There are thousands of myths and stories about Coyote, the great
trickster. Many native cultures call Coyote the "Medicine Dog." If you
have Coyote in your life, you can be sure that some kind of medicine is on
its way--- and it may or may not be to your liking. Whatever the
medicine is, good or bad, you can be sure it will make you laugh, maybe
even painfully. you can also be sure that Coyote will teach you a lesson
about yourself.
Coyote has many magical powers, but they do not always work in his
favor. His own trickery fools him. He is the master trickster who tricks
himself. No one is more astonished than Coyote at the outcome of his own
tricks. He falls into his own trap. And yet he somehow manages to
survive. He may be banged and bruised by the experience, but he soon
goes on his way to ever *greater error*, forgetting to learn from his
mistakes. He may have lost the battle, but he is never beaten.
Coyote is sacred. In the folly of his acts we see our own foolishness.
As Coyote moves from one disaster to the next, he refines the art of
self-sabotage to sheer perfection. No one can blindly do themselves or
others in with more grace and ease than this holy trickster. Coyote
takes himself so seriously at times that he cannot see the obvious; for
example, the steamroller that is about to run over him. That is why,
when it hits him, he still cannot believe it. "Was that really a
steamroller? I better go look," he says. And he is run over once more.
Contained within trickster medicine is the humor of the ages. The cosmic
joke is not just on ourselves but on everyone else, if they are
following Coyote or have strong Coyote medicne. Someone like this may be
able to convince others that a skunk smells like roses, but the fact
remains that it is still a skunk.
Snooze time is over if you have the Coyote in your life. Watch out!
Your glass house may crash to the ground at any moment. All your
self-mirrors may shatter. The divine trickster is dogging you, and you
may trip. Coyote scratches under his arm. He does a crazy dance. He
catches his tail on fire playing with matches. He jumps in the fishpond
to save himself and nearly drowns. Coyote seduces a concrete statue.
Coyote thinks he has found a bone, but it is a rattlesnake. Everyone
watches the comedic scene. Coyote is you, me, booby traps, jet airplanes
with toilets that don't work, blind dates, and all the humorous and
whimsical things we encounter along life's way. Get ready for more of
the laughs--- lots more.
Go immediately beneath the surface of your experiences. Ask yourself
what you are really doing and why. Is Coyote your medicine? Are you
playing jokes on yourself? Are you trying to fool an adversary? Is
someone tricking you? Do you want to give the office "geek" the phone
number of the beautiful new secretary? Or do you want to pull a boner on
your best friend? When was the last time you did something just because
it was crazy and fun?
On the other hand, you may not be conscious of your own pathway of
foolishness. You may have conned yourself, your family, your friends, or
even the public at large into believing that you know what you are
doing. But listen, Coyote. You are balled up in your own machinations.
You have created a befuddling, bewildering, confounding *trick*. Pick up
the juggler eyes from the ground and put them back in their sockets. See
through the genius of your acts of self-sabotage. Find it amusing and
laugh, trickster, laugh.
If you can't laugh at yourself, and your crazy antics, you have lost the
game. Coyote always comes calling when things get too serious. The
medicine is in laughter and joking so that new viewpoints may be
assumed.
If you have Coyote medicine, you may use it make stuffy old fogies
lighten up, to add cheer to a party, or to break a "death-grip
conversation" with ease. Look at the postive side of sabotaging nosey
questions about your personal life. Have *fun* telling some gossiper
that you just returned from St. Tropez in your new Lear Jet!
CONTRARY:
If Coyote appears in the reversed position, you can be assured that he
is going to be contrary and a pain in your side. Look around yourself
and watch which direction he is coming from. If Coyote is approaching
you from the outside, beware of this master of illusion. Coyote may put
you in his spell and take you to a briar patch to pick berries. It will
be a painful lesson for you if you follow him. Coyote reversed can
appear in your life as a supposed all-knowing teacher, a scam artist, a
get-rich-quick business planner, a rare coin door-to-door salesman, a
femme fatale, a movie producer, a television evangelist, a swamp-land
realtor, a politician, or anybody who wants you to follow their lead.
Coyote is not the recommended business partner or lover.
Contrary Coyote may signal a time when everything you touch backfires.
All your jokes may be exploding in your face. In this reversed position,
Coyote also signals a time to be aware of the intentions of others, and
to look for the boomerang *you* threw at another person coming back to
knock you from behind. Someone else's trick may be on you, or there
could be deception in the wind. Whatever Coyote reversed has conjured
up, it could be coming from any direction. Remember, this joker is
always wild!
