July For Loki Using 30 Days Of Deity Devotion Prompts, Day 22 A Quote, A Poem, Or Piece Of Writing That

July for Loki using 30 Days of Deity Devotion prompts, Day 22 • A quote, a poem, or piece of writing that you think Loki resonates strongly with

“There’s an old Earth saying… a phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need… ALLONS-Y!”

Ok, where are my Whovians? Reveal yourselves!

Well, I’ve managed to write down serious stuff for most previous posts of this July for Loki, but today I wanted to lighten up a bit. Anyone familiar with Doctor Who and Loki will see how the Tenth Doctor channels major lokean energy - I mean, of course, it’s David Tennant playing him... Those not familiar with the character may wonder what the Helheimr I’m talking about, but read the above quote again and you’ll see it doesn’t really need context to be understood and put in relation to Loki. It’s perfect for him and it kinda sums up his approach to many matters, and something he seems to repeat to many of us time and time again: allons-y! Let’s go! Move your Áss!

Pic by BBC

July for Loki using 30 Days of Deity Devotion prompts, Day 23 • Your own composition – a piece of writing about or for Loki

Loki, my beloved Faðir.

You called me your Dóttir, and I hope to live by the name.

Loki, always the outcast.

Loki, always the wrong one.

Loki, always the beaten one.

And yet, you shine bright still.

You experienced pain, fetters and venom.

And yet, you shine to show us the way.

Show me your way, Faðir.

Teach it to me.

Imprisoned yet unfettered one, 

show all of us how to be free, 

and help us.

Help us see the light, Harbinger of Fire.

Help us make the cave we’re trapped in collapse.

Help us destroy what needs to be destroyed.

Guide us through Ragnarok and beyond.

Written November 30, 2021. I still feel this very much in my heart.

Art: Chaos Incarnate by OFools on DeviantArt

July for Loki using 30 Days of Deity Devotion prompts, Day 18 • How does Loki stand in terms of gender and sexuality? (Historical and/or UPG)

“A heart ate Loki,-- | in the embers it lay,

And half-cooked found he | the woman's heart;--

With child from the woman | Lopt soon was,

And thence among men | came the monsters all.”*

{{*Hyndluljóð (The Poem of Hyndla), Poetic Edda}}

Loki is famous for being a shapeshifter, and shifting through genders is one of his abilities for sure. In the myths he is usually described as male, and a very handsome one too, but there are a few exceptions. In Þrymskviða (“The Lay of Thrym”), Thor and Loki pretend to be Freyja and her handmaiden to get Mjölnir back from Jötunn king Thrym. Thor is in disguise and keeps his pronouns, but for Loki the text uses female pronouns when in disguise, which suggests a slightly deeper transformation on his (her) behalf. Another famous example you might be familiar with: in Gylfaginning (“The Beguiling of Gylfi”), Loki turns himself into a mare to lure the stallion Svaðilfœri away from his work. They run away together, and when Loki returns to Ásgarðr he is pregnant with Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse destined to become Óðinn’s steed. Speaking of Óðinn, it’s good ol’ Grímnir himself to reveal, in the Lokasenna, that Loki spent 8 years in a cave as a milkmaid tending cows, and there gave birth to a number of children while in female form. Curiously enough, Loki reminds Óðinn that he spent quite some time among men “in witch’s guise” as well. So you see, even the mighty Óðinn is not strictly male, according to such myths. What does it tell us? That these two are blood brothers for a reason, just for a start. Then, it gives us lots of food for thought.

Last but not least, the one that for me is among the most fascinating episodes in all of Norse mythology. In the above mentioned Hyndluljóð, Loki eats the heart of a woman and then gives birth to monstrous children. As the story goes, an evil woman (a “witch”) had been burnt (three times?) by the Æsir. Is she Gullveig? Is Gullveig Angrboða? Not the place to discuss this. What matters here is, her heart survived, half-burnt. Loki finds it and eats it - but why? Is it a metaphor of the crematory Fire? Maybe there is a deeper reason in the fact that the heart was considered the home of the principle of life and of the soul itself, so by eating the woman’s heart Loki was probably able to absorb her female magic and wisdom… So much so that he then gives birth to children, monstrous ones of course - much like their siblings born from him and Angrboða. Or maybe, just maybe, such monstrous children are a metaphor for magical powers and actions that were believed to be evil as the tales were being written down later in time? Who knows… who knows… 

In my personal experience, Loki remains mainly male. I call him Faðir (father), and refer to him with male pronouns, but as you can see using female or neutral ones is not wrong at all. 

I’m sorry there’s not enough space here to discuss these themes in a more elaborate ways, there would be plenty to say, but I hope I gave you some interesting hints to think about.

Art: The God of Mischief by NickRoblesArt

Just

Look

At

Them

look at this gif…

July for Loki using 30 Days of Deity Devotion prompts, Day 8 • Variations on Loki (aspects, regional forms, etc.).

Tough prompt! I decided to focus on Loki's presence in the spoken language, which also gives an idea of his presence in many countries. A list of Scandinavian names containing Loki’s name is provided by Axel Olrik in “Loke in the Younger Tradition”, an interesting read. Dagulf Loptson talks of this in his Playing with Fire book, and here's a brief list of examples. In 12th century Northumberland, England, lived a man named Locchi. In Småland, Sweden, Locke is a hereditary surname. In Uppland, Sweden, the name “Luki” appears on a rune stone. Places named Lockbol, Luckabol, Lockesta, and Locastum remind of ours truly. J. Grimm tells of a giant’s grave in Vestergötland, Sweden, named Lokehall. A Norse settler was called Þórbjørn Loki, and another man was named Þórðrloki. Snorri Sturluson’s foster-father was Jón Loptsson (“son of Lopt”). In the Faroe Islands, where Loka Táttur takes place, we have Lokkafelli (Loki’s Fell). Last but not least, the star Sirius is known in Scandinavia as Lokabrenna (“Loki’s Torch”).

There are also some very interesting popular sayings that tell us a lot about the relationship between Loki and the humans. In Denmark, we find: “Lokke is reaping his oats”, “Lokke drives his goats”: air shimmering with heat or flickering lights. “Lokke the playing man”: Sun glimmering off water and creating flickering lights. “Loke drinks water”: sunbeams break through clouds and touch the land or sea. “Lokke watches his goat herd”: heat flutters from the ground like leaping goats. In Sweden and Norway, we have: “Lokje beats his children”: the hearth fire makes a loud, cracking noise. People in Telemark throw the skin from boiled milk into the hearth fire as a sacrifice to Lokje. In Sweden, a child who loses a tooth throws it into the fire and says: “Locke, give me a bone-tooth for a gold-tooth”. In Iceland, “Lokadaun” or “Lokalykt”: a sulphurous odor. “Lokabrenna”: the heat of summer.

So, pretty much everywhere Loki was and is honored as a Fire god, very near to us humans.

Source: Dagulf Loptson, Playing with Fire.

Art: God of Fire by CandyDemonArt

July for Loki using 30 Days of Deity Devotion prompts, Day 20 • Art that reminds you of Loki

Very tough choice, as there is a lot of excellent art that reminds me of Loki, both dedicated to him or not. Among all the spectacular pieces out there, I chose this picture called Ginger Trickster by erebus-odora on DeviantArt for a particular reason. It’s the closest portrait of Loki as he appeared to me the first time he showed his face (at least that I can remember of), between 2011 and 2012. I was perfectly aware that it was him, though he chose Tom Hiddleston’s face. Yeah, yeah, silly fangirl projecting pagan fantasies on an actor, right? Wrong. Because when you’re in the presence of a deity, you can FEEL their energy, no matter what face they choose. Btw, later on I discovered, talking with other people too, that Loki does enjoy Tom’s portrayal of his MCU version, so I guess it’s no wonder that he chose a similar aspect to show up to me that night. And he had flowing red/cinnamon hair, bright yet dark green eyes, lips with scars from the accident with the Dwarves, just like this picture. So, of course my heart skips a beat everytime I see this wonderful piece of art. And I know there’s lots of prejudice, lots of people thinking that lokeans enjoying MCU Loki along with being devoted to the god Loki are just fakes, wannabes or whatever; this post is especially dedicated to them and to the people who were victims of such prejudice. If my experience is worth anything, and I hope it is (otherwise I don’t know why I’m writing this stuff out here), that’s just not true. Some people may daydream of having spiritual experiences when they’re just not, projecting their own fantasies into those unreal experiences, yes. But just because a deity shows up in a modern or even fancy aspect, it doesn’t mean the experience is faux. Each of us is the only one that knows which deity is talking to them, deep down inside we can feel it. And no one can tell others what is right or what is wrong, or how a deity should manifest or not. So, the moral of this post is, nevermind the bollocks. Which, incidentally, is a great lesson Loki loves to teach to his devotees.

Art: Ginger Trickster by erebus-odora on DeviantArt