These contracts are held on an unconscious level. They are made before you are born. Significant others agree to help you achieve your goals and go through your lessons by playing a part in your development. To do this they adopt a role in your life as you do in theirs. This is a mutual agreement so even those who you perceive as harmful to you have helped in your overcoming an obstacle to your development.

You need to identify the pattern or archetype to release the anger and resentment of the role you are or were playing. Understanding it helps you to stand back and see it objectively.

When you refuse to follow your path to realise your hopes and dreams, you betray the contracts you hold and the body suffers. Each cell of the body feels and reacts to this distress.

For example a lady who wanted to do Reiki years ago but always had excuses why the time was not right. Eventually she said she could not do Reiki because her knees were too bad. Her knees were suffering because she refused to move forward in her life.

The child often suffers with the legs, skin and bone. The victim has a low immune system. The prostitute has lower back problems and the saboteur damages the stomach area, spleen and colon.

  How to find your archetype :

1)    Refer to the summary of each archetype and the questions on the handouts.

2)    Go back from the age of about 5years old and look at patterns of behaviour or relationships since then.

3)    You need to stand back and take a wider picture as objectively as possible.

4)   Look for recurring events in your life.

5)    Watch out! You may think that you take different roles in different situations e.g. An adult at work and a playful child at home. If you are still working on the child archetype there may still be occasions at work when you do not react in a mature adult way.

We hope to find out:

• Where on that path are you today? 
• Where do you want to be?
• What is stopping you? 
• What do you need to do to be there?  

A brief summary of the basic archetypes

Please note that each archetype covers a wide spectrum of behaviour from the novice to the master. For example developing from the child to mature adult. Wherever you find yourself in the spectrum, it is the same vibration and the same lesson. Search your past and trace your path through to the present to see lessons learnt and those to come.

  Child : Through this archetype we develop the ability to think independently, to take the lead. As a child you are told what to do and what to say. As you grow up you take on more responsibility for your actions and when you take full responsibility you are mature.

  Victim : A victim is lacking in self respect and is vulnerable to abuse by others. When you learn self respect and self esteem, you take control of your life. You learn to stand up for yourself so that no one else has power over you. For example when you have broken free of a manipulative relationship.

  Saboteur : There is a small frightened voice inside which fears change and until this fear is recognised and overcome, there is an inability to move forward with any degree of success. We have to experience and learn why we sabotage ourselves. What advantage is there to staying disempowered? Eg: fearing to change even though we say we want it. This fear may be for example;

• I cannot do this
• People will laugh at me if I do this
• I don’t deserve to do this
• I’m not worthy to this etc.

  Prostitute : When you are prepared to violate your principles or give in to what you know is wrong for you, you are working with this archetype. You may do this to feel safe and secure or to have something, which would otherwise be unattainable. When you are totally self assured no one can sway your opinion or make you do what seems wrong. You are free to do what you believe is right.  

Archetypal relationships

You may see a pattern in relationships, often recurring until you find out what is happening, what is causing the pattern.

E.g.

• Men or women who are abused – the situation is fuelled by low self esteem, lack of self respect.
• Men or women who are being dominated- they give up power to others: to keep the peace; to have an easier life; or through fear.
• People who neglect themselves - give precedence and more importance to others rather than to themselves.

These relationships help you to see your own shadow (dark side) and the shadow of others. We often pass down what has been done to us, without even noticing or realising. This includes child abuse.

Are you angry but don’t know why? This is your shadow self and it needs resolution.

These are different:

• What you learn;
• What you can learn;
• What you choose to learn.

  You have to spot the energy that you are channeling i.e. archetype, to advance your understanding. You may meet people or go to places and feel a resonance. That shows you that you have a contract here. It may be pleasant or unpleasant; happy or sad; an easy lesson or hard lesson depending on the depth of your understanding.

The Child: Guardian of Innocence. 

It is among the most powerful patterns in our psyches because we are born into it.  It is our first state of consciousness.  Before Freud, people were little aware of the influence of childhood on psychological & emotional well-being.  Most Western societies now attribute adult behaviour and motivations largely to the quality of an individual’s childhood. 

Much blame for ‘bad behaviour’ is offloaded by the excuse of a poor upbringing.  When you validate people’s views of their early experiences you may provide a passageway to healing, but may also lead people to become stuck in their early wounds.

The Child is our beginning point. We most easily identify with the Child as we have all been a child and all have an inner child, which needs to play and have fun.  This archetype establishes our first perceptions of life – safety, nurturing, loyalty, & family. It has many aspects:

Wounded, Orphan, Magical, Innocent, Abandoned, Dependent, Nature, Divine. 

These energies may emerge in response to different situations in which we find ourselves, yet the core issues of all Child archetypes is dependency & responsibility, when to take responsibility, when to have a healthy dependency, when to stand up to the group, and when to embrace communal life.  The stages of growing up, from coming to the age of reasoning at about 7, to entering adolescence at about 13, to reaching the official age of adulthood at 18, represents different plateaus of spiritual & physical maturation.  

Ask your Child what it needs to heal or feel nurtured or cared for.  The Child often inspires you to act outside the restrictive boundaries or to explore an adventure without the burdensome weights and responsibilities of the adult mind.

Indulge some of these inspirations as a means of making contact with your inner Child.  Become detached from the wound, however; and don’t overindulge the Child so that it becomes an inner brat.  But give the support and love it needs to grow up.

Questions about feelings:

• Have you ever felt insecure and needy in your relationships?
• Did you ever feel abandoned or hurt?
• Have you ever felt you belonged in a different world?
• Ever felt rejected and unloved?
• Would no one take you seriously?
• Would no one listen to you?
• Would you take the advice of others rather than listen to yourself?

Beliefs of the mature adult:

• I am heard
• I am independent
• I am strong and capable
• I can take the lead
• I am safe and secure
• I am responsible

The Victim: Guardian of Self-Esteem

This archetype enables you to evaluate your level of power, particularly in your interactions with people with whom you have control issues & where you need to construct personal boundaries.  The primary objective of the Victim archetype is to develop self-esteem & personal power. 

When you are in a situation in which you feel threatened or you feel that you lack the appropriate social, professional or personal power, take notice of that reaction physically, emotionally, and mentally. 

This is the intuitive voice of your inner Victim. 

To help direct your responses to all of your experiences & relationships say ‘I am committed to my own empowerment.  What choices can I make here that will serve my own empowerment?’ 

Name the problem or threat you need to overcome & the power that you need to possess in order to do so. Keep your eye on the truth that everything & everyone in your life is there by Contract to assist in your spiritual growth. You have Contracts with people who are directly connected to the Victim archetype.  Their primary role is to help you develop your self-esteem through acts of honesty, integrity, courage, endurance, and self-respect.  Those people will play, or have already played, the leading roles in awakening in you an awareness of the value of these spiritual qualities & how essential they are to your well-being.

As and example think of Tina Turner, married at a young age to Ike Turner, beaten, humiliated and trapped in an unloving relationship until she discovered the spiritual practice of meditation and developed her self esteem and power. Other examples might be Cinderella or Goldie Hawn in the movie “Overboard”.

Questions about feeling:

• Have you ever felt intimidated by authority figures so you go along with what you are told?
• Have you ever been afraid to say “no!”?
• Have you ever-felt small and belittled?
• Have you ever been afraid to speak out in case you are put down?
• Have you been abused physically or mentally?
• Do you feel/ have felt that others don’t respect you?
• Have you ever felt that it was all your fault?

Beliefs of the self respecting ex-victim:

• I am worthy
• I respect myself
• I can put myself first
• I love and forgive myself
• I deserve good things
• I am powerful
• I can say “no”
• I am not a victim
• I don’t have to suffer

The Prostitute: Guardian of Faith

The act of prostitution is generally associated with selling one’s body for money, but that is not necessarily what is meant here of this archetype.  The Prostitute role occurs in subtle, ordinary everyday circumstances.  It comes into play most clearly when our survival is threatened.  The core issue is how much you are willing to sell of yourself – your morals, your integrity, your intellect, your word, your body, or your soul – for the sake of physical security. 

It also dramatically embodies & tests the power of faith in yourself and the Divine. If you have faith, no one can buy you.  You know that you can take care of yourself & also that the Divine is always with you. Without faith, however, you will eventually meet the price you cannot turn down.

Examples:

• A woman, who cannot afford to leave her husband and even though she cannot stand to be with him, she buys her home comforts at a cost to her own self esteem.
• People who hate the job they do but dare not leave it in case they don’t find another.
• Jesus was tempted by the devil who offered him all earthly things but Jesus had the faith and strength to refuse. Abraham pretended his wife was his sister when they went to Egypt so that he would not be killed for her.

Questions about feelings:

• What compromises do you have to make or have made in the past to get what you want?
• What have you put up with or endured because you could see no other comfortable option?
• Have you ever felt trapped and helpless to change?
• Do you/ did you always doubt yourself and your abilities to cope on your own?

Beliefs of those with faith:

• I am safe and secure
• I succeed
• I am capable
• I have faith in the Universe and myself

• Life is an exciting adventure

• I love God
• God loves and approves of me
• I have no doubts about myself or others
• I have no criticism of myself and others
• I no longer have to be in control
• I am no longer trapped

The Saboteur: Guardian of Choice

The Saboteur is a neutral energy within you that usually makes itself known through discord and mixed feelings.  It can sabotage your efforts to be happy & successful if you are not aware of the patterns of thought & behaviour that it raises in you.  It can cause you to resist opportunities.  It is the mirror that reflects your fears of taking responsibility for yourself & what you chose to create.  

It is most intimately connected to your ability to survive in the physical world. 

Fears of being without the basic needs of life – from food/home to a social & personal network – often provide this archetype with the power to haunt you.

You can silence the Saboteur with acts of courage & by following your intuition.

This inner guidance serves you brilliantly as a gut instinct that directs you to take action based on hunches rather than on rational thought.  To learn to experience and hear that voice more clearly, you must respond to it.  Only through response can you manifest the courage to change your world.  Start with small choices, which may actually be life-transforming acts of will, disguised as harmless impulses. 

The core issue for the Saboteur is fear of inviting change into your life, change that requires a positive response to opportunities to shape & deepen your spirit.  Once started it is impossible to stop the process of change.  Deep in your tissues you know that having power & using it necessitates change.  Although many people want to have it all, they do not want to be it all. 

All the choices you make do not have the same potential to transform the environment of your life.  E.g. the decision to have dinner with friends does not have the same impact as a decision to get married or to move to different country.  It may be difficult to respond to an inner voice that directs you to pursue a spiritual life when it obviously will rearrange your familiar world but it is easier to make small changes and make gradual development.

Questions about feelings:

• Ever felt that what you wanted was so far out of reach that there was no point in trying?

• Ever wanted to do something but told yourself it was a waste of time/money/effort?

• Have you ever really tried very hard to achieve something, yet everything seemed against you?

• Have you ever felt it was all pointless?

• Do you lack motivation?

• Do you feel as if you are never good enough?

Beliefs of the saboteur beater:

• I am no longer depressed,  I am no longer trapped

• I am motivated

• I am supported

• I believe I can do it

• Let others think what they like