When two tribes go to war...
The liittle archetype that could
We’re used to viewing any competition through the Old Religion lens of “Good vs Bad”. Trump bad. Kamala good
But this “good/bad” lens creates endless dilemmas – e.g. Killing people is bad, but killing in a war is good. In the old days, people got around this problem by inventing a God who took sides. These days, most intelligent people realise that God isn’t a male person who declares open season on the killing of “unbelievers”.
When this force moves there’s Flow, when it doesn’t things become stuck or stagnant.
When this force moves through people it is expressed through archetypal patterns.
The current US election may have been about policies but underneath that it was a face-off between archetypes – the rebellious Child vs the cautious Mother; the Joker vs the Judge; Puck vs Titania.
On the surface of things people know who they should vote for (the Mother, not the Child), but something else drove their choices—something in the zeitgeist, in the collective energy.
Most creative people don’t like being told what to do. Words like Caution. Procedures. Compliance and Rules are associated with obstacles they have to overcome when they want to play. They don’t like safety. The term “business as usual” brings dread and boredom rather than the change and excitement they seek. They prefer the term “move fast and break things”.
In this context the Mother is a killjoy (no matter how much she smiles) She’s the sensible one, who cautions that “it will all end in tears”.
We are in a very different context than the one we were in after World War II, when our spirits had been broken by so much death. Back then we idolised Apple Pie Mom –nurture, kindness, and the promise of warm carbohydrates. We wanted safety and order.
Just as Autumn follows Summer different archetypes emerge in contrast to the ones that come before.
When Flow becomes restricted with rules and red tape, the Trickster will emerge to make mischief. The Destroyer will arrive to tear it all down. The people will look for a Hero.
Most heroes in mythology aren’t “good” (that’s just a Disney invention) they’re often reckless and narcissistic.
Odysseus was considered a great Hero. He was constantly looking for opportunities to test his skill and cunning. “Oh there’s signs of habitation, let’s go and explore!” Good for Odysseus. Not so good for his crew who were eaten by the Cyclops, turned into pigs or beheaded by a sea serpent.
So back to the election, the Democrats promoted themselves as “a safe pair of hands” as the voice of sanity, sensibility, and the correct use of pronouns.
It turns out these weren’t popular because we’re not living in a post-WW2 world, we’re living in a post-Steve Jobs world, and Steve made crazy aspirational.
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
Back in the rock & roll days, I had my own encounters with the dilemma between rules and anarchy. Being forced into the Mom archetype (or Wendy to a bunch of Lost Boys) I had to be the voice of reason, but there was this moment…
It was at the end of a Ritchie Blackmore gig at Cornwall Coliseum. The crew were tired, cold, and ready to load the truck and be on their way… until they discovered that somebody had parked a car in front of the exit doors.
Everyone has experienced the frustration that comes when you’re thwarted by circumstances you can’t control. There’s the “correct” way of dealing with this – finding phone numbers for people who’ve already gone to bed, finding other phone numbers, waiting, contacting the police, waiting until the person who has no awareness of their decision finally arrives – possibly having forgotten to bring their car keys in the rush.
And then there’s what the crew decided to do – push the car into the adjacent swimming pool. “Serves him right the knobhead”.
I pretended to be Cross Mom “I turn my back for five minutes!” but underneath I felt it – the glee, the release of frustration of that one anarchic moment, before I got a grip on myself.
The consequences of course were enormous. The letter of the law was on the side of the knobhead who’d enjoyed the luxury of an 8-hour sleep in a bed, as opposed to a 4-hour sleep on a tour bus. The bill for cleaning a swimming pool of leaked oil was pretty outrageous. It seems “We were tired and pissed off” is not a legal defence. “The guy was a dumbass” doesn’t constitute mitigating circumstances.
There are rules, responsibilities, statistics, policies, data… and there are feelings. The US election was about feelings. Feelings aren’t rational. As children, we repress most of our feelings in our quest to be loved, validated, and popular. Unfortunately, you can’t control energy. It pops up in unlikely places when you least expect it to.
“The Thought Police” is an Orwellian term from a work of fiction – it can’t be achieved because you can’t actually control people’s thoughts.
Most educated people expected the Democrats to win. But they were reading the polls, not the archetypes. People lie. Archetypes can’t lie, because they’re made of energy.
The question for the future is how do we midwife a new archetype, more suited to the times we live in.
People talk about “the Divine Feminine” but what does that mean exactly? So far we’ve had Apple Pie Mom (kind but ineffective); Angry Mom (who devours her young); Helicopter Mom (just annoying); Anxious Mom (the world is unsafe - colour inside the lines).
By healing past (unconscious) patterns, we stop projecting our fears onto an unknown future. Then we could tap into our intuition, rather than follow whatever rules we subscribe to. We would know when someone needs a hug or needs to be pushed out of the nest bed. There’s no “one size fits all” approach in a world of changing contexts.
This is what the election results revealed.
We can’t see things in black and white anymore – a choice between careless or careful. What would carefree look like? What would responsible anarchy look like? Or exciting compliance?
Probably Fierce Love.
Love that can turn destructive energy into creative energy.
Meanwhile, as someone else (?) remarked, “If you put a clown in the palace, he doesn’t become a King, the palace becomes a circus.”
Welcome to the circus… time to hone your lion-taming skills.
P.S. I am doing a one week retreat on a Greek island covering all things Creativity. Flow. Archetypes and Mythologies. Join me if you’re interested in getting away from it all by getting into it all! Or DM me for a chat.