What To Expect When You're A Lokean

Coming from a Christian home, I was always taught that all gods except THE God were these evil and horrible beings that would drag you away from salvation and do horrible things to you.

It would seem no one told these people that there are plenty of other things out there that can do the same, but alrighty then.

With that being said, on the flip side, some Pagans share a similar belief when it comes to different deities, especially ones that can be deemed "evil" or "dangerous". I want to be very clear that I am not at all saying there aren't evil or dangerous deities out there; in fact, there are a select few that I would tell others to steer on the side of caution before approaching or entering into any agreement or relationship with. But here's the thing; at the end of the day, everyone has free will and if they so choose to go to a said deity that one should be cautious with, then they will. I would be remiss to ever try to hinder one's free will in any way, shape, or form.

But let's look at the other side of the coin.

While there are truly dangerous deities out there, there are others that have wrongfully been accused of being these horrible and dangerous beings that will bring only ruin into your life. And if there's one that's been a victim of this misconception the most- and mind you I don't mean at all that He is one, though He has experienced truly terrible anguishes in His past- is a God that you will either love or hate for a variety of reasons due to His trickster nature and the chaos that seems to follow Him wherever He goes.

Of course, I'm talking about the one and only Loki Laufeyjarson, the famous (or infamous depending on your personal views) Norse God of Mischief and Transformation.

As I said already, Loki is one of those Gods that you will either love or hate, and a lot of that appears to come from the fact that, well, He's a trickster. But that's not His only characteristic. And if there is one thing that I've learned from my dealings with this truly interesting God, it's that there is much more to Him than what meets the eyes. If you would permit me to do so, I'd like to explain how I came to this conclusion.

DISCLAIMER: This is my personal experience with Loki and as such, I would ask that you not expect the same with yours and His. He is quite possibly one of the only deities that I know of that is so individualized with each person He comes into contact with and chances are if you also enter into a working relationship with Him, the Loki that He presents to you will be just as if not more so individualized as is His nature as a shapeshifter. With that being said, please note that while Loki is a very easy-going God, remember exactly what He is; a divine being that can and will put you in your place should you ever start playing a game I call "poking the bear". Under no circumstances should you ever do this with any God or Goddess as each reacts differently when They feel They have been offended. I cannot stress enough the importance of doing proper research and talking with others if you feel you are being called by a deity. I cannot and will not be held responsible for anyone who chooses to go into an interaction with any deity without the proper research and those who do should be prepared to take responsibility for their actions for having foolhardily ignored this warning.

Let's start with addressing the elephant in the room which is the many misconceptions of who Loki is. A great deal- not all but a good chunk- of people who have heard the name Loki immediately think of the Marvel character played by Tom Hiddleston. In their incarnation, Loki is portrayed as the adopted brother of Thor, and the true son of Laufey, the King of the Ice Giants (Called Jotuns in Norse Mythology). Loki is also portrayed as being incredibly full of Himself and being quite a little sh** as seen with His attempts to rule all of Midgard by any means necessary. He is often shown shifting His appearance and deceiving most if not all that He encounters as well as being responsible for the violation of the sacred timeline as shown in the titular show.

Now that I've caught you up on the short version of what pop culture would have you believe Loki is, allow me to explain what they got right and where truth diverges from fiction.

His being a Jotun and connected to Thor and the rest of the Aesir is correct as is the name of one of his parents being Laufey. Marvel also correctly portrayed him as being a Trickster and a Mischief Maker. However, that's about it. In actuality, Loki is described as being the Trickster Norse God and the father of destruction (His children and Himself playing a massive part in Ragnarok have something to do with this title) but is also described as being the Truth Speaker and one who is willing to sacrifice His honor at times to help His fellow Gods and Goddesses (cough See the story involving the conception of Sleipnir cough). And while He does have His moments, He does seem to genuinely care for the Aesir for a time even though He is a Jotun (He is even numbered amongst the Aesir in the Prose Edda, though if we're going by His paternal lineage, He technically would not be a God by the Nordic standards). He is not, however, an Ice Jotun. Granted, there isn't a great deal of information to go off of to confirm this, but He is commonly associated with fire due to being born as a result of lightning striking a tree.

As far as Laufey goes, Laufey was His mother as shown in the popular video game God of War AND in His actual history. He was not, however, the brother of Thor. The two merely tolerate each other for a variety of reasons. While not biologically, Loki is the blood brother to Odin (blood brother in this sense meaning Loki has made an oath to Odin.). As we are on the topic of family, in the Marvel movies, Hela (or Hel) and Fenris (Fenrir) are shown to be His half-sister and one of her minions, yet another thing that was inaccurate. Hel and Fenrir, along with Jormungandr AKA The World Serpent, are His daughter and sons respectfully. They are the product of his union with the Giantess Angrboda. He does have two other sons with His second wife Sigyn- Narfi and Nari- though the ones that are most easily thought of when mentioning Norse Loki are His three children with Angrboda (that's not to say that one should exclude His children with the lovely Sigyn.).

You can see where a few of us Lokeans end up facepalming the hell out of ourselves.

Let me be clear; I am not in any way bashing Tom Hiddleston or Marvel. I enjoy the show as well as the movies, and I believe that Tom does an excellent job in portraying Loki, however, the pop culture Loki often breeds what we Lokeans have come to call "Loki's Groupies" i.e. people that end up worshipping the Marvel version of Loki without looking into His actual history.

Now that that is out of the way, I will now explain how the real Loki is- or at least how he chooses to be if you ever have the pleasure of meeting Him.

When I first crossed paths with Loki, I'll admit that I knew of Him but didn't know Him if that makes sense. I was aware of who He was and what He was all about but was under the impression that He was just what His name implies- a Trickster. It wasn't until He kept popping into my head here and there that I began to wonder if that was all He was. For instance, whenever I felt very anxious or depressed concerning a situationship I'd found myself locked into, He was the first to ask why I was holding said person in high regard when they didn't hold me as such. Should I start doubting myself with my art, here He'd come again offering to help and pointing out that I'm being overly critical of myself (something He still does). Possibly the one thing that made me realize He wasn't always looking to cause mischief was His comforting presence that came amid a panic attack during which He stayed at my side gently bringing me back out of the hell that was my mind at the time. I was very quickly becoming more and more familiar with His calming and gentle demeanor, while at the same time coming face to face with yet another side of Him.

It's at this point that I recommend that if you consider yourself free from sin or have no interest in hearing that there is this kind of side to Loki that you run for the hills now.

For those of you who are still here, the side I'm talking about is His sensual and sexual energy that He has no problem in letting out provided you are alright with it. And let me tell you, the sexual energy is what turns some people away because they feel that there is something wrong with them with feeling it, and you can thank the Abrahamic faith for that as sex is often preached as an unclean and filthy thing rather than the beautiful and natural act that it is. Let me be the first to assure you- if any of you are feeling that way- that there is nothing wrong with you and you aren't going crazy. The sexual energy is all Him. Now that that has been mentioned, I want to warn you that Loki does not care if you are in a relationship or not. If He thinks He has a chance to pull you into that energy, trust and believe that He will do it. That said, He respects boundaries and will not take offense if you are not feeling that kind of relationship with Him. (I promise you, you are not going to offend or ruin Him by saying no.) If you want that kind of relationship with him, know that it's an experience. He's incredibly helpful in helping you reclaim your power, especially for survivors of trauma. That is another thing that I have noticed with Him- Loki is incredibly protective of those who have been abused or have a mental illness. Indeed, there have been many moments recently where I have been struggling with depression and anxiety only for Him to come to me to remind me that I am loved and I am valued even when it feels that all is against me.

In conclusion, while there is a side of Him that can and will cause mischief often for the pure hell of it but also as a means to help us grow through the chaos, Loki is hands down one of the kindest and gentlest Gods I have encountered besides Anubis and other easy-going deities. Yes, He does tend to go off on long enthusiastic walks for days on end to Gods know where and there are times that He likes to make things go missing just because why not, but despite that if He hears me call to Him for help, He'll come running.

And if you give Him a chance, He will do the same for you as well.