(I dedicate this essay to Loki and his three beautiful monster children.)

“Loki brings nothing but chaos and destruction! He’ll ruin your life!”

“He killed Baldr! Cut off Sif’s hair!”

“He did very questionable things to my horse. I demand compensation.”

“He’s the father of monsters!”

“He’s the Norse Satan!” (My personal favorite)

These are some of the many things I have been told about Loki. Many Asatruar folk and other Pagans fear and demonize Loki due to his misdeeds in the Norse lore, although his portrayal was possibly due to Snorri’s depiction of him in the Prose Edda. Snorri, being a Christian, planted a lot of “good vs evil” seeds throughout the texts. This sprouted the demonization of Loki and his children. But in truth, he isn’t all bad, and here’s why I believe he shouldn’t be demonized.

Loki has many names: World-Breaker, Lie-Smith, Face-Changer, Questionable-Horse-Handler, Shapeshifter, Trickster of the North. He’s a very flexible deity in the ways of chaos, change and mischief. Loki isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, that’s for sure, but he isn’t shy when he needs to lend a helping hand … whether it’s to cause some chaos or it’s to heal.

“To heal? But Loki isn’t a deity of healing! Isn’t that Eir’s job?”

Well, yes. But throughout the Lokean community, Loki has been known to take the abused, the mentally ill,  the neglected, and the forgotten under his wing. He knows the pain of abandonment, of sorrow, of abuse. He knows the feeling of being hated, ridiculed, and outcast, and his lessons are deep. Of course it’s something that doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s an eye-opener. To me, as well as to many other Lokeans, Loki is a god of beneficial - and sometimes even necessary – change, and none of that is an easy task. He’ll rip you apart, take your cherished things and shatter them, pull out the problems you avoid and shove them into your hands and say, ”You need to deal with this and you need to do it now. It’s now or never.”  (He does it for the thrill.) That’s the change he incites in you - the change you need to know so that you can become a better person. It’s painful - Loki knows how to make you jump and dance on your toes. He knows the way you try to sneak around to get to the easy way and he doesn’t allow that. It’s through the pain that you start to heal.

“What kind of good could ever come out of Loki?”

Well, for starters, we have:

• Mjolnir
• An eight-legged horse, Sleipnir
• Asgard’s wall
• Gungnir
• Freyr’s golden boar and ship
• Making Skadi laugh
• Surtr’s sword
• Sif’s golden hair
• Thor’s belt and gloves
• Retrieving Moljnir from that time Thor cross-dressed as a bride.
• That one time when he rescued Idunn from that giant
• And much more!

Any questions? No? Moving on.

“A god of truth? But Loki is called the Lie-Smith!”

As mentioned, Loki has many names. How did he acquire Lie-Smith? Well, most likely through his misdeeds in his adventures through the nine worlds. He cut off Sif’s hair, made a bet with dwarves for his head, did questionable deeds with a horse. But despite all that, Loki knows how to push someone’s buttons and call out the truth. Using the Lokasenna as an example, you see Loki pushing everyone's buttons in Aegir’s hall. They didn’t even really deny it; it was just kind of like, ”Okay, yeah, I did do that thing, but you also did this and this and this so...” between the gods and Loki. Sometimes it takes a liar to see and call out other people’s lies. Ironically, Loki’s rule in the Rokkatru Ethics and Values is to never lie to yourself, or others. Always speak the truth, even if your voice shakes. The truth hurts and sometimes no one likes hearing it, even the Gods. Loki knows lies, but he also knows the burning truth and its sting, its bite. Loki encourages us to be honest with ourselves. When we aren’t, he tears us apart when we fall into our own web of lies and deceits.

(Note: All the “Rules” quoted are from Raven Kaldera’s Rokkatru Ethics and Values.)

“He’s the Breaker of Worlds!”

Through your lessons with Loki, your world will turn upside down, and that is a promise and a fact. No way in Helheim would you ever go through a lesson with Loki that wouldn’t be painful, or uncomfortable at the least. There’s a reason he shakes up your world – it’s to snap you out of your delusional fantasies and bring you back to reality. He’ll tear into your personal affairs if he feels like it - boyfriend, girlfriend, marriage, friendships, it makes no difference to him. Reality can be harsh, cruel, and unforgiving. Reality is where you really survive … and Loki teaches you that daydreaming can be easily shattered by reality. If you find yourself digging into your fantasies to escape a difficult situation that you procrastinate to face, you had best believe Loki will shut it down if he comes into your life. No exceptions.

Ultimately, Loki’s rule is self-knowledge. No matter what you say to others, be it truth or lie, never lie to yourself. Know yourself excruciatingly well, even the ugly parts, and always be honest with yourself first. When you speak the truth aloud, remember that the greatest honor is in speaking the truth that no one wants to hear, and that everyone has been avoiding out of fear

“He’s the Father of Monsters!”

In total, Loki had six children - two by Sigyn, three by Angrboda, and one by a horse. (Yes, you read that correctly. A horse.) Hela, Jormungandr, and Fenrir all have their own lessons, and their own tales as well. Unfortunately, a lot of people demonize his children as well due to their acts and deeds, all of which are necessary for the events leading up to Ragnarok.

Fenrir

Fenrir, along with his siblings, was birthed by Angrboda. The Mother of Wolves. As the small wolf-pup grew in size each and every day, the Gods grew more cautious until one day when he began to run amok. The Gods held court and ultimately decided that Fenrir must be chained, not only because of his size, but of the foretelling prophecy that he would kill Odin at Ragnarok. Thor had smithed three strong chains, which all broke when put to the test with Fenrir, so they went to the dwarves for advice. There the dwarves smithed a very special magical chain made out of six impossible things, called Gleipnir.  Its ingredients were the roots of a mountain, the beard of a woman, the footfall of a cat, the breath of a fish, the nerves of a bear, and the spittle of a bird. Fenrir suspected betrayal, so he asked the Gods as a token of goodwill for one to place their hand in between his jaws as proof. None of the gods stepped forward but Tyr. When Fenrir realized he could not break the chain, he was filled with rage and snapped Tyr’s hand clean off. The Gods chained him down in a cave in Niflheim, and there Fenrir waits for the day to break free and exact his revenge on the Gods for such a cruel fate.

Fenrir is a deity of destruction, anger, and wildness. He represents the untamed, wild, insanity in all of us, the very nature of destruction. Fenrir is not an easy deity to work with, and his lesson is heavy. They say all who look into his eyes and truly know him, weep for him. His mystery is difficult to understand and takes time, as with everything important.

But I believe that Fenrir isn’t just a being of destruction; that he knows love. He knew love through Tyr, through his parents, and his siblings. He knows the love of his followers and loves them and protects them fiercely.

Fenrir’s Rule is Shadow. Learn to love and find sacred all the parts of yourself, even the darknesses. Honor them by making a safe place for them, where they can neither be harmed nor harm others.

Hela

Hela (or Hel) Rules the realm of Helheim where the dead who have died a “straw death” (death that is not gained through physical combat) go to rest. When she was young, the Gods were cautious around her, due to her grotesque appearance. Odin decided she would have rule over the dead in the furthest of the Nine Worlds, Helheim. Hela frequently appears as a woman with half of her appearing alive, and the other in decaying death. She is truly a beautiful sight to behold. Death in her realm is not seen as something evil or something to avoid; it is an inevitable part of nature and part of everyone’s life cycle.  Being a death deity, she is very protective of the dead and looks down on necromancy or any practice that disturbs the dead. Death won’t care if you’re rich, poor, in between. Death won’t care if you’re famous, infamous, or an average joe. Death won’t care if you’re a bull, a frog, or a human. Death takes us all in the end no matter what. Be humble, for our graves are the same size. Through death, we bring life to others. While our body rots in the ground, we bring nutrients to the soil, flowers, and grass; we become food for maggots, beetles, mushrooms and other decomposers. We bring food for the scavengers of the animal kingdom. Through our death, we feed life.

Above all, live your life fully with gratitude. Value your life. Life is as sacred as death.  Live a life worth experiencing, and worth remembering when you finally travel to Hela’s hall. It’s your only one, so don’t waste it.

Hela’s lesson is that of Vision: Death takes the long view of all things, and so we strive to value far-seeing over temporary difficulties. Ask yourself: Will this matter in a year? Five years? Ten? After I am dead? Think ahead before you react, before you speak. Learn not to take things personally; people often react from their damage, and everything blows over in time.

Jormundgand

When Jormungandr was born, they were born as s great snake without gender (or maybe with both). Like their wolf sibling, they too, grew in gigantic proportions, from puddle to pond to lake and eventually to the ocean in Midgard where Odin cast them, naming them the protective barrier around Midgard. They are possibly the most mysterious of Loki’s children. The Midgard Serpent doesn’t limit themself to labels or boxes or tags; they were born without gender, yet may be both, neither, or up to your personal discretion for what you, as well as Jormungandr feel is best. Jormungandr is non-verbal, yet speaks with such energy, helping to embrace one’s true self. Rather than sorting yourself out in different labels, the Great Snake helps you to see yourself as one person, who is sacred. It’s about understanding that nothing can be everything at the same time. The end is the beginning as the Snake endlessly circles Midgard. Liminality - think about gender fluidity. You could be one, be the other, be both, or be neither . He goes outside of the boundaries of what's considered “normal” and teaches you to do the same.

So if you feel you’re outside of what’s normal, embrace that. Don’t be afraid to embrace the change that can only be brought on by you and only you to make who you truly are

Jormungand’s rule is Liminality. As the Snake is neither male nor female, both of Midgard and not of Midgard, so we see that the honorable and the sacred is most often found in that which crosses boundaries, bridges opposites, moves between worlds. We value that which is Both, and Neither, as one of the Great Mysteries.

In conclusion, although these guys get a bad rap because of their appearance, their misdeeds, or even just because they are what they are, they have deep wisdom within them, and within the lessons they teach. If you pursue this path, do not tread foolishly or without caution. Their wisdom is not gained lightly; it is gained through hard work of the self. Blood, sweat, and tears will be poured into these lessons. These are some hardcore deities. You might be surprised at what you discover.