The Four Archetypes of the Mature Masculine: Introduction

four archetypes of manliness manhood king warrior magician lover

The purpose of the Art of Manliness is to help men become better men. To
that end, we often explore some of the problems unique to modern men and
offer suggestions on actions they can take to overcome those problems. One
problem that we discuss regularly on the site is that of the modern male
malaise. Maybe youve experienced it: You feel restless and without a sense
of purpose. You lack confidence in yourself as a man. You might be 20 or 30
or 40 years old, but you dont feel like youve reached manhood.
A few weeks ago, we did a series called The Five Switches of Manliness. In
it we made the case that within every man are psychological switches that
must be turned on if a man wishes to activate his unique primordial
masculine energy. The switches are how you power up the Wild Man within
you and overcome the feelings of shiftlessness and male malaise that many
men experience these days.
Another way of approaching the cure for the modern male malaise comes
from the book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes
of the Mature Masculine, by Jungian psychologist Robert Moore and
mythologist Douglas Gillette. Moore argues that masculinity is made up of
four archetypal male energies which serve different purposes. All men,
whether born in the U.S. or Africa, are born with these archetypal energies.
The authors argue that to become a complete man, a man must work to
develop all four archetypes. The result of striving to become complete is a
feeling of manly confidence and purpose.
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover was originally published in 1990, and it has
had a pretty big influence on masculinity in America. It, along with Robert
Blys book, Iron John: A Book About Men, kick-started the mythopoetic mens
movement of the early 1990s. During this time, many men in America
started attending mens groups and weekend retreats where they would take
part in rites of passage and discuss ancient myths to gain personal insights
about what it means to be a man. You can still see the influence of King,
Warrior, Magician, Lover in books like Wild at Heart or weekend mens
retreats like The ManKind Project.
Some of the ideas in KWML are of the New-Agey, sensitive pony-tail guy,
sitting in drum circles in the woods type. Personally, that sort of approach
doent appeal to me as a man. I know lots of men that get a lot out of that
sort of thing. To each their own. Nonetheless, I still feel like I benefited a
great deal from reading the book and putting into practice some of Moore
and Gillettes ideas.

Over the next few months, were going to be delving into the four masculine
archetypes in KWML. Well explore what they are and how you can access
them on your journey to becoming a better man.
A Short Primer on Jungian Psychology
carl jung psychologist stern look sitting in chair in office
Psychologist Carl Jung
Like much of the literature in the mythopoetic mens movement, KWML is
grounded in the psychology of Carl Jung, particularly in his idea of
psychological archetypes. To understand the four archetypes of masculinity,
its helpful to understand a bit about Jungian psychology. I could devote an
entire post to Jungs psychology, but Ill keep this brief for our purposes.
Carl Jung was one of the early and most influential modern psychologists.
Ever take one of those Myers-Briggs type indicator tests? Those were
inspired by Jungs idea of extroverted and introverted personalities. Have you
ever heard somebody talk about the collective unconscious? Thats Jung,
too.
From 1907 to 1913, Jung closely worked with and studied under the the
Father of Modern Psychology, Sigmund Freud. While the two shared many of
the same ideas about the human mind, they had their differences. Jung
agreed with Freuds theory of the unconscious mind, but he thought Freuds
view was too negative and incomplete. Freud focused on the unconscious as
the place in which people harbored and repressed negative emotions and
deviant thoughts. Jung agreed that negative emotions were repressed in the
unconscious, but he also felt that positive experiences, thoughts, and
emotions could be held in the unconscious, too.
READ
The Four Archetypes of the Mature Masculine: The Warrior
Jung also diverged from Freuds theory of the unconscious by arguing that
there was a second, even deeper unconscious mind existing in all human
beings. Jung called the first level of unconscious (the one Freud also
affirmed) the personal unconscious. The personal unconscious was
created by personal experience.
The second level of the unconscious mind Jung called the collective
unconscious. According to Jung, the collective unconscious consists of
instinctual and universal thought patterns that humans developed over
thousands of years of evolution. Jung called these primordial behavior
blueprints archetypes. For Jung, archetypes form the foundation of all
personal experience. It doesnt matter whether youre a sophisticated
businessman living in a high-rise apartment in Manhattan or a bushman

living in a hut in Africa; Jung would argue that no matter who you are, you
have the same archetypal behaviors embedded within you.
Jung believed that these archetypes of human behavior came to the surface
in the conscious mind through symbols, rituals, and myths. He argued these
archetypical patterns explain why we see similar motifs and symbols in
rituals and mythical stories across cultures. For example, the
dying/resurrecting God figure can be found in the stories and myths of
ancient Greeks, ancient Sumerians, Christians, and Native Americans.
Jungs belief that the collective unconscious is reflected though symbols and
ritual also likely explains his fascination with the mystical and esoteric. He
was a serious student of fields like alchemy, astrology, dream interpretation,
and tarot, although not for their claimed ability to tell the future or to turn
lead into gold. Rather, he explored these esoteric traditions because he
believed they could help individuals tap into the collective unconscious and
explore the archetypal behaviors that resided within.
Alright, so what are the archetypes that Jung believed existed in each
person? While Jung suggested a number of universal archetypes, the four
main ones are: the Self, the Shadow, the Animus and Anima, and the
Persona. For the purpose of this article, Im not going to go into detail on all
four of these. If its something youre interested in, Id encourage you to
investigate these archetypes on your own.
Before we move on, lets be clear about something. Archetypes arent
personality types. Jung didnt think you could classify a person as a specific
archetype. A man cant take a test to tell him that hes a Shadow. Rather,
the archetypes are simply patterns of behavior and thought, or energies
that can be found in all people in varying degrees.
The Four Archetypes of the Mature Masculine: King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
Psychologist Robert Moore took the concept of Jungs archetypes and used it
to create a framework that explained the development of mature and
integral masculinity in men. Moore argued that the problems we see with
men todayviolence, shiftlessness, aloofnessare a result of modern men not
adequately exploring or being in touch with the primal, masculine archetypes
that reside within them. Like Jung, Moore believed that men and women
possess both feminine and masculine archetypal patternsthis is the anima
(feminine) and animus (masculine).
The problem with modern men is that Western society suppresses the
animus or masculine archetype within them and instead encourages men to
get in touch with their softer side or their anima. Moore would argue that
theres nothing wrong with men developing those softer, more nurturing and

feminine behaviors. In fact, he would encourage it. A problem only arises

when the development of the feminine comes at the expense of the
masculine.
According to Moore, masculine psychology is made up of four major
archetypes: King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover. In order for a man to achieve
mature masculine strength and energy, he must be in touch with all four.
READ
The Four Archetypes of the Mature Masculine: The Boyhood Archetypes (Part
II)
The Structure of the Archetypes
Moore argues that each male archetype consists of three parts: the full and
highest expression of the archetype and two bi-polar dysfunctional shadows
of the archetype. To better understand this, Moore portrays each archetype
as a triangle. Heres an example of the King archetype thusly illustrated:
The King Archetype
The bottom corners of the triangle represent the bi-polar shadow-split in the
archetypal Self. The goal of each man, according to Moore, is to reconcile and
integrate these two bi-polar shadows in order to attain the fullest expression
of the archetype as represented at the top of the triangle.
Moreover, each archetype has a mature and immature form. Moore calls the
mature forms of the masculine archetypes Man Psychology and the
immature forms Boy Psychology. The mature masculine archetypes are the
four weve already mentioned: King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. The immature,
boyhood archetypes are the Divine Child, the Hero, the Precocious Child, and
the Oedipal Child. Each of these immature archetypes have the same
tripartite configuration as the mature archetypes. They all have their highest
and fullest expression along with their two bi-polar dysfunctional shadows.
Before a boy can access the King archetype he must develop the Divine
Child; before he can access the Warrior archetype, he must develop the Hero
archetype. And so on and so forth.
Whew. Thats a lot to chew on and digest. It sounds complicated, but I think if
you see Moores idea of the four masculine archetypes and the development
from immature to mature masculinity in a diagram, its actually pretty easy
to understand (Click the image to zoom in):
Click to see enlarged version

Over the next few months, well be taking a look at each of the four
archetypes and providing suggestions on how you can develop them more
fully in your own life. Heres a roadmap of what we have coming ahead:
Boyhood Archetypes
The King Archetype
The Warrior Archetype
The Magician Archetype
The Lover Archetype
How to Access the Archetypes
Like I said at the beginning of the post, Moores four masculine archetypes
arent going to be everyones cup of joe. Some of his thoughts and ideas are
sort of out there. However, Id encourage you to keep an open mind about
this stuff. Why? Well, first, I think its useful and just plain interesting to learn
about an idea that has had a big influence on masculinity in America.
Second, the KWML framework is a useful tool to help you become a better
man. While I dont agree with everything that Moore lays out in KWML, Ive
personally found this framework useful in exploring and developing the
mature masculine within myself. Maybe you will, too.
While being a man ultimately comes down to outwardly putting right
principles into real action, those actions must come from a mature and
healthy inner place, and these ideas, when thoughtfully reflected upon, can
help get you pointed in the right direction as you seek to become the best
man you can be.
Id recommend getting a copy of the book so you can follow along as we go
through the archetypes, as it will let you get more in-depth if your curiosity is
piqued. Plus, Id love to hear the insights youve gleaned while reading.