So, I was listening to a video on the differences between Marvel Thor and the actual mythology Thor. When it came to the subject of family, the video described the Marvel Loki as your classic supervillain while actual Loki was more of “Prankster”.
I’ve always thought of Loki as more of a force of change. His mischief seems to bring in something new and valuable. Sif lost her hair, and Thor got his hammer. So, safe to say I have a respect for him. With that being said, many Asatru books I’ve read, people I’ve talked to, and groups I became acquainted with, treat him like Christians treat the devil. Meaning he’s seen as just absolute evil. I get that he’s trouble, but there’s always a silver lining to him.
Also, the general context of the mythology seems to say that being strong or cunning is more important than being nice.
We don’t know what the Norse really thought as the tradition was completely aural and all our written sources were 3rd hand accounts that were heavily Christianised, hence the Christian influence.
Not just him, this colors their view of the entre mythos. Asatru would do that because it’s a religion that only considers the Aesir valid gods. Loki is Aesir but also half Jotun, and the Jotun are the enemies of the gods (Aesir).
I have one book on Astatru and didn’t finish it, I immediately walked away as soon as I realised how weirdly skewed and one sided their practice is, it seems very unbalanced to me and not very useful or even honest.
As far as Loki goes, E.A. Koetting made a very interesting observation in him Viking pathworking books and course, that in all cases all of Loki’s exploits highlight where the gods have been acting without integrity or fairness. He shows up their flaws, more than anything. His trickery wouldn’t be possible without thier bullshit and every situation could have been handles better. A critical eye that doesn’t assume the gods are in the right as Christans do is helpful when reading his stories.
Absolutely, and the pressures on men to be manly and strong and nothing like women were quite constraining, probably from a perspective of survival in a harsh climate.
For a more open and realistic view of Norse life and beliefs, I recommend Arith Harger’s yt channel. Jackson Crawford as well. These two are very famous in Norse circles and well respected, they clear up a lot of misconceptions and are clear about when something is supported by evidence and when it’s opinion. They will not tell you what to think, and you are free to make your own way.
I have a book by Gunnar Hlysson that takes a better look at the myths. It describes another tradition (Rokkatru) as being about the Aesir alongside gods like Loki and Hel. As in to say it acknowledges the importance of the mythology’s darker aspects.
There is no evidence of any worship to Loki or beings such as Surtr before modern times, likely for the same reason there is at least no solid evidence that anyone worshipped Satan, Lucifer, or any Demons before the 19th or 20th Century.
People in past times did not worship the enemies of mankind, or negative aspects of life (what you might call the “darker aspects”), they rather sought benefit and to be raised to good fortune, honor, power, and wisdom. Satanism is largely a phenomenon of the 20th century. And before the early days of Psychology, there was not much of a concept of “shadow work”.
It does not seem like worshipping beings like Loki made sense to people, as they did not see any reason to incur suffering on yourself, when the same and greater can be acheived without any suffering.
Loki dose not bring suffering thogh he brings new opertunites and new beginnings he saved oden from skadi he brought thore his hammer oden his spear. He helped with the wall and gave oden his child horse. He brings change he burns away the old and makes room for the new not always confterbull but binaficle. Me and my husband set up an aulter to loki and the jotuns as they had been helping us. Not much later we got told that we had to move we couldn’t rent there any more and my husband lost his retirement through the Army and we couldn’t find a place to rent. What happened next i am so thankful for. My husband got 35.000 for his disability and keeps his disability check even though he doesn’t keep his retirement status. We payed of all our det. We got approved to buy our first house even though we where told several times before we needed better credit. We managed some how to end up with 900 left at the end of the month after bills and not shure where that comes frome.
That is perfectly fine, not everyone is going to experience suffering from Loki. However, it seems the majority of those in the Norse Pagan community do experience suffering while worshipping him, but relate to his story in some way, and usually believe that the suffering is a “harsh lesson”. We cannot disregard the experiences of all these people, even though some will worship him and be fine.
Now, the reason why among the Old Norse they did not worship him, and saw him the way they did, is that even though he helped the gods like you mentioned, he killed Baldr, and framed it on Baldr’s brother, causing him to be killed as well. That would have been considered an extremely dishonorable act, and that is what the punishment of Loki is on. Now, through that, Loki had a great hatred of the gods so he sides with the forces that are traditionally enemies to mankind, such as Surtr, and plays a role in the eventual destruction, devestation and slaughter of mankind, while the gods preserve and protect mankind and eventually save them from these forces seeking to destroy them, because of their hatred for the gods.
Now, worship of Loki is fine, everyone must choose their path, but with this you can see why the Norse people would not worship him, or the enemies of the gods. And we cannot deny the experience of the practitioners who do experience suffering in worship to him, as they seem to be the majority.
And i will not dismiss any experience you ore anyone else have personally as thatis not my job. Lots of people judge and spill judgment about him with no personal experience. I believe you should work with him at least once before making a decision to hate him on what a bunch of Christians wrote in a book Cristianising my religion. Now i do not dismiss people who have experienced malice from him he can be vary hart his energy is chaotic and his lessons normally bring pain and destruction before rebuilding things back better. So everyone experiences the gods differently. I wint to the gods and all rejected me and loki and lady scadi came to me and said they would teach me they are amazing with me helping me rebuild my self from years of self doubt and pain.
Of course. It is great that he has helped you as he has. But as I said, the majority of his worshippers do tend to go through a great deal of suffering, but some like you do not.
This is in accordance with his nature it would appear. Now, the account of him as an enemy of mankind, and enemy to the gods, and the killer of Baldr is not a Christianization, unless Loki himself appeared after the Christianization of the Norse. And it’s rather likely that Loki only appears after the Christianization of the Norse, as Loki does not appear in the older Germanic tale of Baldr, or in the older Germanic faith in general (similar to Freya), and his name was not used as a place-name. With that, there is no evidence that he was ever worshipped by the Norse people, and we can see why with the story of him, especially if he is a product of the syncreticisim between the Norse people and their Christian neighbours.
To be clear, as I said, I am not saying worshipping him is wrong. Everyone chooses their own path. If they benefit, it is great. But with this we can see why he was not worshipped by the Norse people.