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Northern Folk

By: Harbard

> We are tribal. with tribal Faiths. That means: "We're better than you, but at least you're not "Them""  We can and should respect each others tribes and Faiths. We do not however have to have Others (those not a member of your particular Faith and/or tribe) dictate to us, about us. If you want a "70's" Coke commercial, Starhawk's still accepting...
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That's my take,   We are, ultimately, the Northern Folk, the Children of Asgard. THAT is the ultimate reality. Within the Northern Folk are a number of tribes, many clans, and an extremely large number of families. All branches of the World Tree, as it were, with our own orthodoxies and orthopraxies at each level, but ultimately connected by the bond of blood to the High Gods and to each other. This is why I no longer worry about the details of this group's practice versus that groups practice, or rather A bases their organization on Icelandic practice while B prefers Continental. As long as they acknowledge the basic reality of the Folk Soul and the blood bond - that we share a heritage and a birthright - and hold troth to that heritage and to our mutual Folk, I will count them as Folk Within and true Northern Folk.

Remember - our practices are for US.    The High Ones don't really care. If it works for us - if it strengthens us and reinforces our bonds with our Folk and with our heritage - it is right.    For example, I find the Continental 'divine kingship' model far too complex and formal for what IMO should be basically a family structure, but if the people prove themselves true and honorable Folk I'm not going to say that they're wrong simply because High Reaches does things differently.    What Rudyard Kipling said on the subject of constructing tribal lays could equally well be applied to constructing tribes.


Farheil,


Harbard