Trickster

[tinhuvielartanis]

This says it better than I could.

Carl Jung, The Trickster Archetype, Coyote

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.

Comments

Re: Holy archetypes, Batman...

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

And we're perpetually invoking him. Aren't we a crazy crowd?

Re: Holy archetypes, Batman...

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

You're...sorry....for writing a novel in a comment? You're apologising to Ms. Wordy McWordster? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I totally understand where you're coming from, though. I'm the same way, actually. I identify more with J than want to be his moll (or maul - ha!). This is pretty much the main reason why I ended the Date series and is taking a break from writing him.

As a writer, I take on a part of my characters' personalities while giving a portion of my own to them. This is what distresses me so much about Cadmus Pariah, my "son." It's kind of like that whole 'staring into the abyss' philosophy. It wasn't so much that I was adopting a 'fuck-you-all' attitude, as I attained that when I became a Sith (silly expression, but it carries serious ramifications). No, I've been finding myself talking like him and making similar facial expressions, just as he (my fic J) carried and expressed my own misanthropic philosophy. So, I needed to step back in order to retain my own personality.

And that's what got me to thinking about archetypes and how Heath's (probably subconscious) magickal invocation in that hotel room with his diary (the written word is the most magickal thing on Earth) may have conjured more than he bargained for. And that got me to wondering about Norvus.

Dig?

Brings back memories, certainly!

[showmescars.livejournal.com]

Love that part where it said something about Native American mythology that it's represented by the raven. My boyfriend got some Native American Alaskan cave art tattoos. One of the wolf, and the other of the raven. Believe it or not, I went to a Shaman, on a trip to Montana and he said that my spirit animal was The Bear. I was seven years old, I think, at the time. Having someone tell you that you have immense strength as a child is completely unexpected.

And then I had this strange coinsidence. My family and I (along w/ my brother's [now ex-]girlfriend) had been dricving back from Chicago (where we had gone to visit, since I am originally from Chicago/Nolan's Gotham) and in the mountains of Pennsylvania, we were driving thru the dark, trying to find a hotel in some hicktown. I was playing with the chain around my neck (silver w/ turquoise inlay of a bear print, with two feathers coming off the chain) and suddenly, a bear ran across the road and we almost hit it. We would've DIED! I thought it was a dog at first, then maybe an elk.. it was hard to judge because it was SO VERY DARK! And I figured out it was a bear. It was our cue to stop driving and stop and ANY shoddy hotel there was!

But the Alaskan art is mostly red & black, espescially the trickster. If I find a photo, I will be sure to send it to ya!

Re: Brings back memories, certainly!

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

The bear is your totem? Artio, the Great Bear Mother, is my personal and Clan totem!

What kind of bear did you almost hit? Brown? Black? Grizzly isn't an option since they don't live in Pennsylvania....

Wow. Just wow.

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Thought you might be interested in this:

http://www.glorantha.com/library/religions/cult-trickster.html

I played a Trickster character for many years in a tabletop RPG set in this world. Greg Stafford, who wrote a lot of the original material for the world, did some amazing work.

I can also recommend "Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping With His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America" by Barry Lopez.

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!

How did your RPG character affect your psyche outside the game?

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it affected my psyche per se... but playing Bricrenn (my PC) gave me a lot of insight into Trickster and how that archetype works in me...