The Troth Updates Events Policy and Removes Exclusionary Language
The Troth has updated their policy on which Gods may or may not be invoked at Troth events to be more inclusive.
The Troth ® Position Statement
The Troth is a polytheistic religious organization. Its fundamental purpose is to advance the knowledge and honoring of:
- The pre-Christian Deities of the Germanic-speaking peoples, most commonly known as, but not limited to: the Aesir and Vanir in Norse mythology, and their equivalents in other historical Germanic cultures;
- Deities for whom we do not have comparable historical record, but which 22 are known through historical and contemporary sources (including but not limited to: Eostre/Ostara, Nehalennia, Saxnot, Nerthus);
- Beings known from the standard texts of mythology or folklore to be allies of the Aesir and Vanir, or other Deities with Whom we choose to interact with and worship, for example: Aegir, Ran, Thorri, Hel, Jordh/Earth, Sol, Mani, the Norns;
- Spirits of specific places such as the land, the waters, and the home (vaettir, tomten, brownies, huldufolk, etc.), as well as elves (alfar), dwarves (dvergar), ancestral guardian spirits (disir), valkyries, and other such beings;
- Worthy and honorable human heroes and ancestors, ranging from the legendary through the historical past up to the present day. This includes the ancestors of all of our members of all ethnicities and places of origin.
Variations in the understanding of our Deities and the ways of honoring Them have always existed. In the modern era, many people have sought to reconstruct, revive, and renew the ancient traditions according to their own best understanding. One result has been the creation of different expressions of contemporary Germanic religion. The Troth explicitly welcomes these differences and seeks to include them within the larger Heathen community.
The Troth affirms the right of individuals and groups to freely worship as they will, guided by the dictates of their own consciences. Individual membership in the Troth is not predicated on adherence to any particular Heathen religious practice, belief, theology, tradition, or dogma. We recognize that freedom of conscience, the free exchange of ideas, and diversity of opinions are vital for the healthy growth of our religion. The Troth does not and will not dictate to individual members which beings they may or may not honor, what forms of ritual they may or may not employ, or how they may conceive of these beings.
“The new mission statement, position statement, and bylaws reflect The Troth’s unique position in the community – one dedicated to education and service.”
“As a queer, disabled woman, I have been told many times I do not deserve a seat at the table.
However, I issue this invitation to all Heathens: no matter your race, ethnicity, gender expression, sexuality, socioeconomic status, ability, family structure, or nationality, your seat at our table is already waiting if you support our vision of radically inclusive Heathenry.”
Over the last 35 years, our organization has made many missteps. We are committed to making up for these mistakes, removing structural barriers and continuing to build a community where the most marginalized among us feel not just tolerated but are celebrated and cherished.”
— Lauren Crow, President and CEO, The Troth
Does this mean we all worship Loki now?
No. Not yet, anyway.
What it means is that the worship of beings, even those that weren’t commonly worshipped by or totally unknown to pre-modern Heathens, may be worshipped, honored or invoked at Troth events by Troth members.
We’ve had a lot of heated theological disputes on the matter and the conclusion that we have reached is that we are at our best where we bring as many voices to inclusive Heathenry as possible.
In 2019, we removed the ban on hailing Loki at Troth events and established an annual Blot at Trothmoot as an apology to the community. However, there was still language in place in our position statement that still appeared to promote exclusion of people whose practice was different or incorporated a God or two that wasn’t specifically mentioned in any of the existing literature we have on the Germanic religions as being worshiped.
Does the Troth promote the worship of beings that are shown as evil in Germanic Literature? If you’re saying it’s ok to worship Loki, then what about Surtr? Fenrir? Is all that OK now? How can that ever be OK?
The Troth was founded in the spirit of inquiry and curiosity: no orthodoxy means no orthodoxy. It means we observe rather than dictate. The fact is, we don’t “promote” the worship of anyone.
We don’t say you have to worship Thor or else. We’ve never said that if you don’t worship Odin you’re going to spend an eternity in a stinky swamp. That’s not our way and that’s never been the way of our faith. Proselytizing, for us, is just sharing our happiness in our relationships with the Gods when we are asked (or if we are ever asked) and expressing the values by which we live that we have learned from those relationships.
We observe the Heathen community and how it grows and changes. How our understanding of the Gods and the living world around us grows and changes. We realized the position statement had to change, because it did not reflect the reality of what we are as an organization. But there’s more to it than that, and this part is not as simple as just updating to “keep up with the times”.
The exclusion of these deities and spirits also resulted in the exclusion of many in the LGBTQIA+ community. That’s not OK.
We need to talk about the elephant in the room: namely, that people who worshipped Loki, Fenrir, Angrboda and the like tended to be members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Excluding Loki and his children at official events also would exclude people who worshipped them–and thus, while we said we were LGBTQIA+ affirming, this policy was proof positive that we weren’t.
Policies have impacts that they don’t explicitly state. While The Troth would never write a policy that explicitly excludes people in the LGBTQIA+ community, we had a policy on the books that effectively did just that for many people in that community. The “Loki Exception” wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough.
But some people aren’t going to be happy about this decision, too. They liked the policy because they don’t like these Gods or Spirits being called on. There’s going to be hard feelings there. Let’s try to talk through them too.
Here’s another way to think about it. And we invite you to try.
Ancient poems and stories say that the Gods have enemies. But poems and stories can be read any number of ways to serve any number of purposes. Who is to say which way is the right one? If the way that story is told helps someone lead a life of kindness, compassion, benevolence and hospitality, then who are we to tell them that they can’t tell it that way?
If reading the story of Fenrir in such a way that it makes a victim of abuse feel like they can overcome their past and grow beyond it into a more kind and empathetic human being, then who are we to tell them otherwise? If reading a story of Jormungandr makes someone care more about the planet we live on and inspires them to fight climate change, then who are we to tell them otherwise? If the story of Loki gives someone the courage to live their lives as they truly are, then who are we to tell them otherwise?
We ought to judge the poems and stories that make up our faith not by their conformity with historical fact (because myths don’t contain historical facts) but by how they change the lives of the people who read them.
What else are they good for?