In the Heathen community, there is much debate on whether or not Loki was honored back in the old days. When they see Loki, they see evil and chaos. Loki is the Norse God of Chaos and Change. But what they fail to realize is that the old scandinavian people had no concept of good or evil. Basically their argument agains Loki that he is evil is useless. Because of Snorri and other christians that have reconstructed Norse lore, most heathens get the impression that Loki is not to be honored.
What do you think of Loki? Is he evil? Why or why not?
I don't think that anyone here thinks Loki is evil. We have too many Rokkatruar and Lokeans for that. While I do have expereinces with him and respect him, he is not a deity I actively work with or honor.
What is evil? What is Good? We are all part of these subjectional categories. Deities are even apart of this, it is what you make out of it. Loki, for example since this is the topic, Loki was seen as a evil god but some people, but good to some of the others. It is a point of view, and everyone has one.
Re: Loki is not evil By: Personified / Knowledgeable
Post # 4 Oct 18, 2014
Before I start: Yes, I work with the flamehair. He is a patron of sorts for me in my practice.
Loki worship/devotion is such a highly debated issue in the Heathen community, likely to continue on for a long long time. Heck, I mean we've talked about it here on SoM several time already (look through the forums). Though there is beginning to be more tolerance towards accepting those who work with him (in my opinion, likely due to the sheer number that are drawn to him)- it is nowhere near equality-for-all yet between us and our kindred spirits. We are still not welcome to come to some moots, or to join in some kindreds, or to sit at a hearth next to our kin. Why is that? Why does the name Loki elicit such a response? (Often the response being someone screeching "BUT BALDR-!" and pointing a finger towards you while gasping).
The lore does tend to paint Loki in a very negative light (though we could rattle on and on about the inconsistencies in the lore, and the fact that it was heavily christianized, and the fact that there were several different authors.. but I digress). Snorri more or less equates him to the Nordic version of Satan. Do I think Loki is "evil"? No. As was said previously: what is evil? Nothing is really as black and white as terms like "Good" and "Evil" paint them out to be. Has Loki done some things which maybe were negative? Oh, definitely. If you are going to work with Loki and get to know him, however, you cannot paint him out to be a "love and light" kind of deity, incapable of doing wrong or doing bad. A lot of the time Lokeans attempt to try and justify his actions, and make excuses for things he's done, but I don't think that is needed. We can't do that for him. Has he made mistakes? Yes. But I don't think this is all that he is. He is a multi-sided deity with the capabilities to be "good", "evil" and anywhere inbetween. Don't forget about the "good" that he did for the pantheon as well as the "bad".
Loki is the God of Change. Change is chaotic. People often do not like change in their lives, as we grow accustumed to the things we like and are used to, and therefore view change as being negative. Loki is then viewed much the same way.
It's all too easy in the Heathen community to try and make this picture of the "holy" Aesir, who are perfectly incapable of wrong and are the righteous deities ( if you forget about the wrongs they've all done, like Odin's rape of Rindr, and Tyr's betrayal of Fenrir, and the separation of Loki's offspring, and- see? ) and the "evil" Rokkr. This is partially because the Aesir tend to symbolize ORDER while the Rokkr symbolize CHAOS. Two polar opposites of the spectrum. I think the Rokkr in general, including Loki, are just really the more misunderstood deities of the pantheon. Not many people work with them, and therefore people are scared of the unknown. The Rokkr tend to be chaotic, primal twilight Gods. I think this is why they get the bad rep that they do.
A post (from a very well educated friend) that really goes indepth on this:
Re: Loki is not evil By: Personified / Knowledgeable
Post # 5 Oct 18, 2014
A point I forgot to mention about whether or not Loki was honored back in the old days:
Many Heathens say " well Loki wasn't honored by my ancestors, therefore I will not honor Loki either " in attempt to be very reconstructionalist-based. Truth of the matter here, even the reconstructed version of the religion is still a new religion. It is not the same as it was. Animal sacrifice, a huge part of the religion in the past, is rarely used by Heathens today. The Nine Noble Virtues were not traditionally, that is a modern concept. Therefore, why must the deities worked with in the religion remain exactly the same?
Not to mention, that there is some evidence that there may have been Loki worship. It's definitely narrow-minded to think that NO persons honored Loki from the formation of the original religion up till now. There are other deities within the pantheon that have very little supporting evidence of their worship, but they are not treated like this. How does that make sense?
"Well yeah, but Loki's all about chaos and stuff. He's the Destroyer of Worlds. Why honor him when the Aesir and Vanir give us life? It's stupid to do so" . As Lokavinr points out: "In Hinduism, one of the longest living polytheistic religions in the world, Shiva the Destroyer is a highly regarded God and is worshiped in triad with the Creator Brahma and the Sustainer Vishnu. Why then is it so frowned upon when we worship Loki the Destroyer along with the Gods who create and sustain?".
Good post everyone, and well said Personified. I am no practice of this path, but I have learned various pantheons. Loki is a god of change, he may be seen as evil but he isn't. It's how you see him, that makes this deity say evil, or good.
People fear change, which we all have fear's but change can be beneficial. Change is simply that change. As well as a lable, is just that a lable!
Loki may be feared, but with change comes power. We should fear are gods, but not be scared for the labels that people gave them. You give them labels, and you use them. Does that mean that this deity is evil for people said he was? No it does not! It's how you see him.
