Better Endings as Archetypal Alchemy

Healer, Communicator, Teacher, Mystic:  these 4 Persona archetypes exist as potentials in us all.  

From a pantheon of Twelve universal Primordial Archetypes revealed by Drs. Charles and Nin Bebeau (co-founders of the Archetype Institute of Boulder, CO), these four together comprise Dissolving (or Resolution) personas that surface in us when we arrive at a positive resolution, or closure—hence, Better Endings!—in our significant life situations.  Below is the complete system of twelve primordial, universal archetypes that Dr. Bebeau identified based on Jungian archetype theory in relation to Sumerian astrology (thanks to Debra Breazzano, MA, LPC for the archetypal chart design; and to Gianmichele Grittani for the chart graphics!):

TWELVE UNIVERSAL PERSONA ARCHETYPES

	Creation	Maintenance	Dissolving
Earth	Elder Leader	Artist	Healer
Air	Lover	Idealist	Communicator
Fire	Warrior	Golden Child	Teacher
Water	Nourisher	Descender	Mystic

This system of primordial universal archetypes corresponds with the four (quaternal, to Jung) fundamental Elements, or human consciousness modes, in relation to the dynamic process of any life experience: from its beginnings or origination, through its maintenance or ongoing dynamics, to its conclusion by which a situation is ‘dissolved’ or resolved in consciousness. Endings, particularly Better Endings, when our experience of life situations achieve a positive sense of closure (positively, with lessons learned!), give ground to New Beginnings!

So this is the crux, the underlying intellectual basis, of why I pursue the topic of Better Endings with this blog, in my 2018 book Your Life Path (Skyhorse Publishers), and in my new, forthcoming book, Better Endings: A Guidebook to Creative Re-Visioning. (Better Endings is in final production stage now; I will make it available to you here when it launches, in about 4-6 weeks!)

The principle of Better Endings is a fun topic any of us can use to creatively and flexibly reflect about any event or situation in our lives—past, present or to come—, so as to playfully imagine and creatively re-vision that event for greater understanding of life’s forward moving lessons.  Positively re-visioning your most significant or Shaping life events evokes (calls forth) in your mindful or conscious awareness one or more of these closure related “Dissolving stage” persona archetypes: Healer, Communicator, Teacher, and/or Mystic.

images are gratefully from pixabay.com

Better Endings to You!

Creative Re-Visioning

Better Endings, and the new beginnings that generally follow from them, start with creative re-visioning. That is the greatest lesson I have taken away from exploring the principle of Better Endings for this blog and in my life over the past several years.   

Sometimes I refer to the practice of creative re-visioning itself as better-endering, a play on the phrase from Camelot of ‘happily ever-aftering.’  Of course, not all ‘better endings’ are happy ones; rather, they bring benefits of helping people to resolve situations–sometimes deeply buried in past memories but affecting current outlooks or decisions—so they can move forward with greater awareness to move toward a ‘better’ future.

So, what is Re-Visioning? It is a viewpoint we can apply to past, present, or future situations or choices that allows us to look “anew” or with a “fresh pair of lenses” from our most mature and mindful Self.

We can re-vision a past trauma, for instance, to come to a better understanding of how that came about, what we have learned from the experience, and how we can go forward knowing we could handle such a situation differently today.  We can re-vision the present by asking ourselves, have we fallen into any sort of “rut” that is impeding our progress toward our highest goals; if so, how shall we move forward again? We can re-vision the future by looking at where we appear to be headed and asking ourselves, is that where we want to arrive; if not, what specific steps can we take now or in the near foreseeable future that could propel us in a new direction we truly desire to explore.

Here is a practice:

Better Endings Story Seed:
Creative Re-Visioning

Make a list of 3-5 situations from your past that you feel influenced the person you have become either in a positive way or a negative way (please include at least one or more of both).  Then, quietly reflect about, talk with a loved one about, or journal about each of the situations you have listed. What was most helpful about the positive influences? Why or how did the negative situations come about?

Finally, go back in your active imagination to the more challenging situation, bringing your more mature attitude and sense of greater empowerment or free will today with you. What could you do differently or tell your younger self to do differently?  How might that have changed your life? Can you do something today to celebrate AS IF you have resolved that earlier challenge?

images are from pixabay.com

Better Endings to you!

A Re-Visioning Conversation

This week’s life mapping activity invites you to practice a “re-write” as a form of applying the principle of Better Endings.

Recall a communication Moment from your life that may have marked a pivotal transition in a relationship or situation. What might you have said, that you didn’t? How might you have spoken or replied otherwise than you did? Might it have mattered? How?

Replay this conversation, either by using “active imagination” (in an aware, contemplative, imaginative mode), or by journaling. You could also ask a spouse or significant other to model the other person’s role.

Allow this imagined or re-scripted conversation to become transformational, to achieve a “Better Ending.” For some situations, this might mean reaching a “closure” that was never possible before (my example below). For others it might mean getting to share what you were not able to at the time, or allowing the other to share what you now sense they might have based on what you have learned since then.

“Ellie”

Preface: I LOST my dog of 12 years’ companionship, Ellie. She was a dear, close companion. Yet by nature this sweet, orange boxer-Rhodesian ridgeback mix was timid and afraid of strangers. This proved her demise when I left her with a new friend’s sheltea in a fenced back yard while my friend and her daughter and I went for breakfast. When we returned, Ellie was gone. She had jumped up against the gate, which opened, and she would not allow neighbors to take her in, in a city residential neighborhood totally unfamiliar to her. I looked for Ellie for over six months almost daily, driving from Colorado Springs to Denver to search for her. She wasn’t chipped nor was she wearing a name tag on her collar, as she would never normally be more than an arm’s length from my side.

To Ellie:

L: Oh, my dear, I can only hope that, whatever happened, you always knew in your heart that I love you. I hope and can only trust that you felt somehow Spirit was with you, comforting you as you slept, guiding events in the best possible way they could unfold in the situation.

E: I tried to find you. I never stopped trying.  Do know I loved you, too.

L: I looked for you everywhere I could think of looking. At all the shelters; via Craig’s list; in all of the greenbelts I could walk, over and over. I followed leads, and dreams, that seemed to be guiding me to where you might be, in storms and sun, days and nights. But I could not reach you, my Friend. I held a ceremony for you, with GM and TU; we buried some of your favorite possessions, read spiritual passages for you.

E: I heard you/ saw you inwardly then. I was never without spiritual companions, though I rarely felt them outwardly in the panic that consumed my search.

L: Dear, dear Ellie, I am sorry. I left you alone with another dog in a stranger’s yard. I am sorry I took you at all that day. I should have realized your timidity would not allow you to adapt so quickly to new friends.

E: You wanted a companion dog that could go anywhere with you. I wanted to stay home, safe beside you.

L: I love you, dear Soul. I wish you the most wondrous spiritual adventure as Soul, forever.

E: I needed this push to prepare me for what was to come, in my next life.

L: But I hope that the trauma you felt will not hold you back.

E: Soul grows from all experience. I chose to try to find you and found instead the world is bigger and more full of danger, and care, than I knew.

L: Goodbye, dear friend. If I can ever comfort you, I am always Here, close to your Heart, as Soul. Twenty-four/ seven, times Eternity!

E: I go forward with fresh experience. Thank You.

L: Thank You for  all the Love you gave.

******   ***

The poem below is re-blogged (after my initial post of the tribute to Ellie), from Cats at the Bar:  http://tvkapherr.wordpress.com/  :

Remember love?

Impermanent.

Remember joy?

Immeasurable.

What is love,

what is joy,

but knowing

what is you?

By floridaborne twoonarant.wordpress.com

***

Thank You to readers and those “liking” this post. Of course it is a difficult story to share but I feel that in using this vehicle, I am sending my heart out along the cosmic sea of Spirit and Divine Love as the opening image betokens…there is no real separation of Soul to Soul, so I do believe.