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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in loki

Posted by on in Paths Blogs

This year's world events seem so random it's like being a character in a role playing game subject to the dreaded random encounter dice. People have been making memes all year about the latest random event and "did you have x on your 2020 bingo card?" Usually when someone suggests a particular event is chaos I reflexively try to explain why it's actually the function of order, that is, the function of some understandable process in which causes lead to effects, much like the heathen concept of wyrd and orlog. This year, though, it really does appear to be full of totally random, causeless events all over the world. There is a popular theory circulating on social media that explains the phenomenon, sometimes shared seriously and sometimes humorously. It references CERN, the Mandela Effect, and a small, possibly curious or mischievous, weasel.

Assuming you're a regular human and not a time mage or a god or one of the physicists planning to crack open reality and punch through to another universe, how can you travel through this time, relentlessly moving forward one minute per minute whether you will or you nil? How better than to invoke the protection of a god known for working through chaos to bring about a better world?

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Snake Equation

The Snake Equation, pictured above, is a meme of unknown origin circulating on the net. Because this meme shows this equation superimposed over classical art of Loki, it occurred to me that this equation in Chaos Theory could be considered a teaching of Loki. I tried to derive a spiritual truth from it that I could consider to be a teaching of Loki. I wrote a scene describing its meaning into my novel Some Say Fire, but since the book will probably never be published, I'd like to share this insight here on my blog.

If you look at it just right, the top line appears to spell "snake," hence the name of the equation. This is an equation in Chaos Theory. First I'm going to explain the terms, and then explain the spiritual meaning I have derived from this equation.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Novel Gnosis part 21: Lodhur and Loki

Lodhur is a name of Loki. Sort of. Or vice versa.

In the Fireverse, Honir and Lodhur were generated out of Odin to shape Midgard from Ymir’s body, reabsorbed, generated out of Odin again to shape humanity out of driftwood, reabsorbed, and finally Odin generated them a third time, and placed Lodhur in the jotun who was born vaette-Loki but who had the potential to become a god. Then Loki and Lodhur were the same being, “and then it had always been that way.” At that point, Honir was also permanently in existence outside of Odin, but he did not have a permanent physical form, so he only manifested when Odin and Loki were together. So Lodhur is both the same being as Loki and not the same. He is an aspect of Loki and is also older than Loki.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

b2ap3_thumbnail_loki.jpg

Title: Loki's Wager (Vikingverse Book Two)

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Gold Ring from the Sacred Fire

Yes, it's a barbecue smoker lid. Yes, I really do light sacred fires in it. Because cooking for a ritual feast is a sacred act, and so is cooking for ordinary purposes when I'm intending to share some of it with the gods, so if I were cooking in my kitchen the gas flame on the range top would be a sacred fire, because that's how that works. The hearth fire through which Loki brings energy to us or from us to the gods does not have to be a replica of the hearth in a Viking longhouse or other historical type of building. I think I might draw the line at an electrical cooker or microwave, because those aren't really fire, but the wood and charcoal fire in the barbecue is just as much a traditional wood fire as anything our ancestors made.

So how did this shiny golden circular shape get here? I'm glad you asked. The story went like this. It was the full moon of Friday the 13th, which occurred in September this year (2019.) Now, Friday the 13th doesn't mean anything in heathenry-- in historical heathen calendar systems, it doesn't even exist-- but in modern American culture it's considered unlucky, which is the reason that some members of the witchy community consider it to be especially lucky for witches, along with black cats and broken mirror pieces.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Loki: Hokey or Schlocky?

How do you say “Loki”?

By far the most common American—and certainly the Hollywood—pronunciation rhymes with “hokey.” Thus, in his novel American Gods, Neil Gaiman (whose purpose as a storyteller is an entertaining story, not historical or theological accuracy) nicknames Odin's blood-brother “Low Key” Liesmith.

But that's not how the ancestors would have pronounced it.

In old Norse, every vowel is either short or long. Historians of the language all agree that the O in Loki is a short one.

Thus, in ancient, as in modern, Icelandic, Loki rhymes with “schlocky,” not “hokey”: LAW-key, not LOW-key.

So, the thirteen thousand sol question (pagan money = sols and lunas): Does that mean that short-O Loki-rhymes-with-schlocky is the correct pronunciation?

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Murphy Pizza
    Murphy Pizza says #
    Indeed. My Latin prof used to say, "The problem with languages is that people use them." But if these ethnic recon trads are about
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    Well, that's a pretty big bag o' snakes you just opened up there, Murphy (maybe I should say, we opened up). My scholarly side (a
  • Murphy Pizza
    Murphy Pizza says #
    Dont get me started on how the names of Greek deities are pronounced now.. ..oh, and enough with trying to phonetically pronounce

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Asatru FAQ: What's a Nokean?

A Nokian, or Nokean, is someone who opposes Lokeans. A Lokean is a type of pagan or heathen whose personal religious practice is primarily about following Loki. Some Lokeans also consider themselves to be Asatruars, or Wiccans, or other sects, and some don't. Asatru includes Loki in its traditional list of gods, so many Asatruars who do not consider themselves Lokeans do honor Loki, just not as their primary deity.

A Nokian actively tries to get people who follow or honor Loki to leave public heathen spaces or stay silent within them, and tries to convince people who are seeking a religious path that Loki isn't an acceptable part of heathenry. While Lokeanism is a religious practice, Nokeanism is a form of proselytizing. People who simply prefer not to acknowledge Loki and don't have a relationship with him are not Nokeans; they are just ordinary heathens, pagans, etc. who don't have Loki in their personal or group practice. A Nokean is someone who tries to control the personal and group practice of other people to get others to exclude Loki.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Erin Lale
    Erin Lale says #
    Anthony, it's a huge subject and I'm only just barely introducing it in my comment. The main takeaway here is that the impact of N
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    I should probably have added the qualifier "currently available" to "lore and practices" though a 40 day time frame would give the
  • Erin Lale
    Erin Lale says #
    Anthony, that's an interesting way to look at the elements. In heathen literature, there are trees considered male that poetically
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    In "Two Flutes Playing" by Andrew Ramer the author describes gay energy as tree energy and says it is represented in art and stor
  • Erin Lale
    Erin Lale says #
    Anthony, oh, Odin is also a trickster He and Loki are very much brothers. Meredith, in one of our stories Loki enters an eating

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