Importance Of Natural Archetypes In Mysticism

א' אב התשס"ח
Lughnasadh 2

Related to the metaphysical concept of soul-friends as discussed in previous entries (Anam Chara - Reyah - Soul Friend and The Blessing Of Rejection) is the concept of natural Archetypes and their importance to soul craft, magic and mysticism.

Scottish magician R. J. Stewart (The UnderWorld Initiation) distinguishes Archetypes as they pertain to esoteric traditions from those of modern psychology:

We are not discussing an archetype in the modern psychological sense; an Archetype is a Matrix or key Image which gives shape and direction to energies arising out of the Primal source of all being.

Modern astronomy has shown us the physical expressions of such Matrices in the vast spiral shapes of distant galaxies, while physics reveals patterns upon the most fundamental atomic levels. These material reflections of Archetypal Matrices (long understood by the ancients in the pure shapes of the Platonic solids) offer us exterior clues to our interior consciousness; and in non-scientific cultures an equally perceptive model of both macroscopic and microscopic Nature was found through Inward cognition.

We can understand from this description that Archetypal Matrices also give shape and direction to the structures of consciousness with which we are formed, to construct our inner Nature. Religions and mystery traditions which project alien Archetypes onto the psyche (to the exclusion of one's natural Archetypes) can be harmful and even poisonous to one's inner Nature.

While the danger may be abrogated when working at levels beyond the Archetypes, the danger does exist when working at the Archetypal level. Not only can working with alien Archetypes harm one spiritually, doing so can prevent the individual from accessing his or her true keys to the mysteries. For these reasons, it is usually best to work with the Archetypes of one's known Ancestors and with those to which one has a clear spiritual predilection as opposed to working with Archetypes not clearly native to one's own spiritual construction.

Related entry - Investing In The Craft