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This is the fourth part of a series on the masculine archetypes based on Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette’s King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. Before diving head first into the Magician Archetype, I want to share an introductory piece to the masculine archetypes that I highly recommend reading first. Links to the other articles within this series will be at the bottom.
Welcome to the blog! Make sure to subscribe so you can get the latest articles delivered directly to you. The intention of this blog is to educate about the topics that will encourage your physical, mental, and spiritual growth. I share nuggets of wisdom sourced from alchemical formulas, archetypal processes, and holistic healing modalities. This blog is the end result of that distillation process.
When exploring this series, it’s important to apply the concepts here to your personal life. This isn’t all theory. The King Archetype is within every man. You want the inner King to nurture and order your masculine psyche. It starts by recognizing the King Archetype that exists within our inner structures.
Start seeing the patterns within your life. For example, my favorite movie as a child was the Lion King. It’s no surprise that this Disney film is an interpretation of the King’s story and as a kid I was naturally pulled to its universal truths. I remember watching movies with my dad (who like a typical 80’s style dad would let me watch R rated films with him) and my favorites were those like Braveheart. Do you remember your favorite stories as a child? What are they now? Why do they speak to you?
These questions will help us connect to the masculine archetypes. There is something in our core that stirs up when we encounter these patterns. Are we seeking the “blessing” from a King? And what happens when we feel the inner King come online for us?
The King Archetype is the central and most important archetype of the male psyche. The King has mastered the other three archetypes by harmonizing and balancing them. A good King is a good Warrior, a generative Magician, and a balanced Lover. Therefore the King is the last to come online in a man. It is the last to be mastered because in order to be a good King, all facets of man are in union.
“The King archetype comes close to being God in his masculine form within every man.” (King, Warrior, Magician, Lover p. 51)
The significance of the King cannot be under-expressed. A mortal man can die but the King energy lives on. A man carries this energy in service of the greater good. He no longer identifies with his Ego strongly, he knows he is in service to the realm. He represents the ordering principle and the generative energy of the world. He is a force against chaos and keeps the “kingdom” safe.
A King is centered and decisive. He is full of integrity. He provides blessing to those around him. The man who carries the King archetype knows that he is simply a steward of that power. He knows that it is not him who is the King. He understands that he is simply functioning as the representation of King and that one day another King will rise in his place. This force is beyond his own egotistical desires.
An example of the King energy is when we have been in the presence of a mature masculine male. We’ve all had that experience of feeling in our chest the sage-like advice of a man who is well integrated, calm, and centered. It is those moments of warmth, safety, and blessing that can be attributed to King qualities. Albeit they can be rare experiences to have, since not many men have a well integrated King archetype. Instead we have mostly encountered what is called the “Shadow King”.
The King has three aspects to him. There is a King in his “Fullness” and the two Shadow Kings, the Tyrant and the Weakling. The active pole of the shadow is the Tyrant while the passive pole of the shadow is the Weakling.
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Opposite to what the King represents is the Tyrant, the active shadow pole of the King. Unlike the King in his fullness, this Shadow King exists to further his own status, grow his own power, and thinks only of his own well being at the expense of others. While the King is structure and order, the Tyrant lacks any inner structure. Without this strong inner structure, he is actually afraid of his own hidden weakness.
An example of the Tyrant archetype is Scar from the Lion King. Scar is envious and hateful when the newborn Simba, son of his King brother Mufasa, is born. Scar’s King function is of the Tyrant, who perceives all new life as a threat to his own Kingship. With Simba in the picture, his egocentric desire for rulership is thwarted even further. To deal with this he kills Mufasa, the rightful King, and attempts to kill his son Simba, the new potential King.
When Mufasa becomes King he is clearly the Shadow Tyrant King. He exploits the land and its inhabitants. Any threat he perceives he eliminates (he imprisons and ridiculous Zazu, the bird Advisor, who funnily enough also functions as a balancing Magician archetype). The land is barren, gray, non generative with him functioning as the Tyrant.
As you can see in the example of the Lion King, when the healthy King is absent and the Tyrant takes its place, the land is no longer fertile or generative. Under Tyrant leadership it's barren and desolate. It lacks any order or structure. Because Scar only cares about his own power and self interest, the kingdom suffers the consequence. The irony is that by being narcissistic and lacking the awareness of a true King, his own power and spheres of influence become extremely fragile. He hasn’t developed the capacity to understand by stewarding and sharing his own power, the kingdom actually flourishes. Instead he is drunk with own power and perceives enemies everywhere, which often ends in a horrible demise for himself.
It’s important to note that we all have these aspects of the King archetype within us, including the shadow poles. The Tyrant often manifests when we are pushed into a fatigued state. We all have experienced this, when tired we are snappy, irritable, even cruel.
“The Tyrant King manifests in all of us at some time or another when we feel pushed to the limit, when we are exhausted, when we are getting inflated.” (Moore & Gillette, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover, p. 65)
Men with certain proclivities are susceptible to this shadow King. Men who are involved in the underbelly of society, such as drug lords and mafia bosses. Even men in corporate America, the CEOs, executives, and politicians who are solely self-interested. They only think of their own power and influence. Men who exhibit the Tyrant pole, also exhibit what is called the Weakling King. Ironically by parading strength and power and dominance, they hide their weakness and cowardice.
The active and passive shadow poles of the King work in tandem and don’t work in isolation. A Tyrant is a Weakling and vice versa.
What defines the Weakling King is his inability to make decisions, to be responsible, and to be generative. The Weakling may appear frail, however when pushed or in a position of power, erupts in aggression and violence. He lacks the centeredness and security in himself which manifests in paranoia.
This is the typical “nice guy”. Jordan Peterson speaks of this type of weak man. It is not that he is “humble” or “nice”, but rather that he is weak and cowardly. A man who cannot support his own weight places the burden of responsibility to someone else. A person with these tendencies will fall easier under possession of the Weakling King.
What both the Tyrant and Weakling King have in common is that they are driven by fear.
The King In His Fullness is the highest iteration of the King archetype. A man who is able to access this healthy King energy has learned to disidentify with it. He recognizes the power of the King is not him and it’s not his, he has learned that he is a steward of the King energy. This is opposing the grandiosity and inflation or deflation of the shadow poles, the Tyrant and the Weakling.
The man accessing the King appropriately will feel centered and calm. He will be able to regulate himself and others, through blessing. There’s a transpersonal devotion to others, centered around love. A man in his King energy creates a more peaceful and just world. He leaves the world better when he leaves it, something that Dewayne Noel from Dry Creek Wrangler School heavily champions.
“A good man is a man that can protect, who can provide, who can serve, who can comfort, who can reprimand, who can discipline, whatever’s necessary to make the world a little better because he passed through.” –Dry Creek Dewayne
The King archetype is the most elusive and rare energy to master. These king qualities are sparse in the modern day, which is why I focus so strongly on Dewayne Noel.
Ending with the King energy, we conclude the introduction on the King, Warrior, Magician, Lover series. I hope this has inspired you to reflect on yourself and your innate qualities that reflect the King. With more men representing King qualities we can create a more prosperous, balanced, and hopeful modern age. The King’s leadership is needed and that includes everything from leading our own lives to those around us. It may be a difficult path to recognize our pitfalls and take responsibility, but out of the hottest fire comes the strongest steel. The suffering is not needless either:
“The idea is not to suffer needlessly. The idea is to accept that suffering is necessary. Here is a rule about men as opposed to boys. Men do what is necessary… they don’t do it because they like the sacrifice that they have to make. But they do it for Cosmos. They do it because their existence and Cosmos, in their experience, cannot be separated.” – Robert Moore (“The King Within” Lectures)
With that said, accept manhood for all that it is and create a life that leaves the world better when you leave it.
P.S.
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Also make sure to check the other archetypes out so you can deepen your understanding of yourself and humanity as a whole.
Introduction to the Archetypes
The King
I’m Nathan and I am in the holistic healing space. I specialize in sacred masculine embodiment and holistic lifestyles. I do the dirty work, ranging from shadow work to subconscious reprogramming, and share my lessons here.
This space exists for the men journeying into this next stage of masculinity.
