Medicine Cards: Fox

Fox: Camouflage

Wiley Fox has many allies in the woodlands, including the foliage, which offers protection and much medicine. Fox is seemingly able to vanish amidst the lush undergrowth of the forest. This flora is Fox’s ally. The ability to meld into one’s surroundings and be unnoticed is a powerful gift when one is observing the activities of others.

Another natural gift of Fox is the ability to adapt to winter by changing color, like the chameleon. Its rich, white, winter coat allows Fox to blend into the snow when the leaves no longer linger. Fox medicine involves adaptability, cunning, observation, integration, and swiftness of thought and action. These traits may also include quick decisiveness, and sure-footedness in the physical world.

Fox’s ability to be unseen allows it to be the protector of the family unit. If danger arises, Fox is johnny-on-the- spot. Nanih Waiya, Great Spirit in the Choctaw tongue, honors Fox with the duty of keeping the family together and safe. This is accomplished through Fox’s ability to observe undetected, without making others self-conscious. Fox is always concerned with the safety of family members and is an excellent talisman for those traveling far afield.

If Fox has chosen to share its medicine with you, it is a sign that you are to become like the wind, which is unseen yet is able to weave into and through any location or situation. You would be wise to observe the acts of others rather that their words at this time. Use your cunning nature in a positive way; keep silent about who and what and why you are observing. In learning the art of camouflage, you need to test your ability to pull this off.

One test of exercise that may be helpful to you is deciding to be invisible. In doing this exercise, you might try to visualize your body as part of your surroundings, full of the colors of the location you are in. See yourself in your mind’s eye, moving with stealth and grace, unheeded by others. If you do it right, it works! You can leave a party unnoticed or become as unobtrusive as a piece of furniture, watching the developing drama of the subjects you are studying.

While learning from Fox, you might also gain confidence in your ability to know instantly what will happen next. After observing for a while, you will become aware of a certain predictability in given situations and be able to quickly make your move. Fox medicine teaches the art of Oneness through its understanding of camouflage. This applies on all levels, from rocks to God. With Fox medicine, you are being asked to see all types of uses for Oneness.

Much like the clowns at the rodeo, Fox can keep the raging bull from stampeding a friend or family member. Fox can use silly tactics as a brilliant camouflage move. No one could guess the sly power behind such ingenious maneuvers.

Contrary
Watch out for wiley Fox if this card has appeared reversed! Someone may be watching you, and trying to figure out your next move. If you look deeper, however, it may be that you are watching yourself to prove to yourself that you exist. If you have a “wallflower” to the point of disappearing, you may need to decide that you are worth noticing.

Contrary Fox is as foolish as it is cunning, and you may have fooled yourself into believed that your low self-esteem is due to your being born plain or having an ordinary life. This is camouflage of a different sort, in that you have camouflaged your true desire to experience life with friends, with you, and with purpose. In any case, you are put on notice to be aware of apathy and self-induced boredom. You may have to dig deeply to find what excites you enough to scurry across the wasteland of your dulled senses and live.

Contrary Fox may also be telling you that you have become too visible. In climbing to a place of recognition, oftentimes the envy or jealousness of others is thrown in your face. If you are feeling attacked, withdraw. It may be time to assume the attitude of the hermit and deck yourself in the cloak of invisibility.

To right contrary Fox in this situation, call on Armadillo and name your boundaries. Then call on the family’s protector to show you the art of camouflage. Once out of the line of attack, you can resume the role of being your “foxy” self.

Become Fox and feel the joy of knowing the playground of your life. You may just find the chicken coop full of intriguing morsels of delight.

Overview
Fox is associated with cunning, primarily because f its ability to observe the movements of others without being seen. As a power animal, Fox stresses the power of adaptability and integration coupled with the quality of quick-thinking and decisiveness when the time is ripe.

Power animals always express the positive aspects of the characteristics they share with their physical counterparts, and Fox is not exception. Fox as a power animal teaches not the cunning of deceitfulness, but kenning of discretion; not the wilyness of being sly, but the willingness of being unobtrusive. It also stresses the importance of waiting patiently for the appropriate opportunity to make your move.

It is possible that your principal problems derive from your desire to prove yourself, and to make your presence felt. If you are feeling threatened, or the victim of controversy and criticism, or envy and jealousy, you are in need of Fox’s help in becoming less noticeable and in achieving your aims unheeded and unimpeded by others. Camouflage and be less noticeable.

Blend in. Avoid being the center of attention. Become protective when needed.

Source: Sams, Jamie and Carson, David. Medicine Cards (Santa Fe: Bear and Company, 1988).