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

Rohr on the Warrior-Archetype; "Healing our Violence"

This daily meditation on the warrior archetype (click here) by Richard Rohr is valuable for both it's insights and as an example of how the language of archetypes and shadows is used to explore the inner (and outer) journey.

Dave

"Learning to Sign" - Pt I ... in the Name of the Father

(This prayer is part I of  praying the sign of the cross while linking the persons of the Trinity to the qualities of the archetypal energies.  In my imagination and configuration, God the Father is the magician or shaper)

In the name of the Father ...
The One who knows
Who is hidden,
the great Shaper ... creating out of beautiful chaos.
the One who heals the blind ...
for seeing is - in large measure - how we are healed.

To breathe and know who's breathing,

O Father, help me to see and to be and to breath,
fully, freely,

Unattached to life or death,
success or failure.

To be where nothing matters except being.

For an hour to rest ...
to put down my thinking,

Unattached to my own thoughts or judgments,
right or wrong,

For a few minutes maybe?
Imagine ... not having to solve anything.
To be in a place where nothing needs to be fixed,
nor managed, not thought about.

But it can all be.  As I can be.
Where right and wrong are real (maybe), but don't matter -
at least for a few minutes.

Where I stop categorizing and selecting parts of reality;
trying to change or exclude the ones I don't like -
preserving only the parts that suit me.

Where I let go of thinking,
of thoughts ...

Into the land of "no-need," Silence leads me.
I begin to feel more myself - though my 'I' is very much up in the air.

Yet, it seems odd ... to come into the Garden of Grace,
through the Father ... the Knower ...
and begin to surrender 'the knowing' ... the gift of thinking ... to let go of thoughts.

Still - it seems easy to do - natural --
this letting go ...
to where My Self is no longer connected to my cleverness and how right I am;
(or how wrong someone else is.)

To where I am freer than I knew was possible.

Could it be the Father ... the Shaper and Healer ... is more about letting go than knowing.

Is this my deeper Self ... the Father in me - with me ... letting go?

It's not even me that's doing the letting go.

Unbelievable, yet somehow true and plain to see.
My life is not really about me at all ...

So be it!  Amen!

... and in the name of the Son (to be continued)

From the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne

"Its not just about what you believe. Its about being real".
That was how Ray Simpson, our guest from the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne, began to tell of his journey to Christianity and priesthood.
We men were gathered with him over a potluck on the sunny, spring patio at St. Joe's as he told us of a series of events by which he was finally led to confront a distant and angry father. As a young man, searching for his way, Ray had been given several signs, as he called them, which guided him to that moment. The man to man confrontation led to a reconciliation with his father and set Ray on the course toward his life of ministry. "Its about being real".
     Ray, who afterwards became the "guardian" of the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne (residence of Sts. Aidan and Hilda and birthplace of Christianity in the UK) carried this insight into his lifelong exploration of Celtic Christianity. That vision, he told us, combined the cross with the circle, the sacrifice of Jesus with a divine love that embraced all.
    It was in that context that Ray discovered the 'teaching about the archetypes' (warrior, king, magician and lover). With the street noise fading in the background, Ray told us about his understanding of each of them: the warrior, driven to goal and purpose; the king embodying stability and in-gathering; the magician opening up the realms of knowledge and mysteries; and the lover, sensing and seeking union. Then he formed us in a circle and illustrated each dynamic with a yoga-like pose that we imitated. Each pose embodied a different energy and brought the archetype to life viscerally.
    Afterwards, we gathered inside and Ray showed us slides of the illustrations from the Lindisfarne Gospel (c. 600 AD) in which each of the evangelists was pictured. Here again he brought to life the force of the archetypes and talked about their symbolic meaning. In this gentle and very 'kingly' way, Ray provided the space for us to begin to unpack our own experience and speak about the strengths and weaknesses of the archetypal energies in our own lives.
     It was a very rich gathering. We are all grateful to Ray for his pilgrimage to us.

see also, the Post from Ray's visit ... Prayer Postures of the Archetypes

Archetypal Prayer Postures

Archetypal Prayer Postures 

I do mind–body exercises upon waking each day, and I recommend these. -- The Rev. Ray Simpson

1.  The Warrior … Start by stretching in a warrior-like crouch, arms stretched forward above the bent knee and say, 'I arise today in the strength of God the Warrior, the Creator, Initiator and Overcomer.' Let these words become your motivation.

2. The Shaper (Mystic / Healer) ... Touch your eyes and say, 'I arise today in the flow of the Shaper.' Make moving, supple body shapes that stretch, as a shaper, your seeing, sensing and connectivity.

3. The Lover ... As you say, 'I arise in the name of the Lover, with all my senses', crouch down and allow God's divine sensing to spread through each part of your being. Pray, 'God bless each thing my hands touch, each thing I think, each word I speak, each soul I meet until I reach my home.'
4. The King ... As you say 'I arise in the centredness of the King', stand with feet astride and hands stretched out. Encompass all, stand firm before any looming troubles, allow the quiet authority of the King of kings to reside in his royal child.

(blog note: Ray shared these with the men of the circle in June 2013 when he visited)

A Beautiful Walk ...

"A Beautiful Walk Inside You"

Through this veil

A lover sees a beautiful walk.

Reason says, There are only six

directions: north, east, south, west,

up and down. There is no way

out of those limits.

Love says, but I have 

many times escaped.

Reason comes to a market place

and begins haggling prices.

Love wanders away with other

business to transact, something 

to do with incomparable beauty.

There are secret things happening. 

god listens to whispers

and walks off the speaker's platform 

onto the scaffold. 

Dreg-drinkers have love perceptions

that reasonable men fiercely deny.

They say, we cannot go barefooted

in that courtyard. There is nothing but 

thorns through there. 

Love answers, The thorns are inside you.

Be silent, and pull out what hurts

from your loving's foot.

Then you will see gardens

with secluded rose bowers,

and they will all be inside you.

Shams [best friend] is the sun

obscured by this cloud of words.

Maybe he will burn the overcast off

and let love clear and brighten. 

                                           -- Rumi 

Translated by Coleman Barks

(contributed by Tosh)

Who is this king - by Rumi

Who is this king

That forms another king out of the ground,

Who for the sake of two beggars

Makes himself a beggar?

Who is this with his hand out 

Saying, Please give just a little,

So I can give you a kingdom.

He heals. He enlivens.

He tells the water to boil

And the steam to fade into air.

He makes the dying world eternal

His greatest alchemy

Is how he undoes the binding

That keeps love from breathing deep.

He loosens the chest.

With no tool he fashions where we live.

Do not grieve for your rusty, iron heart.

He will polish it to a steel mirror.

And as you are being lowered into the ground,

Closed away from friends, don’t cry.

He turns the ants and the snakes 

Into beautiful new companions.

Every second he changes cruelty 

To a loyal friendship.

Remember the proverb:

Eat the grapes, do not keep talking about the garden,

Eat the grapes.

From a rough stone ledge 

Come a hundred marble fountains.

Out of unconditional emptiness

Comes this planet with all its qualities.

Lake water over there,

Out of one huge NO

Comes a chorus of yeses.

Rivers of light flow from human eyes,

And consider your ears, where language

Alchemizes into amber.

He gives the soul a house, 

Then another and another.

He descends into dirt

And makes it majesty.

Be silent now.

Say fewer and fewer praise poems.

Let yourself become living poetry. 

rumi