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King, Warrior, Magician, Lover – archetypes of the mature Masculine

by Eivind Figenschau Skjellum

A brief introduction to the archetypes of the mature masculine

As any man with life experience knows, life is a constant struggle wherein the desired goal is our attainment of inner peace as well as the ability to give and receive love fearlessly. On this journey of discovery and growth, there are many forces within us that battle for attention. Our personality is not a single entity with one homogenous voice as much as it is a variety of different voices that battle for dominance. Sometimes unfamiliar voices may shock or delight, and sometimes worn out voices may become so irritating, so jarring, so profoundly removed from what we want to hear, that we come to hate ourselves.

One of the most important types of work we can can do in our growth into maturity is to identify and befriend these voices, so that they find and relax into their rightful place in what becomes an increasingly integrated psyche. Maybe we must tune some voices down, others a little up. Maybe we must make the baritone into a soprano, the bass into a tenor. Whatever voices are within us, our primary mission in life is to conduct them from being a cacophony to being a beautiful and powerful choir. Such important work requires a powerful framework, a model for teaching, learning, and living. That is why we will now dive into the deep waters of the archetypes known as King, Warrior, Magician, Lover (KWML).

Jung did very important, revolutionary work on the archetypes and the collective unconscious. In his work he speaks of the anima, the feminine within the man, and the animus, the masculine within the woman. He further expounds that the anima and animus have four stages of development. And while these stages probably warrant an article unto themselves, Jung is merely mentioned in this context as a facilitator for the discovery of the KWML archetypes. Jung described four stages in his model, from immature to mature: Eve/Adam, Helen/Planner, Mary/Professor, Sophia/Guide as stages of an evolutionary path whereby the last stage is more evolved then the first. The KWML-model, on the other hand, attributes equal importance to all archetypes, claiming no superiority of one over another*.

* However, depending on cultural conditions, some archetypes may be more needed than others.

However, as outlined n the book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover – Rediscovering the archetypes of the mature masculine by Douglas Gillette and Robert Moore, there is a clear line drawn between immature archetypes – boy psychology – and mature archetypes – man psychology. In boy psychology, there is in the model a clearly delineated path of evolution, which yields to a more open landscape with the onset of man psychology. Additionally, within each of the four archetype axises, is not only an immature and a mature stage, but a pyramid structure of the boy and of the man wherein we find the integrated archetype at the apex, and active and passive bipolar shadow aspects in the left and right corners (fig. 1).

kwml-modelFig. 1: The KWML model

It is important to recognize that when we are not in contact with an archetype, we are automatically ruled by its bipolar shadow. And when we are ruled by the shadow archetype, we tend to switch back and forth between the active and passive poles, completely at the mercy of events.

What we learn from this system is that healing and integration happens when we recognize that one archetype dominates too strongly in our psyche, and must be balanced by another, or when we recognize that the archetypes we animate are sourced in the active or passive shadow poles, as opposed to the integrated and mature aspect. Now, let's take a brief look at what makes a boy before we look at the man and his archetypes up close.

Understanding the Boy

The differences between a boy and a man should be apparent, but in our current cultural climate, we seem to have lost this understanding. Boyhood has come to dominate the male population of Western culture, and manhood discarded as dark, destructive, scary, and problematic. The boy has been pushed to occupy the space left behind by the man – something he is not ready for – and his values of youth, physical vitality, and beauty come to dominate. He has been celebrated through diverse cultural phenomena, such as the boyband, young, rebellious athletes, the irresponsibility and «don't give a damn»-attitude proselytized by the advertising industry (look no further than Coca Cola Zero adverts), the take-what-I-want-and-fuck-you-if-you-try-to-stop-me of parts of the music industry, the self-serving ways of young stockbrokers and real estate agents etc, the wave of movies in which immature men are turned into poster boys, the admiration of heroics, the celebration of youth over wisdom etc. The list goes on.

The problem with this is that we end up with a very limited view of masculinity, one rooted in insecurity and the desire for sex, fame, money, and power. We become so uprooted in ourselves, separated from our true core, that we define ourselves through external factors. We must recognize one basic fact: The boy is the slave of his ego. He often has little control over his nervous system, and fries his life energy on pointless mental pursuits and drama. He is the guy who can't sit still and can't tolerate silence. He is the guy who freaks out from prolonged eye contact. He is the guy who is easily insulted, who tries very hard to be seen (or equally hard not to be), who fishes for love and is easily hurt. He is the guy who has little structure and integrity in life, and who – despite his myriad claims to goodness – won't stand up for a friend in times of need. It's not that he doesn't want to do the right thing. It's that he is not able to. His life is in disarray and he is completely under the spell of the feminine, and is happy only as long as mummy is close. This is the subconscious mother, the archetypal mother, the feminine as a whole – not necessarily the biological mother. The purpose of the Hero archetype, the last archetype of boyhood psychology, is to break free from this bondage to the Feminine.

The first three archetypes are of boyhood psychology are: The Divine Child, the Precocious Child, and the Oedipal Child. These, as well as the Hero, will be featured in detail later on. For now, I choose to focus on the man.

Understanding the Man

The hero's journey – the last step on the evolution of boy psychology – finally takes the boy into the realms of the man. This, however, often comes at great cost, and is often preceded by a time of existential crisis, what Robert Bly refers to as «ashes work». In the legends, the story always ends when the hero returns having slain the dragon, rescued the princess, and received the kingdom as reward. It doesn't describe the enormous difficulty the hero has settling into his adult responsibilities as king, and doesn't investigate his ability to stay faithful to his new queen, or his inclination to throw it all away – all those nasty responsibilities – to ride into the world on his trusty stallion once more.

We said that the defining characteristic of the Boy is his enslavement to his ego. The defining characteristic of the Man is his mastery of it. The Man has subjugated his ego and turned it into an ally. This is impossible unless the crisis of ashes has first been lived or worked through. Any boy who is to become a man must feel his fearful way through the utter pointlessness of everything to serve the world. And it is of course exactly because our lives are so safe and comfortable that most of us never grow up to serve, never leaving boyhood behind.

Let's look at the archetypes of the man, starting with the King, before we move on to the others. What follows are effectively summaries of the chapters in Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette's book.

The King

The King is the source of order in the kingdom. If he is a wise and just king, the kingdom prospers, people eat well and are safe from harm. In the kingdom of the wise king, laughter rings through the lands, the crops shoot up high, joyful celebrations keep the woods awake, merchants travel with overflowing carts to lively markets. The king is the harmonizing principle, the subjugator of chaos, the uniter of opposites. He is the channel through which the gods communicate, and he channels divine blessings to his people and the lands (to whom he is «wed»). He is selfless, and puts the good of his people above his own needs. When the King grows weak, darkness threatens the borders of the kingdom, the sun disappears from the sky, and the crops wither and die. When the king dies, he knows, he is merely replaced by another in a lineage of divinely blessed kings, which humbles him Remember the saying «The King is dead, long live the King.»

In the psyche of the man, the King archetype is the central archetype, around which the rest of the psyche is organized. If the King energy in us is weak, our psyche falls in disarray, and chaos threatens our lands. The man who is constantly overwhelmed by life – who can't seem to find harmony or order – must develop the King energy, often in conjunction with Warrior energy to protect his borders.

The two main functions of the King are:

  1. Live according to the Tao, the Dharma, the Word, and the lands will flourish

  2. Bring fertility and blessing. The King is the masculine equivalent of the Great Mother, and he is wed to the lands. The king's vitality and sexuality directly reflect on his kingdom.

The Shadow King: The Tyrant and the Weakling

The Tyrant is the active pole of the Shadow King. The Tyrant, unlike the King, is not the harmonizing center of the kingdom, and his power is so fragile that he hates with a passion all new life; the beauty and purity of a mere baby boy threatens the Tyrant's rule. He does not realize that a King is merely a channel, and wants the power to be associated with himself. He will even develop godly pretensions to cover up his enormous insecurity. His degradation of others and all beauty is limitless, as everything good, true, and beautiful reminds him of his own shortcomings. He is extremely sensitive to criticism, and will be deflated by the slightest remark, responding with rage, when what he feels is fear and vulnerability.

The Weakling is the passive pole of the Shadow King. He is not centered in himself and lacks inner peace and harmony, and is prone to paranoia. He suspects that those around him are disloyal, and his fear of betrayal will inevitably cause him to switch over to the Tyrant to control them.

The Magician

The Magician is the wise man, the sage, the knower of secrets. He sees and navigates the inner worlds, he understands the dynamics and energy flows of the outer. He is a master of technology, engineering, mathematics, mysticism, and logic. He reads the stars, navigates the soul, and writes the laws. In the legends, he is the King's close advisor, who stops the regent's anger with cool rationality before he acts rashly and channels to him knowledge from hidden sources. The Magician is the thinker, and all knowledge that requires special training is his domain. The Magician has the capacity to detach from events – the chaos of the world – and draw on essential truths and resources deep within him. He thinks clearly in times of crisis, and enables us to take a broader view of things. He governs the observing ego, and is the meditator that reveals the truth of the universe, the shaman who communicates with the ancestors and stars

The Shadow Magician: The Manipulator and the Denying «Innocent» one.

The Manipulator is the active pole of the Shadow Magician. He works in covert ways to undermine others. He withholds crucial information, and deliberately sets others up so as to appear inferior to himself. The specialist knowledge he possesses makes him feel proud and gives him a feeling of being better than. That feeling is all he lives for, so he is not prepared to share his knowledge, unless the price is right (and even then probably withholding crucial details). He will rather use it as a weapon, ready to strike when the impact is the most devastating.

The Innocent one is the passive pole of the Shadow Magician. He wants the status belonging to a true Magician, but he doesn't want the responsibilities. He doesn't want to be burdened with helping, of setting up sacred space for others' learning. His main focus is to learn exactly enough to sabotage those who are trying their damnedest to make a difference, so that no other man will get achieve that which he is too lazy to strive for. He is envious of the vitality of others, because he is so «flat» himself. Whenever confronted with his elusive and destructive behaviour, he responds «who, me?». He is a master of manipulating others into thinking that it really wasn't their doing, a carefully crafted puppet theatre conducted behind a smokescreen by the Manipulator.

The Warrior

The warrior is a powerhouse of energy, the source of which is a transpersonal commitment. He is fiercely loyal to his warrior code – which is his honor – and to the king, who mythologically represents his purpose. The warrior is not concerned about his own comfort and security in pursuit of his goal, as his training teaches him to live with death as his constant companion. The domain of the Warrior is the battlefield – be it a battlefield of war, of spirituality, or of moral ethics. The Warrior's purpose is often to destroy, but the mature warrior destroys only that which is negative and harmful to the world. He is a master tactician, knowing at all times his limitations, and finds creative ways around them. The warrior is not a thinker, he is a doer. Thinking is his enemy, because it inhibits his ability to act swiftly and with force. He trains himself not to think, and becomes a master of his mind, attitudes, and body. The warrior is detached from life, with an almost infinite ability to withstand psychological and physical pain in pursuit of his goal. He is a little «unhuman», always chasing the shadow of the attainment of his next big purpose, always putting emphasis on his mission as opposed to his relationships.

The Shadow Warrior: The Sadist and the Masochist

The Sadist is the active pole of the Shadow Warrior. The Warrior's detachment from life leaves the door open to cruelty. The Warrior is most vulnerable in the area of relationships, where he must constantly stay vigiliant of his mind and emotions. They must not be repressed, but be under control, lest cruelty sneak into him while he isn't looking. The Sadist hates weakness and vulnerability, which is a projection of his hidden Masochist, and will take great glee in tormenting those unfortunate souls that remind him of his shadow. The Sadist directed inwards has people running themselves into the ground out of deep anxiety. They have low sense of self-worth, and will endure great self-torment on their way to burnout.

The Masochist is the passive pole of the Shadow Warrior. The Masochist projects Warrior energy onto others, and experiences himself as impotent and vulnerable in their presence. He is unable to defend himself psychologically and allows others to manipulate and mess with him. We will absorb an enormous amount of abuse until one day we snap, and percolate back to the Sadist.

The Lover

The lover is finely attuned to the realm of the senses and worships beauty. He is a musician, an artist, and a lover of all things, both inner and outer. He is passionate, and delights in touching and being touched. He wants to always stay connected, and does not recognize boundaries. He wants to experience the world as one ongoing big orgasm of hearts uniting as One. He is the mystic who feels everything as himself, and the source of all intuition. Through his feeling capacity, he is finely attuned to people's energy, capable of reading them like an open book. His desire for love and connectedness considered, feeling into other people and discovering dark intentions is a painful experience for him. He is opposed to all structures that maintain separateness – of all law and order that keep hearts lonely and isolated. He is, in other words, opposed to all the other archetypes. The Lover is crucial in keeping the other archetypes energized, humane, and in touch with the ultimate purpose of love. The Lover keeps them from sadism.

The Shadow Lover: The Addicted and the Impotent Lover

The Addicted Lover is the active pole of the Shadow Lover. He is constantly searching for the fulfillment of his sensual desires. A true hedonist, he throws himself into a neverending and exhausting search for the fulfillment, without ever really knowing what he truly looks for. He is pulled around by circumstances and his constantly shifting desires, never finding rest. A woman here, a women there, then music, art, fine wine – whatever keeps his sensual side alive. The Addicted lover has not solidified in his internal structures, and will forever hunt for the attainment of his desire, helplessly shackled to the desire for union with Mother (the realm of sensory experience is the realm of the Feminine).

The Impotent Lover is the passive pole of the Shadow Lover. He is chronically depressed, and feels cut off from himself and others. He loses his zest for life, his energy all but gone.He is sexually inactive, and will withdraw from all demands that are placed on him and his sexuality. If his partner becomes too demanding, requesting a sex life from him he is uncapable to offer, his feelings of imprisonment may propel him out of the relationship and onto the endless road of addiction that is the domain of the Addicted Lover.

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12 responses to “King, Warrior, Magician, Lover – archetypes of the mature Masculine”

  1. 1.

    Michael

    Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 7:09 am

    Wow. I have to say, that without even reading your movie reviews, which I *definitely* will do, I am grateful for this post especially, but more so for the great resources you give in the articles section. This is like a conscious masculinity primer.

    Thank you!

  2. 2.

    Eivind F S

    Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 7:28 am

    Wonderful, Michael. Glad you like what you see!

    Tell me if there’s anything else you want in here. I want to make this an even better resource.

    Eivind

  3. 3.

    Michael

    Posted on May 3rd, 2010 at 8:31 am

    Hey Eivind,

    I want you to review Hoosiers.

    Could you do that? My dad and I both really connect with that movie. My mom told me once “Dad always cries at this movie”. I fucking love it, too.

    Most of its metaphors are pretty blatant, but I can really see the masculine power all over it. When I watched it recently, a sports metaphor clicked for me and now I like to think of God as “The Great Coach”

    Thanks, man and good to see you on the NWD

  4. 4.

    Eivind

    Posted on May 6th, 2010 at 10:36 pm

    Hey Michael, would you remind reposting – cutting and pasting – this text into the suggest movie so that others can track your suggestion as well? I intend to introduce a feature there soon whereby other users can give thumbs up/down to people’s suggestions.

    Yes, I’m totally pumped about the NWD!

    Eivind

  5. 5.

    WoundedWarrier

    Posted on June 13th, 2010 at 12:26 am

    Good article! I really loved how you broke down and summarized the KMWL book. I am nearly done reading the book and was surprised to find a site that gave a cheat-sheet on the book. Good book, but it only explains the problems, but doesn’t explain how to work toward a solution for it.

    I would like to recommend couple of movies:
    – Pitch Black (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134847/): Besides beautiful imagery, original storyline, and suspense, an excellent demonstration of a Hero’s archetype Sadist death (spiritually) to become a Warrior (the main character). The real death of Masochist who refuse to grow up. And an image of true Lover (the female character).

    – Love if if you Can (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464/): I just love the relationship of father & son (and also chaser and chasee).

  6. 6.

    Eivind

    Posted on June 13th, 2010 at 11:14 am

    Hi WoundedWarrior,

    I love the book, and – if I remember correctly – agree that it talks a lot about problems. But it also shines a light into parts of our subconscious that we may not have seen before, and brings those to the fore. That is the start of the journey right there. Anyway, I have tried to address your “complaint” in my movie reviews where I talk a lot about the integration of archetypes and how we can come to terms with them.

    If you check out this blog post: http://www.masculinity-movies.com/blog/king-warrior-magician-lover-more-juicy-content-on-the-horizon, you will see that I’m intending to write more on these archetypes soon. In fact, my vision is to make this site a resource on how to work with the KWML archetypes in our lives. I frankly don’t have the knowledge to do that yet, though, but I will get there.

    I’m very intrigued by your user name. It’s a little haunting, and I feel drawn to it, as if it’s familiar to me. I would love it if you spoke more about it. I think “Wounded Warrior” really explains modern men so well.

    Good to have you here.

    Eivind

  7. 7.

    Adamashero

    Posted on June 22nd, 2010 at 6:19 am

    I’ve been a fan of KWLM for a few years now and reflect on it often… In doing so the other day I realized I had just seen a movie (that I honestly was underwhelmed by) that illustrates all four archetypes functioning in relative harmony. The A-Team features a King (Hannibal), a Warrior (B.A), a Magician (Murdoch) and a Lover (Face). Interestingly each of these characters seems to be struggling with the full and healthy expression of their archetype’s role – and yet there is a clear sense that they understand that they balance one another, too. Perhaps the most interesting part to me though, is that all four of these characters find themselves to have no place within the bounds of accepted culture – they are four expressions of masculinity that function as castouts struggling to survive and find their way…

  8. 8.

    Eivind

    Posted on June 23rd, 2010 at 8:34 pm

    Thanks a lot for the heads up on the KWML-potential in A-Team, Adamashero. The KWML archetypes are starting to crystallize into one of the main foundations of my work and I think it would be a great to study them all interrelating withing the same movie.

    I’ll probably drop by the movie theatre one of these days and write a bitesized movie review.

    How did you first discover KWML?

  9. 9.

    Boysen Hodgson

    Posted on July 22nd, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    Love this post. Love this book. Very happy that I found the site (at the recommendation of Earl Hipp over at Man-Making). For the last 6 years I have been exploring these archetypes with a global men’s organization called the ManKind Project. I did their New Warrior Training Adventure, which explores the archetypes through a hero’s journey from Friday to Sunday. This was, without doubt, the most life changing weekend I have ever experienced. This was my initiation into mature manhood. And since 2004 I have been sitting with men in circles called iGroups – where we continue to explore, challenge ourselves and support each other to embody the full potential of who we are as men and to explore the shadows that still trip us up. It’s my opinion that men are wired to spend this time ‘around the fire’ and yet so few of us ever have the opportunity.

    Here’s what Moore had to say about the ManKind Project – “Previous cultures throughout history always intended authentic masculine initiation. But their vision and their cultural context of the world was necessarily limited. Since the first earthrise photograph from outer space, we have entered a new mythological era. For the first time in human history, we have before us the possibility of authentic masculine initiation – an initiation into the global brotherhood.” –Dr. Robert Moore, Coauthor of King, Warrior, Magician, Lover

    Deida has also done the New Warrior Training – check it out!

  10. 10.

    Eivind F S

    Posted on July 22nd, 2010 at 5:08 pm

    Glad you like this piece, Boysen and grateful that Earl Hipp is promoting the site. I’m working with another man on a free introductory guide to the KWML system these days – will probably create a full-fledged product in not too long.

    I’m glad you mentioned the Mankind Project. I know of it as well as the New Warrior Training adventure. I have been wanting to do it myself one day, though it’s a little far away.

    Are the iGroups born out of the New Warrior Training Adventure groups? I have found that to be a powerful way to kickstart men’s groups – although the one I took part in with guys from a hugely powerful Norwegian workshop experience dissolved. The guys started to lose their dedication to the growth practice I’m afraid. It’s a shame because I feel the truth of what you say about men’s hardwiring to spend time around the fire in my bones. It is important. Watching soccer/football while drinking beer with your buddies just doesn’t hold a candle to a solid men’s group in terms of inner growth.

    I had no idea Deida had done the training. Interesting.

    I have highlighted the Mankind Project in the “Go Further Section” already and feel inspired to request from you a description of your experience from the Training Adventure some years. I will contact you about that in private.

  11. 11.

    Boysen Hodgson

    Posted on July 22nd, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    Super.
    I have seen groups come and go as well – with interest fading or men moving on (or men reaching a place where the next significant hurdle to their growth scares them too much to move forward). One great thing about MKP is that because it is a large organization there is always opportunity to connect with other groups, to form new groups, to make connections with men from around the globe. I have brothers in Germany and France, South Africa, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and all over the USA.

    Totally agree re; football and beer. Though that’s fun as well – and what a bonus when the same men I enjoy hanging out with are also the men that know me better than I know myself.

  12. 12.

    Eivind

    Posted on July 25th, 2010 at 10:21 am

    You have any MKP Brothers in Scandinavia, Boysen?

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