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Addict (Conspicuous Consumer, Glutton, Workaholic--see also Gambler) [back to names]
Films: Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in Days of Wine and Roses (alcohol); Ben Stiller in Permanent Midnight (heroin); Dom de Luise in Fatso (food); Claire Bloom in The Chapman Report (sex);
Drama: A Long Day's Journey into Night (morphine) by Eugene O'Neill
Fiction: Basketball Diaries (heroin) by Jim Carroll; Under the Volcano (mescal) by Malcolm Lowry.
Religion/Myth: Soma (Vedic god of intoxication, as well as the intoxicating drink itself and the plant from which it is made); Tantalus (a son of Zeus and king of Sipylos in Greece, he was invited to share the food of the gods but abused the honor and was punished by being "tantalized" for all eternity by food and drink he could not reach).
Advocate (Attorney, Defender, Legislator, Lobbyist, Environmentalist) [back to names]
Films: Paul Newman in The Verdict; Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind; Julia Roberts in The Pelican Brief and Erin Brockovich; Robert Duvall in the Godfather trilogy (shadow).
Television: Perry Mason; L.A. Law; The Practice.
Fiction: The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet
Fairy Tales: Puss in Boots.
Religion/Myth: David (in the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish champion who slew the much larger Goliath); Hakuim (a pre-Islamic deity of southern Arabia who administers justice and oversees arbitration).
Alchemist (Wizard, Magician, Scientist, Inventor--see also Visionary) [back to names]
Films: Spencer Tracy in Edison the Man; Greer Garson in Madame Curie; Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates and Noah Wylie as Steve Jobs in Pirates of Silicon Valley (HBO video); Fred MacMurray (or Robin Williams) in The Absentminded Professor; Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen; Jane Powell in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Jeff Goldblum in The Fly (shadow); Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan (shadow) in X-Men.
Fiction: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; The Mists of Avalon by Marion Z. Bradley; the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
Drama: The Miracle Worker by William Gibson.
Religion/Myth: Merlin (wizard and prophet involved in every phase of King Arthur's life, from conception to rulership, who also counseled him as King); Cessair (magician who became the first Queen of Ireland); Tezcatlipoca (Aztec god of night and material things, whose black magic mirror made of obsidian or hematite reflected the thoughts and actions of humanity and could kill enemies); Paracelsus (16th-century Swiss alchemist and physician who described humans as the microcosmic reflection of the macrocosm); Hermes Trismegistus (Greek mythic figure who served as messenger of the gods, but who in later esoteric thought became a master of reality manipulation able to travel freely between the various realms and dimensions); Simon (Samaritan magician in the Book of Acts, 8:9-24, condemned by the apostle Peter for offering to buy the power of the Holy Spirit from him); Suyolak (gypsy wizard said to know all medicinal cures).
Fairy Tales: Rumpelstiltskin (who spun straw into gold).
Angel (Fairy Godmother/Godfather) [back to names]
Films: Herbert Marshall in The Enchanted Cottage; Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier; Aunt March to Amy in Little Women; the two angels in It's A Wonderful Life; Marlon Brando in The Godfather trilogy (shadow); Danny Glover, Kevin Kline in Grand Canyon.
Television: Touched by an Angel
Fairy Tales: Glinda in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Religion/Myth: Angiris (Hindu angels who preside over sacrifices); Uriel (in rabbinic lore, the angel who wrestled with Jacob); Gabriel (archangel who appeared to Mary in the Gospels and recited the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad); Sijil (Islamic angels overseeing the heavenly scrolls); Tenshi (Japanese angels who are messengers of the gods and helpers of humanity); Lucifer and Iblis (in medieval Christian and Islamic belief, respectively, evil angels who work to destroy human souls); Fravashis (ancient Zoroastrian guardian angels who guide the souls of the dead to heaven); Ombwiri (tribal guardian angels and ancestor spirits in central Africa); Athena (goddess who frequently comes to the aid of Odysseus in The Odyssey)
Artist (Artisan, Craftsperson, Sculptor, Weaver) [back to names]
Films: Ed Harris in Pollock; Alec Guinness in The Horse's Mouth; Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel; Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life; Gene Kelly in An American in Paris.
Drama: Amadeus by Peter Schaffer
Fiction: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce; The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary.
Fairy Tales: Gepetto in Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi.
Religion/Myth: Galatea (sculptor of Greek myth who brought the statue of Pygmalion to life); Shen-nung (one of the Three Noble Ones of Chinese mythology who invented the plow and taught humanity the art of agriculture); Basa-Jaun (in Basque lore, a wood spirit who taught humanity the art of forging metal); Sarasvati (Hindu patron of the Arts); Ptah (Egyptian creator god and deity of craftsmen, said to have molded humanity on his potter's wheel); Ambat (Melanesian hero-deity who taught the art of pottery); Ixzaluoh (Mayan water goddess who invented the art of weaving); Hiro (Polynesian hero who introduced humanity to the art of writing); Hephaestus (Greek god of the blacksmith's fire and patron of all craftsmen).
Athlete (Olympian) [back to names]
Films: Esther Williams in Million Dollar Mermaid; Burt Lancaster in Jim Thorpe, All American; Tom Courtenay in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner; Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot; Hoop Dreams (documentary)
Fiction: The Natural by Bernard Malamud; Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge.
Folklore/Fairy Tales: The Tortoise and the Hare.
Religion/Myth: Atalanta (female athlete in Greek myth); Smertios (Celtic war-god portrayed as a bearded athlete); Nike (feminine personification of victory in Greek myth, who runs and flies at great speed). Samson (Nazarite strongman and biblical Judge); Achilles (Greek warrior known for his exceptional might, and the hero of the Iliad); Smertrios (Celtic-Gallic god of war depicted as a bearded athlete).
Avenger (Avenging Angel, Savior, Messiah) [back to names]
Films: Ingrid Bergman in The Visit; Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou; John Wayne in The Searchers; Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich; Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin in Nine to Five; Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood (shadow--an actor who kills his critics); Al Pacino in The Godfather (shadow); Robert de Niro or Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (shadow).
Television: The Avengers.
Drama: The Oresteia by Aeschylus; Hamlet and Macbeth by Shakespeare.
Fiction: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper S. Lee.
Religion/Myth: The Furies or Erinyes (avenging spirits of Roman and Greek myth, respectively); Bastet (Egyptian cat-headed goddess who is the instrument of Ra's vengeance); Durga (vengeful warrior goddess of the Hindu pantheon); Kali (Hindu mother goddess and symbol of destruction who annihilates ignorance and maintains the world order).
Beggar (Homeless person/ Indigent) [back to names]
Films: Patrick Swazye in City of Hope.
Fiction: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens; The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.
Non Fiction: Meeting the Madwoman by Linda Schierse Leonard, Ph.D.
Religion/Myth: Lazarus (the beggar in Luke 16:22-23, who is "carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom" after his death, while the rich man outside whose gate he begged went to Hades); Yeta (Japanese beggar who may be a disguise for Inari, the god of food or goddess of rice); Odysseus (who disguised himself as a ragged beggar when he returned home from Troy); Lan Cai-he (in Taoist myth, one of the eight immortals, who dresses in rags and roams the streets as a drunken beggar).
Bully (Coward) [back to names]
Films: Matt Dillon in My Bodyguard; Jack Palance in Shane; Mel Gibson in Braveheart; James Cagney in The Fighting 69th; Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz.; Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets.
Fiction: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Vincent Benet.
Fairy Tales: Jack and the Beanstalk; Jack the Giant Killer
Child (Orphan, Wounded, Magical/Innocent, Nature, Divine, Puer/Puella Eternis, or Eternal Boy/Girl) [back to names]
Child: Orphan
Films: Margaret O'Brien in The SecretGarden; Victoire Thivisol in Ponette ; Hayley Mills in Pollyanna.
Fiction: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Drama: The Changeling by Thomas Middleton.
Fairy Tales: Snow White, Cinderella, Bambi, The Little Mermaid.
Religion/Myth: Romulus and Remus (twins of Roman myth who were cast into the Tiber, miraculously rescued by a she-wolf, and went on to found Rome); Moses; Havelock the Dane (in medieval romance, the orphan son of Birkabegn, King of Denmark, cast adrift by treacherous guardians but found and raised by a British fisherman, and eventually made King of Denmark and part of England).
Child: Wounded [back to names]
Films: Diana Scarwid in Mommie Dearest; Dean Stockwell in The Secret Garden; Linda Blair in The Exorcist; Natalie Wood in The Miracle on 34th Street; Leonardo di Caprio in This Boy's Life; Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy.
Fiction: Native Son by Richard Wright; Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
Religion/Myth: The Amazons (warrior women of Greek myth who, as children, had their right breast removed to facilitate the use of bow and arrow, their chief weapon)
Child: Magical/Innocent [back to names]
Films: Drew Barrymore in E.T.; Margaret O'Brien in Meet Me in St. Louis; George du Fresne in Ma Vie en Rose; Shirley Temple in Good Ship Lollipop.
Fiction: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll.
Religion/Myth: Merlin (in Arthurian legend, the "child without a father" who was about to be sacrificed when he saved himself by displaying magic greater than the King's sorcerers).
Child: Nature [back to names]
Films: Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet ; Anna Paquin in Fly Away Home; Claude Jarman in The Yearling; Kelly Reno in The Black Stallion; Tommy Kirk in Old Yeller; Jean-Pierre Cargol in The Wild Child.
Television: Rin Tin Tin; Flipper; My Friend Flicka; Lassie
Fiction: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Song: "Nature Boy."
Religion/Myth: Persephone (in Greek myth, the daughter of Demeter, who was abducted to Hades and was associated with the agricultural cycles of growth and harvest); St. Francis of Assisi (Catholic friar said to have communicated with animals).
Child: Puer/Puella Eternis (Eternal Boy/Girl) [back to names]
Films: Tom Hanks in Big; Pee Wee Herman in Pee Wee's Big Adventure; Carroll Baker in Baby Doll; Thomas Hulce in Dominic and Eugene, and as Mozart in Amadeus.
Fairy Tales: Peter Pan.
Religion/Myth: Cupid (boy god of Roman myth said to have been born from a silver egg); Harpa-Khruti (Horus the child); Harpocrates (Greek deity of god of silence and secrecy, represented as a naked boy sucking his finger);
Child, Divine [back to names]
Films: Terence Stamp in Billy Budd; character of the young Dalai Lama in Kundun; character of the young Pu Yi in The Last Emperor; Alex Wiesendanger in Little Buddha.
Religion/Myth: Horus (in Egyptian myth, divine son of Isis and Osiris); Siddartha Gautama (according to legend, the future Buddha was born proclaiming that his cycle of rebirths was about to end); Infant of Prague (statue of Jesus as a child dressed in royal robes and wearing a crown, originating in 17th-century Czechoslovakia); Demophon (in Greek myth, the son of Metanira, queen of Eleusis, who was raised as a divine being by Demeter); 18. Balakrisna (the child form of Krishna in Hindu myth); Suitengu (Japanese child god of the sea).
Clown (Court Jester, Fool, Dummling) [back to names]
Related to the Fool is the Dummling, the fairy tale character who, although often simple-minded, acts with a good heart and is usually rewarded for it. Modern film characters such as Forrest Gump and Nurse Betty embody this aspect of the archetype, which does not so much impart wisdom as foster living with kindness and simplicity.
Films: Danny Kaye in The Court Jester; Buster Keaton in The Navigator, Sherlock Jr., The General; Charlie Chaplin in The Circus, The Gold Rush; Giulletta Masina in La Strada; Barbra Steisand in What's Up, Doc?; Rene Zellweger in Nurse Betty; Woody Allen in Zelig.
Drama: He Who Gets Slapped by Maxim Gorky.
Opera: I Pagliacci, by Leoncavallo.
Literature: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes; Gimpel the Fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer; Holy Fools and Mad Hatters by Edward Hays; The Autobiography of Henry VIII with notes by his Fool, Will Somers by Margaret George.
Religion/Myth: Mullah Nasruddin, a.k.a. Hoja Nasredin (Sufi figure in Egypt, Iran, and Turkey, half saint and half fool, who acts like a ninny to teach wisdom); Sir Dagonet (the fool of King Arthur who was knighted as a joke, but who also performed bravely in tournaments); Heyoka (in Lakota Sioux lore, someone who does things backwards to teach people not to take themselves too seriously); Coyote (in Native American lore.
Companion (Friend, Sidekick, Right Arm, Consort) [back to names]
Betrayal is a common example of the shadow side of the Companion, which damages the soul.
Films: Eve Arden in Mildred Pierce, The Lady Takes a Sailor, The Kid from Brooklyn; Frank Sinatra and Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity; Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma and Louise.
Television: My Friend Flicka; Lassie;
Fiction: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Dr. Watson) by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Drama: Iago in Othello by Shakespeare (shadow).
Religion/Myth: Damon and Pythias (in Christian lore, two young men whose loyalty to each other won their freedom after Pythias was condemned to death); Enkidu (companion created by the gods for Gilgamesh, a natural man who proved a perfect match for the godlike hero king); Eris (Greek goddess of strife and constant companion of the war god, Ares); Apis (holy bull was worshipped in ancient Egypt as the companion of the creator god Ptah); Nike (Greek victory goddess and companion of Athena, goddess of wisdom and war).
Damsel (Princess) [back to names]
Films: Pearl White in the Perils of Pauline silent films; Fay Wray in King Kong; Betty Hutton in The Perils of Pauline; Jean Simmons in Young Bess; Robin Wright in The Princess Bride; Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the Star Wars Trilogy; Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia; Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love; Kate Winslet in Titanic; Jeff Daniels in Something Wild.
Fiction: Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell; Emma by Jane Austin.
Fairy Tales: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella.
Religion/Myth: Ko-no-Hana (in Shinto belief, the Japanese Blossom Princess, who symbolizes the delicate aspects of earthly life); Io (in Greek myth, a princess and the daughter of a river god, who suffered continually as the object of Zeus's lust); Princess Aigiarm (strong, valiant daughter of Mongolian King Kaidu who offered herself in marriage to any suitor who could wrestle her down but who, if he lost, had to give her a horse. She never married, and won 10,000 horses).
Destroyer (Attila, Mad Scientist, Serial Killer, Spoiler)
Films: Jack Palance in The Sign of the Pagan; William Holden in The Wild Bunch; Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs; Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List; Richard Baseheart in Hitler.
Religion/Myth: Angra Mainyu or Ahriman (in Zoroastrianism, the eternal destroyer of good, personification of evil, conveyor of death and disease); Kalki (in Hindu belief, the final incarnation of Vishnu, who will descend from the sky on a white horse to destroy the wicked, renew the world, and restore righteousness); the Furies or Erynies (avenging deities of Greek myth who pursued and persecuted anyone who killed a parent, brother, or fellow clansman, by driving the murderer mad); the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (allegorical figures in the New Testament Book of Revelation, or Apocalypse, who symbolize war, pestilence, famine, and death).
Detective (Spy, Double Agent, Sleuth, Snoop, Sherlock Holmes, Private Investigator, Profiler--see also Warrior/Crime Fighter)
Films: Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep; Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Kelly McGillis and Jeff Daniels in The House on Carroll Street; Kathleen Turner in V. I. Warshawski; Laurence Olivier in Sleuth; any James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, or Charlie Chan film.
Fiction: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Dashiel Hammett, Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Tom Clancy, John LeCarré.
Television: I Spy; Magnum, P.I.
Religion/Myth: Sinon (in Greek lore, a spy who gained the trust of the Trojans by pretending to have deserted the Greeks, then convinced them to take in the wooden horse that led to their downfall).
Dilettante (Amateur) [back to names]
Films: Catherine Frot in La Dilettante; Carol Channing in Thoroughly Modern Millie; Liza Minnelli in Cabaret; Spring Byington in You Can't Take It with You; Hermione Gingold in The Music Man; John Savage in The Amateur; Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve (Amateur).
Fiction: Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis; "The Dilettante" by Edith Wharton.
Don Juan (Casanova, Gigolo, Seducer, Sex Addict) [back to names]
Films:Warren Beatty in Shampoo; Richard Gere in American Gigolo; Donald Sutherland in Casanova; Michael Caine in Alfie; Johnny Depp in Don Juan di Marco; Jude Law in A.I.
Fiction: Quiet Days in Clichy by Henry Miller.
Religion/Myth: Satyr (in Greek myth, a creature with a goat's tail, flanks, hooves, and horns, but otherwise human upper body, who drinks, dances, and chases nymphs. The Italian version is the faun, and in Slavonic culture, the Ljeschi); Priapus (Greek and Roman deity of gardens attributed with enormous genitals); Aka Manah (in Zoroastrianism, the personification of sensual desire).
Engineer (Architect, Builder, Schemer) [back to names]
Films: Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai; Gary Cooper in The Fountainhead; Jeff Bridges in Tucker.
Drama: The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen
Religion/Myth: Elen (in Welsh myth, the world's first highway engineer, who protected her land by magically creating highways so that her soldiers could defend it); Amenhotep (ancient Egyptian architect who later was venerated as the god of building); Daedalus (renowned Cretan architect who constructed the Labyrinth of the Minotaur and fashioned artificial wings for himself and his son, Icarus).
Exorcist (Shaman) [back to names]
Films: Jason Miller in The Exorcist; Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense.
Religion/Myth: Shoki (Shinto god of the afterlife and exorcism); Zhong kui (Taoist god of the afterlife and exorcism).
Father (Patriarch, Progenitor) [back to names]
Films: William Powell in Life with Father; Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride; Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer; Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird; Lamberto Maggiorani in The Bicycle Thief; Raymond Massey in East of Eden (shadow).
Television: Robert Young in Father Knows Best; Fred MacMurray in My Three Sons.
Fiction: All the Way Home by James Agee.
Religion/Myth: Most ancient cultures had at least one Father god, usually associated with the sky, who also functioned as creator and patriarch, including Uranus and Zeus (Greece); Jupiter (Rome); Indra and Brahma (India); the "Jade Emperor" (China); Izanagi (Japan); Re and Ptah (Egypt); Olorun and Obatala (Africa/Yoruba).
Femme Fatale (Black Widow, Flirt, Siren, Circe, Seductress, Enchantress) [back to names]
As with the Don Juan archetype, the positive aspect of this pattern is the opening of the heart, which often occurs when the male object rejects the manipulations and dependency of the Femme Fatale, as Rhett Butler rejects Scarlett O'Hara at the end of Gone with the Wind.
Films: Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity; Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction; Theresa Russell in Black Widow; Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; Kathleen Turner in Body Heat; Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra.
Fiction: The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain.
Religion/Myth: Circe (in Greek myth, a sorceress/seductress who could turn men into animals with her magic wand); Potiphar's wife (in the Hebrew Bible, when her attempt to seduce Joseph failed, she had him thrown into captivity. Her name is Zeleikha in Islamic tradition); Tapairu (Polynesian nymphs who inhabit the waters that lead to the underworld. The goddess of death employs them to seduce men away from the earth); Lorelei (in Teutonic myth, a beautiful maiden who drowned herself after being spurned by her lover, and was then transformed into a siren whose hypnotic music lured sailors to their death).
Gambler [back to names]
Films: Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid (shadow); Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, and George C. Scott (shadow) in The Hustler; Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes in White Men Can't Jump; Edith Evans in The Queen of Spades; Clive Owen in Croupier; Roger Duchesne in Bob le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler).
Fiction: The Gambler by Dostoevsky
Religion/Myth: Jason, Odysseus (heroic figures of Greek legend who fearlessly gambled against the odds, risking life and limb to achieve their goals); Cunawabi (American Indian--Paiute--figure known as a gambler who takes many risky adventures and who also brings night and illness)
God (Adonis, see also Hero) [back to names]
Jupiter/Zeus: father god, head of the pantheon
Bacchus/Dionysus: wine and revelry
Mars/Ares: war
Neptune/Poseidon: the sea
Pluto/Hades: death and the underworld
Films:
Religion/Myth: Like the archetype in human manifestation, mythic and religious Gods run the gamut from omniscient, benevolent deity to arbitrary destroyer. In addition to those listed above are Yahweh (Hebrew); Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Indra (Hindu); Allah (Muslim); Ra, Osiris, Ptah (Egyptian); Baal (Canaanite); Marduk, Ishtar (Babylonian); Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca (Aztec); Enlil, Dumuzi (Sumerian); Osun, Olokun (Yoruba); Wakan Tanka (Native American).
Goddess (see also Heroine) [back to names]
Today we see this power re-emerging in popular form in neo-mythic characters such as Xena the Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer--attractive women who are also strong and capable. The energy of Venus (Aphrodite) is prevalent in women who form their self-image strongly around their sexuality. Study the specific qualities of each goddess and evaluate how much of your sense of self is reflected in one of those patterns, beginning with a few of the most familiar names from the Roman/Greek pantheon:
Venus/Aphrodite: love and fertility
Diana/Artemis: nature and hunting
Minerva/Athena: strength, clear thinking
Ceres/Demeter: motherhood
Juno/Hera: queenship and partnership
Proserpina/Persephone: mysticism and mediumship
Sophia: wisdom
Films: Kim Stanley in The Goddess; Ava Gardner in One Touch of Venus; Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch; Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite.
Fiction: She by H. Rider Haggard
Religion/Myth: Every culture in the world has mythological stories portraying the power of the Goddess. Besides those mentioned above, you can choose from Tara and Quanyin (Tibetan and Chinese bodhisattvas of compassion); Amaterasu Omigami (Shinto Sun goddess); Shakti (Hindu personification of energy as Divine Mother); Branwen (Celtic goddess of love and beauty); Oshun (East African Yoruba goddess of pleasure, love, and beauty); Pan Jin Lian (Chinese goddess of prostitution); Frigg (Norse goddess of marriage, motherhood, childbirth, and midwifery); Turan (Etruscan goddess of love, health, and fertility).
Gossip (see also Networker) [back to names]
Films: Rosalind Russell in The Women; Richard Hayden in Sitting Pretty; Burt Lancaster in The Sweet Smell of Success; John Malkovich and Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons;
Religion/Myth: Ratatosk (in Norse myth, a squirrel whose name means "swift teeth," lives in the World Tree called Yggdrasil and is a notorious gossip).
Guide (Guru, Sage, Crone, Wise Woman, Spiritual Master, Evangelist, Preacher)
The shadow aspect of the Guide is visible in many modern televangelists and gurus of various traditions who are more interested in financial gain and controlling their followers than in imparting genuine spiritual insight.
Films: Meetings with Remarkable Men; Robert Duval in The Apostle.
Religion/Myth: Marpa (Buddhist master and guru of Milarepa who guided him through arduous tasks to become the greatest yogi of Tibet);
Healer (Wounded Healer, Intuitive Healer, Caregiver, Nurse, Therapist, Analyst, Counselor) [back to names]
Religion/Myth: Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa (Jewish healer considered to have been in the same class as Jesus); Ninkarrak (Babylonian/Sumerian goddess who nursed sick humans); Bear Medicine Woman (American Indian healing spirit); Mukuru (creator god of the Herero bushmen of Namibia, who sends life-giving rain, heals the sick, and cares for the elderly).
Wounded Healer
The shadow of both the Healer and Wounded Healer manifests through a desire to take advantage of those who need help, including claims that you can heal any and every illness a person has.
Films: Ellen Burstyn in Resurrection; Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (shadow); Rosalind Russell in Sister Kenny; Barbara Stanwyck in Miracle Woman (based on Aimee Semple McPherson).
Fiction: The Citadel by A. J. Cronin; Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis (shadow).
Religion/Myth: Asklepios (Greek hero who later become a plague god, then the god of medicine and healing); Aesculapius (Roman god of healing based on the Greek Asklepios); Garuda (great golden bird with an eagle's beak and wings and human body, the Indian symbol of medicine); Meditrina ("Healer," a Roman goddess of wine and health who was later syncretized into the cult of Aesculapius); Eeyeekalduk (Inuit god of healing); the Medicine Buddhas (most prominently, Bhaishajyaguru in Tibet and Yakushi-Nyorai in Japan, who symbolize the healing and transformative quality of buddhahood).
Hedonist (Bon Vivant, Chef, Gourmet, Gourmand, Sybarite--see also Mystic) [back to names]
Films: Babbette's Feast; Like Water for Chocolate; Big Night.
Fiction: Tom Jones by Henry Fielding; The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera; Les Liaisons Dangereuses by P. Choderlos DeLaclos.
Religion/Myth: Oshun (Yoruba goddess of love and pleasure who is generous and benign); Bebhionn (Irish patron goddess of pleasure); Qadesh (Western Semitic fertility goddess and epitome of female sexuality and eroticism); Bes (Egyptian dwarf god originally associated with royalty and childbirth who became popular among the masses as a god of human pleasures of mirth, music, and dance).
Hero/Heroine (see also Knight, Warrior) [back to names]
Films: Sigourney Weaver in Alien; Dustin Hoffman in Hero; Anthony Hopkins in Zorro; Jeff Bridges in The Last American Hero; Kevin Costner in Postman and Waterworld; Debbie Reynolds in The Unsinkable Molly Brown; Seema Biswas (as Phoolan Devi) in Bandit Queen.
Religion/Myth: Ulysses (hero of The Odyssey whose most renowned trait was his supreme resourcefulness, the ability to find a way out of the most dangerous situation); Arjuna (in the Bhagavad Gita, his questioning of his Hero/Warrior role leads the god Krishna to instruct him in divine wisdom); Hidesato (in Japanese legend, a killer of many monsters, including the feared Centipede); Saynday (a hero-trickster of the Native American Kiowa tribe); Paul Bunyan (legendary hero of the lumber camps of the American Northwest, whose feats included creating the Grand Canyon by dragging his axe behind him); Theseus (Athenian hero who slew the Marathonian Bull and the Minotaur); Bernardo del Caprio (semi-mythical ninth-century Spanish credited with defeating Roland at Roncesvalles).
Judge (Critic, Examiner, Mediator, Arbitrator) [back to names]
The shadow Judge manifests as consistently destructive criticism, judging without compassion or with a hidden agenda. Legal manipulation, misuse of legal authority, and threatening others through an association with the law are other expressions of the shadow. Such manipulation includes the misuse of business authority as well as conventional legal and criminal authority.
Films: Spencer Tracy in Judgment at Nuremberg; Louis Calhern as Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Magnificent Yankee; John Forsythe in And Justice for All (shadow); Dominic Guard in The Go-Between
Fiction: Billy Budd, Foretopman (Capt. Starry Vere) by Herman Melville; The Ambassadors by Henry James.
Religion/Myth: Skan (creator god of the Dakota Sioux who judges both gods and the souls of humans); Yama (Hindu and Buddhist god of death, judge of the dead, and ruler of death's kingdom or the hell realms); Pluto/Hades (Roman/Greek god of the underworld and judge of the dead); Thoth (primarily the Egyptian patron deity of scribes, also known as a mediator among the gods); San-guan ("Three Rulers," collective name for three Taoist deities who keep a register of the good and evil deeds of people).
King (Emperor, Ruler, Leader, Chief) [back to names]
Throughout history, the pendulum has swung from good Kings to evil, from benevolent, even saintly rulers to greedy, gluttonous criminals. King Louis IX of France--St. Louis--combined the qualities of a just ruler, fearless warrior, and holy man. The thirteenth-century sovereign lived for the welfare of his subjects and the glory of God. Charlemagne, King David, and Akhenaton of Egypt were among earth's most enlightened, if occasionally all-too-human, rulers. And then there were Mad King George III of England, who led the Colonies to rebel; King Louis XVI of France was synonymous with decadence and excess; Emperor Hirohito of Japan led his country into a devastating war.
This archetype maintains the same characteristics on an individual level, whether one's kingdom is a corporation, community, or family. The need to rule and exert control over a kingdom is key to this archetype.
Films: Charles Laughton in The Private Life of King Henry VIII; Yul Brynner in The King and I; Richard Gere in King David; Paul Scofield in King Lear (1971); Christopher Walken in The King of New York (shadow extraordinaire).
Drama: Richard III, Henry IV, Henry V, Hamlet, and Macbeth by Shakespeare.
Fiction: King of the Gypsies by Peter Maas; The Godfather by Mario Puzo (shadow); The Once and Future King by T.H.White.
Religion/Myth: Priam (king of Troy); Daibutsu/Daibosatsu (Japanese meditating buddha as world ruler); Sila or Silap inua (divine ruler of the Eskimo seen as the air you breathe and the energy that moves both the entire universe each of us individually); Amun (supreme Egyptian creator god, originally ruler of the air and the force behind wind and breezes); Chief Seattle (Native American leader); Haile Selassie (Emperor of Ethiopia, later deified by the Rastafarian religion).
Knight (see also Warrior, Rescuer) [back to names]
The Black Knight donning dark armor and riding a black horse represents the shadow characteristics of this archetype, especially the absence of honor and chivalry. Somewhat like the Warrior, the shadow Knight manifests as loyalty to a questionable ruler or principle. In its negative aspect, the Knight can also, like the Rescuer, fall into a pattern of saving others but ignoring his own needs. A true Knight, like the Mystic, walks the fine line between self-sacrifice and self-neglect.
Films: Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Tom Hanks in Apollo 13; Christopher Reeve in Superman; Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves, Tin Cup, and JFK.
Drama: Man of LaMancha by Dale Wasserman
Fairy Tales: Prince Valiant
Religion/Myth: Knights of the Round Table (in medieval English lore, a semi-mythic group of 150 knights including Lancelot, Gawain, Kay, Mordred, Galahad, and others who served under King Arthur); Sir Percival/Parzifal (Knight of the Round Table who got to see the Holy Grail); Fabian (a good knight turned into a forest spirit by his ex-lover, a sorceress, and now dwells in the hills near Prague); Damas (shadow Knight who trapped other knights so that his brother could fight them).
Liberator [back to names]
Films: Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek; Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame; Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc; Tom Selleck in In and Out.
Fiction: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.
Fairy Tales: Belling the Cat
Religion/Myth: Dionysus and Eros (both bore other names meaning "the liberator").
Lover [back to names]
The shadow lover manifests as an exaggerated of obsessive passion that has a destructive effect on one's physical or mental health and self-esteem.
Films: Nicholas Cage in Moonstruck; Charles Denner in The Man Who Loved Women (Truffaut version); Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca; Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac.
Drama: Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare
Poetry: Troilus and Cressida by Chaucer
Fiction: Stealing Heaven by Marion Meade (Abelard and Heloise)
Fairy Tales: The Princess and the Frog; Beauty and the Beast.
Religion/Myth: Pyramus and Thisbe (star-crossed Babylonian lovers, described by Ovid, who commit double suicide); Endymion (in Greek myth a shepherd boy and mortal lover of the moon goddess Selene); Hasu-Ko (a Japanese girl who died of love for her betrothed, whom she had never seen); Freya (Norse goddess of love and fertility and symbol of sensuality, lover of music, spring, flowers, and elves); Guinevere and Lancelot (although Guinevere was married to King Arthur and Lancelot was one of his favorite knights, they pursued an affair that led to the eventual undoing of the Round Table).
Martyr [back to names]
Films: Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons; Meryl Streep in Silkwood; Denzel Washington in Malcolm X; Ben Kingsley in Gandhi.
Drama: Saint Joan by G.B. Shaw.
Fiction: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
Religion/Myth: Many Christian saints, including the Apostles; Mansur al-Hallaj (10th-century Sufi mystic martyred for his belief that God existed within him).
Mediator (Ambassador, Diplomat, Go-Between) [back to names]
The shadow Mediator manifests as an ulterior motive or hidden agenda, working two sides of an issue for personal gain.
Films: Dominic Guard in The Go-Between;
Fiction: The Ambassadors by Henry James
Religion/Myth: Thoth (Egyptian god of wisdom and mediator among the gods, who always sought his counsel); Genetaska (Iroquois woman so respected for her fairness and impartiality that all disputes were brought to her to settle); Mitra/Mithra (Vedic/Persian god of friendships and contracts and guardian of the cosmic order, regarded as a mediator between the gods and humankind).
Mentor (Master, Counselor, Tutor) [back to names]
Films (Mentor): Alec Guinness to Mark Hammill in Star Wars; Takashi Shimura to Toshiro Mifune in The Seven Samurai; Yul Brynner to Horst Bucholz in The Magnificent Seven; Bette Davis to Anne Baxter in All About Eve; Paul Newman to Tom Cruise in The Color of Money.
Films (Teacher): Bette Davis in The Corn Is Green; Sidney Poitier in To Sir with Love; Michael Caine in Educating Rita; Glenn Ford in Blackboard Jungle.
Television: James Gandolfini to Robert Imperioli in The Sopranos.
Fiction: Fagin to Oliver in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (shadow)
Drama: The Miracle Worker by William Gibson.
Fiction: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (shadow); Hard Times by Charles Dickens (shadow).
Religion/Myth: Krishna (in Indian scripture, the spiritual mentor of Arjuna); Chiron (in Greek myth, a wise centaur who had extensive knowledge of the healing arts and tutored Asclepius, Theseus, and Achilles); Ninsun (in Sumerian legend, the mother of Gilgamesh who serves as his counselor).
Messiah (Redeemer, Savior) [back to names]
Criminals such as Jim Jones and Charles Manson are evidence of the shadow Messiah in its extreme.
Films: Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire in Pleasantville; Jeremy Irons and Robert De Niro in The Mission; Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich; Marcello Mastroianni in The Organizer.
Religion/Myth: Mashiach ("the anointed one" in Hebrew, the descendant of King David expected to restore the Jewish kingdom); Jesus Christ ("the anointed one" in Greek, believed by Christians to be the promised redeemer; Adam Kadmon ("Primordial Man," in Jewish Kabbalah, described as the most perfect manifestation of God that humanity could contemplate, later identified with the Messiah); al-Mahdi ("the guided one" in Arabic, awaited descendant of Muhammad who will herald the end of history and restore Islamic purity); Maitreya ("the loving one" in Sanskrit, the fifth and final earthly Buddha who will help all those who have not yet realized enlightenment); Kalki (in Hindu belief, a future reincarnation of Vishnu who will arrive on a white horse to liberate the world from strife); Tang (Chinese messiah who saved mankind from a great drought by sacrificing his body in a mulberry bush, immediately inducing rainfall).
Midas/Miser [back to names]
Films: Bette Davis in The Little Foxes; Michael Douglas in Wall Street; James Dean in Giant; Lionel Barrymore in It's a Wonderful Life.
Fiction: Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and Uriah Heep in David Copperfield by Charles Dickens; Silas Marner by George Eliot.
Drama: The Miser by Moliere
Religion/Myth: Midas (a king of Phrygia in Asia Minor who was given the dubious gift of the golden touch by Dionysus); Kukuth (in Albanian lore, the spirit of a deceased miser who cannot find rest).
Monk/Nun (Celibate) [back to names]
Films: Claude Laydu in Diary of a Country Priest; Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story; Yi Pan-yong in Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East?; Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows Mr. Allison; Loretta Young in Come to the Stable; Lilia Skala in Lilies of the Field.
Television: Derek Jacobi in Brother Cadfael;
Fiction: The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
Religion/Myth: Friar Tuck (the mythical swordfighting monk of Robin Hood's Merry Men); Nennius (Welsh monk commonly believed to have compiled the Historia Brittonum, which was used by Geoffrey of Monmouth and others to reconstruct the history of King Arthur); Bernadette Soubiros (19th-century French girl who at the age of fourteen claimed visions of the Virgin Mary.
Mother (Matriarch, Mother Nature) [back to names]
[The shadow aspect of the Mother is] The Devouring Mother "consumes" her children psychologically and emotionally and often instills in them feelings of guilt at leaving her or becoming independent. The Abusive and Abandoning Mothers violate natural law by harming their own young.
Films: Irene Dunne in I Remember Mama; Myrna Loy in Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes; Sophia Loren in Two Women; Sally Field in Places in the Heart; Anne Bancroft in The Pumpkin Eater; Rosalind Russell in Gypsy (Devouring); Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly Last Summer (shadow); Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest (shadow); Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate; Gladys Cooper in Now Voyager (shadow); Alberta Watson in Spanking the Monkey (Incestuous).
Drama: Mother Courage by Bertoldt Brecht; Medea by Euripedes; The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.
Religion/Myth: As with Gods, Goddesses, and Mystics, the Mother appears in all religious traditions and myths, usually as the Divine Mother. These are just a few examples: Lakshmi, Durga, Kali (Hinduism); Mary/Miryam (Christianity/Islam); Sarai, Naomi (Judaism); Cybele (fertility goddess of ancient Anatolia, also known as known as the Great Mother); Demeter (Greek myth); Isis (Egyptian myth); Tellus (Roman Mother Earth goddess); Cihuacoatl (Aztec Mother Earth goddess, also patron of birth and of women who die in childbirth).
Fairy Tales: Mother Goose, Mother Hubbard
Mystic (Renunciate, Anchorite, Hermit) [back to names]
The shadow Mystic manifests as an egocentric concern for one's own spiritual progress to the exclsuion of others, and an attendant sense of self-importance at having achieved "higher" states of consciousness. It may also emerge in behavior that takes advantage of admirers or students in base economic, emotional, or sexual ways. Since genuine enlightenment manifests as the desire to be of service, this is a pretty good indication that you haven't arrived yet.
Films: Catherine Mouchet in Thér_se; Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind; Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves.
Drama: Agnes of God by John Pielmeyer.
Fiction: Lying Awake by Marc Salzman.
Religion/Myth: All the great traditions have produced mystics, of which the following are a small representative sample: Teresa of vila, Meister Eckhart, William Law, Hildegarde of Bingen (Christianity); Ba'al Shem Tov, Moses ben Nahman, Abraham Abulafia (Judaism); Rabi'a, Ibn al-'Arabi, Mansur al-Hallaj (Islam); Sri Ramakrishna, Anandamayi Ma, Ramana Maharshi (Hinduism); Bodhidharma, Milarepa, Bankei, Pema Chödron (Buddhism); Chuang-tzu, Wang-pi (Taoism); Padrinho Sebastio, Credo Mutwa (shamanism).
Networker (Messenger, Herald, Courier, Journalist, Communicator) [back to names]
The shadow Networker merely uses others for personal gain.
Films: John Boles in A Message to Garcia; Stewart Peterson in Pony Express Rider; Jeff Goldblum in Between the Lines.
Religion/Myth: Almost every culture on earth has or had a messenger of the gods who networks between the divine and human realms, including the angel Raphael (Judaism); Gabriel (Christianity); Jibril (Islam); Matarisvan (Vedic India); Eagle, Coyote (American Indian); Iris, Hermes (Greece); Mercury (Rome); Sraosa (Zoroastrianism); Nusku (Assyria); Nirah (Sumeria); Srosh (Persia); Paynal (Aztec); Savali (Samoa); Gou Mang (China); Narada (Java); Gna, Hermod (Norse).
Pioneer (Explorer, Settler, Pilgrim, Innovator) [back to names]
The shadow Pioneer manifests as a compulsive need to abandon one's past and move on, just as the Don Juan or Femme Fatale "pioneer" ever new conquests. Those who are forced out of their homeland and made into unwilling Pioneers--the Jews of the Diaspora, Africans bound into slavery, Tibetan Buddhists, or Native Americans--should not be included under the shadow, however.
Films: Debbie Reynolds in How the West Was Won; Jean Arthur and Van Heflin in Shane; Judy Garland in The Harvey Girls; Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story.
Television: Wagon Train, Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie.
Fiction: Lost Horizons by James Hilton; O Pioneers! by Willa Cather.
Religion/Myth: Nana-Ula (seafaring pioneer who led his people on a yoage of 2,500 miles from Tahiti to Hawaii over a thousand years ago); Bodhidharma (Buddhist patriarch who carried the teachings from India to China and established the tradition that came to be known as Zen); Hagar (handmaiden of Abraham who brought her son, Ishmael, to the Becca Valley of Arabia and established the Arab people).
Poet [back to names]
Closely related to both the Author and the Artist, the Poet combines lyricism with sharp insight, finding the essence of beauty and truth not only in the great epic affairs of humanity, but also in everyday acts and objects...
The shadow Poet turns his gift for lyricism to negative or destructive effect, as in songs or poems written in support of military aggression or genocide.
Films: Glenda Jackson in Stevie; Philippe Noiret in Il Postino; Sean Connery in A Fine Madness.
Fiction: The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll (shadow);
Religion/Myth: King David (ruler of Israel credited with writing many of the Psalms); Orpheus (great musician and poet of Greek myth, capable of charming wild beasts); Bragi (in Norse myth, the god of eloquence and patron of poets); Finn Mac Cumhail (legendary Irish hero and leader who was also greatly skilled as a poet).
Priest (Priestess, Minister, Rabbi, Evangelist) [back to names]
Because of [their] profound spiritual responsibilities, the ordained are expected to represent the teachings through personal example. And, so, the shadow side of this archetype manifests through the inability to live according to those teachings, especially in lapses of personal morality. From the corrupt temple priests of the ancient Egyptians to the scheming, power-hungry prelates and Popes of medieval Christianity, shadow Priests have interfered in secular politics to gain church power, extorted money from people who need food and shelter just to build larger temples and cathedrals, held back women's rights and gay rights, and misused the people's trust to satisfy their own sexual needs.
Films: Montgomery Clift in I Confess; Karl Malden in On the Waterfront; Don Murray in The Hoodlum Priest; Richard Todd in A Man Called Peter; Richard Burton in Becket.
Fiction: Diary of A Country Priest by Georges Bernanos.
Drama: Mass Appeal by Bill C. Davis; Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot.
Religion/Myth: Eleazar (first high priest of Israel); Pythia (priestess of Apollo's temple at Delphi who went into trance and made oracular pronouncements); Apotequil (high priest of the Incan moon god); Hungan (Haitian priest of vodun); Ishkhara (priestess of Ishtar and Babylonian goddess of love); Kokopelli (in Zuni lore, a priest who brings rain to the people); Utnapishtim/Ziusudra (in Babylonian/Sumerian myth, the priest-king of Shurrupak who is warned by the gods of a coming deluge and builds a large ark to preserve human and animal life).
Prince [back to names]
The true Prince is a ruler-in-training who is in service to the people he will rule, whether that is a literal kingdom or a figurative or spiritual one, as with Prince Siddhartha prior to becoming the Buddha. The shadow Prince can manifest as a young man with great feelings of entitlement, an heir apparent who uses his position solely for self-aggrandizement, or one who stands to inherit an evil empire and so takes on all the negative characteristics of the "king," like the character of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Machiavelli's The Prince was a guide to using a ruler's shadow power purely to advance one's career and self-interest without regard for the needs of others.
Films: Laurence Olivier in The Prince and the Showgirl; Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve; Joseph Cotten in The Farmer's Daughter; Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Robert Redford in The Way We Were; Anthony Perkins in Phaedra.
Drama: Biff in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Fiction: The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Fairy Tales: Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella
Religion/Myth: Rama (the prince of Ayodhya, seventh incarnation of Vishnu, and the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana); Shotoku (Japanese prince deified as the reincarnation of Siddhartha, the Buddha); Xochipilli (Aztec god of flowers, maize, love, beauty, and song whose name means "Flower Prince"); Beelzebub (originally the patron god of the Philistines and Canaanites whose name meant "Prince Baal," demonized in the Judeo-Christian tradition as the Prince of Darkness).
Prostitute (see text for extended description) [back to names]
Films: Jack Lemmon in The Apartment, Some Like It Hot, Save the Tiger, The China Syndrome, Mass Appeal; Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday; Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity; Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront.
Drama: The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.
Religion/Myth: Ochun (Yoruba Orisha of love, marriage, and motherhood, who was forced for a time to become a prostitute to feed her children); Temple prostitutes (in ancient Greece, Rome, Asia Minor, and India, women who engaged in public intercourse as a way of sympathetically activating the energy of fertility).
Queen (Empress) [back to names]
The benevolent Queen uses her authority to protect those in her court, and sees her own empowerment enhanced by her relationships and experience. The shadow Queen can slip into aggressive and destructive patterns of behavior, particularly when she perceives that her authority or capacity to maintain control over the court is being challenged. The Ice Queen rules with a cold indifference to the genuine needs of others--whether material or emotional. The Queen Bee is a mixed image--the astonishing ability to power the entire hive without leaving her "chamber," yet at the cost of enslaving the rest of her community.
Films: Joan Crawford in Queen Bee; Marlene Dietrich as Catherine the Great in The Scarlet Empress; Geraldine Chaplin in The Three Musketeers; Greta Garbo in Queen Christina; Judi Densch in Shakespeare in Love; Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth.
Drama: Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare
Religion/Myth: Mary (Mother of Jesus later elevated in Catholic tradition to Queen of Heaven); Mab (Queen of the faeries and often a trickster who steals babies, possibly derived from the Welsh Mabb or Gaelic Maeve); Anatu (Mesopotamian queen of the sky); Antiope (in Greek myth, the queen of the Amazons); Marisha-Ten (Japanese queen of heaven); Guinevere (King Arthur's queen).
Fairy Tales: Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs (shadow).
Rebel (Anarchist, Revolutionary, Political Protester, Nonconformist, Pirate) [back to names]
Our images of the Rebel may be too closely aligned with cliches of youth culture to let us see the deeper significance of this valuable archetype. Whether politically inclined like Martin Luther King, Jr., Betty Friedan, or Lech Walensa, or an artistic innovator such as Van Gogh, Joyce, or Coltrane, the Rebel is a key component of all human growth and development.
The shadow Rebel, conversely, may compel you to rebel out of peer pressure or for the sake of fashion, and so become mired in another manifestation of conformity.
Films: James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause; Marlon Brando in The Wild One; Kirk Douglas in Spartacus; Sally Field in Norma Rae; Meryl Streep in Silkwood.
Fiction: The Rebel by Albert Camus; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.
Religion/Myth: Iblis/Lucifer (in Muslim/Christian belief, a rebellious angel who refused to worship Adam or acknowledge the supremacy of God).
Folklore/Fairy Tales: Jack and the Beanstalk; Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.
Saboteur (see text for extended description) [back to names]
Films: Greta Garbo in Mata Hari; Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate; Woody Harrelson in The People vs. Larry Flynt. Judy Holliday in The Solid Gold Cadillac;
Drama: Amadeus (Salieri) by Peter Schaffer; The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux.
Religion/Myth: Loki (in Norse myth, a Shape-shifter and Trickster who is crafty and malicious, but also heroic); Eris/Discordia (Greek/Roman goddess of discord, said to have caused the Trojan War); Bamapana (Aboriginal hero-trickster who causes discord and misunderstanding); Serpent (in many cultures, a figure who deceives humans, often sabotaging their only chance at immortality).
Samaritan [back to names]
Films: Richard Dreyfuss in Down and Out in Beverly Hills; Gary Cooper in Good Sam; Jean Arthur in The More the Merrier; Liam Neeson in Schindler's List.
Religion/Myth: Ninlil (Sumerian goddess of heaven, earth, air, and grain who shows compassion to the unfortunate); Parzifal (Arthurian knight who heals the wound of Anfortas, the Grail King, by compassionately asking about it);
Scribe (Copyist, Secretary, Accountant--see also Journalist)
The Scribe differs from Author or Artist in one significant way: scribes copy existing works rather than create new ones. The Hebrew scribes were originally secretaries who wrote down the preachings of the prophets, but evolved into a priestly class charged with writing and maintaining the laws and records, copying previous scrolls, and committing oral traditions to paper. Medieval Christian scribes copied manuscripts and helped preserve learning. In India, the sages who compiled the Vedas are known as vyasa, a Sanskrit word that means "collector" but could be translated as "scribe." We can expand the definition to cover modern journalists, who also record the existing knowledge and information of their day and uncover secrets (investigative reporters). And we would also have to include that largely anonymous horde of copiers who are busy uploading everything imaginable onto the Internet in the hope of preserving it by distributing it to millions. What makes the Internet the modern equivalent of the medieval scriptorum is that so much information is transcribed onto it not for personal gain but for the sheer joy of preserving and sharing these artifacts with the rest of the world.
The shadow aspect of the Scribe can manifest in altering facts, plagiarizing, or selling information that belongs to others.
Films: Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in All the President's Men; Sally Field in Absence of Malice (shadow); Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole (shadow); Nicole Kidman in To Die For (shadow); Holly Hunter in Broadcast News.
Fiction: Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
Religion/Myth: Ezra (Hebrew scribe and priest, best known for collecting and editing the books of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, in the fifth century B.C.); Imhotep (in Egyptian myth, an architect, physician, and scribe in the court of the Pharaoh Zoser); Thoth (Egyptian god of wisdom, inventor of writing, and patron of scribes, often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis, holding a scribal tablet and reed pen).
Seeker (Wanderer, Vagabond, Nomad) [back to names]
This archetype refers to one who searches on a path that may begin with earthly curiosity but has at its core the search for God and/or enlightenment. Unlike the Mystic, which has the Divine as its sole focus, the Seeker is in search of wisdom and truth wherever it is to be found. The shadow side of the archetype is the "lost soul," someone on an aimless journey without direction, ungrounded, disconnected from goals and others. The shadow emerges when seekers become infatuated with the trappings of a certain practice or guru--what Chögyam Trungpa so aptly called "spiritual materialism"--but never actually change their underlying egocentricity.
Films: Tyrone Power in The Razor's Edge; Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet; Peter Weller and Judy Davis in The New Age (shadow); Ellen Burstyn in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath.
Drama: A Doll's House (Nora) by Henik Ibsen
Fiction: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse; Lost Horizon by James Hilton.
Autobiography: Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie; My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi; Be Here Now by Ram Dass; Longing for Darkness by China Galland.
Religion/Myth: Arjuna (who questions his role in life in the Bhagavad-Gita); Siddhartha Gautama (before his enlightenment as the Buddha, Siddhartha undertook the classic path of the Seeker).
Servant (Indentured Servant) [back to names]
We all serve someone or something. Because the spiritual path is essentially one of service to others, anyone can relate to this archetype...This task can only be done in a healthy manner if the Servant is able to simultaneously be of service to the self. Without the strength to maintain your own well-being, the Servant becomes consumed by the needs of those around you and loses all focus of the value of your own life.
Films: William Powell in My Man Godfrey; Anthony Hopkins in Remains of the Day; Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy; Dirk Bogarde in The Servant (shadow).
Fiction: The Turn of the Screw (Mrs. Grose ) by Henry James
Religion/Myth: The names of many spiritual masters and teachers often contain a reference to service. The Sanskrit word dasya, for example, means "servant," and appears in the names of modern mystics such as Ram Dass, Bhagavan Das, and Lama Surya Das; Obadiah (Hebrew prophet whose name means "servant of God"); Ganymede (in Greek myth, the young, beautiful boy who was one of Zeus' lovers and cupbearer to the gods); Thialfi (Norse servant of Thor and the messenger of the gods).
Fairy Tales: Cinderella
Shape-shifter (Spell-caster--see also Trickster) [back to names]
This archetype has long been known to shamans of the American Indian and other native traditions for having the ability to change appearances for a variety of reasons. The Shape-shifter can navigate through different levels of consciousness, dream and waking states and the astral plane. Somewhat related to the Trickster, it is more flexible and less tied to a specific goal. The shadow aspect emphasizes instability, fickleness, and lack of conviction, as can be seen in any number of modern day politicians who reinvent themselves to appeal to the latest popular trends.
Films: Wolfen; Lon Chaney, Jr., in The Wolf Man; Aaron Eckhart in In the Company of Men.
Religion/Myth: Because most deities or mythological figures who have the ability to shape-shift are also Tricksters, many of them overlap with that archetype: Tezcatlipoca (Aztec god of night who changes shapes and uses his "smoking mirror" to kill his enemies); Estsanatlehi ("Woman who changes," the most powerful Navajo deity, a fertility goddess and shape-shifter associated with transformation and immortality).
Storyteller (Minstrel, Narrator) [back to names]
The classic Storyteller/Minstrel archetype relays the wisdom or foolishness, mistakes and successes, facts and fiction, and tales of love and the impossible, on a plane that is often exaggerated beyond ordinary life. Love is greater, power is more daring, successes are more astonishing, foolishness is more obvious. We have an archetypal need to be spoken to through stories because they bring us into contact with our inner being. We are, in fact, storytellers by nature. Those who have this archetype find that the Storyteller's voice and methods are essential to their way of communicating and perceiving the world. Some teachers are also connected with the Storyteller archetype, but not all Storytellers are teachers. Not all writers are Storytellers, but authors of fiction must be. A Storyteller communicates not just facts but also a metaphoric learning or experience. Storytellers abound in any walk of life, not just among professional writers.
The tradition of the Minstrel reveals how essential the Storyteller's role was in medieval culture, because Minstrels were expected to tell stories and sing stories as a way of entertaining a group as well as passing on the news of the day.
The shadow Storyteller is, in the extreme, a liar, and, in moderation, an exaggerator. The temptation always exists to misuse the skill of storytelling to your own advantage when sharing information. The shadow aspect manifests when we can't resist making up a story to conceal something we don't want to be truthful about. But the universal appeal of storytelling throughout history suggests some deeper connection of this archetype with the human soul. The oldest written works we possess, from the Gilgamesh Epic to the Bible to the Odyssey, use storytelling to make their points. Maybe it's simply a reflection of the sense that each of our lives is a story worth telling, or a desire to impose order on what sometimes seems like a chaotic and random universe.
Films: Rod Taylor as Sean O'Casey in Young Cassidy; Laurence Harvey and Karl Boehm in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm; Judy Davis as George Sand in Impromptu; Barbara Bel Geddes in I Remember Mama.
Fiction: Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad; Beloved by Toni Morrison; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
Religion/Myth: Homer (combined history and mythology in the action adventures of the Odyssey and the Iliad); Blaise (Welsh storyteller who in Arthurian legend became Merlin's scribe); Thamyris (Thracian minstrel who won so many contests that he challenged the Muses themselves, and in return for his presumption was struck blind).
Fairy Tales: Arabian Nights (Tales of Sheherezade)
Folklore: Examples of exaggerated tales; Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, Pecos Bill, Mark Twain’s The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
Folksongs: John Henry, Casey Jones,
Songs about minstrels; Gordon Lightfoot’s Minstrel of the Dawn, Sit Down Young Stranger]
Student (Disciple, Devotee, Follower, Apprentice) [back to names]
The student archetype suggests a pattern of constant learning, an openness to absorbing new information as an essential part of one's well-being. The Student archetype suggests an absence of mastery of any one subject but rather a continual pursuit of intellectual development. Within the spiritual aspect, the Student, Disciple, Devotee, and Follower imply that one has found a source of teaching, such as a Guru or Spiritual Master, who becomes the instructor and spiritual guide.
The shadow Student usually manifests in tandem with the shadow Teacher or Mentor, avidly learning all the tools of the wrong trade or misusing the knowledge learned. This was graphically depicted in Walt Disney's animated imagining of Paul Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in Fantasia, in which Mickey Mouse portrays the Student Wizard who gets carried away with his own unperfected talent and causes havoc. The sahdow can also show up as the eternal Student who never embarks on the sea of life in earnest, but manages to find ever new reasons to continue being schooled without ever putting that knowledge to the test. People who continually use the excuse that they are not ready or have not yet learned enough to advance with their dreams should take special note of this archetype and whether they have a shadow bond with it.
Films: Julie Walters in Educating Rita; Jean Pierre Leaud in The 400 Blows; Matthew Broderick in The Freshman.
Drama: Pygmalion by G.B. Shaw.
Fiction: Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes.
Autobiography: The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams.
Religion/Myth: Dervish (Sufi term for the student of a sheikh); Hunsi (Haitian term for a devotee on any African deity, derived from the culture of Dahomey); Telemachus (student of Mentor, whom Odysseus assigned to teach and care for his son); Medea (devotee of Hecate, Greek goddess of the crossroads and a great sorceress); Ananda (renowned disciple of the Buddha); Peter (leading disciple of Jesus); Abu Bakr (one of the Prophet Muhammad's disciples, called Companions).
Teacher (Instructor, see also Mentor) [back to names]
Teaching is the art of communicating knowledge, experience, skill, and wisdom to another. Teaching, or offering instruction of any kind, can manifest through parental guidance, business apprenticeship, or by inspired instruction in ethics or kindness. To determine whether this archetype is part of your support team, ask yourself if others look to you as a teacher in any situation. Are you the one that others seek out for the richness of your experience, or to teach them the ropes?
The shadow Teacher manifests as a desire to manipulate or abuse those you are instructing; to be more concerned with recognition than with imparting knowledge; or, like the shadow Mentor, to teach negative traits and destructive skills, like burglary or how to cheat on the job.
Films: Bette Davis in The Corn Is Green; Sidney Poitier in To Sir with Love; Michael Caine in Educating Rita; Glenn Ford in Blackboard Jungle; Deborah Kerr in The King and I; Ian McKellen in Apt Pupil; Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (shadow).
Drama: The Miracle Worker by William Gibson.
Fiction: Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton.
Religion/Myth: Socrates (classical Greek philosopher who taught, and was accused of corrupting, the youth of Athens); the Fisher King (in Arthurian legend, teacher of Perceval); Nommo (African culture hero and teacher of the Dagon people of Mali, Sudan, and Upper Volta); Chiron (teacher of the mythic Greek heroes Jason and Achilles); Dhanvantari (Hindu deity credited as the teacher of medicine to humanity).
Thief (Swindler, Con Artist, Pickpocket, Burglar, Robin Hood) [back to names]
The Thief is thought of as a nocturnal, hooded figure who slips silently into places and takes what he wants. In the hierarchy of thievery, the most respected is the Jewel Thief, associated with glamour, class, and sophistication. The Good Thief steals on behalf of others, as in the case of Robin Hood, and appears to be relieved of all wrongdoing because of his benevolent motive to be of service to others, but often that is just a rationalization. The Bank Thief maintains a degree of respect because the target is corporate and impersonal and the implication is that the thief has an intelligent and strategic mind. The Street Thief and Pickpocket, on the other hand, rank lowest because they rob ordinary individuals and their methods yield small gain.
Symbolically, theft can take many forms, including plagiarism, stealing ideas and even affection. Taking what is not yours because you lack the ability to provide for yourself implies the need to learn self-respect. This archetype prods you to learn to generate power from within. As with so many archetypes that initially strike you as completely unrelated to who you are, this archetype should be evaluated from its symbolic meaning. You may never have stolen one thing at the physical level, but you also need to take into consideration your emotional and intellectual arenas.
Films: James Caan in Thief; Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroiani in Big Deal on Madonna Street; Jean-Paul Belmondo in The Thief of Paris; Sabu in The Thief of Baghdad (1940); Steven Bauer in Thief of Hearts (shadow); Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; Angelica Huston in The Grifters (shadow).
Fiction: The Adventures of Robin Hood (various authors).
Religion/Myth: Raven (Among Northwestern Indians, a helpful thief who stole the moon and sun from the Sky Chief and placed them in the sky); Prometheus (in Greek myth, hero who stole the sacred fire from Zeus and the gods); Autolycus (grandfather of Odysseus renowned as a thief who stole the cattle of Eurytus); the Good Thief (in the New Testament, one of two men who were crucified with Jesus, repented, and asked for forgiveness).
Trickster (Puck, Provocateur) [back to names]
Almost as far back as our earliest written records, the Trickster appears as a key figure in the human drama. According to the great historian of religion Mircea Eliade, a Trickster is a human or animal character that plays dubious jokes or tricks, makes fun or is made fun of, and may be camouflaged as one of the demigods of a religious tradition. The serpent who tempts Eve in the Bible was based on similar characters in Sumerian and Babylonian mythology from the third millennium B.C., in which a serpent tricks humanity out of the gift of immortality and assumes it for itself. (Observing snakes shedding their skin led some to believe that the reptile was capable of renewing its life indefinitely.) In many cultures, though, especially among Native Americans, the Trickster can also be the Creator's helper or messenger.
Like the Prostitute and Servant archetypes, the Trickster seems at first to have only negative connotations, but it can be a great ally in presenting you with alternatives to the straight and narrow path, to people and institutions who seek to hem you in through peer pressure and conformism. The best modern illustration of this dual role show up in the film work of Jack Nicholson and Groucho Marx. Although the characters they portray are often unsavory or duplicitous on some level, their antics can also be liberating by transcending convention, stuffiness, and predictable behavior.
Films: Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve; Wilfred Bramble (Grandfather) in A Hard Day's Night; Peter Cook in Bedazzled; Michael Caine, Steve Martin, and Glenne Headley in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Drama: The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder.
Fiction: The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike.
Religion/Myth: Kaulu (Polynesian trickster god); Blue-Jay (among Pacific Northwest Indians, a trickster who tries to the other animals); Spider Woman (trickster among the Dakota Indian tribes); Seth (ancient Egyptian god of chaos and adversity); Esu (West African god of passage and trickster who guards the home of the gods).
Fairy Tales: Little Red Riding Hood, The Fox and the Grapes, The Gingerbread Man.
Vampire [back to names]
The Vampire is a mythic creature associated with both blood-sucking and eroticism. Vampires require blood, which they get by biting the neck of their victims during a nocturnal visit. The female victim has been portrayed in the paradoxical circumstances of wanting to repel the Vampire while at the same time welcoming the erotic nature of the connection. The Vampire returns every evening to his source of life until there is no more to be had. The parallels between human lust and vampiric blood-lust are rich: as the Vampire satisfies his thirst for blood, his host grows increasingly helpless and submissive, eventually being drained of any capacity for self-protection. Symbolically, this relationship speaks of the power dynamics that frequently drive male-female relationships, in which the male drains the power of the female for his own psychic survival, and, once bitten, the female submits even though this will eventually take all of her power. (In some relationships, of course, the roles can easily become reversed.)
Beyond the sexual level, we sometimes form psychic attachments to others because we desire their energy, a desire that manifests through a need for approval, a need to have the "other" take care of our survival, and a fear of being abandoned. What has been defined as a co-dependent relationship could easily fall under the Vampire template. You may find it hard to identify yourself as a Vampire, yet it is essential to review this archetype personally. Patterns of behavior such as chronic complaining, over-dependency, holding on to a relationship emotionally or psychically long after it has ended, and chronic power struggles are all indicators of Vampire patterns. Holding onto someone on the psychic level is as real as holding on to them on the physical.
Interest in the Vampire archetype has re-emerged through the literary and entertainment fields. It may well be that the archetypal opening of humanity's psyche during these past five decades has resurrected the Vampire, empowering it with a force on the psychic plane of consciousness that was not engaged prior to this time.
Films: Bela Lugosi in Dracula; Tom Cruise in Interview with a Vampire.
Fiction: Dracula by Bram Stoker; The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice; "The Vampyre: A Tale" by John Polidori.
Religion/Myth: Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad The Impaler (in fifteenth-century Walachia--in modern Romania--a bloodthirsty count who reportedly impaled and beheaded his enemies); Langsoir (Malayan vampire, a woman who died in childbirth and now assaults infants and children).
Victim (see text for extended discussion) [back to names]
The negative traits of the Victim are self-evident. But when properly recognized, it can be a tremendous aid in letting us know when we are in danger of letting ourselves be victimized, often through passivity but also through rash or inappropriate actions. It can also help us to see our own tendency to victimize others for personal gain. In its shadow aspect, the Victim shows us that we may like to play the Victim at times because of the positive feedback we get in the form of sympathy or pity. Our goal is always to learn how to recognize these inappropriate attitudes in ourselves or others, and to act accordingly.
Films: Hillary Swank in Boys Don't Cry; Jodie Foster in The Accused; Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice; Glenn Close in Reversal of Fortune;
Fiction: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert L. Stevenson; Misery by Stephen ing.
Drama: Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein
Religion/Myth: Isaac (son of Abraham whom God orders Abraham to sacrifice); Heracles (seized by Busiris, mythical king of Egypt who sacrificed all strangers to the gods to avert famine, Heracles avoided being victimized by using his great strength to break his chains and slay Busiris).
Virgin (see also Celibate) [back to names]
This archetype is associated with purity, applied primarily to young girls. The Vestal Virgins of ancient Rome lived in service to a goddess and were often severely punished if they lost their virginity. The Virgin Mother of Jesus represents the purity of motherhood, bringing forth the perfect form of male life, a god. Your identification with the Virgin needs to be explored symbolically as a pattern that represents as association with purity as well as the beginning point of creation. To bring forth virgin ideas is as much an aspect of this archetype as is its application to maintaining virginal aspects of Mother Nature, as in virgin forests.
The shadow side of the Virgin is the prudish disgust with or fear of genuine sensuality. Resisting sex not to save one's energy for other endeavors, but because it seems inherently repellant, is not a virtue but a denial of an essential aspect of oneself. Celibate Monks or Nuns ideally learns to channel their sexual energy rather thanmerely repressing it.
Films: Sean Connery in The Medicine Man; Kirstin Dunst et al. in The Virgin Suicides; Jennifer Jason Leigh in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Religion/Myth: Parthenos (Greek for "Virgin," an epithet of the goddess Athena, who was the virgin mother of Erichthnonius). Hestia/Vesta (the Greek/Roman virgin goddess of the hearth, and, by extension, domestic life.
Visionary (Dreamer, Prophet, Seer--see also Guide, Alchemist) [back to names]
The Visionary archetype lets you imagine possibilities that are beyond the scope of your individual life and that benefit all of society. The Visionary brings into view what could be if certain choices are made, or what is inevitable given choices that have already been made. The Prophet proclaims a message associated with divine guidance, as in the Hebrew Prophets, some of whom also appear in the Quran. (Islam reveres both Jesus and John the Baptist as prophets). Both the Visionary and the Prophet engage their abilities in behalf of humanity rather than for personal use, but while many Prophets are rejected by the group they were sent to enlighten, Visionaries tend to be celebrated for their capacity to read what is just over the horizon.
The shadow Prophet or Visionary manifests as a willingness to sell one's visionary abilities to the high bidder, or to alter their vision to make it more acceptable to society. In extreme cases, tainted visions may lead entire societies into murderous or destructive rampages; then the Destroyer archetype may supersede the Visionary, as in the case of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.
Films: Eriq Ebouaney in Lumumba; Peter Finch in Network (shadow).
Religion/Myth: Hebrew Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others who often chastised powerful leaders while calling the people's attention to their own failings); Muhammad (the final Prophet of Islam, who directed God's message to the Arab people through the Quran); Baha'u'llah (nineteenth-century Iranian prophet who founded the Bahai Faith, spreading his vision of "one universal Cause, one common Faith"); Cassandra (in Greek lore, daughter of the king and queen of Troy, who was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo in an attempt to seduce her; because she refused his advances, he made all her prophecies fall on deaf ears); Zarathustra (prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism).
Warrior (Soldier, Crime Fighter, Amazon, Mercenary, Soldier of Fortune, Gunslinger, Samurai) [back to names]
The Warrior archetype represents physical strength and the ability to protect, defend, and fight for one's rights. Whereas the Knight is associated with protecting Damsels, the Warrior is linked to invincibility and loyalty. Both the Knight and Warrior appear on the battlefield, but the Knight's romance, chivalry, and abundant castle are not associated with the Warrior. Warrior energy is erotic for the male, representing the height of virility and physical power as well as toughness of will and spirit. To be unbreakable and to fight to the death is a large part of the Warrior archetype, which is also associated with the passage from boyhood to manhood.
The Mercenary and Soldier of Fortune are variations on the hired killer who sells his power on the open market, often with complete disregard for the buyer's cause. These archetypes are much like the Prostitute in that, although they appear negative, in their favorable aspect they warn us when we are in danger of aligning our might with an unjust or purely self-interested cause.
The Gunslinger and Samurai represent a double-edged sword (pun intended). They appeal to our fantasies of independence and the power to defend ourselves and right wrongs, yet they also carry the historic weight of savage, predatory evil. On the one side are all the heroic characters portrayed by John Wayne, Gary Cooper and others--standing up to injustice and holding off the forces of evil singlehandedly. The Lone Ranger and the figures of wandering samurai warriors in the films of Akira Kurosawa also epitomize this fiercely independent warrior that the American and Japanese past seem to share. And on the other side are all the selfish, evil thieves and killers who embody our worst nightmares of lawlessness and unchecked male dominance. Somewhere in between are the ambiguous Crime Fighters and lone wolf Gunfighters epitomized by Clint Eastwood, whose heroism is often tinged with anger, vengefulness, and more than a little sadism.
The shadow Warrior distorts or abandons ethical principles and decency in the name of victory at any cost. What can be a virtue--heroic indifference to risk and pain--becomes contemptible when the indifference is directed not at oneself but at others.
The Warrior archetype is just as connected to the female psyche as to the male. Women have long been defenders of their families, and the Amazon tribe of Warrior Women has become legendary because of their ability to engage in fierce battle--even sacrificing part of their female physique to facilitate warfare. Loyalty to the family and tribe is among the Amazon's notable characteristics, along with nurturing their young and transmitting lessons of power and self-defense. In today's society, the Warrior Woman has emerged in its glory once again through women who liberate and protect others, especially women and children who need vocal and financial representation.
The concept of the spiritual Warrior has been pioneered by Dan Millman (The Peaceful Warrior), the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa (Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior), Prof. Robert Thurman, and others. They direct us to use the classic Warrior virtues of heroism, stoicism, and self-sacrifice for conquering the ego and gaining control of our inner lives.
Films: Gary Cooper in High Noon; John Wayne in The Searchers; Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, Pale Rider, and Unforgiven; Mel Gibson in Road Warrior and Mad Max; Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were (political activist); Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment (battling cancer); Denzel Washington in Glory (Civil War soldier); The Seven Samurai.
Television: Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Xena the Warrior Princess.
Drama: A Soldier's Story by Charles Fuller .
Fiction: In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck (migrant workers)
Religion/Myth: Bhima ("the Terrible One") warrior hero of the Mahabharata known for his great strength; the son of the wind god Vayu and a brother of Arjuna, he later became a Hindu warrior god); Oya (woman warrior of Yoruba myth, goddess of fire, wind, thunder, and the river Niger); Andarta (Celtic-Gallic warrior and fertility goddess); Popocatepetl (Aztec warrior who, with his consort, was transformed by the gods into a mountain after they both died of grief for each other); Brunhilde (female warrior, one of the Valkyries, in the German epic Niebelungenlied); Alyosha Popovitch (epic hero and mighty warrior of Russian folklore); Durga (warrior manifestation of the Hindu Mother goddess).
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