You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 23rd, 2007.
The Trickster is an important and appealing Archetype.
Like all Archetypes, it is universal. I enjoy looking for him when I learn a culture’s mythos or customs. In Norse, he is Loki. In Greece he is Hermes or Mercury and Odysseus. In Native America he is Raven or Coyote. In Africa he is Spider.
When growing up, my favorite trickster was Bugs Bunny. That rascally rabbit could get himself out of anything, and always made fools out of Daffy Duck and Elmer and any other ‘powers that be’.
Much of the appeal of the “Pirates of the Caribbean’ is Mr. Depp. He is playing the ultimate trickster pirate. We love to see him get in and out of troubles. He touches on our fondness for seeing the Trickster be his way.
The Trickster is amoral – not immoral. He does what he pleases and doesn’t fit in well. He causes a lot of friction and is often in scrapes. Clever, but not ‘too bright’, he gets things done when the yokes of custom and convention thwart others. He is lawless, energetic, and without boundaries. You wouldn’t want him for a spouse. He doesn’t form long lasting relationships or friendships. But life would be dull without some Trickster energy.
Like all archetypes, he has a negative element – he can be vicious and cruel. He can be stupid in judgment. He wrecks havoc; he is antisocial that he won’t fit in nicely to a community with its rules. Jungians see suicidal ideation coming from the Trickster aligned with the Shadow – convincing you that that only way out is to do something extreme and dramatic.
It is hard to be in touch with Trickster energy when you are married, or holding a job, or in any sort of group that needs cooperation and conformity.
But make room for the Trickster; or he will create it himself!
