by R. Lee

Terry McCombs was the host of the "God/dess of the Month Club" on soc.religion.paganism, but he also served as a curator of ideas — sometimes sharing articles that resonated with the community's themes. This August 2007 post reprinted an essay by R. Lee from UFO Digest, exploring a striking proposition: that the Virgin Mary, in her apparitional form, behaves exactly like a Trickster deity.

The argument runs as follows. Marian apparitions — Guadalupe, Lourdes, Međugorje, Fátima, and the pop-culture parade of Mary-on-tortillas and Mary-on-window-panes — share the classic Trickster profile. They appear outside official church sanction, often despite active suppression. They carry messages that contradict or embarrass the hierarchy. They occur in contexts overlapping with UFO and paranormal phenomena. They invite mockery and debate in equal measure. And the Virgin of Guadalupe herself emerged directly from the sacred hill of Tonantzin, the Aztec corn goddess — a divine continuity that the church never fully absorbed.

The essay is a document of early-2000s alternative spirituality: a moment when UFOlogy, Marian devotion, feminist theology, and comparative mythology were all circulating in the same online communities. McCombs appended a pointer to his Trickster page; preserved here as part of the soc.religion.paganism archive.

An American professor is describing his atheism to a Mexican woman who is attempting to understand his faith. Suddenly there is a gleam of understanding in the eyes of the señora.

"We know that you do not believe in Jesus," she said with a look of sympathy, "but surely you must believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe!"

— Virgin of Guadalupe: Goddess of the Americas, Patrice Wynne

There aren't many female aspects of the Trickster. But I wonder if Marian apparitions can't be considered a female version of Trickster manifestation.

If we accept that Marian apparitions are a paranormal and anomalous (not strictly religious) phenomenon, and often occur within the context of UFO phenomena, and that the Trickster is an innate part of paranormal and UFO phenomena — then it isn't too outlandish to consider the symbol of the "Virgin" Mary as a Trickster.

Demetria Martinez, in a short piece on her relation to the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, considers Mary a "sacred Trickster": Guadalupe, that sacred trickster who, faithful to her Aztec predecessor, appeared on the hill where Tonantzin, the corn goddess, was worshipped by Nahuatl-speaking people.

I've often been struck by the irony of the Catholic Church cracking down on both those church members who believe appearances of Mary are part of their religious experience, and on the Marian apparitional phenomena itself. There is an entire political agenda present in the church's stance on maintaining power, in contrast to the appearances of a deity that seems — whether intentionally or as a byproduct — to mock the church's position. In this way, these apparitions of Mary could be seen as a manifestation of Trickster.

Trickster Characteristics

She shares other characteristics with Trickster:

• She appears outside of, and regardless of, the church's official, authoritarian position.
• She appears within the context of paranormal, supernatural, and UFOlogical phenomena.
• Her messages are often contrary to what is currently presented by the church.
• She continues to appear, despite the efforts of authority to quench those appearances.
• The phenomena invites debate, stirs up trouble, and creates divisions among Catholics, the religious, the spiritual, and the non-religious alike.

Marian apparitions are accompanied by paranormal phenomena: rosaries turning gold or silver, aerial phenomena, dramatic weather events, the strong scent of roses. These can be compared to various "stunts" performed in UFO and anomalous contexts — and the Trickster signature runs through all of them.

Trickster Symbolism

Even the symbolism of Mary herself, often thought of as only a Catholic icon, is Trickster-like.

Mary was not a "virgin" in the strict sense in Jewish and other traditions; Mary, a Jew, was mother to Jesus Christ, another Jew. Her pregnancy is a mystery, occurring because of a "visitation" of an angel. If these events were placed in a UFO, alien, or paranormal context, the presence of the Trickster would be apparent.

The Trickster is a joker. From the spiritual aspects of Marian apparitions — Guadalupe, Međugorje, Lourdes — to the pop-culture, circus-like appearances of the Blessed Mother on window panes, trees, and tortillas, we see the extremes and contradictions of Trickster. From the divine (appearing on holy sites) to the ridiculous (appearing on bread, tortillas, and oily window panes), the Trickster holds up the image of Mary to all of the folk, while thumbing its nose at the approval of the church as well as society.

Mary as Political Icon

The Virgin of Guadalupe is a political symbol, not just a religious icon. Her image appears on t-shirts, candles, and all kinds of mundane objects. People put her image on their cars. Keys hang from plastic-encased images of the Virgin of Guadalupe; her image is stuck to the front of refrigerators. Other Marys appear in these ways as well.

Even non-Catholics have taken on her iconography to represent an oppositional stance toward the institutionalization of spirituality.

In these ways, we can look at Marian apparitions as an aspect of the Trickster, and consider the symbol of Mary in all her manifestations — from Guadalupe to the tortilla — as both a feminine and divine side to the Trickster.

— R. Lee, UFO Digest

Colophon

Written by R. Lee for UFO Digest; shared by Terry McCombs to soc.religion.paganism in August 2007, accompanied by a note pointing to his Trickster page. Original Message-ID: [email protected].

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲