So Many Choices...but Not: The Paths

The end of the Pathworking series is upon us. I have thrown a bunch of scientific theory, esoteric theory, and historical analysis at you throughout the series. And you were probably wondering the entire time, “What the HECK does any of this have to do with how to figure out my path?!?!”

Well here’s my answer to that question.

To understand the path meant for you you have to understand all the things that have been presented thus far. And not just what was presented in this series alone, but also what was presented in the Foundations Series. To know your path is to know yourself and how you fit into the grand puzzle of existence. 

You have to know your Body to know how you connect to, receive, and direct ambient energy. 

You have to know your Mind to be able to process, understand, and discern the energies you receive and give. 

You have to know your Spirit to filter, nurture, and release energetic patterns and behaviors.

A scientific understanding of energy protects you from false narratives, exploitative systems, and harmful practices.  

Societal understanding points us NOT to a life of service or denial of self as so many preach but rather a life fully lived. We experience, we learn, and we grow. We take pride in our achievements and we do not let others dim them. We show humility by knowing when to step in and when to bow out. We express ourselves so we can break from the cycles and evolve.

Historical understanding allows us to know where we have been, where we are, and where we are most likely heading. The “safest” and “surest” way to predict the future is to look at history and recognize patterns. Historical knowledge breeds present day wisdom which allows for us to redirect and pivot to create the futures we desire. 

Combining scientific knowledge with historical understanding develops a logical framework toward practical esoteric energy applications. In this way, rather than going off of regurgitated information, you begin to make new connections and develop your own processes.

Every piece I’ve covered is essential for you to discover YOUR Path. But this still leaves the question of what are the paths? 

If you ask anybody else what paths to try they will start an exhaustive list of different practices or religions or even spirits to work with or try out. And while I encourage experimenting and trying different things; those exhaustive lists don’t truly define the “Paths.”

If I started to list from one extreme to the next on the spectrum of styles and beliefs…I wouldn’t even post it here. I would just create one of the nature field guide style books and publish it. There’s just too many. And yet those are not the “Paths.” Those are specializations along the Paths. What Path you ultimately work will align with you as an individual. Because that’s the whole point of spirituality. This has been the core message throughout both the Pathworking and Foundation series.

You are an important piece as you are. You are a thread so intricately woven into a tapestry that you can never be removed or replaced. You exist therefore you matter and what you contribute to the beauty of the tapestry can only come from you. 

So when you are seeking an answer to the question, “What path should I walk,” you should not get bombarded with hundreds of options that all originated from someone else. You need to forge your own and you need to fight tooth and nail for it to come to actualization. Not just realization, realization happens the moment you awaken to this truth. Actualization is when you start walking your path and living authentically and honestly.

If I were to say that was the end of this post you would probably be mad at me. And rightfully so. Because I promised to help you discover YOUR Path. And here it is I’m saying, the paths don’t matter so long as you are on YOUR Path. So how can I uphold my promise for this series? That answer is actually quite simple.

Over the years of studies, practices, trials, successes, and failures; I have come to see pathworking in a different way than anything I have ever read or been told. I have come to see pathworking as an oscillation between four archetypes. We who walk OUR Paths tend to flow between these four archetypes and never truly get stuck on or ingrained in them. We tend to get restless and want to stretch our wings. Now that we understand what the Paths are not, let’s explore the four archetypes that help define our journey.

So what are the four archetypes of YOUR Path? They are honestly the simplest things I have had to explain since starting this blog. 

The Guru

The Sage

The Mystic

The Elder

When you live YOUR Path you will experience movement through each of these. And it is not some drawn out process whereby you feel a shift in the wind and you slowly transition between the archetypes. No no no…it happens on a dime. You can shift through archetypes many times a week or even during a day. The trick to walking YOUR Path is to not get stuck on one archetype. Doing that means you are no longer walking YOUR Path but someone else’s. As I go over the different archetypes I’ll give examples of how people get “stuck” in them which has created all the “specialities” people call “paths.” So let’s get to it, shall we?

The Guru

A Guru is a person who is viewed as a teacher or mentor who actively takes on disciples or students to impart specific doctrines, practices, and/or methods. 

When you flow into the Guru archetype you will see people coming to you and wanting to “sit at your feet” to learn. When people “see a light” in someone they are recognizing that person as someone who is on THEIR Path. And they want to either share in that light or learn how to ignite their own. 

Modern interpretation of a Guru usually has us imagining some older hermit living in a “minimalist” fashion. We envision the likeness of Mahatma Gandhi when we think of a Guru. A perfect example is Guru Pathik from Avatar the Last Airbender with his Onion and Banana Juice. 

While Gandhi was more like a Guru than the media portrayal of gurus, there are other historical figures who fit the archetype. A key part to the Guru archetype after all is having students, disciples, or followers. Gandhi had those. So did Jesus, Muhammad, Aleister Crowley, L. Ron Hubbard, and Gerald Gardner. Oprah, bless her, also created a few “guru’s” by accident such as Dr. Phil, Deepak Chopra, and Dr. Oz. And if you care about how many followers, views, and likes you get on the Socials, aka being an “influencer,” then you are trying to reach a Guru status. Guru’s don’t have to just be limited to spiritual practices. How many times have you heard of a “makeup guru,” or a “fitness guru?” Of the four archetypes, the Guru is the easiest to obtain, the hardest to maintain, and the second most tempting to get stuck in. 

The Guru archetype is necessary to walking YOUR Path because you don’t understand what you say you understand until you have to teach it to someone else to help them understand. Read that again before I break it down.

If Chef Gordon Ramsey were to teach me how to make one of his signature dishes and I fail repeatedly to replicate it…does the fault lay with me or Ramsey? It would lay with Ramsey, because a teacher would get involved and figure out where the student keeps messing up and guide them to correct the issues. But now let’s expand the example and shake it up a bit.

Same scenario but different outcome, I mess up a couple of times but after some practice, coaching, and better instruction I begin to replicate the dish perfectly 80% of the time. Now Chef Ramsey brings in a new person who never made the dish and he tells me to teach them as he taught me. I try and try and teach the new person but they just can’t get it right. I get frustrated with them for not getting it and I get frustrated at Chef Ramsey. In reality the fault would be mine. In this scenario, I am not a good teacher and, after a couple of errors, I should have gotten my teacher and had the humility to say, “I’m not ready to teach yet.” 

And that’s the rub right there. The ability to do does not mean you are able to teach. Replication is not understanding. You can watch other spiritual teachers on YouTube, read books till your eyes are red, or listen to every single podcast. You can rewrite those peoples’ words and replicate everything they say. You can be more charismatic and charming and therefore be more popular. You can rise to the very top…which means you can fall so very far. Because when the pressure is on, you were able to replicate but you lacked understanding.

Without understanding, you cannot answer questions. You cannot formulate arguments to defend your side. You resort to repetitive cliche laced retools of the same thing you said before with a lack of depth drawing from the abyss within because instead of a well of wisdom you are a cavern of collected whispers. 

Einstein said, “if you can’t explain it simply then you don’t understand it well enough.”

This needs to be at the forefront of your mind when you are flowing in the Guru archetype. You need to take Pride in what you can teach. You need the humility to say, “I know about (the subject matter) but I don’t think I can explain it clearly.” 

When you flow into the Guru archetype the opportunities to teach present themselves. When you have to force and promote and beg for students then you may not be ready to be in a Guru role. It takes work to get things done, don’t get me twisted, but when things are right then things are right so long as you are putting in the work. And the Guru knows to put in the work and take the opportunities to teach as they come. Because usually the best time to teach someone else is in the moment when you’re hard at work on a project. 

To summarize the Guru, the benefits are notoriety, respect, and acknowledgment. The downfalls of this archetype are hubris, stereotypical information, and complacency in mediocrity. The traps of the Guru archetype are resiliency to change, creating layers of doctrines and creeds, and adopting a conversion or missionary mindset. In most cases, Guru followings are the most common to develop a zealotry situation. Specializations that come from getting stuck in the Guru archetypal energy are most religious organizations including Christianity, Wicca, and interestingly enough Buddhism. Buddhism is an interesting specialization to put in the Guru archetype because it did not start out as such. Christianity started with Jesus Christ picking out apostles (disciples) and teaching them then mandating they go forth and teach what Christ taught. Buddhism actually started with Siddhartha Gautama who did not look for acolytes but instead tried to remove himself from the world. He did teach but it was less about having a following and more just sharing his experiences with those who came to him. Which means Buddhism started out as our next archetype, the Sage. 

The Sage

The Sage is a person who is more akin to what we imagine a Guru to be. These are the people who prefer to live more as a hermitage. But it is not in a way to shut out the world. Rather they want to become more a part of it. They are happy to share their lessons and wisdom. They wish to live as they feel is right for them so their brand of teaching is more, “this is just my perspective on the subject,” rather than, “this is just how it is.”

The Sage is the person who is purposeful in everything they do. There is a rhyme and a rhythm. There is a natural flow to the Sage. A kind of calm confidence with an indomitable will just below the surface. A Sage puts every foot forward steady and streamlined towards their goals. 

The Sage archetypal energy is when YOUR Path flows into doing and performing. Putting your actions where your words are. LIving your life by your own creed and harmony. The Sage archetype is when you learn what you are capable of and what is outside of your purview. But the Sage archetype is also when you don’t get downtrodden over what you realize is not for you. Because again the Sage is purposeful and if something is not a strength for you then it becomes a waste of energy to hyperfocus on it. 

I wanted to think of a good media example of a sage for relatability. And the first one to really come to mind was Agatha Cromwell from Disney’s Halloweentown. That’s right Grandma Aggie. If you watch the TV movie and just pay attention, everything Agatha did was purposeful. From the way she sauntered from the house “oblivious” to the kids following her. Teaching the spell to the kids in Debbie Reynolds’ sing-song voice so Sophie could pick it up. Appealing to Dylan’s scientific nature by showing potions and recipes and brews. Telling Marnie in the beginning that magic is really quite simple. To just want for something and then let yourself have it. Which was the part that ultimately saved the day. But the most telling moment in the movie, the part that made me realize her sagacity, was when Marnie understood that Agatha, seconds before being overcome with the stasis spell, points at the Jack-O-Lantern in the town square. She knew! She knew her home was in trouble and the only way she could protect it was to bring her whole family together. 

That is what happens in your Sage flow. You come to just know. You become such a part of the world that you begin to see the links that need to be connected. You see what series of events will make those connections happen. The last example was more cheery, but the greatest Sage of all times is Death. Every death is purposeful and on time. Every event in life leads you ever onward towards that “end.” It hurts when someone we love dies, we grieve and mourn for their passing. Whether old or young we have to remember that death is inevitable and while we may lament how it is unfair for the young to die “early,” we have to understand that it is not impossible nor is it improbable. 

The Final Destination movie series almost perfectly illustrates, albeit gory and grossly, how every big moment was the final event in a chain of events that started with something very tiny. Death is the epitome of being a hermit yet an inseparable part of the world. Death has to be connected to everything and has to be deliberate and streamlined. Once revered and understood, Death became something of fear and scorn. Yet despite the insults hurled at it, Death remains steadfast and resolute in its tasks. 

We can learn a lot from death and dying work. And when you flow into the Sage moments of YOUR Path, you become akin to death. Because you become discerning of what is around you. Should this stay and that go or is it the other way around. When people come to you in this state of being they are not looking for your light to shine to follow. They most likely won’t be looking for what they want to hear either. They will come seeking your counsel because they know you will tell them what they need to hear. 

Think of when someone wants to go shopping for a new event outfit. And they call their favorite gay man to go with them because the gay man will be honest about the choices. They aren’t satisfied with mediocrity or sycophantic behavior. When on YOUR Path, you know you are on a Sage swing when you are not just a voice of reason. You are THE voice of reason. You are the tie breaker. You are the high chancellor. You are the final deciding vote. You are the witness who watched every event that led to that moment so you are informed and you see exactly how the last domino will fall. 

This also means you become aloof and off-putting if you stay in the Sage flow too long. Imagine if you had a friend who just couldn’t help but dig at you every single time you spoke to them. No matter what good was happening in your life, they would always feel the need to bring your joy or excitement down just a little…a misguided attempt to “humble” you for your own good. Or if you had something terrible happen to you their idea of comfort is to say, “yeah that’s bad but I had it worse because of this.” Just that little dig to say you should feel better about your pain because they experienced worse. 

Sagacity can easily turn sour and obtuse. Leading to scorn and further separation. The pieces and the connections are no longer seen because the Sage flow has suddenly gone from hermitage to seclusion and isolation. A person in a Sage flow for too long can easily start connecting the pieces to form a labyrinthian lair. From which nothing can easily enter nor can escape. It takes a strong will to break through to a person stuck in their Sage flow. A stuck Guru can be knocked out of that rather easily. But a stuck Sage…you have to find a way to combat them. They already planned the conversations, they know the perfect deflections, they know the buttons to press to make you give up, and they are sure of winning. The only way to overcome a person in this state is with sheer persistence and compassion. Persistence because it's gonna take some rounds to see progress. Compassion because there is almost assuredly a reason for a person to retreat so far within. There’s a hurt deep within that they are not yet ready to process.

Processing the Sage Flow, we can summarize it as follows. The Sage archetype benefits are wisdom, steadfastness, and living intentionally. The downsides are becoming obstinate, unyielding, and isolationist. The traps are total separation, belittling, and shame. When a person gets hurt in their sage flow the hurt is embarrassing because it’s one of those, “should have seen it coming,” kind of hurts. When flowing in the Sage archetype a good quote that I like to keep me in integrity is, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. Oddly…the Sage archetype probably has the least specializations but a few that stand out are Atheism, Agnosticism, Jainism, Asian philosophical based practices like Confucianism and Daoism. Another interesting Sage specialization would be Shamanism thanks to societal mutations of it. 

So many shamans and shamanic practitioners have retreated to a more isolation based ideology. It is even commonly thrown around among “leaders” that for people to experience the authentic power of shamanism they must make a pilgrimage to show their willingness to receive the shaman’s blessing. But in the days of old, it was more common for a shaman or their like to show up when you least expected them but right when you needed them. Almost as though they were guided to you by the spirits they work with. Which is a lot like what the third archetype represents. The archetype of the Mystic.

The Mystic

I absolutely love when I get into my Mystic flow. It is probably the most encouraging of the four. A mystic is someone who seeks more of a personal connection to the subliminal world of spirits and energy. 

A Mystic is someone who would seem a little spacey and detached while still being present. When speaking with someone in their mystic flow they may seem to disassociate from the conversation or present moment. They tend to zone out and then come back as though there was never any gap. Yet when they come back they seem to bring with them information that they ought not possess. They receive psychic or ESP messages and then relay them at their leisure. 

They also seem to always turn up at the right place at the right time. As if they fully went with the flow and just happened to message, call, or show up exactly when the person they were thinking about needed them. I have a friend who I’ve done this to regularly. She got to a point where she would just respond with, “Blaise!! You’re on your Spooky Dooky Shit again!!” We would then start talking and sure enough it was right on time. 

It’s a lot like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. “A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” I honestly wish I could stay in my Mystic flow all the time because when I flow into Guru, Sage, or Elder I start to feel out of sync a little bit. I know I need time outside of the Mystic flow but it still feels like all the guidance and assurance is gone. That’s because this archetype is where we can learn the most. It’s not from books and the internet. It’s from diving into the energy that surrounds us everyday. The world is our greatest teacher if we have the temperance to listen. 

And listening is what Mystics excel at. There’s an autonomous rhythm in our physical bodies that resonates a unique sound. When we tune into that sound we can bridge the gap from the physical mundane world to the supernatural unseen world. Some people access by will and others naturally slip into it. Just getting into a relaxed state is enough for some people to hear this “body music” (heartbeat and pulse for example) without having to focus on it. Once there the mystic listens to what is being whispered or drifting in the aether surrounding them.  There are methods to induce this mystic trance-like state without the body song but when in a mystic flow those become less necessary. Traditionally drumming at 4-4.5 beats per second is scientifically recognized to induce trance states and promote overall health and well-being. If 4-4.5 beats per second on an external drum induces changes like this, think about the body song now. 

You have 14 pulse points that doctors check. Technically seven but doctors are supposed to check both sides of each to make sure your pulse is the same on both sides of the body. Then you have your heart itself. The average heart beats anywhere from 60-100 times per minute. At 60 beats per minute that’s one heartbeat per second which means your pulse points each beat in sync with that. So that’s about 15 steady beats per second. And yes you can tune into that body rhythm yourself. If you get into a relaxed state and focus on feeling your heartbeat you will start to notice that you don’t just feel it in your chest. You feel it all over. It’s one beat that pulses half or less of a second out of sync in the pulse points. It is when a mystic gets into a relaxed state that makes them willingly or naturally into this advanced perception. But it is because of this relaxed state that mystics’ personalities can seem anything but.

Health resource:  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4790847/

Trance resource:  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4085008/#:~:text=Shamanic%20practitioners%20in%20contemporary%20Western,of%204%20to%207%20Hz.  

The mystic archetype is often characterized as people who are busybodies or flighty and scatterbrained. The librarian in the Netflix cartoon Hilda was always busy but seemed to know exactly what the kids needed at the right moment. This character wasn’t necessarily the eccentric crazy person but they were always busy doing something. Another example would be the Doctor from Doctor Who. Most of the characterizations were a little zany and crazed. Bordering on the edge of madness. But when the Doctor stops moving, stops touching things, and stops babbling a bunch of seemingly disconnected questions and theories, that's when you know the Doctor has won. That’s when the terror creeps into the face of the Doctor’s adversary. That’s when the clarity sinks in. That’s when that inexhaustible encompassing knowledge of time and space collides in the Doctor’s mind and they have the one answer they needed all along. That is a mystic.

The mystic doesn’t stay busy because they don’t know how to sit still. It isn’t an attention disorder. They stay busy because if they don’t the voices start up again. The whispers. To some it comes across as thoughts and theories. To some it is a cascade of voices singing secrets to them. Whichever the case, the mystics are rarely hearing their own internal dialogue. You can’t change your voice in your mind. It is always the same sound and volume. Mystics perceive distinctions between their voice and that of others. And I say perceive because there’s also visions vs. daydreams, ghost smells vs. hidden smells, etc. And because of that many mystics keep a low profile because they don’t want to be labeled as schizophrenic or having auditory hallucinations. But they keep a low profile by not being low profile through their busy or even eccentric natures.

The nature of the mystic is shrouded in no better term than mystery. A person who is of the mystic persuasion is open to all sorts of information constantly coming and going. They can get wrapped up in this and because they perceive more than average they can easily develop delusional states of grandeur. They might want the best for all but take on whatever means necessary. Thanos from Marvel could have been a mystic who just got stuck on a bit of gleaned information and then stubbornly plodded ahead. His constant work towards his goal could have shut out any of the other voices of reason from deterring him along his goal. That is one of quite a few pitfalls of the mystic archetype.

The mystic archetype is one of intrigue, magic, excitement, attentiveness, and opportunity. But for those benefits there are the downfalls. Eccentricity, strangeness, mania, stubbornness, unfocused, uncoordinated, and even unhinged at times are things mystics have to be aware of. And the traps of the mystic are single minded pursuits, unexpressive, comfort in being stifled, and complacency with always being tired. A good quote for mystics to remember is Edgar Allen Poe’s, “All that we seem is but a dream within a dream.” It’s a good reminder that there is just as much mystique and intrigue in the mundane to not want to escape to the unseen.

The mystics are rarely involved in “organized” specializations because rules and creeds and doctrines debilitate the mystic’s energy. As such you can find mystics in personal practices such as witchcraft (specifically traditional or green variations), folk traditions like Chinese regional practices, Shamanism still, and in many ways Hinduism. Hinduism mergers the religious aspect with the personal connection aspect very beautifully.

Hinduism is a religion that has many subspaces and sects, it is Monotheistic at the core with very polytheistic elements. Yet the different sects or belief patterns rarely fight with each other. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity have fought against each other too many times and for too long. The different denominations of Christianity fight each other arguing over God’s persona. Because Hinduism is so much more personal even as an organized religion they may have friction here or there but for the most part they leave each other alone. They are more interested in their own experiences and personal reflections. And personal reflections is the very core essence of the final archetype, the Elder.

The Elder

The final archetype in my model is the Elder. And of course when I say Elder the first thing to come to mind is a wizened older person of a community. That isn’t wrong but it also does not limit this archetype from being exhibited despite age or station. 

From my observations, children seem to embody this archetype more often than adults. “From the mouths of babes,” is an all true statement because that’s what the Elder does. The Elder observes, reflects, and comments on what they are perceiving. As we age we get taught to not speak aloud as often on how we experience the world. We become expected to choose this thought, that group, those beliefs, etc. 

 The Elder instead chooses themselves first. They choose to examine and investigate what is before them. They choose to speak their findings often to the chagrin of those around them. Because above all else the flow of the elder desires honesty. They want equality, equity, and justice. Personal bias is traded for objectivity born from a retreat into something I have said throughout this blog, indifference. The Elder knows how to look at a situation and remove their own personal investment making room for a more tangible measure of truth and balance.

And balanced is probably the perfect word to pair with an Elder. Because Elders are the string that holds people, families, communities, etc. together so they live a balancing act almost daily. I focus on these qualities and the character Joey from Friends comes to mind. The character was goofy, fun, and loud yet the show could not have had the success it had without him. Phoebe was similar but she was more like a mystic just a little disconnected from time to time. Joey on the other hand was essential to the group to help keep everyone together. 

In film there is a character that is often the comedic relief character. The one who can suddenly take away the tension that has been building and allow the audience to breathe for a second. This is an Elder action. Being in the Elder archetype or flow does not mean you have to be serious all the time. It is said that laughter is the best medicine and the Elder is exceptional at finding absurdity in most situations. That quality comes from the Elder’s desire for honesty and authenticity.

You see Elders are people who do what no one wants to do, look in the mirror. They take the time to reflect on themselves and own up to their wrongs and rights. Elders are not scared to say, “Hey my left eye is a little bigger than my right,” or “You know maybe I shouldn’t have said that that way…I’ll let it sit for a minute and then I’ll try to reword it.” This makes getting into the Elder flow the hardest on us because when we move into this archetype we get forced to do the dreaded “Shadow” and “Ego” work. 

I posted about both but in a recent discussion online I stated it to a group of people and a friend said, “THAT! PUT THAT IN YOUR BLOG!” Which I put a quick excerpt of that here to sum up shadow and ego for everyone:

“It is always harder to reflect on yourself than it is to point at others. A lot of stuff out today makes the shadow and even the ego seem like enemies to our well-being. But they are still parts of us and are necessary. And in reality, when we blame our shadow, our ego, and our darkness too we create a paradox of self inflicted pain. Cause we are blaming something other than ourselves consciously but subconsciously still blaming ourselves. So the cycle of self abuse continues and then we in turn abuse others.

The light is our power, but staying in our light too long will leave us burned out. We must return to the shadows to cool off and reflect. The darkness is our comfort where we can express and feel our emotions raw and without judgement. But staying there too long can make us complacent and lazy. So we have to come back to the shadows to remember there is light and power we must work for.

The shadow helps us to navigate our weaknesses and focus on our strengths. We must know our weaknesses but not focus on them. They will always be a weakness so it is a waste of time to ‘improve’ them. Why would you want to make a weakness better at being a weakness anyway? Instead we need to be reminded of our strengths and put energy towards making those better. Because we need our strengths to overcome the weaknesses.

The ego houses the memories of the lessons we have experienced. When your ego speaks, listen and don’t fight it. It’s trying to say, ‘hey we’ve been here before. This feels familiar.’ When we ignore the ego we fall victim to failing a lesson and experiencing pain. When we listen to the ego but act radically upon its advice we say, ‘my ego made me do it.’ No, you consciously chose that reaction. Your ego was just trying to say, ‘hey here’s another chance, pay attention.’

Ego and Shadow are what help you maintain integrity with yourself.”

Because of Shadow and Ego work, people often run from the Elder archetype. Because you cannot be an “elder” without being proficient at navigating the Shadow and Ego. The Elder archetype draws on the experiences of life, both painful and beautiful, to guide and protect those around them. I have met a few people who wanted to claim the authority of an elder but their only reason to do so was because they were older. Just because older and elder rhyme does not mean they are the same. 

While getting older does mean you have technically more “experiences” from life, it does not mean that you gained wisdom from them. I hate the way people use the cliche, “respect your elders…” If my “elders” are not respectable then no I won’t be forced to respect them just because they are older than me. You have no further to look than the government officials of the United States as an example. The majority of them are quite old but behave more like circus clowns rather than venerable wise leaders. And that statement applies to all sides.  

Age does not beget Elder status. Honesty, integrity, objectivity, and one last quality do. That last quality, bringing it back to Joey a little, is wonder. The elder archetype sees so much that they begin to anticipate the next surprise life throws at them. There is that childlike quality where the elder, no matter the age, reaches back out and reclaims a bit of their innocence. Which is why it is rare to see an Elder give guidance from a staunch stern countenance. Another example of this is going to be from the movie Steel Magnolias. 

Clairee Belcher was the wise cracking member of the troupe that seemed to be the most involved in each of the women’s lives. She was the one that each person was able to go to and receive that spark of genuine elder truth dripping in humor and sarcasm. One of her most famous lines, “If you don’t have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me,” has a tongue and cheek wisdom to it. We all want to be the “bigger people” and not gossip about others. We all still do it anyway and even the most peaceful (conflict free) people in the world will still have internal thoughts of jealousy towards others. It is inevitable and unobtainable as a goal but still we try. But by stating that, Clairee is rejecting the unobtainable and saying, “We all do it so why hide it? Here! I’m just gonna open up the space for it.” 

Holding space and holding things together is the true gift of the Elder archetype. A person who cannot hold space for others is not able to claim they are in the flow of the elder. This is also the true curse of the Elder though. Because they hold so much space and hold the threads to keep people together they are prone to burnout. And even in the grip of burnout they seem to refuse to collapse under the pressure. They have to keep holding on. They have to keep it together. In the movie Encanto, this was best illustrated by the character Louisa who was trying so hard not to break under the pressure. In fact that movie shows a “false” Elder in Abuela, a natural Elder in Louisa, and a transition from Mystic to Elder in Maribel.

And just like Louisa’s song, Elders face enormous pressure. There is at times a kind of hero complex that they can take on. They have faced the storms and raced the flames to get where they are. They know pain and suffering and they know joy and passion. They want others to feel the good stuff while sheltering them from the bad stuff. The toughest lesson for Elders is to let go. When elders get stuck they can be self-sacrificing of themselves trying to “fix” things that they can see are problems. The best quote an Elder can remember is, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make them drink.” 

Elders need to remember they can only do so much and to recognize when to just back away. The major pitfalls of the Elder archetype are self deprecating, using humor to mask, hero complexes, and total exhaustion. The best things about Elders are they can impart guidance through humor, a wealth of experiences, strong sense of self and personal convictions, and an inexhaustible sense of adventure and wonder. What can get an Elder stuck is anxiety paralysis, unstable or blurred boundaries, and loneliness from being the one to always help but rarely getting help in return. Unlike the previous three, there aren’t really any specializations that are truly stuck in the flow of the Elder archetype. Sure you have the Catholic Papacy and the Dalai Lama, but they are and they aren’t truly “Elder” archetype based specialties. I would say if any the closest to true elder flow would be more in martial arts practices which are quite spiritual as well. Most wouldn’t think of them like that but they are (that is going to get explained more in the next series). The elders can truly adapt to any specialty though because they can see past the glamour of the specialties being the same as the “path.”

The Elder archetype is one that just kind of happens. There are people who are naturally inclined to this energy flow but this archetype offers one thing the other three don’t, choice. The choice is to face yourself and become or run from yourself and be less because the only want to begin weaving into the Elder archetype is to know yourself from the beautiful eyes to the warty knees on your body, mind, and spirit. But combining this flow with the rest is where you can spark the most potent of magics.

All-Together Now

The Guru, the Sage, the Mystic, and the Elder. Four archetypal energy patterns which rather than clash with each other, compliment each other. 

To walk YOUR Path you learn to recognize when you are entering one or more of these energies. You can be a Mystic and a Guru at the same time. You can be an Elder, Guru, and Mystic in a single moment. Their energies are not separated so much that they can never happen simultaneously. Once you learn to recognize their patterns and cycles, the next thing you begin to notice is which do you seem to be strongest in. Are you at your peak when you are in the mystic’s flow? Do you feel icky when you have to be the guru? Maybe you feel the greatest when you can access the Sage and the Elder at the same time.  

Once you can isolate which archetype you feel the strongest in you can start looking at specialties that flow more along those lines. And if you find YOUR Path in a single specialty that’s ok. If you start mixing and matching that’s perfectly fine too. You can be one thing if you want. You can be a little bit of everything if you want. Remember “mastery” is the greatest illusion so whatever specialty(ies) you choose make sure it matches with your archetypal flow. Then seek to learn and practice everything known of it so you can break all the rules and be a catalyst of growth for the specialty.

Think of the books out there on all the different specialties. A huge majority of them, no matter the specialty, say the same things. When looking for books today myself I try to find ones with unique perspectives or new styles. For me there is nothing more disappointing than getting my hands on a book and it has the exact same information as the last four books I read. Part of my book shopping has now gone towards looking for specializations OF specialties to broaden the scope if you will. 

And recognizing my energy and how I flow through the archetypes helps me to discern this information. I would say, for myself, I am at my peak when I am in my Mystic moments so long as I can ground that archetype with either the Guru’s or the Sage’s energies. The Elder flow is one I have only recently started to fully experience and there is still work for me to fully gain the rhythm. But while I recognize my peak is a grounded Mystic, I can confidently say for myself that I feel comfortable in the Mystic, Guru, or Sage archetypes and free flow between them pretty regularly now. 

I do want to throw one bit of caution to this though. There is a specialization of a specialty out there that is relatively newish that talks of abandoning old paradigms as they adopt new ones on a frequent basis. While this isn’t wrong in any way I just want to say that I don’t see it as healthy or sustainable. It’s a powerful practice and definitely works because it really teaches the art of letting go. Just remember that throwing everything out to start from scratch is very taxing on your energy and mental bandwidth. I find it more sustainable to adopt and then ADAPT new paradigms into what you have already put work and practice into. That’s how you can be someone advancing and evolving known practices rather than picking it up just to put it back down. 

We are in a period of alchemy right now. A time of change and transformation. It's kind of hard to believe that if we just keep sticking to the same old thing. We have access and the ability to freely share information, practices, wisdom, and so much more. And since I have been working with my archetypal model above I have started to see how to take this piece and connect it with that piece, but not forcefully. I have started seeing a type of magnetic pull between the different pieces. Connections that weren’t always apparent before are starting to surface. It’s like the energies are screaming softly to bring them back to oneness after being divided over and over for a few thousand years. 

In the past, if you took out the names of the deities, most of the practices of the past would be indistinguishable from one another. Even the animistic practices historically and anthropologically have incredible synchronicity despite cultures being continents apart from one another. This is the time to thin the walls and bring that wholeness back into focus. Nothing is ever truly lost forever if we take the time to look beyond the prejudices and the narratives. 

And thus ends the narrative of my Pathworking series. I truly hope this has been helpful for you. There were some rough posts along the way, but as I just stated above, change needs to happen. I follow another philosophy of my own called the 7 Catalysts of Change which I will go over in the next series. As a quick preview, Wrath can be a powerful tool to incite much needed changes. The next post will be a summary of this series and hopefully much shorter than these last few have been. 

Until then have a fantastic day. Thank you for reading this series. I truly hope it inspired or sparked some actionable thoughts for you.