#calm down locus

[lokisday]

Quick reminder that Ao3 (the archive of our own) is raising money this week for the autumn drive. If that is relevant to your interests, please donate.

[lokisday]

I did not lose a single follower over Halloween weekend when I asked people to be more understanding of the very worst and most hated of mental illness, like pedophiles and sociopaths and others who struggle to find acceptance anywhere in our society. The people for whom nobody advocates kindness.

I am so, so proud and humbled by this community.

[lokisday]

I try not to open my mouth when it comes to Norse lore, in order to avoid placing my foot in it. All the same, I’d gently suggest that anyone who calls Loki a mass murderer or says he kills in excess of others of his pantheon is probably getting things a bit confused with Marvel.

I personally don’t see the harm in drawing pieces of your praxis from comic books, but I think good stewardship is making an effort to understand what came from where.

[lokisday]

My prayers tonight are with every Muslim person who is being forced to apologize for existing once again. I am sorry. This was not your fault.

My prayers are with the people of Lebanon, that your suffering not be forgotten. I am sorry. The lives of your people are worth as much as ours in the west.

My prayers are with the families of every person killed by the US and its allies and the terrorist groups it funds. I am sorry. I wish I could make it stop.

[lokisday]

Posts about Fenrisúlfr will only be posted during the full moon, because I do not want my relationship with him to distract from the purpose of this blog.

[lokisday]

Okay, so The Avengers. You’ve watched it (maybe) or you know all about it anyway because nobody else will shut up about it. Pretty standard epic action movie in Western narrative: the forces of evil destroying everything and only the chosen heroes can stop them, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and there was Loki. A sort of mashup of villain and antihero and bdsm porn star, based on a comic book character who was in turn based on a character out of Norse mythology if you turn your head sideways and squint.

That is not Loki, said a number of lokeans, gesticulating emphatically. I do not worship someone out of a comic book! I’ve said it myself, because. . . well, it’s true. If Marvel had named him Sam—that’s a nice villainous name—we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.

Do I actually believe there is any difference between Loki in pop culture and Loki in Norse lore? Ans: I don’t know and I don’t care.

I’m very grateful to Tom. Many years ago, long before the Avengers came out, I received a strong push toward Loki, probably by the trickster himself. Guess what happened next?

Absolutely nothing.

I didn’t have the context to understand what was happening, the information wasn’t readily out there, it got filed under weird things that are my life, mostly forgotten about, and—if Tom had not given his soul to capturing just a hint of old flame-hair—I might have missed one of the best relationships of my life.

I don’t think there is anything realer or more genuine about worshiping Loki in a Norse pagan context. More historically accurate, to be sure, and I love exploring the lore surrounding him and delving into the beautiful Old Icelandic language.

It bears repeating, because people forget, that these old stories were written by humans. Humans with their own passions, prejudices, and culturally-bound worldviews. That those stories continue to call followers, centuries after they were written, is testament to the power of the gods they worshiped, but they were just that—stories.

Not unlike American Gods.

Or Sandman.

Or the Avengers.

Explaining the supernatural in words that we can understand and accept.

It has been my experience that “real” is a very human concept. We are mortal and die, therefore the question of “has-existence/does-not-have-existence” is very perplexing and consuming to us.

If you love him (or her) with your whole heart, I have no doubt at all that Loki will show you where and to whom that love should be directed.

[lokisday]

Chasing after Wolf, part III; tw: cutting, alcohol

Given that my last post was about a conversation I had with him, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I got his attention. Last full moon, I decided to do a ritual offering type thingie in his honor. This isn’t a how-to guide. I feel like I was incredibly stupid in the way I carried it out, but I was feeling pretty desperate, okay?

To explain why I’ve spent weeks chasing after a one-night stand like a clingy abandoned girlfriend is more personal than I want to get into. Suffice to say, I decided to try a blood offering.

By Wednesday night, it had been approximately 36 hours since the last time I’d slept. I decided not to take a nap that evening, assuming the sleep deprivation might destroy any mental defenses I’d built against him. (Recall the dream where he implied that he hadn’t vanished without a note, but that I was the one keeping him away?)

I’m a vegetarian, so I was a little stymied on what to offer food-wise. Eventually I settled on goat cheese with honey and boiled cherries, along with a very heavy ale. Normally whatever I offer to Loki I eat when he’s done, but I felt strongly that Wolf wouldn’t appreciate that. In all honesty, I don’t think he partook of the dead plant matter, but he seemed pleased by the sentiment.

I lit a bunch of incense and candles in my backyard, including a candle that I keep mostly for him. I got very drunk—I told you this was stupid, right? I then used a switch to get the endorphins flowing and, after that, about twenty evenly spaced cuts along my arms and legs.

With as much care as I could muster, I poured out the ale to him and hailed him. I’m lucky I didn’t pour any on myself, as drunk as I was. I don’t remember much of what happened after that.

I do remember being ecstatically happy that he actually came back and spoke with me. It felt, this sounds a bit silly, but it felt a lot like a marriage ceremony. Which it wasn’t. There were no vows or oaths exchanged on any subject whatsoever, I am quite certain. I guess it’s just how life-changing the encounter seemed.

So the point of this whole story (if it had one beyond being very excited and wanting to share) is that sometimes being stupid and reckless gets you exactly what you want. Sometimes you just wind up dead in a ditch, though, so YMMV.

[lokisday]

If you have any extra money, donate a few dollars this week to someone in need, okay?

Giving charity to the downtrodden is the greatest gift we will ever get in this life and not aiding a fellow traveler is a much greater bankruptcy than any shortage of money. I'm not reading the script from a motivational handbook there; I speak from experience. I can't even afford adequate food this month and fuck if I care, but it's driving me crazy that there are so many people who need comfort and I can't help.

Give. May your kindness be returned twentyfold.