The Importance of Tricks in Individuality

Lying, hiding and sneaking are examples of trickster behavior, discussed as they occur in political and personal spheres. When is this behavior in service to individuation, and when is it in service to regressive, or unconscious, aspects of the psyche? 

The dream:

I had a dream a couple of days ago where I was cut in half by a shaman. The setting of this dream occurred in my backyard. The shaman was Aztec it seemed. At the same time I was a shaman too, who was willing to be sacrificed by this shaman. He cut me in half with a ceremony knife and as he cut snakes came out of my body. An extension of this dream was of a snake crawling up my spine to talk to me. I don’t remember what it said.