Trickster

"Trickster is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes others, and who is always duped himself … He knows neither good nor evil yet he is responsible for both. He possesses no values, moral or social, is at the mercy of his passions and appetites, yet through his actions all values come into being."  ~ Paul Radin

I am pretty sure I wrote of many cultures having 'little people';  those mischievous little spirits that look like children and laugh at you and cause you to laugh at yourself.  They are much like Santa's elf types but layered with meaning that fits the culture from which the stories came.  Leprechaun mythology came from the Danes' invasion of Ireland.  

They are thought/supposed/believed to be hoarders of gold (who of us cannot relate.. think antique gold paint/Inca gold, etc.)  Yes, they are tricksters.  Their tricks can be almost evil in their meanness.  In the stories about them, the human always fails to find the hoard.  

During the Danish invasion, the people hid their money in pots but the Danes robbed them and found their stash, through, the Irish believed, the use of the little people; Leprechauns.  They could be caught and questioned about the gold they stole, but, if one breaks eye contact, he will vanish.  Apparently all Leprechauns are male. 

In the stories about them, the Leprechauns are never the hero or the anti-hero.  They just stir the pot of trouble with tricks.  They are, betimes surly, but they are most known for creating chaos and then leaving others to fix their own problems.  No matter, watch for the rainbows and listen for the cobbler's hammer on his anvil.

Drawing him was so fun.  In fact, I enjoyed every layer of doing this.  

Once I had him drawn, I used my water felt pens to outline him.  Suddenly, he was taking over.  

 The under-painting happened and I fell more in love with him.  

I gathered up some bits and bobs of green and gold pieces to use on the background. 

 

I chose the checkered deli paper as the main collaging pieces.

The painting took on more life and I was having so much fun that it just happened.

 

 

In the end, I adored him.

All of us have tricksters of some kind in our lives.  They appear, in any form, thing, person, place, etc., to make us pay attention.  My computer is no end of trouble and it is only a matter of, probably, next month when I will have to get a new one and start all over, learning the new program (I use microsoft7 because I hesitated having to learn Microsoft 10 ...a..b..c... whatever they call the newer ones).  And during March, I have had trickster people who gave me no end of anxiety.  And, roads and weather, you name it... it was bothersome.  If I think of it, my own psyche can trick us and be the trickster.  

All of us have shadow sides, as I have blogged of, before.  We have been foolish and we can be wise.  We can be friendly, but some of us have a fearsome side.  People can be drawn to us, or they can be bullies and something in us can allow such.  Think of times when you have been a fool, a joker, a truth-teller, a magician (yes, artists, we are), rule-breakers, alchemists and, or, clowns and tricksters, indeed.  

Watch for those, in your life that trigger you, not necessarily negative triggers.  Who are the clowns in your life.  Who provokes you to look at things a different way?  Who or what provokes you to give up old ways of thinking of things?  Who has enlightened you?  Who caused change in you by their trickstering?  And, most of all, when you got through it, did you find a pot of gold in the change being so positive that your whole inner being can become grateful for that enlightenment and change you made?

All of us need to be wakened to new ways of looking at life, at self, at others.  We all need to lighten up betimes.  All of us need to see the cracks in our own facade.  Yes, trickster things hand us a mirror to look at Self and the role, we, ourselves, had in the drama and trauma of trickstering.  

Our psyche hates change.  It hates having to look at a person, place or thing, with an open mind.  Yes, sometimes it triggers anger, first.  But, if we take the journey to the soul, during these times, our own truths will be that pot of gold if we chose it to be. 

God bless us as we seek the tricksters and the gold.

©Carol Desjarlais 3.30. 20