I've been thinking recently about what
archetypes might be of service for trans* folks. What bridges our
life experiences, speaks to different stages we grow through, touches
both transsexual women and men and those of us with non-binary gender
identities? The results of my musings are hard to swallow in places,
but that seems about right. Being trans* is hard at times, too.
Traitor
Many of us begin our journey by being
accused, either overtly or subtly, of being traitors. We are called
traitors to our gender, to what it means to be a man or a woman, to
our communities, to feminism, and sometimes to our sexual
orientations. Transmen who love women are particularly vulnerable to
this last accusation.
So what is there to celebrate about
being a traitor? I look to mythology to give me a broader picture.
Prometheus, who brought fire to humanity, was no doubt called a
traitor. When Inanna kept the me
(divine powers) that Enki gave her while intoxicated, or when Isis
forced Ra to giver her his secret name, betraying the trust those
gods had in them, they acted as traitors. To be a traitor is to
betray something or someone. In these myths, we see that to be a
traitor is to be a revolutionary, to overthrow or threaten the
current power structure.
To embody the
archetype of the Traitor as a trans* person means to question whose
power we are being asked to uphold. It means to acknowledge that,
YES, actually, in many ways we are betraying the gender binary. It
means to be a wedge, a hammer, creating cracks through which others
might see that they are walled in. It means giving others space to
question what they support and why. It means doing all of that from a
place of deep integrity with the intent of doing good.
Trickster
A lot of us hear
"trickster" as well. Gender tricksters are not what we
seem. What's under our clothes and especially what is in our pants is
a surprise. We are fakers somehow, illusionists intent on messing
people up. The voices that call us tricksters most loudly are those
that are outraged.
Many mythological
tricksters do not blindly cause mayhem. They have specific targets.
The fey who whisk away greedy mortals for a night of dancing that
turns out to be a century in the human world are tricksters. Rabbit
feigning fear of Coyote to lure him into defeat is a trickster.
Hermes trading his lyre to Apollo in return for the cattle Hermes had
stolen and a share of Apollo's power is a trickster. Odysseus
claiming to be Nobody to the Cyclops is a trickster. Tricksters take
on the arrogant, the power hungry, those who are too certain of
themselves and what they deserve from the world.
To be a trans*
Trickster is to acknowledge that we unmoor gender from its fixed
point. We are a sign that sex and gender don't always align, or even
conform to binary categories. We are not fooling anyone about who we
are, though. Rather, people are fooling themselves. We are (or at
least, I am) not trying to pass as something other than what we are.
We are just living our truths. Our targets create themselves. How
people choose to read us is up to them. Their outrage is the result
of finding out that their assumptions were wrong. It is on them, not
us, to come to terms with this newly revealed world.
Shapechanger
Many of us
literally change our shapes, making additions or subtractions to the
upstairs and downstairs, as it were. We take hormones to harden or
soften our lines. Others of us use more temporary means: binders,
carefully glued hair, the cut of our clothes, soft or hard packs,
make-up, and body language to pull people's perceptions one way or
the other.
Shapechangers
abound in mythology. Loki, who brings the end, appears as both male
and female. A number of mortals, male and female alike, have their
shape changed in Greek mythology as punishment, to escape an
untenable situation, or as a sign of respect for their life.
Cerridwen changes shape in the pursuit of Talisman and in the end
consumes him and rebirths him with many gifts.
Changing shapes
signifies an end to one thing and a beginning to another. It is a new
life. Shapechangers also bring to the forefront of our awareness the
connectedness between human beings and animals and plants.
Embodying
the Shapechanger archetype as trans* person means holding space for
all people to change. It means recognizing the subtler shifts in
gender expression in
ourselves and others. It means giving people space (physical,
emotional, psychic) to not be something anymore and instead to be
something new.
Outsider
There
are, in straight up numbers, not very many of us. Statistics suggest
3% of the population is trans. In queer communities, which are
generally more welcoming than straight ones, we are still on the
outside. As one person put it, we are the Gl(b)t
community. If we are
recognized as trans*, many doors are shut to us.
Pagans, too, are
outsiders. We have been the old woman at the edge of the village, the
medicine man who goes into the forest, the monk on the mountain top.
We pagans know the power of crossroads, of being outside the normal
stream of things. Many circle castings include some variation of the
words, "In a space outside space and a time outside time."
Trans* Outsiders
consider the unique gifts we have to offer our communities. We take
the time to see patterns invisible from the inside and call attention
to them. We tap the medicines and knowledge from the wild places
accessible to us through our unique positions. We gather together to
share and celebrate. We are deeply rooted in our sense of Mystery.
These archetypes
will not resonate for everyone. They were drawn from my personal
experience as a genderqueer pagan and from conversations with others
in the pagan and trans* communities. In grand pagan tradition, please
disregard what doesn't work for you. Or, better, figure out what does
work for you and share it. The more options trans* pagans have to
draw from, the better!
What archetypes
resonate for you? Share in the comments.
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