A psychic archetype represents a core energy expression that we believe defines our psychological and spiritual journey, in this, past and future lives. Although we may engage in different forms of life, such as soldier or doctor, we are one enduring archetype, which could be the Warrior or the Healer.
This article explores the psychic archetype of the Performer.
One archetype, many guises
History is full of warrior priests and soldier healers (medics). Teachers can be athletes and athletes can be teachers. We can wear many guises over the course of our lives, but we usually operate from a single psychic archetype.
Sometimes necessity and circumstances can force us into a guise that is far removed from our spiritual purpose, it will seem. If we look closely enough at our actions under any circumstance, we will be able to see the consistent psychic imprint of our representation.
I have a varied work history including construction, website design/management, teaching (college English), and now spiritual consulting. With each iteration of my work opportunities, I repeatedly found myself in the same role… as a spiritual and emotional advisor to those around me.
The artist
When I was learning and reading tarot cards in public (before COVID19), a big part of my job was performing, not just in the sense of ‘getting the job done’, but also with ‘flare’. I’m actually quite an introvert (Scorpio Ascendant), but I have Jupiter in Leo, which makes me a situational extrovert. In other words: in certain situations I can be extremely extroverted.
A Performer archetype truly loves to perform, play a role and entertain others. Performance is an aspect of every archetype; Fathers and mothers entertain their children and Warriors train to perform in real combat situations. But the Performer is the archetype with the gift of moving people through the expertise and execution of their public performances.
Each archetype travels through lifetimes gaining experience within and beyond its ideal representation to enjoy and understand the full range of human experience, while learning lessons related to completing his or her work. We learn lessons through support and resistance. Someone learns the many facets of freedom by being very free in one life and extremely limited in another.
The ideal society (utopian vision)
It is really not difficult to imagine an ideal society in which everyone discovers his or her psychic or spiritual archetype and is given a way to express that archetype through work and interactions with the other archetypes in the world. Creating such a world would require a wholesale and comprehensive acceptance of the balance between science and spirituality, between creativity and necessity, and between compassion and integrity.
Reality is an ebb and flow of balance, imbalance and rebalancing, and that is where all souls learn lessons not found in utopian visions or in the spirit realm. We choose to be here, and psychic or spiritual archetypes indicate that we choose a singular type of role so that we can experience true mastery.
Are you an artist?
Each archetype has definable and distinguishable properties.
Drawn to the “stage”
Performing is about sharing experiences or conveying ideas and stories in a highly stylized way for the benefit of an audience (private or public). The Performer’s true gift is his or her ability to excel in a special way and to be willing to put his or her skills, talent and passion into the public space for all to experience. The best performers transform audiences in some way through their performance.
Many different archetypes may choose to make execution important to their work, but the Performer focuses on the perfection of execution as their main energy. Transformative moments in performance occur when the performer leaves a lifelong impression on an audience and the members of that audience. One of the most electric and dynamic artists I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live in concert was Prince. If you had the chance to see him live, you would know he is a consummate artist.
A desire to entertain others and the community
The Performer plays a crucial role in the connectivity of communities, society and humanity. They love it and need to connect people through art, sports, literature and politics. They want to see the joy one feels when someone realizes they are part of humanity’s story, important in ways small and large. The Executor is as much a pillar of human society as the Mother and the Father, especially since they often connect strangers who discover that they share the same love for the Executor’s performance.
Artists are at their most powerful when they capture something about the spirit of the times when they perform (Zeitgeist: the defining spirit or atmosphere of a particular period in history, as reflected in the ideas and beliefs of the time – Oxford Dictionary).
Naturally sensitive to others
Artists will naturally score high on any scale of emotional sensitivity. They can feel what others feel and desire and know how to give those other people what they want in a way that “knocks their socks off.” They tune in to the moment of the performance and bridge the emotional space between a story, theme or idea and the deeply felt response that their performance evokes in the audience.
More often than not, the best performers are highly introverted when it comes to everyday interactions with the world. It’s not easy for them to live a life as dynamic as their performances; otherwise they can burn out very quickly. Having a way to retreat and recharge is often crucial to their survival, as they are willing, or find it necessary, to give themselves fully and completely to their performance.
Are channels for archetype examples
There was a fun adventure TV show called The pretender that ran from 1996 to 2000. The premise:
The series follows Jarod, a young man on the run who is a ‘Pretender’: a genius trickster who is able to quickly master the complex skills required to pose as a member of any profession also. In each episode, Jarod adopts a new professional identity (e.g. doctor, lawyer, soldier) in his quest to expose his origins, bring justice to criminal offenders who skirt the law, and get one step ahead of The Center, the sinister think tank. to stay. who kidnapped Jarod as a child to exploit his Pretender abilities.
The main character was an idealized version of an artist, played by an actor, the most common type of artist in the real world. The series shows that all work contains certain performance elements that define the work, including costumes (a doctor’s costume is different from a bartender’s is different from a pilot’s) and language (the jargon of each profession). True Performers can show audiences the ideal version of all archetypes.
