March 20 Archetypes

Martha posted this comment on March 16:
I tried to read your blogs on the archetypes but the feminist in me finds the Warrior, Wizard, Hero all so very wearisomely male. Being a pagan I prefer the traditional pagan Maiden, Mother, & Crone. When you return from your rest you might give them some thought. They are so in keeping with the concept of peace...

Thanks for bringing this up, Martha. It raises some important issues. Archetypes are only useful if we find them helpful, and we don’t all find meaning in the same way.
For me, they can be of value in a couple of ways. They can be descriptive, allowing us to recognize the pattern we have been following. (“Oh, so that’s what I’ve been doing.”) Or they can serve as a guide, a model for ways we can make our lives different.
The reason the Warrior seems so tedious to many of us is that the world is in the grip of the shadow Warrior. We have done it to death, over and over, and we don’t seem to be learning its lessons. I suspect that you are looking for the same thing I am looking for; a way to move on.
I see two different groups of people who might be interested. One group would be those who can see the downside of the Warrior and want something different. Your suggestion of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone may be what they are looking for.
I am not as worried about that group. Those who are looking will probably find what they need, sooner or later. The group I am more concerned about are those who are stuck in the Warrior. For those who believe the Warrior is the top of the Winner Ladder, there is nothing beyond. For them, this is the highest one can aspire to, to spend every day trying desperately not to be a loser. They believe they have no choice but to always fight: every dragon must be slain. And since Warriors run most of our institutions and our businesses, what they do affects all of us.
I don’t think the answer is to give up being a Warrior or never learn Warrior skills. That leads to living in fear – fear of bullies or anyone who is strong and threatens. The journey calls us to move through the Warrior, while retaining Warrior skills.
Carol Pearson prefers to use gender-neutral language for her archetypal framework. I agree with this strategy. I believe men’s and women’s journeys are becoming more and more similar as time goes along, and while they are not identical, the resulting wisdom is universal. You might prefer Pearson’s more in-depth framework of 12 archetypes in Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World: the Innocent, Orphan, Seeker, Lover, Creator, Destroyer, Warrior, Caregiver, Magician, Sage, Ruler, and Jester.
Most men would not identify with the archetypes of the Maiden, Mother and Crone. Nor would a woman in midlife who does not have children or who has to multitask, dealing with a Warrior-world job and other stresses. The Crone has an image problem. We associate it with being physically unattractive – the Halloween cartoon witch. Even the Mother archetype has a shadow side: think of the nosy, domineering mother, or the Texas mother who tried to murder her daughter’s cheerleading rival.
I prefer to use a framework that has more general appeal, and particularly one that makes sense to those stuck in the shadow Warrior. And I think we need to understand the Warrior in order to move beyond it.
It is not my intent to turn this into a Jungian theory blog, and I promise to get back to more practical posts. But you raise some good points. I hope my response is helpful.