The Four Principal Creative Archetypes

The archetypes explored in this session are well known to you, part of your language and behaviour written into your DNA. These are the four principal creative archetypes that encompass the entirety of the creative cycle in which each brings a specific quality to the process and ensures that creative expression is fully rounded.

Transcript

What is the difference between creativity and creative expression?

Creativity is an inherent part of life.

We're born to create.

We have strong impulses from a very early age.

Young children love nothing more than building with random materials,

Mixing up soil,

Leaves,

Sticks and stones to make potions and smothering paper in paint and crayon.

Those impulses never leave us.

They get translated into other areas of our lives and they get honed through our creative expression.

Expression is the desire to approach a creative act in a particular way.

It's a style and personality.

We show our unique creative expression in everything we do,

Including mundane daily tasks.

Everyone is creative,

Naturally.

But our creative expression can become severely dampened by expectations of what we should be doing and how we should be doing it.

There are rules and requirements we have to follow,

Even when they don't make a whole lot of sense to us.

In these situations,

Your creative expression is asking to come out,

But you have to stuff it back down.

My work is focused on helping people to unlock their creativity and free their creative expression.

I mainly work with entrepreneurs who want their business to be a true reflection of who they are.

But I long ago recognised that this is just one aspect of the challenge everyone faces in their day-to-day life.

So everything I'm going to talk about is relevant to you,

Whether you have a business or not.

What is an archetype and what isn't it?

First off,

It's not a label or a limit.

An archetype is a lens through which you see the world,

And it can change because you change.

And it changes because life is a cycle and every creative act is a cycle too.

As we move through the cycle,

Our lens changes and our archetype of the moment changes.

It's a guide,

If you like,

A flow that is written into our DNA.

The archetypes I work with are the elements.

They have helped us to understand life for millennia and remain as valuable today as they always have,

Because they connect us to nature and cycles.

Each elemental archetype is part of a cycle.

To move through an entire creative act,

You will move through the cycle of all the archetypes.

Through this cycle,

You will bring your unique interpretation and creative expression into play.

Whilst there are principles that hold true across the board,

How those principles are engaged is uniquely individual.

The archetypes we will explore today are Earth,

Air,

Fire and Water.

These are the four principal creative archetypes that encompass the necessary aspects of the creative cycle.

Each brings a specific quality to the process and ensures that creative expression is fully rounded.

You are all the archetypes,

Not one or the other.

You will have a natural leaning and aptitude towards one or two more than the others,

But that doesn't mean you do not have all the archetypes within you.

It may be that some need a little more coaxing than others,

But they are there.

So this is an opportunity to explore all the archetypes and consider how they show up for you.

The archetypes flow in a cycle,

Earth,

Air,

Fire,

Water.

As you flow through them,

The creative process becomes fully fleshed out.

Each archetype brings a different dimension into play,

Offers an alternative lens so you can build upon what has come before.

As we go through them,

I would encourage you to think about how they show up in your life,

Especially in the different roles you fulfil.

Sometimes one particular archetype comes to the fore to a greater degree because the situations we are in demand it.

I would also encourage you to consider what feels most like home to you.

This is likely to be your dominant archetype and is the lens through which you experience the other archetypes.

You may also recognise the traits of people in your life and it may give you insight into how to relate to them and work better with them.

The elements are positioned according to the four cardinal directions.

Earth and Fire are opposite each other,

North and south,

And Water and Air are opposite each other,

West and east.

The elements opposite each other bring balance between the realms of creation and expression.

Earth and Fire relate to the physical and tangible acts of creation.

Air and Water relate to the mental and emotional realms of expression.

Our first archetype is Earth.

Earth is a creator.

The seed of an idea or plan is given life in this element.

As a creative archetype,

It is a problem solver and creative solution originator.

Earth can take the basic ingredients and concoct a solution.

The key traits of this archetype are resourcefulness and ingenuity.

Earth archetypes are creators at heart,

Brilliant at organising,

Planning,

Getting the details nailed down.

If you want something done,

An Earth archetype will work out how to do it with what they have at their disposal and it will be fit for purpose and it'll tick all the boxes.

Parents are typically in their Earth archetype when they're in that role because it's near essential to manage the many conflicting demands of family life.

There is a reason we refer to Mother Earth because she does tend to keep us all in one piece.

If you have ever watched a non-parent member of your family trying to work out how to work a child's car seat or put up a travel cot,

You will have witnessed the chasm between your child-related paraphernalia problem-solving and theirs.

That problem-solving is activated when you're in the right zone because Earth archetypes have an eye for detail,

Which means that they know how the pieces fit together to work as one.

But they most likely won't see themselves as creative,

But they are the glue of life.

The second archetype is Air,

Which brings in a different dimension to ingenuity by bringing in elements that weren't previously in the mix.

Air archetypes are the innovators of life.

They chase rainbows,

They get lost in rabbit holes and they go wherever ideas take them.

They never feel lost because they're always finding,

Piecing ideas and concepts together,

Inventing,

Dreaming,

Perceiving.

Shifts in perspective help them connect all kinds of information to create the unique.

They are big ideas people,

Big plans.

They don't see limits,

They see beyond them.

Nothing is impossible.

Because they need lots of stimulation,

They are always exploring new topics and threads to weave into their existing knowledge base.

Knowledge is power for an air archetype,

But application is their real fuel.

Of course,

They have a tendency to get distracted,

Which means lots of half-done projects or half-completed ideas.

But nothing ever gets lost and its time will come again.

They are hoarders,

Mentally at the very least.

But if we had no air,

Then nothing new would be created for Earth to do its work with.

Air archetypes generate resources for future growth.

The third archetype is fire,

Which brings action.

Life has little meaning unless things are acted upon,

And this is where fire comes into the mix.

Fire brings passion and belief in something big,

Alongside the energy to give it life.

They are passionate about sharing what they feel and see.

Fire is inspiring,

Charismatic and energising.

This can be gently or fiercely so,

Depending on the cause or project.

It comes with strong opinions and beliefs that challenge people to go beyond their own limits.

This can boil over into less desirable behaviour too,

As it can for all the archetypes.

But without this drive,

We wouldn't move forward collectively.

We need motivation,

Inspiration,

Passion to help us believe in better things to come.

And this is what fire archetypes offer to the mix of life.

The fourth archetype is water,

Which brings connection and understanding of a much bigger picture.

Water creates depth of connection to self,

To path,

To others.

It is a soft but fierce accountability bringer.

There's no shying away from the murky inner realms of self,

And water will take you,

If you let it,

To the edge of the void to find your deepest depths.

It will also connect you to people,

Because water thrives in community.

It might be in intimate settings or larger groups,

But the interaction and connection between people and all life is vitally important to water.

Depth of connection defines relationships,

So it's not only for the extroverts who thrive in groups,

But also for the introverts who crave connection in different ways.

Water brings us together because we are stronger,

More alive in community than on our own.

That is not just human community,

But all aspects of nature and the natural world too.

Water archetypes soften us and blur our edges.

They also sow seeds of hope by anchoring togetherness in our being.

This sense of belonging they nurture around them keeps us moving forwards towards our dreams and finding them already blooming beneath our feet.

This is a cycle that every creative process goes through.

The easiest way to understand the cycle is through the seasons,

At least for anyone who lives in an area with seasons.

The elements are associated with the cardinal directions and seasons.

So earth is north and winter,

Air is east and spring,

Fire is south and summer,

Water is west and autumn.

Like the seasons,

There is a forward flow.

When you are working on creative projects,

All the elements need to come into play to complete the cycle.

Inspiration,

Passion,

Connection and creation are the four spokes to the wheel of creation.

They are all needed for a project to be completed.

If you miss one aspect,

The project is not robust enough to meet its purpose,

And it will feel scattered like you haven't got control of all the pieces.

You will get stressed and anxious because you can't keep hold of all the threads and it feels like it's going to unravel at any moment.

I work with entrepreneurs and I have spent a lot of time looking at the classic business development approach from an elemental perspective,

And I can tell you that it bounces you back and forth and totally disrupts the natural rhythm.

It doesn't feel good and it takes time to find your way when you are focused on building your business up.

So I remapped the whole business development process to the elemental cycle,

And bingo,

It flows better and can adapt to meet your individual needs so much more effectively.

So I use the elemental cycle in business,

But it can be used anywhere in your life.

The principle is to flow with,

Not against.

So how do you do that?

It's actually quite simple.

You throw out the rulebook.

There's no one right place to start,

No orthodoxy or framework to follow.

You start with the archetype that feels most like you in the moment and move from there.

If you are in air,

Then you begin your project by gathering ideas.

If you are in fire,

Talk about it and see how it's received.

Get the insight into how to present it and position it.

Learn its shape by sharing it.

If you are in water,

Begin by exploring the feelings around the creative project and where it's going to take you.

If you are in earth,

Start with the details and the practicalities.

Flow through the cycle in order.

This is really important.

When we skip part of the cycle,

Like jumping straight from idea to details,

We miss out why it's important to us and what it means for us.

Earth,

Air,

Fire,

Water.

Follow the flow and lean into each archetype as you move through.

This is an entirely natural process which we can easily relearn as second nature.

Initially,

Though,

It does take a bit of discipline.

Creativity is meant to be expressed.

Creativity that is suppressed has no impact on the world.

It doesn't help you create the life you want.

Creativity is the outward expression of who you are on the inside.

You are inherently creative.

So now that you understand your natural style of creativity more,

You can bring it into your everyday life and work,

And it will enrich your days and help you to grow into the person you want to become,

And who has the life you envision for yourself.