Finding one's ancestors and faith

I will gladly say that I am a "mutt," a typical American whose family has been here awhile.

My ancestral background is quite a patchwork from across the broad expanse of Mother Europe: Russian, German, Latvian, French, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, Italian, Greek and Spanish- plus a bit of very early American lineage: Iroquois and Algonquin.

If you look only to the "nation" from which one's ancestors came, the question does become complex.

What I did in my spiritual search (after fumbling around for awhile) was to break things down to a simpler level.

I looked to the pre-national tribes, from which my forebears sprang.

This was sparked in part by the beginnings of my interest in genealogy, combined with my love of looking at history, particularly the movement of peoples across the planet.

As I looked, it became clear to me that the largest numbers of my forebears were of Northern tribes: Germanic, Nordic, Celtic, and Baltic. Of these, the Germanic and Nordic folks were in greatest evidence.

Things came to a head for me near midnight 8 July 1989.

I was participating in a sweat lodge with some SCA friends: a cleansing and seeing ritual as it were.  It was based on a Lakota ceremony, but had been "Germanized" by the lodge leader.

The purpose was to lead into a dedication ceremony, which I had written, for a fighting household we were forming. The household was to be composed of archers, plus sword and spear men, plus the totally necessary non-martial members.

I believe I had my first vision from Uller, who is one of the Elder Holy Ones of the North.

This spurred me to further research.   I found a copy of the "Poetic Edda" with which my Uncle John had gifted me years before. It seemed right to start my search for the meaning of the vision therein.  The references to Uller jumped from the pages.  I learned that He is, amongst many other things, looked upon as Bow Lord and Unerring Archer.

I felt a deep chill, as of a winter wind, come upon me.

November 18th, 1989: The Household is once again assembled and we captains are in sweat lodge again.  I am gifted by Uller a second time (and a few times since) with another visit to the Yewdales and His lodge.  I come away from the experience feeling that I have returned home from a very, confused long journey.

So, that's a bit about how I chose, and was welcomed.