The Taproot Podcast - 🤴The King Archetype 1/6👑

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

Find more free resources on the website: https://www.gettherapybirmingham.com/ The King is our sense of systemic power or our sense of power within society . The King is both the father of the family and of society. He has a larger plan for others and sees how all pieces of the system work and what different types of people need. This larger plan comes from creativity and imagination, but it is the practical imagination of planning and developing communities and systems. The King not only wants to improve himself, but to improve others linked to him as an extension of himself. The appropriately identified King is a proud father. We need the King in order to manage our households, supervise employees, or volunteer in leadership roles. The fundamental anxiety the King manages is the fear that there is no larger plan structuring others lives. The King fears anarchy. The King lets us take the reins and provide leadership when we see that no one else can. The King is able to organize the many individual Warriors behind a single banner. The King is order, organization and unity. It is healthy and positive to have a vision for a better world that we would like to see our life and works contribute toward. Without the King we cannot have hope for our families or for the world. Patients who were raised being systematically excluded or oppressed are likely to be under identified with their King. If society has rejected or oppressed them their entire lives they have been taught that it doesn’t want them, and will have difficulty believing others will let them lead. If we do not believe we have any power over the world, it is difficult to function within it. These patients will be plagued with interpersonal difficulty until the under identification is resolved. Patients under identified with their King will avoid any position where they have responsibility for or power over others. They were often punished for being angry or assertive in their families of origin and felt they were not allowed to hold power. Often these patients will have anger “turned off” and have extreme anxiety when circumstances force them to judge others, even accurately, or when they are angry. These patients will have difficulty reconciling anxiety when they have a moral standard that others violate. They do not want to let go of their own moral compass but also are uncomfortable when others fail at being moral or good by their own standard. Patients who are under identified with their King may be highly competent and successful, but still remain highly individual and atomized, clinging to solely personal power or adhere to strict moral standards they refuse to apply to others. . They may express hopelessness or even contempt for ideas relating to improving family or government systems, even though they could otherwise be highly successful in either. Patients over identified with their King will mistrust and criticize all authority because it is not their own. They will play contrarian during any discussion of politics or religion and often family issues. They will often get into conflicts with superiors at work but secretly feel unheard or misunderstood. During these times they are reliving their experiences in their own families of origin. Extreme identification with the King will leave patients listless and unsatisfied no matter how much power they attain. Extreme over identification with the King means that there is no amount of power that will ever make one feel fulfilled. Life becomes a competition. It does not become a competition with individuals like the warrior, but a competition with all “great” men from history. Total overidentification makes one want to hold power and influence over others in every domain of life. Patients over identified with their King will rarely present for therapy of their own volition. These patients can become tyrants to their friends, families and colleagues. Even though these patients may do things that society would consider immoral they will never see themselves as evil. These patients see themselves as saviors that want to save an unappreciative society or family by making them great. Patients who are under identified with their Magician and Warrior often over identify with their King in order to compensate for their failure to develop their own domain of internal (intuition) or external (accomplishment )personal power. These patients often are prone to fantasies about what would happen if they were in charge. They will never see themselves as immoral, but only as misunderstood heroes. Website: https://gettherapybirmingham.com/ Check out the youtube: https://youtube.com/@GetTherapyBirminghamPodcast Website: https://gettherapybirmingham.podbean.com/ Podcast Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/GetTherapyBirmingham/feed.xml Taproot Therapy Collective 2025 Shady Crest Drive | Hoover, Alabama 35216 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]  Email: [e-mail] The resources, videos and podcasts on our site and social media are no substitute for mental health treatment. Please find a qualified mental health provider and contact emergency services in your area in the event of an emergency to a provider in your area. Our number and email are only for scheduling at Taproot Therapy Collective are not monitored consistently and not a reliable resource for emergency services.

Hi, this is Joel Blackstock with the Taproot Therapy Collective podcast, and you are listening to our series on archetypes. This is a brief six-part series, and if you missed the first, you can check out all of the archetypes in the series of the podcast at gettherapybirmingham.com. So what are archetypes? The phrase has entered the public lexicon now as something that is universal or timeless or a building block of experience, but the term is originated by psychologist Carl Jung when he is talking about patterns within the self, within psychology, that are projected outward because they're part of our psychology

and we are the ones who create and build culture, mythology, and religion into culture, mythology, and religion. So we have these building blocks or patterns of the human experience inside of us. We project them out through myth, storytelling, and human experience, and by studying them, we can find something that is timelessly, poetically, or metaphorically true. And the archetype that we're going to be talking about today is the archetype of the king. The king is our sense of systemic power or our sense of power within society. The king is both the father and the family of society. He has a larger plan for

others and sees how all the pieces of the system work and what different types of people need. The king is not about acting as an individual. It is about acting as a system. This larger plan comes from creativity and imagination, but it is the practical imagination of planning and developing communities and systems. The king not only wants to improve himself, but to improve others linked to him as an extension of himself. The appropriately identified king is a proud father. We need the king in order to manage our households, supervise employees, or volunteer in leadership roles. The fundamental anxiety that the king manages is the fear that there is no larger plan structuring others' lives. The king fears anarchy.

The king lets us take the reins and provide leadership when we see that no one else can. The king is able to organize the many individual warriors behind a single banner. The king is order, organization, and unity. It is healthy and positive to have a vision for a better world that we would like to see our life and our works contribute toward. Without the king, we cannot have hope for our families or for the world. Patients who were raised being systematically excluded or oppressed are likely to be under-identified with their king and have trouble holding authority. If society has rejected or oppressed them their entire lives, they have been taught that it does not want them, and they will have a difficult time believing that others will let them lead. If we do not believe that we have any

power over the world, it is difficult to function within it. These patients will be plagued with interpersonal difficulty until the under-identification with the king is resolved. Patients under-identified with their king will avoid any position where they have responsibility for or power over others. They were often punished for being angry or assertive in their families of origin, and they felt that they were not allowed to hold power. Often, these patients will have anger turned off and have extreme anxiety when circumstances force them to judge others, even if their judgment is needed or accurate. They will also have trouble with being angry or assertive, even when they are in the right or the assertiveness is needed or accurate. They will also have trouble with being angry or assertive, even when they are in the right, or the assertiveness is needed. These patients

will have difficulty reconciling anxiety when they have to have a moral standard that others violate. They do not want to let go of their own moral compass, but they are also uncomfortable when others fail at being moral or good by their standard. It makes them feel judgmental. Patients who are under-identified with their king may be highly competent and successful, but still remain highly individualized and atomized, clinging solely to personal power or adhere to strict moral standards that they refuse to apply to others. They may express hopelessness or even contempt for ideas relating to improving family or governing systems, even though they could otherwise be highly successful in either. Patients over-identified with their king will mistrust and criticize all authority because it

is not their own. They will play contrarian during any discussion of politics or religion and often family issues. They will often get into conflicts with superiors at work but secretly feel unheard or misunderstood. They are apt to always side with authority, especially when the authority structure is exercising power or abuse. During these times, they are reliving their experiences in their own families of origin. Extreme identification with the king will leave patients listless and unsatisfied no matter how much power they attain. Extreme over-identification with the king means that there is no amount of power that will ever make one feel fulfilled. Life becomes a competition. It does not become a competition with individuals like the warrior,

but a competition with all the great men from history. Total over-identification makes one want to hold power and influence others in every domain of life. Patients over-identified with their king will rarely present for therapy of their own volition. These patients can become tyrants to their friends, families, and colleagues. Even though these patients may do things that society would consider immoral, they will never see themselves as evil. These patients see themselves as saviors that want to save an unappreciative society or family by making them great, often through inflicting pain. Patients who are under-identified with their magician and warrior often over-identify with their king in order to compensate for their failure to develop their own

domain of internal intuition or external accomplishment, sense of personal power. These patients are often prone to fantasies about what would happen if they were in charge. They will never see themselves as immoral, but only as misunderstood heroes. I hope you enjoyed the explication of the king archetype. Next up, we have the queen, and you can get this podcast and more resources on Jungian psychology and trauma therapy at gettherapybirmingham.com.