Creativity and The Lover Archetype

The Lover archetype manifests clearly in our way of working. Artists and creators, musicians, poets, sculptors, writers – all of these creative occupations are clearly channelling some aspect of Lover energy.

Creativity is linked to sensuality and sensitivity, and also to the ability to portray the human condition in a way that invokes feelings in the people who see that art.

As we noted above, artists often have messy lives. Yet men and women of an artistic disposition often live in ways which frighten and threaten other people, but they are generally true to themselves and their own deepest impulses.

Equally, psychics appear to be coming from the Lover archetype. They too live in a world of sensation and deeply felt intuition. They too may be psychically unboundaried, and experience other people’s thoughts and feelings. They may, of course, also unconsciously allow their energy to flow out to others as well.

Impressions, feelings and intuitions about other people or about the past, present or future are all a part of the psychic’s Lover archetype. Indeed, intuition in general is an essential element of this part of our psyche.

But don’t think that Lover energy is all about being an artist or a psychic! So many more simple life experiences, the ones where your emotions and feelings are activated, reside in the quarter of the Lover. Running your hand along the beautiful lines of a superbly engineered car, or admiring the power of an ancient steam engine can be powerful and sensual experiences for the Lover archetype. Even savouring great wine or coffee or chocolate are also sensory experiences which can activate the Lover archetype.

In essence, when you’re operating from your Lover archetype, you’re coming from your heart rather than your mind. The Lover allows us to be who we are – to actually fulfil our destiny as human “beings” rather than human “doings”. Doing occupies so much of the Warrior’s time and energy.  The Lover will have no truck with this! He wishes to stop and smell the roses, he wishes to indulge his passion for feeling, he wishes to immerse himself in sensory pleasure.

The most obvious expression of the Lover in our lives is in our love life, our sex life. Indeed, for most people in Western society, this is  the area where the Lover finds its easiest means of expression. 

Falling in love is the epitome of the Lover archetype. This is a place where rational thought and balanced action give way to sensation and feeling. The joy of unity with another at the moment of orgasm is an illustration of “boundarylessness”. To be able to delight in the beloved in every way – presence, touch, words, sight and sensation – is to actually feel more alive and to see the world more brightly. (The essence of the Lover’s sensitivity to the environment is described by John Donohoe in this interview.)

Sadly, many of us are brought up in a way that seems to somehow inculcate disapprove of the expression of the Lover’s archetypal energy, and so we repress it.  Yet because the root of this energy is a desire for connection – connection with the world, or connection with ourselves, or connection with others – it will find its expression in one form or another. Francisco Cabeza has written a thoughtful and powerful piece on the evolution of human needs, and the need “to be” in particular, here.

And it’s important to understand that the Lover archetype  is actually the source of some of our greatest masculine power. When we have a strong internal sovereign or King archetype, we can connect with the Lover and ensure that our ego is maintained as a whole and inherently strong part of us. Then, we feel connected, we feel alive, we are passionate and energised. We feel our ability to empathise, to be strong and to support others. We feel a sense of romance and passion about our work. We feel happy and we experience joy in the world.

For the Lover archetype is the source of our sense of meaning about the world… (continued below the video)

Podcast with Rod Boothroyd and Piers Cross – Lover Archetype

…This is the part of us which gives us a sense of spirituality. Yet in many ways this is a young and innocent part of our psyche, and yet it can be the source of the strength which keeps us human and humane.

It’s certainly the part of us that would never allow the Warrior to kill or wound indiscriminately, or permit the Magician to engage in predatorial attacks on other people.

All of us – men and women alike – need the Lover archetype to connect us fully to life and indeed to ourselves. Lover energy energises us, humanises us, and indeed ultimately gives us a sense of purpose: to love others.

Of course other archetypes have their own mission and purpose, but connection and flow are the driving forces behind the Lover. That energy, that impulse to connect in a loving way with others, that urge to express creativity, that sense of intuition, all make up the humanising force which maintains our compassion and sense of oneness with others.

The Lover archetype has to be utterly suppressed before we can go to war and wage cruel and random acts of violence on each other. Yet the Lover in its extreme, unlimited and unbounded form can become a negative and destructive force in its own right. Without the restraining energy of the Warrior, Magician and King, the Lover can become ensnared in his feelings and emotions, fail to get an objective perspective on life and end up wallowing in the emotional wounds he has experienced. 

Yet despite this, many of us, particularly men, have become so detached from the Lover archetype that we find it hard to feel passionate or enthusiastic about anything. Indeed we may have to endure a passionless and dull existence where we don’t feel much at all.

To find the spontaneity and joy of life which is present right inside us, is a wonderful and amazing opening to grace. And by sharing that energy with others, we can bring passion to their lives as well!