valhalla, loki and the lost boys
Scandinavians believed that there were nine existing worlds; Asgard, world of the Æsir; Vanaheimr, home of the Vanir. Valhalla was Odin's hall located within Asgard; it was also home of the Einherjar, who were the souls of the greatest warriors. These warriors were selected by the Valkyries, Odin's mounted female messengers wear the sparkling armor sthat created the famed Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights. These lights shine in the north woods of America too.
Valhalla Mountain is located in the woods not far from my home. I discovered this yesterday from a friend who has recently given himself the nickname 'Loki' the Norse trickster god. My friend Loki is a man of many trades: single dad, raised 3 boys on his own in Alaska, fisherman, social worker for eskimos, lumberjack and various other professions. He is a pretty amazing guy. Whenever I'm around him I feel as if I'm walking with a warrior. He writes poetry too. If you were to judge a book by its cover, you might wonder about the inside, but once you get invited on the inside, there are rooms and rooms of mysterious depth, unassuming wisdom and curiosity, innocence and sweetness.Â
There is a giant wooden lumberman statue in Washburn, Wisconsin, that you can see on the drive toward Valhalla. Â As I drove passed it, I mused, hey, that looks like my friend Loki. Loki the lumberjack/fisherman/icewalking/single dad/poet is about 235 pounds of warrior mass.Â
Loki and I went for a walk down a road called star route, where we talked about mythology as a basis for reconciling the mystery of life/death/life. We talked about the Finnish immigrant tribal mentality that grew the first cooperatives. He mentioned that he recently had taken a group of boys from a halfway house kind of place to the mountain to go sledding. The boys come from pretty rough homes, and the place where he worked didn't exactly give them a lot of outlets for their physical, mental, emotional or spiritual needs.
Mostly, they have nothing to do but fight and sit and watch TV in the group home, occasionally getting their junk food and meds. He tells me that the social workers are kind of like game wardens, or cattle keepers. Loki told me how it ain't much different than takin’ care of cattle to work there. Something he didn't exactly enjoy.
So, after listening to the kids fight and fight and sit and stare, he decides to take the kids to Valhalla mountain, to go sledding. The boys have an amazing time. They don't fight. They scream and run and dive and fly in the air on sleighs. Valhalla mountain is pretty big over here--it was a ski resort not long ago, and god only knows if it houses the same souls of the warriors as it does in Norse mythology, but I'd like to think that a group of boys heading to the mountain is a nice mythic adventure anyway.Â
The boys are screaming and wheeling and riding and flying and literally coming to life. Some get bruises and cuts and torn pant legs and the kinds of 'battle' wounds that occur when boys are rough and tumbling and surrendering to the wildness of mountains and trees.Â
They return to the group home and after a glance at the boys clothing, by one of the game wardens, my friend Loki is reprimanded for having taken them from the group home and into nature. You know how 'dangerous' nature is for kids who are pent up and stuck and medicated and listless. You know how dangerous sledding is for adolescent boys, and how it is far better for them to stare and numb out at TV rather than being awakened by their huffing and puffing and hiking and sledding.
Loki, being the trickster God wasn't too impressed by what the cattle keepers had to say. Like a carpenter who has been reprimanded for his work, he pretty much handed the 'superiors' at the group home the hammer and was like, 'here, you fix it then.' He doesn't want to keep cattle as slaves. He wants these kids to have living experiences, therapeutic experiences, nature therapy, if you will. Maybe the kids who are lost souls need a hike to the mountain of warrior souls.Â
Well, in the long run, Loki left his job after being restricted too many times for being honest and doing what he felt was right, not what he felt he was supposed to do. The kids are still sittin' in front of the T.V, zoning out and medicated. The wardens are keeping an eye on them, in case the cattle try anything stupid. And as for Valhalla Mountain nearby, without those boys climbing and rolling and screaming all over it, its warrior strength and living stories will be the less for it.