Trickster

In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphisation), which exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge, and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and conventional behaviour.

We live in a dual reality, opposite polarities, yin /yang, male/female, good/ evil, God/Devil or Trickster. Our reality is created by electromagnetic energy fields, the poles of North and South, positive and negative energy. This is a game. In order to win the game you must create balance. You can beat the trickster if you ignore that which he brings as challenges. Our soul spirals its consciousness into a physical body to experience different roles and emotions. The trickster 'stirs the pot' and creates the drama, to that end.

When you abuse someone, that is the trickster in you, showing itself. When you allow yourself to be abused, playing the victim, and remain stagnant in your life, the trickster aspect of you is in control.

Carl Jung, The Trickster Archetype

A primitive cosmic being of divine-animal nature, on the one hand superior to man because of his superhuman qualities, and on the other hand inferior to him because of his unreason and unconsciousness. The more civilized we become, the more we will blame a "shadow" for our misfortunes. Like the trickster of old, the shadow represents a quality that isn't accepted into the awareness. It can 'pester' us unmercifully but always has a gift for us, a missing quality, an attitude needed to cope, or self-realization.

Mythology

Tricksters are archetypal characters who appear in the myths of many different cultures. Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a "boundary-crosser". The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules. Tricksters violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis.

Often, the bending and breaking of rules takes the form of tricks or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both. The trickster openly questions and mocks authority. They are usually male characters, and are fond of breaking rules, boasting, and playing tricks on both humans and gods.

All cultures have tales of the trickster, a crafty creature who uses cunning to get food, steal precious possessions, or simply cause mischief. In some Greek myths Hermes plays the trickster. He is the patron of thieves and the inventor of lying, a gift he passed on to Autolycus, who in turn passed it on to Odysseus. In Slavic folktales, the trickster and the culture hero are often combined.

Frequently the trickster figure exhibits gender and form variability. In Norse mythology the mischief-maker is Loki, who is also a shape shifter. Loki also exhibits gender variability, in one case even becoming pregnant. He becomes a mare who later gives birth to Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir.

British scholar Evan Brown suggested that Jacob in the Bible has many of the characteristics of the trickster:

The tricks Jacob plays on his twin brother Esau, his father Isaac and his father-in-law Laban are immoral by conventional standards, designed to cheat other people and gain material and social advantages he is not entitled to. Nevertheless, the Biblical narrative clearly takes Jacob's side and the reader is invited to laugh and admire Jacob's ingenuity–as is the case with the tricksters of other cultures"

In a wide variety of African language communities, the rabbit, or hare, is the trickster. In West Africa (and thence into the Caribbean via the slave trade), the spider (Anansi) is often the trickster.

Archetype

The trickster or clown is an example of a Jungian archetype. In modern literature the trickster survives as a character archetype, not necessarily supernatural or divine, sometimes no more than a stock character. Often too, the trickster is distinct in a story by his acting as a sort of catalyst, in that his antics are the cause of other characters' discomfiture, but he himself is left untouched. A once-famous example of this was the character Froggy the Gremlin on the early children's television show "Andy's Gang". A cigar-puffing puppet, Froggy induced the adult humans around him to engage in ridiculous and self-destructive hi-jinks.

In later folklore, the trickster/clown is incarnated as a clever, mischievous man or creature, who tries to survive the dangers and challenges of the world using trickery and deceit as a defense. He also is known for entertaining people as a clown does. For example, many typical fairy tales have the king who wants to find the best groom for his daughter by ordering several trials. No brave and valiant prince or knight manages to win them, until a poor and simple peasant comes. With the help of his wits and cleverness, instead of fighting, he evades or fools monsters and villains and dangers with unorthodox manners. Therefore, the most unlikely candidate passes the trials and receives the reward. More modern and obvious examples of that type include Bugs Bunny and Pippi Longstocking.

Chaos-Disrupter

Chaos-Disrupter is a Victim-Victimizer software mind control archetype that is used to target spiritually developing people. This is one of the Controller Programs that is a sub program of the Victim-Victimizer software program and a collective miasm that has accumulated over many generations.

A person that is a dark portal for Imposter Spirits or being controlled by external negative forces, is easily manipulated to bring energetic discord into a group, to derail projects and can be a Chaos-Disrupter archetype. The intention behind the Chaos-Disrupter is divide and conquer of the organization, group unity or destroying the energetic coherence in the environment. The Chaos-Disrupter profile is generally very egocentric to narcissistic behaviors, an emotional-psychic vampire and has little impulse control.

See Also

Building Enki's Army