=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From the Helm Prudence O. Priest, Elder ``Only that which changes remains true.'' Almost all of us have been drawn to our religion by choice. We choose to be true to the old gods. No fear of damnation keeps our gods from us. This is an important difference between us and many other religions, especially those most of us were raised with and exposed to. The Troth is an association of those who choose to believe in the old gods and the religion of our ancestors. We have no dogma, no one right way of doing things. As we reclaim our heritage, many ways of practicing our religion have become evident. No one way is better or truer. The Troth is legally incorporated as a church with all the rights and responsibilities that go with it. By going public, as it were, we open our organization to the scrutiny of the IRS as well as our peers. Churches are granted sweeping rights. We can have our own schools, our own charities, our own publications, our own legally recognized clergy to name a few. The possibilities have kept many of us up many a long night discussing them. Suffice it to say, we must begin and go from a networking and newsletter organization to build up to that point. There are three root functions that nurture the tree of our troth. The first I like to call ``troth-building''. This is what is done to attract new members to us. The more members we have, the more we can do. The greater the numbers, the greater our strength and validity and the less we feel alone or separated from our kith and kin. This is not meant to be smug. The reality that this becomes determines our might and main. The second root is education, and the training of elders. Kveldulf Gundarsson is our Warden of the Lore and is responsible for this. He has developed a study program of value to anyone who would pursue this path. In the old days, any head of the household was considered capable of leading any religious rite. Only by study and practice can this be reclaimed. No, you do not have to become clergy to participate in our Troth, but it behooves us all to learn as much as we can about our religion. The third root concerns our heritage and what we are going to leave to future generations. Almost all people have left behind monuments to their beliefs. Those who haven't have been forgotten. The Eddas were a gift to us from our ancestors as much as Stonehenge or the temple of Uppsala. Part of the focus of the Troth should be directed towards this end. Yes, any house or field or tree or body of water will do to practice my religion, but part of me yearns to see Uppsala restored, churches reclaimed and reconsecrated to the old gods and goddesses, sacred groves started and kept sacred, mounds built. But this is more than one person can do alone. I ask all of you to work toward seeing your vision of our troth realized. I worked for an association management firm for many years. The Troth, as an association of co-religionists, has a lot in common with any other group that bands together in its own interest. You have to trust your board of directors to act in your interest, or else you better start telling us how to do it better and get involved. People want their needs addressed. That's why they vote for politicians. (Does this system work best?) The Troth is not a government with all its complexities and pitfalls. We make no laws, nor adjucate disputes. We are not organized as a democracy. We have no power to draft you or to tax you. We are a simple group run by a board of directors called a ``High Rede''. But I guarantee that we are more responsive and accountable than our government and most boards of directors. The Troth is not the only organization around, but it is the most open to everyone's expectations with the least commitment. We ask only that you join for religious and cultural reasons. You do not have to give up any other associations or alliances to join us. We ask that our members practice our religion as they see fit and observe the cycles of nature and support us with a donation of at least two dollars a month to remain on our mailing list. That's all there is to being a member of the Troth. This, however, brings us to other statusses within the Troth. Status is perhaps a bad choice of words, because there is no implication that one status is better than another. So, in the future, we will be using the term ``categories'' of membership. There are three such categories within the Troth: 1) Hearth (``study group'' to the IRS) 2) Garth (``fellowship'' to the IRS) 3) Hof (``church'' to the IRS) Please bear in mind that these are our operant categories. You can use ours or make up your own, but if you want official recognition from us, you need to conform to our criteria for granting charters in these categories. These criteria are not so arbitrary. The IRS has different requirements for each category and these are reflected in our recently approved by-laws: (*begin quote*) Article VI: Local Organizations There shall be three levels of organization of The Troth on a local level: hearths, garths, and hofs. Local groups are chartered at one of these levels by the High Rede of The Troth. Hearths: A Hearth may be formed by two or more members of The Troth. One of these may be elected Hearth Leader. A Hearth may also be a family or a group of families dedicated to the Gods and Goddesses. Garths: A Garth is a group of three or more members of The Troth, led by a Troth Elder, or a man or woman officially training to become a Troth Elder. Hearths and Garths shall meet regularly in such facilities as are available to study and discuss the lore and to hold blessings. Hofs: A Hof is a group of folk meeting regularly on property or in a facility belonging either to The Troth or to a local group chartered by The Troth, and overseen by a Troth Elder. It is a holy stead given to the Gods and Goddesses of our Troth. The Hof may be seen as analogous to a church of the christians. It is a permanent local site where a Troth Elder regularly holds the blessings. Property held in trust for The Troth by individuals living on or using the property may be chartered as a Hof so long as the trust is not revokable. No group or individual shall attempt to obtain any tax benefit from the designation of property as a Hof without providing an accounting to, and receiving the approval of, the High Rede. Members of The Troth may affiliate with any of the above-described local groups, and become members in them in addition to their affiliation with The Troth, but no local group shall be obligated to accept an individual for membership simply because of the individual's affiliation with The Troth. The activities of these various levels of local organization are for the most part determined by the members themselves. The one set of obligations that all Hofs and Troth Elders have in common is that they must work the Great Blessings of the Year and hold regular discussions or talks on the character of the elder troth for members and prospective members alike. (*end quote*) The above notwithstanding, any member is free to obtain their own tax-exempt status, and to set up their group as they please, and they can still be (and some are) Troth-affiliated at whatever level they have chosen in compliance with our by-laws. I would like to use my kindred, Freya's Folk, as an example. In may of 1990 we received a charter of Hearth status. We had a ten acre sanctuary and hof in Northern California. We do public blessings for Ostara and Winter Nights. I am an Elder in the Troth. However, we do not actively recruit new members for our kindred, nor do we as a group want to ``go public''. As such, we are perfectly content with being a Hearth in the Troth. It is important to remember that each category of membership is not some merit badge system. No category is ``better'' than any other category. The Troth is for all who want to express their religion through study, practice, training, or public outreach; even those who just want to celebrate the blessings with a horn of mead and a toast to the gods, to a full scale dawn ship-burning, to a simple tree offering, to a nine-day ordeal. We are there for those who want to network and, in some places, for those who want the benefit of religious training, for the myth-makers and the risk-takers. We can be so much more than the concept of the churches with which so many of us are familiar. There are at least a dozen Baptist churches in San Francisco, and while I'm sure not everyone in each church likes all Baptists, they do manage to peaceably co-exist. We need to get along with each other at least that well if we are going to be a viable religion. Schisms and feuds are part of human nature, but they should never be allowed to keep us from recognizing our co-religionists, even if we can't stand them. Let us at least unite in a vision of our Gods and our religion playing a larger part in the pageant of life. Live true! --30--