Trickster Times

Print by Bill Lewis

Right now, we're living in Trickster Times. Because when civilizations start to become moribund; when social, economic and political systems stagnate, and empires become degenerate and unresponsive to the needs of the people, in walks Trickster to shake it all up. Trickster is the catalyst, the disruptor who triggers the breaking down of the old order. The Trickster we get is often, in Jungian terms, a reflection of the cultural Shadow. When you identify the contemporary Trickster(s) in your culture, you'll discover the nature of the contemporary cultural Shadow. It's anger, hate, alienation, xenophobia, and soul-killing fear. The cultural Shadow is part of who we are, and we all have to take responsibility for it. Read more.

Heyoka Coyote

Coyote is a cunning shapeshifter who can adapt to any habitat. While the habitats of most predators are diminishing, Coyote’s territory is expanding. Call upon Coyote for these shapeshifting qualities, but beware, for Coyote is a magician, trickster, and heyoka. The heyoka or sacred clown uses satire, folly and misadventure to awaken people to innovative and better ways of doing things. The mischievous heyoka behaves in ways that are contrary to conventional norms in order to violate peoples’ expectations. In such paradoxical states, people can assimilate new information quickly, without filtering.

Coyote’s lesson is to stop acting out of habit. You must be willing to plow old habits into the soil in order to cultivate new patterns that enhance your natural growth. Innovative change will revitalize your life and precipitate renewed growth and creativity.

Sometimes we unwittingly cut off the voice of our inner truth, or sense of what is correct; relying instead on old, soul-killing patterns of judgment, control, and distrust. Inner truth reflects, like a mirror, the higher, universal truth that exists in every situation. Yet even when our point of view is at its most positional, narrow and self-righteous, higher truth, often in the guise of the trickster, is there to open the way back to balance and wholeness. Click here to listen to the Coyote chant.