Question: What is something you wish you knew about Loki but don’t currently? 

This is a question that is really difficult to answer because it is one of those meta-questions that brings into focus the reality that we simply cannot know what we do not know we have the opportunity to know.

That said, the answer that really comes to my mind for this question regarding Loki is that I would like to know more about his origins. There are scholarly speculations of course, like the ones that suggest he originated as a hearth spirit, but these are only half-baked educational guesses. The argument for his origins as a hearth spirit is a strong one, but there is no information about Loki’s background in Norse mythology that either confirms or denies the argument.

There is a shared gnosis among Lokeans that Loki is one of the oldest gods of the Norse pantheon, and that is echoed in the understanding that Lodur is one of Loki’s names – perhaps his oldest name. Even the correlation between Lodur and Loki is one based on shared gnosis, however, rather than mythological understanding or scholarly investigation. Much of the knowledge we have about Loki today comes directly from Loki himself, through lived experience.

That is a beautiful thing and also a terrifying thing. It means relying much more heavily on gnosis and personal experience – it also requires a much stronger use of discernment to ensure that the spirit you’re engaging is actually Loki and not something pretending to be Loki. There is an entire class of spirits that goes around impersonating other spirits, especially deities, in an attempt to co-opt offerings and worship for themselves and to malign and frighten the humans who misperceive them. That’s why discernment is such a critical part of any Pagan practice, especially when dealing with gods where gnosis is one of the few ways to really learn anything about them.