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The 12 masculine archetypes
The masculine archetypes are twelve recurring patterns of action, care and meaning found in myth and depth psychology: The Sovereign, The Warrior, The Magician, The Lover, The Guardian, The Sage, The Explorer, The Maker, The Healer, The Outlaw, The Trickster and The Mystic. Every person carries all twelve in different measure, whatever their gender.
The first four follow Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, whose book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover (1990) described the four pillars of the mature masculine. The others draw on Carol S. Pearson's twelve archetypes and on mythic figures such as Chiron, Prometheus and Hermes. Each card opens the archetype's gifts, its shadow and the figures that echo it.
The Sovereign
Make room for others to stand tall.
The Warrior
Give your courage a worthy direction.
The Magician
Find the pattern that changes the possible.
The Lover
Meet the world with your whole attention.
The Guardian
Build the shelter that lets life unfold.
The Sage
Keep the question open long enough to learn.
The Explorer
Let the horizon ask you a new question.
The Maker
Give your vision something the world can hold.
The Healer
Let experience become a place of meeting.
The Outlaw
Make an opening where the rules stopped serving life.
The Trickster
Open a little space with an unexpected laugh.
The Mystic
Listen where explanation gives way to wonder.
Which one leads in you? The test takes about five minutes.
Begin the journey