Month for Loki: Fourteenth
You flow easily
Weaving a web within
The boundaries of Wyrd
Burning with knowledge
Seeking stillness
Ancient mage
Clever fool
Your laughter echoes
Through time.
bloodteethandflame
A life in threes
Category: poetry
July 10, 2020
Month for Loki: Ninth
LOKI’S GIFTS
by Mordant Carnival
Hail Loki, honour to Loki
To Sif you gave her golden hair;
You have given me renewal.
Honour to the Son of Laufey.
To Thor you gave Mjolnir;
You have given me strength in the face of my enemies.
Hail Loki, honour to Loki
To Frey you gave Skinbladnir;
You have borne me over mighty gulfs.
Honour to the Son of Laufey.
To Frey you gave Gullinbursti;
You have been a radiance for me through the darkest times
Hail Loki, honour to Loki.
To Odin you gave Draupnir;
You have given me wealth uncounted.
Honour to the Son of Laufey.
To Odin you gave Gungnir;
You have given me victory.
Hail Loki, honour to Loki.
Honour to the fair One,
Honour to the cunning One,
Honour to the generous One,
Hail the Son of Laufey.
(poem from ‘Be Thou My Hearth and Shield: Prayers in the Northern Tradition,’ Elizabeth Vongvisith, editor; Asphodel Press, Hubbardstown, MA, 2009; p. 124.)
July 4, 2020
Month for Loki: Fourth
Lately, I’ve had runes on my mind, especially in terms of expanding upon the layered meanings held by the runes in Loki’s name, and this post concerns the newest thoughts I’ve had concerning Laguz.
As I’ve written before, the changing flow of water invoked by the rune Laguz is very representative of Loki’s shape-shifting abilities
More literally, one may recall how Loki takes the form of the salmon that swims to the source of waterfall, but more often, metaphorically, working with Loki can feel like being brought down into the water of the subconscious to do emotional/shadow work.
(Photo: Medical Daily)
This is yet another aspect of His purview that I believe can be symbolized by the Laguz in His name.
At least, this has been my path with Him, and one that I find especially evocative in the following poem, written by Jacob Ibrag
Deeper
It feels like sinking.
Like you’re trying to break the waters
surface with every kick your body delivers.
You remember that panic causes
more panic so you try to remain placid.
Deeper.
You think about love and if you really
had it.
If it was really love then why hasn’t it lasted?
Maybe if it was real love, you would’ve
already been found.
And if it was real love, how could it ever die out?
Deeper.
You try forming
a symbiotic relationship with the water, letting it take you so you can become a part of it.
You’ve always belonged here.
Deeper.
You let go, giving up the fight.
Remembering
that it was all in your head as you wake up in the middle of the night.
~~~
July 7, 2019
Month for Loki, 6: Trickster (poetry)
A lovely poem about Loki by Sophie Oberlander:
Trickster
by Sophie Oberlander
“I never sought You.
Those places deep within my heart were far too burned and scarred
To let You in, hard like misshapen stone.
Or so I thought. But I gave much
The first time I hung on that Tree.
Not enough, by far, but just enough to shatter that wall of stone
The barest fragment breaking free.
I heard Your whisper, but turned aside my face
You could not be speaking to me.
I felt Your gentle touch cradling my wounded spirit
As You cradled Odin,
His body bloodied, His spirit on fire beneath that Tree
Long before I climbed its branches.
Was it through Your laughter that You taught me to love You?
Or through the tenderness of Your caress?
I have seen a face of You that few bother to see.
I have felt Your burning passion, gentle and tender beneath the Tree.
Brother, Lover, Friend,
No image of God quite prepared me for You.
You eased away my terror with Your wicked cavorting,
Making a broken child laugh by playing the fool.
I have seen Sigyn’s quiet contentment,
And the love behind Your games.
I no longer understand the trepidation in which others call Your name.
I have seen Your other face too,
When You took me to Your daughter’s realm.
I have seen You, locked in ecstasy,
Summoning up Her wards and wights for me.
My heart’s stone did not so much break
As melt beneath Your flame.
I have tasted Your rage, Your fury at my hurt,
Reveled in the darkest glee
With which You opened the gates of Niflheim to defend me.
No one told me how much You cherish Your children.
I have seen You, Trickster, weeping in anguish
Every one of Your children’s’ wounds piercing Your heart.
And I have seen You in battle, Odin’s equal,
Though Yours a far darker art.
I have heard Your song,
Far sweeter than I ever knew it could be,
As You took my hand, and led me from that Tree.
If it Your stories I cherish most, as we walk Bifrost bridge,
Dancing patterns amongst the stars.
You placed my hands upon the web, and taught me songs to weave.
As I hung for Asgard, through You, for Hella’s realm I reached.
I know how You are feared, or mocked, or thought long bound.
But I know too, it was Your hand guiding me
Through my darkest despair and pain.
And how can I fear Your deepest love,
When it is the freedom of my heart I’ve gained?
Loki, now it is Your burning that I seek.
Let us mingle songs beneath the Tree,
For I adore the flame you have ignited in me.”
June 11, 2019
Sometimes I just need poetry.
~~ The Journey~~
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.~
~Mary Oliver
July 25, 2018
Month for Loki, Day 24: Pieces of poetry, pieces of prayer
Loki, bring me to change
Loki, teach me innovation
Loki, be the cleansing fire
The source of my liberation.
Hail Loki!
Truth-Singer
Gift-Bringer
Hearth-Fire
Funeral-Pyre
Innovator
World-Breaker
❤
July 14, 2018
Month for Loki, Day 13: A Prayer for Loki (poem)
Sharing a fun little poem that I found on Pinterest:
A Prayer for Loki
a poem by Victoria Verney
April 6, 2018
Fragment.
They’ll take you places you didn’t want to go,
and see things you never wanted to see,
but be not afraid,
for they are there with you,
for everything.
~~~
Years ago – quite possibly more than 10 years ago – I found the above (unattributed) quote on a blog.
So I wrote that quote down in the daily paper journal I kept, as I did not have my own blog at that time.
And though I could not put my finger on why this quote resonated with me so long ago
it occurred to me this morning that it pretty much sums up
what
spirit-work
feels like.
