Archetypal
Queen
“Take
away the pomp and circumstance, at the end of the day, only eternal things will
be truly celebrated.”
Robin
Bertram
Like many of you, I have
been watching the journey of the Queen from Balmoral to Buckingham, and the
pomp and circumstance around her death and the confirmation of Charles as King.
It’s interesting to me to watch the crowds of people coming out to see her
coffin glide by in its glass hearse, which reminds me of Sleeping Beauty’s
shrine with the glass lid. It somehow takes us back to something deep and old,
buried in our collective psyche about royalty, the anointed, divinely chosen
leaders of the people. It goes all the way back to Old Testament days, and even
though we are here more than two thousand years later, we still feel it. That’s
because it’s archetypal.
When an
archetypal pattern is activated, it has the mystical power to sweep people into
something of a time warp, into pomp and circumstance and the detailed,
historical rituals we thought forgotten and unimportant. The Queen of the
United Kingdom ruled for 70 years, so long that many of us have not know a
world in which she did not exist. And she fully embodied the Queen archetype
for all that time—a feat that is quite amazing. All archetypes are essential,
ancient, ageless streams of energy that move through all people and certain places
on this planet. All of us have strong archetypal patterns and from time to time,
we recognize the queen in us—usually when we are behaving imperiously. But
Queen Elizabeth II, who we understand was simply a human being like the rest of
us, became everything required to fully embody the archetype without being
destroyed by it.
Some of
the characteristics of the Queen archetype include being the personification of
Feminine power, including the qualities of womanhood, such as mothering and
compassion, without being weakened or appearing to be fragile. The Queen is the
sovereign leader who leads by attraction, rather than commanding domination. She
is the embodiment of life itself, and is guided by a higher purpose,
intrinsically connected to Spirit. Knowledge that she is fulfilling a divine purpose
gives her strength, influence, and authority over others—authority not by the
sword but by the cup of communion. This archetype is not exclusive to women—no archetype
is. When we see men behave with tenderness in their leadership roles, we catch
a glimpse of the Queen.
In
America, because we didn’t have a human Queen like Elizabeth, we tended to
cheapen the role. We have dubbed rock stars and film stars with the titles of
royalty—like Marilyn and Elvis—who were ill equipped to embody them. The closest
we’ve come to having royalty here was John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy. We even called
it “Camelot” and who can forget the reenactment of the funeral cortege when President
Kennedy was assassinated; the open carriage drawn by horses, the lone black horse
with boots turned backwards; the black-veiled, grieving family following
behind. We experienced the death of the King, and more importantly, the death
of our notions of America as Camelot.
The
dark side of the Queen archetype—all archetypes have one—is the one we cast on
women who attempt to be leaders. Their sovereignty is distorted as unloving,
controlling, shrill, wicked, cold, angry, “nasty” and judgmental. Almost all
women who rise in the ranks of power, especially political power, are viewed by
some this way. The mere demonstration of authority by a female is enough to
produce this view in people who are threatened by feminine power.
Somehow,
Elizabeth reigned for seventy years without those distortions being applied to
her. She did it by never giving interviews, never stating personal opinions,
and by keeping strictly to the role she was expected to play, the role she was
groomed for her whole life. Through personal tragedy, scandal, loss, and bereavement,
she was Queen to the very end. The world needs more embodied queens like Elizabeth
II.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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