Seven Male Archetypes
In myths and stories, we come across the same types over and over in different shapes and guises. They are so-called archetypes, certain structures of the psyche that form a close connection with each other. It is a package of human qualities that, beneath the surface of everyday life, stripped of nuances and personal variations, always take the same form. These types appear in different cultures and religions, sometimes under different names or other types of characterizations.
As a starting point for The Return of the King , I used seven male archetypes, which are common in Western mythology. They are the saint, the magician, the jester, the king, the warrior, the lover, and the wild man. Seven types, which by their character, their function, and their symbols, reflect seven different aspects of the male psyche.
The Seven Chakras
In Eastern traditions, there is a different type of character that has slowly become established in the Western world and bears similarities to the seven archetypes. It is the system of the seven chakras, seven energy centers that are connected to a specific place in the body. These seven energy centers lie on the crown-to-coccyx axis, starting at the crown or crown chakra, then the third eye, the throat chakra, the heart chakra, the solar plexus, the navel chakra, and finally the root chakra to be more present in your body” href=”https://www.gogohood.com/this-way-you-can-open-your-root-chakra-to-be/”>root chakra.
In recent years I have learned more and more to see the connection between both types of classification, between the Eastern approach based on the body, and the Western more psychological approach. I found that the seven archetypes correspond exactly to the functions of the seven chakras. The psyche is mirrored in the body and vice versa.
The overview below outlines the parallels between the two classifications.
| Archetype
1 The Wild Man 2 The lover 3 The Warrior 4 The King 5 The Nar 6 The Magician 7 The Saint |
chakra
root chakra navel chakra throat chakra third eye crown chakra |
Function
grounding, authority Feeling, creativity Power, action Love, leadership Communication Vision, insight Inspiration, divine guidance |
What type do you recognize yourself in?
1. The Wild Man – Root Chakra
The wild man is an initiator; he is the one who can initiate a man into his connection with the earth, and who leads him to his inner nature. He takes young people away from their mothers, takes them into nature, and brings them to their own roots. His wildness refers not so much to ferocity, but to his inner wild nature.
2. The lover – navel chakra
The second chakra, just below the navel, stands for everything that has to do with emotional life. It is the energy of the lover, the lover and concerns food, enjoyment, sex, creativity and playfulness, but also emotions such as sadness, anger, hatred, jealousy. Unlike the warrior’s fiery energy, this energy is fluid and mobile, corresponding to the element of water. It is the energy that nourishes the creative side of life.
3. The Warrior – Solar Plexus
The warrior archetype stands for action and power and for guarding borders. This archetype corresponds to the third chakra, also called the solar plexus. The warrior is symbolized in modern society by the soldier. But it is also the manager who fights for his job and goes to work in his ‘armor’, or the sportsman who fights for victory.
4. The King – Heart Chakra
The archetype of the king symbolizes the heart and love. Not romantic love, but the love that creates harmony and order, that is just, compassionate, and knows how to act; active love. The heart chakra is the center of the body, just as a king is the center of his kingdom.
5. The Jester – Throat Chakra
The jester is the archetype of the throat chakra. The main function of this energy center is communication: to express what lives within us. This can take shape in singing or talking, in making poems or writing books. The jester is the one who can satirically hold up a mirror to the king, ridicule the king, and even scold him, without receiving serious punishment.
6. The Magician – Third Eye
The magician archetype represents insight, vision, and thought power. It is connected to the sixth chakra, the chakra of the third eye. He juggles reality and is aware of the creative power of thoughts. In it he walks the narrow line of black and white magic. When he uses his insight for himself, to stroke his ego, to make money out of it, or to defame others, he leans towards the shadow side of this archetype.
7. The Sacred – Crown Chakra
The function of the saint or prophet is to make the connection with the divine, with the cosmos, the world above us. This archetype corresponds to the crown chakra. This chakra is located on top of the head, near the crown. Through this spot on the head, divine inspiration enters.
