The Masculine Energy King Archetype
In our first blog post, we talked about both masculine and feminine energy, and how they’re not these outdated gender roles that we have to perform within. In that post, we laid a foundation for the masculine archetype that gives us a good sense of who the masculine really is. But my goal with this series is to go into more detail on masculine energy and its archetypes. This will help us start to see this powerful essence for what it really is.
This knowledge isn’t just important for understanding and respecting the men in your life—it goes so much deeper than that. Getting to know the masculine lets us understand the parts of our female psyche that will show up whenever the feminine parts of us feels unsafe.
Because what we’ve experienced with the men in our lives will directly impact the internal harmony between our feminine and masculine energies. So healing our relationship with the masculine is a foundational part of “getting into” or softening into our feminine energy.
You see, the masculine energy is the yang to the feminine’s yin. It's the giver, the penetrator, and the protector of the feminine. It’s the steady and consistent force behind the action in the world. And within this force, there are four masculine archetypes.
Each man embodies parts of all four, but they might identify more with one archetype over the others. We need, love, and appreciate all four types, and one isn’t better than the others. So with that in mind, I thought we’d start the series off with the King Archetype.
Understanding The King Archetype
The King Archetype is the masculine’s primal essence. This archetype is where masculine wisdom really shines, and we see a level of selflessness and generosity that’s required by any good “ruler.” We see a leader whose skill is creating direction for the whole and assigning tasks to others to carry out the collective goal, while feeling seen, heard and taken care of.
Characteristics Of The King Archetype
When a man is embodying his King Archetype, we’re likely to see his
Wisdom
Discernment
Kindness
Compassion
Leadership
These are the defining traits of King energy and make it easy to spot a man who sits in this archetype.
The Positive Aspects of the King Archetype
When this archetype is healthy, he truly has so many incredible qualities.
I think one of my favorite parts of this archetype is his generosity. He’s constantly seeking to give blessings to others. He’s constantly working to build others up by praising them and sharing what he values about them. This King energy attracts others to him and helps him to be an effective “ruler”.
And speaking of being a ruler, this archetype is an excellent leader. Remember how we talked about the masculine’s ability to take something really big and turn it into something small? I think this is the perfect example of this idea. The King knows how to take the collective vision and break it down into smaller tasks that he’s able to hand out to others. This helps to create direction within the vision, which is a necessary part of living within a community.
Basically, this King energy really cares for those around him. He’s wanting what’s best for them and working to create that within his “rule.”
The Shadow Side Of The King Archetype
When this masculine archetype is not healthy, he can show up as two different shadows: the tyrant and the weakling.
The tyrant is really this merciless oppressor. He’s selfish—always trying to push his own agenda. He’s interested in leading for the sake of power versus the sake of his subject’s own good. This tends to make him a really ruthless “ruler.”
When this archetype isn’t healthy, he might also show up as the weakling. The weakling tends to demand that others express his value constantly through praise. Yet, he often responds to others from a place of hostility or defensiveness because he’s really insecure.
Balancing the King Archetype
The goal of the masculine should be to find balance within his essence. This can look like balancing his own masculine and feminine energies. Yet it also looks like balancing the archetypes within his masculine.
In our first blog post, we talked about how energy begets structure, and structure begets energy. So with this in mind, it's important to be aware of and work on balance through both the physical and spiritual. We can’t only try and heal the energetic parts of the masculine while ignoring the hormonal and physical things that make men, men. But we also can’t focus on hormones without acknowledging that there are very spiritual and energetic forces at work.
I don’t claim to have all the answers on how to heal the masculine. But I think something that the feminine can do specifically to help build up this King energy in her man is to praise him. When we praise men and express their value to them on a regular basis, we feed their masculine energy. Their hormones even start to shift when they experience this. So the easiest way to boost your man's testosterone (and thus masculine energy) is by telling him all the things he's done right. The quickest way to tank it is by telling him all the things he's done wrong. This isn’t to say that you’re responsible for the masculine’s health. It’s just a loving way to support the masculine in your life.
The King Archetype In The Wild
If you know a man who is kind, compassionate, generous, and lavishes praise on others, you might just know a man who sits in his King energy. Loving fathers, teachers that support their students and even bosses that prioritize the well-being of their employees.He’s probably great in leadership roles and tends to make stuff happen.
A few of my favorite fictional examples of the King Archetype are
Aslan (Chronicles of Narnia)
Mufasa from the Lion King
Aragorn from “Lord of the Rings”
Vito Corleone from “The Godfather”
Russel Crowe in “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”
These men might not represent every part of the King Archetype, but they each have specific qualities that really show off their King energy.
The King Energy
The masculine energy King Archetype is one that I don’t think we could live without. I mean, they kinda make the world go ‘round. And when they’re in their healthy masculine, they are calm, centered, and self-confident masterpieces.
It’s when they aren’t healthy that they can really start to express their shadow parts. We then get this tyrannical or weak expression of the masculine. And men in this state will drive a woman to harden and masculinize to protect herself from him.
So while we can’t do the work to heal the masculine for them, we can start to focus on nourishing our feminine energy and our own inner masculine. This will then have a direct impact on the masculine. We can also encourage and appreciate our men verbally and in attitude. This builds them up and gives them that testosterone boost that helps keep them in their masculine energy.
Next, come along with me as we take a look at the feminine energy Maiden/Virgin/Lover Archetype.
Stay nourished,
Jess
