Þursbók Loka

(Taken from Ekortu's publication "Þursakyngi, Volume 2, Loki.")

Útgarðr is the Other World which within itself holds many other realms and worlds. It is a world of death rooted to the divine fire and ice which permeate the Thurses as a Spiritual Bloodline descending from Dulþurs: the acosmic Thurs-Power which was all long before the creation of the ordered universe. Loki is the mighty ruler of these worlds of death. He is the son of the Elder Bloodline of the First Thurs. His father is the Cruel Striker and His mother was called the Leafy Island, as in earth, the grave. Loki has His mighty hall in a cave beyond the deathly enclosure known as the Nágrindr. His cave is His Mound Throne carved out into the Bones of Aurgelmir and lit by the fires of the world’s antecedents. So it is told by the old and wise from the north. So it is taught within our Thursatru Tradition:

As the gods, known as the bonds, had formed their new world in opposition to that of the original Dulþurs, also known as the Hidden God, spiritual fragments of the Thursian acosmic world were scattered within the new one. So the gods created the humans and bestowed them with the spiritual fragments of the prior world and bound them with life. It was after this foul creation, capturing and binding of the spiritual fragments when the Son of Dulþurs woke once more emerging from the Other World, taking the form of Loki. Hence He was known as Útgarðaloki, Loki of the Útgarðar.

He came to this world as an adversary in the form of a dragon, the dragon is the omnipotent giant form. He had wings because He loved to fly. As He had to adapt to the new world of the gods Loki changed His form into a beautiful man. Even though He had to lose His wings He frequently took the form of birds and flies, as one often aloft He came to be known as Loptr. He brought with Him flames from the Other World, flames which can as easily destroy as well as they can illuminate. These flames are from a Múspell Descent and manifest as omnipotent and mantic wisdom rather than mundane fire. The giants recognized His Holy Flames and called Him the Thursian Light. But it was an alien light – unknown and terrifying – to the foul light of the gods, so they called it darkness and evil. The humans recognized this magical light in their own nature and connected it with the lightning.

When Loki procreated with Angrboða His offspring gave Him away because His children were born as manifestations of His Otherworldly Spirit Essence: The venom-spitting serpent, the ferocious wolf, and the merciless death.

As Loki arose from the prior world, form and structure conflicted with His Lawless Being, thus His new form favored to shift in shape. He had come to liberate the acosmic spiritual fragments which were trapped by life in the grip of the gods’ tyranny, so Death He was – the cunning unyielding opponent of the gods in the guise of a beautiful man.

In the beginning of time Loki forged a magical sword called Lævateinn which was forged with anti-cosmic sorcery beneath the Nágrindr in the world of the dead. It is a mighty sword predominantly made to send godly powers to the world of Hel. It is kept among the flames of Surtr and Sinmara in an iron chest with nine strong locks. It is foretold that the mighty and victorious Surtr will emerge from the acosmic Múspellsheimr at Ragna Rök in company with a sword known as Sviga Læ which shines brighter than the cosmic sun. The pronounced connection between these two god-killing swords is unmistakable. In addition to the implements of the rulers of the dead, Loki created the consuming net as well, whose galdr knots held the power to catch and draw anyone’s spirit into the abyss. He gave this net to the Thursian death giantess Rán. Alike the sword, the net is a manifestation of Loki’s deathly and compelling powers.

Having prophesied the evolution of Ragna Rök before the creation, Loki cunningly befriended His foes in the guise of a beautiful man and was so accepted into the gods’ kingdom, known as Ásgarðr, eventually to be favored by them all. He became their companion; willingly concealing His true identity as Útgarðaloki with a new deceiving form. He stayed with the ǽsir for a while but clearly differentiated Himself from them, He saw them as weak without the aid of their magical tools which He, in the Promethean role, had provided them with the help of the skilled dwarves. According to the old sagas, in His Promethean role, He provided the gods with treasures such as Sif’s gold hair; the spear Gungnir and the ring Draupnir for Óðinn; Þórr’s hammer Mjöllnir; the ship Skíðblaðnir and the boar Gullinborsti for Freyr. But Loki, in His Luciferian role, out-witted them all and brought His sinister powers into their lives and homes as the subverter of the gods.

Loki deceived and abducted gods while also stealing their treasures only to restore the situations by bringing back something from the Other World into the home of the gods. The more the gods were introduced to the powers of the Útgarðar, the more influenced they were. The gods took pride in their troll-made gifts, drank of the otherworldly mead and took part of the otherworldly light. In a long-term perspective, their own greed would become their own fall.

The old wise Thurs, Loki the tester of minds, challenged the gods continuously to find their weaknesses and to establish doubt and vulnerability in their very souls. He often took the risk of being caught, bound, and killed as He provoked the ǽsir, vanir, and dwarves, as well as other powerful giants. Loki did not fear to be bound or killed, because Death cannot be bound or killed; hence His epithet Óbundinn, the Unbound.

When the gods lost their cherished rejuvenating Iðunn and began to turn old and grey it was Loki in the guise of their friend who cunningly abducted her and brought her to Útgarðr, to the iron willed enemy of the gods in the north; Þjazi. Even if Iðunn returned to the gods, so did the Thursian giantess Skaði, Þjazi’s daughter. Loki was also the one who was behind the building of the gods’ fortification (enclosure). The certain giant called only smiðr in the sagas who built the fortification brought a powerful giant stallion that Loki had the eight-legged Sleipnir with. A deformed giant horse, son of Loki, that can ride into the Útgarðar and easily jump over the Nágrindr, a horse which Óðinn took as his own. In another saga Loki tried to have Þórr killed by deviously manipulating him to travel to the world of the giants without his magical hammer, girdle, and iron gauntlets to meet the Thurs and hater of Óðinn’s son; Geirrøðr.

Loki unceasingly crossed borders, high and low, to confuse the gods of their initial roles and to bring weakness to their foundation. Slowly the world of the gods began to dissolve as Loki brought the First Death to the gods by killing their beloved Baldr. Loki cunningly found out that only Mistletoe could wound Baldr, so He made an arrow from Mistletoe, mistilteinn, and gave it to the blind god Höðr and assisted Höðr in aiming and shooting at the wisest of the gods. The mistilteinn killed Baldr and Loki’s achievement sent Baldr to Hel in the north where there is no return. The gods had not experienced death among them before, and this adversarial assault by Loki was the beginning of their fall. As Baldr descended to Hel, the gods cried and sent Hermóðr to the world of the dead to ask Hel to release Baldr so he could return to Ásgarðr. Hel answered so cunningly, she said that if everybody, even plants and rocks, cried for Baldr then she would agree to release him. All things swore an oath to the gods to cry for Baldr, all but one. Transformed into the giantess Þökk (a name meaning "thank" or "pleasure") Loki only promised to cry dry tears for Baldr and hence forced Baldr to forever stay in Hel’s world of death – niður og norður. And by killing Heimdallr, the wise guardian of the gods and the last god alive on the battlefield of Ragna Rök, Loki had succeeded to destroy the two very important gods which were symbolic manifestations of the fullness of the ǽsir’s power.

It is now necessary to take a look at the conflict between Loki and Heimdallr as it gives us a lot of material about Loki’s complex mythological presence. In Völuspá’s drama about Ragna Rök the Thurses fight and kill their archenemies, Snorri adds in Gylfaginning that «Loki á orrostu við Heimdall, ok verðr hvárr annars bani», "Loki and Heimdallr fight each other, and they become each other’s slayer", because of their repeated vile quarrels in the sagas. What is important with this is that it shows that Loki is somewhat of a mythological antithesis to Heimdallr. Not as in a contrast, but more of a symbolic nightside to that of the essence of Heimdallr (nightside in this context connotes the dark and Thursian side of the said traits).

Heimdallr is the guardian god of heaven and the ǽsir; the god who sees and hears everything in the worlds’ all corners; the illuminating one or brilliant one with golden teeth; the origin of mankind and life. From several perspectives it is easy to see how the mythological role of Loki is the nightside rather than the opposite of the above mentioned aspects of Heimdallr. Besides Loki being a Thurs of Útheimr, the most striking analogy between Heimdallr and Loki is probably ‘the illuminating one or brilliant one with golden teeth’. Here Heimdallr is referred to as being a guardian of the gods who sheds Light onto heaven and mankind, and the mythological origin of his golden teeth is uncertain but as the guarding ‘white’ god the golden teeth most certainly symbolize all the illumination and life-giving goodness which comes from him. As a nightside to this, Loki has a similar role but with the Thurses. He sheds the Black Light of the Thursian Power by frequently weakening the ǽsir with His guilefulness; many times referred to as «læ» in the Old Norse sagas: «hverjir hefði loft allt lævi blandit», "who has infused the air with guile." He is called «inn lævísi Loki», "the malevolent Loki", a kenning referring to His poisonous mouth or tongue which "infuses the air with guile." The Old Norse poets allegorized this with the dwarf Brokkr who mutilated Loki’s lips with a magical awl and thread called Vartari in an attempt to shut Loki’s poisonous iron mouth. Illumination and wisdom are often allegorized as speech, hence why the bringer of the bright light of the ǽsir Heimdallr has golden teeth, and why the bringer of the Black Light of the Thurses Loki has a disfigured mouth.

Heimdallr, who often sits in Himinbjörg where he can see into the worlds, is the guardian of the heavenly bridge Bifröst and of the gods against the evil giants. Loki is the one crossing Bifröst over and again, and bringing with Him the Thursian Powers concealed from Heimdallr’s extraordinary eyesight. Heimdallr also possesses wisdom like his ruler Óðinn, similar to how Loki is the bringer of Thursian wisdom.

Heimdallr: connected to the rays of the life-giving sun and called the bright and good one. Loki: connected to the rays of the Thursian sun and called the evil one.

Loki, the old and peerless Thurs, was known as a cunning unyielding opponent of the gods, «bragðvíss ósvífrandi ása», and their foe, «goða dólgr»: the enemy to the gods and their humans in the form of Heljarfærir to the world of the gods of life, but a venerated and reverenced savior to the spirits of His kin. The aspects and virtues of Loki as Heljarfærir fathered death by conceiving three children with the old Thursian giantess, three children who were monstrous and giant to the world of gods, as well as manifestations of Loki’s dominant aspects. The one who is named Jörmungandr is the giant serpent and dragon whose mere movement could only be compared by the humans to the strength and fury of erupting volcanoes, a raging ocean and its devastating cliffs. Jörmungandr is the serpent who is encompassing the world of the gods and who spits venom which destroys them. Next we have Fenrir, the ravenous wolf. He was such a cunning and ravenous Thurs that as a cub the gods had to bind him in magical fetters made by the dwarves, then they placed a sword in his gaping mouth to have the advantage to restrain him before he became too big and powerful. The ferocious and merciless death brought by Fenrir could only be illustrated by the humans as a giant monstrous wolf hunting down and devouring the moon as well as the sun. Lastly, the third child is the daughter who all humans fear, she is known as Hel. When the gods saw her they were so terrified that they cast her into the deepest parts of the underworld, into a world known as Niflheimr, where she made herself the queen ruler of Death and over nine worlds. One of the worlds is named after her, Helheimr which is the underworld of the dead. Within the realms of Hel she rules over the giants who sometimes are explained as eating the corpses of the dead.

Finally, the gods caught Loki in His otherworldly agenda. Alike His children He was punished by the gods, sent to the islands of desolation in the abyss and chained. Alike His children He knew how to wait, the fetters of the gods made by the dwarves could only last so long before the Thursian Powers would shatter them. Alike His children Loki knew that He was as free as before He entered the world of the gods, as His poison had already reddened their axis mundi; His subversion had already weakened the powers of the gods and even brought to them the shades of Hel.

Alike His children, He, Þursakyndill and Goðadólgr,

is merciless and resolute; a conquering hero and imperishable.

Loki represents Free and Lawless Will, which is opposing to the will of the gods. Loki represents a Rebel who challenges the gods and their powers. Loki represents the Bringer of Gifts and the Bringer of Antagonism. Loki represents the Old Bloodline predating the world of the gods. Loki represents the Father of Evil Spirits (þursar and troll). Loki represents the Serpent and the Wolf. Loki represents the lone wanderer in the wilderness and transformation. Loki represents Fire and Lightning. Loki represents the One outlawed from the heavens and bound by the gods. Loki represents the Adversary to the world of the gods of life. Loki, analogous to Lucifer-Satan, is the Emissary of the Acosmic Hidden God from the Other World here to end the aeon of the gods, who we recognize as the ǽsir and vanir, with the Light transcending that of this world.

Loki, drottnara Ragnaraka!

Loki, drottnara Surtarsverðs!

Loki, drottnara svartmyrkurs!

Names

These are the holy names and epithets of Loki commonly used within our Thursatru Tradition:

·      Loki and Loptr

·      Útgarðaloki, as the ruler of the Útgarðar

·      Útgarðaborinn, as the one ascending from beneath the Nágrindr

·      Þursakyndill, as the bringer of the Thursian Light, i.e. the Black Light of anti-cosmic gnosis

·      Goðadólgr, as the Thursian enemy of the gods

·      Inn Andskoti, as the Adversary

·      Heljarfærir, as the otherworldly father of death and Angrboða’s ally; father of Jörmungandr, Fenrir, Hel; and the bringer of the champions of Hel, etc.

·      Óbundinn, as the unbound and imperishable

·      Fárbauta mögr, as the son of Fárbauti

·      Lævateinssmiðr, as the smith who forged the Lævateinn sword

·      Þursakonungr, as the king of the Thursian races

·      Þursastjóri, as the commander of Naglfar and the Thursian Bloodline; Loki brings both Thursian races at Ragna Rök

Loki, acknowledged as Þurs Þúsund Þyrna, "the Thurs of Thousand Thorns", within the Thursatru Tradition, a twofold epithet which brings out the true purpose of Loki, as well as His role being the bringer of Svartmyrkr and the superior spearhead of the Thurses.

A name which is also bound to its twin epithet Þurs Þúsund Þráða, "the Thurs of Thousand Threads", which connects Loki with the net and to the inventor and wielder of Útgarðaborinn Sorcery; the inborn primordial Thursian forces which are illustrated as threads cast out in all directions to net the oblivious ǽsir powers, predestined by the absolute volition of Loki.

Both names above can be shortened as ÞÞÞ within Loki Workings, with the understanding of its true mysteries.