When we suffer a loss and find ourselves adrift, the Orphan archetype is prominent in our lives. We may feel abandoned or betrayed, thrown out of our comfort zone. Maybe we trusted someone who let us down, or the perfect job turns out to be awful. Perhaps we lose money on a house or a business.
We have this idea that life should be smooth, that if we have problems we have done something wrong. But all of us have wounds of some sort, and the wound is what propels us onto the spiritual journey.
The Orphan teaches us to be more realistic and to trust wisely. We learn that we can take what life dishes out, that we can survive the problems and the dramas and still be standing. We learn that we must each be responsible for our own happiness; if we entrust our happiness entirely to someone else, they will sometimes let us down.
Those caught in the shadow side of the Orphan remain caught up in anger and bitterness and never grow beyond the loss. Those who remain stuck in the pain pay the price of the Orphan journey without collecting its gifts.
The journey out of the loss may be long. It may be that you don’t recover from the loss in the sense of returning to who you were before, but move forward into something new, something you have never been before. The problem, the loss, allows you to move ahead and live a larger life.
Peace is not living forever in the Garden of Eden. Peace in this world is knowing that you can handle what will come along in the future.
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