6 Trickster Deities
What is a Trickster?
A trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, human, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior.
Here are six trickster deities throughout different cultures.
Kokopelli
- Carved on rock walls throughout Southwestern US
- Fertility figure
- Depicted humpbacked with flute
- Trader, storyteller, healer, teacher and magician
- Associated with childbirth and agriculture
- Depicted with an inhumanly large phallus ?
Anansi
- Small figure from West Africa
- Often depicted as a spider
- Can shape shift into human form at will
- God of all knowledge of stories
Heyoka
- From Lakota culture of the Great Plains
- Sacred clown, jester, satirist
- Uses inversion and reversal as elements of satire
- Laughter is the ultimate lesson
- Tricks others into enlightened states of understanding
Loki
- Norse trickster god
- Shape shifter – has appeared as a raven, salmon, horse, fly, and old woman
- Mischievous – adds confusion and chaos to situations
- Invented technology and gave it to humans, such as the fishing net
Alux
- Means “little people” in Mayan
- Stand about knee-high
- Associated with forests, caves, stones, and fields
- Described as tiny gnomes who help with crops
- Farmers leave out gifts as a sign of gratitude
- If they do not leave out offerings, they hear laughter, tools disappear, crops are attacked
Reynard the Fox
- From medieval Europe
- A peasant-hero
- Sly as a fox
- Smashes the aristocracy
- Satire aimed at the clergy
See more in Stalking the Tricksters by Chris O’Brien. Also available in ebook and DVD.
