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Zeus Greek God, Archetypes And Myths, Unconscious Personality

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Zeus Greek God

Zeus Greek God as the archetype of the king. The almighty drive for power that might be active in your life right now – or maybe you want it to be.

The word archetype describes what Carl Jung identified as patterns of behaving that arise from the collective unconscious of humankind. The pattern of being is not unique to an individual; it is available to manifest in each of us because we each reflect a part of the whole.

To recognize the ancient Greek god Zeus archetype active within your life look for…

  • stubbornness
  • a strong will
  • leading or wanting to lead
  • bossyness
  • conflicts with authority
  • popular with peers
  • opportunistic
  • desire to be in charge and have power over others

Possible drawbacks to living the Zeus archetype…

  • ignorance or taking for granted family and loved ones
  • having to one day relinquish control
  • ignorance and separation from emotions andauthentic-self
  • constant fear of being overthrown from power
  • only learning there is more to life after some crises

This information has been summarized from the book Gods in Everyman by Jean Shinoda Bolen.

If you recognize your patterns of acting and being in the world from the above list and are curious about what you can do to change, then first and foremost use this information as proof that you are not different, defective or a victim of your past programming.

The above shows the commonality in the human experience when certain innate energies are active. As such begin by accepting that you do indeed own these particular traits and let it be OK that you do.

This will slightly raise your self-esteem and self-acceptance for each trait you own.

If you would like some guidance or clarification, please contact me, I would love to help.

Shadow Work, Dr John Demartini, How To Heal Your Shadow

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Shadow Work

Shadow work is counter intuitive because it asks you to love the parts of yourself that you would rather not be there, but as you will read below that is where the power is.

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Demartini Method

Dr John Demartini created The Demartini Method. It is one of the most powerful ways to improve self-esteem that I know of.  The crux of The Demartini Method and The Breakthrough Experience is shadow-work as coined by Carl Jung the great psychologist… Read More

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Discover Gold In The Shadow And Change Your Life

The gold in the shadow can be understood by seeing that just as we protect our sense of self by denying that we possess ‘bad’ qualities, we also do not fully acknowledge that we… Read More

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The Shadow Effect Movie

The Shadow Effect is a movie creation from Debbie Ford released in 2009. Along similar lines to the movie The Secret, the movie has known and lesser know individuals speaking about the shadow. As with any piece of work; a book, movie, essay or poem, it speaks to you… Read More

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Healing Your Shadow Improves Your Life

Healing the shadow is probably the quickest, easiest and most powerful way to increase self-esteem, self-acceptance and self-love. The shadow is a term coined by famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. Jung coined the term ‘shadow-self’ to make a distinction between… Read More

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Psychological Projection

What is psychological projection?  Who you think you are; your self-image, ego or id as Sigmund Freud called it is OK with being some things but not OK with being others.  The ego ‘breathes’ by virtue of believing you are an object that is separate from the rest of the world.  In actual fact you are not separate, you are not an object and you are not one particular way… Read More

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What Is The Human Shadow?

Every human being has an idea of what sort of person they are. The human shadow is everything that does not exist within your accepted self image. In reality a human being seems to be a potential to be anything at any time rather than one fixed way. Therefore your self image keeps you trapped… Read More

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Why Is Shadow Work Powerful?

Shadow work derived from the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung who coined the term shadow to refer to the parts of the psyche that we are unconscious of.  Anything that is unconscious seemingly has more influence in our lives than that we do consciously.

In this respect you can think of the patterns and agenda of the unconscious like a robot in that they run automatically.  This is good for essential bodily functions like breathing for example but not great for psychological functions such as… Read More

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Own Your Shadow-Self To Improve Your Life

The shadow-self is a very important aspect of your experience of yourself and life. I am going to explain to you in basic terms the crux of the shadow-self and hopefully you will see clearly why it is such a determining factor of your self-esteem. You will no doubt notice that you have a self-image. This is undeniable and this self-image is a construction within your mind of how you are. Because it is so obvious and so familiar and seemingly so real we live life as if… Read More

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Ego Defense: Shadow Projection

Shadow projection is the way in which you can easily spot what human traits are in your shadow.

Your shadow self is that which is unconscious. As we are complete in our potential experience, anything which we deny as being part of us becomes unconscious. What the ego (self-image) does is… Read More

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List Of Archetypes

What is an archetype?  It is very important for your self-acceptance and self-esteem to understand this. Carl Jung created the term Collective Unconscious.  This refers to the tendencies, predispositions, natural inclinations and way of thinking about your self and the world.  You could say these tendencies are natural and arise within you despite the cultural programming of what is good, acceptable and OK. For example… Read More

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Shadow Work, Shadow Projection, Human Shadow, Healing The Shadow, The Shadow Effect

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Why Shadow Work Is Powerful

Who Coined The Term Shadow?

Shadow work derived from the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung who
coined the term shadow to refer to the parts of the psyche that we are
unconscious
of.  Anything that is unconscious seemingly has more influence in
our lives than that we do consciously.
In this respect you can think of the patterns and agenda of the
unconscious like a robot in that they run automatically.  This is
good for essential bodily functions like breathing for example but not
great for psychological functions such as trying to accept old hurt or
trying to get your parent’s approval.  These will not stop no
matter how much time has passed.

Why Do Things Run Unconsciously?

For several reasons things run unconsciously, be it because you
experienced something that you were not able to process at the time or
be it just because in our society the external world is more
distracting and attractive than the internal world for most people.

If something is conscious to us we have out impartial awareness upon
it.  As we do this for longer periods of time such as in contemplation more and more
of what is taking place automatically becomes obvious to us.  Then
we can choose to change it.

Unfortunately we don’t seem to widely realise that what is within
affects what we experience without.

What Does This Have To Do With Shadow Work?

Shadow work is extremely powerful and changes things in your experience
of life quickly. 
What people notice when they do shadow work is inner peace and a
quietening of what some people call the inner critic or the
judge.  You experience less contraction away from other people,
less irritation and less wishing other people would change.

What this requires is self-reflection and higher consciousness of what
is taking place within your experience.  If there is something
about a person that irritates you or something that makes you feel they
are superior then what is
actually happening is you
are projecting onto this other
person something that you have not accepted about yourself.

What If The Other Person Really Is That Way?

There are a couple of ways of looking at this.  You could hold it
that these people are coming into your life and showing up as they do
because you have this unconscious, unaccepted trait.  Or you could
completely own that you create this person in your reality.  Or
you could accept that maybe this person is really like this but your
irritation is all your doing.

For example in an ideal world you would completely accept and love in a
compassionate way even the most despicable character.  Any trait
about
this despicable character that you have a body felt hatred or dislike
of is your shadow.

By this I mean that person does not automatically come pre-packaged
with these feelings that you experience.  They just are as they
are.  Whatever you feel or interpret this person to be is your
doing.  You won’t be doing this automatically as a thought out
process but it will be automatically occurring unconsciously. 
This
is your shadow self being projected
outwards and therefore holds huge clues to your self discovery,
personal and spiritual growth.

What is required is for you to look within your life and potential life
and completely accept that this trait is a reality or a possibility
within your life.  This is what we mean by healing the shadow.

To learn more about shadow work read about The Shadow Effect movie by Debbie
Ford.

Shadow Self, Shadow Work, Shadow Projection, Human Shadow, Healing The Shadow

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Own Your Shadow-Self

To Improve Your Life

The shadow-self is a very important aspect of your experience of yourself and life. I am going to explain to you in basic terms the crux of the shadow-self and hopefully you will see clearly why it is such a determining factor of your self-esteem.

You will no doubt notice that you have a self-image. This is undeniable and this self-image is a construction within your mind of how you are. Because it is so obvious and so familiar and seemingly so real we live life as if we really are that way.

Think back to childhood or even imagine yourself growing up and the pressure to conform to particular ways of being was persistent, sometimes explicit, sometimes subtle but always immense. You quickly learned what was acceptable and what was to be never heard or seen in your household and society.

The problem is that these traits which you learned were never to be seen or heard don’t actually go away. How can they? Where would they go? They have nowhere to go and I will talk more about that in depth in other pages. So as they can’t disappear, in order for you to have them appear to have disappeared you shove them out of conscious awareness.

Cue the self-image and its opposite the shadow-self.

So what you end up with is a whole lot of traits and characteristics that are acceptable to Mum, Dad, society, teachers and you in one mental construct called the self-image and everything that is not OK is said to be in your shadow.

Why Is This Important?

This is important for your self-esteem and experience of life because you can try really, really hard to feel better by swapping some of the self-image traits around, making some more prominent, working to improve some and working to have more people see certain traits or whatever.

However, at the end of the day the self-image is just a made up idea. It still has no basis in absolute reality as the conscious being you are. You can swap and change and tinker with the self-image all you like, and some people do for their whole miserable life.

You will never experience self-acceptance, self-love and self-esteem until you finally turn and face all those traits you shut away in the shadow-self, acknowledge them, embrace them, welcome them, make it OK that they are there, see the benefit of them being there, love them and accept them.

Psychological Projection, Ego

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Discover Your Psychological Projection

Psychological Projection

What is psychological projection?  Who you think you are; your self-image, ego or id as Sigmund Freud called it is OK with being some things but not OK with being others.  The ego ‘breathes’ by virtue of believing you are an object that is separate from the rest of the world.

In actual fact you are not separate, you are not an object and you are not one particular way.

In order to feel remotely in charge of your life, the ego that you think you are employs a range of strategies and techniques to..

1.  persist the illusion that you are as you think you are

2.  allow you to reduce some of the pain and anxiety

One such strategy is to have you throw a whole lot of assumptions and labels at the people who appear in your awareness.

Pressure at Work

One example that I can give you from first hand experience is feeling that I was coming under pressure from senior people at work.  When I really looked within at the patterns of thoughts I was running and my attitude I could see that I was putting myself under pressure because I had expectations and an aversion to stress.

Yes I needed to work through it but I myself wanted to get it done because;

– I don’t like people waiting for work from me so I rush through it with urgency so I can then feel free again.

– I want people to be happy and impressed with me.

Instead of seeing this clearly and accepting that I myself was creating pressure to get the work done, I projected the source of the pressure onto senior people at work.

Instead of looking deeply within to see the true cause, the self simply finds someone outside of you to attribute the cause.

Assumptions

Next time you are interacting with someone notice how much mind-reading you really do.  What you are doing is assuming you know something about them and about the way they are thinking.  You will be wrong.

Whatever you think is true about their thoughts will be a projection of a thought or attitude that is held by you.

1. Notice you are assuming things about them

2. Be curious about why you are assuming these things

I recall being in a supermarket and a man spilled some peanuts or something similar from the bulk bin dispensers over the floor.  He was obviously embarrassed but he started angrily lecturing me as I walked by saying ‘ everyone makes mistakes, you make mistakes, she makes mistakes…”.

He projected onto me some thought or attitude.  He thought I was thinking he was incompetent or a fool or stupid or something.  In reality I was quite oblivious and couldn’t care and had only compassion and understanding for what had happened.

Once you see that these projections actually originate from within your psyche just notice that it does.  You don’t need to do anything else.

You see the ego cannot play out it’s strategies with the light of your watching on it.  Awareness is transformational.  Bring consciousness to everything you do and everything you feel and everything you think is true about others.  Your ego’s tendency for using psychological projection will drop away leaving you present and calm and loving.

Poseidon God of the Sea, Archetypes And Myths, Unconscious Personality

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Poseidon
God Of The Sea

Poseidon God of the sea is the archetype covering the domain of emotion and instinct. With Poseidon active you will feel emotion intensely and that will give you plenty to work with to transform.

The word archetype describes what Carl Jung identified as patterns of behaving that arise from the collective unconscious of humankind. The pattern of being is not unique to an individual; it is available to manifest in each of us because we each reflect a part of the whole.

To recognize Poseidon active within your life look
for…

  • Bottling up strong emotions instead of instantaneous
    expression
  • Feeling strongly
  • Uncontrollable rage
  • A poor loser
  • Not comfortable in the world of school and intellectual
    realms
  • Operates day-to-day from a feeling and instinctual base
    rather than logic and planning

Possible drawbacks to living the Poseidon archetype…

  • Can be viewed as emotionally unstable or inappropriate
  • For men can feel alienated as emotions are not
    traditionally accepted within men
  • low self-esteem for not being allowed to be himself by
    society (lack of acceptance)

This information has been summarized from the book Gods in Everyman by Jean Shinoda Bolen.

If you recognize your patterns of acting and being in the world from the above list and are curious about what you can do to change, then first and foremost use this information as proof that you are not different, defective or a victim of your past programming.

The above shows the commonality in the human experience when certain innate energies are active. As such begin by accepting that you do indeed own these particular traits and let it be OK that you do.

This will slightly raise your self-esteem and self-acceptance for each trait you own.   If you would like some guidance or clarification, please contact me, I would love to help.

List of Archetypes, Carolyn Myss, Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence, Spiritual

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List
of Archetypes To Help You

A list of archetypes will help you recognize your own particular tendencies and way of being.

Carolyn Myss’ books and products are recommended and so is Carol Pearson along with Jean Shinoda Bolen.

What is an archetype?

It is very important for your self-acceptance and self-esteem to understand this. Carl Jung created the term Collective Unconscious. This refers to the tendencies, predispositions, natural inclinations and way of thinking about your self and the world.

You could say these tendencies are natural and arise within you despite the cultural programming of what is good, acceptable and OK.

For example…

Is the energy and pattern that manifests as wanting power above all else. Usually found most obviously in men and Fathers who rule at home or at work with a strong belief that their way is right. For the person with an activated Zeus pattern there is no room for others to be different or have different interests and motivations than him (typically male but also can appear in women as well).

Differing to Zeus pattern in that the extent of the drive to reach the top is less strong in Apollo.
If Zeus is the King then someone with Apollo active would be a good man/woman to have beside him. Seeking approval and wanting to impress those with higher authority (or at least not let them down) he/she will support and work well in a team and be loyal.

The Hades archetype when active makes the person battle within himself to be true to himself which includes recoiling from the world into his/her reclusive inner subjective world and at the same time exist in the world that openly values and rewards the Zeus’ of this world. This archetype is one of non-conformity to what is splashed all over the televisions, magazines and movies. To Hades it seems a foreign world with all that shallowness running around trying to accumulate external things.

This archetypal pattern is the realm of instinct, emotion and feeling. While a Zeus man wouldn’t acknowledge or honor an emotion quite the opposite is true for our Poseidon activated archetype. This is the pattern of living in touch with what is felt in the body. Zeus lives in the head and plans, strives and seeks external. Poseidon however is the emotional one. Again another archetype who for men is not valued in our Western society. This archetype will find it difficult to fit in and feel fulfilled in traditional roles for men. If pushed to become a lawyer for example by a Zeus father his world will be devoid of color and taste.

This archetype when activated shows up in someone who is very much introverted and withdrawn from the outside world. Retreating to the inner world of their thoughts and creativity they are most comfortable working and creating. Especially if they have found their life’s work it will be difficult for the Hephaestus man or woman to think or do anything else. Social skills and communication don’t come naturally and this person becomes somewhat of a loner unless other archetypes develop. This is the strong, silent type who doesn’t let others know what is going on with them, nor wear their heart on their sleeve.

The Ares archetype is ruled by the here and now spontaneous reaction to feeling and impulse in the body. Ruled by the physical world he/she inhabits, very little thought or planning goes into actions. Spontaneous with the powerful characteristics that we normally associate with masculinity. A warrior and a taste for battle, able to fight and protect but perhaps struggles in other ways.

The activate Hermes archetype shows up as a smooth talking, adventurer of the world, always on the go and is able to connect quickly with new friends. Intuitively and instinctively he knows how to deceive and persuade others to do what he wishes and let them feel it was their idea. He does things his own way and has the confidence and mental agility to approach anything with confidence. Think salesman with the gift of the gab who has a girl in every port but also many male friends because he his also a man’s man.

The active Dionysus archetype shows up in life in varied and extreme ways. It is the pattern, in men especially, of not being interested in the external world of achievement, sports and what society typically values. The Dionysus archetype approaches life from a deeply internal perspective and ordinary events are valued for the experience and not the achievement. For example cooking to experience the smells and tastes and not just to satisfy hunger.

Hades the Greek God, Archetypes And Myths, Unconscious Personality, Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence

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Hades
The Greek God

Hades the Greek God in mythology is the archetype of the personal and collective unconscious outside of awareness that stores all the memories, feelings and aspects not yet embraced. It is a powerful aspect because what ever you disown will own you.

The word archetype describes what Carl Jung identified as patterns of behaving that arise from the collective unconscious of humankind. The pattern of being is not unique to an individual; it is available to manifest in each of us because we each reflect a part of the whole.

To recognize Hades active within your life look
for…

  • reclusive and withdrawn from the world
  • introverted and value own reactions and responses to
    the outside world more than the outside world.
  • ambition, communication and social skills are generally
    lacking
  • few friends if any, preferring to be alone

Possible drawbacks to living the Hades archetype…

  • often goes unseen and unnoticed
  • lack of emotional connection with others
  • feel alienated from a society that rewards ambition and
    achievement
  • distanced from own emotions

This information has been summarized from the book Gods in Everyman by Jean Shinoda Bolen.

If you recognize your patterns of acting and being in the world from the above list and are curious about what you can do to change, then first and foremost use this information as proof that you are not different, defective or a victim of your past programming.

The above shows the commonality in the human experience when certain innate energies are active. As such begin by accepting that you do indeed own these particular traits and let it be OK that you do.

This will slightly raise your self-esteem and self-acceptance for each trait you own.  
If you would like some guidance or clarification, please contact me, I would love to help.

Greek God Hermes, Archetypes And Myths, Unconscious Personality,Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence

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Greek God Hermes

The Greek God Hermes is the archetype of change being brought into our lives. It is the energy of fluidness and openness and receptiveness of change.

The word archetype describes what Carl Jung identified as patterns of behaving that arise from the collective unconscious of humankind. The pattern of being is not unique to an individual; it is available to manifest in each of us because we each reflect a part of the whole.

To recognize Hermes active within your life look for…

  • quick, agile mind
  • always on the move
  • likes to find own way to succeed
  • broad range of interests and ideas
  • doesn’t like to be tied down

    • Possible drawbacks to living the Hermes archetype…

  • oblivious to what might be unacceptable
  • never settles or settles very late
  • learns many skills but masters none

  • unwilling to commit because of lure of next
    possibility

    • This information has been summarized from the book Gods in Everyman by Jean Shinoda Bolen.

    If you recognize your patterns of acting and being in the world from the above list and are curious about what you can do to change, then first and foremost use this information as proof that you are not different, defective or a victim of your past programming.

    The above shows the commonality in the human experience when certain innate energies are active. As such begin by accepting that you do indeed own these particular traits and let it be OK that you do.

    This will slightly raise your self-esteem and self-acceptance for each trait
    you own.

    If you would like some guidance or clarification, please contact me, I would love to help.

    Greek God Hephaestus, Archetypes And Myths, Unconscious Personality

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    Greek
    God Hephaestus

    The Greek god Hephaestus is the archetype within human beings that urges the creation of beautiful and functional objects.

    The word archetype describes what Carl Jung identified as patterns of behaving that arise from the collective unconscious of humankind. The pattern of being is not unique to an individual; it is available to manifest in each of us because we each reflect a part of the whole.

    To recognize Hephaestus active within your life look for…

    • introverted and intense personality
    • potentially creative and totally dedicated to life’s
    • focused on life’s work to the exclusion of other areas
      of life
    • creates functional and/or beautiful things

    Possible drawbacks to living the Hephaestus
    archetype…

    • feels an outsider
    • not part of the ‘in’ crowd
    • feels rejected by society’s values
    • if doesn’t find gratifying work or is not true to
      creative abilities then will have no natural outlet for deep emotions

    This information has been summarized from the book Gods in Everyman by Jean Shinoda Bolen.

    If you recognize your patterns of acting and being in the world from the above list and are curious about what you can do to change, then first and foremost use this information as proof that you are not different, defective or a victim of your past programming.

    The above shows the commonality in the human experience when certain innate energies are active. As such begin by accepting that you do indeed own these particular traits and let it be OK that you do.

    This will slightly raise your self-esteem and self-acceptance for each trait you own.   If you would like some guidance or clarification, please contact me, I would love to help.