Archetypes

An archetype, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, is “an original model or a very typical example.”  Often referred to as a person’s shadow side, an archetype is the energy pattern or motif, contained in a person’s subconscious mind.  Your conscious mind is the part of the brain that you use every day, to make decisions, work, and so forth.  The subconscious mind is like a hard drive of a computer, so to speak.  It is the part of your brain where your beliefs, thoughts, memories, dreams, and so forth, are stored.  Any memory (whether it be positive or negative), can be triggered by the subconscious mind.

Archetypes are not just a person’s personal experiences, but it can also include experiences of the collective, of the humankind.  For example, an old paradigm or pattern is marriage.  Today, this archetype is beginning to fade and a new paradigm, that of partnership, is being formed.  Karl Jung wrote many books on various subjects.  In his view, human beings have an unbounded unconsciousness that we share with each other.  Humans and the like, are energetic beings; the universe we live in is made up of energies; thus, these energies can flow from a person’s conscious into that of another – simply by talking, listening, reading or teaching.  How exactly does this work?  Energy moves continuously and, if something moves in one location, it moves throughout the field.  Think of water; if you throw a stone into a lake, it creates ripples.

Now it gets interesting:  according to those who studied archetypes in debt, people also have an unbounded super-conscious!  This is the part of our mind, which relates to spirit and all things invisible.  Therefore, not only are we unbounded on an unconscious level, but also on the super-conscious level.  Many shamans and the like, have understood this for many, many years; it is only in the last years, that more people are becoming aware, and awake, to this idea.  If you do yoga and practise mindfulness or meditation, you will know that, in order to reach a state of total peace and quietness, you have to “quiet the monkey-mind.”  The “monkey-mind” is your conscious mind.  It is the part of the brain, as mentioned earlier, that you use every day.  Often times this is also the part where all the “chatter” occurs; the questioning of things, worrying, fretting, and so on.  The subconscious mind, however, is the place where you find stillness and, it is in this stillness, that you connect with your Higher Self, Divinity, God.

Archetypes are part of each and every person and consist of both male and female aspects, in every one of us.  In this blogpost I am going to delve deeper into the is the King and Queen Archetype.  Their characteristics are quite similar; the prime aspect is that this archetype is the sovereign energy of the psyche.  It is the part of a person that is the ruler of his / her own realm (world).  This archetype is the first and last to constellate.  When a child is born, the immaculate archetype is the Divine Child; the “Golden Child.”  Just looking at a baby, you notice this divine element with which each child is born.  As a child grows up, this archetype mutates into and adult King / Queen.  The last thing to constellate in humans is the higher self (the transpersonal aspect of the King / Queen).  When it constellates, the realm becomes a much larger realm, embracing the transpersonal.

The above archetype can also refer to the Mother / Father Archetype; the givers of life.  Everything (and every child), that is manifested into the realms, by the initiation of the Mother / Father or King / Queen-Archetype.

A person’s shadow side is that which he / she doesn’t want to acknowledge, talk about, admit, recognize and/or deal with.  It is either something that the person is out of touch with; or it is something that the person doesn’t want to think about or remember.  Although the person doesn’t want to acknowledge the shadows and/or deal with it, doesn’t mean that it will disappear.  As explained earlier; the subconscious mind is like the hard drive of a computer – it stores everything!  Thus, your hidden side follows you wherever you go; just like your shadow!

A person’s shadow side doesn’t store only negative energies, memories, thoughts and feelings.  In a positive way, it can help you to bring out your best qualities, especially if you know what they are, work on it and let it flourish.  When a person sneezes, for example, we often say “bless you.”  This, in actual fact, comes from “the Divinity in me recognizes and blesses the divinity in you.”

Learning about all the different archetypes is fascinating.  People are multi-faceted and nobody is the same.  However, if there is one thing that does stand out, it is the fact that we are all part of Divinity; we are all part of the humankind.  Regardless of our culture, language, and so forth, people are all energetic beings, having a human experience.  Asian cultures speak about the Yin/Yang, while others refer to it as the black/white- or dark/light-sides.  Whatever it is called, every person has an archetype inside, which can work in harmony together, if we only allow it.