Working with Archetypes Part 4

You're doing amazing! If you are still here reading then I'm guessing you are doing some version of this inner work or at least thinking about it. Even considering doing this work is an essential step towards deeply changing your life.

I'm curious what has been happening these last seven days. You may have noticed synchronicities, images and symbols you've been working with showing up in your dreams or billboards, or new layers of meaning popping into your mind at random moments during the day. This is all wonderful! It is how the subconscious works with us when we make ourselves available to learning from it. Keep paying attention to all these things.

Archetypes Causing Trouble in Your Life

In any of your explorations did you encounter an archetype that is causing you more challenges than necessary? Did you find one that likes to blow up angrily at people you love, or make snide comments behind your co-worker's backs, or likes to procrastinate, or watch TV so late you don't get enough sleep, or drink more alcohol than is needed? Or any other range of human behaviors that stop us living our fullest potential?

If so, Congratulations! Identifying an archetype causing you problems is a huge and important first step. By doing this you are bringing them out of the subconscious and into the light of your conscious awareness. This allows you to be in relationship with them. It's the difference between having an angry teenager living in your house that you don't know is there but keeps destroying things and yelling at your spouse when you are not looking, and sitting down with this young person to discuss how to best share the space.

By opening this conversation with the archetypal part of you, you are entering into conscious relationship with them. You will be able to start to recognize them when they are about to burst into the driver's seat of your life and negotiate with them to prevent that happening. You can also visit them regularly and learn more about what they need to stop causing disruptions in your life. They may simply need to be acknowledged by you. They may need reassurance, forgiveness, nurturing, clear boundaries, gratitude or any number of things you discover through your relationship with them. Tend to them. Give them what they need to retire from erupting into your life without an invitation.

The key to this process is noticing when the disruptive archetype starts to get activated. You will, over time, begin to recognize the characteristic thoughts, feelings, sensations, voice tone, gestures and so on that come with this archetype moving towards taking the driver's seat. If this is one that has been with you a long time and been operating under the level of your conscious awareness all this time then a neural pathway has been worn in your brain that will make their jumping into the driver's seat very quick and effortless. This takes conscious effort to undo but you can re-wire this surprisingly quickly with a sustained effort and self-compassion.

As you develop and nurture this inner relationship you may find that these previously troublesome archetypes have gifts they can bring to the table. You might begin to see opportunities in life to call on them, to embody their expressions. An angry teenager that has been heard, witnessed, appreciated, reassured and given space to express themselves may turn out to have a huge amount of enthusiasm for life that's been bottled away all these years. A vitality for life you had forgotten about. They now become a resource you can call on when you need it.

Archetypes You Aspire To

If you came across an archetype you aspire to, one that holds a vision of your future self, then spend time with that one too. As you journey or engage in conversation with them you will learn what you need to do to embody them more and more fully in your life. They may show you old wounds that need to be healed, other inner parts that need tending or bold moves to make in the world. Listen to what they show and tell you and implement it the best you can.

It can be helpful to, in conversation with them, to find an action you can do to call them into the driver's seat of your life. It might be a song, a word, a body posture, a gesture or a physical object to hold in your hand. Brining the archetype into the physical realm makes it easier for your subconscious mind to support you in the change of which archetypes are running your life.

I like to imagine my inner Wise Old Woman standing in front of me at times I need her. Then I step forward into the image of her and imagine taking on her body, her stance, her grace, wisdom and compassion. There's even a little dance move I do to amplify feeling her in me!

Play with this. it is deep, profound work but there's no reason you can't have fun getting to know all these parts of yourself and all these possible ways of being.

Ritual in Reciprocity

There's a whole other course brewing inside me on the use of ritual in this inner work. For now, I simply want to point out the importance of reciprocity in our conscious relationship with our subconscious.

The two activities we experienced together over this series are both ways of inviting the subconscious to make itself known to our conscious mind so we can learn from its wisdom and reap the benefit in our lives. Just as in any relationship it is crucial that we turn back to the subconscious and say, "Thank you! I hear what you are telling me and I will implement it". It is basic courtesy!

Ritual is one way of doing this. Taking a physical action in the world, informed by your conversation with the subconscious, completes the cycle. I see it as taking the bloom of insight I received then planting it back in the earth to let it take root as see what comes next.

Ritual is how we speak back to the subconscious, letting it know we're listening and taking action.

It doesn't need to be some epic, choreographed event attended by a large group of people in a grove in the woods! Ideally, it isn't that at all, but is a simple action you take privately to confirm your commitment to taking the action this work has revealed to you. My doing the Wise Old Women dance is one example, its a physical, embodied way for me to claim her presence in my outer life. It comes with a feeling of appreciation and celebration - more language of the subconscious.

Bringing the Inner Family Together

As you work more and more with the archetypes most active in your life you will start to see that there is an extended family, maybe a village, of them. And just as in any healthy community each one gets along better with some than others. Pairs or sub-groups of them will get into conflicts with each other. This is all normal. Healthy conflict can be incredibly regenerative, leading to growth on both side, if handled well. Learning how to navigate and resolve inner conflicts will help you with the outer conflicts and help bring your inner family into balance with each other.

It's a life long process as far as I see. As we mature, life brings us new opportunities and new challenges that will reveal new archetypes to us. They likely are not new, they may have been hiding out in our subconscious for a long time but at some point either they come online or we suddenly become aware of them.

This is the work of soul-making, expanding our consciousness into the realm of the subconscious. Some believe this is what we incarnate to do, and that by actively engaging in the process we are enabling the evolution of human consciousness. The human species mind-field is expanding, learning, and all that becomes available to other humans and future generations.

Whatever you believe about the bigger picture at play here you will see results in your life first. I'd love to hear about them in whatever detail you want to share.

Thank you for taking this journey with me this far. I hope this has been of assistance to you and I look forward to knowing you more.