Tricksters and Fools

April 2022

April Fools Day kicks off spring in the high desert of Arizona with warming temperatures, irises bursting forth from the cold earth with their brilliant violet petals, new life in all its green dazzle begins to poke its head out, testing the air, spreading its wings—nature bursting out in curiosity and playfulness, bringing with it genuine joy, easy laughter and foolish delight. Then, just when I think spring is here, a storm rolls in with icy gusts and even blankets of snow. Tricked again!

Yes, nature can be a trickster—a universal symbol that is often represented in indigenous cultures in their myths, legends, and teaching stories as Coyote, Raven, Crow, Rabbit, Spider and Racoon, who are quick, smart, and use their knowledge to bend the rules and cause mischief as well as make us laugh—usually to confound the mind in a way that brings out wisdom. 

The traditional sacred clown of the Sioux of the Great Plains of North America is called “heyoka.” The heyoka is a contrarian, a jester and a satirist who speaks and moves and reacts in the opposite fashion to the people around them. In the arduous and serious Sundance ceremony, the heyoka serves as a necessary function during the intensity of fasting for several days while dancing (from sun up until sundown) around a sacred tree that symbolizes the Tree of Life. Continuous prayers are offered for the well being of ancestors and friends, both in the body and in the spirit realm, as well as prayers for the earth and for their people. Just when the exhausted and sometimes delirious dancers need a jolt of energy and inspiration during their powerful physical sacrifice, the heyoka appears with a necessary comic relief! 

I’ve gained a deep respect for this tradition, partly because my younger brother Gord has participated in the Sundance for thirty years. He was invited to dance with the Dakota Eagle Sundance Society and eventually was initiated into the Red Blanket Society—a great honor, given to him as one of only two white men across Canada. 

The archetype of the heyoka or fool can appear as a jester, clown, comedian, or a sly, cunning trickster whose innate power is more obvious, though usually hard to pin down. Humor is often the trickster’s dominant trait. The gift of laughter can inspire, create insight and release tension. Humor helps us relax, especially important when the truth hurts or shakes up our world. Usually the trickster archetype is fun, entertaining, magnetic, outgoing and serves as good company. After all, laughter is both healing and a mood enhancer. However, jesters beware—playing the trickster can also backfire. If one is not skilled or pushes too far, this kind of play can make big trouble by being too ruthless, rash, impulsive, and restless, resulting not in healing but in hurting. 

Beneath the trickster or fool is an enormous power. The Fool card in the Tarot deck depicts the jester associated with the number zero—a new beginning, a call to have faith in the face of an unknowable future, to surrender in trust, invoking beginner’s luck and a requirement to improvise and be fast on your feet. The trickster appeared in the bright, belled garb of the fool in royal palaces and village streets of medieval Europe to entertain and inform with mockery, mimicry, jokes and jests. Long before that, Egyptian pharaoh’s enjoyed being entertained by fools. Jesters played an important role; usually (but not always) a man, the jester could make a sharp point to visiting dignitaries or members of the court by acting zany and harmless—without losing his head to the guillotine! Many kings relied on wise fools as councilors and comforters and heeded their advice behind closed doors. 

Closer to home at Triveni where I live, in the Baul tradition of Bengal, the khepa or khepi is the spiritual elder, master, or wise teacher who is considered mad, madcap, foolish in the most sacred way, because he or she has gone beyond the concepts of the mind to a divine, quicksilver intelligence that pervades their action or speech, however cryptic or obscure it might appear.* 

At Triveni, we’ve had an All Fools Celebration in early April for almost forty years—an annual event started by our teacher, Lee, who saw the value in playful skits and dressing up as an invitation to embrace humility. A jovial attitude prevails as we give each other permission to be fools and to make fun of ourselves, to lose face just a little, to relax and loosen our tight squeeze on getting it right, looking good and knowing it all. Years ago I performed a skit where I was “Miss Know-It-All,” who took questions from the audience and answered everything as if I really did know all the answers to life’s queries, from the mundane to the otherworldly. It was liberating to poke fun at my own ego and my tendency to want to be right. It helped me learn that ruthless self-honesty can sometimes “go down easier” with a good dose of hilarity, and that confronting paradox can help me leap out of the rational, linear mind in order to explore myself more deeply.

For me, it’s a powerful practice to have a sense of humor about myself. When I can step into the role of the fool, laughing at my own personality quirks and my own annoying tendencies, then space opens up—both  around me and in me. Everything lightens up! And as an annual reminder to my commitment of foolery, I was married on April Fool’s Day with a minstrel friend singing “Love’s Fools” …

Honey let’s throw caution to the wind,

Let’s forget the rules.

Don’t you know you’re driving me crazy,

Let’s be love’s fools….

(Love’s Fools, by Liars, Gods & Beggars, Vuja De album. Lyrics by Lee Lozowick.)

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I invite you to join me this April to celebrate the sacred fool that resides in us all. Allow your smiles to be generous and your laughter to flow freely. Be light-hearted and playful when the situation allows.  Indulge your sense of humor, especially with yourself. Be the good company that everyone values and be a trustworthy confidant. Be silly, be wild and add a little song and dance to your day. Try on the role of jester and trickster in a fun-filled and honoring way. And above all, be a fool for love!

Jai Guru! 

Lesley Ball

* To learn more about the Bauls and their divine foolishness, click here.