Coping with the spiritual relationship to Pandemic

I’ve had several people ask me if I believe that Loki caused COVID-19 or had a hand in it. At first, I wasn’t going to give this idea a platform or address it but as it continues to gain popularity I think I need to. I've seen this in every religious pantheon in the last few weeks - people trying to make sense of their complex spiritual relationship to Pandemic by assigning spiritual reasons to the virus.

Why do we do this?

When we’re scared, confused, and grieving it’s natural to want to find something or someone to blame. Many have been turning to blame this virus on a specific ethnicity, on the sick, on humanity as a whole, or on the most marginalized who don’t have the support to follow the best practices to limit the spread. While these are natural fear responses, we cannot succumb to their influence. We need compassion between us now. Especially when we live in a world where those in power will start to categorize human beings into “acceptable and unacceptable losses” and use subterfuge and propaganda to get us to agree. There are no acceptable losses in a pandemic. There can’t be.

COVID-19 is a virus that mutated to infect humans. It isn’t sentient. It isn’t an evil spirit. It isn’t retribution for our sins by a wrathful god - Christian or Heathen. When we try to create spiritual reasons for a pandemic, we are trying to find some acceptable reason that people are dying in numbers we haven’t seen in our lifetime. We’re trying to identify some order to it all. The problem with this is that if we were to determine some acceptable spiritual reason for suffering… we’d be admitting that we find suffering acceptable… for certain people, certain groups, or in other words “acceptable and unacceptable losses.” Both of these approaches pave the way for eugenics and planned genocide. Remember, allowing certain groups of people to be given subpar or no treatment for illness is also genocide.

Which brings me back to “Do I think that Loki caused COVID-19?”

No, and I think it’s actually quite dangerous to pin this disaster on a deity. COVID-19 is a virus, and the way that viruses evolve and affect animals and humans alike is just part of our Earth’s evolutionary environment. It isn’t evil; it has no moral alignment whatsoever. The way HUMANS respond to this virus absolutely has moral implications though. As we speak, governments and wealthy classes are waging war behind closed doors against the less privileged citizens. They are making decisions that will affect you, me, entire families, our health, and our future. These systems are oppressive. These systems are planned and carefully executed with information control and propaganda. These systems are corrupt and if there is anything that we know about Loki, it’s that he abhors corrupt systems. So no. I do not believe that Loki caused COVID-19.

Could COVID-19 be used by deities to sort corrupt systems?

No, in fact, I don't believe that COVID-19 can be an effective tool of any deity, spirit, spiritual system or government. It's not our doom or our salvation. It’s a virus. It's chaotic and undirected. Like any natural disaster or calamity, it will expose the corruption already present in our society, but it isn't a tool or a weapon to be wielded. The only control we have over this situation is how we respond to it. The choices we make will shape us as a species for lifetimes. When we ask who is worthy of life the answer needs to be everyone or our regrets will be insurmountable. Compassion, hospitality and deciding that all lives are sacred is the only acceptable way forward. We have a lot of loss coming, I won’t try to make light of that. But if we resort to blaming, punishment, and deciding which lives are expendable we have a lot more to lose than our lives - our humanity is on the line.

Heathenry is first and foremost defined by hospitality. So let's make a pact to support each other in this wolf age of COVID-19. How can we, as Heathens, demonstrate our hospitality, our community-mindedness, our compassion, and our penchant for being adamantly (even annoyingly) supportive?

I've heard it said when calamity strikes, to look for the helpers, the healers, and the triers. I see them all around me now, especially Heathens. I see Heathens aiding homeless shelters, writing prayers, sewing PPE masks for Hospitals, and working in Healthcare on the frontlines of this pandemic. Though we are afraid, we kindle light and hospitality against this growing darkness.

Until the dawn,

Elisa Fynnley Wynnter