What Is Your Divine Masculine Archetype?

I am in the process of writing a series of books on divine feminine archetypes. As a feminist and human being, it has been fascinating to think about the many different types of women who have existed—whether in history, mythology, or fiction—that taught us something about what femininity might mean. But my writing process also has me thinking about the divine masculine and what that has meant in the past and currently means in the present. Who should men be emulating today? What are the qualities of ideal masculinity?

The concept of masculinity has changed plenty over the many generations humans have been around and has tended to reflect a given culture’s history, religion, and connection to the land. A good man may have fulfilled the archetype of a just King, an abundant Farmer, a noble Soldier, or a Knight in Shining Armor.

What Is an Archetype?

An archetype is a prototype, an ideal version, an original that causes much imitation. It’s related to the Platonic idea of pure form—something that embodies the fundamental characteristics of that thing. From the perspective of the psychologist Carl Jung, archetypes are unconscious ideals that we share as an aspect of the collective unconscious. We know them instinctually and share them without needing to explain. Jungian analysts Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette also wrote much about male archetypes in their 1990 book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover.

Archetypes can be human, like the Mother and the Child, and they could also be nonhuman, such as the Flood, the Disaster, the Sun, and the Moon. Some people read tarot cards through a Jungian lens, considering each card an archetype reflecting on life, the conscious mind, and the unconscious self.

Examples of Divine Masculine Archetypes

The ideal masculine archetype has changed even in the last few decades. It was once the Cowboy—the man who knows how to “lasso” what’s wild and tame it. The Hunter is connected to the rhythms of nature and can make it do his bidding. It has also been the CEO: the start-up founder, the self-made man with money and power.

There’s also plenty of cultural pressure on men to be loving dads and good husbands. The archetypes of Father and Husband are some of the oldest male archetypes cross-culturally; in ancient times, before the days of patriarchy, goddesses were supreme, and each often had a male consort who would work with her and for her. There were fertility gods who could bring storms and rain, as well as gods who would care for the souls in the Underworld while their counterparts, the goddesses, would bring life to the world above.

The Magician was once a powerful archetype for the masculine principle. He could manipulate the unseen world, creating reality and illusion at will. The Arthurian character of Merlin is a good example of that archetype: powerful, mysterious, neither completely good nor completely evil. Like the female archetypes of the Witch and the High Priestess, the Magician had access to the divine and the numinous.

The Warrior is a masculine archetype that is still alive and well today, but less related to physical combat than he was in ancient times. Today’s Warrior still fights, but he fights for what’s right by communicating. He is often related to the Activist archetype, the one that sees the changes that are needed in the world and steps into action to work toward those changes.

The King was once a supreme leader, the one who could negotiate with other cultures, countries, or civilizations (or beat them soundly in battle) and listen to the concerns of their people. If our modern politicians are any good, they try to honor the needs of their people even if they disagree, and maintain the strength of their region without resorting to warfare. But this is as challenging a balance today as it’s always been.

The Lover has taken many forms over the centuries depending on what was happening in the culture at the time. The Lover could have been a valiant Knight, fighting for the honor of his beloved. It could have been the Seducer, the Devil, even, using his sexual prowess for his own benefit. It could also have been a strong man who could hold his lovers’ tenderness and provide a safe space to be held nakedly, both literally and metaphorically.

Working with Divine Masculine Archetypes

What does it feel like to think about these various archetypes in relation to yourself and the life you are living now, or to the men or masculine people in your life? Archetypes can be present in us without our conscious awareness, but they can also represent behaviors to strive toward, ways of being that can help shake us out of the rut we are in and tap into our potential.

If masculinity feels too narrow these days, too rigid in terms of what it can look like, how does it feel to consider these many variations of masculinity, and perhaps experiment with tapping into one of them now?

If you’d like a good resource for thinking more about divine masculine archetypes, check out Sophie Strand’s book The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine.