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Keni
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@cunningsilverlinguist
fine i’m not cruel enough to make you go through my entire art tag but here are my favourite Loki pics/things i’ve done ok since apparently its a shock to some new people ???
this is just
w o w
The art here is just beyond incredible. *officially wowed by ofools' skills*
totally blaming oh-look-another-loki-blog for making me see just how much this guy reminds me of Flamehair because now I’m obsessively looking through photos of him and squealing over his prettiness
You will find a wealth of information about other people’s experiences online, and especially on Tumblr. I am going to stress the importance of discernment again. There are a lot of things out there that are very, very real and very vital to the person retelling them… but that doesn’t mean that it...
This right here. Super sound advice.
Speaking as somebody who had a really tight relationship with Loki, and a much looser and more freeform, overall less mutually-invested with Loki currently: the relationship was mainly a year-isch-long springboard for personal growth, yep. When I got to a place mentally and spiritually that Loki and I agreed was good for me to be, we both decided, "Objective achieved; don't be a stranger, and I'll see you around." A lot of the 'worshipful' elements faded out and were replaced with an amicable mutual respect and departure from the previous hand-holding and spoon-feeding nature of the relationship. We basically agreed that I no longer need an object of worship in order to be spiritually fulfilled, and so continuing with rituals and similar aspects of faith would be a bit forced rather than meaningful or productive.
I like things how they are now. Some things make me think, "I see what you did there, SIlvertongue," and some things happen which remind me that I'm at my best when I'm paying attention to my life and environment, because I don't miss all the fun, humour, and shock value that pops up when Loki decides to spot-check my attentiveness. Between him and Eris, I never manage to take myself entirely too seriously, anymore... but a major part of that is also abstaining from taking -them- too seriously, no matter how deific they are. If I'm understanding them right, they would honestly see it as a major lapse in my personal growth, if I was to backtrack into worshipfulness and zeal once again, at least partly because that's something my OCD tries very hard to latch onto. "Outgrowing worship" is what's healthy and best for me, and that's where they've helped me to go.
Anyway, just wanted to elaborate on the point that if a Lokean faith relationship is somewhat short-lived, it isn't necessarily a bad thing; for me, it was very productive and healthy to have the relationship last exactly as long as it did. For people who are seeking 'marital-isch' relationships with Loki in terms of depth and investment, but who are apprehensive of a lifelong commitment to a god whose greatest relevance in your life might be only during times of change or upheaval, you might consider the 'year and a day' form of handfesta, or other varieties of commitment with limited terms and durations. There are SO many options for the form a god-mortal relationship can develop, so there's never a need to assume that the relationship is necessarily restricting or binding in any specific way. Ultimately, one's faith is between oneself and the target of one's faith. -Isto
God of paradoxes
Remember when I made a text post about a non-human Loki drawing? Here it is.
The few color I used are meant to represent what I personally associate with Loki’s double nature : red and dark green for blood and moss (Jotunn), gold and blue for spirit and air (Áss).
The bindrune under their “body” is made of the runes I picked up during a reading I did to ask him about this drawing : Thurisaz, Ansuz, Dagaz, Eihwaz, reversed Ehwaz, reversed Wunjo. I also added reversed Tiwaz and Kenaz.
This drawing belongs to me. Please do not repost it without my permission.
We have these brief lives, and our only real choice is how we will fill them. Your attention is precious. Don’t squander it. Don’t throw it away. Don’t let companies and products steal it from you. Don’t let advertisers trick you into lusting after things you don’t need. Don’t let the media convince you to covet the lives of celebrities. Own your attention — it’s all you really have.
Transom » Jonathan Harris Great article on “getting unstuck”. (via thisfeliciaday)
sakura (by 紅襪熊)
We always associated sakura, lilac, and wisteria (especially the latter two) with Sigyn. Lilac bushes are damn near fireproof, and you can prune them to stubs, and still have them regrow in profusion. Wisteria is a vine which clings so strongly and heavily to things that eventually it grows more capable of holding up its own weight than the trellis supporting it, and you just can't kill it no matter what you try. Both plants are usually extracted from their native environment, and they thrive with unyielding vigour anywhere you put them. Pollinating insects love them and derive nourishment from them easily.
-Isto
How I miss my Kindred, still unable to log on to the chat page, for whatever reason. It makes me nervous.
Are you having problems with the password, or does it seem to be something else? The permissions should not have changed, and if they have, we didn't hear about it. We've been awfully absent lately, busy with other pressing things. -Isto
I think he knows I am trying a little to hard,or maybe not enough….I don’t know how to do divination yet -/ Nor do I know how to use a pendulum .-sighs-
Okay, here's Pendulum 101:
Pendulum divination is pretty much the easiest and cheapest divination available for people without vision impairments, and you can carry a pendulum anywhere you go, since it doesn't have to look like an occult tool. The downsides are that it is even more prone to human error and influence than cleromancy and cartomancy (at least in terms of getting the signal; interpretation is another matter altogether), and it is virtually useless to people whose vision is too impaired to watch its movements: if you're doing it right, your hand cannot actually feel it moving, possibly beyond a little bit of wind from its passing. If you can clearly feel it moving, then you aren't holding your hand steady enough. In our experience, seeing the pendulum also impacts how it swings: several friends of ours have found that the pendulum doesn't swing much or at all when their eyes are closed and not watching it, even though it swings vigorously when they are watching it.
How to go about it:
1. You need a piece of strong or chain, and something heavy to weigh down one end. It doesn't need to be fancy, especially if your resources are limited. We've worked just fine with a heavy bead and some sewing thread. We've worked equally well with an ordinary necklace.
2. Once your pendulum is made or bought, you need to 'calibrate' it. This is done by asking it questions that you already know the answers to, to figure out which way it swings for 'yes', 'no,' 'maybe,' and 'can't answer that right now'. Try to have at least three questions available for each type of answer, and mix up their order so you aren't getting two types of answer back-to-back. Have this list of questions set aside, maybe even written down, and stick to the game plan so that if you are having any strong emotions, you can minimize their impact on the result.
3. Once your list of 'test questions' is ready, take out your pendulum. Grip the non-weighted end of the string comfortably between the tips or bases of two of your fingers, and let the weighted end fall free. Don't try to force it to swing, and DO try to keep your hand steady and as relaxed and comfortable as possible. Eventually, the micro-twitches of your hand and arm muscles will send vibrations of movement down the pendulum string, and these twitches will convert to movement of the weighted end. It may be side-to-side, back-and-forth, diagonal, in a circle, in a long oval, or in a spiral that seems to get wider and narrower over and over again. Circles and ovals might go clockwise or anti-clockwise. Every time you ask the pendulum a question, the micro-twitches adjust their direction and intensity -juuuuust a little bit-, and this turns into the pendulum weight itself changing direction, speed, and the shape of its swinging pattern. Notice the shape of each distinctive swing pattern:
A. Ask a question that you know is answered 'yes' for sure. Make a note to yourself which way the pendulum swings. This is how your pendulum says 'yes'.
B. Ask yourself a 'no' question. If the pendulum changes direction or swings a different pattern, make a note of it: This is how your pendulum says 'no'.
C. Do the same for questions which have variable or uncertain answers ('maybe') and questions which are genuinely unknown to you and that you assume are kinda' unknowable ('Can't answer that right now'). Find out what the patterns are for these answers.
4. Once you have determined the four basic ways it can answer, you can start using it for divination. Bring yourself as closely as you can to a place of emotional calm and mental quiet and clarity. DO NOT EVER USE A PENDULUM IF YOU ARE UPSET. Emotional intensity can skew your results very badly by changing how your muscles micro-twitch.
5. Once you are calm, composed, and ready, ask questions of the pendulum. Direct them at 'my wisest and most wholly unified self', or to any deity you trust and who you feel is able to influence your muscle twitches enough to use in divination. Just remember, above all, that your answers -are- passing through the very human filter of your body and the unconscious part of your brain which causes those smallest involuntary muscle spasms. Human error factors into it, just like virtually every other form of divination. Always balance your divination with your own common sense and with consultation of your own morals and ethics. Divination exists to help you find your best choices, not to make those choices for you or to force you into them.
Finally, if you are comfortable with this style of using the pendulum, there's one other popular way to use it: 'ouija board' style. You make a pattern or design on paper, wood, cloth, or even just in your head, and instead of a given 'way of swinging' meaning yes, no, etc., the pendulum answers by swinging toward different letters, words, and symbols. This is how you get answers more complex than yes-no-maybe, etc. Just keep in mind, again, that it is still going through YOUR human filter, and also keep in mind that no matter how thorough your 'ouija board' design, you will still inevitably be leaving out something from the design which might be important later, forcing the pendulum to take the next-best option... and that option might be something misleading in its phrasing.
Good luck with it! We hope this proves useful to you. -Isto
My ex just made a truly classy post on Facebook shaming those who choose not to “come out” to their parents.
I am one of those people who is “in the closet” with their parents. I am in the closet about my sexuality, my gender identity, and, above all, my religious beliefs. I am not ashamed of...
He stumbled into faith and thought God, there is all there is The pictures in his mind arose And began to breathe And no one saw and no one heard They just followed the lead The pictures in his mind arose And began to breathe And no one saw And no one heard they just followed the lead The pictures in his mind awoke And began to breed
“Blue Lips” Regina Spektor (via shaitana)
As a new Lokean, but long-standing Heathen, I’ve got this to say:
Man, is it any wonder that Loki has followers? I can’t speak for everyone, but here’s how I see it.
Anyone who has ever been cast out for speaking their mind because their opinion was unpopular can connect to Loki.
Anyone who...
Thank you for your powerful words. <3 -Isto
So, I just learned about the Lokean religion today. It came from me having random thoughts and going, “Hmm… I wonder if anyone worships/has ever worshiped Loki.” So I looked it up and it turns out people do. But apparently a lot of people frown upon the worship of him because being the god of…
Being Lokean doesn’t necessarily equate to being Neo-Pagan; there are a wide variety of ‘ways to be Lokean’, and a few of those aren’t entirely under the umbrella of pagan belief systems (ours, for instance, which is a deconstructive philosophical system first, before it is a religion). There is no ‘Lokean doctrine’ which tells you what you are and are not allowed to do, and the closest things we’d call to ‘Lokean values’ are the warnings not to lie to yourself, and to be responsible and accountable for your own actions and their consequences. Responsibility for your actions is pretty integral to Wicca, if we understand that system’s ethics rightly, and in a general sense, nothing about being Lokean is mutually exclusive with Wicca, unless you chose a ‘way to be Lokean’ which acts or believes contrary to Wiccan beliefs and ethics. This is a fringe-of-fringe-of-fringe religion, and while we see lots of UPGs and practices with similarities to each other, we can honestly say we’ve never seen two identical Lokean practices or faiths.
Whether you wish to have Loki as your patron, or to just see Loki as a facet of your God… whether you are adopting Loki into a pre-existing religion, philosophical system, magickal practice, or nonspecific spirituality… whether you’re a Wiccan or reconstructionist heathen or chaote or discordian or what-have-you, if you genuinely desire Loki in your life, He is more than flexible enough and clever enough to help you make it work. The onus just remains on you to seek Him out, determine what your beliefs really are on the matter, and meet Him halfway out of open-mindedness and a gesture of good faith.
Good hunting.
-Isto
Wow! That helped me a lot!!! Thank you so much. So I really don’t have to do anything special other than to seek him out? So I can keep my Wiccan beliefs, just with Loki added in there, right? Cool!
Exactly right. There are no promises that He won't judge your faith around with His elbows while He finds His niche with your life and faith... but at least in our experience, He seeks those seeking Him and is big on reciprocity. Again, good luck! :D -Isto
Sigyn was our grace today.
The best part of our day involved a long run with our younger cousin through an abandoned city park, and teaching her some things of karate, and having theological discussion with her.
The not-best part of our day involved sitting across a kitchen table from her adoptive mother, our baptist fundie great aunt, and listening to her make emotionally abusive statements at our cousin, knowing the entire time that if our involvement becomes too direct, it will only make it worse for our cousin.
We have lived what she lives now. We know that too much help only increases the hurt. We are not yet in the financial or legal position to emancipate her, but that is the goal.
Our aunt's 'Christianity' is fear-based, hate-filled, and contrary to all that Christ espoused. Our cousin was sitting to our left, between our aunt and us, at the table, forced to listen to the conversation. At several points we were so profoundly disgusted that we were ready to leave, but each time we considered getting up, or showing on our face that we were upset, or speaking in a rash way which would hurt our cousin worse down the road... we thought of Sigyn.
She showed us this: we have lived this painful up-bringing once. We survived it and are patient and strong from it. What our cousin needed at that time was not a loud and hasty advocate who knows no better. What our cousin needed was somebody in her corner, bearing it with her, hearing what is said and being a witness for her. What our cousin needed was to know she is not alone.
If she can deal with our aunt every single day, every waking hour, then we can deal with our aunt for three hours. If we can deal with our mother every day for twenty years, then we can certainly deal with our aunt for the duration of a meal and a single ugly conversation.
This is a small thing we can do for her, which is a large thing to her mind.
Thank You, Sigyn, for urging us toward calm instead of haste, toward perspective instead of rashness, toward remembrance and patience instead of forgetting how we got this far.
Sometimes strength is not in great acts, but in standing beside somebody so they do not have to be alone against an enemy. Our cousin already knows abnegation, because it is demanded of her. Our job now is to help her internalize just how much her selflessness and patience are her courage and strength.
-Isto
So, I just learned about the Lokean religion today. It came from me having random thoughts and going, “Hmm… I wonder if anyone worships/has ever worshiped Loki.” So I looked it up and it turns out people do. But apparently a lot of people frown upon the worship of him because being the god of...
Being Lokean doesn't necessarily equate to being Neo-Pagan; there are a wide variety of 'ways to be Lokean', and a few of those aren't entirely under the umbrella of pagan belief systems (ours, for instance, which is a deconstructive philosophical system first, before it is a religion). There is no 'Lokean doctrine' which tells you what you are and are not allowed to do, and the closest things we'd call to 'Lokean values' are the warnings not to lie to yourself, and to be responsible and accountable for your own actions and their consequences. Responsibility for your actions is pretty integral to Wicca, if we understand that system's ethics rightly, and in a general sense, nothing about being Lokean is mutually exclusive with Wicca, unless you chose a 'way to be Lokean' which acts or believes contrary to Wiccan beliefs and ethics. This is a fringe-of-fringe-of-fringe religion, and while we see lots of UPGs and practices with similarities to each other, we can honestly say we've never seen two identical Lokean practices or faiths.
Whether you wish to have Loki as your patron, or to just see Loki as a facet of your God... whether you are adopting Loki into a pre-existing religion, philosophical system, magickal practice, or nonspecific spirituality... whether you're a Wiccan or reconstructionist heathen or chaote or discordian or what-have-you, if you genuinely desire Loki in your life, He is more than flexible enough and clever enough to help you make it work. The onus just remains on you to seek Him out, determine what your beliefs really are on the matter, and meet Him halfway out of open-mindedness and a gesture of good faith.
Good hunting.
-Isto
This was initially going to part of this and I decided that I did not want to succumb everyone to the painful length of my response that had nothing to do with, specifically Loki at the time. (If you still wish to read it, go ahead. Primarily, it helps in understanding…
As I keep saying:
You said, “Gods save us from those who would demand we ‘grow up’. Without a light heart about things, what remains to hold off the gloom?”
Growing up does not mean that you lose the positive qualities people attribute to children. Qualities like a light heart is often part of personality (and other times, it’s a mood), and that isn’t exclusive to whether or not you are grown up or not. The qualities you just listed [hope, bravery, eagerness and open-mindedness to new experiences, optimism and idealism, and defiance against the attitude that settling for less than a great life] are variable, again, to personality. You cannot and should not force a person to be an optimist. Pessimism is not always a bad thing. Sometimes hope is a bad thing; sometimes everyone needs to know when to accept a fact. Sometimes bravery can lead to stupid decisions, as can eagerness. Sometimes open-mindedness can take a person too far to accept dangerous things. Sometimes idealism burns too greatly and clouds judgement. Sometimes we do need to settle for something less than ideal in life because in the end, we need to accept that some battles aren’t worth it.
What I am arguing is: everything you said has variables. Everything is not black and white. It is not that hope is the fantastic ideal (or that idealism is), or that any of these qualities are, and that they are not even fastly attributed to being a child, being an adult, being grown-up, or not, but that everything depends.
The thing is: responsibility is precisely related to all of this. Being grown-up INVOLVES being responsible. You can’t cut that out. A lot of qualities you listed have NOTHING to do with being grown-up and are in fact dangerous when not under a responsible individual, and you need to be grown up to be responsible, otherwise you are immature. Actually, that’s the actual definition of being grown-up: mature (or in other words: “not immature”), and immature means (obviously: lacking maturity, but also:) lacking wisdom, insight, emotional stability, etc. Responsible therefore also means: reliable, trustworthy, accountable for one’s actions, and therefore my issue is: If you are not grown-up, you are immature, and immature folk are not reliable nor worthy of trust (particularly in being accountable for one’s actions), and therefore, if you are not grown-up, you are not able to be responsible.
Now, as this post has to do with LOKI, what this means in regards to LOKI, and ultimately, my prime critique of TLs, is that: there is concern of maturity, trustworthiness, and reliability. It is not about “calming down” because one CAN be calm and be mature, reliable, and trustworthy. Actually, I believe I already said “calm” was one aspect needed in the community somewhere, hrm, because the concern is that many are too passionate and too rash in their decisions, and therefore need to collect themselves and, essentially, need to prove that they are indeed responsible and mature (and as I already MENTIONED, maturity and responsibility IS being grown-up, and thereby, that is why your statement of “Being grown-up is extremely overrated” IS NOT overrated in the slightest).
Maturity and responsibility ARE NOT exclusive to adults. All of the arguments you are making can just as easily be directed back at the claims you have made on your own definitions of adulthood.
You are defining being 'grown-up' as being responsible. Responsibility is not exclusive to adults, and it is just as much a quality of personality as anything we listed as being a childlike quality.
We are defining being 'grown-up' as being jaded, closed-minded, fearful, and surrendering to circumstances. Clearly we are not talking about the same things.
There's no need for you to treat this like we're arguing opposite points, when we aren't even having the same discussion. We're done with this. We respect your points, and we don't disagree with many of them, but they are seriously just not even what we are talking about. -Isto
[Image description: A three-panel strip of the Calvin and Hobbes comic by Bill Watterson, from 31 August 1992. A small boy, Calvin, and his adult-sized bipedal talking toy tiger, Hobbes, are walking through the woods, talking to each other. Dialogue follows:
Calvin: Know what I pray for?
Hobbes: What?
Calvin: The strength to change what I can, the inability to accept what I can’t, and the incapacity to tell the difference.
Hobbes: You should lead an interesting life.
Calvin: Oh, I already do!
End dialogue. End image description.]
With regard to our own life and world, this is much of what it means to us to be Lokean. -Isto
Loki and Responsibility
This was initially going to part of this and I decided that I did not want to succumb everyone to the painful length of my response that had nothing to do with, specifically Loki at the time. (If you still wish to read it, go ahead. Primarily, it helps in understanding part of what I’m saying here. Sadly, however, you would probably also have to read this first, then this and finally this. Of course, it would help to understand my position from The Lokisfolk Oblige post as well, so yes, that’s massive reading, but potentially worth it.)
To note, as I realized I failed to answer this, directly in my initial post (as in I did not specifically quote it):
What does it mean to ‘grow up’, anyway? Where does Loki stand with respect to the answer to that?
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As we said in our reply to your other post, we were never discussing responsibility, and just like plenty 'exceptional' adults still climb trees, plenty children are highly responsible with what areas of responsibility they are given at all. They take care of their pets, siblings, possessions, chores, school work, and so on. They plan ahead without having the life experiences yet to tell them why it's dangerous -not- to plan ahead. They are polite and socially responsible to such an extent as they are given anything to be responsible for.
We were discussing hope, bravery, eagerness and open-mindedness to new experiences, optimism and idealism, and defiance against the attitude that settling for less than a great life is not only acceptable but normative and expected.
The 'but you're responsible for it' part is understood, and not the topic we were bringing up.
We're talking about the 'keep calm and do what you want' part.
-Isto
