One of the wonders of exploring with clients the intricate inner patterns that live within them is the deep rich dive into the archetypes that dance through each person. An archetypal view of oneself allows you to pull back from a close narrow focus to a wide helicopter view of your life. In that free open space you see how the archetypes present in your life arrange your day, pick your love interest and even clothe you as it will be a dominant archetype choosing your wardrobe!
Archetypes choose different facets to manifest through at different times of your life. I live in a small seaside town and an archetype I get to notice a lot in our local population is one that I would call the Scavenger. The Scavenger has many faces and at its most romantic is the Beachcomber, a free spirit that wanders the beaches picking up smooth sea glass, interestingly shaped weeds and branches, or little gems of seashells. There is a lot of creativity in this facet of the archetype when the pickings are used to create beautiful weavings, pots, jewellery or decorate buildings. These creations often seem to shine with the relationship and joy of the beachcomber with the sea, waves and sky.
In today’s ecological climate this archetype may become politicised and the Beachcomber becomes the Recycler picking up the rubbish as well as the pretty and interesting jetsam and flotsam on the sea edge. A certain harder, darker energy can sometimes come in and the recycler becomes obsessed with picking up every single bit of rubbish. Or turning all that rubbish into something that can be made into a replacement of a non-sustainable material that society in their eyes categorically must use instead. But often that is just a dream or very hard to manifest and so the collection grows and grows, taking over space both in terms of physical storage space and inner space.
The Recycler then begins to share similarities with the Hoarder. The Hoarder is one I see a lot amongst the older population of my town. In this case every piece of paper, every magazine, every birthday present, every gadget and every gidget is collected and stored. Again, as the collection grows it takes over the cupboards, the drawers, the garages, and indeed eventually every room in the home. Both the home and the psyche have been invaded and taken over.
The Hoarder and the obsessive Recycler share the aspect of both outer and inner space being consumed by their collection of stuff. The Recycler finds they spend more time categorising and moving their collection around to fit everything into the storage space than actually recycling. The Hoarder is hoarding oftentimes out of fear and as the collection becomes ever larger, they find themselves with less and less energy to engage with the world and this reinforces that very fear. For both archetypes the engagement and focus on collection and hoarding consumes all the creative energy leaving nothing much to engage life with, to express our creativity, or explore and make known the unknown. These facets of the Scavenger archetype are illustrative example of the reason why all spiritual traditions ask us to be mindful on what we place your attention on and to practice a certain detachment rather than a fierce attachment to things.
There are other facets to the Scavenger archetype, the wanderer, the forager, the vagrant, the vagabond, and I could go on and on. And they all live in my little town!
The facets to all archetypes are many and fascinating. So come and explore the ones in your life with me. You will enjoy the conversation I promise. Book an appointment now!