Howdy, friends.
Due to life circumstances, we lost our central meeting place in Hagerstown. Our new central meeting place in Gettysburg is however highly suited for outdoor rites, and we have made an effort to adjust the schedule to allow for people who drive longer distances. In any case, Gettysburg is the home of our new clergy, and it works out just fine.
Which leads me to our next point. Crystal has risen to her new role as spiritual leader and ambassador with adroitness. She brings with her legal clergy credentials and years of experience in organizing local groups and festivals. She continues to complete ADF training. She has been asked by the Open Halls project to assist with liturgy, and will be working on prison ministry as well.
Our Reeve, Josh, will be taking up a new job soon, and will be seeking his license in counseling. We wish him the best. Our kinsman Donald is ever with us, and was noted for coming in at first place in the rifle competition at East Coast Thing. Hail!
As for myself, I (Jeremy) have entered The Troth’s Lore Program and am making significant progress. I hope to service my kindred with increasing knowledge from those studies as the years go by.
We picked up some new friends along the way. We were pleased to meet Josh and Cat of the Open Halls Project. We brought a feisty Celtic lass named Aurora within our fold. And we also met Jen, a very serious new Heathen who holds great promise.
For our monthly events, the four oathed members renewed their oaths to each other at a July event, which also saw the elevation of Crystal as weofodthegn. We celebrated Loafmass and Harvest Home. For Harvest Home we were pleased to purchase and assemble a new picnic table for the benefit of Thor’s Hollow campground.
We made our first sojourn to East Coast Thing and had a great time meeting new people. We intend to be a fixture there from now on.
The kindred will be renting permanent space at Thor’s Hollow campground. We also purchased a banner and T-Shirts with our logo. We are coming into our own.
Finally, I would like to talk to you about runes. I do the rune readings for the kindred and I never cease to be amazed by what they tell us. Woden has never steered us wrong. Our community has undergone a lot of change and stress, some of which was predicted as far back as May. But a reoccurring theme through the runes for the past 2 years has been the ties that bind – to each other, and to the gods. When people of positive Wryd hang together, the coming hail storm does not mean destruction, it means growth and transformation into something better. This is the lesson the All-Father teaches.
Hail the gods, hail the folk, and hail the All-Father!
Jeremy
GVK notwritere
