96. Archetypes of the Political Regime

 “Open the doors to the world of the wild self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is the door. If you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much, you almost cannot bear it. That is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life that is a door.”

-Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Jungian psychologist, a poet, a prolific writer, from her book, Woman Who Run with the Wolves. 

Transcript

 “Open the doors to the world of the wild self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is the door. If you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much, you almost cannot bear it. That is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life that is a door.”

 This is a quote from Clarissa Pinkola Estéswho is a Jungian psychologist, a poet, a prolific writer, and it comes from her world famous book, Woman Who Run with the Wolves. 

Welcome to the Modern Creative Woman podcast, where we talk about the art and science of creativity, and we draw from the fields of art therapy, psychology, Philosophy and apply the knowledge into our daily life. This podcast is for women like you who want to make your lives a little more interesting. Tap into your innate creativity and use what you have to make your days a little more enjoyable, your work a little more inventive, and your relationships a little more romantic. Okay, let's get into this. Let's get this started. 

Do you find yourself perplexed by what is happening in the world and constantly in a state of shock? Well, there's a way that psychology addresses and is able to explain people's behavior that is completely outside of what might be expected, and when people are headed down a very dramatic path. There is a tool to help us have a better understanding of what's happening. And not only that, a way for us to be able to predict a little bit of what's happening in the world. And I want to share with you this tool. It is archetypes. And archetypes are not a new phenomenon. They are rooted in human history, and they have been a way for us to understand our psyche and how things play out in the world. And they're especially useful when things stop making sense. An archetype is a fundamental component of our collective unconscious, and I'll get to the collective unconscious in just a little bit. You can think of them as these universal primordial symbols. They're images that reside in our human collective psyche. They shape our perceptions and our behaviors and our experiences, and they really do serve as this underlying framework for our thoughts and our actions. Where can you find archetypes in literature, poetry, and religious stories? Of course, in cultural myths, think about Native American stories, Greek and Roman myths, Chinese and Mexican cultural stories. They're all around the world. They're found in fairy tales. And it's interesting that fairy tales are enduring. People will rewrite the same story or create a new movie about the same story, because the story is an archetype itself. You'll find it in images throughout art and art history. It's in movies, TV shows. Of course, it's in the field of Jungian psychology. And I want to give you some examples before we start defining things a little further. The female archetypes are these unique, expressive ways that women embody these stories. And remember, these stories are just part of us. They're a part of our biology, our collective experience, and they're universal. So some examples the maiden, the mother, the crone, a heroine, a matriarch or a queen, a warrior. Think Wonder Woman, a wise woman, a medicine woman or a healer. There's a seductress, a priestess or a religious woman, the goddess, the artist. All of these are archetypes, and they're a powerful way to understand ourselves and what's important to us. They play directly into our values. Remember this psychology of archetypes. They are in a universal prototypes for our ideas, and they can be used to interpret our observations. Think of your favorite movies. An adventure story. It involves a hero. It might involve a damsel in distress. Your favorite romance book might involve the seductress, the lover, the mother. The psychology of archetypes is much bigger than a trope or a theme in literature, though it can manifest in many forms. Motifs, themes, things that are a common design that becomes archetypal to a culture. We can think of colours being archetypal characters, of course, in film and literature, but also symbols across different cultures and time periods. You can think of religious symbols. They have this long lasting, inherent meaning that we've infused into them. So it's more than just a character. It's more than just our behavior. It's universal symbols that speak to us at a deep, primordial level. Remember, these are not invented by psychology. They simply exist. And they have been observed in the field of psychology as a way to understand people. And it's a very powerful way to know more about yourself and others. Your community and using them helps you tap into your creativity in extremely interesting, sometimes confusing, but always effective ways. There are four classic archetypes that exist within all of us in understanding our psychology, and they are. The first one is persona, and our persona is the face we put out to the world. Our mask, that bit of us that shows up at work. And it has maybe. Maybe we have small talk, we chit chat, we have a mask where we show up and we buy our groceries and we know what to do. We stand in line and we say hello to the clerk and thank you so much. And there's like a social kind of order to it. But the persona also plays into. The things that we want to hide, and we want to hide the parts of ourselves that we find perhaps unacceptable or even weird or disgusting in an unconscious way. They're the things that we're not aware of, but we've learned over time in this unconscious way. We've long forgotten why there's parts of us that we want to hide, and we learn over time that to be socially acceptable and fit into our families and survive, our families and our education system, that we have to behave in certain ways that sort of conscious, you know, we know how to go to the library and what to do there or when we're standing in line for food, etc.. But the shadow side of ourselves is the unconscious aspect of it. We're not aware of those things that we're trying to hide, and other people can sometimes observe our peculiar reactions to things or our tendency to hide things. It's not readily available to us, and we can find what our shadow is in dreams, in our unconscious. Through art making. It really matters that over our lifetime we begin to expose our shadow, and it the space between what we don't know and what we do know. It gets kind of smaller, our shadow becomes more into the light. That's the goal. And in fact, that's the first step of individuation as a human being, to individuate ourselves, to put away the mask or not use it in a way that is damaging to us and embrace our true selves. Now, the disadvantage of using the persona is we start to believe it, and we believe it to be our true selves, and we make a huge mistake when we begin to believe that our social selves have become our true self. Our social self might want a car, or a job position, or a title or money, or we might want to be seen by our community in a certain way, and we behave in ways that we think will allow us to be socially acceptable. But it becomes a problem when we start to believe that that mask is really who we are. And instead of them persona just being there to support us out in the world, to help us know what to do, have a little savoir faire when we're in a social situation. We run the risk of losing track of our core true self by spending so much time wearing the false self masks. So from shadow to persona, there's the next level of understanding ourselves. And that's the anima and the animus. That's a masculine and feminine way of engaging. And there's a balance in all of us. And pathology will show up when someone only focuses or hyper focuses on one aspect of themselves, the more masculine aspect to the exclusion of the feminine aspect, or vice versa. And when someone becomes unbalanced in this way, it's a real struggle. They are confusing who they are. They're rejecting part of themselves that becomes the shadow, and they embrace this one aspect of themselves. And it leads to so much problem for themselves and everyone around them. So you can start to think about where you might see that in politics or in film and literature, where you're observing someone embrace sort of the hyper feminine or hyper masculine way of being while completely rejecting just the other part of who they are. And the fourth archetype that is classic and within all of us is the true self. And this is the part of you that becomes revealed to you over time. And it requires attention and nurturing and care and gentleness to embrace all of the parts of yourself so that you feel like your true self. And you can, you know, use the persona of the mask as you need to, but, you know, it's for a social purpose and it's not out of alignment with who you are. You're not pretending or faking anything. So those are the four classic archetypes persona, shadow, the balance between anima, animus and then the true self. And each archetype embodies these different facets of the human experience. There's nothing wrong with them. We could not exist without the persona. We could not exist without the shadow or the balance or the true self. These are just parts of how we are and how we develop, and the goal is to become more and more comfortable with the shadow and move it into the light. Embrace all of our qualities, the more masculine or more feminine aspects, and to embrace the true so. The collective unconscious is a truly remarkable way to understand human beings. Think of it as a reservoir of experiences that are inherited from our ancestors and sort of literally our genetic ancestors going back however many generations, but also the human ancestry. This is something we all share, and archetypes really do reside within the body. And so they're universal. We have a body. We are going to understand and relate to these archetypes. The collective unconscious is what houses these archetypes, these symbols, these deep understandings. And it makes them like accessible to all of us as human beings, regardless of our culture, regardless of our individual experience. There is a universality to ideas such as the mother, what a mother is, an offers or a queen, and what a queen can do when she's at her best. It also helps us understand when things aren't going so well, when people have become tricksters or destroyers or beggars or victims, it helps us understand what's happening to them and the people around them, and it also allows us to support one another. When we get kind of burdened by these archetypes and move into the shadow aspect of the archetypes, we can help one another out. And it helps an individual level and a collective whole world kind of level as well. So let me give you some examples of the collective unconscious versus our personal unconscious. Now a collective unconscious is the primordial aspects, the archetypal understanding of what something might be. So we have the heroine, and we can all understand what it means when someone is a heroine or a hero, and they are moving towards the positive aspects of contributing to the world, doing something brave, making sacrifice, moving towards a more just society, or taking care of someone on an individual level. We all inherently understand what that means. And then you might have a personal experience as a child where someone like literally saved you, they pulled you away from the street, or they caught you before you fell into something awful. There's this aspect that we have personal connection to someone who really does save us in that moment. You can think of people who have emotionally supported you, and you might think of them as a real hero. In that moment, they showed up for you when you needed it. You can think of people who do kind of incredible feats to save children who've fallen into the subway rails. There's a lot of examples of very dramatic things, and in interviews people usually say, I didn't think about it, I just acted. I just grabbed the child from the rail before the train came. There's not like a. Necessarily a personality that is a hero, although it does require a certain, um, feeling to come up in us to take this kind of action when the moment presents itself. So we all can relate to that idea of what a hero is. When it happens to you, then it's part of your personal experience as well as that archetypal experience. You can think of the mother and how you imagine a mother is quote unquote supposed to be. And when you think of a mother, you know, it's nurturing, caring, supportive, loving, kind, generous, and that may or may not line up with your own mother. But we have this archetypal image of what we think a mother should be. And many people struggle if their mothers are not this kind and generous kind of person to them, because we're comparing it to an archetypal idea of what we think that person should be. When we think about our own experiences with our mother the first five years of life we don't remember. That's the psychological birth of a child is at age five. So our unconscious memories of a childhood experience with our mother is a personal unconscious. The collective unconscious is the archetype. And I'll give you one more example. Any kind of religious symbol could be an unconscious personal or collective memory or experience, and the idea of a particular symbol. You might look at a Star of David across. The idea that the symbol that you see in any culture has deep relevance and meaning. Collectively, we can look at a religious symbol even if we're not familiar with it, and we kind of have a sense that it's important, then we have our own personal experience with it. You might have a personally positive experience with a religious employer, might have a personally negative experience, and those all interact. So the collective unconscious interacts with your personal unconscious. You can think about archetypes as influencing you. They exist within you and you can tap into them. So reflect on which archetypes do you most resonate with? I and I talk a lot about Wonder Woman is she is the warrior archetype, and she embodies someone who is on a quest. She is quietly achieving greatness, and she is making sacrifice for the greater good, right? She fights the Nazis. You can think about any of the archetypes the teacher, the artist, the healer, any of the ones that you like you can use to support you to help move you forward, to give you energy around something. And the archetypes that you dislike. I mentioned a couple like a trickster, a saboteur. Any of those archetypes we might want to reject. And if we're particularly disturbed by some of them, we know that that's part of our maybe shadow work that we want to do, or we've done some work around it and we want to, you know, kind of stay away from people who embody that. If you're confused and shocked by the things that are happening. The idea of using an archetype to understand so that it's not such a shock can be really, really helpful. It can give us a sense of soothing. The story becomes a little more predictable, and if you're familiar with the archetype of the trickster, that can help you understand what's happening in terms of leadership right now, the trickster is someone or some aspect of that person who's engaging in behavior that is transcending convention. It is so far outside of the bounds of usual or typical behavior. And the shadow side of engaging in this kind of behavior is manipulation of others, and it's using acts of duplicity. So this probably sounds familiar. However, there's a way that you can use this information to help you feel a little bit better when you come across a trickster and you experience someone who is engaging in this kind of behavior, you can learn from it by asking yourself, is there a space where I can do something unconventional? Is there maybe some ideas in this that will serve me and what I'm trying to accomplish? Can I start thinking outside of the box? Because a trickster is someone who definitely is surprising and taking twists and turns? And like I said, that shadowy aspect is really being duplicitous. Another aspect of what we're seeing at the national level is a saboteur. And that, of course, is someone who is sabotaging Tagging something and trying to take from others and destroy what is in existence. So the shadow attribute of the saboteur is really this ongoing engagement in what ultimately turns into self-destructive behavior. They're externalizing their self-destructive behavior, and ultimately it does turn into this internalized self-destruction. That desire to undermine others ultimately destroys them as well. So when you see this happening, you have some options of how to think about it. The saboteur can really highlight your own fear. All of our fear related to self-empowerment and any changes that empowerment might bring to our lives. Essentially, when you come across The Saboteur, your internal archetype can balance that out with the wish to understand your own sense of empowerment, protection. Justice. Heroism. The saboteur invites us to look at those other parts of ourselves. And so one way that we can really engage is to look at the archetype and see how we want to respond. The the only wrong direction is to freeze up and do nothing. The challenge is to look inside and see how do you want to respond and then take the action. Now, I'd also like to draw your attention to the archetypes that are healing and powerful and encouraging us and moving us in the right direction. One really powerful archetype that we can look for and embody ourselves is the servant. And the light attribute of a servant is really taking delight in serving others. And there are people in high ranking political office who do delight in the work that they do, and they feel empowered to serve the people, and those are the people that show up with a free and loving heart. And when we look to them, we have an internal reaction and we can bring out more of that archetype for our own self. And it's really powerful to make sure that we're looking at the people who are doing good things. Another archetype that I think is very helpful right now is the healer, and the light attributes of a healer are really a passion to serve others, much like the servant. But it's helping others repair their mind, their body, their spirit. And so you can see all kinds of people in many, many positions occupy the archetype of a healer. So it's not just a medical doctor or a therapist, it's a teacher, a nurse, a neighbor. It is all kinds of people who offer us something that will help. It could be a spiritual leader. It could be the pharmacist. There's many people that hold this role. And what they offer is knowledge, the ability to transform pain into healing. And so when we come across those people, it's really important we look for them. We say thank you, we appreciate them and see where we can pull some of that out of our own inner experience. Of the archetypes related specifically to being the healer. There's two more significant archetypes that I want to talk with you about, and one is the shapeshifter. And she is flexible. She has skills at navigating, and she can navigate through different levels of consciousness. So it's not about adding a bigger persona or another kind of mask to shift to fit in. It's not that at all. Shapeshifting is about psychological flexibility. The archetype of the shapeshifter is having the ability to see the potential in everything. It's shifting perspective. When all seems dark, the shapeshifter can see possibility and creativity in whatever's happening. The shapeshifter is someone we need to look towards, and when we see someone being flexible and adapting to changing circumstances, it's an invitation for us to engage in that way as well. How can we be flexible? How can we respond to what's happening in the moment, not how we wish it was happening in the moment? And the last archetype that I want to draw your attention to is the Samaritan. And it's really essential that we look for the Samaritans, and these are the people that are doing good, and they're helping others in particular. They're helping the people that others might choose to ignore. And when you see someone helping and they're they're talking about it, perhaps on social media or posting about it in some way, we want to appreciate them and not disparage them, because when someone shares the good deeds that they've been doing, it really, truly inspires others. And so we need to constantly look towards the people who are making contributions. And remember that Samaritan is reaching out and helping the people who would be ignored by others, or look down upon its people who are being the object of hate right now. The projection of some people's hate right now, and the the service we can do as a Samaritan means speaking up. It means educating ourselves. It means identifying the areas where we feel uncomfortable, or where we see problems, or people that we want to turn away from and learning more. It's the invitation to learn more instead of looking away. And the worst thing we can do right now is look away, numb out, engage in behaviors that lull us and dull us. It's really important that we keep looking to the women and men who are taking action in really creative ways, to make the world a better place. If you're unsure where to begin taking action. I encourage you to make some art that reflects your emotions, your feelings, and what it is that you need to know can become very clear in art making. You can engage in some journaling, and if you have a dislike of some groups of people, know that you can unlearn that, that it's not necessary to follow along. Uncomfortable thoughts to further uncomfortable thoughts that you can explore what feels stressful and uncomfortable and come to a better understanding. And so, leading away from the saboteur and moving more towards the shapeshifter and the healer and the healer of yourself. I also recommend reading, and I'm talking about books, not social media and not the news that you read and take in information about subjects where you want to grow personally, where you have a question, it's completely unnecessary to learn everything. So you're not trying to take on full knowledge of every aspect of every subject. But now's the time to take a deeper look at doing your own anti-racism work, understanding how homophobia and transphobia shows up in the world, and impacts all of us in deeply negative ways. That the fear of others is our own projection. It's our own fear that causes hate. So exploring bringing that to light for ourselves, exploring that in art, and learning about it through reading through conversations allows us a better chance of healing our own inner self and making the world a better place. It really is a gift to the world when we can offer our personal experience of understanding ourselves. And so we don't go into the world with a negative aspect. I hope you find the archetypes useful in your understanding of what's happening inside yourself and in the world, and that you will continually reorient to the archetypes that uplift you. When you are facing a person in front of you, or you're experiencing discrimination against you, or even in watching the news talking with family. You can learn from the people who are struggling, and you can activate these more positive archetypes within yourself to counterbalance the struggle that is playing out in front of us. Have a wonderful rest of your week. Now that you know about how to use your creativity, what will you create? Want more? Subscribe to the Modern Creative Woman digital magazine. Its absolute. Lutely free. And it comes out when some men and I know you can get a lot out of the podcast and the digital magazine. Yet when you're ready to take it to the next level, I want you to know you have options inside the membership. And if you're interested in a private consultation, please feel free to book a call with me. Even if you just have some questions, go ahead and book a call. My contact is in the show notes and you can always message me on Instagram. Do come find me in the Modern Creative Woman on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest at Doctor Amy Backus. If you like what you're hearing on the Modern Creative Woman podcast, I want to give you the scoop on how you can support the podcast. You can be an ambassador and share the podcast link with three of your friends. You can be a community supporter by leaving a five star review. If you think it's worth the five stars, and you can become a Gold Star supporter for as little as $3 a month, all those links are in the show notes. Remember to grab your free copy of the 21 Day Gratitude Challenge. The link is in the show notes and you can find it at Modern Creative Women. Com have a wonderful week and I cannot wait to talk with you in the next episode.