Four Survival!

That’s NOT a spelling error! I meant foUr!

In Caroline Myss’ book, Sacred Contracts, Myss starts off the process of discovering my Archetypes by saying that we all share the same basic four. Now as I read what she called them I really had to keep an open mind. I’m asking you to do the same. They are Archetypes that are very active right from childhood.

These four are:

1. The Child
2. The Victim
3. The Saboteur
4. The Prostitute

Now, probably like you I wasn’t overly thrilled beyond number one! But Myss goes on to say that you can call them whatever you want. These are the names that she gave because she felt that they made sense. And now that I’ve done the work I understand the titles more and agree.

Keep in mind that these Archetypes are parts of your inner self. They are energies within our own psyche.

The Child represents innocence. We who grew up in the 70’s heard tons about searching out our inner child and getting in touch with our inner child. Unfortunately society painted the inner child is a place of victimhood. This is NOT what we are going to do here. The Child Archetype, as I understand it, is that part of us that represents the innocent, naive, playful, in need of direction energy. Children are born. I have to say here that I do not believe that we are born into sin as some would have us believe. Have you looked at a newborn lately? That innocent little life! That little bundle of joy needs us to care for him/her. It a few years before they start to show that side of them which some call sinful. And even then, is it? Or is it learning about the world around him. Learning to push boundaries so that she can grow up strong and independent? Yes, as we age we learn to do things that are not desirable. We learned to hurt others – our siblings first, if we had any. We learned to steal. We learned to be prejudice (likely from our parents).

A child must be brought up in a way that is going to bring about a strong adult. A child must be shown compassion in order to show it to others. A child must be led by the hand and told not to put his hand on the stove or herself in harm’s way. That is the job of the parent and the surrounding community. Although the nuclear family seems to have dumped it all on the parent with very little support from the community as in days past.

As this Child Archetype matures, he can become a magical Child, or Divine Child, or perhaps the Wounded Child, or the Orphaned Child. Some children never seem to grow up so they remain the Eternal Child.

Miss goes on to say that each Archetype (facet of our own personhood) has a Light side and a Shadow side. Now I bet, because of the way I phrased it you automatically connected the Eternal Child with those guys who just never grow up and always need a mommy to take care of them. And you are partly correct! But that’s just the shadow side. The Eternal Child who remains in the Light becomes that innocent adult. Perhaps the one who sees everything through rose-coloured glasses. Perhaps that person who seems to possess a childlike faith. Perhaps that person who seems to so easily identify with children and no matter when or where he gets right down on the floor, in his tux, and plays with the little child needing some attention.

The Magical Child, is somewhat similar. She can have a faith beyond compare. She can conjure up anything good that she needs. She is delightful to be around, because her child loves to play with magic (the unexplainable).

What about the Wounded Child? Well that has a Light and Shadow as well. My Wounded Child, when I discovered him back in 2000 doing some introspective counselling was the little boy, James, sitting in a dark corner holding on to his teddy bear, crying, terrified, abused, bruised and bleeding. And that’s okay…well sort of. No child should ever have to endure abuse of any kind. No child should ever need to feel terror. The shadow wounded child, I used to make excuses for behaviour. Oh, I’m not very tolerant of that because my mommy used to beat me. Or I am afraid to show myself to the other boys in the shower because so-and-so molested me! I entered into a dialogue of woundology which back them seemed to be acceptable. If we could blame our bad behaviours on someone else legitimately then why not? I’ll tell you why not! It’s because that kind of blaming creates a sinkhole in our souls. We get sucked into it. We allow our lives to come from a place of victimhood. We join ‘support groups’. I’m not a fan of support groups to be honest. Yes! There are some excellent ones out there. But they are groups that should spurn you on into adulthood causing you to take your own behaviours and claim them for what they are…your choices! Not the devil made me do it! Too many of the support groups promote woundology and keep you sick. Is that how you want to be supported? Do you want your child to remain in that dark corner, powerless and crying. If so, all the power…or powerlessness to you! I’m a big boy now! Well that was a bit of a rant!

This Child Archetype has a wonderful side. He is the innocent one. She is the faithful one. He is the Archetype that warns you when someone is about to stomp all over your life and hurt you. She is the one that tells you to get off your ass and go play on the floor with the kids…or the adults!

The Shadow Child Archetype is the child from two paragraphs ago. The one who wants you to feel powerless because the world (adults) is a terrifying place. He is the one who will rant and yell and stomp his feet until he gets his candy (or way at work). She is the one who engages in woundology behaviour and totally disempowers you.

We all have the Child Archetype. And for Light or shadow, we have engaged that child in a variety of ways both to serve us positively or to disempower us.

What is your Child Archetype up to?

Next week: The Victim

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