What is a Lokean?
copyright 1999 by Alice Karlsdottir
One thing that's struck me is how many different kinds of people consider themselves Lokeans. I think non-Lokeans have this stereotype of what a Lokean is like, but so far that doesn't seem to hold true. Considering Loki's many shapes and roles, however, it's not surprising that he can attract a wide variety of types.
One of the things which seems to separate Lokeans from non-Lokeans is their reaction to chaos. I keep thinking of a story about a pretentious goth-boy who had many instances of bad luck on April Fool's Day. He was miffed and irate about it. But a number of us had been describing the same kinds of incidents, and even worse, with a kind of glee -- "Yeah, Loki's really messin' with me this week!" That's the kind of attitude that makes for a Lokean, I think.
Have you ever had the experience, when a lot of stupid little stuff is happening to you, you get more and more upset, and then you suddenly reach this point where you draw back and say, "How silly I am, and how silly life is, and why am I getting so upset about this? This is really pretty damned funny, when you think about it!" You really laugh at yourself and the absurdity of the world. And just at that point, the annoying stuff just STOPS, like magic. It's like someone was waiting for you to catch on, and now that you've come to your senses, the lesson stops.
But most people don't get to that point, or not til much later. "Someday you'll look back on this and laugh," as the saying goes. But Lokeans seem to be able to laugh while it's happening.
Other characteristics of Lokeans: sense of humor, ability to deal with/accept change, ability to play many "roles" in life, dislike of pretentiousness, tolerance of others, and a strong sense of individuality. These are just some impressions, nothing definite.
Lokis wrote: "In other things, Loki shows up as the Jester who is the only one who tells the truth, things like: not only does the emperor have no clothes on, but his butt is really ugly, too. This kind of behavior is Lokean to me."
I think this is the kind of thing I think of when I use the word
"fool" -- maybe it comes from my acting days and Shakespeare. You look at some of the court fools in his plays -- like the Fool in King Lear, the only one who dares to say to the king, "Dude, you're acting like an idiot with your daughters, and you're gonna regret it!" That Fool, by the way, is one of the few that sticks with Lear when things do go bad.
P.S. Just another example of Lokean (or rather, non-Lokean)
behavior -- someone posted that same story about the KKK and Texas* to a local Asatru list, and already someone's started a
thread about how, doesn't this portray us as violent and we shouldn't give that image to others if we want them to take us seriously, etc., etc., etc. This is an example of non-Lokean behavior -- take a perfectly good, really funny story and try to make some kind of sermon about it. Bah!
I was just remembering a story that someone once told me years ago... It supposedly happened in Texas, but nobody was mentioned by name, so I can't verify the story - but if it's not true, it should be!
Seems there was a group of Ku Klux Klansmen in Texas who heard that some Pagans were holding a ritual out in the woods somewhere. Having run out of other minorities to harrass, they decided to get back to their roots and practice some religious bigotry in addition to the usual racial intolerance and break up the party with a good ol' cross-burning.
[Note: in recent years, the Klan has tried to distance itself from its history of religious intolerance and claim that the organization's only concerns are racial. This is, of course, utter crap as the anti-Semitism of the Klan is well documented, as is their history of anti-Catholic violence in the early part of this century]
So anyway, these fellows loaded up some lumber and a couple of cans of gasoline and went out hunting for these Pagans they'd heard about, hoping to catch them dancing nekkid around a fire or something. They found the spot where the other vehicles were parked and donned their hoods. Grabbing the lumber and gasoline, they assembled a cross and strode off into the woods, confident that they'd scare any remaining pants off the fluffy-bunny Pagans.
They were a little disconcerted to find themselves looking at the business end of at least 2 spears, a couple of swords, assorted knives, and more than one firearm. They'd crashed an Asatru blot, and didn't realize that not all Pagans are pacifists. From somewhere behind the hardware, a voice called out "If that cross goes up, you're getting nailed to it. I've got my hammer right here..."
The Klansmen left in a bit of a hurry, it's said.
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