Loki's Star: The Brand
In ancient times, the star known to the Greeks as Sirius was called “Lokabrenna” or “Loki’s Brand”. We know it as the Dog Star, and it was very important in many cultures (most specifically ancient Egypt, as they began their whole calendar year with its flood-heralding appearance). It shows up during the hot summer, which is why that time is called the “dog days”, and the Norse idea seemed to be that this was Loki holding up a flaming brand, leading the dead troops to Ragnarok.
The Egyptians named the star after Anubis, the dog-headed guide of dead souls, who was also something of a trickster. Loki’s Brand is associated with great and sacred deeds, but especially with deeds which seem ordinary in the moment but link to sacred acts. It gives honor, renown, faithfulness and devotion. It grants to those who are touched by it the ability to pacify people of higher rank than themselves, a quality which Loki used on the Aesir for a long time until he decided that he had had enough of it. With this star, one tends to rise due to the protection of those higher up, but there is always risk of a fall.
Traditionally this star gives fame that will live on after death, and inner power which “may be more than one person can handle”, also one of Loki’s downfalls. Badly aspected, it is said to risk the possibility of a psychotic person who is a danger to the community, or at least someone with wild and violent passions. Some cultures saw it as entirely benign—a star of good leadership—and others saw a dark side that had to do with the heat of summer and the pestilence that came with that.
Some folks who work with Loki have said that his greatest weakness is wanting to be liked, even at the cost of denying his own nature, and that was what finally got him into trouble. The Greeks claimed that Sirius was like the faithful dog who followed, but it also was a harbinger of dog bites, showing that the dog was not as interested in taking abuse and neglect as its leaders might think. This, too, is part of Loki’s myth; he was the “fixer” for Odin and the Aesir, but when they betrayed him through fear of his first wife and children, suddenly they got bitten.