Celtic Spirit Animal: The Red Fox

The world over, the fox is admired for its cunning, beauty, and adaptability and feared for its bloodthirst, thievery, and rejection of traditional ethos. It captures the imagination wherever it’s found, making its way into folklore and story in the plains of America, the forests of England, or the deserts of the Middle East. The fox is, above all, a trickster and survivor, and its thriving even in the face of urban development testifies to the truth of its image.

But the fox is much more than that. The fox is a peasant hero, a symbol of the ordinary working man under the heel of a more powerful and ambitious foe who must use their wits and guile to defeat them.

It is an icon of Machiavellianism, a hero of the downtrodden and those that work in the shadows and margins of law and society, geniuses and rebels who dare to challenge the norm, and those that thrive on chaos and change. Its popularity attests to its potency, but the ambivalent stories also shed light on another disturbing aspect of this chthonic chaostician: its penchant for violence and destruction.  While ultimately the fox is an agent of balance, it often comes at a heavy and unexpected price.

Below, I will describe the fox’s natural and mythical lore, outline his elemental associations with wind and earth, and explain his key symbols. This information will allow a Celtic pagan to readily tailor his practice for this trickster.

Nature Lore

Appearance: The red fox is smaller and lighter than most dog breeds and sports a long, bushy tail and pointed ears. Estimates of its size widely vary depending on its circumstances. Adult males can measure in as long as 1.5m and weigh as much as 15kg. They can also be as small as 85cm long and 2.7kg. Females are 15-20% smaller.

The red fox gets its name from its distinctive red fur, which can also be black, silver, or white. Their fur ranges from long and thick to short and thin, depending on the climate.

Interesting fact: red fox ears can rotate independently, allowing them to precisely locate the source of a sound. They can pick up sounds as quiet as a mouse running in the grass from over 100m away and hear earthworms moving underground.

Habitat: Red foxes are incredibly adaptable animals found in various habitats throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. They can thrive in forests, grasslands, deserts, and urban areas. Most cities throughout their native range support large red fox populations. Foxes prefer habitats with a mix of open areas for hunting and cover for shelter.

Diet: The red foxes’ diet consists of small mammals, such as rodents, rabbits, birds, insects, fruits, and vegetables. They are opportunistic hunters and will scavenge for food as well. Teenage foxes often survive off of fruits and tubers when first leaving their parent’s territory due to the ease of catching it. Adults will also rely on foraging for berries and roots exclusively during some months of the year.

Behavior: Red foxes are primarily solitary animals, except during mating season. In some cases, however, a vixen’s female cubs will stay in her territory after maturing to provide for future cubs and benefit from the added security. On the other hand, dog foxes almost always venture out to find their own territory once they reach maturity.

Red foxes are intelligent creatures able to communicate with each other using a range of vocalizations, including barks, yelps, and screams. They are primarily nocturnal, but can also be active during the day.

Breeding: Red foxes breed in the winter and are typically monogamous, although polygamy and incest do happen. Vixens give birth to litters of 4-6 kits, which are born blind and helpless. In some cases, rival vixens will kill the kits to lower competition. For those that survive, the mother cares for the kits in a den, and the father helps to bring back food. Kits stay with their parents for several months before becoming independent, after which their parents slowly abandon them and let them fend for themselves.

Longevity: In the wild, red foxes typically live for 2-5 years but can live up to 15 years in captivity.

Conservation status: The red fox is not considered a threatened species, and populations are stable or increasing in many areas.  However, they are sometimes hunted for their fur or as a pest control measure, and their habitat is being lost to urbanization and agriculture.

Mythic Lore

The fox is almost universally known as a trickster-and for good reason. For farmers and hunters, they are cunning creatures. In an old English tale, a farmer rushes into his chicken coop when he hears his hens’ cries. As he opens the latch, he’s shocked to see a fox lying dead right in front of him. He apprehensively prods it with his toe, but it doesn’t move. Taking the fox for dead, he grabs it by its scruff and tosses it outside. His mind turns to the hens, and he counts each to see if any are missing. Fortunately, they’re all accounted for. But when he opens the door behind him, he’s shocked again: the fox is gone. It played possum and won. This is the stuff that folktales are made of.

In Celtic lands, the fox is an ambivalent figure, partly due to its ambivalent relationship with humans. While foxes hunted vermin, they also killed livestock and stole food from stores, windowsills, or even the odd open door. They were hunted for sport and their fur yet admired for their agility and cunning, often outsmarting both dogs and hunters. Acute observers of nature, earlier Celts undoubtedly observed these creatures besting other foes, like wolves, bears, and eagles with their wit and speed.

The trickery they often displayed was viewed with suspicion, admiration, and condemnation. Celts valued honor and honesty, but they were also realists who knew that often the good guy gets a knife-in-the-back rather than a crown on his head.

The very thing that made the fox the subject of condemnation was what also made it the perfect fit for the peasant hero. Its plight was relatable with the lower classes, who could see themselves in the weaker fox having to best more powerful hunters. For those on the margin throughout history, honesty and directness have been luxuries of the wealthy and powerful. The poor and meek must often resort to theft and deceit for survival, especially in the face of rapacious overlords.

The following folktales from Ireland, Scotland, and France all show the fox as cunning, agile, morally ambivalent, and a hero of the oppressed.

The Scottish Tradition: Pious Hunter, Murderer, and Hero

There is no better testament to the ambiguity of the fox than in Scotland. The first two tales recounted here come from the work of John Francis Campbell (1821-1885), an author and specialist in Irish studies who spent years collecting Scottish folktales as they were threatened with extinction.

The first tale, “Conall Crog Buidhe,” recounts the journey of a famed warrior, Conall, and his three sons who’re sent on a suicidal quest to steal a king’s favorite horse. While attempting to steal the horse, they’re caught and sentenced to death - unless, that is, Conall can tell the king a tale of even greater danger than the situation he now faces. In the first tale, he’s confronted by a group of ten cat-people, the leader of which is described as one-eyed and fox-like. Inexplicably, the cats sing a dirge, after which they demand the payment that custom requires. With a slip of his tongue, they eat his calf, his cow, and, finally, threaten to eat Conall himself. Conall escapes, runs up a rowan tree, and calls for help. Druids hear him and rush to his aid, rescuing him just as the tree comes crashing down.*1

The second tale is one of the few myths that feature the fox. The myth begins with the Lord of the Wildwood kidnapping the sun goddess, leading to a perpetual winter in Scotland. The king sends his eldest son, Brian, to retrieve the sun goddess, directing him to first see Cailleach, the ancient mother goddess and queen of winter, to seek guidance. The Cailleach guides him on the first step of his journey before secretly turning into a fox and aiding him for its remainder. As his guide and aid, the fox advises him along every step of the quest while also changing into a horse, a ship, and a sword, to name a few. With its help, Brian tricks his enemies and rescues the sun goddess, bringing balance back to the land.*2

The last puzzling tale comes from George Douglas’ collection, Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales. The collection features many fox tales, but I’d like to highlight the peculiar tale of the fox and the swan. In it, the fox captures a swan and sits down to eat it. Before scarfing the bird down, though, the swan asks the fox if it will say a prayer first. The fox obliges, closes his eyes, says his prayer, and when he reopens his eyes, the swan’s fled. Cursing himself, he promises only to say his prayers after the meat’s in his belly.*3

Mr. Fox: The Psychopath

Two English stories show the fox in a more sinister light: as a cold-blooded killer. The first from Cornwall, “Jowan Chy-an-Horth,” tells the tale of a simple-minded laborer who’s friends are framed by Mr. Fox murder after he murders his mistress’s husband. In the tale, the tricky and greedy Mr. Fox is a foil to the honest, simple Jowan. Due to Jowan’s prudence, he witnesses the murderer admitting the deed and testifies against Mr. Fox. The fox hangs, while the latter ends the tale rich beyond his dreams.*1

In the folktale “Mr. Fox,” a young woman falls in love with a charming and perfect-in-every-way man, Mr. Fox. But a bone-chilling surprise awaits her when she dares to look more deeply into Mr. Fox’s mansion: the corpses of his victims. Her fiancée is a serial killer. She plays dumb for the remainder of the courtship until their wedding day. Right before they’re to be wed, she accuses Mr. Fox before the entire assembly and offers a severed finger from one of his victims as proof of his depravity.*4

Surely these tales come from the fact that foxes often massacre all the chickens in a coop when they break in. When I was living in a monastery in Japan, a fox broke into our coop and killed all 20 chickens save for 1, who I found shaking on a roof beam. It was a horrific scene. Blood, shit, and feathers everywhere. We were furious because it was so unnecessary, but as any cat owner knows: animals are capable of blood sport. It’s true that foxes often kill extra prey and leave it, planning to return later to stash it away. However, animals can be cruel and enjoy the thrill of killing. Foxes are no exception.

Reynard the Fox: A Peasant Hero

Tales of Reynard the Fox began in Belgium during the medieval period and quickly swept throughout Western Europe and became wildly popular. Their wild success, though, didn’t happen overnight. These tales tapped into a venerable tradition of folktales that existed long before Reynard. They also connected to the frustrated, burdened lower classes and their animus towards those in power. The tales that emerged under this motif are diverse and rich, but throughout Reynard maintains his status as an antihero trickster who betters his stupid, greedy, and powerful enemies. As with Grimm’s fairy tales, these tales are often humorous, bawdy, and steeped in the brutality and darkness of its times.

While many stories feature Reynard, one of the earliest and most iconic is the 12th-century Latin Ysengrimus. The tale is a mock anthropomorphic epic that takes aim at the ravenous and inept clergy of the time. The main characters are the wolf, representing the clergy, and the fox, representing working folk. During their adventures together, Reynard is accused of various crimes and brought to trial, but he always manages to use his cleverness to escape punishment. In one of the more amusing and graphic tales, Reynard tricks the wolf into allowing him to shear the wolf’s wool and “accidentally” cuts off the wolf’s tail, leaving him humiliated and in pain. The epic ends brutally: Ysengrimus is skinned alive and thrown to swine.

This epic captures the fox at its best. The story is notable for its vivid descriptions of medieval society, its commentary on the nature of power and authority, and its use of humor and satire to critique the norms and institutions of the time. Though the fox is cruel, dishonest, and disruptive, his plight justifies his ethos. He must be a trickster for survival, and it is through satire and wit that he can speak truth to power and, eventually, overthrow it.

Elements: Wind and Earth

At first, it can appear difficult to classify the fox due to its amorphous nature. Foxes can be psychopathic murderers, yet endearing mothers to their kits. They can be cunning and deceptive, yet loyal allies. They can serve justice as chthonic anti-heroes, yet be ruthless thieves. They can bring the sun back to the world, yet are agents of the devil. But their nature becomes clear if we see that amorphousness itself as its nature. No element captures that capricious, slippery sense better than wind.

Wind is an agent of change, movement, and transformation, and the fox is, above all, adaptable. Foxes have found success in nearly every habitat the world over owing to their ability to change to suit their surroundings. In urban environments, they can live in densely packed communities and work together to hunt and forage for food. In deserts, they live solitary lives and begrudge intruders on the vast stretches required to support a modest den. They can feed on anything to survive, from apples to rats. And in the myths, foxes are shapeshifters, able to transform into everything from ships to humans.

Part of adaptability is cunning, the ability to do whatever it takes to make things work. Foxes are are perceptive, calculating creatures that know how to play their victims and situation to their advantage. They can misdirect coyotes with their calls or double-back on their own trails to throw off hounds. They’ve also proven nearly impossible to keep-out of pens and coops for millenia. The fox’s ends can be noble, as when Brian rescued the sun goddess, or they can be vicious, as in the case of Conall and Jowan.

Foxes also are disruptors and agents of chaos. In the story of Ysengrimus, for example, the fox bests the laws of the land and the boot of the powerful using wit, guile, and knives in the back. The clerical class is overthrown and the fragile order that held medieval society together destroyed. While it’s assumed that it will be happily-ever-after, it remains unclear.

Foxes are also linked to psychopathy, disruptors in the most visceral and brutal way: violent crime. Because they’re short on empathy and fear, the norms and expectations of civilized society hold little sway. As a brigand or murderer, fox’s sew instability and fear into the fabric of society.

Given their brilliance, unpredictability, and subversiveness, it’s a small step to mad genius. Many great movers in art or literature, like Wittgenstein or Picasso, had a madness that allowed them to go beyond the box, overturn norms, and go where others were too timid or dismissive to go before. The mad genius trope is not present in the myths, but I think it’s strong enough to mention here as an association of the fox and the wind element.

The fox’s second element is difficult to choose like the first, since its fluid nature easily includes all the other elements. However, once we consider that it’s adaptability means it can easily occupy any quality, then we can deduce that it must be the opposite of wind: earth, as this element brings the balance needed to allow the fox to transform so freely. There are other reasons which will soon follow that affirm this connection.

First and related to its disruptive nature, the fox is a chthonic figure. Foxes are literally born underground, making them children of the earth. They burrow in tree roots and rocky outcroppings to escape predators or harsh weather. They also are unafraid of digging into tunnels of other animals in search of prey. As Reynard the Fox, the fox represents the shadow of society. It is not only the farmers that’s on display in his tales, but also a Machiavellian ethos driven by a smoldering resentment towards the powerful and corrupt. Make no mistake: the chthonic impulse is often brutal, like the fox. It seeks blood and will stop at nothing until justice is had.

As a peasant-hero, foxes are survivors who’s cunning focuses on earthly ends: getting enough food to eat, avoiding imprisonment, and escaping execution. Foxes are not the philosophers wondering what the most just way of governing a society is. They are not revolutionaries for social change, although revolution can follow in their footsteps. They are the desperate savagery of an animal cornered.

Their groundedness and marginalism also drive their amorality. More concerned with realpolitik, foxes change their views and methods according to the situation rather than follow absolute moral principles. Those in power often condemn this flexibility as being weak, viceful, or unprincipled, but the fox’s situation is more complex. Dieing with honor might sound glorifying on the battlefield, but is it really so great when a farmer must hide food from a tax collector to ensure his family has enough to survive? Is he supposed to just openly defy his lord and sentence his whole family to execution for bold defiance over…a few kilos of wheat they’ll need to eke out the summer?

The fox’s earthiness also contributes to its composure. Whether in the psychopathic Mr. Fox, the story of Conall, or the tale of Caillach, foxes are not driven by their passions. Mr. Fox does not go on Cu Chulainn-like berserker sprees, but murderers quietly. The fox-cat isn’t drooling from the mouth for its next kill, but allows its trap to unfold. And Caillaech is a friendly, all-be-it aloof aid.

The fox symbolizes cunning, adaptability, disruption, composure, and all-is-allowed survivalism. While these qualities might inspire fear or apprehension, they needn’t. Behind the fox’s transformations and complexity is a yearning for balance. As peasant hero or criminal, its rebellion is aimed at making just a malfunctioning system, even if that means resorting to thievery, gaining the justice system, or murder. Reynard wasn’t a socialist revolutionary, he was a survivor.

As such, the fox is ideal for those on the margins. The poor struggling to survive. Outsiders at an organization who are dismissed or despised. Persecuted LGBT folk. Artists or innovators working at the edge or fringe of their field. The fox is also ideal for those in need of a bit more chaos or change. However, be warned: chaos is chaos. It doesn’t come in neat times when we’d like it, but instead bursts out and disrupts our lives in the most unexpected, but needed ways.

Associations

Below is a chart of the eagle’s associations across a variety of categories. The chart is particularly handy as a reference for other practices, such as rituals, art, or meditations.

References

1. Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Mammoth Book of Celtic Legends and Myths. London: Constable and Robins Lmtd, 2002.
2. “The Tale of the Cailleach, the Fox, and the Sun Goddess.” Weewhitehouse. May 11, 2023. https://weewhitehoose.co.uk/library/sun-goddess.
3. Douglas, George. Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales (Illustrated) . Kindle Edition. Global Grey, 2015.
4. Jacobs, Joseph. The Golden Book of Fairy Tales. Authorama. May 11, 2023. http://www.authorama.com/book/english-fairy-tales.html.