The dark side of the gods

[eosin]

In a recent discussion, it occurred to me that many pagan paths with balanced worldviews have gods with light and dark sides. This is something that has its opposite in modern Christianity--you have very clear, obvious, and stereotypical light and dark sides, where one side doesn't really have the features of the other. Within European pantheons,

Comments

[ciarin]

Who treats Odin as Jehovah and Loki as Satan?

[eosin]

I've seen several people using the Christian paradigm with minimal Heathen re-labeling--hearing 'Allfather' the same way 'Our Father' is used, hearing prayers for 'binding Loki' that sound suspiciously like 'binding Satan' heard in many churches, treating various prohibitions from Leviticus (such as homosexuality) as if they were in the Eddas, being afraid to actually say the name Loki for fear that he'll show up and do something, having Odin as a substitute God/Father and Thor as a substitute Jesus/Son, acting as if the Eddas were the Old Testament, 'Be fruitful and multiply' becoming 'Breed for the Folk', etc.

[ciarin]

Yea but who are these people? What kindred?

[winterlion]

I study with you-know-who of the runes ;)
I know better. Almost everything He does, has to do with death in one degree or another.
(I'm not sure - but there's hints that he and Loki are one and the same. I'm quite prepared to accept that)

I wonder why people are so fond of "black and white" thinking? Life's just not that simple ;)