An introduction to Loki

Back in January I had a few coincidences with names and images connected with Loki.  I began to feel quite strongly that he was prompting me for some reason so I started investigating.

My first instinct was to to go to an internet community I have been made welcome within UK Heathenry.  My initial contacts with them were via an email list but they are now more active on Facebook.  I have always been open about the fact that I do not consider myself to be Heathen but I do feel that Heathenry is a neighboring family of paths to my own.  In spite of a range of connections with Heathens I’d never felt that any of the Heathen families of gods and other assorted beings had been that interested in me.  Now that had changed so I asked the group for pointers to good articles or blogs.  I got a range of helpful and sometimes lighthearted responses so I started reading and learning.

(This blog post began with the above paragraphs four months ago, today it finally continues)

Loki is perhaps one of the best known and yet also most mis-understood deity among the Heathen families of beings.  Part of that is no doubt due to the fact that one aspect of his complex character has been used extensively in tales ancient and modern as an instigator of all manner of usually tricky situations.  Among his most recent guises is that of the “bad guy” in recent Marvel comics and movies.  From my reading (and I’m in no way an expert on this) it seems that even in Heathen circles the mention of his name can bring about extreme reactions and often negative ones at that.  But He also seems to be a being that has a collection of devoted followers, ones that accept that he is complex and sometimes very difficult to know.

Resources I was pointed to in January that I have found particularly useful are:

Loki’s shrine at: http://www.northernpaganism.org/shrines/loki/index.html

Eldar Heide: “Loki, the Vätte, and the Ash Lad: A Study Combining Old Scandinavian and

Late Material” Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 7 (2011) pp. 63–106. 10.1484/J.VMS.1.102616 available in last proof form at:

http://eldar-heide.net/Publikasjonar%20til%20heimesida/Loke-artikkel%20til%20nettsida.pdf

And Alexa Duir’s series of fiction books that have Loki as a central character.

Things went quiet in late January on the Loki prompts and I began to feel that maybe he had chosen to provide a bit of distraction at a stressful time for some reason and that was it.  Needless to say that wasn’t it.

In early March I started getting some other odd coincidences and prompts which led to me order the first of Alexa’s books (I hadn’t until that point) and also the book “Playing with Fire: An exploration of Loki Laufeyjarson” by Dagulf Loptson available from Asphodel Press. By mid March I’d read six of Alexa’s books and then the book by Dagulf Loptson.

Also in March in a personal front I went off sick from work again with anxiety triggering yet another round of assorted meetings which in the end resulted in my dismissal from work on capability grounds.  Throughout this process Loki has been appearing from time to time in the forefront of my mind and has been a much appreciated distraction from some of the more unpleasant aspects of what has been going on.

On Thursday 21st July I received the final dismissal letter in the post. On the 20th July Dagulf Loptson had posted a new blog post at Polytheist.com called Breaking Loki’s Bonds which I didn’t see until Friday 22nd July.  This post gives information and guidance on a nine day rebirth process and reading that post felt like a personal invitation.

Later that day I gathered the things I would need for this process and the following day, Saturday 23rd July I began.  I may write more about how that process went later but essentially having now completed it I found it to be both powerful and helpful.