Naming your pain with an archetype is a powerful tool that helps to shift your perspective on internal struggles. It makes them easier to understand and address. Much like Internal Family Systems (IFS) Parts Work, which recognises different aspects of the Self as distinct “parts” with their own emotions and roles, naming your pain with an archetype allows you to relate to it without being overwhelmed by it. This practice encourages self-compassion, clarity, and transformation.

Naming your pain with an archetype allows you to be more objective. Instead of identifying completely with pain, you recognise it as an archetypal story residing in your body, or soul, or spirit, that needs your attention. When pain is given an identity, it becomes easier to dialogue with it, in a similar way IFS encourages conversations between different “parts” of your mind.

Naming your pain with an archetype encourages archetypal integration, so rather than suppressing discomfort, you acknowledge it. This paves the way for integrating the wisdom of an archetype into your Sacred Self. It provides a framework for tending to your broken archetypes. Archetypes come with universally recognised characteristics, strengths, and vulnerabilities. They provide insights into what your body, soul and spirit may need.

Let’s say you’re someone who’s struggling with burnout and self-doubt. You feel exhausted and weak.

So you check the list of archetypes, and feel drawn to the Warrior, since your exhaustion and weakness resonate with the Warrior archetype. The Warrior archetype is a fighter who’s persevered through countless battles but is now injured and weary. By naming your pain in this way, you can explore its needs and begin to transform the archetypal woe and integrate its wisdom.

You discover though your dialogue with this archetype¹ that it does not need to fight non-stop. Instead, it needs rest and renewal. You realise that this archetype is teaching you that resting is just as honorable as battle. It’s not weakness, it’s necessary. By tending to your inner Warrior, you give it space to recover instead of pushing on and into self-neglect.

By naming an archetype, you can shift from frustration “I shouldn’t be tired” to acceptance “Even the warrior in me needs rest and recovery”. An archetypal perspective enables self-compassion rather than self-criticism, which not only relieves pain, but improves your Archetypal Intelligence.

1. That is, deconstructing both sides of the archetype using mental contrasting. ↩︎