So why did Sigyn not simply dump the bowl, flip it upside down, and stick it on Loki’s idiot head? The poison would slide down the side and away from his eyes…
Myths are myths, not entirely literal accounts of what’s going on in a
literal cave on some other plane. They’re stories that allow us to
grasp otherwise inexpressible truths, and as such they work on a number
of different levels. It’s not always about what makes the most rational
or least painful story.
One one level, this story was an
explanation for why there are earthquakes. We’re talking about Iceland,
where there’s a lot of geological activity. Since the earth was said to
tremble from Loki writhing in pain, it would kind of defeat the point if
he never had to deal with the poison.
In a narrative sense, you have to remember that the Aesir want Loki tortured. That’s why Sigyn and Loki are in this predicament. There are theoretically a lot of things she could do or build to stop the poison drip, but the Aesir probably wouldn’t let that slide. The only reason they put up with the bowl thing may well be that she’s actively suffering for it too.
The torture also helps to justify why Loki fights against the Aesir at
Ragnarok, since let’s face it, you need some pretty hardcore motives to
actively fight to end the world.
But on a deeper level, the
myth isn’t really talking about snakes or bowls or chains. It’s about
concepts like order and chaos, betrayal and loyalty, suffering and
mercy. If the myth were different–if Loki didn’t have to be bound, or
Sigyn didn’t have to make the same sacrifice–then it wouldn’t reflect
those deeper truths.
So, this illustration is really powerful to me. I can’t stop looking at it. I’m struggling not to cry, and clutching this stone that I associated with Sigyn just this morning . It conveys so much of their agony. It hurts me.
Illustration of Sigyn and Loki by John Egerkrans in the book Norse Gods.
Okay, I have to say a thing: Can I just… I’m literally trying not to cry. Someone abusive in my past was obsessed with Sigyn, but reduced her, like Marvel, to a nitwit who blindly loved Loki regardless of transgressions and emotional abuse, as she so often idolized with so many of the relationships she sought to imitate and force onto her… targets. This, I feel, brings so much more life to the Goddess of Fidelity . The agony in this illustration. You do not blindly do this shit for someone you don’t truly care for. True Fidelity must be earned, not gained through tricks. Blind faith in abusers is sickness and dependency, not fidelity and loyalty. Fidelity and loyalty is earned through hard work and built upon trust. Trusting a trickster sounds foolish, but you don’t eternally hold a bowl to save your lover as best you can from agony without them truly deserving it. I’m not saying much on Loki here, aside from I believe he is a god of change, not evil, or malice, or any of the other cruel insults wrought in misunderstanding. People who fear the change, and the other, and the odd might call it evil, but it’s a necessary part of life. The cycle of life, death, and rebirth. You can try to hold it off as long as you can, but the rot that forms will be worse than the cleansing fire of change. This is the principle I live by.
So in rereading Krasskova’s Sigyn devotional for the first time in a few years, I have to say I’m pretty happy with how far my understanding of Sigyn has come since I first looked at it.
To the point where I can say, without much doubt, that Krasskova frankly just gets some shit wrong.
She praises Sigyn for not expecting praise for “doing what needs to be done without complaint, without boasting” and, while I think that’s true and fair to an extent (you don’t get cookies for being a decent person or doing decent things), I think if you take it too far you start to fall back into this sexist ideal of the “doormat mother/wife figure who bends over backwards for her family with a smile and without complaint and never expects anything in return”.
For a few years now I’ve been exploring the idea of Sigyn as someone who starts out as so utterly selfless/so without self-worth that she would literally lay down her life for her loved ones and brushes off praise and love as something she either a) doesn’t deserve or b) doesn’t want because she’s just “doing what she should be”.
And honestly, it’s just… it’s not a healthy way to be. Even for a goddess. Even for a goddess as implacable and strong as a mountain.
Which, I think, is where Loke comes into the picture.
He makes her feel safe enough to be selfish, to expect something for the things she does, to listen to her when she’s heartbroken or furious or bitter or joyous, he lets her be the child she never had a chance to be.
Just as Sigyn gave Loke inangard, the sacred enclosure of the home, Loke gave Sigyn a sacred enclosure in his arms to be everything we don’t want women and mothers and wives to be: unlikable, demanding, vocal in their complaints and wants, and recognition that the things they do matter.
Sigyn watched her family be torn apart and defied Odin to stay by Loke’s side through his torture. I think she’s earned a little right to be able to show her emotions and expect some kind of reward.
Don’t burn yourself alive just to keep someone else warm. Or if you’re gonna do it, make sure they damn well know about and appreciate it.
My first batch of
lavender wine made my lips go numb after a single sip. I shared it with
other heathens and they found it quite strong also. So of course the
next time I had a crop of lavender from my garden, I made lavender
vodka.
Our Sigyn Candle is the newest addition to the Devotional Mason Jar Collection. Coming in a soft baby blue and generously scented with Juniper berry and sweet pea.
Holding the Bowl 