The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

Today is the day. July 31 2023 I announce to you the very FIRST Archetype of the 12 Jungian archetypes I’ll be personally exploring this year. One Archetype every single month. I call on each Archetype to create a project and share with you what I learn. The creation is the most important part and that is why I chose this Archetype…

THE ARTIST/CREATOR ARCHETYPE

Characteristics:

• Type: Soul

• Motto: “If you can imagine it, it can be done.”

• Core desire: to create things of enduring value.

• Goal: to realize a vision.

• Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution.

• Strategy: develop artistic control and skill.

• Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions.

The Artist has been an archetype that’s revered in many cultures in many ways. You can find The Artist with a pen and paper, a brush, singing original works, at the opera, on Broadway, and on screen. Artists who work with clay, wood, metal, bamboo, braiding grass, placing moss onto metal wire. There are culinary artists, political artists, and the list goes on.

The Artist is a Creator. One who seeks to develop something of enduring value. The creation of something to create change within others. The Artist/Creator is a connector of the inner and outer worlds. A “Hermes.” Able to communicate between the vastly contrasting worlds of Olympus and Hades. Bringing that which is unreachable to humanity.

The Artist is often paired with The Outlaw/Destroyer. Artists constantly find new ways to iterate and re-iterate. Many Artists we praise come in with an aversion to set rules or standards. Breaking the rules is a complete contrast to what many Artists learn in school, or from their teachers. The realization that there are no rules, especially in art, is why many Artist’s tend to fall into nihilistic traps. This path leads to an Archetype that is leading as the Shadow form of the Outlaw/Destroyer causing unconscious destruction.

The Shadow Artist occurs from a large imbalance of the objective and subjective or inner and outer world. The Shadow turns inward on the self, denying this objective reality feeling it is more a distraction than anything else becoming a Hermit. isolating the self to work on project after project never finishing one. If not isolated then The Shadow despises living in the dystopic reality of societal standards and regulations, either killing your art completely or losing why you loved it in the first place.

The Outlaw/Destroyer pairs very well with The Artist with balance. This keeps you straddling the line between these two worlds. A healthy questioning of reality, yet also being able to conduct yourself accordingly to be able to survive in this world, and create positive relationships. Pairing with the Outlaw/Destroyer destructs what is known to then create something entirely new.

Artists also pair well with Explorers. Being able to express the inner world to the outer world takes a journey in and of itself and is fundamentally a travel from point A to point B. The medium of expression is The Artist’s form of transportation. The Artist seeks out different examples throughout art itself, through life, nature, people, patterns, and more, but that takes opening the senses to discover and explore. How The Artist consumes what is explored is more of a curiosity and a play of ideas rather than a raw consumption of material. Ideas formulate and inspiration sparks and the Artist moves into the exploration of their proceeding project.

The Artist tends to struggle with the objective world. Our focus on the inner world can sometimes veil our eyes to what’s happening in the outer world. This can look like isolation, difficulty in making money off your art, press tours, or even asking for help. Communicating the art outside of a desired medium is much harder than crafting the art itself.

The Shadow of the Artist will fill itself with abundant possibilities and projects that mostly never get completed. Idea after idea, start after start. A vicious cycle of seeking novelty in the idea itself is followed by a fear of mediocrity that stagnates the product. Often mistaking mediocrity for a lack of motivation or lack of movement. Anything at a standstill gets left behind for something new. If we haven’t wanted to go near the project we think that other people won’t want to approach it either. The project becomes stale and we think it’s time to move on.

How The Artist Shows Up for Me

The Artist portrays itself highly within me. This is one reason I decided to utilize this archetype first. Since I’m starting this project so quickly I thought it best to use something I know quite well as I continue working with what I don’t know as well.

I’ve been an Artist for quite a long time. I’ve created many characters and inhabited the soul of many others. I always wanted to be a performer and to create something entirely new within my life, but I feel I never was truly an Artist until recently.

When I reflect on it I grew up as a consumer, even in the art world. I recognize now that everything I worked on was a copy of someone else’s work. I imitated how one performer sang and how they carried themselves on stage. I couldn’t create unless I was led to the idea by a mentor or teacher. I HAD to have guidelines. This isn’t to say imitation is NOT art. Some would argue, and I agree, that I was innately creating something unique by bringing myself to the art. Sure, but I didn’t feel in service to my Artist. I believe that I was unintentionally servicing my Everyman/Orphan to try to fit into a group or community.

As I’ve grown to learn how to communicate my inner world, I feel I am beginning to stand firmly in my own artistry. I have two separate Artist’s; when I act I’m usually with an ensemble or team creating expression in collaboration with others. My writing consists of collaborating with my inner self and holding me accountable to what is known and unknown. The balance between the two is necessary for me.

My Artist shows up in my insatiable desire to continuously create and express. I desire to create lasting change for others. To be the pairing of The Artist/Creator and The Outlaw/Destroyer to tear down barriers of complacency, pick away at frozen hearts, and revitalize action toward intrinsic positive change.

My Current Work With The Artist Archetype

My work with these archetypes is personal and spiritual. I meditate with them in mind, find examples of them through media, and allow access to that inner archetype while I go about my days.

I also really like to conduct interviews. I’ve gotten very fast at typing on my keyboard so I can now have these real-time discussions within my notes as both myself “Matt” and “The Artist” I’ll offer an example from one of my last discussions. I kept the typos for clairvoyance as imperfection is the path toward subconscious insight.

A - The Artist

M - Matt

Right then was a light bulb moment, but what we figured out will have to be a secret till the end of this month, stay tuned and I’ll tell you what that light bulb moment was.

The Artist was exciting to me because their help in setting the foundation for this journey that I’m currently on was pivotal. As we spoke I felt I was able to work out many of the weaknesses and flaws that showed up in my plan. The Artist also pointed out different ideas and challenges that we could do along the way. It was this wonderful moment of having a team member to help kickstart this massive project. This team member having the primary skill of creation helped to further solidify what direction I was heading into.

These conversations between us is home to the most energetic decisions we made together. Session after session, I show up make contact, and trust that I’m going to be finding some insight for both of us. One of the ideas that came to mind in our discussions was that each archetype needed a particular project throughout the month to get a really clear understanding of the barriers, pain points, strengths, and weaknesses of the archetype. This was to also have a tangible understanding of how the archetype would show up within my personal life and how I might need to shift myself to continue developing my spirit. The conclusions and lessons I fall upon will be intentionally notated and shared with each one of you.

What to Look Forward to

Next week we’re going to be looking at how Artists show up in film. I’ll be bringing suggestions to your watchlist while also working to go into detail about how each movie brings about their Artist Archetype

That’s all for me today, I’ll see you all next week.

Much love today and every day,

Matt Piper 🐅🌱

WORK CITED

Pearson, Carol S. Awakening the Heroes within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World. HarperCollinsPublisher Inc., 1991.

"ART IS NOT FOR SALE." YouTube, uploaded by The Cinema Cartography, 10 Jul. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDLYef6-eu4&ab_channel=TheCinemaCartography.