I’m reading King, Warrior Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette. The below are my current models that epitomize the archetypes for me; the people that I think about when I call up the energies of the archetypes:
Lover: Ellen Degeneres
I love Ellen’s ability to connect with people and dance in the moment with them. She represents the lover to me: a playful, vulnerable, loving and authentically connected being.
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Magician: Alan Turing
Considered a father of computer science. Alan Turing was a brilliant mind who cracked the Nazis enigma code during WWII. Breaking this code enabled the Allies to defeat Nazis in pivotal battles and gave the Allies an advantage. Alan’s mathematical wizardry and foresight eventually led to the world of computers we know today.
After the war, Alan was busted for acknowledging a gay relationship (homosexuality was illegal in Britain at the time). During his prosecution and severe punishment, Alan Turing never revealed his secret wartime heroism and contribution to the Allied cause.
In 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for “the appalling way he was treated.” The Queen granted him a posthumous pardon on 24 December 2013.
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Warrior: LT. Dan Choi
An American infantry officer and combat veteran who came out on the Rachel Maddow show (2009) and was subsequently discharged under “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. His next campaign was a pitched battle along with comrades around the country to get the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law repealed.
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King: Harvey Milk
As America’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey kinged a realm far bigger than himself and San Francisco. In a recording he made to be played in the event of death by assassination, Harvey said: “I have never considered myself a candidate. I have always considered myself part of a movement, part of a candidacy. I considered the movement the candidate.”
This king was slain, but as he said – it was never about him, it was about an entire candidacy. It was about the realm; the kingdom. And this candidacy lives on in ever expanding ways.