Dagulf Loptson - Pagan Portals - Loki: Trickster and Transformer

What people are saying about

Pagan Portals - Loki

Dagulf Loptson provides a clear, well-supported and appealing introduction to Lokis character, history, and presence in the world. In addition to scholarship that will bolster your case if you find yourself defending him, Loptson provides ideas and directions for creating rituals and ritual gear. Loptsons work on Loki played a major part in my decision to reconsider my view on this often misunderstood god. The Trickster plays an important role in creating change, and we need his help today.

Diana Paxson, author of Essential satr: Walking the Path of Northern Paganism

Pagan Portals - Loki is a bold and necessary look at the Trickster God of the Norse. The author deftly weaves together academic material and personal experience to give the reader a guide not only to better understand this often maligned deity but also to connect directly to him. An unflinching appraisal that offers a great deal of insight into Loki.

Morgan Daimler, author of Pagan Portals - Odin and Pagan Portals - Thor

Pagan Portals Loki

Trickster and Transformer

Pagan Portals Loki

Trickster and Transformer

Dagulf Loptson

Winchester, UK

Washington, USA

First published by Moon Books, 2020

Moon Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., No. 3 East Street, Alresford

Hampshire SO24 9EE, UK

www.johnhuntpublishing.com

www.moon-books.net

For distributor details and how to order please visit the Ordering section on our website.

Dagulf Loptson 2019

ISBN: 978 1 78904 309 9

978 1 78904 310 5 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019943879

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Dagulf Loptson as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Stuart Davies

UK: Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

US: Printed and bound by Thomson-Shore, 7300 West Joy Road, Dexter, MI 48130

This book is dedicated to Loki Laufeyjarson and those who love him. A special thank you to my wife Michelle for always being there to inspire and encourage me. Thank you to all of my spiritual teachers and guides: especially Jeff, who pointed the way to Agni.

That one is also reckoned among the sir whom some call the sirs calumniator and originator of deceits and the disgrace of all gods and men. His name is Loki or Lopt, son of the giant Farbauti. Laufey or Nal is his mother. Byleist and Helblindi are his brothers. Loki is pleasing and handsome in appearance, evil in character, very capricious in behavior. He possessed to a greater degree than others the kind of learning that is called cunning, and tricks for every purpose. He was always getting the sir into a complete fix and often got them out of it by trickery.

Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning

Loki is one of the most famous, and at the same time, one of the most controversial deities in the Norse Pantheon. He is the great trickster of Norse Mythology: often getting the gods into trouble and then getting them out of it again. The picture that Snorri paints of him in his Edda is a conflicted one. On one hand, he is the father of monsters, the instigator of Baldrs death, and one of the key players at Ragnark: the doom of the gods. At the same time, he is the sworn blood-brother of inn, the favorite traveling companion of rr, and the source of the gods most important treasures. He is the husband of Sigyn, an sir goddess connected to themes of victory, and is the lover of Angrboa: a fearsome giantess who gives birth to a brood of werewolves in the Jrnvir (iron wood). He is the son of a Jtunn (often translated to giant, but literally meaning devourer) and an syunjur (goddess), which has often made it uncertain whether he himself should be counted as a Jtunn or an s (god). His contradictory nature even extends to his gender, and as the master shapeshifter of sgarr he is both the father and the mother of a number of magical beings. While there isnt sufficient evidence to prove whether or not he received cult worship in Scandinavia and Western Europe, that doesnt stop him from dominating the action of Norse mythology: sometimes as a comic relief and ally of the gods, sometimes as their antagonist. He doesnt conform to the classical image of the noble, Viking warrior, often resorting to trickery and magic rather than brute force.

Lokis place in Old Norse cosmology isnt something thats easily defined, and he seems to defy every attempt to categorize him. Perhaps its for this reason that he has been interpreted in so many different ways by so many different people. In the Pagan and Heathen communities, just the mention of his name is likely to bring up a variety of different reactions. Some people firmly believe him to be an enemy of the gods and persona non grata in their circles. Other people may view him as a less sinister clown or prankster: one whose jokes often got out of hand. There are still others who feel called to Loki as a god of non-conformity, transformation, and living by your wits. Those who are devoted to this often contradictory deity (as I am myself) experience him in many different ways: some see him as a teacher, a guide, a protector, a friend, or sometimes even a lover. Regardless of how you see him, hes a force that burns brightly in the Norse Myths and hes impossible to ignore.

Loki came into my life at a young age in 1994, and ever since then he has been at the center of my devotional life. Through most of my lifes important lessons he has been there to teach and to guide (and sometimes roll his eyes). My vision of him has expanded and grown over the years, and the master shapeshifter wears many masks. He is the teller of unpleasant truths, the breaker of the bonds, the fire born from lightning that changes everything it touches. He is the challenger of authority and the disrupter of stagnation. To those that choose (or more correctly, are chosen) to walk the road of his mysteries, he is an uncompromising mirror that causes us to confront our true natures... with the understanding that self-knowledge is the source of all true power. Hes here to kick the soapbox out from under our feet when we get consumed by illusions of grandeur, and hes here to lift us up into the light when we diminish our own self-worth. Hes there to laugh knowingly when we fall into our own traps (as he so often does himself), but is there to help us transform our folly into wisdom. For many Lokeans (a word to describe those who claim Loki as their patron deity) he is a compass that always points inward, towards the light of personal sovereignty. He is a fire that will consume you, transform you, and inspire you. He will teach you to break the rules, live authentically, and never apologize for who you are. Like the trickster himself, by walking his path he will teach you his own virtues of self-sufficiency, self-acceptance, creative problem solving, and marching to the beat of your own drum.