So, the King is the last of the four major Masculine archetypes I’ve been describing in this series of articles…. In a world that has grappled continuously with the reigns of kings, queens, emperors, empresses, chiefs and lords and ladies for millennia, this archetype is perhaps the most charged of the lot. A lover, a warrior and a magician all have their parts to play, but the king… well the king is so grandiose in it’s scope that it is often bewildering to even approach the idea of a mature and healthy embodiment of this archetypal energy.
At it’s most basic level of application, the King archetype ultimately has nothing to do with all those world leaders that have filled the history books and current day news headlines, and everything to do with personal sovereignty. And achieving personal sovereignty, though it has long been a part of the human experience, actually entails a few important skills to embrace and actualize in human life.
To begin, I would reference my blog post on the Five Freedoms. To be fully alive and well in your mature expression of your King (or Queen) energy, the instruction is that you need first to become well acquainted with your Five Freedoms, and own them. The freedom to Perceive, to Think, to Feel, to Desire and to Chose are at the root of your personal sovereignty. And are essential to affirm and empower.
Now the problem is the living in relations with others, we are almost always at odds to one degree or another on perceptions, thoughts, feelings, desires and choices. So the quest is how to come to a healthy dialogue and reconciliation of differing points of view. This is truly a high art, and necessary for any one who wishes to embody and cultivate a mature sovereign energy.
When this is challenged, or the abilities are not yet developed, two very deep shadows can show themselves. These are the Tyrant and the Abdicator. If you are uncomfortable in another person expressing their sovereignty because it appears to be so oppose to your own, you may engage in the proverbial power struggle, where you act to enforce your perceptions, thought, feeling, desires and choices upon them. This is a classic tyrant, who can end up oppressing all other’s individual expression. If they gain enough power, they succeed in moving their own agenda forward through shear will and force.
The other side of this coin is to simply abdicate your own power, and allow the perceptions, thoughts, feelings, desires and choices of others rule your day. This is a sad choice, because you end up going down the road of never getting your own needs met. And at the same time, you may end up blaming others for your poor experiences. Of course, you were the one who brought it on yourself all along.
The King archetype with its shadows of Tryant and Abdicator falls right into the Drama triangle of Victim, Perpetrator, Savior. IT is a very slippery slope. In my own experience this has shown up in times when I have not felt competent at a given task. Because I was persecuted as a child for any sign of incompetence, I learned to see incompetence as bad, Rather than being able to admit my incompetence and then begin to take measured tasks to gain competency, instead I would have to hid the fact that I was incompetent, and then pretend that I was. My pretender self became very adept at fooling people. The good thing was that it took the heat off me in my childhood. The bad thing is, it is ultimately maladaptive, because the original sought after skill is never fully attained.
It is only through not subjugating yourself to a tyrant, and not ignoring the need for growth that we can walk solidly forward on the path of the five freedoms, and ultimately to the development of a mature personal sovereignty. This is the gif tot he mature King archetype, coming fully into your personal power, with truth as your guide, and no need to lord over others as a tyrant, or to succumb to other’s dictates and then end up in a blame game.
Best of wishes to you, as you move forward on your path of growth. May a mature and happy personal sovereignty be yours!
Matthew Sweigart
Please plan to join me in one of my upcoming trainings, and put these lessons to use in your life!
