Archetypes

The 4 Archetypes
of Survival Child archetype. If there is unfinished business with our parents - and it doesn't matter how long it has been since we last saw them or that we now live on the other side of the world - we are likely to attract people into our life who make us feel small again. This can be a boss, a bank manager or anyone in authority - but most often it is our spouse. We might be successful in our job, yet, when it comes to relationships we want our partner to take care of us. In our need for approval and attention, we will do anything - including letting others decide what’s best for us. This abdication of self usually leads to betrayal and heart break. Eventually we have no other option than to make peace with our childhood and take care of the inner child in us. Accepting responsibility for our own wellbeing and happiness will enable us to become an equal partner in a mature relationship.
The Victim archetype will lead us into situations where we feel bullied and put down, betrayed or taken advantage of and, it is never our fault. We might feel the world owes us and wait to be rescued. Until we have enough of feeling helpless. Until we stand up and be counted, learn to speak for ourself and make sure that our needs are met, turning victimhood into victory.
Our Prostitute archetype comes out when we are in danger of compromising our morals and ethics for material gain. Staying in circumstances that are detrimental to our virtues, because we fear the loss of financial security is the Prostitute Archetype in its shadow. Yet it can also help us to see how we get entrapped in the illusion of a monetary worth. The role of the prostitute archetype is to remind us that we know better and to encourage us to hang out the ‘not for sale’ sign. In the end it teaches to trust our own values and to choose the joy of integrity over the shallowness of pretence.
The Saboteur archetype will lead us into situations where we have the opportunity to embrace success or to choose to fail. Working hard to reach the top is easy, but placing our flag there and be seen doing it, is the hard part. When we operate from the shadow of the Saboteur, we rather go walk about, break a leg, have a nervous breakdown or find some lame excuse not to turn up for our date with destiny. Forever studying but never graduating, because we just need that one more certificate to feel competent enough. Another pattern is to step aside when we are about to receive our reward, so someone more 'deserving' can benefit. The Saboteur Archetype will challenge us to claim our stake in life.

Have you ever wondered why the same situations seem to repeat themselves in life ?

For some people, no matter how often they change jobs, they don't get acknowledgement and often end up with a boss who bullies them or takes credit for their work.

Or, someone who is looking for mutual commitment in a relationship, seems to only meet people who are unavailable for one reason or another.

And why would a person who is respected, self assured and highly capable in their workplace go home and allow their spouse to walk all over them?

Everything in life is in divine order and repeatedly encountering the same unfulfilled expectations is how we can see that we are caught up in a self-destructive pattern.

These repetitions are often message from our archetypal support team to wake us up. Encountering the same experience over and over again is one way of how an Archetype makes itself known to us. It’s contract with us is to make us pay attention, to force us into action and push us to change outworn habits.

In it’s shadow, an Archetype can rule our existence from the past - resulting in compulsions, obsessions, automatic behaviour and leading us along rigid ways. Set on it’s track, we seemingly can’t change who we are and life repeats itself.

When embraced and understood, an Archetype can become an inner guide for living. It can give us a framework for understanding our actions, help us activate our inherited potential and provide us with a safe structure for change.

In an Archetype reading you will meet your own set of personal Archetypes through the process of self-examination. Together we will identify reoccurring patterns in your life and look at ways of how to enlist the help of your Archetypes.

One of the major lessons of our earthly existence is the proper management of personal power. Do we take control of our life, or do we hand it over and allow our choices to be controlled by others.

Whether you inherited a recurring motif from your ancestors or you are being pulled and pushed by the instincts of earliest times of survival, once you know the hidden force behind a repeating theme, you can consciously embrace it and break the pattern.

www.thefreedictionary.com

“In Jungian psychology, an Archetype is an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery, derived from past collective experiences, and present in the individual unconscious.”

In the human psyche, an archetypal pattern can be seen as a manner in which one behaves, that is typical for a specific type of person. It is like a character trait that follows the example of a role model stored in our collective unconscious.

For example, referring to someone as a typical rebel, will evoke immediately an inner picture of how this person acts or conducts them self, probably complete with iconic images of James Dean, Ned Kelly or Robin Hood.

Dr. Caroline Myss writes about Archetypes in her book 'Sacred Contracts' and suggests, that from the moment we are born we are guided by Archetypes.

As part of growing up, we all will encounter and experience the four Archetypes of survival:
the Child, the Victim, the Prostitute and the Saboteur - either in their shadow or their enlightened side.

And we are all under contract with at least eight more personal Archetypes. Together, these twelve form our "Archetypal Support Team". Their job is it to remind us of our life's purpose and help us to fulfil our spiritual potential.