Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine: King, Warrior, Magician...

Luis Miguel

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I wanted to recommend this book, it has been very helpful to say the least. It's a short reading, but it takes some time to process.

I found this book after wondering for a long time about the positive aspects of the male role or archetype after some confusion on how to integrate rejected or overlooked aspects of my own psyche. I found the book after an interesting dream that made me realize this and pointed me in the right direction, so to speak. This was the fist book that I found after searching about this topic.

Due to our default cultural programming in the West, related to postmodernism and radical liberal views, we could have a wrong conception about certain aspects of masculinity, we have movements as radical feminism, that focus on the negative aspects of the "patriarchy" or the masculine archetype, that can mess with finding and developing a true trascendental gender identity that lead us to a balanced and intimate relationship with ourselves, others and life itself; and of course, to the "face of god/archetype" that we represent in this life. At the same time, some of us have not have the chance to have a male role at all or had a weak and/or unbalanced one that leave some voids in our personality. Sometimes the mother alone actually plays a dual role to help the child develop the duality within, but still there are some aspect that the mother figure cannot impact, so we start absorbing a lot of information about "how to be a man" in automatic from our environment, and some of those behavioral patterns, personality traits and habits turn out to be detrimental in our adult life because they tend to be incomplete, skewed or immature. This has been and still is a great adventure of self discovery, and at the same time it has helped me to understanding this "force" out there too. It helps to lay out a clear and understandable map of the masculine psyche.

Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine: King, Warrior, Magician and Lover

"Man must overcome losing father and find the "king" within."

This book explores how internal psychic structures of masculinity can lead to healthy or destructive behaviors. Authors Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, through personal and anecdotal experience, discuss the vast manifestations of these primal and prevalent archetypes in the lives of boys and men today. In the book the concepts of each archetype are explained thoroughly. They are illustrated with examples ranging across many cultures, religions, and philosophies throughout history.

This decoding of what Jung called the “double quaternio” builds on Jung’s understanding of the archetypal Self, but extends our grasp of inner geography beyond Jung’s work by clearly delineating not only the psychological contents and potentials imaged in the “four quarters,” but also the two fundamental dialectical oppositions built into the dynamics of the deep self: King, Magician, Lover and Warrior.

Topics:

• The dysfunction of main-stream patriarchy
• Boy Vs Man psychology
• Immature archetypal structures; The Precocious Child, Oedipal Child, Divine Child, and Hero
• Mature archetypal structures; The King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover
• The cultural, religious, and philosophical background of each archetype
• How to access the archetypes

• Do you know what sacred masculinity in its fullness is about?
• Can you identify your behaviors and actions that are immature, and why you act them out?
• Are you able to access each archetype when the situation calls for it?

In order for Man psychology to come into being for any particular man, there needs to be a death. Death—symbolic, psychological, or spiritual—is always a vital part of any initiatory ritual. In psychological terms, the boy Ego must “die.” The old ways of being and doing and thinking and feeling must ritually “die,” before the new man can emerge. "Pseudo-initiation", though placing some curbs on the boy Ego, often amplifies the Ego’s striving for power and control in a new form, an adolescent form regulated by other adolescents. Effective, transformative initiation absolutely slays the Ego and its desires in its old form to resurrect it with a new, subordinate relationship to a previously unknown power or center. Submission to the power of the mature masculine energies always brings forth a new masculine personality that is marked by calm, compassion, clarity of vision, and generativity. Truly deep and rooted masculinity is not abusive nor weak.

We can look at family systems and see the breakdown of the traditional family. More and more families display the sorry fact of the disappearing father, which disappearance, through either emotional or physical abandonment, or both, wreaks psychological devastation on the children of both sexes. The weak or absent father cripples both his daughters’ and his sons’ ability to achieve their own gender identity and to relate in an intimate and positive way with themselves and members both of their own sex and the opposite sex.

The drug dealer, the ducking and diving political leader, the wife beater, the chronically “crabby” boss, the “hot shot” junior executive, the unfaithful husband, the company “yes man,” the indifferent graduate school adviser, the “holier than thou” minister, the gang member, the father who can never find the time to attend his daughter’s school programs, the coach who ridicules his star athletes, the therapist who unconsciously attacks his clients’ “shining” and seeks a kind of gray normalcy for them, the yuppie—all these men have something in common. They are all boys pretending to be men. They got that way honestly, because nobody showed them what a mature man is like. Their kind of “manhood” is a pretense to manhood that goes largely undetected as such by most of us. We are continually mistaking this man’s controlling, threatening, and hostile behaviors for strength. In reality, he is showing an underlying extreme vulnerability and weakness, the vulnerability of the wounded boy.

The devastating fact is that most men are fixated at an immature level of development. These early developmental levels are governed by the inner blueprints appropriate to boyhood. When they are allowed to rule what should be adulthood, when the archetypes of boyhood are not built upon and transcended by the Ego’s appropriate accessing of the archetypes of mature masculinity, they cause us to act out of our hidden (to us, but seldom to others) boyishness. We often talk with affection about boyishness in our culture. The truth is that the boy in each of us—when he is in his appropriate place in our lives—is the source of playfulness, of pleasure, of fun, of energy, of a kind of open-mindedness, that is ready for adventure and for the future. But there is another kind of boyishness that remains infantile in our interactions within ourselves and with others when manhood is required.

We found, as these men sought their own experience of masculine structures through meditation, prayer, and what Jungians call active imagination, that as they got more and more in touch with the inner archetypes of mature masculinity, they were increasingly able to let go of their "patriarchal" self and other wounding thought, feeling, and behavior patterns and become more genuinely strong, centered, and generative toward themselves and others - both women and men.

We hear it said of some man that “he just can’t get himself together.” What this means, on a deep level, is that so-and-so is not experiencing, and cannot experience, his deep cohesive structures. He is fragmented; various parts of his personality are split off from each other and leading fairly independent and often chaotic lives. A man who “cannot get it together” is a man who has probably not had the opportunity to undergo ritual initiation into the deep structures of manhood. He remains a boy—not because he wants to, but because no one has shown him the way to transform his boy energies into man energies. No one has led him into direct and healing experiences of the inner world of the masculine potentials.

The King:

• Dis-identify our Egos from The King, keep cognitive distance.
• Recognize and bless others; their talents and beauty.
• Commit and honor a transpersonal devotion.
• Be generative and encourage growth.

The Warrior:

• Be energetic, decisive, courageous, enduring, persevering, and loyal.
• Care for ourselves and others.
• Show warmth, compassion, and appreciation.
• Fight good fights to make the world a better place for everyone

The Magician:

• Seek clarity, deep understanding and reflection of ourselves and others.
• Apply technical skill in our outer work, and in our inner handling of psychological forces.
• Regulate and control the energies of the other archetypes.

The Lover:

• Feel related, connected, alive, enthusiastic, compassionate, empathetic, and energized.
• Have romance about our lives, our goals, our work, and our accomplishments.
• Find the spontaneity and joy of life inside ourselves.

If contemporary men can take the task of their own initiation from Boyhood to Manhood as seriously as did their tribal forebears, then we may witness the end of the beginning of our species, instead of the beginning of the end. - Moore & Gillette

The exercises at the end are very helpful, specially the meditation that can be practiced as the meditation with a seed suggested by Laura and the Cs in the 29/08/15 session.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscovering/dp/0062506064

I found a couple of summaries that are attached to this message, and the audio here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1523brduw4
 

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Thanks a lot Luis!

I've read this book and found it very eye opening. The concepts presented therein were of particular importance to me. They mapped it out in a very comprehensive manner and that helps a lot. Specially interesting to me was the fact that none of these archetypes should work without aspects of the other. An unbalanced activation of these will lead to, in most cases, identification with their negative aspect.

Also, I truly liked how they clarified the role of a mature masculine and how distorted it is in popular culture. We're being told we live in a patriarchy that is controlled by the aspects of masculinity. But what the authors posit is that the solution to this is not a purging of the masculine aspects of culture but rather a recognition of the fact that the aspects in control in the world as precisely these immature masculine ones.

Mature masculine aspects are actually described as being quite calm and protective. And not aggressive and violent. Their thesis to a possible solution is for men to embrace and embody these aspects.

All in all a great read and left me with much to ponder about!
 
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Another interesting aspect of their work is that for me it explained something I had been questioning for a long time.

The depiction of hero stories in modern culture and their popularity. It helped me understand the connection between the hero (immature aspect) and the warrior (mature aspect). According to them, the hero's role in the life of a man is to break away from the mother and become its own individual being. This requires a certain belief of inafilibilty and a self centered approach to life. The hero, according to them, wants to succeed in conquering the unconquerable tasks for his own glory.

A warrior is committed to a goal beyond himself, and unlike the hero, a warrior is completely aware of his vulnerability and his mortality. He knows he's not infalible and possesses limitations. A warrior is selfless and strategic.

Optimally the end of the heroic stories is the death of the hero and the birth of the warrior. In a passage from selfish heroism to selfless commitment to higher goals in a conscious manner. There's a discussion about the shadows of the warrior which is fantastic. And the need for the warrior to have a connection to the king, the lover and the magician in order to escape this shadow.

But what I realized was that, perhaps, the current fixation in modern culture to hero movies (besides their marketing and profitability) could be a reflection of the state of society. In other words, our psyches as a whole are so fixated in this stage of selfish ego centered behavior, that popular movies become so, due to us seeing ourselves reflected in them. We see a lot of movies of heroes but rarely do we see one of warriors.

Just my two cents here, once again.. very estimulating read..:)
 
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Alejo said:
Another interesting aspect of their work is that for me it explained something I had been questioning for a long time.

The depiction of hero stories in modern culture and their popularity. It helped me understand the connection between the hero (immature aspect) and the warrior (mature aspect). According to them, the hero's role in the life of a man is to break away from the mother and become its own individual being. This requires a certain belief of inafilibilty and a self centered approach to life. The hero, according to them, wants to succeed in conquering the unconquerable tasks for his own glory.

A warrior is committed to a goal beyond himself, and unlike the hero, a warrior is completely aware of his vulnerability and his mortality. He knows he's not infalible and possesses limitations. A warrior is selfless and strategic.

Optimally the end of the heroic stories is the death of the hero and the birth of the warrior. In a passage from selfish heroism to selfless commitment to higher goals in a conscious manner. There's a discussion about the shadows of the warrior which is fantastic. And the need for the warrior to have a connection to the king, the lover and the magician in order to escape this shadow.

Interesting. In their schema, do the authors say or imply that one needs to pass through the "hero" stage before one can potentially reach the "warrior" stage?
 
obyvatel said:
Alejo said:
Another interesting aspect of their work is that for me it explained something I had been questioning for a long time.

The depiction of hero stories in modern culture and their popularity. It helped me understand the connection between the hero (immature aspect) and the warrior (mature aspect). According to them, the hero's role in the life of a man is to break away from the mother and become its own individual being. This requires a certain belief of inafilibilty and a self centered approach to life. The hero, according to them, wants to succeed in conquering the unconquerable tasks for his own glory.

A warrior is committed to a goal beyond himself, and unlike the hero, a warrior is completely aware of his vulnerability and his mortality. He knows he's not infalible and possesses limitations. A warrior is selfless and strategic.

Optimally the end of the heroic stories is the death of the hero and the birth of the warrior. In a passage from selfish heroism to selfless commitment to higher goals in a conscious manner. There's a discussion about the shadows of the warrior which is fantastic. And the need for the warrior to have a connection to the king, the lover and the magician in order to escape this shadow.

Interesting. In their schema, do the authors say or imply that one needs to pass through the "hero" stage before one can potentially reach the "warrior" stage?

Yes, from what I was able to gather it appeared that out of all the immature archetypes the hero (while also originating in childhood) is the one meant to take the child through adolescence into adulthood. All other immature archetypes seem based on remaining a child. The hero is the teenager who leaves home to take on adventure feeling like nothing could stop him.

This should end in (hopefully) becoming a responsible adult after experiencing the innevitable loss that comes from feeling like one can't loose anything.

The hero is described as this bridge between stages of maturity.
 
I've recently been struggling to find a method to let go of immature energies and to reconnect the fragments of my mind or personality and to establish myself as a proper father and husband. Instead of perpetuating myself as a selfish prisoner of circumstance I am now seeing my situation as a collection of urgent blessings.

It's been a painful process so far as I don't even know what my father even looks like and have never had anyone fulfill that role in my development.

This material helps me feel less alone as I endure the journey.

Thank you very much.
 
Alejo said:
Yes, from what I was able to gather it appeared that out of all the immature archetypes the hero (while also originating in childhood) is the one meant to take the child through adolescence into adulthood. All other immature archetypes seem based on remaining a child. The hero is the teenager who leaves home to take on adventure feeling like nothing could stop him.

This should end in (hopefully) becoming a responsible adult after experiencing the innevitable loss that comes from feeling like one can't loose anything.

The hero is described as this bridge between stages of maturity.

Thanks for the confirmation, Alejo.

Jung wrote about the process of individuation. Individuation is a psychological process of inner growth. The "hero archetype" can be operational in the first forays into the realm of the unconscious which mark the beginning of individuation. So, it can appear as a somewhat childish or immature attitude towards life and the world. But the marked feature of the hero is a psychological "élan vital" - a high degree of directed energetic aliveness. This is the feature that provides the impetus to go forth beyond the comforts and safety of the known and venture into the unknown. And it necessarily challenges the cultural status quo. Sure it makes mistakes - but if the process is on-course, the mistakes are necessary at some level to cure the psyche of various neuroses and make a deeper journey possible. Without the hero, the process of individuation cannot start.

Leaving the mother's house (for men) is an outer reflection of this inner process. Like many complex processes, this one also does not progress linearly but is more like a spiral. But progress is not guaranteed and the spiral can very well stagnate into a circle at any stage. For example, one may take the heroic step to leave one's house after coming of age and be physically away from the mother - but still be dominated by the mother in important aspects of life. Sometimes, mother is replaced by wife and similar dynamics play out at a different level through a different relationship. Sometimes, a different new person/ideology/group replaces the old mother. There may be a period of growth but then the process can again stagnate unless taken to the next level. And to progress to the next level, the hero is needed again. The hero matures with psychological maturity but as stated earlier, what characterizes the hero is its psychological "élan vital", its ardency. Without the hero the individuation process stagnates.

There is no consistent and beneficial accessing of deeper archetypes of the unconscious without a corresponding progress of the individuation process. This is an empirical psychological finding of Carl Jung and his close associate Marie Von Franz. This finding is contrary to the concept of "accessing archetypes" in the work of some later authors which appear to imply that archetypes are at the beck and call of human desire. Need some "magician" or "warrior" in your life - bring it on by following the steps X, Y, Z. At best, such approaches can most likely bring about a caricature or poor imitation of something far deeper and richer. This is something to be weary of.

The particular book in question in this thread may not belong to the latter category based on Alejo's input. Still, I hope this input can be helpful in processing the information contained in the book.

For anyone sufficiently interested in the background source which informs this input, I would suggest

- "Man and his symbols" by Jung and others. The essays of Jung and Von Franz especially the latter's treatment of the individuation process are essential to the topic.

After reading the above, if someone is still interested in the topic of individuation and is open to a psychological treatment of stories, I would suggest

- "Individuation in fairy tales" by Marie Von Franz.

fwiw
 
Hi everyone,

I was browsing youtube today and ran across these that, to a certain extent, discuss the book mentioned in this thread in an interesting manner. There's a few overlays that sound rather newagey but I found it interesting nonetheless, and I figured I'd share them with you.

For your consideration:

 
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