Send in the Clowns

An Archetypal Takeover

I never imagined that in my lifetime, I would witness the projection of righteous hate like what we have seen during our most recent election cycle. Orange Man Bad. I watched as so many became incapable of meaningful discussion or debate. It bade me to ask, “If everything is sacred, how can we hold the unfolding perceived darkness in a holy light?” Is hate part of any sacred Medicine?

In a recent conversation with a trusted friend, he asked me with genuine interest how I felt about Donald J. Trump. I have felt repulsed by him and his clown act. After Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. suspended his campaign and joined Trump’s, I wondered how Kennedy reconciled that difficult decision within himself. I watched him laugh at Trump’s antics, and Tulsi and Musk followed suit. I heard podcast interviewers describing Trump as “funny” and “comedic.” In that recent conversation and without even thinking, I found myself describing Trump as a kind of “sacred clown.” Because, isn’t everything sacred? That thought shifted my perception and a veil lifted. I remembered the Koshare clowns of the Pueblo Indians, who I had met and experienced in a Taos Pueblo ceremony. Koshare is a trickster, Heyoka (Heyókȟa), jester, contrarian, satirist, and fool. And who does that remind you of? Could we be experiencing an archetypal takeover?

Lakota tradition describes a Heyoka as a spiritual warrior, shaman, and sacred clown believed to be chosen before birth by the Wakinyan, the Thunder Beings. The Return of the Thunder Beings opens the Lakota ceremonial season. Their return brings lightening, thunder, and cleansing rains. They can destroy and also renew. Heyokas are contrarians, known to act in opposition to the people around them and to have the freedom to express themselves in any way they want.

In Pueblo tradition, Koshare is a sacred clown in the Kachina religion practiced by Pueblo natives in the desert Southwest. A tribal member takes on the role because it calls to them. In performing their social commentary, their identity is concealed beneath white face paint, horizontal black and white striped body paint, a long-neck gourd worn over the penis, and corn husks sprouting like horns from a skull cap. The latter calls to mind Trump’s pumped-up, Cheeto corn-colored hair (did you know Cheetos are made from corn?!)

Koshare, acrylic on canvas by Tom Perkinson - American, b. 1940

The clown’s power means that The People revere and fear him. In the Pueblo hierarchy, he is highly admired and valued. Native Americans have experienced many instances of Europeans persecuting their revered clowns. Rituals involving them are protected for that reason. Tribal members generally do not talk about them. They remain a mystery to anthropologists who have considered what all clowns serve in society to better understand Koshare.

Koshares ask difficult questions and say things others are too afraid to say. Using extreme behaviors to depict unacceptable actions serves as a mirror, forcing us to examine our doubts, fears, weaknesses, and hatreds. Koshare represents what is in the collective shadow that disgusts us. If you are in the presence of a Koshare, he is probably making a lot of noise.

My husband Chuck and I attended a ritual ceremony where Koshares performed for San Geronimo Feast Day in Taos, New Mexico. During that ceremony, we learned that no one is safe from being ridiculed or included in their Vaudevillian-like antics. San Geronimo Feast Day occurs annually on September 30^th and is a significant event for the Taos Pueblo community, whose multi-storied adobe buildings have been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years. Chuck and I felt honored in 2009 to be invited by singer-songwriter Jenny Bird to this sacred celebration. There, we entered into the warm glow of a dimly gas bulb-lit, earthen-walled pueblo home, where we met with locals, including musician Robert Mirabal and also with former New Mexico Congressman Bill Richardson. We sat around a kiva fireplace burning with the sweet smell of piñon pine as Richardson requested prayers from the medicine man for our leaders in Washington. We felt deeply moved as the medicine man burned sage and waved an eagle feather fan, praying that our leaders be guided in making good decisions for the people.

Robert Mirabal - Medicine Man (Taos, New Mexico)

Rooted in the ritual life of the Taos Pueblo, San Geronimo Feast Day is a cultural and spiritual gift to the world. The Koshare clowns prepare and train for an entire year to enact the intense and physically demanding ritual that ensures the continuance of the tribe. While visitors are welcome to come and share the day of family, friends, and feast, little has been written or shared about this event that strictly forbids the use of any and all forms of recording devices. The Koshares won’t hesitate to smash your expensive cell phone or Nikon camera, or throw them and you in the river. Questioning community members about the significance of the dances and ceremony is discouraged; thus, little is known about the ritual life of the Koshare clowns.

The Clown/Jester archetype of Koshare may be helpful on our transformational journey of self-discovery, empowerment, and cultural exploration. Jungian archetypes refer to a pattern of thought or image present in the collective unconscious that organizes, directs, and informs human thought and behavior. They form a common foundation for human experience where each individual builds their own experiences on top of this foundation influenced by their unique culture, personality, and life events. Many images, symbols, and behaviors arise in consciousness, while the underlying archetypes may not be directly perceived. When an event like our recent election cycle activates the archetypes, it can lead to a takeover of ego identity. Once identified, the ego will fight to the death, hence the potential danger of identity politics. So if the Clown archetype as an expression of the Trickster is being projected onto Trump, what is being projected onto Harris?

The specific way an archetype is expressed depends on the circumstances that activated it. According to Carl Jung, they live in a “world outside of time” and are detectable through synchronicities. One synchronicity lies in the escalation of the shadow archetype, The Devouring Mother, which is seen as literal and symbolic for the state.  Kamala Harris emerges as the Devouring Mother. The two pathways available to the child of The Devouring Mother are to rebel or acquiesce. She pits her acquiescent children against the rebellious ones. Understanding these gives us a tool for identifying our patterns of psychological relationship with her.

The Devouring Mother works to keep us sick and dependent. In the form of the state, she promises safety through social programs and government handouts if we acquiesce. In his book, The Devouring Mother: The Collective Unconscious in the Time of Corona, Simon Sheridan makes the case that this has been the dominant archetype in the West for decades. She is a shadow form whose primary qualities include co-dependency, gaslighting, emotional manipulation, and guilt-tripping, all in the name of protecting her children. But she only pretends to protect her children. The Devouring Mother achieves her goal of dependency by gaslighting the child into thinking it is sick. Harris was primarily backed by the military and medical-industrial complex reinforced by captured media. Kennedy wanted to Make America Healthy Again. He would not be allowed to debate. The lack of meaningful dialog and discussion is symptomatic of an archetypal takeover. Anyone pointing out the inconvenient truths would be censored and silenced. Because the truth doesn’t matter when an archetype has taken over.

The Devouring Mother has been ascendant in the West for several decades. We see her in the metastatic bloat of the modern medical industry, especially in the United States where The Devouring Mother will happily bankrupt you for a simple trip to the hospital. – Simon Sheridan

The attachment to the mother in the form of the state is exemplified in children who acquiesce. They base their politics around establishing the good and bad guys where there are no shades of grey but only absolutes, including the assurance of one’s own self-righteousness. They are invested in victimology, defining others and themselves as victims while playing the game of identifying and propping up victims. This can be seen in the Biden/Harris adminstration’s handling of the southern U.S. border. Victimhood absolves one from responsibility. The darkest powers in the world have known this power to bend people to their will and create a world defined by oppressors and victims. Every psychologist knows that the victim can very quickly become the persecutor.

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t –Irish Proverb

Trump’s shadow archetype stood in full view while Harris’ remained dangerously hidden in the collective unconscious. When Harris lost the election, it was as if The Mother had died. We are programmed to fear death, and change brought the death of some part of us. Grieving acquiescent children threw tantrums. Some who I know personally collapsed, becoming emotionally and physically ill. They had lost the protection of the surrogate mother, the state. Needing her protection is further evidence that the archetype is at work. Acquiescent children become part of the co-dependent relationship with the mother. Co-dependency says, “I will blame and shame you for not doing what I want you to do.” The acquiescent child finds themselves projecting their shadow and needs for safety onto the world. Still, The Devouring Mother ensures these are projected not at her where they belong but against the rebellious children. She is happy to play her children off against each other. It keeps us distracted from the real issues at hand.

According to Jung, archetypes begin to function during mass movements. He called the confrontation with one’s shadow, in the act of individuating, the “apprentice-piece.” How synchronistic that Trump appeared in a reality television program called The Apprentice.

When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus. – Turkish proverb

It's mind-blowing to witness what we have become and are becoming, along with the projection of righteous hate from which none are exempt. We need to stay open-minded enough to shed light on the darkness. If not, we live in darkness and set ourselves up for a fall. We need to learn how to own our projections and face our shadow. Trump serves this, if nothing else, like the sacred clown Koshares of the Pueblo Indians, who have also been persecuted due to the shadowy sides of ourselves they challenge us to see. We may have narrowly escaped an archetypal takeover by The Devouring Mother. Still, Hopi prophesy says that climbing out of the Fourth World of Separation into the Fifth World of Illumination is never easy. Our time has come to individuate from The Devouring Mother and not be fooled by The Clown. The archetypes are assigned to guide the individuation process towards self-realization. One perspective says, "Orange-man-bad." Another says, "Clown-man-sacred." The Return of the Thunder Beings may bring a much-needed cleansing of our world. One day, looking back, it may all make sense. But we are not going back…

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Land of Skin and Sorrow

from Legends Of Rainmaker – Eliza Gilkyson

In the land of skin and sorrow
Lies a heart as pure as gold
Who is waiting for the last ones
To come back into the fold

Some will wander in today
Some hold back until tomorrow
But the door will soon be closing
In the land of skin and sorrow

Climbing out is never easy
On this ladder, rung by rung
Swinging wildly in the breezes
Souls emerging, one by one

As it was in the beginning
It shall be again tomorrow
While the lamp of love still burns here
In the land of skin and sorrow

Beasts of burden (beasts of burden)
Beasts of prey (beasts of prey)
Will lay down (will lay down)
Their coats of clay
We must return all that we borrowed
From the land of skin and sorrow