The next deity (#6) from the “god graveyard” is Loki.  Loki interests me unlike a very large part of the Norse Pantheon, even more so than Odin and Thor.  Maybe it is his association with fire (fire sign here [grin]) or the devotion of Sigyn.  More likely it is the fact that he doesn’t fit in anywhere (as I often feel that way).  Yet it could e my tendency to cheer on the underdog or maybe his similarities to Hermes.  Any way he incites a cautious curiosity in me. 

 

Loki is another divinity that is a large source of contention within his cultural community.  As a god who is known for ignoring barriers, I’d guess he finds this rather amusing.  As an outsider looking in, what could I write about that could truly have any meaning? Yet I am pushed to try because of my fascination and my promise.

I think the biggest issues with Loki are his tendency to upset the “apple cart”.  Humans tend to like things smooth, steady and predictable.  Religions, especially, tend to be conservative.  Loki, as trickster and a force of chaos, constantly works against that.  He makes one look at faults, where continuity has become inertia, where change is needed wanted or not, easy or not. No one likes to have his nose rubbed in offal yet that is precisely what Loki does.  He gender bends, he straddles barriers, he pokes fun, he thieves, he burns trails which are never the same again, although the gifts left behind are generally worth it, once clean up is complete.

b2ap3_thumbnail_Loki_und_Sigyn_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg

But the crux of his worthiness, for me, lies with Sigyn.  If he was so unworthy, she could have walked away instead of alleviate his torture.  He was bound to rocks with their son’s intestines while their other son roamed the world as a wolf.  That would be enough to make any mother go mad but instead she captures the snake’s poison in a bowl and empties it as quick as possible before returning to her post.  She could have walked away at any time.  No one would have blamed her, not even Loki, I think.  But she stayed. She stayed.  Why?  If he was not worthy of the honor, sooner or later, abused or not, she would have walked away…to feed herself if nothing else.  Yet, she stayed.

I hail you Son of Laufey.
I hail you Bloodbrother of Odin.
I hail you Flamehair.
I hail you Mischievous One.
I hail you Rule Breaker
I hail you Bringer of Light.
I hail you Breaker of Stasis.
I hail you God of Laughter.
I hail you Shapeshifter.
I hail you Straddler of Fences.
I hail you Protector of Misfits.
I hail you Silvertongue.
I hail you Smith of Untruths.
I hail you Speaker of Truths
I hail you Challenger of Assumptions.
I hail you Master of Satire.
I hail you Speaker of Inconvenient Truths
I hail you Mercurial One.
I hail you Sigyn’s Heart.

Links: 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pantheon/2010/05/the-demonization-of-loki-part-i/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pantheon/2010/05/the-demonization-of-loki-part-ii/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pantheon/2010/05/the-demonization-of-loki-part-iii/

http://www.hypnoticwishes.com/pagan/Sigyn-Ordeal.php

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pantheon/2010/06/wyrd-designs-loki-at-the-hearth-fire/

http://dreamsofdjinn.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/on-loki-analyzing-the-mythology/

http://www.northernpaganism.org/shrines/sigyn/sigyn/who-is-sigyn.html