Totems: Coyote, Part 2

Wile E. (wily) Coyote a.k.a. Don Coyote (Quixote)was a Looney Tunes character created in 1949, based on Mark Twain’s book, RoughingIt. Twain described coyote as “along, slim, sick, and sorry-looking skeleton that is a living, breathing allegory of want.” Wile E. makes elaborate ruses and traps to capture andeat Roadrunner, the other character, but he never succeeds. Instead, his plans always backfire, often comically. We have to remember that the good news about coyote is that he/she brings fun and playfulness, even though there’s always a twist. Coyote would often create “Rube Goldberg” complexities when something simple would have achieved the same result. Oh well, large intellects have tobe challenged, I guess.

It’s no wonder that coyote is the primary totem energy of the South. South is the direction of love, play, humor and growth -rapid growth. That takes trust, because sometimes we just have to take hold of coyote’s fur and try to hold on for the ride through the brambles, laughing all the way. Weeelll, maybe not all theway. Coyote’s prime directive is to make us grow inwardly, especially in the area of love and relationships. Often, he’ll trick your heart open after lost love, past disappointments, or betrayal, so that you can love again. But it’s never with the one you thought it’d be with. Coyote can make you fall in love with someone completely different from the type you thought you wanted, but that you’re attracted to nonetheless.

Are you in a relationship with a person whose power animal is coyote? Not for long, you might say, and yet, if you are each others’ “person,” he or she may be devoted to you for the long haul. Attraction is meant to lead us to real love. You’ve heard the expression, “Be careful what you ask for?” Yeah, coyote is a master at giving you what you were begging for,getting you right in the middle of it, and watching what happens next. So, you wanted to be in a relationship? Yes, all well and good, but once you’re openand vulnerable, you then experience the flip side of being closed and guarded.Yes, the South is truly Coyote Town. Here, mastery is learning how you can be open, but protective of your sovereignty; generous, but not a doormat; trusting, but not gullible; and self-nurturing as well as able to nurture others. The power of love is the Masters course by which coyote educates us. If you are the one with a coyote totem, try to resist using your cleverness to get your own way. You have a way with words, and may be a fast talker. When something needs to be worked out,try to understand your significant other’s point of view, instead of acting sullen and distant. Use your prodigious ability with words, and sharp mind to transform and transmute your situation. Otherwise, the trickster becomes the fool.

What does a trickster do? First ofall, Coyote the Trickster shows us ourselves, in both our greatness and foolishness. We see the repercussions of our actions, our relationship with nature – and let’s be honest – coyote graphically depicts our negative,self-destructive, ego selves. Sometimes he does this in a pushy in-your-faceway, especially when our spiritual mirror is showing things we would most like to avoid. Life will always push us toward our purpose, and coyote is the ideal emissary for life’s unfoldment. Old Man Coyote a.k.a. Loki, may be the perfect allegory for the ego which thrives on likes and dislikes, attachment and aversion, and always on fear. So how does someone with coyote as a power animal handle this most unique Medicine? Very precisely! The thing is, if you don’t know what you want, coyote will be happy to give you what you don’t want, so that you may more specifically hone your desire.

You’ll hardly ever hear someone announce proudly that they have coyote medicine, as opposed to, say eagle or wolf. That’s because coyote people are apt to upset everyone’s apple carts. Negotiating theins and outs, and round abouts of coyote medicine while researching and writing this article was very much what I like to call, “dancing with the dog.” What’s that like? Well, foremost, never judge (or even have a strong opinion) about anything or anybody, or it will rebound, either immediately or when you least expect it. Then, there are the little things – like something being in the very last place you look for it, after you’ve given up all hope of finding it; delays and misunderstandings in communication, like Mercury retrograde on steroids! If you have expectations, coyote will do you the favor of crushing those illusions, and then look for a tip from you besides.

Have lifelong fear and trepidation over something? Coyote, the Master of Ceremonies will be happy to place it in your path so you have to deal with it and transmute the fear. Do you fear responsibility? Maybe you’ll end up raising children or owning a house or business. Want to control every aspect of your life so you feel safe? Coyote may just bring you an opportunity or relationship that is so “uncontrollable” but desirable, that you’ll overcome your fear enough to “jump.” Are you a creature of habit or routine? Coyote will happily strew a little chaos in your path to increase your flexibility. If you take yourself too seriously, coyote will show you the irony in your life. Even if tempted, don’t use short cuts when you are in coyote energy. Using your position to impress or exert power over others? As Shakespeare’s Hamlet so eloquently expressed, coyote might just ‘hoist you on your own petard,’ meaning your own bomb may just blow you up with it.

Now that we know what a trickster does, who is he/she? It takes a creator to be a trickster and vice-versa. The only thing that can be said with perfect accuracy is that trickster energy is the combination of opposites: scoundrel and benefactor both. Coyote was involved with creating right from the start. In some myths, he created the earth, humans, and brought fire to the people. Well, even coyote wants companions on the journey, but we must be peers. That means this earth school is all about learning to create what we want, not what we don’t want. “Just what is your predominant vibration? ”Coyote asks us, because that is what we are creating over and over in different scenarios. That’s when affirmations get real, because it’s not the affirmation itself that creates or changes your circumstances. It’s what it does to change the vibration beneath it.

 There is always a greater purpose,even when things seem not to be working out. There’s an old Taoist story that keeps repeating, “Good news, bad news; who can tell? In the flow of life’s circumstances, what initially feels like the worst thing that can happen, may turn out to be the greatest gift. Even suffering is meant to lead us out of the morass we’re in, to a remedy or at least a space of peace. Sometimes, the resourcefulness and acute discernment one develops as a result of these little “growth opportunities” prepares us for a bigger dream than we’ve been dreaming. If one can meet whatever is happening with equanimity, one can be happy. That kind of confidence comes from deciding to trust the process of life.

Because of all the self-responsibility so many lightworkers have achieved, the severity of the catastrophes on the earth plane that could be taking place have been somewhat averted. (Yes, even though there are still plenty happening.) Instead of some of the purging and cleansing being expressed in Earth, they’re being expressed within us. Each of us is being faced with all our karmic loose ends – that is,any character traits that have left us with unresolved or fearful patterns.Things are so severe because, let’s face it, would less extreme circumstances force us to change? People don’t usuallychange unless our worlds are falling apart, or the consequences of not changing are worse than the trauma of changing.

So Cie, how is this good news you may well ask? If you’re on the planet right now, you’ve signed up for it. As incredible as it may seem, we’ve been waiting for this moment for aeons. We’ve all been atthis juncture before, and we’re here to assure that this time, each person comes into alignment with our true selves. All actions proceeding from that will care for all the other organisms with whom we share this garden planet. It takes each person, one by one, transforming ourselves into the creators we were always meant to be in order to save our planet and ourselves. A comparatively small number of lightworkers can create a momentum that shifts a lot of things on the planet. We are each a lotus flower: roots in the mud, our flowering pure and unspoiled, affecting countless others.

Take heart, dear ones and bond with you rneighbor. Care about everything, large to small: the everyday choices of where to place your feet so as not to carelessly kill other creatures, all the way to where and how you spend your money, how you respond to others’ needs, and above all, how much love you express every day. Coyote can’t trick someone real-eyes’d!

For Healing for you or your animal, Training, or Totems for Stewards of the Earth ($22 to PO 295,Shelburne Falls MA 01370), call 413 625-0385 or email: cie@ciesimurro.com