Title: Worshiping Loki: A Short Introduction
Publisher/Author: Silence Maestas
Price: $8.00

This book sets itself apart from other modern heathen books on Loki in three ways: It is focused on how to perform worship, based on the author’s experiences, and presented in the casual style of an internet comment. It is self-published, and as the title promises, quite short.

The book starts off with a summary of various reactions modern polytheists have to the lack of establishment and spare information for our paths, and touching on the controversies surrounding the worship of Loki. The introduction contains a few interesting tidbits, such as that Icelandic Asatruars consider Loki the patron of geothermal energy.

There is a section on how to set up and use an altar or shrine, including temporary ones, and possible substitutes if having one is not possible. Maestas discusses possible offerings, and various methods of disposing of used offerings. It has examples of prayer, tools, and holidays.

The book takes a break after that to reassure the reader that all this stuff isn’t that hard, even if it sounds like a lot. Like many other parts of the book, this part is written in second person in an informal style. This section goes into some of the reasons the reader might worship as a solitary, with more reassurances about that. It seems to be aimed at nervous newbies who may have had bad experiences dipping their toes into the heathen pool.

Then there is a section on discernment. It has some helpful suggestions for getting started. It does not go beyond a very basic level, so those looking for helping tuning their godphone radios will need to go on to an intermediate book.

The next section is on maturing practice. After that is a section on developing trust in oneself. All these sections are very short and basic. They have the tone and length of a short blog post or long forum answer comment.

Appendix A: “Lady Loki” is a revised reprint of an essay that first appeared in the Insults and Earthquakes anthology. It contains more lore-based speculation and less personal gnostic certainty than the main book. There is no Appendix B.

The book has a chatty style, and is easy to understand. It is a short read, but it’s not meant to be read straight through. The reader who wants to follow the instructions in the book will be pausing to collect objects and use them, which may take some time.

This book is a how-to manual for new worshippers of Loki, and it is aimed at people who don’t already know how to do heathenry or polytheism. It doesn’t contain much lore, although it does have the basics of modern practice, including modern group gnosis on what Loki likes in his worship rituals, such as cinnamon. I recommend this book for brand new Lokeans. Experienced pagans, heathens, and polytheists who are only new to Loki but not to pagan practice might find it too basic. Because it’s short, easy to read, aimed at total beginners, and does not contain the sort of adult material that some more advanced books on worshipping Loki contain, this book seems the ideal choice for a teen Lokean.

[Erin Lale is the author of Asatru For Beginners and other books. She has been a gythia since 1989, published Berserkrgangr Magazine, is a godspouse of Odin and his brothers, and currently manages the Asatru Facebook Forum and writes the Pagansquare blog Gnosis Diary: Life as a Heathen. She lives with her mom and her black cat in Henderson, Nevada, where she ran for public office in 2010 and 2013, and is active in her local dance, arts, and pagan communities.]

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