Our Hospitality: Irmin-Gestaþáttr
Guests all stand in equal footing when hosted by the Irminfolk. No person, simply by virtue of his rank, title, or position within another group will be afforded any extra treatment other than the hospitality of guests in our halls. No spouse is subordinate to her/her Husband/wife, and each is counted as an individual guest in our eyes.
If a guests prevents, or attempts to interfere with the free practice of another guest from participation in any ritual, program, event, or contest hosted by the Irminfolk, we will consider the interfering guest to be in breach of our Hospitality.
All individual guests are equally welcome and encouraged to attend and participate in all rites and activities at Irminfolk events unless specifically stated otherwise by the Irminfolk.
Ritual participation.
Ritual is the setting where we express our kinship with the Folk, the Gods and where the bonds of Community are strengthened and renewed. Ritual is an expression of our indigenous culture, and ancestral customs.
If a guest is a practitioner of heathenry, either as evident by having performed a rite of Profession, or by having a reputation of notorious practice in heathenry, then it shall be construed as deep disrespect to the Irminfolk to abstain from heathen rituals we perform without an evidently just reason. If our Rites are not good enough for you, then neither is our venue, our hospitality, or our community.
If a person is not a practicing heathen, but is our welcome guest, that person shall not be compelled to attend rituals, but may do so if inspired to.
Oaths.
Oaths are considered to be the most vital formality in the building of a folk community. An oath is a sign of verity, and an appeal to sacred witness before the Gods, the Ancestors and before the Irminfolk. By the instrument of these Oaths, the Irminfolk maintains its trust in the words and intentions of its members and guests.
As we hold Oaths to be the MOST sacred of words, which directly affects the fate of the Irminfolk as a whole, the making and accepting of Oaths shall be a formal process.
If a guest or member wishes to make an oath in our hall he must first become familiar with our practices thereof.
At either Blot, or Sumbel, the guest may announce over the horn that he wishes to make an oath.
It is the duty of the host of the hall to recite an allocution, to give advice and to warn about the seriousness of the Oath.
The nature of the oath may not be frivolous. General and indeterminate Oaths will not be accepted. An Oath’s parameters must be narrowly defined so that it may definitely be determined when it has been fulfilled. Its time-frame shall be fixed within a reasonable time.
It is advisable to provide a caveat in the event the Oath is unable to be fulfilled within the parameters and timeframe defined. A sacrifice or self-imposed Mulct will suffice in maintaining the frith so long as a reasonable effort was made in fulfilling the oath.
A drought of meade is removed from the horn and collected in a separate jar or vial. The Oath is made over this segregated portion. A written description of the oath, its parameters and time-frame are attached to the oath-jar and retained by the Irminfolk until the oath is either fulfilled or broken.
After the oath has been made, it must be accepted by the Irminfolk, and the host of the hall.
An oath made over the Irminfolk’s horn, in the Irminfolk’s hall is beholden to the Irminfolk alone, unless specified otherwise at the time the Host accepted the Oath. No guest, or non-member shall have any say whatsoever in the parameters, constitution, criteria, implementation or fulfillment of the oath. The oath shall be determined to have been fulfilled by the Irminfolk alone.
The isolation of the Oath-meade from the Sumbel horn is intended to insulate the Irminfolk’s frith from the negativity of broken oaths and to allow only fulfilled oaths and good deeds to circulate our Well.
The continuity of our frith is maintained when the oath is fulfilled, and the oath-mead is then recombined with our Sumbel horn and circulated among our community in frith.
The oath-meade of broken oaths should be unceremoniously discarded in the trash, to linger in a landfill among the common garbage of society. The Oath breaker shall be subject to disciplinary process as defined in Article 4, Section 7 of the Irminfolk Bylaws.
Recruiting.
The Irminfolk never solicits recruits. People who wish to join the Irminfolk may attend some of our public events, and then request to read the bylaws, and ask to be voted in as preparatory members. The demonstrated capabilities of our community and its deeds suffice for all the outreach we will ever need.
Guests are barred from recruiting for organizations of any sort at the Irminfolk’s venues, events or outings. If a guest attends our outings or events and attempts to promote another guest to become a member of another group, it will be construed as a breach of hospitality.
Picking sides in your petty squabbles:
We do not turn away people with whom we do not have a quarrel. Rumors of misdeed or of poor character do not whisper into our spaces. For us, deed follows word and word follows deed. Unless a guest’s actions transgress the Irminfolk in a manner that affects the ability of the Irminfolk to carry out its mission, he will remain a welcome guest.
Havamal 32. The fastest friends may fall out When they sit at the banquet-board: It is, and shall be, a shameful thing When guest quarrels with guest.
If a Guest quarrels with a guest, that quarrel must remain outside our halls, and away from our table. If it does not affect the Irminfolk, its mission,and it is not the Irminfolk’s business, then the Irminfolk shall be construed as neutral for all intents and among all parties. It is the individual’s responsibility to avoid disrupting the Irminfolk with personal drama.
A Guest who disrupts a meeting or event due to intemperate behavior, so that the meeting or event’s intended purpose may not continue until said disruption is subdued, may be expelled from the event at the discretion of any officer, director or duly appointed security person.
No person who is actively addicted to any drug or Alcohol may be a guest of the Irminfolk Odinist Community. Junkies and habitual drunkards have no place among us.
A guest who is in debt to the Irminfolk, or any of its subsidiaries for a period of 90 days without a reasonable attempt at repayment shall, by vote of three directors, be barred from ever being afforded credit again.
Any guest who, deliberately, or through negligence, malice, dereliction or malingering, in word or in deed, creates any situation which significantly disrupts the ability of the Irminfolk to pursue its mission or damages the Irminfolk’s standing among its allies and peers, shall be banned forever, until the end of time.
Any guest found to be creating, or having created, a situation which significantly disrupts the ability of the Irminfolk to pursue its mission may be banned from any further attendance in any Irminfolk event forever, until the end of time.
Any guest who steals from, scams, cheats, or otherwise victimizes the Irminfolk or any guest of the Irminfolk may be temporarily expelled at the discretion of any director.
By a vote of three directors, that person may be banned from any further attendance in any Irminfolk event forever, until the end of time.