Ring of Thoth

The Ring of Thoth is a contemporary Norse Pagan association founded shortly after the disbanding of the Asatru Free Assembly in 1987. The Asatru Free Assembly had been the first and most prominent organization attempting to revive the acknowledgment of the pre-Christian deities once generally worshiped throughout Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The Ring of Thoth was founded by Edred Thorsson (Stephen Edred Flowers) and James Chisholm as an explicitly non-racist organization dedicated to the promotion of the religion of the Germanic peoples. (During the 1980s racism was a persistent charge leveled against groups promoting Norse Paganism.) It sees itself as taking a more liberal and scholarly approach than that taken by the other major group formed somewhat simultaneously, the Asatru Alliance. In other respects it continues the beliefs and practices of the former Asatru Free Assembly.

The Ring allows considerable variation in belief and practice but is united by a common loyalty to, or "Troth" with, the Norse gods and goddesses; a respect for the religious, cultural, and historical heritage of the Northern Europeans; and a commitment to the virtues of Courage, Truth, Honor, Loyalty, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-reliance, and Steadfastness. Membership is open to all regardless of racial or ethnic background or sexual orientation, and the Ring is opposed to racialist definitions of the Germanic Heathen people. The Asatru religion emerged from the experiences of the pre-Christian Germanic peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe. While universalist in orientation, it would be impossible to understand without an appreciation of the cultural context that gave it birth.

The Ring of Thoth may be contacted at P.O. Box 25637, Tempe, AZ 85285. Its webpage can be found at http://asatru.knotwork.com/troth/index.html. Thorsson has authored several books on the Asatru traditions, especially on the magical practices associated with runes.

Sources:

Gundarsson, KveldulfR Hagan, ed. Our Thoth. N.p.: Ring of Thoth, 1992.

Thorsson, Edred. A Book of Thoth. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1989.

——. Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, 1984.

——. The Nine Doors of Midgard: A Complete Curriculum of Rune Magic. St. Paul, Maine: Llewellyn Publications, 1991.

——. The Truth about Teutonic Magick. St. Paul, Maine: Llewellyn Publications, 1989.