{"id":3733,"date":"2010-06-01T01:10:27","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T06:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=3792"},"modified":"2010-05-26T11:45:14","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T16:45:14","slug":"myths-and-legends-journeys-through-time-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/06\/01\/myths-and-legends-journeys-through-time-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths and Legends: Journeys Through Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loki<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"loki-the-mischievious-god-himself\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mischief, jokes, puns, trickery, buffoonery, clownish, childish, foolish antics. All these words<\/span><\/p>\n

and more are used to describe somebody who’s acting goofy or silly. These words also <\/span><\/p>\n

describe the sort of actions that fall under the realm of the Trickster Gods.\u00a0 In every <\/span><\/p>\n

mythology there is at least one god, goddess or being that is considered a trickster. <\/span><\/p>\n

For the Native Americans it was the Coyote and the Raven, for the Greeks it was Prometheus,<\/span><\/p>\n

Hermes, Sisyphus and others, the Celtics had leprechauns, fairies, and beings of that nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Norse pantheon however had Loki. In fact..mention the words Trickster God and the first<\/span><\/p>\n

person most people name is Loki. Norse mythology was the mythos of the vikings. Beings <\/span><\/p>\n

like Thor; god of thunder and lightning also wielded the hammer Mjollnir, Odin; ruler of the <\/span><\/p>\n

universe and ruler of all the deities, Heimdall; creator of mankind and watcher of the Bifrost <\/span><\/p>\n

Bridge, Asgard which was home of the gods, Valhalla home of the fallen warriors and <\/span><\/p>\n

Valkryies who were the battle angels and ALWAYS female.\u00a0 Loki however was a special <\/span><\/p>\n

case. He’s considered a god but his origin is that of a frost giant. The giants and the gods <\/span><\/p>\n

differed much like the Greek Titans and Gods. He starts out as a mischief causing, joke <\/span><\/p>\n

pulling, prank loving misfit. Somebody that was good for entertainment….no so good<\/span><\/p>\n

for when serious work needed to be done.\u00a0 Although connected with fire and magic, Loki<\/span><\/p>\n

is better known for his mischief, shape changing ability. He’s also known for fathering (in one <\/span><\/p>\n

case mothering) with the giantess Angerboda; Hel the goddess of death, Fenrir the giant wolf <\/span><\/p>\n

that would eventually kill and devour Odin at Ragnarok and Jourmungand the midgard <\/span><\/p>\n

serpent. In the case of being a mother, Loki helped the Gods of Asgard out. The giant <\/span><\/p>\n

Hrimthurs boasted that he could construct the walls around Asgard in a single winter and if he <\/span><\/p>\n

finished he would gain the sun and moon as payment. He would also gain Odin’s wife Frigg <\/span><\/p>\n

too. The god were sure they would lose so they chose not to accept Hrimthurs’ wager but Loki <\/span><\/p>\n

was quite confident that Hrimthurs couldn’t finish in a single winter, so he goaded the gods <\/span><\/p>\n

into accepting the bet. With his stallion Svadilfari, who was able to haul the heavy rocks <\/span><\/p>\n

quickly, Hrimthurs was making good on his wager. Seeing this, the gods forced Loki to <\/span><\/p>\n

sabotage the bet. Loki turned himself into a mare and led Svadilfari away into the forest. <\/span><\/p>\n

Without his stallion, Hrimthurs lost the bet. As a\u00a0 result of the forest frolick with Svadilfari, <\/span><\/p>\n

Loki ended up prengant and gave birth to Sleipnir, an eight legged colt who would become<\/span><\/p>\n

Odin’s magical steed.\u00a0 Although Loki’s pranks and mischief were generally lighthearted, they<\/span><\/p>\n

became darker as time went on. The darkest being when he became responsible for the <\/span><\/p>\n

death of Balder.\u00a0 Balder was the god of beauty and was loved by everyone and everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

However it was foretold that he would die and that his death was one of the signs that <\/span><\/p>\n

Ragnarok was coming.\u00a0 To prevent this, Frigg went around to every animal, god, goddess, <\/span><\/p>\n

creature, and plant making them promise to not harm Balder. The only plant she did not get <\/span><\/p>\n

this promise from was mistletoe as she believed it to be too young to be held to such a <\/span><\/p>\n

promise. Loki tricked Frigg into revealing the only thing that could kill Balder and upon <\/span><\/p>\n

finding out, Loki coaxed the blind god Hod, into joining in a game of throwning things at <\/span><\/p>\n

Balder. This was a favorite pastime of the deities as Balder could not be harmed. Loki handed <\/span><\/p>\n

Hod a sprig of mistletoe and directed his aim. Hod threw the sprig as hard as he could and <\/span><\/p>\n

everyone watched in horror as it pierced Balder who died instantly. For this crime Loki was <\/span><\/p>\n

punished severly. He was bound by three rocks, one between his shoulders, another under <\/span><\/p>\n

his loins and the last beneath his knees. A venomous snake was placed above his head and <\/span><\/p>\n

dripped venom on him for eternity. His wife Sigyn, who\u00a0 remained faithful to him despite his <\/span><\/p>\n

fathering beings with the giantess Angerboda, lovingly collected the venom in a bowl so that <\/span><\/p>\n

it would not drip upon Loki. However\u00a0 when the bowl filled, she had to leave to empty it and <\/span><\/p>\n

this left Loki unprotected. When the venom hit his bare skin, he would writhe about in pain <\/span><\/p>\n

and cause earthquakes. Ragnarok was the end of days for the gods, the day they would go to <\/span><\/p>\n

war and fight amongst themselves. When Loki’s chains broke and he was freed, it was he who<\/span><\/p>\n

lead the giants into battle. Loki killed Heimdall but also died at Heimdall’s hand.\u00a0 As much<\/span><\/p>\n

fun as mischief and pranks are they can be taken too far. Not even Gods are immune to the <\/span><\/p>\n

allure and excitement of pulling a prank on somebody or acting foolish, nor are they immune<\/span><\/p>\n

to the consequences that come from causing such foolish acts.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.timelessmyths.com\/norse\/aesir.html#Thor<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.pantheon.org\/articles\/l\/loki.html<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.timelessmyths.com\/norse\/ragnarok.html#Balder<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.godchecker.com\/pantheon\/norse-mythology.php?deity=LOKI&ds=N<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loki Mischief, jokes, puns, trickery, buffoonery, clownish, childish, foolish antics. All these words and more are used to describe somebody who’s acting goofy or silly. These words also describe the sort of actions that fall under the realm of the Trickster Gods.\u00a0 In every mythology there is at least one god, goddess or being that is considered a trickster. For the Native Americans it was the Coyote and the Raven, for the Greeks it was Prometheus, Hermes, Sisyphus and others, the Celtics had leprechauns, fairies, and beings of that nature. The Norse pantheon however had Loki. In fact..mention the words Trickster God and the first person most people name is Loki. Norse mythology was the mythos of the vikings. Beings like Thor; god of thunder and lightning also wielded the hammer Mjollnir, Odin; ruler of the universe and ruler of all the deities, Heimdall; creator of mankind and watcher of the Bifrost Bridge, Asgard which was home of the gods, Valhalla home of the fallen warriors and Valkryies who were the battle angels and ALWAYS female.\u00a0 Loki however was a special case. He’s considered a god but his origin is that of a frost giant. The giants and the gods differed much like the Greek Titans and Gods. He starts out as a mischief causing, joke pulling, prank loving misfit. Somebody that was good for entertainment….no so good for when serious work needed to be done.\u00a0 Although connected with fire and magic, Loki is better known for his mischief, shape changing ability. He’s also known for fathering (in one case mothering) with the giantess Angerboda; Hel the goddess of death, Fenrir the giant wolf that would eventually kill and devour Odin at Ragnarok and Jourmungand the midgard serpent. In the case of being a mother, Loki helped the Gods of Asgard out. The giant Hrimthurs boasted that he could construct the walls around Asgard in a single winter and if he finished he would gain the sun and moon as payment. He would also gain Odin’s wife Frigg too. The god were sure they would lose so they chose not to accept Hrimthurs’ wager but Loki was quite confident that Hrimthurs couldn’t finish in a single winter, so he goaded the gods into accepting the bet. With his stallion Svadilfari, who was able to haul the heavy rocks quickly, Hrimthurs was making good on his wager. Seeing this, the gods forced Loki to sabotage the bet. Loki turned himself into a mare and led Svadilfari away into the forest. Without his stallion, Hrimthurs lost the bet. As a\u00a0 result of the forest frolick with Svadilfari, Loki ended up prengant and gave birth to Sleipnir, an eight legged colt who would become Odin’s magical steed.\u00a0 Although Loki’s pranks and mischief were generally lighthearted, they became darker as time went on. The darkest being when he became responsible for the death of Balder.\u00a0 Balder was the god of beauty and was loved by everyone and everything. However it was foretold that he would die and that his death was one of the signs that Ragnarok was coming.\u00a0 To prevent this, Frigg went around to every animal, god, goddess, creature, and plant making them promise to not harm Balder. The only plant she did not get this promise from was mistletoe as she believed it to be too young to be held to such a promise. Loki tricked Frigg into revealing the only thing that could kill Balder and upon finding out, Loki coaxed the blind god Hod, into joining in a game of throwning things at Balder. This was a favorite pastime of the deities as Balder could not be harmed. Loki handed Hod a sprig of mistletoe and directed his aim. Hod threw the sprig as hard as he could and everyone watched in horror as it pierced Balder who died instantly. For this crime Loki was punished severly. He was bound by three rocks, one between his shoulders, another under his loins and the last beneath his knees. A venomous snake was placed above his head and dripped venom on him for eternity. His wife Sigyn, who\u00a0 remained faithful to him despite his fathering beings with the giantess Angerboda, lovingly collected the venom in a bowl so that it would not drip upon Loki. However\u00a0 when the bowl filled, she had to leave to empty it and this left Loki unprotected. When the venom hit his bare skin, he would writhe about in pain and cause earthquakes. Ragnarok was the end of days for the gods, the day they would go to war and fight amongst themselves. When Loki’s chains broke and he was freed, it was he who lead the giants into battle. Loki killed Heimdall but also died at Heimdall’s hand.\u00a0 As much fun as mischief and pranks are they can be taken too far. Not even Gods are immune to the allure and excitement of pulling a prank on somebody or acting foolish, nor are they immune to the consequences that come from causing such foolish acts. http:\/\/www.timelessmyths.com\/norse\/aesir.html#Thor http:\/\/www.pantheon.org\/articles\/l\/loki.html http:\/\/www.timelessmyths.com\/norse\/ragnarok.html#Balder http:\/\/www.godchecker.com\/pantheon\/norse-mythology.php?deity=LOKI&ds=N<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3675,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733\/revisions\/3675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}