Asatru - Norse/Nordic Paganism - Kindred, Godi, And Gythia Organizational Structures



The Kindred, Godi, and Gythia are three key organizational structures. 


The AFA also established organizational systems based on Icelandic Eddas, Sagas, and other mythology that have proved to be long-lasting in the Nordic Pagan community. 


  • Heathens who worship together may establish organizations known as kindreds, sometimes known as hearths, fellowships, and other names at the local level. 
  • Oaths of allegiance and mutual aid bind the members of such an organization, creating a supportive, often close-knit community. 
  • These small-town groups may have as few as a few members or as many as 100. 
  • These organizations are known for being democratic and nonhierarchical, with decisions made via debate and agreement and leaders elected to different administrative positions on a rotating basis. 

However, powerful individuals continue to rule, while disgruntled minority groups continue to break away from the main group and establish other organizations. 

There is also a subset of Nordic Pagans known as "solitaries," who perform rituals alone, as in Wicca and other contemporary Pagan traditions. 


Kindreds gather with other kindreds for regional meetings known as Things, an Old Norse term referring to the ancient Scandinavian practice of gathering at regular intervals throughout the year to:


  1. reaffirm laws, 
  2. oaths, 
  3. contractual relationships; 
  4. determine the leadership of local communities; 
  5. mediate disputes; 
  6. conduct rituals 
  7. commercial transactions, 

All of the above are well described in the Icelandic Saga literature. 



Many of the legal and quasi-governmental functions of the ancient Thing have been taken over by civic structures of American society for Nordic Pagans living in the United States today, but the Things remain important occasions for solemn worship and reaffirmation of oaths, as well as not-so-solemn feasting and celebration, games, and competitions. 

There are also merchants selling goods such as drinking horns, hand-carved runes, medieval-style clothes, tiny metal hammers of Thor worn as medallions, and other Nordic memorabilia, as well as workshops providing training in traditional Nordic crafts and abilities. 


A regional gathering known as the East Coast Thing (ECT) was a key event in cementing connections between adherents of Asatru and Heathenry in the area, according to many American Nordic Pagans from the New York metropolitan area who were interviewed for this article. 


  • The Pagan festivals described by Sarah Pike in her book Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves are similar in many ways to Nordic Pagan Thing gatherings, but there are several key distinctions. 
  • For starters, while Pike's celebrations are accessible to a broad range of Pagan traditions, Things is exclusively for Nordic Pagans, though there are subgroups of Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, and ScandinavianIcelandic Pagans within this framework. 
  • Many Pagan celebrations, according to Pike, include ceremonial nudity and, in particular, nude dancing around bonfires. 
  • Things seldom, if ever, see such bacchanalian festivity. 



Nordic Pagans typically despise public nudity, saying unequivocally that all of their religious events should be open to families and children. 


  • They tend to associate public nakedness and the associated possibility of free-flowing, polyamorous sexuality with Wicca, a form of modern Paganism that most Nordic Pagans reject as an all-too-modern, made-up religion with overly loose morals that lacks any significant basis in an actual pre-Christian religious tradition. 
  • National meetings of Nordic Pagans from throughout the United States are also organized, patterned after the Althing, a historic Pan-Icelandic quasi-parliament that was convened each summer in the magnificent natural environment of Thingvellir during the early era of Icelandic colonization. 

The American Althing takes place every year, as does the Trothmoot, a large-scale national assembly. 

In addition, the AFA created a Nordic Pagan clergy based after the Icelandic godar (goar). The godi (Icelandic goi, female counterpart gyja, here anglicized as gythia) was a prominent community leader in ancient Iceland who served as both a priest and a powerful community leader, typically a rich landowner with a huge entourage of retainers and slaves. 



In modern Paganism, the godi or gythia is expected to be well-versed in the lore of ancient texts and skilled in Sumbels, Blots, and other ritual practices, though different Nordic Pagan communities have differing views on the level of training and credentials required to restore “a godi or a gythia” (important). 


  • The AFA was beset by continuous attempts by white supremacists and NeoNazis, notably members of the American Nazi Party, to infiltrate the organization and lead it in an openly racist direction during the 1970s and 1980s. 
  • The Neo-Nazis were intent on hijacking the AFA agenda to promote a religious justification of white supremacy and Germanic superiority, whereas McNallen and Stine were dedicated to a celebration of Scandinavian-Germanic cultural heritage and a revival of spiritual and ritual elements of that heritage. 
  • McNallen and Stine shut down the original AFA in 1987 after a series of grueling battles with Neo-Nazi infiltrators, as well as financial and organizational problems. 
  • They did, however, create a new organization, the Asatru Folk Assembly, with the same initials as the previous one. 
  • The necessity to thoroughly vet prospective members to keep out individuals with strong political or racial beliefs, as well as the mentally unstable, is a key lesson learned from these early encounters with NeoNazis. 



As a result, many kindreds only admit new members if they are previously known to someone in the group who can testify for their character and suitability. 


  • As a result, someone who wishes to join an Asatru kindred but does not know any of its members must first make the acquaintance of a kindred member, who may then welcome him or her into the kindred at a later point. 
  • Though the disbanding of the original AFA seemed to be a terrible portent for Asatru's future in the United States, McNallen and Stine had sown seeds that would bear fruit. 


Those seeds would sprout a veritable forest of seedlings and saplings in the form of big and tiny Asatru and Heathen groups that are now reaching maturity, some two decades later. In the 1990s, two new Asatru umbrella groups were formed: 

  1. the Ring of Troth (later known simply as the Troth) 
  2. and the Asatru Alliance. 


The Troth and the Alliance have succeeded in attracting new generations of Americans to Asatru/Heathenry, with the advent of the World Wide Web and Internet discussion groups in the mid-1990s greatly facilitating the spread of modern Nordic Paganism, along with the AFA's new incarnation as the Asatru Folk Assembly. 


Despite the fact that these different groups have been competitors and even adversaries at times, there is no denying that they have many similar characteristics. 

All share a singular devotion to the same Nordic cultural and spiritual heritage, studying the same literary sources from Iceland and other Nordic countries, worshiping the same gods, following the same Sumbel and Blot rituals, and taking equal pride in re-creating the lifestyle of past Nordic people.


You may also want to read more about Asatru, Norse Paganism and Nordic Pagans here.


You may also want to read more about Paganism here.

Be sure to check out my writings on Religion here.



Online Resources


American Asatru Associations




Icelandic Asatru Association


Ásatrúarfelagi≥ (Asatru Fellowship of Iceland). At http://www.asatru.is.


Icelandic Photography



Statistical Information


  • Hagstofa Islands (Office of Statistics, Government of Iceland). 2004. “Ísland ítölum 2002–2003” (Iceland in Numbers). Reykjavík, Hagstofa Islands. At http://www.hagstofa.is.


Asatru Publications Available Online


  • “The Asatru Folk Assembly: Building Tribes and Waking the Spiritual Path of OurAncestors.” Available at http://www.runestone.org/




By Jai Krishna Ponnappan
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