Smoky Mountain Sorcery

Two years ago, at a pagan gathering near Atlanta, Ga, during a Seiðr ritual the god Loki made a stunning entrance.

The Volva (the oracle who, in a trance state, connects with Otherworld beings to answer questions for and give messages to attendees) was suddenly possessed by the god, dancing and laughing in a manner quite out of character for her.

Because Loki had something to say:

Joy! There must be joy and we must make sure in this time that is dark and growing darker with war and disease and death and all the rest, joy or else my son [Fenris] will eat the world.

(Source: John Beckett “Three Messages From Loki To The World“)

Beckett’s article dropped exactly 1 year after my family and I had moved back to my hometown in the NC mountains. I had the goats I’d long wanted and was living on a mountain I’d felt a connection to all of my life. Yet I was still struggling mentally. I could not figure out how, despite Loki himself showing up for me, to implement his advice.

So I eventually kinda forgot about it. Until…

Then Kamala Harris Happened

Not gonna lie, I was having a LOT of anxiety in the weeks between Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance and the day he dropped out of the race. I was convinced there was no way to replace him without ensuring a Trump victory in November – I just couldn’t see how campaign infrastructure (and more importantly, funds) could be transferred this late in the game.

But I’ve never been happier to be wrong in my life!

From the moment Kamala Harris got Biden’s endorsement there was a massive shift in energy. Out of the blue (no pun intended) there was an outpouring of joy. Then Tim Walz labeled Trump et al “weird,” and sent it into overdrive.

Suddenly, Loki’s message became viscerally clear.

Joy flooded my social media timelines. Out of nowhere it felt good to be on the left again. And the right had absolutely no idea how to react – which was and is glorious.

Ever since that horrible man rode down his golden escalator and called Mexican immigrants drug dealers, criminals and rapists (with a few, he assumed, being “good people,”) he and his movement have spouted fear and hate. They’ve made it clear they’re coming for minorities, LGBTQ people (especially Trans people like my daughter) and anyone not Christian. They’ve done a very good job of making people afraid.

But Kamala came with joy. Tim Walz pointed at them and called them “weird” and suddenly the MAGA movement lost all it’s teeth. And even now they continue to scramble, many in disbelief that the joy is real.

The DNC last week was an ode to Joy. I found myself watching every minute, sharing the event with others on Twitter (fuck you Elon, I’ll call it the name you want when you stop deadnaming your daughter) and having a blast.

The Greed Wolf & Fascism

As Cat Heath pointed out in the article I linked to above, wolves are a symbol of greed in Norse lore. Greed is, of course, at the root of the fascism that underlies far right movements in the 21st century. In the US, Silicon valley billionaires want more than just tax breaks when they fund MAGA. They’re pushing for the US to default on the national debt so that in the ensuing global catastrophe they can seize power.

JD Vance backer Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal) and his cohorts are proponents of Effective Accelerationism – which in a nutshell believes there should be no restrictions on AI development, even if it leads to human extinction. Part of the philosophy, of course, is that profits, too, should be unrestricted and that amassing (and keeping) great wealth is good, actually. Thiel is also part of Christian Nationalist groups and a major backer of Project 2025.

The Problem Is Deeper
Than US Politics

Of course, it’s not just one group of American billionaires. And it’s not some shadowy conspiracy (even if it does have links to Vladimir Putin.) These ideas and trends are the outgrowth of a worldview that’s been prominent for hundreds of years. One where individualism and separation is the underlying principle. Where the natural world exists as nothing but resources to be exploited. In other words, the opposite of Animism. This underlying worldview, as explained by Dr. Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen of Nordic Animism, is leading humanity toward Ragnarök:

Loki Gave Us A Weapon That Works

In the myth of Ragnarök, the world descends into chaos. All connections are severed, between people, between gods and other beings, between humans and our environment. At the climax of the battle, Loki’s son Fenrir, the giant wolf consumes the Sun, the giver of all life on earth. As Dr. Rune Hjarnø explains in the video above, this myth wasn’t just a Norse version of some Christian end-times prophecy. It’s exactly the cataclysm that led to what we now know as the “Migration Period,” where huge amounts of the population died.

Our current version of Ragnarök is already seeing large-scale death and destruction. And it’s only going to get worse as Climate Change causes land to become uninhabitable and starving people begin to migrate and/or take up arms. Meanwhile, humanity clings to the idea that one Middle Eastern country can carry out a genocide on its neighbor without it affecting everyone. And one set of the people with power want to speed up the misery and destruction for their own ends.

Of course, one election isn’t going to stop the march toward Ragnarök, and I’m not naïve enough to think electing Kamala Harris will usher in any kind of utopia. What I do believe, however, is that a Kamala Harris administration will slow the march. It will keep the United States from descending into the fascism of Project 2025 for at least another election cycle. And in the process, her focus on community, on lifting up instead of tearing down, on expanding rights instead of gleefully taking them away will allow joy to flourish.

Loki told us – and I believe the right’s reaction to the joy of the Harris campaign has validated the fact – that Joy is how we fight the dark forces that are trying to destroy everything. Every single ounce of joy we can experience, every connection we make, is an arrow aimed at the forces of destruction.

Viktor Frankl wrote, “Humor was another of the soul’s weapons in the fight for self-preservation. It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.”

Joy IS a strategy, and for more than just an election. Joy is powerful. We all need joy. So, let’s find all the joy we can. It matters!