Archetypal psychology is increasingly popular in the world at the moment - and I find it some of the deepest, more powerfully transformative work.  Carl Jung, the first father of Jungian archetypes, was a Swiss psychologist who believed that we each live out our own personal myths, having thought patterns that reside within our collective unconscious - in our culture - and express uniquely in every individual.  There is much work out there that shows these mythological stories that we interact with - usually either by feeling resistance to them, or by really resonating with them - are a lens for us to explore our Soul; ways of viewing ourselves and holding up a mirror to see something more about who we are and understand ourselves more deeply.

The powerful thing is, that, often, in every-day life, we come to think there is only one way to be - one possibility for ourselves.  And yet, there are millions of archetypal stories and possibilities for us to be able to express - and it is our choice as to which elements of them we desire to bring to life, for the purposes of our expansion.  Seeing this is what makes this work so powerful, as it is a way for us to begin to experience change.  The work is to use these archetypal lenses to firstly view ourselves through, just as we are - and then, as we begin to work more deeply with them, we can use them to discover who we really are here to be in the world - and choose the archetypes we desire to embody more deeply - until we are unfolding our own personal myth.

In this article, I explore some of the common archetypes that those drawn to holistic therapies like Aromatherapy, or spiritual paths, tend to feel a call to - as well as how essential oils can be used to really powerfully embody your chosen archetype and bring it to life to create change for you in your life.

The Witch as a powerful archetypal lens

One of the biggest archetypes - or lenses - that you’re likely to feel a pull towards as someone who’s landed here reading this article is that of the mythology of the Witch.  The Witch is typically seen by our culture as something unknown and scary, someone to be feared because she uses magic, someone outcast, someone who uses her power for evil, and someone who suffered suppression of her true self when she was burned at the stake. Yet, from this way of viewing her, so much is missed.  The Witch as an archetype also has some hidden gold in these negative traits - she is a creator who creates a life magically and is almightily powerful - a symbol of feminine power and truth.

As we begin to see the Witch through this lens, we may begin to resonate with her story - which parts of us feel our magic is to be feared?  Which parts of us feel that we are going to be outcast for being our true selves? Which parts of us, actually, fear being burned at the stake for being ourselves - which parts long for approval, and operate from there, instead of just allowing ourselves to be powerful and magical and truthful?  Where do we shut down our own power?

In using the Witch archetype this way, we begin to understand more about ourselves and see where we are shutting down our truth, power and magic, innocently and unconsciously.  And especially how this is a cultural thing - society is so conditioned now to shut down the magic of living from our hearts and souls.

It’s likely if you’re a Witch, you’ll feel some resistance and some resonance with this archetype - that some part of you will be activated; this is how archetypal psychology works; throwing up things that hadn’t been seen before, illuminating them to make what is unconscious conscious again.  As Carl Jung says, “until we make the unconscious conscious, it will forever direct our lives and we will call it fate.”  This is the deep invitation with this sort of work; to use a lens to discover all about ourselves, and then choose differently - to choose into reclaiming the power and magic of the Witch, or whatever archetype we feel drawn to.

There are some other popular archetypes that you may resonate with (or resist!), so I’ll explore some more common ones here for you:

The Mother

This is usually an archetype that people can understand most easily - the Mother, in her gold, is the life-giver, the source of nurture and nourishment, love, patience and devotion. However, the Mother can also stir up ideas of having to be perfect, having to be the good girl, putting herself last and serving her family - and there can be all sorts of associations with this archetype that are negative - smothering, abandoning, abusive, for example.  The work with this archetype is to begin to identify where you hold beliefs about how you should be, and then learn to embrace the beauty of this archetype.

The Child

We can all resonate with this archetype - the Child can be either naughty, wounded, petulant, demanding, orphaned, or naive - and yet, once you’ve done work with this archetype to understand your own wounding, it becomes available to you to see the Child’s beauty - magic, innocence, joy, and youthful positivity - and choose into embodying that instead.

The Medicine Woman

Or healer - in great synchronicity with the Witch, the healer will often be seen culturally as someone seeking to take advantage of someone who needs help, or as someone who claims ‘untruth.’  And yet, this archetype has a passion to serve others, repairing body, mind, and spirit; they are strong, wise, and able to create transformation, channelling energy - often they will have gone through a personal hardship and created change for themselves.  The work with this archetype is to learn to choose out of the negative embodiment and reclaim the gold by embracing and embodying your Medicine Woman.

The Queen

Ahh, the Queen archetype - think Beyonce and you’ve got this one down.  The Queen can be seen as overpowering and controlling, arrogant, defensive, prone to hysteria (think Princess), cold-hearted (think Ice Queen), a demanding diva, and at risk of plots against her.  The Queen, if you resonate with her (it’s likely you’ll more feel resistance to her, or triggered by her), is here to help you transform all of that into leadership, power, grace and love. 

The Lover

Think Romeo and Juliet and you’ll know the archetype for this one.  In its negative traits, the Lover can seem self-indulgent, obsessive, lacking self-esteem or manipulative - someone who gives their love in order to gain security, approval or control.  However, the work with this archetype invites you to choose into expressing and embodying healthy love, sensuality, passion, beauty, and devotion.

The Wild Woman

When we think of the wild woman, we can think of the outspoken rebel, the raging woman, the vindictive woman, the woman who is a threat to society.  And, yet, the wild woman, really - in her gold - is the one who is independent - a warrior, a truth speaker, an activist, a woman in touch with her wisdom, and in deep connection with nature and the world.  The work with this archetype is to reclaim all of that.

The Priestess

This archetype is often seen as someone a little bit crazy, who might break her vows, or use her teachings to gain control.  This archetype is actually drawn to leading spiritual teachings, and is extremely devoted, present and wise. Again, once the gold can be reclaimed from the negatives, you can embrace the elements of you that are here to serve people deeper into truth.

As you can see, all of these archetypes offer the negative cultural perspectives, as well as the more positive traits that we can choose more consciously to embody as we illuminate our own unique unconscious patterns.  So, how?

How to embody the archetype you’re drawn to

Well, embodiment practices are key here.  When we have identified a pattern of personal myths that we resonate with - it might be that you resonate with the Witch’s wounds most, for example - you then work with her energy to be able to choose out of the negative traits and into the positive traits and behaviours she has.  This is done by learning to deeply love all of the parts of you that you’ve identified as wounded, whilst also choosing to embody the new stories.

In practice, this could look like taking steps to tend to the parts of your Witch that feel unlovable, and ready to be outcast - all the places you hide your truth - and choose into a ritual to consciously open your heart to being yourself.  So, what I’ll share now are some powerful rituals for you to harness the power of your archetype, with essential oils - which are vital for this energetic embodiment.

The Witch - a ritual for embodying magic and feminine power

When we activate the Witch within us, we are activating the parts of us that we have lost that are already magical and powerful, under our conditioning about who the Witch is.

To activate the Witch’s magic and feminine power, I’d invite you into a ritual to be with your dreams, visioning what you’d love to create.  The Witch is a powerful Creatrix, and can create whatever is in her heart, so diffuse the following magical oils, grab your incense, do a little ritual and journal about your heart’s dreams so you can manifest in a feminine, soft, loving and magical way:

Mix 3 drops Rose, 2 drops Lemon and 2 drops Frankincense in water in an electrical diffuser or candle burner and journal about your visions to activate your Witch.

The Mother - a ritual for embodying nurture, love and devotion

Activating the Mother is actually allowing her to fill her cup so that she can embody nurture, love and devotion more fully.  So, I’d recommend really allowing yourself to nurture yourself, first and foremost; Mother yourself with what (if you’re this archetype) you likely don’t offer to yourself now.

Mix 3 drops Lavender, 2 drops Chamomile and 2 drops Geranium in 15ml Bath Oil and add it to your warm running bath water to nurture, love and show devotion to yourself – to more deeply activate your Mother Archetypal energy.

The Child - a ritual for embodying playfulness, innocence, and joy

Activating the Child energy is actually all about unleashing your joy and playfulness. To do this, I’d recommend applying a beautiful uplifting blend of oils to your skin and putting some joyful music on and allowing yourself to just free dance around the room, in the experience of playfulness.

Mix 2 drops Yuzu, 2 drops Bergamot and 2 drops Spearmint in 15ml Grapeseed oil and create a massage oil for yourself to feel the energy of joy, play and innocence to deeply activate your Child Archetypal energy.  Apply this as a body oil before you dance.

The Medicine Woman - a ritual for embodying healing, truth, and wisdom

I’d recommend tuning into your wisdom and intuition here for your Medicine Woman.  The very act of selecting your own healing oils here is embodiment of this energy in and of itself.  I’d recommend choosing your own oils - allowing your wise sense of smell to lead - and creating a massage oil and doing some energy healing to trust your wisdom.

Mix 2 drops each of your 3 chosen oils in 15ml Grapeseed oil (up to a maximum of 6 drops) and create a massage oil for yourself to wear (use your wisdom as to wherever you feel called to place it) as you do some energy healing - deeply activating your Medicine Woman Archetypal energy.

The Queen - a ritual for embodying leadership, power, and grace

Activating the Queen energy is actually all about unleashing leadership, power and grace. To do this, I’d recommend firstly playing with your leadership of your own life. Diffuse some powerful oils and practice declaring your leadership, power and grace by speaking out your powerful intentions to yourself in the mirror, before playing powerful music and embodying the energy of those intentions via movement (however you choose to lead yourself).

Mix 2 drops Frankincense, 2 drops Myrrh and 2 drops Sandalwood in water in an electrical diffuser or candle burner and express your intentions and engage in powerful movement, to begin to activate your Queen.

The Lover - a ritual for embodying sensuality, passion, and beauty

To activate your Lover energetic, I’d recommend creating some time for you to embrace your body - create a massage oil blend and apply it to your body, being in the sensations of pleasure as you do.  For an extra special touch you could scatter rose petals around to make it a really fully-sensual and beauty–adorned experience for yourself.

Mix 2 drops Ylang Ylang, 2 drops Geranium and 2 drops Patchouli in 15ml Grapeseed oil and create a massage oil for yourself to activate your sensuality - to more deeply activate your Lover Archetypal energy.

The Wild Woman - a ritual for embodying individuality, independence, and connection

To activate your Wild Woman energetic, I’d recommend creating some time for you to go out into the wild and allow yourself to express whatever wants to be expressed - connecting to the earth and speaking out or singing whatever your voice wants to share.

Pop 1 drop Pine Needle, 1 drop Niaouli and 1 drop Eucalyptus into an Aromatherapy Inhaler and take this out with you as you prowl in the wild to more deeply activate your Wild Woman Archetypal energy.

The Priestess - a ritual for embodying spiritual wisdom and presence

To activate your Priestess energetic, I’d recommend creating some time for you to connect deeply with spirit and become present, via meditation.

Mix 2 drops Myrrh, 2 drops Cedarwood and 2 drops Cypress in water in an electrical diffuser or candle burner and diffuse as you meditate on the Priestess and what her energy means to you.  This will allow you to more deeply activate your Priestess Archetype.

Overall, the key to all of this is to more deeply identify which archetypes you are here to embody - which of their struggles do you resonate with most, and will you choose to embody the new stories available in their various unique myths?  Essential oils and ritual is the most powerful way to do so.

Happy story creating.

Nicole Barton
Consultant Aromatherapist

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