I recently read Playing With Fire by Dagulf Loptson. I'd been looking for something specifically about Loki, because while I am also working my way through (and quite enjoying) Raven Kaldera's Northern Shamanic books, I wanted a deeper exploration of this Guy whose been rata-tap-tapping on my head for the better part of the last year (although it's fair to say I've known Him for many years, we were simply never close before recently).
I read a number of articles and chapters in dusty old academic texts when I was working on my rune book, and as I turned back to the better of those for material about Loki, the conclusions about Him I found in them were...cliché? Loki is "Bad". Simply put, He was universally reviled by ancient Norsemen, therefore modern Norse reconstructionists should shun and revile him. That seems simple, but it has never sat right with me.
As someone who had already been working with Hela the past few years (who is also supposed to be reviled, I might add--or at the very least given a wide berth), I couldn't possibly have disagreed more with this absurd notion of that Loki was some kind of Heathen/Norse version of Satan. Didn't we leave our Christianity and it's notions about Good and Evil at the Church door when we left?
So off I went, in search of something that wasn't painfully obviously influenced by a religion not my own. And I found it.
Playing with Fire is the result of Loptson's two decades' or so worth of love, devotion, and study of Loki. It is broken down into ten chapters (plus some additional material at the end) that explore who Loki is, in the context of old Norse religion, His often complex relationships to the other Gods, how He may have been worshipped a thousand or more years ago, how He is worshipped today, and some ideas about getting to know Him better (with all of the warnings that should go along with that notion!--although for my part, it was "too late"; I've been getting to know Loki for quite some while now, and I seriously have no regreats). What impressed me the most in Playing with Fire is that Loptson neither regurgitated stale facts (and absurd fallacies), nor did he give an account of Loki based solely his personal gnosis. Rather, he finds that perfect, delicate balance between research and UPG and always makes it crystal clear which is which. Where he disagrees with academia's hasty conclusions (which is fairly frequently), Loptson gives solid reasons and ample evidence (pulled from academia); he sites his sources and despite the fact that Playing with Fire is well-researched, Loptson's writing is neither dry nor crunchy, making the book an absolute pleasure to read.
I don't necessarily personally agree 100% with Loptson's every conclusion (I have my own reasons for simply not being able to regard Loki as one of the Æsir), but Playing with Fire is an absolute must-read for Lokeans (devotees of Loki), or anyone else who wants to look at the Norse Gods through a more balanced lens.
Playing with Fire can be purchased (for five bucks) directly from the publisher's website (they'll actually shuffle you off to Lulu to buy it as either a PDF or an epub), or is available in Kindle format (I think? It says "epub") from Amazon (slightly cheaper, but that price difference affects the author's royalty check--just sayin'). It is one of the very few books, as I begin the slow process of down-sizing my life (I want to move in 5 or 10 years into a much smaller dwelling), that I plan to acquire in physical format (I bought my initial copy in electronic format from the publisher/Lulu)--and I don't say that frequently of $20 books.
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