Question: How would you introduce someone to Loki? Assume they have no preformed prejudices. 

Before I would introduce someone to Loki, there are a few things I would want to know. Mainly – are they a polytheist and interested because they might want to work with him? Are they someone looking for general knowledge about different deities? There are a lot of different motivations that someone might have for wanting to be introduced to a particular deity, so figuring that out would definitely be the first step I would take.

Once I have established the reason they are interested, the information I would provide is largely the same. I would start by explaining that working with any god is a serious commitment, and getting to know a god is not something that a person does casually. That goes double for Loki, as he is a god of the liminal, a god of the in-between spaces. Liminal spaces aren’t ones to traverse readily or easily, and I would adamantly explain that working with Loki poses large risks – more so than working with some other gods.

There is the risk of not being able to handle Loki’s energy and being driven mad – the liminal is not a place for the close-minded or faint-hearted, and that is the place where Loki resides. He exists between opposites and at them, and he reconciles paradoxes with his very existence. He is a potent force, and it is imperative that a person understand that before they ever even consider working with him.

All relationships have pros and cons, and a relationship with a deity is no different in that respect. Having mentioned the cons, I would move on to the pros. There are, of course, a great deal of things a person gains from working with Loki.

The first is a friend who stands by you through the good times and the bad, one that makes you face the truth about yourself even when it is too hard to bear. Who makes you look deep inside yourself to understand that you, too, have value, and that the value you hold resides in the life you have. It is a value that comes from simply existing in the world, just by being present. That is one of the hardest lessons Loki teaches, and it is also one of the most healing ones a person can learn.

Another thing a person gains from working with Loki is a deep appreciation for the difficulties of life and an understanding that nothing is ever as simple as it seems. The world is complexly layered, and it is through coming to understand that Loki’s plans are always multi-layered, hidden under layers and layers of plans so deep it’s sometimes hard to believe he can keep track of his goal, that we learn to see the world in more than black and white.

Loki also helps you learn to laugh at yourself, to see that life is more than the seriousness we tend to ascribe to it. He shows us the absurdity of the mundane and he makes it okay to laugh at the sheer weirdness that life often holds.

He is also fiercely loyal to those who come to his side. While he may play tricks on occasion, as a good joke is always acceptable, he is the last one to desert those he calls to his side. He is fiercely protective in a way that is also provoking – he keeps us safe by making us take the risks that force us to grow. It is another one of those seeming paradoxes, which Loki seems to enjoy introducing into our lives – in my experience, anyway.

That is how I would actually like to introduce Loki to someone else, but people are often intimidated by descriptions that intense. That is my ideal introduction but is not the one I usually get to make. Usually, I am correcting assumptions and explaining why Loki isn’t evil. It is rare to find someone who doesn’t already have some preconceived notions of who Loki is, so it is nice to be able to express how I would ideally like to introduce him.

Note: The questions are inspired by Arrin’s 30 Days of  Deity Devotion