![]() ![]() ![]() The name “Loki” has long been likened to the Old Norse logi, meaning “fire.” While Loki, like fire, was destructive and unpredictable, the similarity between the two words was probably incidental. His chaotic inconsistency reminded believers that the boundaries between good and evil were far more tenuous than they suspected. Like the trickster figures of other mythologies, he was neither good nor evil, choosing instead to be a partisan of disorder itself, a figure who tested boundaries and challenged conventions. In truth, Loki was neither for or against the gods. For example, it was predicted that during Ragnarök Loki would fight on the side of the jötnar against the gods. Where Thor, Freya, and even Odin (a trickster himself) strove to impose a righteous order amongst the gods, Loki’s erratic behavior called the very nature of his allegiances into question. Though his mythology consistently overlapped with those of his divine counterparts, Loki differed from them in important ways. While Loki’s antics frequently embroiled the gods in sticky situations, his tricks often rescued them from troubled times as well.Ī member of the Aesir tribe of deities, Loki-along with Odin, Thor, and Freya-constituted one of the four ruling deities of Norse thought. With Loki, appearances were never quite what they seemed. A shapeshifter, Loki’s forms were as varied as the motives for his mischief, which included wealth, women, wisdom, and the sheer pleasure of his knavery. The great trickster god of the Norse pantheon, Loki was a devious deity known for his many schemes and deceptions. The Betrayal of Baldur and the Binding of Loki.Nevertheless, Veles is relentless, he always comes up with something new and ends spending the winter up in the skies, in Iriy. Perun keeps shooting Veles with lightning bolts, and eventually he wins at the beginning of each summer, when Veles has to descend from the crown of the World Tree and dwell in its roots with Zaltys the serpent. According to different narratives, Veles steals either Perun’s wife, his cattle, his servants, or his children, thus causing a massive strife. Their struggle is taken to represent the eternal battle between heavens and earth. Veles and Perun are significant since they are the only two deities in Slavic pantheon that were commonly revered by all Slavic tribes. As the representative of the earth, Veles is a sworn enemy of Perun, the supreme god of the skies, parallel to Greek Zeus. The battle between Perun and Velesĭue to his highly versatile nature, Veles is quite a whimsical god. As the god of beasts and forests, Veles is represented in the shape of a bear, or sometimes wolf, the kings of Slavic forests. He was in charge of both the cattle and the crops and the prosperity of communities greatly depended on him. Believed to be the son of Rod and Zemun, the heavenly cow, he is often represented as a strong man with bull’s horns. Veles is a shape-shifter and he appears in many different forms. ![]() He guides the souls of the dead and presides over agreements, and ancient Slavs often swore by him when conducting transactions. He is the god of cattle and crops, of forests and beasts, but also of magic, music, and treachery. Veles, or Volos, is a very versatile and whimsical divinity revered by all Slavic tribes. The bird tried landing on his horn again, but this time he waved furiously and muttered, ‘Oh, shut up you chirping ball of air!’ Photo by Asher Ward on Unsplash ‘It’s that time of the year again,’ he murmured and the thunder rumbled in response. Veles took a deep breath and rolled his eyes at the skies. The story repeated every spring after months spent in Iriy, he watched her golden hair flutter in the warm breeze as she held onto Gerovit’s trunk-like arm, his seven smug faces bobbing with each heavy step. A bird landed on one of his horns and started chirping a merry melody, but he grunted and waved it away. His gaze rested on the retreating forms of Lada and Gerovit. ![]()
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