July 9, 2025
King
"I’ve spent a lot of my life in the energy of the abdicating king. Probably because the men I grew up around were of the tyrannical sort. Funny how that works. As an abdicator, I was the nice guy; I avoided conflict. I conflated straightforward with tyranny. I became a master manipulator to get what I wanted; wrapped in good humour and a good ear."
I love the concept of archetypes. For those who need a refresher: it is a universal symbol, character, or pattern that shows up again and again across cultures, stories, myths, and psychology because it reflects something fundamental about human nature or experience.
The archetypes can be expressed in many different characterizations: warrior, magician, crone, lover, jester, maiden, fool, explorer, innocent, alchemist, king, queen.
One that I’ve paid attention to a lot over the years is the archetype of the king because it represents the sovereign centre of the self. There are positive and negative expressions of each archetype, best explained for me through the concept of balance, inflation, and deflation. In relation to the king outside of balance, an inflation results in tyranny, and a deflation results in abdication. I’ve spent a lot of my life in the energy of the abdicating king. Probably because the men I grew up around were of the tyrannical sort. Funny how that works. As an abdicator, I was the nice guy; I avoided conflict. I conflated straightforward with tyranny. I became a master manipulator to get what I wanted; wrapped in good humour and a good ear. (Bonus: I became really good at reading people.)
This sort of worked as a child and young teenager, but the older I got, the more the consequences of it took their toll on me and the people I surrounded myself with. I’m sure I created the worst kinds of cognitive dissonance for people at times. Occasionally, I would fall into the gaslighter’s loop, and when a situation became untenable, I would drop the mask and duck out. I have an uncomfortably long list of people I’ve left behind without a second thought when that part of me ran the show. (Funny thought as I write this, I used to get REALLY triggered by dishonesty. “Projection your honour!”)
I look back on it all now and know I couldn’t have done any better, or I would have. I am thankful that each day I get a chance to put the old mantels down and choose better ones.
I’ve got a ways to go, but I’m pretty proud of the king energy I hold these days when I commit the reigns to him. He’s a lot more balanced than he used to be. When he’s really dialled, it’s fucking magic.