The Divine Masculine and Archetypes

We hear a lot about Patriarchy and toxic masculinity, if you're watching the main stream media I wouldn't blame you for thinking all men are evil, and anything to do with masculine as being horrible.

However we don't hear the positives of masculinity, so that's why I thought I'd go into the Divine Masculine and his archetypes.  

Deep rooted masculinity is not abusive, patriarchy is based on fear, some would say a boy's fear.  The patriarchal male is afraid of women and the feminine power, but what is never discussed is the patriarchal male is also afraid of the Divine Masculine and true Masculine power.

Men who are engaged with the Divine Masculine and the positive aspects of the Archetypes are able to let go of their patriarchal selves, they become more centered, generative towards themselves and others.

What is the Divine Masculine?

Divine Masculine energy is nurturing, generative, logical, focused, stable, disciplined, confident.  It brings clarity of vision and compassion.  Masculine energy is straight lines and angles, it literally goes from point A to point B to point C and back to point A.  

The Masculine is action oriented, to the point, competitive, cognitive, direct, entrepreneurial; problem solving and risk taking. It's independent, and driven.

While I said above the patriarchal male is a boy's fear, we don't want to demolish the foundations of boyhood, as those foundations are needed to power the Divine Masculine and are the gateways to the past for when we need to look back.

What we need to discover is the crisis of the Masculine Ritual Process. At what point did we stop teaching how to be in the Divine Masculine?

Dr Carl Jung coined the term Archetypes, this theory has been expanded to encompass the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine.  To balance the Divine Masculine we need to do the work on the shadow side of the Masculine and resolve the deep wounds of the patriarchy. 

The Masculine Archetypes.

The King

The King archetype sits on top of the masculine archetypes, the King incorporates the other three archetypes - Warrior, Magician and Lover - If you look throughout history the King has usually been placed in the center of Existence, with ancient civilizations building the Kings place of residence in the center of the city.

The characteristics of the King include order, reasonable and rational thinking, integration, integrity. He stabilizes the chaotic emotions, and out of control behavior, provides stability, is centered and calm with a reassuring authority.

The King is decisive, he lives with integrity, he protects his realm, he provides order, he creates and inspires others to create, he is the rock when everything is chaotic.

What are the Shadow aspects of the King?

The Shadow King's motto is 'Power corrupts absolute, power corrupts absolutely'

Within the Shadow King are a couple sub archetypes, they are the Tyrant, the Weakling.

The Tyrant destroys, unlike the King who creates.  The Tyrant really does believe he is the center of the universe.  He hoards his power jealously, and believes he must rule with absolute power. He see's anyone else with power as a threat.

Those he does not see as a threat, and will exploit them for his own gain, he is the person who will push his grandmother under a bus to further his own goals.

The weakling is the person who often gives their power over to others.  He is indecisive and will look to others to make the decisions for him, quiet often he is the yes man that gets promoted until they are in a position of power, than they see this as their opportunity to turn the tables and get back at others.

When they are in a position of power they usually end up paranoid believing everyone is out to get them. 

The Warrior

 The next masculine archetype is the Warrior, the Warrior is prevalent throughout our history, with perhaps the most legendary being the Spartans of Ancient Greece, who trained from infancy to become warriors and the Samurai warriors of Japan.

However as much as we love to see the Warrior in our literature and movies, such as Russell Crowe's character in the Gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius or Andy Whitfield's title character Spartacus, or the movie The 300 following Gerald Butler's King Leonidis and his 300 legendary warriors, in today's modern world we are not comfortable with the Warrior archetype.

With the cultural revolutions of the 60's and 70's society has been pushing men to be nice, sweet and sensitive,  but this is due to society's fear of the Shadow Warrior and how we haven't experienced the Warrior in his prime.

Perhaps because we now see fighting as bad, but we are failing to ask the question, what are we fighting for?

The characteristics of the Warrior include clarity of thinking and discernment, they are always awake and alert, they know how to focus their mind and body.  The Warrior is a great strategist and tactician, and is a realist.  They are concerned with developing their skills, power, accuracy, believing in inner and outer control that comes with self discipline.

The Warrior is loyal to a cause, a God, a group of people, rather than to an individual. 

The Warrior harnesses his aggression so looked down upon in modern society, as the force that pushes him to compete at the best of his abilities, and moves him closer towards his goal.

What are the Shadow Warrior's aspects?

Much like the King there are a couple of sub archetypes for the Shadow Warrior and they are, the Mama's Boy, the Bully,  the Sadist and the Masochist.

The Mama's Boy is never satisfied with a mortal woman, he is seeking the immortal Goddess, is caught up with his own phallic power, not seeing himself as the mortal man.  He does not want to do the work to take what it actually takes to have a union with women and deal with the complex emotions that come when involved with intimate relationships, he does not want to take responsibility.

The Bully want to impress others, he proclaims his superiority and right to dominate.  He will assault those who question his inflation with verbal and or physical abuse.  This is all to hide his own deep insecurities and underlying cowardice.  

The Sadist comes about due to the Warrior's ability to detach from emotions and relationships when taken to far.  This is the reason why military men when out on deployment have focus and purpose, but when back home have difficulty adjusting to home life.  

The Sadist is cruel and has no regard for the weak, and creates impossibly high standards for himself and those around him, for example the father who accepts nothing but the A+ or 100% on a child's school report.  They tend to be workaholics but in reality they don't actually know what they want from life.

The Masochist feels powerless and has no boundaries, is easily pushed around.  He is the person who digs in to be the person other's want him to be and takes on the abuse thrown at him, until he reaches his breaking point and explodes with the Sadist verbal and physical abuse.

The Magician

The Magician is known by many names, Sage, Shaman, Wise One, Knower, Seer, Prophet, Wizard, Alchemist.

This Archetype is well known throughout literature, Gandalf and Merlin are perhaps two of the most well known characters.

The Magician is wise, insightful, thoughtful, reflective, seeker of knowledge.  They can be prone to introversion to their ability to connect with the inner truths. He possess great power to create. 

His role is to contain and channel power for the good of all.  The Magician in his full power is prospers and orderly.  

The Magician in an initiator, and this is why we see him in the Hero's journey, being the person who initiates the hero from boyhood to manhood, many of these initiations are missing from today's modern world.

What is the Shadow Magician?

Like the other archetypes the Shadow Magician has a couple of sub archetypes.  The Manipulator and the Denying 'Innocent Child'.

The Manipulator does not guide others as the Magician in his fullness would, he directs them from behind the scenes that are not easily seen.  He manipulates people by withholding information, he is detached and cruel. Another name the Manipulator goes by is the Trickster.  

The Denying 'Innocent' One is naive he wants the power of the Magician but doesn't want the responsibilities that come from such power.  Unlike the Magician who will go into the inner worlds to know himself, the Denying 'Innocent' One does not want to know himself.   He hides truths for the sake of obtaining or maintaining his status.

 The Lover

The last of the archetypes of the Divine Masculine is the Lover.  There are many types of Love and the Greeks have multiple words for love.

Eros - passion, lust, pleasure, it is love of romance and passion.

Philia - platonic love, the love one feels for friends.

Agape - Unconditional, universal and selfless love.

Storage - love for family, or towards country or allegiance to a team.

Mania - this is where love turns to obsession.

Ludus - known as playful love, this is the love we feel when we have a crush.

Pragma - known as enduring love, this is the love that has aged, matured and about making compromises to help the relationship work over time, also showing patience and tolerance.

Philautia - this one is self love.  The Greeks understood that in order to care for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves.

Why explain the different loves?

Because the lover archetype is more than just romance.  The Lover archetype is of emotion, feeling, idealism, and sensuality.  The Lover seeks to know all love not just one type of love.

A man in touch with his lover archetype feels deeply no matter the emotion. The characteristics of the Lover archetype include vividness, aliveness, passionate, playfulness, healthy embodiment, sensuality, compassion, empathy and connection.

This is the archetype that fuels our passion, is the muse to our creativity, its what sparks our inspiration and creativity.

What is the Shadow Lover?

The Shadow Lover like the other archetypes has a couple of sub archetypes, the Addicted Lover and the Impotent Lover.

The Addicted Lover is prone to addiction, whether is be food, drugs, alcohol.  The Addict looks for pleasure in the moment, they are eternally restless, forever seeking that one person, one thing that will make them fell alive. 

This the the person who falls in love with every person they date.  Jumps from relationship to relationship, and than wallows in despair with each break up.  His life is in fragments rather than a whole life. 

The Addicted Lover is obsessed with the person or object of their desire but instead of bringing joy, they bring destruction.

The Impotent Lover is chronically depressed, they lack connection with those around them, and are cut off from themselves, feeling flat.  Nothing brings them joy,  they've lost their passion for life.

Here are some tips on how to work with the various archetypes.

King

Know what makes you come alive and do that every single day of your life.

Figure out what your own internal code is and live by it. 

Do your best every day to work towards leaving the world a better place than when you found it.

Live with integrity.

Take full responsibility for everything in your life,  the good, the bad and the ugly.

Warrior

Be decisive.

Be assertive.

Challenge yourself.

Figure out and stand up to injustices that you care about. 

Work on your sense of discipline.

Magician

Dedicate yourself to a craft or primary mission in your life.

Create more.

Consciously cut out noise from your life.

Understand that certain lessons must come once you have truly earned them

Find a mentor and learn.

Lover

Slow down and see the beauty in everything around you. 

Focus on the beauty of that which you already have and experience it more fully.

Cultivate a fun and energy-giving hobby that brings out your passion.

Regularly spend time in nature and let the beauty and expansiveness of it all wash over you.

Slow down when eating and allow all your senses to come alive.

Next week we will go into the Divine Feminine and her Archetypes.