Trickster as Boundary-Crosser
Weaver and Mora ( 2016) describe the trickster as a boundary crosser because he possesses an outsider’s perspective on the world and speaks to the center from the periphery. As I understand their explanation, this refers to someone who moves across and between categories, stands outside while still exerting influence, and questions what is taken for granted. An important aspect of this is that the position outside often provides a clearer perspective – when one is not fully invested in a structure, it becomes easier to perceive its limitations, contradictions, and underlying assumptions. Based on the source material, this is expressed in Loki through his shapeshifting across both gender and species, through the way he exposes cracks in systems by causing problems that reveal them, and through his verbal criticism of power and social norms.
I would argue that these are some of Loki’s most vital functions, since they emerge as recurring patterns throughout the myths. It is not simply that he breaks boundaries, but that he demonstrates that the boundaries themselves are not as stable as they appear. By moving between positions – god and giant, helper and saboteur, insider and outsider – he generates movement and change within otherwise fixed structures. In this way, his transgression of boundaries becomes not only destructive but also creative, in line with Weaver and Mora’s description of the trickster as a figure who contributes new perspectives precisely through marginality.
In my own practice and experience as a Lokean, this is reflected clearly. Even before I began working with Loki, I occupied positions as an outsider, a gender transgressor, and someone who verbally exposes social norms, among other things through stand-up comedy. However, it is only through Loki that I have been able to perceive a clearer meaning in these experiences, both the difficult and the more playful ones. He has awakened a sense of recognition in me that not only explains but also strengthens and gives direction. In the challenges I face now, I can continue to draw inspiration from that position – the strength of standing somewhat outside and, from there, seeing and articulating alternative perspectives. It is not always easy, but it provides a sense of purpose and context.
I arrived at these conclusions by relating Weaver and Mora’s concepts both to Loki’s recurring patterns in the myths and to the ways in which similar patterns emerge in my own life and practice.
Sources
Weaver, S. and Mora, R.A. (2016) ‘Introduction: Tricksters, humour and activism’, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 19(5), pp. 479–485. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877915595302..