What does it mean to live Mythically?

"The partnership of archetype and human being is one that mystics and poets have long known, for myths and archetypes communicate from the poetic level of mind,  allowing nature to speak to the imagining soul rather than just presenting us with scientific laws and probabilities. 

This poetic mind is of a higher order of coherence because it has color, aesthetic form, rhythmic relationship. 

It belongs to a finer frequency of the mind-brain continuum. 

Indeed, evidence suggests that in certain states of consciousness, the mind-brain system appears to move into a larger wave resonance, a frequency that may itself be nested in a continuum of mind beyond the field of the experiencing body.

 In this state, mystics and highly creative people come back enriched and enlivened and do or think remarkable things. 

When we meet myths and archetypes in this state, we can speak directly to the inner imaginal realm in which mind, nature and spirit converge and our highest potentials become available to us."

 -Jean Houston

What is Archetypal Work?

Archetypal work is a deeply healing, transformative path of self-realization that is, by nature, focused both on the self and the collective simultaneously. Personal development is not for the personal sake, but so that the person becomes a vehicle of service for the whole.

Archetypes can be studied through the intellect, in depth psychology work such as led by Carl Jung and James Hillman. Archetypes, however, can also be embodied through practices beyond the linear mind, and their energetics can be harnessed for healing the very fabric of collective consciousness while deeply transforming the life of the being who undertakes it. 

It is an advanced curriculum in soul evolution, by which the soul becomes embodied and starts to shift aspects of the personality that were built upon coping mechanisms or anything less than love. Archetypes exist beyond time and space, therefore their energy can be invoked and harnessed through many sacred technologies and deeply impact the life of those who choose to work with them. 

In archetypal work, we begin to see our lives from a mythic level–through the lens of the soul rather than the small mind or ego’s perspective. This opens up a much wider horizon in which to explore both many existential questions as well as life paths that may not have been available prior to saying yes to this path. 

Because archetypes transcend time and space, and are larger patterns woven within consciousness, they are “worked with” and accessed in what may appear to be ancient ways: rituals, rites of passage, sound, color, shape, mythology. The Divine Feminine lens of perception holds 13 archetypes or faces of the Goddess-as She represents the anima, or feminine aspect of every individual, usually held in the unconscious or subconscious. Archetypal energy of the feminine is felt through the element of water, the planet of the moon, which flows and changes form, embodies the mystery of life that cannot be explained through linear mind.

Therefore, when undertaking archetypal work with the Divine Feminine, you are consciously saying “yes” to traversing new territory within yourself that has previously been hidden from you. You will begin to cultivate a conscious relationship with your inner feminine (anima) and re-balance any aspects of you that may be overly solar or toxic in its masculinity (animus). You will still hold the polarity you choose to embody, however you can embody it more fully, consciously and health-fully. You will also be able to embody your masculinity with more compassion for the feminine aspect of consciousness, therefore dancing more masterfully with her. 

You will also learn to engage with life from a new lens of perception, deepening your capacity to trust in the mystery and learn through gnosis or embodied wisdom, rather than seeking to find knowledge to explain that which is, in essence, paradoxical in the very nature of life itself.