Masculine alchemy consists of practices, teachings, and authentic relating that aims to cultivate greater integrity, purpose, and empowerment in the lives of men through brotherhood. Men support/challenge one another to embody the healthy and mature aspects of the masculine archetypes (king, warrior, magician, lover) rather than their shadow poles (active and inactive). Masculine alchemy is about facilitating a deep connection and integration of split parts into greater wholeness.
Masculine embodiment is about cultivating the gifts of our higher potentials, deepening our embodiment of love, and strengthening a healthy, mature, and generative masculine energy force. Within healthy masculine containers there is:
- Conscious brotherhood developing and embodying our potential and honoring and empowering each other
- A safe container for honoring the sacred masculine and deepening a capacity to honor the sacred feminine
- Masculine alchemy through the wisdom of brothers coming together in a heart-space
- A place that creates and encourages transformational practices
- Calling into question the stories we’ve mistakenly believed about ourselves, manhood, and the world
- A forge to hone the strength we need to create the kind of life we want to live
- A place to create positive, life-giving, and healing impacts in our relationships with other men, women, families, and the world
- Building character, building authenticity, and deepening heart presence through embodiment practices (breath-work, guided meditation, and/or qi gong) that result in unifying the mind-body so that a man walking into a room is viewed and felt in his power–as safe, benevolent, and a conduit for divine frequencies
Masculine alchemy consists of practices, teachings, and authentic relating that aims to cultivate greater integrity, purpose, and empowerment in the lives of men through brotherhood. Men support/challenge one another to embody the healthy and mature aspects of the masculine archetypes (king, warrior, magician, lover) rather than their shadow poles (active and inactive). Masculine alchemy is about facilitating a deep connection and integration of split parts into greater wholeness.
Sacred Masculine Circles are about cultivating the gifts of our higher potentials, deepening our embodiment of love, and strengthening a healthy, mature, and generative masculine energy force. Circles are synonymous with:
- Conscious brotherhood developing and embodying our potential and honoring and empowering each other
- A safe container for honoring the sacred masculine and deepening a capacity to honor the sacred feminine
- Masculine alchemy through the wisdom of brothers coming together in a heart-space
- A place that creates and encourages transformational practices
- Calling into question the stories we’ve mistakenly believed about ourselves, manhood, and the world
- A forge to hone the strength we need to create the kind of life we want to live
- A place to create positive, life-giving, and healing impacts in our relationships with other men, women, families, and the world
- Building character, building authenticity, and deepening heart presence through embodiment practices (breath-work, guided meditation, and/or qi gong) that result in unifying the mind-body so that a man walking into a room is viewed and felt in his power–as safe, benevolent, and a conduit for divine frequencies
Thanks to Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, authors of King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine, men can build upon this foundation for creating honorable spaces where brothers support and challenge each other to transmute shadows and embody inner leadership. This process brings the body, thoughts, and feelings into greater harmony by addressing the energy dynamics of what arises in reciprocal relationship, presence, and awareness.
A CRISIS IN MASCULINE IDENTITY
There has been a dissolution and disintegration/crisis of mature masculine identity. The reasons? Typically within family systems, there has been a weak or absent father, as passed down ancestral lines, but mainly related to:
1. The disappearance of ritual processes for boys into manhood
2. Patriarchal dominance—the social and cultural organization that has ruled our western and much of global world from second millennium BCE to the present being anti-system, anti-ritual, anti-symbol, and primarily characterized by male dominance that is abusing and oppressive to the feminine.
Really the heart of the matter lies in the expression of the immature masculine—the expression of boy psychology and the shadow of masculinity, whose fixated immaturity has resulted in a puerarchy: the rule of boys which is based on fear—of women and men–rather than love.
Largely, archetypes of mature masculine and true greatness have been cashed in for personal wealth and self aggrandizement, the currency of much of our mainstream.
Men have accepted blame for everything that is wrong in the world; The world is overpopulated with not only immature men but also tyrannical and abusing little girls pretending to be women; It’s time to stop accepting the blame from the world and many women.
*An important NOTE: The enemy for both sexes is not the other sex but infantile grandiosity and the resultant splitting of Self.
CURRENT NEEDS
For men, there is a need:
- for genuine transformation of consciousness and achieving gender identity in a deep, mature and enhancing way
- for reconnection to Eros—love, relatedness, gentleness
- for more masculine power, not less; but we need more mature masculine—Man psychology
- to develop a sense of calmness about masculine power so we don’t need to act out dominating, disempowering behavior
- to learn to love and be loved by the mature masculine
- to celebrate authentic masculine power and potency—to go on our own and with support of others to the deep sources of masculine energy potentials, of connecting with these sources of empowerment
- for expression of mature masculine potentials in their essence and fullness—KING, WARRIOR, MAGICIAN, LOVER
THE MISSING ELEMENT
Is a vitally missing component for men an adequate connection to the inner feminine? Or an adequate connection to the deep and instinctual masculine energies—the potentials of mature masculine?
Men are currently blocked by toxic aspects of the toxic patriarchy, lopsided feminist critique, and meaningful and transformative ritual process for achieving manhood. Again, what we need is actually more masculine power, not less; but we need more mature masculine to develop a sense of calmness about masculine power that is connected to Eros—love, relatedness, gentleness.
Essentially, we need an healthy inner masculine that is married to a healthy inner feminine so the outer world may reflect this union or sacred marriage (herios gamos).
THE INVITATION: ACCESS THE ARCHETYPAL POWERS OF THE MATURE MASCULINE.
AND let go of the imbalanced patriarchal self and other-wounding thought, feeling, and behavioral patterns to become genuinely strong, centered and generative towards others-—women and men. Where are the masculine structures we need as men to express our potentials?
THE MALE PSYCHE
Within the male psyche…
*the FOUR fundamental configurations or archetypes (KING, WARRIOR, MAGICIAN, LOVER) that, when in dynamic relationship, constitute the deep structures of the mature male psyche (C.G. Jung). These archetypes:
- Build on Jung’s archetypal Self (universal forces acting through us)
Extends grasp of inner geography - Are an operators manual for the male psyche
- Help us understand the maps to the territories of masculine selfhood
- Give us a Psycho-cartography–allowing us to map the human dream or unconscious
KING: divine orderliness, generosity, providing fertility and blessing; defining reality; radiating from a center; the great father; locus of divine revelation and organizing and creative power; codifying laws through an embodiment for others of the Mandate of Heaven, heaven being “Right Order”, Tao, Dharma or the ordering principle of the divine world.
Active shadow pole: Tyranny
Inactive shadow pole: Weakness
Virtues: Sovereignty + Benevolence
WARRIOR: capacity to act; courage to forwardly-face fear with love; knowing what you want and how to get it; skill, power and accuracy with self-control, both inner and outer; proficiency and dedication; devotion
Active shadow pole: Sadism
Inactive shadow pole: Masochism
Virtues: Courage + Discernment
MAGICIAN: awareness, insight, the observing Ego—knowledge of anything that is not immediately apparent; the mathematician and engineer regulating the life functions of the psyche; application of knowledge/science and technology; thoughtfulness, reflection, the shaman—restorer of life and fullness of being for all things
Active shadow pole: Manipulation
Inactive shadow pole: Denial
Virtues: Knowing + Competence
LOVER: Eros: sensuality, attractiveness, kindness, gentleness, love, relatedness, play and display, heathy embodiment of being in the world with sensors pleasure and in ones own body without shame, compassion and empathy
Active shadow pole: Addiction
Inactive shadow pole: Impotence
Virtues: Compassion + Union
Now, more than ever, men have come together to strengthen brotherhood through connection, music, ritual, dance, combat, speech, discussion, and shadow work among other means of developing and strengthening the masculine power as a force of love.
May men walking in the world inspire you and evoke inspiration for a global movement to restore ritual and initiatory processes for manhood and a healthy patriarchal energy that harmoniously unites with the healthy matriarchal lines. May we all be blessed to receive the gifts of our radiance through this union.
Do you or someone you know need support strengthening your masculine potentials? There’s no greater time than now to step into more of your greatness…