Working With Archetypes - Part 1

Why Archetypes

I assume, by the fact that you are here, that there are deeper aspects of yourself calling to you, and that you suspect (or hope) they may carry the medicine you need right now.

This course is designed to give you practical ways to access your own depths, so you can live in a fuller more authentic expression of yourself. You don't need an "expert" with you to do this deep inner work, the techniques are relatively simple. All you need is a willingness to look within and a dedication to living an authentic life.

What to Expect

Over these series of four posts I'm going to help you understand why working with archetypes is important and how it will be of benefit to your journey of self-discovery. I will give you detailed instructions for two methods of finding the medicine of any archetype you choose. Finally, we will look at how to integrate what you learn about yourself into your life so you can live as a deeper, richer, more expanded version of you.

If you are in a very challenging place in life or struggle with your mental health I encourage you to only pursue this work if you have some outside support, a therapist, competent coach, or mentor you can call on if this brings up material you are not prepared for. It is powerful work and not to be taken lightly. If you consider yourself mentally and emotionally stable outside support is optional. If you are not sure, send me a message.

Are you ready? I invite you to take a deep, slow, breath into you belly, hold it for just a moment and slowly release it. Repeat if you'd like. Find a place of open, curiosity inside, knowing you can take only the pieces of the following information that resonate for you at this time. Work with whatever makes sense to you and leave the rest.

What are Archetypes?

Archetypes are essentially energetic templates. They hold the patterns of human behavior, each a cluster of thoughts, emotions and actions, that we can embody.

In the Euro-centric world we usually credit Plato with being the first to write about archetypes which he called Forms, although the concept has been around much longer than that. He saw these Forms as characteristics of the material world, things like, roundness, softness, blueness and so on, that existed as templates in a non-physical realm. Plato lived in a culture (Ancient Greece) that worshiped an extensive pantheon of deities, representing the range of possibilities for human behavior through their associated stories and rituals. You were expected to honor all of them, even the ones you found uninteresting or repulsive.

Many centuries later Carl Gustav Jung began using the term archetypes to refer to the templates of human behavior, seeing them as fundamental building blocks of the mind. He saw them as energetic forces that drive our lives in ways often invisible to us. Jung understood the non-physical realm where archetypes reside as the Unconscious and specifically the Collective Unconscious.

Jung understood that we each have a Personal Unconscious, a store of memories and conditioning unique to each individual. And that is embedded in a wider Collective Unconscious, a bank of memories, images and symbols common to all humans across time and accessible to us all. The archetypes show up in our behavior, in films, stories, myths, religions, dreams, art, advertising, fantasies, everywhere we look!

For example, The Mother is an ubiquitous archetype that holds all the ways in which one can be mothered and mother. Each of us then takes on our own version from the range of possibilities of The Mother driven by how we were raised, other mothers we witnessed and how we may mother. Unless we have done the work to bring the pattern of The Mother into our consciousness this archetype plays out in our lives mostly unconsciously.

This is the essential point to understand>> Archetypes operate as semi-autonomous sub-personalities influencing everything we think, feel and do. Without our conscious collaboration they will continue to run our lives in the ways passed down to us.

Why it is Important to Work with Archetypes

When we bring the archetypes into our conscious awareness, understand how they run our lives, and begin to work with them to do things differently then two things happen.

Firstly, we can resolve, or at least minimize, our self-destructive behaviors, ways we act that don't allow us to operate at our full potential. Procrastination, apathy, disillusionment, projected anger, overwhelm, addictions, numbing and all the other things we do that keep us spinning in the same circles not living the lives we imagined for ourselves are all the result of archetypes operating below the level of conscious awareness.

Secondly, by working with archetypes we can find within ourselves new ways of being that help us create the lives we aspire to. By looking at the many variations of a particular archetype we can see new possibilities for who we can become and actively work to embody that way of being.

Let's return to The Mother archetype because that one impacts us all. By becoming aware of the image of Mother we hold we can start to address parts of that image that may be holding us back from either mothering a child in the way we want or birthing and nurturing a creative project. Then we can take action to resolve whatever aspects of that image are not supporting us now, that might involve the work of acknowledgement, forgiveness, self-nurturance, learning how to receive love or many other aspects of mothering. Next, we can find our ideal mothering image and move towards embodying that in our relationship with ourselves, with others and with our work in the world.

Archetypes are powerful forces that essentially run our lives, mostly without our awareness. By bringing them into our consciousness and actively working with them we are more effective at becoming who we came here to be.

What to Do with All This

Don't over think it! This is a lot of information that you don't necessarily need to retain, it's simply context for the work we are about to do.

In the next post I will provide you with specific step-by-step instructions, including a guided audio journey, on how to engage with the subconscious mind to discover an archetype that is important to you at this point in your life.

Between now and then it will be helpful for you to find an archetype you want to work with. Likely it has already made itself known to you, trust that. If you are not sure then simply search for a list of archetypes and notice what stands out to you. Also pay attention to the characters that show up in your dreams or seem especially important in stories you hear, or shows you watch, over the next couple of days. This is not something to "figure out" with your logical, analytical mind. This is a task for the subconscious, practice allowing the information about which archetype is relevant to show itself to you.

This is the part that takes openness, courage and a willingness to live differently, more authentically! You have the option here to simply read the information and not apply it to your life. And you have the option to lean into what might feel hard and see what medicine is in there for you.

PART 2 of Working with Archetypes is HERE