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Among modern Heathens, Loki has a mixed appeal. Some view him with disdain as the arch traitor of Ragnarok. Others see him as a welcome deity and friend. Most Heathens stand between these two attitudes. People tend to mix Loki the God with Loki the Mythic character. They often miss that fact that Loki’s place is necessary both in Asgard and in our world.
One of Loki’s roles is as the Accuser, Fault Finder and Exposer of Flaws. It fits with the over inquisitve nature of his mythic character. The Loki of the Eddas is a busybody, snoop and eavesdropper. He snoops to pry into the business of others, for no useful reason. Mythically, his curiosity is what launches several of the Eddic stories.
However, that tendency for curiosity is also akin to the larger roll of uncovering flaws. Loki is the God of proof, the one whose test must be passed to move forward. He is like a prosecuting attorney, an opposing view and to borrow a Christian term a “devil’s advocate.” We see in the Flyting fo Loki this talent in full flurry, making known the faults of all. There he reminds his fellows that none is without some past indiscretion.
How does this apply to us? Loki is a necessary teacher, indeed, for it is his lesson that protects us from the most cunning type of harm. Loki’s lessons help prevent us from walking straight into our own misfortune. He is the antithesis of victimization, making us instead: “fool proof” in a very literal way. Loki would say, “Things are not always what they seem to be, and people are not always what they claim to be.” His province is the question that exposes the fraud. He sidesteps the boobytrap, exposes the scam and turns up that which is less than it should be.
Loki says,” Question everything.” He then goes on to teach us the right questions to ask.
An old joke says it all:” It’s not about having the answers. The trick is in asking the right questions.”
Here is an example of the Loki type questioning at work:
Many years ago, through a series of errors, I ended up going to what was supposed to be a business opportunity. It involved selling a service, of sorts. The premise of the thing was to get people to pay $1,000 for a card that was supposed to get them deep discounts in various stores. This was in the 70s, before credit cards were common.
The first night, I was to see the “business” in action. It felt wrong. I would have to liken it to a poorly orchestrated bit of theater. People spoke of their experiences, and then showed receipts that supposedly proved discounts. At the end, one man gave a rags to riches story, followed by looking humbly to the ground, than then looking hopefully toward the ceiling. This looked a bit too “orchestrated” to be honest, and I figured it for a scam.
I was going to leave, but like the mythic Loki I was curious. I wanted to see this thing play out, so I came back for the part where they interviewed prospective salesmen. The funniest was when the “president” of the company got up to speak. He was a large man with a broken nose. His “cool” suit looked out of place, as if he were not used to wearing it.
The man spoke of his own rags to riches story. He told of living poorly as a steamfitter. He gave several examples of poverty and need. One revolved around an old clunker of a car. Then he told of how the business changed everything, and that he was now driving an Italian sports car. But he said too much, and by then I knew everything....
One other funny thing. They wanted all the new sales people to buy a sales kit for $25. They even had forms so that we could get credit cards to buy the kit right away. It was as if they had to sell it before people changed their minds.
So where does Loki fit? Loki is a God of Trickery and Deceit. Was the presentation his work? No. He would not have been associated with such a clumsy thing. Loki’s role was in the questions that exposed the scam.
The first clue was the presentation that was more like poorly-performed experimental theater than salesmanship. The next was how the salesmen behaved. Several were obviously not used to wearing suits. Considering that their “product” was $1,000 a pop in the 1970s, that says a lot. People who sell high-ticket items are used to being “dressed to sell.” Anyone can fake receipts. What other proof can they show? Then there was the fellow with his rags to riches story and feigned looks of humility and hope. What did that have to do with selling a product? Of course, one would also question the hammy acting. All these alone said “scam” in big bright letters.
The next day’s events would have elicited another set of questions. If the president of the company was so rich, why did he not get his nose fixed? And how could a man live so poorly on a steamfitter’s salary, which was one of the best-paying union trades? Why did they want to get us those credit cards right away? Why not wait a day or two for people to get the $25?
Of course, I had figured out the connection. The folks running the presentation all had the feel of “jail.” It’s a dank, clammy, dingy feeling. This feeling follows people whose lives are identified by jail. For bartenders, policemen, lawyers and counselors, it is a warning that they are dealing with a criminal. Apparently, some of them had gotten onto the scam in jail, and later recruited fellow jailbirds to run their version fo the “franchise.”
Those questions and doubts are the place where Loki excels.
Whenever you question truth, validity, value and integrity, you are in Loki’s realm. “Is it too good to be true?” “Is it worth it?” “Will I regret it tomorrow?” There is a cunning side to this. Loki does not set a standard. Rather, he questions according to that standards made by the one being questioned. People and things are judged according to their own claims. In effect, it asks:
“Are you what (or whom) you say that you are?”
Be advised that the Loki inquiry is not intended to promote a thing’s strengths but to assail its weaknesses. Loki is the fault finder. He focuses on that which is wrong. Virtue has no place in it. This type of questioning is all about exposing flaws.
One amusing fact is that the barometer for exposing wrongs is the real thing. A flawed or false item cannot stand up to the standard of the real, flawless original. There will always be something that trips up the fake and the cheap copy. The trick is not in studying the shams, but in knowing the authentic thing. The more you know it, the more easily you can spot the fakes and the flawed versions.