#30dodd

Full list of 30 Days of Deity Devotion.  My #30DoDD tag.

My favorite myth of Loki is actually the one that ends with his lips being sewn shut.  Not because of that part, but because I enjoy the rest of the story and the making of the items the story centers around.  Through Loki’s antics the gods end up with several amazing objects, some of which their fame transcends the legends even into pop culture.  (I remember longing for Gungnir in Final Fantasy XI when I was a kid because it was the best spear in the game.)

Some of you might remember back in October I started working on the “30 Days of Deity Devotion” challenge for Reshep and Kothar-wa-Khasis. I got a little too busy to finish it then, so I’m picking up at (essentially) the beginning!

2. How did you become first aware of this deity?

I think I became aware of both Reshep and Kothar-wa-Khasis here on tumblr from posts by @bookofwisdom​! Because Canaanite gods don’t have the same surviving cultural impact as, say, Greek and Egyptian gods, it’s harder to stumble across them unless you’re online or deep into a related degree program. I added icons for both Reshep and Kothar to my Canaanite shrine some years ago so that I could get to know them.

3.  Symbols and icons of this deity

As a martial god, Reshep is heavily associated with weapons, particularly the bow and arrow. He may be associated with shields, but the translation of that particular epithet is still controversial. In Egypt, Reshep was commonly shown with a spear and the white crown, but more notable is his mustache and beard that mark him as a foreign, Syrian deity. Antelopes and gazelles are likewise linked to Reshep as prey animals.

One of the difficulties of reviving Canaanite polytheism is that the Bronze Age Canaanites didn’t make a lot of statues of the gods that are identifiable as unique deities, and Kothar is a prime example of this. Statues of male deities tend to fall into two categories: “striking,” usually showing a martial god like Ba’al, or “seated,” usually showing an El-type god. In my opinion, Kothar would more likely fall into the “seated” category, but I’m unaware of any statues of Canaanite origin that we know for sure depict Kothar.

Full list of 30 Days of Deity Devotion. My #30DoDD tag.

When I was a kid/teenager, I spent my weekends at the mall, and I spent most of my mall time in the bookstores.  Back then there was a store called Borders and my mall had a HUGE one, and across the street was a huge Barnes & Noble.

I was (and still am) very passionate about writing and I was inspired the most by mythology. I was also very poor (I didn’t get an allowance and couldn’t work while in school) so I couldn’t afford to buy a lot of books, and my local library couldn’t sate my desires when it came to nonfiction.  So I would go to Borders and B&N for roughly 12 hours a day every Saturday and I would look through books and read the ones that piqued my interest.  This resulted in me reading several mythology books.  I grew up learning about Egyptian and Greek and Roman gods, and a little of the Celtic gods, but as a teenager I discovered more pantheons.  I learned of the Akkadian gods, more of the Celtic gods, the Finnish gods, and of course I learned of the Norse.  When I read about the Norse pantheon, I immediately felt a connection.  I knew it was my ‘favorite’ right away and I couldn’t explain why.

Mythology wasn’t the only thing I discovered at Borders, I also had my first experience with witchcraft and metaphysical books there.  I knew mythology from a literary standpoint, but this was the first time I experienced it from a ‘life’ standpoint.  I became enamored with witchcraft books immediately because I saw it as a way of learning how to write magic that was ‘realistic.’  It wouldn’t click for a few more years that the truth was I believed in it and wanted to practice it myself and that it would become my path.  (At the time I was still stuck believing I could only be Christian or Atheist and I was neither.)

So 2008 rolls in and I meet an actual witch on one of my adventures through Borders.  She sees my clear interest and we start to talk.  Long story short, she began teaching me tarot and that was my gateway into actually practicing everything I’d been reading up on, and a few months later I declared myself a pantheist and witch.

Fast forward a few years.  I keep reading up on mythology and playing with it in my writing.  I begin practicing witchcraft.  I look more into the Norse pantheon, and realize the deity I am drawn to the most is Loki.  He becomes my favorite figure of the pantheon and I just feel drawn to him all the time.  I finally mention this to a friend who is a heathen and she says to me, “I think Loki is circling you.  I think he’s got his eyes on you.”

Full list of 30 Days of Deity Devotion. My #30DoDD tag.

A member of the Norse pantheon, Loki is a complicated figure-- but this is natural for a trickster.  Many tricksters have reputations that shed different lights on them depending on who looks at them.  Personally I adore Loki, and I do not view him in a negative light.  Then again if I did, I wouldn’t be working with him probably, right?

Loki is a deity of many hats.  Odin’s blood-brother, mother of Sleipnir, father of Hel, Fenrir, and Jormunandr by way of Angrboda, father of Nari by way of Sigyn, inventor of the net, bringer or many magical items to the gods, etc.

I feel like anyone viewing this post already knows who Loki is in a general sense and doesn’t need me to describe basic stuff about him, so instead I’m going to go into some slightly more obscure stuff.  And we might tread into some UPG territory, depending on how you think about it.

I once saw someone call Loki the god of the ‘othered’ and I felt that title resonate in my soul.  Loki isn’t named as the god of the people who ‘don’t fit the norm’ but there is no doubt in my mind that he is such a deity.  Trans people, queer people, nonbinary people.  Loki is one of the gods that these people can find solace in.  For me, personally, I think that’s one of the reasons Loki came into my life.  I am of the ‘othered.’  It’s my firm belief that any shapeshifter can be seen from a nonbinary perspective and viewed in this same light, because they have the power to be anything or anyone.  I could get into a lengthy argument about this, but I will spare you and sum it up with this:  It’s not too unlike the idea of believing in one single all-powerful deity.  If something is that powerful, how could it be confined to something as insignificant as gender binary?  Shapeshifters are a subsect of god that-- to me-- fall into the same category.  If you have the power to be whatever you want and you always had this power, never knew life without this power, why would you you be confined by such a thing?

Full list of 30 Days of Deity Devotion. My #30DoDD tag.

My favorite story of Dionysus is the one where he was captured by pirates.

The gist of this one is Dionysus is spotted by pirates and captured, but they’re not able to shackle him.  One of the pirates is pretty sure he’s a god and urges the others to drop him off and wash their hands of him, but they don’t listen.  As the pirates set sail, strange supernatural things begin to happen, such as the ship stopping despite the wind and ivy growing throughout it, and whatnot.  Dionysus then uses his godly power to frighten the pirates and they jump off the ship, turning into dolphins once in the ocean.

Full list of 30 Days of Deity Devotion. My #30DoDD tag.

Sadly I don’t have a big list of symbols and icons for Dionysus that I can share like I had with Loki, but I do have my list of what I associate with Dionysus.

Ivy.  Aside from the meaning behind ivy, this is a very common symbol of Dionysus that I connected with immediately.  Dionysus is seen wearing ivy often.

Leopards and leopard skin.  Like ivy, Dionysus is often depicted wearing leopardskin.  It is said that as he wandered the world he wore one and people saw him in it.  I think it lends something wild to him.

Wine.  The creator of wine is, naturally, associated with wine.  I give him win as an offering every week as thanks for his presence in my life.

Grapes.  Grapes are used to make wine (most often) so it’s a fantastic alternative for people who don’t want to deal with alcohol.  I see Dionysus with grapes wrapped around his horns, so I associate them with him all the time.

Theater masks.  One of Dionysus’s lesser known things is that he is a god of theater, so symbols of the theater can be symbols of him.  Actors used to pray to Dionysus before performing.

Goats.  There is a story that Dionysus was turned into a goat and raised by nymphs after his birth, eventually turning into a handsome young man.  I like goats, so I transpose my feelings about goats onto Dionysus’s symbolism with the goat.  I prefer associating him with the goat over the bull, personally.

Red.  Red is a color associated with wine, so it can be associated with Dionysus.  I also love the color red.

Purple.  The color of grapes and some wines as well, so same thing that applies to red applies to purple.  This is also one of my favorite colors.

Gold.  Dionysus is the one who gave Midas his magical golden touch.  I like to associate gold with him both for the spiritual decadence he makes me think of and as a reminder not to get greedy like Midas.

Full list of 30 Days of Deity Devotion. My #30DoDD tag.

If you saw my previous post on Loki, then you shouldn’t be surprised that I have some alternate/less popular views of Dionysus as well.

The common image of Dionysus is that he is the god of wine, celebration, ritual madness, and spiritual ecstasy, but there is more to him.  Rather than sum him up myself, I will refer you to a video by Overly Sarcastic Productions.

This video is important to me because my work with Dionysus feels like a mix of the three stages of ancient Greek legend rather than just Hellenistic.  His Hellenistic characteristics come into play, but I connect to the Orphic and Mycenaean legends of Dionysus as well.

Besides the aforementioned things, Dionysus is also seen as a god of death and rebirth.  He’s also seen as a god of the theater and many actors would pray to Dionysus for their performances.  Some believed that the spirit of the character overtook them in a form of possession when they acted, and this fit in well with Dionysus’s ancient myths, as Dionysus was believed to possess people when they drank, so he has a history of possession.

So here is where the stuff I focus on comes into play.  I am not much of a drinker, so I don’t focus on the wine part much.  What Dionysus is for me is a god of death and rebirth and a god of spiritual joy.  Dionysus came into my life when my spiritual practice was experiencing a major lull-- which I had been in for a long time.  He instantly revitalized my practice and made me happy to be on my path again and to work, and he just slotted right into my life perfectly.  Dionysus brought me spiritual joy.

Now the death and rebirth part.  I know not everyone will agree with me here, and I respect that, but for me ‘death and rebirth’ is a metaphor for my transness.  I feel like, in my journey, the old me did die and get reborn into who I am today, and I choose to see it that way because the ‘old’ me was a miserable, self-loathing, confused person who feels like they were a different person from who I am now.  I feel like I was reborn, so much so that I tattooed the words ‘like a phoenix’ across my chest.  So death and rebirth matter to me.

Aside from this, Dionysus is also often depicted as androgynous and has been described as being feminine and masculine both by some people.  That immediately sparks in my mind that Dionysus plays fast and loose with the gender binary.  You don’t have to agree with me, but part of deity work is that the deities are a little different for each person that works with them, because we have personal relationships with them.  No one person’s relationship with someone, godly or mundane, is the same as someone else’s.

Full list of 30 Days of Deity Devotion. My #30DoDD tag.

Loki is famous for his children as much as he’s famous for his own stories.

With the giant Angrboda he fathered the wolf Fenrir, the giant serpent Jormungandr, and Hel, who would become goddess of the underworld.  The gods worried that Loki’s children would do something bad someday, so each was ‘taken care of’ in a different way.  Fenrir was bound in dwarven-crafted chains and cast away to remain that way-- taking Tyr’s hand with him.  Jormungandr was thrown into the ocean, where he was able to grow so large he circled the world.  Hel was cast into the underworld, where she would come to rule.

With the stallion Svaðilfari Loki mothered the legendary horse Sleipnir, who Odin took as his steed. 

With the goddess Sigyn he fathered Nari (sometimes called Narfi) and Váli.  Váli was turned into a wolf by the gods and proceeded to kill his brother, whose entrails were then used to bind Loki in his prison.