The Rehabilitation of Loki, the Shadow of Odin

Loki, is He a God or a giant? The scholars argue that the Eddas appear to be ambiguous about this. My argument is that His status is no less ambiguous than many of the other major Germanic deities. We know that his father was Farbauti (ON 'dangerous hitter'), a giant. The etymology of Farbauti`s name is associated with lightening or the storm (See Rudolf Simek's Dictionary of Northern Mythology ). His mother was Laufey (ON 'leaf island'-a rather incredulous interpretation). Her alternative or additional name was Nal (ON 'needle) because she was so slender and nimble. Simek suggests that Laufey may have been a tree Goddess. She is generally considered to be a Goddess and listed as such in the Eddas and we have no reason therefore to doubt that She was one. The Eddas are replete with stories of matings between Gods or Goddesses with giants and the giants should be considered as an earlier race of Gods which the Aesir and Vanir displaced. Odin Himself was of giant parentage via His mother Bestla, a frost giantess. Thus we may conclude that Loki had as much Aesir blood flowing through His veins as Odin. However Loki's attitude towards the Gods is ambivalent. Early on in the mythology He is portrayed as a positive member of the Aesir, often coming to their aid in times of crisis. It is only with the beginning of Ragnarok and the events that precede it that we see a markedly different side to Loki. Causing the death of Baldur and preventing His early release from Hel and His slandering of the Gods in the Lokasenna He hastens on Ragnarok and shows Himself as an apparent enemy of the Gods.

That is how people superficially see Loki's role. However like life He is more complex than that and in my opinion He should be viewed as being the Shadow of  Odin. Loki and Odin are said to be 'blood brothers' and often journeyed together in Midgard. There is some suspicion that He is in fact the God Lodur who along with Odin and Hoenir gave life to man. Both Odin and Loki are half giant in extraction but Loki as Odin's Shadow has his giant inheritance from His mother's and not His father's side. Usually it was the Gods who mated with giantesses and not the other way around. My inkling is that Laufey may have been raped by Farbauti and hence the apparent shame and lack of identification with the father. This may account for why some are tempted to see him more in the light of being a giant than a God. Curiously He is named after His mother, not His father for in the Eddas He is referred to as Loki Laufeyjarson. Perhaps He was anxious to bury his giant heritage, maybe even ashamed of it for the reason stated above?

Scholars point out that there is no evidence for any cults of Loki in the pre-Christian past. However this betrays their lack of understanding of His role. If Loki is Odin's Shadow then it is unlikely that we would expect to see any such evidence for the common people were highly unlikely to worship such an apparently negative deity. Additionally as Odin`s Shadow He in effect IS Odin, His darker and seemingly more destructive side. However it is the Loki side of Odin's personality which grants the All Father such naked intelligence, cunning and at times seeming duplicity. Loki is a catalyst, an agent of change and transformation. Whilst He is responsible for hastening on Ragnarok He was not responsible for the loss of the Golden Age. In His seeming 'evil' deeds He is in fact providing a solution to the Wolf Age in which we find ourselves in. Through His actions the new Golden Age will arise after Ragnarok. He is the ultimate problem solver but His motives are not always clear.

Loki represents the ultimate Left-Hand Path Germanic God. He stands alone. He is independent. He cares not for worship, adulation or approval. There is no consensus over the etymology of Loki`s name and this does not surprise me for there is no consensus at all about Loki who is the ultimate enigmatic God. My interpretation of His name is one that suggests 'light'. I am reminded of Lucifer (an Indo-European, not a Semitic name) who shares a similar personality and name. It is likely that Loki derives from the PIE word *leuk. George William Cox in his The Mythology of the Aryan Nations volume II states:

"The name Loki, like that of the Latin Vulcanus, denotes the light or blaze of fire, and in such phrases as Locke dricker vand, Loki drinks water, described the phenomena of the sun drinking when its light streams in shafts from the cloud rifts to the earth or the waters beneath. The word thus carries us to the old verb liuhan, the Latin lucere, to shine, and to Logi as its earlier form, the modern German lohe, glow; but as the Greek tradition referred the name Oidipous......., to know and to swell, so a supposed connexion with the verb lukan, to shut or lock, substituted the name Loki for Logi, and modified his character accordingly."

The Eddas know of an Utgard-Loki and a Logi, a fire giant. Wagner in his Das Rheingold conflates the two characters of Loki and Logi together in the form of Loge and it would appear that there may be good grounds for doing so. It is interesting to note that the Old Norse equivalent of Saturday is Laugardagr, the Swedish logerdag and the Danish loverdag. Clearly originally before the pernicious influence of Christianity Loki had a much more revered role in the Germanic pantheon but like many of the Gods He was demonised and this demonisation continues amongst many modern day 'Asatru' and 'Odinists'. We need to view Him as the Germanic Prometheus who has brought the light of intelligence to man rather than the Christian imposed idea of being a 'devil'. To understand Loki we must try and free ourselves of our 20th century thinking and Christian indoctrination which I believe is the root cause for Loki's perception as being a type of heathen 'devil' or even as the 'archetypal Jew' which some heathens consider Him to be. It is clear to me that Loki represents those repressed parts of Odin's Self, those parts which both He and His followers have disowned (especially in modern day American inspired Odinism which owes much more to Christianity than genuine Germanic heathenism). By embracing this concept we will be able to understand Odin as a personality far better than the current one dimensional thinking allows. At the same time we will be able to understand Loki far better and appreciate His contribution to the Norse mythos. Those parts of our Self, those drives which we have that are deemed to be unacceptable by one's parents, teachers and society at large we disown but this act of repression does not make them go away. Instead they become repressed in the personal Unconscious and take on a life of their own, becoming the Shadow. We must learn to accept the Shadow, to integrate it as far as possible but NOT to be controlled by it. This is the process of Individuation taught by the great father of analytical psychology Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), the 'Aryan Christ' (see Richard Noll).