Archetypes and Movement, by R. Black

KING – WARRIOR – MAGICIAN – LOVER

The King, Warrior, Magician and Lover archetypes are the clothing we put on forces that motivate us. Recurrent throughout human history and evocative they can help bring to consciousness and imaginatively work to bring harmony to the dark and complex, if not chaotic, swirls of energy that possess us.

We are human. There is a body or soma involved, the embrace of which is far more central to what that means than a lot of our western religion and spirituality has allowed for during the past 2,000 years, and which certainly seems to be increasingly hedged in confined and abused by our technological and consumer culture.

I consider the archetypes as an interactive complexity. In John Ralston Saul’s book ‘On Equilibrium’ he considers six other qualities of human meaning: Common Sense, Ethics, Imagination, Intuition, Memory and Reason, none of which, he points out, can be defined in reference to themselves but only through the interplay with the other five. In the same way, the complexity of the dance among the archetypes gives them meaning vibrancy and life. Any one of them by itself would close down the others and itself dissolve into tyranny and human uselessness.

“Movement is Life” is an osteopathic aphorism. It is true that consciousness can and does exist in severely paralyzed bodies and even in bodies in coma, neither of which are states that we deem desirable for a greater and more creative expression of our humanity. It is with that expression in mind that I apply the archetypes to movement, to marry soma and psyche.

Fundamentals of movement such as: Connection, Spring, Direction, Synchronicity, Opposition (the progressive conservative principle) etc. need to be embodied, beginning with Awareness. So, what do the archetypes have to do with this?

There is harmony in the kingdom when the King energy is present. But the King is present when there is harmony or he is fighting for his kingdom.  But if he has abdicated and/or is in exile; the soma flounders and is weak.

With the Warrior energy there is discipline and application without which improper use or abuse arises, and the soma suffers.

The Magician energy provides the creativity and imagination and inspiration with which to explore and develop in ways that can lead to change, future and greater vision. Without the Magician’s vision the soma starts getting dragged around, stultifies and is diminished.

The Lover energy is probably the most closely associated with the soma. It experiences, feels and enjoys the movement of its sensory self which is the dance of the erotic.  Without the Lover energy the life ebbs out of the soma.

By Robert Black, 29 February 2016