133 lines
9.4 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
9.4 KiB
Plaintext
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Will the Real Loki Please Stand Up?
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by Magdalen Vertes
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Has Loki, the Norse 'Trickster' god, been misrepresented as an evil,
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scheming character, who was even considered by early Christians to be another
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face of the Devil? Or does Loki have his roots as a much more ancient god,
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concerned with the balance of nature? It seems that Loki has all the
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attributes to suggest the latter. First, Loki's name may have been derived
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from the Sanskrit 'Loka', meaning a spirit undergoing karma - spiritual
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advancement through repeated reincarnation. Loki, depicted as a handsome,
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agile little man, with a pointed laughing face, piercing blue eyes, and
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voluminous flame-red hair in curly locks, possesses sky shoes in which he can
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travel, with great speed, over land, sea and air - suggesting that he is
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connected with spirit flight (also being called the Sky Traveller) - and
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therefore has shamanic roots. Also, Loki is the most prominent shapeshifter
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in the mythological cycle - yet another shamanic trait. Loki does not
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shapeshift in any evolutionary order - which may disprove the theory that
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earthly evolution is a material representation of karma - a belief common among
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many ancient peoples (such as the Hindus and Druids). Despite their lack of
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science and technology, the non-classical peoples were in fact, as can be
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seen by their religious theories and practices, much more perceptive about
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their environment, both in worldly and other-worldly matters, than is often
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believed.
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What can be deduced in general from this information , therefore, is
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that Loki's true form presides over and represents the true and pure spirit
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form - the other form he takes, the bodies the spirit resides in on earth
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during karma - for the only way that one can shape-shift in reality is by
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reincarnation. As Loki is depicted as shapeshifting into a specific form for
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a specific purpose in every case, this could show that, originally, Odinists
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believed that spirits could return to Earth in any form for any purpose
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according to fate, rather than in evolutionary order. As can be seen from
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the myth 'The Well of Asgard', Loki changes into a mare in order to lure away
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a stallion, as a result, becoming pregnant with Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged
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horse. Therefore Loki has the power to change sex as well as shape, and can
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become a father or a mother. This alone represents two things: the first
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that we all have within each of us, both a masculine and feminine aspect of
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the spirit, and can express either one irrespective of the sex of the
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physical body. The second is that through its several incarnations, the
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spirit can exist in both male and female bodies. Thus if it should exist
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first in a female body, and then is reborn in a male body, the state of being
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female in a previous life could still have an influence in the present life
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as a male. Both these things can provide an explanation for homosexuality
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and transvesticism.
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Loki is also associated with natural phenomena outside living things,
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and the reason for his being labelled 'The Trickster' is the fact that
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natural forces, whether inside or outside living things are unpredictable and
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can be most destructive. In Norse myth Loki's parents are two fire giants.
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Giants are living things and they are led by Utgard Loki, a giant who is
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identical to Loki in every way, save that he is much larger.
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In 'Thor's Journey to Utgard', Thor and his friends visit Utgard to
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discover that all Utgard Loki's subjects each represent a particular force of
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nature, after being defeated in several contests with them. This story
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bearing the message that man can never have complete control over the forces
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of nature. 'The Binding of Loki' has the same meaning, as even when bound,
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Loki causes earthquakes when he struggles to break free. Loki's
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unpredictable side is represented in the myth 'Sif's Hair', in which Loki,
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apparently for no reason, cuts off the long golden hair of Sif, a harvest
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goddess, whilst she lies sleeping and unsuspecting of him. Loki then
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compensates for his deed by going to the dwarfs to ask them to make a magical
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wig of spun gold, which, when placed on Sif's head, grows as her original
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hair did. So Sif's hair represents a field of ripe corn and Loki a fire
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would could suddenly destroy it; but if new corn is planted in the place of
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the original it will naturally grow again, represented by Sif's new wig
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produced by Loki's instigation, and suggesting, therefore, that Loki replaces
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all he destroys and so presides over the continuing cycle in nature.
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Speaking of cycles, Loki is also connected with the seasonal cycle. In
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the myth 'Idunna's Golden Apples', a giant called Thiazzi, persuades Loki to
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deliver the youth goddess Idunna to him, together with her apples of eternal
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life. So after Loki lures Idunna out of her apple orchard in Asgard for her
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to be abducted by Thiazzi, the gods grow old because they no longer have the
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apples of youth. This represents the state of the earth in winter when
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nothing can grow and everything seems withered and old or dead. Loki then
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rescues Idunna and returns her and the apples to the gods who then regain
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their normal youth and vigour, thus spring comes again.
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In another myth, Skadi, Thiazzi's daughter and a winter goddess,
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confronts the gods to demand a sacrifice before she will allow spring to
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come, appearing so hard and cold that they decide to yield to her. So Loki
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offers himself on his own initiative, by tying himself to a goat by his
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genitals and engaging in a tug of war with the goat until his genitals give
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way, whereupon he falls into Skadi's lap and soaks her with his blood. This
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pleases Skadi and she relents for spring to follow.
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Although Loki eventually brings about the Ragnarok or end of the world,
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by killing Balder, the sun god, the result after the imminent claustrophobic
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effects is a brand new world, rising from the remains of the original one. So
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Loki has the power to destroy and recreate no matter how large or small the
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scale at which the events take place. Aiding Loki in bringing about the end
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of the old world are his three strange children by his giantess love,
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Angurboda. The first of these, Fenris, is a huge wolf who is bound by the
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gods to prolong the orderly state which they created in the universe as
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Fenris represents chaos, the original disordered state of affairs before the
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earth was formed. The second, Jormangandr, is a huge sea serpent who
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encircles the whole earth to hold his tail in his mouth, so that he appears
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to have no beginning and no end, in this way representing the continuity of
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time and of the cycle, and so being a reminded to Odin that nothing is
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permanent, even his rule. So Odin banishes the serpent to earth, as earthly
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beings are those who are more likely to be aware of time - as it often works
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against them as they only have a limited amount of time while on Earth. The
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third, Hela, is of course the Queen of the Dead, the ruler of the lower
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spirit world who provides a resting place for spirits between earthly
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existences whilst they are still undergoing karma. Since Loki is the father
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of such influential beings, this suggests that he could even be the original
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primeval all-powerful force which is the route of all other forces -
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Angurboda being his female counterpart - or even the female side of him as he
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is, as previously stated, seen to be bisexual. So, as much as Ymir and
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Audumbla are the primeval Earth, Loki and Angurboda could be the primeval
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spirits, and, upon Odin replacing Ymir and Audumbla to begin his orderly
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rule, produce these children in order to secure their primeval influence and
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control, being as the original primeval force is both the beginning and the
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end. In reference to her bearing the children, Angurboda's name is derived
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from the old Norse word meaning 'Distress Bringer' as the children represent
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forces over which no other being can have complete control, like all natural
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forces, and so they appear distressing. Although in most myths Angurboda is
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depicted as Hela's mother, in others Hela and the winter goddess Skadi are
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depicted as Angurboda herself, simply taking different names in order to take
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different roles associated with death. So, as Skadi, she presides over the
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earthly death-state of winter; as Hela, presiding over the death of
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individuals rather than death in the universal sense, as of winter.
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Therefore, this suggests that all other gods and goddesses too, may just
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simply be the different faces of either Loki or Angurboda, if these two
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deities are the original primeval forces of either Loki or Angurboda, and the
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root of all else - these different faces sometimes having to oppose each
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other in accordance with the balance of nature. Often, when Loki is
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mentioned, just one word springs to mind - cunning, as he is referred to as
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the Trickster because of his role. But, as we are all given, together with
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our aspects, free will, cunning need not be used for evil ends, the fault
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does not lie with Loki but with the user who would in fact be abusing Loki's
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gift to him/her. Therefore, the conclusion is the Loki and his kin were
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diabolized by early Christians, because their roles as described here proved
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incompatible to their ideology of Christianity.
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