Asatru Alliance

The Asatru Alliance is one of several groups operating in North America that continues the revival of Asatru (literally "faithfulness" to the Germanic deities) faith begun by the Asatru Free Assembly in the early 1970s. The assembly disbanded in 1987 and the alliance is one of several organizations that emerged to fill the vacuum. It follows the basic teachings established by the assembly, a reconstruction of the magical polytheistic religion of the ancient Northern European peoples. There is also a liberal spirit that allows for the many variations that were evident across the Northern lands. The alliance exists as a free association of kindreds, the name given to local Asatru groups. As a continental organization, the alliance promotes the faith by sponsoring regional and national meetings and publishing materials. The alliance is headed by the Allthing, its representative legislative body to which all the kindred send a delegate. The Thing was the legislative and executive assembly of free men in Germanic antiquity and the Allthing was the successor to the Thing in the free state of Iceland.

After the Asatru Free Assembly dissolved, seven surviving kindreds worked together to continue the religion of Asatru in Vinland (the name given to North America by the Vikings). In the late summer of 1987 they drafted a set of bylaws and then invited every known Asatruar in the country to an Allthing to approve them. This first modern Allthing was held in the summer of 1988. The bylaws were adopted, a council appointed, and the tradition of annual gatherings of the kindred established.

The Asatru Alliance may be contacted at P. O. Box 961, Payton, AZ 85547. Its extensive website can be found at http://eagle.webpipe.net/. It publishes a periodical, Vor Tru.