Tue Jul 9, 2024 3:00 PM – Tue Jul 23, 2024 4:30 PM EDT
Online, Zoom
There is an emerging land-based contemplative practice coming from the Northern tradition called the “Utiseta”. The old sources: Voluspa (Poetic Edda), The Story of Svipdag, The Islengingabok, the Law books, the Swedish Black Books, are all filled with this sacred practice. An Utiseta can be a commitment to walk at night time in the woods for an entire year (called Årsgang), or simply sitting quietly on a lonely mound between dusk and dawn, or going to an isolated part of the forest or landscape and waiting for the sunset.
Andreas is running three sessions to begin the process of rejuvenating this profound ancient landscape rite. The work will be done in the spirit of the “beginners mind,” we will study the sources we have and then find creative ways to revive the practice in the landscape that we are living in today.
The sessions will be tangled up with Northern heritage, language, myth, and rune lore, sigil art (both modern and old) – all linking to the Utiseta practice. We will also study an old Anglo-Saxon land healing ritual showing us a deepening of the ritual part of this practice.
All sessions will start at 3pm NYC / 8pm UK. A recording will be available for all ticket holders for 30 days.
9th July: Focus will be on the history and background, the intent and purpose, the beginning.
18th July: This will be about the preparations and blot/ceremony associated with the practice, new and old. Finding your “High Seat” within your natural community. Also, working with inner tools that we possess and how we can use them when sitting out in nature, traditional and modern. We will look for our ancestral song (The Vardlokkur). We will also ask and find out how we can ritually court the local spirit (anima loci) that lives in our area.
23rd of July: We will learn to integrate an Utiseta experience and how it can benefit us and the community where we live – human, non-human and the non-ordinary.
About Andreas
Andreas Kornevall is an author, storyteller and ecological activist. He grew up in South America, Sweden and Switzerland, and now directs the Earth Restoration Service charity. In response to the sixth mass extinction, he was the catalyst behind the Life Cairn movement: memorials for species rendered extinct at human hands. As a storyteller, he works with old myths and fairytales which shine a torchlight on life’s journey; his stories tend to gravitate around the Norse material which have led him to lecture and perform in universities and other educational centres. He is also a prize-winning author, whose work has been published in magazines such as Resurgence, The Ecologist, Permaculture magazine and in the Dark Mountain series. He is a member of the ‘Forn Sed’ (Old Customs Association) in Sweden which works closely with ancient Norse culture, traditions and spirituality, unearthing old legends, forgotten folklore and endangered Norse languages. His latest book “Waking the Dragons” is out through Green Magic Publishing.
Through his charity he has planted over 200 woodlands in the United Kingdom and he has recently been voted by the University of Southern California as one of their 100 spiritual exemplars.
“Andreas Kornevall offers a powerful immersive experience of travelling into Norse mythology and Runic divination, food for both soul and intellect. Understanding Runic script as mythic symbols opens a door into the archetypes that inform all human existence, and Andreas’ deep knowledge and love for his subject is truly inspirational.“
Professor Angela Voss, Christ Church University
