would love to have minors come to our events.
00:20:54.380We certainly have all kind of AFA minors and members of AFA families at events.
00:20:58.560They're very kid friendly, and it's been great to see all the kids there.
00:21:02.840But minors, if you're interested, please bring a parent or guardian.
00:21:05.880and don't hesitate to reach out to your folk builder
00:21:08.420and we'll see what we can do to make that happen.
00:21:11.520Like I said, if you can get a parent or guardian
00:22:39.080so i'm still looking for questions and i'm not finding a lot of them so far
00:22:47.560that's fine because i'm i'm getting a little bit better at the dead air here and i'll
00:22:51.400ramble on to you about more stuff if i don't have questions but primary thing on this is
00:22:57.800to get your guys questions so if you guys have stuff you want to ask please ask if you don't
00:23:01.560hear an answer please ask again we're doing our best to answer them but yeah well so also
00:23:13.800one of the uh one of the big accomplishments and one of the big selling points the astro folk
00:23:19.720assembly is that we've been really successful lately um in our ability to establish hoffs
00:23:27.800And so, you know, one of the big points is we're able to, you know, hey, if you want to Hoff in your area, get behind the team that's making Hoffs happen.
00:23:39.420And that's true. And I think it's really important. I think that establishing Hoffs speaks to our ability to accomplish.
00:23:50.360I think it speaks to our just capacity to get things done.
00:23:54.880But more importantly, I think it speaks to the fact that we're being blessed by our gods and that what we're doing, at least in the broad strokes, is pleasing to them and is something that they support.
00:24:12.320And that kind of brings me down to the point I'm trying to make.0.98
00:24:14.820when we get in a in a fervor on hey the afa is your best route to get a hof in your area that's
00:24:20.520absolutely true but if you're joining the afa in the hopes that you know you can get a hof and
00:24:26.380that's the whole reason that you missed the point um some people are stuck in an old paradigm and i
00:24:34.000think there's all kind of also true organizations out there if it's not an organization though we
00:24:40.440are organized. The AFA is a church. Not only is the AFA a church, the AFA is the church for the
00:24:48.100Aesir on Midgard. And we do our very, very best to enact the will of our gods and to make them
00:24:57.660proud in all that we do. And we believe that we have that connection. I think one of the most
00:25:03.140important things about, you know, reasons to join the Astro Folk Assembly is to be part of that,
00:25:09.560is to be part of those blessings that we share as a community.
00:25:13.680Our blessings of the gods have been dealing out pretty heavily to us.
00:25:18.520And I think that's part of getting in on the gift cycle that's been established.
00:25:23.000As the Osser True Folk Assembly in its current iteration,
00:25:26.840our gift cycle of doing our very best to worship our gods
00:25:31.460and receiving their blessings has been going on for 25 years this year.
00:25:36.660Pretty soon, 26 years this year is flying by.
00:25:39.560And that's a pretty, that's a pretty substantial thing. But if you take Steve's relationship with the gods, which ours is based on, which we piggyback on, and I believe we're very much get a certain inheritance from that relationship and all of the things that Steve's done with house.
00:26:00.560with house of truth uh steve mcdallin has been doing this for 51 years about to be 52
00:26:09.280that's a long time it's a long long relationship of giving and receiving from our gods and that's
00:26:17.920the main reasons that you should be involved with the afa a sincere faith in the gods a sincere
00:26:23.840belief that we are doing the will of the gods to the very best of our ability and a desire to be
00:26:30.080part of that participate in that and to share in that those are the things that are important and
00:26:36.400by doing that by doing it consistently and by doing it wholeheartedly and honestly
00:26:43.120that's how we get those hoffs and those great things that we've been able to experience we've
00:26:47.360been able to have so i wanted to clear that up too i know a lot of people that's the big sell is hey
00:26:52.960we should be part of the afa so we can make some hoffs happen and you should but it's a much much
00:26:59.360bigger thing than that and if you're part of the afa we want you part of the big picture not just
00:27:03.360the little picture so where's my questions guys help me out here
00:27:29.360All right. So appears we got some good questions going on. I'll take the ones I've got here
00:27:41.500chronologically and I'll keep refreshing. If I don't get to yours, please do make sure you're
00:27:45.880asking. Where do we see ourselves socially during these tense times?
00:27:53.280i hope i'm getting to the um the meat of what you're asking
00:28:00.480um i think it's twofold i think there's us as we relate to the world around us
00:28:12.400in to the the utgard and us as we relate to the inning guard um socially the afa has been great
00:28:21.280when all the chaos and really extreme things that we see out in the world are going on.
00:28:28.400The AFA this year has been a refuge where people have been
00:28:32.960coming together and having some normalcy and being able to experience a life in a world that
00:28:40.560makes sense when so much around us this year has not made sense in the bigger picture of the world
00:28:47.480around us. So socially, I think the AFA is doing great by sticking together, by taking strength
00:28:54.060from each other. When we're in times of stress, taking comfort from each other. I think that's
00:28:59.060been huge this year. And I think that's never been better. In the world around us, I think the best
00:29:05.120thing that we can do is try to shine as beacons of sanity, of nobility and right action when so
00:29:14.320many people around us are seemingly insane and doing crazy things. I think this is a time of
00:29:22.480awakening of people's eyes opening up. And what we can do is serve as that touchstone and that
00:29:29.120example of something that makes sense, something that our grandparents would recognize and
00:29:35.980appreciate, something that has the timeless values that define our folk. And I think that's going to
00:29:42.920be a very valuable commodity as these times increase. And it's a special thing that we get
00:29:49.520to be part of that. A lot of folks are waking up and a lot of people want a taste of something
00:29:54.700normal and something they recognize and something that makes some sort of sense. And I think we are
00:30:00.800that. And I think that's what we can show to the world. Not sure if I got to your question, George,
00:30:05.320or not, but hopefully it did. After Fall Fest, can folks go work on Baldershof? You're going to
00:30:13.880need to ask Goethe Qualls that. I know that some of us are. I know that I am, and I'm very excited
00:30:20.900to see it and check it out. It is quite a ways from the event site, but if that's something you
00:30:25.800want to do, I know some folks are going to go check that out and try to see what we can do after
00:30:31.540So go ahead and talk to Blaine and see if you can get that arranged.
00:30:38.540What can a family expect from a national event if they attend for the first time?
00:30:54.540Can't make a promise for everyone, but what I would tell a family to expect is to show up someplace to feel comfortable, to feel welcomed, to over the course of the weekend feel like you're in a place where your children are safe, where you and your family are valued.
00:31:13.980and by the time you leave to develop friends and to have the feeling of family with the people you
00:31:20.260attended the event with, with our AFA family. I'm always talking about that AFA family,
00:31:25.340but that's what I felt from the second I went to a national event way back in 2010, 2009,
00:31:34.940until now. And it's hard to explain in words when you're not there, but the feeling you get
00:31:43.480when you meet other AFA members and you connect with them, you make friendships and relationships
00:31:48.100and last a lifetime. I think it's a safe place for families. I think it's a welcoming place for
00:31:54.460families. And I think it's a way to develop a bigger, wholesome AFA family. So that's what
00:32:03.220I would suggest families look forward to expecting.
00:32:13.060Ash, yes, please bring your 16 year old.
00:33:17.680Terry, yes, a date has been set for Ostara in the South.
00:33:20.780um you should discuss with the folk builders in your area about getting that up on the
00:33:28.940thorshoff website i talked to them about it a little bit but the date is is up and active on
00:33:35.520the main afa uh i'm sorry on the thorshoff facebook page the main the event is up and on
00:33:43.160the calendar and in the event section of the afa facebook page right now and you can go take a look
00:33:48.280at that. I don't remember the days for it off the top of my head, but it's going to be that weekend
00:33:52.840before the equinox. So go check that out if you want a date and figure out any more information
00:33:58.940about that. That is going to be held at Thorshof, so please speak to those folks, our wonderful AFA
00:34:05.320leadership in the Upper South, and anybody who wants to attend OSTAR in the South, they can get
00:34:09.240you all set up as the months get closer. Got a question about explaining our beliefs to a spouse
00:34:19.320or significant other. That's an open-ended question, and it's hard to answer because it's
00:34:27.080not one size fits all, and it depends on where they're coming from. It depends on if they're
00:34:32.520coming from a different spiritual background, and if so, which one, and it also depends if
00:34:37.520coming you know maybe from an atheist background if you're dealing with people who don't believe
00:34:43.200at all i think that one of your best starting points is um ancestors and ancestor worship
00:34:53.360whether they believe in an afterlife or not your ancestors are real they exist you can show them
00:34:59.760pictures scientifically it's a given that they exist for you to be here they don't have to
00:35:06.080contemplate the existence of the gods at that point they can start by certainly acknowledging
00:35:13.760the existence of of ancestors and then working on that um i think that's always been a really
00:35:20.720good place to start and a place to honor certainly even if they don't accept an afterlife
00:35:27.200they can tend to agree that honoring your ancestors is good whether grandma's alive
00:35:32.400ever dead, honoring your grandma is a good thing to do. And I think that's a really good starting
00:35:37.600point for people who aren't openly hostile, but who tend to be atheists. I think that's a nice start.
00:35:46.820I think you go a completely different route for somebody who's got belief, but it's strange.
00:35:53.940Sometimes you'll run into people that believe in ghosts and other things that way, but won't
00:35:58.980believe in our gods. And I think that's also a good place to start. I think if they're willing
00:36:04.360to believe in anything that's, you know, I hate to say supernatural because it's all natural,
00:36:10.680but if they believe in anything outside the normal or in the esoteric,
00:36:16.000then I think that's a place you can get to. But one of the things that's really important is get
00:36:22.720them to an event and get them to see how other people interact with the divine, get them to
00:36:29.240understand how it's affected you and your life. Something that's tricky but I think is important
00:36:35.800with atheists is if they can see that your faith, whether it's real or not, is real to you and has
00:36:45.700made a difference in your life, it opens their mind a little bit to the possibility. And if they
00:36:51.480see the effect it has on you, they drop their defenses and no longer fight against it. Even if
00:36:57.880they don't believe in it, they don't feel like it's a bad thing or try to advise you against it.
00:37:03.700And at that point, it's nice to bring them in and get them involved, get them to a step where they
00:37:09.860enjoy the community and the camaraderie, even if they don't feel the presence of the gods. And then
00:37:14.280over time, I hate to use such a crass expression, but I think it's applicable. You fake it till you
00:37:20.400make it. If they go and they participate and they're there, you'd be surprised because one
00:37:26.880of the most special things I've been able to experience in Ausitru, both, you know, as a
00:37:33.260regular AFA member, certainly as a Gophie and as Ausheria Gophie, is when you see somebody's eyes
00:37:42.420open, when it goes from something that they really want to believe in, that they say they believe in,
00:37:48.340that they try to live like they believe in to when it just is real and it shakes people to their
00:37:56.100core some people get angry some people cry some people just stand there they're baffled but when
00:38:02.660the divine is real to someone very often in a moment of ritual but at other times
00:38:10.020it's indescribable but there's nothing like it when it happens you know it when it happens
00:38:15.620and it once your eyes are open you can never close them again so that's what I'd suggest on that
00:38:22.820bringing the energy of a national event home with you um so I think Ocetree is about doing
00:38:34.280fundamentally it's about doing things there's so much energy and uh something to think about
00:38:40.880When people go to national events, especially if it's their first time, especially if it's their first time, they'll be blown away by the energy, by the number of people there.
00:38:54.360Maybe they've only known, you know, maybe you go to a national event and before that you've only known three or four other Alcetruer, maybe none at all.
00:39:02.160And all of a sudden there's, you know, 30, 40, 50 at midsummer, 140 Alcetruer.
00:39:08.920and it's amazing and you want to go right back to where you are and start something and have it you
00:39:15.180know it's going to be a hundred people and it's going to be a hundred people tomorrow
00:39:17.800i really appreciate the enthusiasm and i hope that it is i absolutely if you can make that
00:39:24.500happen please apply to be a folk builder at once because we need you but a lot of the time these
00:39:31.060national events are the culmination of people putting in months and years of building a
00:39:37.120community in their area um when i first started it was me and one other guy in his family
00:39:43.200and there's two groups so it was me and one other guy in his family and then me and uh and two two
00:39:51.140women who were practicing and the two groups didn't want to get together at first uh this was
00:39:56.680up in alaska and over time we got you know four or five people maybe and it was great i loved it
00:40:04.020I went to a national event. Next thing you know, there's, I think that year there were 60 some
00:40:08.440people there. I was blown away. It's a different thing. So taking that energy and trying to build
00:40:14.880in your area. Things start to snowball, but you've got to start with that enthusiasm and have it keep
00:40:19.920you into building something. I always suggest with new folk builders that you try to host moots1.00
00:40:25.020at places that you like to go anyway.1.00
00:40:32.660If you're single, sure, but even more so
00:44:07.000Charles in Michigan. I would encourage you to reach out. Hopefully, Mandy will tag James Ault, our folk builder in Wisconsin, for you. He's going to be your best bet for who to reach out. He's a folk builder for your region, and he can get you in touch with our Michigan membership and help you get set up.
00:44:35.000JamesAult, J-A-U-L-T, at runestone.org is his email, and he'd be really happy to help you.
00:44:44.720And hopefully, Mandy can tag him in the post, and it'll get to you.
00:44:52.580What else we got, guys? Do we have more questions tonight?
00:45:05.000uh tom okay i got your question here about
00:45:18.920uh yeah i found a couple of extra questions here i didn't get to i apologize
00:45:22.800tom your question about the hammer right
00:45:25.560so kind of on the back of what i just said what's most important isn't always the what
00:45:34.520but the why you're right you do um edrid thorson established our modern hammer right and how we do
00:45:44.420it i believe he established that protocol back in the 80s can't remember which book of his he
00:45:50.340describes it in but basically to each of the directions and to above and below hammer in the
00:45:58.380north, hallow and hold this holy stead. And then doing that to each of those directions above and
00:46:05.100below. Sometimes people will do it in Icelandic, but that's what it means. And the idea is to
00:46:13.580separate sacred space from the mundane world. And so often, certainly in that day of Al-Satru,0.52
00:46:22.460all of our practice was in places that were for other mundane uses. They were in a park
00:46:29.300or somebody's backyard or a makeshift area. So it was important to separate that out
00:46:36.200and twofold. It's important metaphysically to alert the spirits of the place to what you're
00:46:43.000doing, to cast out the negativity that's there, to welcome and embrace the gods and ancestors to a
00:46:49.760holy place that you've established. It's really important to cut that area out of time and space
00:46:55.740and make that area for ritual time. Now, you may have heard your watchtower thing. I haven't heard.
00:47:01.820I'm not sure where that happened, but I know different people in different traditions come
00:47:07.480into it. The number of different things. The hammer hallowing is really important. It's
00:47:13.600traditional in the Ausatru Folk Assembly and in Ausatru, but also there's people who will walk
00:47:20.520a circle around the perimeter with a torch or with a lantern and hallow it and protect it by fire.
00:47:26.900The idea is really the same though. You're creating that sacred space and setting it apart
00:47:31.660and putting forth the idea that it's protected in the hammer, right? You're beseeching Thor
00:47:37.140through his might to hold that place sacred and protect it and invoking him for that.
00:47:43.600But the important part is just that you're establishing that sacred space.
00:47:48.900As a special to me side note, we don't have to do that at our Hoffs anymore, which is important to me.
00:48:00.000And people still do, and I try to stop them, and I'm like, why are we doing this?
00:48:04.220Because we live in a day and age where at least at those Hoffs, we have permanent sacred space.
00:48:11.360We have permanent locations that are for ritual.
00:48:15.880So we don't need to make new sacred space every time.
00:48:20.860And it's important mental cue for a lot of us who've done this for a long time.
00:48:25.220We're in a day and age with permanent sacred space.
00:48:28.100Not only don't we need to ward off bad juju from the area, but that hollowed ground by a repeated ritual on it year after year as time progresses becomes hard.
00:48:40.780full of spiritual might in Maine and Megan. It becomes potent spiritually to stand in that
00:48:47.660place where so many rituals have been performed. So we live in a day where that's a thing. And
00:48:53.640And I'm really honored to be part of that.
00:57:48.480Tom's talking about doing a hunting pictures contest. I'd be really curious to see what you
00:58:01.120get. I'm not sure what you typically hunt for, Tom. I know I miss it. It's been too long since
00:58:06.400I've been hunting. One of the really special religious experiences in my life was the moose
00:58:12.220hunt that i went on in alaska back in 2009 where i got my first moose so so that's neat i'd be
00:58:19.340curious to see the the hunting pictures that you get gathered george i really don't understand
00:58:35.980your last question i'm sorry brian you're in south carolina um the person you would like to
00:58:47.500talk to about joining is daniel young hopefully mandy can beat me to it she already tagged him
00:58:55.580uh daniel is a great guy a friend of mine i think the world of daniel he'd be happy to help you
00:59:01.740he also lives in south carolina and i'm not sure where in the state you are but you're very
00:59:06.220fortunate because in the state right above you we got thorshoff and that's a really special place
00:59:10.940and i hope you're able to make it out to it but yeah daniel's the man you want to speak with
00:59:21.580lauren and devon um yes i hope you guys make it out to the next event too
00:59:27.980i'm not sure where you guys are located i can check the database when i get a chance and try
00:59:32.780to get you connected but go to that contact page at www.runestone.org and reach out to your local
00:59:41.740folk builders they're the ones that are going to get you connected and get you set up and
00:59:45.180make sure you're at those events if you if you're interested
00:59:47.500All right, guys. Anybody got any last questions for me? If not, I think we'll call this a night and I'll go get myself some dinner.
01:00:17.500Mary, I have considered Zoom, but it's difficult, and there's payment involved, and it's very hard to accommodate the amount of people that we have on here with Zoom.
01:00:29.820For smaller calls where everybody can pop up, I think Zoom's a really good resource, and I say that.
01:00:35.040There may be a way to do this on Zoom that I'm just not an expert on how to do that the best.
01:00:40.880I could ask Melissa Mills, our folk builder in the Central Corridor region.
01:01:06.340i want to make sure i can reach as many of my fa family as i can with these things
01:01:11.700and as it is now facebook is that that solution
01:01:25.780uh terry i'm not sure about spawn and the iron guard and the calendar creating you'll have to
01:01:30.740run it by me and i can deem whether it is heretical or not but yeah i'll talk to spawn
01:01:35.380about that i'm kind of curious he did mention they were doing a little bit something but i'm
01:01:38.660not sure sure what that looks like but i'm glad you're excited about it and i'll definitely take
01:01:42.420a look and see what he's up to on it uh preparation so robert asks he says he's going to be attending
01:01:54.740his first winter nights um i'm assuming you're going to go to the one in the poconos i really
01:01:59.860hope because that one's spectacular and i'll get a chance to meet you um if that's what we're
01:02:04.740referring to uh what can you expect is there anything you need to do to prepare
01:02:12.340yes uh we do a dcr bloat and i'm going to put this out now and i'm going to remind myself and
01:02:16.900i'm going to remind cliff erickson who's running it bring pictures of your dcr for the dcr table
01:02:25.380that's a special thing if we remember it because everybody's so excited when they get there
01:02:29.060sometimes folks forget those pictures but basically your dc or your female ancestors
01:02:35.860only only folks that have passed not folks that are still living but if you have female ancestors
01:02:40.580you have pictures of bring those and we can set them up on the dc or table because we honor the
01:02:46.420dc or that's kind of our focus at winter nights and that's something you can do to prepare um
01:02:51.860also bring you know bring some nice clothes we try to try to dress our best when we're
01:02:58.980approaching our gods and when we're practicing our faith nothing to stress over just the just
01:03:04.980the best you can do you're welcome to show up in whatever you show up in but you might want
01:03:11.620to make sure you pack the a couple pairs of nice clothes other than that winter nights also can be
01:03:17.060be kind of chilly that time of year in Pennsylvania. And the cabin and the lodging, you need to make
01:03:22.760sure you bring something warm to sleep in, a real warm sleeping bag. You may want to bring some hats,
01:03:26.840some gloves, that kind of stuff for the day because it can get kind of cool. So do make
01:03:30.720sure you prepare for chilly Pennsylvania weather in October. What you can expect is a spectacular
01:03:36.640event. Beautiful, beautiful area that we do this at, at Camp Natimus in the Pocono Mountains.
01:03:44.620that time of year the leaders are changing and it's just a stunning camp it's one of my it's it
01:03:49.960I can't say that the Hoffs aren't my favorite because there's so much
01:03:55.520important things on that but as far as properties we don't own that we've done events on this place
01:04:02.140is by far my favorite a lot of history there with us like I say it's beautiful it feels nice I love
01:04:08.440there it's also where i met my wife mandy um a lot of special memories there but i know winter
01:04:15.560nights would be a great time with your folk and people would love meeting you guys so yeah i hope
01:04:20.040you guys do come out to that yes facebook's interface for this kind of thing is lousy it's
01:04:30.600just a big enough net that i catch most afa members on there's other services that are much more
01:04:35.480efficient but i won't get as many of the people dropping in and i'd like to know i mean if you
01:04:41.640reach out to me privately if you have any solutions to that or ways where we'll get
01:04:45.960facebook traffic but on a different platform for that and i'd be really interested in hearing it
01:04:51.720i'm afraid i'm not tech savvy enough to to know that from where i'm sitting
01:05:05.480All right. Michael asks, what's the best way to address family members who may think negatively of the AFA?
01:05:13.480Why do they think negatively of the AFA?
01:05:17.480That's the big question because that's going to affect how you have that discussion with them.
01:05:23.480Because you mentioned the AFA in specific and not also true, I'm going to take a shot and think maybe because of stuff our enemies accuse us of or if they accuse us of.
01:05:35.360you know any of the varying insults that get thrown around i'm not sure if the issue is your
01:05:40.400family has a problem because we're folkish or because maybe rumors that other people have started
01:05:48.160um i think your best bet on all these things i know i'm repetitive on it is live a noble life
01:05:54.880and be a good person because at some point if they see someone that they respect that's part
01:06:00.800of the afa and that vouches for it whether they want to admit it or not instinctively they will
01:06:07.600um there's a there's a mental thing because you can't picture somebody who you trust implicitly
01:06:12.880and think really highly of you can't picture that person doing something that's really sinister or
01:06:19.040really bad i think there's a mental game that comes on that you know well if michael does it
01:06:25.040and we think really highly of michael but these people say they're you know some evil horrible
01:06:31.680hateful whatever these people say we are putting those two together it causes a split in their
01:06:38.000head and it makes them stop and think and give it more of a fair shot i think the next thing i'd say
01:06:43.840is ask them very openly to tell you what they don't like or what they're concerned about and
01:06:52.400then answer frankly and honestly and if they bring you questions that you don't know an answer ask
01:06:57.440your folk builder or send me a message and ask me that's why i do these things is to clear anything
01:07:01.840up and i think when you address things that they're concerned about don't accept name calling
01:07:08.960ask specifically what the afa does that they are offended by or ask specifically what the afa
01:07:16.880believes that they find offensive very often you'll find they're under misconceptions
01:07:22.400or they're just parroting you know name calling the other folks do so it's really important to
01:07:28.160get down to specifically what their concerns are and then dispel any that aren't true
01:07:34.400and try to conceptualize ones that that are true or that are valid but it's a hard question to
01:07:41.520give you a complete answer on if i don't know exactly what their what their complaint is or
01:07:46.480what their concern is all right i'm gonna do one more check here to see if i've got any questions
01:07:56.640and then i've got some pork loin that needs to get eaten
01:08:06.000apparently word is that spawn likes his calendars i was i was unaware um that said anybody on this
01:08:12.960call. We are currently in the process of collecting pictures from last year so that we can construct
01:08:18.960the AFA 2021 calendar. So if there's pictures from events you've been at that are high quality
01:08:25.760and that are nice, please send those to photos at ronestone.org. And we would love to use some
01:08:32.080of the pictures of AFA events and AFA gatherings for that calendar okay cool all right so this is
01:08:52.000what I got last question of the night again with Michael but thank you for clearing up what they
01:08:56.320ask about um you've got family that are concerned that the afa is a hate group we're not that's the
01:09:03.440best thing honestly we're not a hate group and i think that you can show that to them we don't
01:09:10.400talk about hatred we don't spend time wasting our time hating stuff we've got members that hate
01:09:18.640all kind of things and all kind of people i'm sure everyone does but as a church
01:09:24.160church where's the hate at I mean I'm tearing up on this thing telling you about the friends
01:09:30.640I made in Scandinavia I don't think if you listen to any of these live interviews for the you know
01:09:36.580an hour a month for the two years I've been doing them that you can find talk about all the people
01:09:41.860we hate and all the stuff we don't like if you expose your if if your family's willing to read
01:09:48.940material, to listen to things like this, or to attend an event, I think that they would have a
01:09:56.420very hard time feeling that anything we do or anything we say is hateful. Because quite honestly,
01:10:03.340we're too busy focusing on the things that we love. I think it's more accurate to say that
01:10:09.720we're a love group, although that may have weird connotations. But no, the AFA is about all the
01:10:15.760things that we love. We love our folk. We love our family. We love our gods. It's unfortunate that
01:10:25.580when someone hears a rumor, especially one that's scary, they react to it very often without clearing
01:10:32.080it up or asking. You know, I'd even invite next month. I'll be on here and I'll do this very same
01:10:38.620thing next month. Have your family member that's concerned get on here and ask me something if
01:10:43.140they're that concerned. I'm taking all questions and I'm happy to, happy to address it. But I want
01:10:49.220to assure you, it's not just something we say to avoid labels. We're not hateful. We're not hateful
01:10:55.480people. We love ourselves. We love our gods and we love what we're trying to do. And that's the
01:11:03.380biggest, it's the biggest thing in our favor is that we're just honest about who we are and what
01:11:09.480we believe and that we stick to that. And so that's, that's the best I have to really
01:11:14.640suggest on that. But I would suggest not shutting, especially family, don't ever shut
01:11:20.380them down. Keep the door open and try to answer, frankly, whatever their concern is. I'd also
01:11:28.260say this too, as a side note, don't feel defensive and apologize for assumptions that they make
01:11:37.240about us or spend all your time trying to defend us and make us look perfect. Be honest. If they
01:11:46.500ask what our views are or what we do, tell them honestly. They may or may not agree, but they'll
01:11:52.240respect them. And at the very least, they'll respect you for being honest with them about
01:11:57.000where we're at. And the truth is, honestly, we're not about hate. We're about the things that we
01:12:03.720love. With that, I love my AFA family. Thank you guys so much for
01:12:08.640joining me this evening. I look forward to these all month. I
01:12:12.260hope that I will see you guys at Fall Fest this weekend. And if I
01:12:18.660don't, I hope you guys have an amazing September. Hope you guys
01:12:21.700have a really good winter finding. And I'll talk to you
01:12:24.900guys in October. Hail the gods, hail the folk, hail the AFA.