Fool Archetype Handout v2 - · PDF fileArchetypes are like invisible magnets. Their ... The Fool in King Lear Feste in Twelfth Night Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice

The Fool Archetype by SuzIe Wolfer LCSW � www.suziewolfer.com . . . . . . . . . . page 1

Dancing Fool by Suzie Wolfer

�� Carl Jung believed that our minds come coded with patterns, like magnets that lead us to perceive the world in a particular way. He called these predispositions archetypes. They have some interesting characteristics in the case of the Fool Archetype: � They contain all aspects of “foolishness” that are possible. For example in the Fool archetype you

find the Sacred Clown, the Comedian, the Mystic Fool, and the Healer Clown like the character Patch Adams.

� They are present at birth and have the power to command our attention. It leads us to events, people, and opportunities. We have a built in mechanism to notice the things in its domain

� The Archetype takes life force and gives it a direction, provides focus.

� Like a moth drawn to the light, the archetype is a light that draws us to develop and grow through the use of the power it gives us.

� It helps us energize in challenges, that without the archetype we might give up. . . The Fool persists on the journey, when others might turn back and head for the familiar, or give up on a relationship instead of continuing to love.

� Archetypes are like invisible magnets. Their fields are invisible until we place metal filings around them and can see the force field they exert. Our life experiences are like the metal filings, showing us where our strengths lay. .

� They are also like the DNA of the personality, holding potential, and directing life paths with the field of influence

� We gradually learn who we are through the challenges and accomplishments gifted us through the archetypes

� They also require faith at times, when confusion and chaos strike. They help us know what to do when the manual is missing. They require us to hold the tension between conflict and resolution where our creativity is invoked and helps us find out way on the Hero’s Journey.

� These struggles have personal meaning when the archetype has chosen us, so that the resolution of these challenges makes us alive authentic human beings. The challenge carries the seeds of our true self and call us to the task, transcending our fears.

� The archetype energizes us so we can overcome our fears. They move us from the world of the known, secure predictable world, to the world of the possible.

��

[email protected] � www.suziewolfer.com � 503-762-7612

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God’s Fool Committee Card by Suzie Wolfer

�� Whenever we think we’re in charge of things, the Fool may enter center stage to remind us to be mindful, humble and amused. The Fool reminds us to Lighten Up! Not take our selves so seriously. But more importantly, the Fool leads us to opportunities we would never consider when everything is going our way. This powerful and universal archetype has been known as the Jester, Coyote and the Interrupter. And his or her gift is always a wake up call. The word Fool comes from the Latin word follis, which means a pair of bellows, which provide the oxygen needed for a combustion. The Fool "fires us up" with the impetus for action when something is finished or goes stale. According to Jacquelyn Small 1

The Fool represents an inner attitude of Divine Innocence, willing to have total faith in the process of living. He casts himself totally -- and with gay abandon -- into all with which he comes into contact, and redeems whatever he meets. This quality of Divine Innocence is a form of continual humility in all our relations, which prevents any adversity from causing imbalance. Anything adverse The Fool encounters is brought to the heart of its positive quality with a sense of awe; it is transformed. Without accepting our dark or "unlived" side with this child-like quality, we take on a false spirituality, one where "niceness" replaces the raw beauty of real-ness. This Divine Person has so much faith in this process and in God; a symbol of our core Self. "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." This is the one who always takes us to the next level, not afraid of stepping off the bluff into the chasm of the Unknown. The Fool combines wisdom, madness, and the folly of the spiritual adventurer, but never stays attached when it's time to move on. Confounding the establishment by playing Trickster is one of The Fool's most loved tricks. When this archetype is present and active in your psyche, you can be completely unpredictable and amoral -- a divinely sanctioned lawlessness that is hard to rationalize -- guided wholly by an experimental attitude toward life. In this willingness to be so un-programmed by culture, tribe, or society, we carry the makings of the Hero/Savior archetype. This provides us the archetypal impulsive curiosity that continually moves us toward the fulfillment of our ideal, though we're often surprised at how this comes about.

In the Grail legend, Galahad showed the power of the Fool archetype of Parsifal who welds together a broken sword, accomplishing what all the heroic knights were unable to do. The innocent or fool represents that part of us who is willing to ride off into the unknown, let go of preconceived ideas, old programming, ego, and intellectual ways of approaching things. That innocense allows intuitive life

1 http://www.themetaarts.com/2004sept/jaq.html


Shrek Community Card

forces to emerge. The Archetypal Fool interrupts our plans to open a new door to who we were really meant to be and what the Universe needs us to do.

The Fool leaves the past behind. He carries nothing more than his purity, innocence and trust. No matter how many times the Fool is deceived; she goes on trusting, acting “like a fool.” Her trust and innocence springs eternal and is incorruptible. She has no interest in being other than where she is.

The Fool tells the truth! In history and legend, the Court Jester Fool came closest to the seat of power and had the capacity to reveal the truth. Because no one took them seriously, the Jester was able to influence and cajole the King, and in some cases bring them back from the brink of maddness and obcession. In the Dark Times in Europe past, the Jester Tribe spread through out Europe carrying news, using influence to move the ruling class to see the value in more humane treatment of their subjects. They traveled under their convincing cover as buffoons and thus had access to power and resources with which to promote their goal of humanist values.

We may have been chosen by the Fool Archetype. The lives of Robin Williams and other comics portray this partnership with “the Fool.

The Fool can show up in all four suits, not just the Council suit: as a committee member, disrupting our plans; as an Animal Companion such as Coyote teaching us about mischief or as a Community member who inspires us to break out of our limiting stories, such as Byron Katie.

The Fool can also dance in and out of our lives, especially in childhood and Elderhood. During these life epochs, we partner with the Fool when we either don’t notice or don’t care about the rules that govern modern life. We don’t conform. We aren’t trying to impress or get ahead. We may love life but we’re not attached to it, living instead in simplicity and joy.

�� The Shadow Fool can be a strong player in chemical dependency problems, when we are taken over and our judgment clouded when we long to be innocent and fun loving and happy. We seek the Fool’s apparent care free life but then wake up to the consequences of the Shadow Fool’s choices for us. In recovery, the Fool can become our ally alerting us to when we are off balance, as they say in AA, when we are hunger, angry, lonely or tired, the Shadow Fool may tempt us to drink or smoke our way into problems. So we watch for the Fool to point us in the direction we do NOT want to go. We may also fear the Shadow Fool and in our resistance try to block spontaneity and then, can act with blindness, rashness, or cruelty in the name of humor. We may love foolishly over and over, never seeing the pattern repeating itself as we watch our lives self descruct. For example, when in the grip of the Fool, we may impulsively act, say things that the other members of our “board” may be unprepared to support. We might feel foolish, for acting so rashly! But then time may reveal that we indeed made a wise move with the Fool’s help. Only with time, conscious awareness and resourcefulness can we know the outcome when the Fool dances into our lives. Most people have a the Fool in their “shadow bag” either fearing or trying to control the impulse to go innocently into the unknown. To do anything else would be . . . well foolish!


� �� The Fool invites us to begin an adventure in innocence and trust. You can almost hear him or her whistling as s/he steps once more onto the path, embracing future with optimism. The Fool doesn’t worry about doing the right thing, what the neighbors will think. The Fool doesn’t think ahead, trying to prepare. The Fool is prepared for anything! When the Fool shows up in our lives there's a rare opportunity at hand. The Fool may be appear to be mocking himself, but in reality mirrors what he sees in us. We laugh at his antics, never suspecting we are the topic of his story. John Stewart and Steven Colbert play the roles of the Court Jester, poking at the heart of our culture and government and ourselves when we look in the mirror.

The Holy Fool or Sacred Clown casts doubt on our beliefs, our abilities, our motives, our institutions, our sanity, our loves, our laws and our leaders. They make us quesiton things we have always taken for granted. They challenge us to walk a more choice driven life. They invite us to ask ‘Is this seriousness really appropriate?’ Sacred Clowns hold up the mirror of innocence to show us our folly as well as our resilience. They may even call into question our entire understanding of ourselves and the world. . . . No wonder we fear them! Yet what may initially appear to be folly, may open the door to our deepest wisdom and our highest good.

� �� The Fool Archetype can reveal itself in different ways. The arts and literature are ripe with examples of the Fool:

� Many of Robin Williams & his characters: Patch Adams, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Fisher King

� Mork in Mork and Mindy � Peter Sellers many roles � Touchstone in As You Like It � The Fool in King Lear � Feste in Twelfth Night � Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of

Venice � Lavache in All's Well That Ends Well � Yorick in Hamlet � Two Clowns in Hamlet

� Clown in Othello � Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream � Lakota spirituality . . . the Trickster,

Coyote, Heyoka folks � American folklore ... Brer Rabbit and Aunt

Nancy, a corruption of Anansi (Ananse) � Judeo-Christian ... Jacob � French folklore ... Reynard the Fox � German folklore ... Till Eulenspiegel � Greek mythology ... Eris Goddess of

Discord, Prometheus who tricked Zeus, Odysseus (example of a human trickster, who manages to evade dangers thanks to his wits.

� Hopi and Zuni mythology ... Kokopelli

In contemporary culture, some may consider George Bush the Shadow Fool. And Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie give us living examples of Mystic Fools. Some consider Jesus to be God’s Fool.


Comedian Fool Card –

Council Suit

The Genome’s Fool

Heyoka

� �� Whenever we collaborate with any powerful archetype, we engage in the Hero’s Journey. It can take us through some of these steps. The Fool often enters to start us off on our path, when we act on a hunch or trust without examining the facts. And thus take the first step toward our hopes and dreams. If we knew the trials ahead in any project or dream, we might not have the courage to start

� Potential, inaction � Call to action � Obstacles � Alliances � Growth � Dark night of the soul � Epiphany � Fulfillment � Return hom to begin again

Use your SoulCollage card to engage in a dialogue with the Fool. People make two common mistakes when the Fool shows up:

� We may suppress this lively energy at great cost to ourselves, by judging ourselves, and redoubling our investment in dead ends

� Or we let the Fool run the show.

The Fool can be a powerful initiator of change. And when we don’t listen, his or her antics may become increasingly “vivid” to get our attention. We can listen now or later. Perhaps the Fool invented the phrase “Truth or Consequences.” When things don’t go as planned, consult the Fool. Look at the gift in the disruption. When we’ve acted foolishly out of character, stop and consult the Fool. Ask her what she sees, what he senses. You may not get a straight answer, but Coyote always answers! Look, listen, feel and sense, because opportunity knocks. . . . And then laugh! Don’t take yourself seriously! Remember the Fool is on a sacred mission, not necessarily here to disrupt for the pure mischief of an adventure; but as an Awakener. The choice is always ours how we will respond when the Fool shows up. Innocence and wisdom may seem like polar opposites, yet the wise see the simple, innocent, effortless solution. Wisdom sees the bigger picture without the limitations of conventional knowledge. Both the Sage and the Fool stand outside culture, unattached to outcome. Though the Fool may seem simple, she is one of our most complex archetypes with many gifts and opportunities.


�� !��"��#$ �� – I have worked as a psychotherapist both in private practice for over 20 years and at Providence hospital for the last 7 years. Though I am a school of Social Work graduate, I have also been a healing arts practitioner since 1988. I like to weave the rich and diverse training I’ve received over the years into my workshops, groups and therapy practice: 2000 hours of training in metaphysics and meditation in the Christian Mystical Tradition, transpersonal psychology, psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing and the Lakota Medicine Way. I’ve been teaching calligraphy and doing graphic arts since 1979. My artwork has been published in Somerset Studio, Vamp Stamp News, The Gleaner Zine and Cloth Paper Scissors. �� - I’ve been collecting images since about age 10. I just didn’t know it would turn out to be SoulCollage back then! When I discovered Seena’s work in Nov 2002, I felt like a dream had come true: finding a tribe of women whose passion co-mingles art, intuition, spirituality and personal growth. Upcoming groups and tele-classes will include in depth work with the chakras and animal guides, visual journaling, as well as CEUs offered to therapists interested in using this process in their work with clients. �

�� – I’ve been doing work with my inner parts for years. The SoulCollage cards bring a depth and power to these insights. For example, one day I was puzzling over the next step in my career. My analyzer part was making things VERY complex. So I took a breath, quieted my mind and drew a card. It was The Dalai Lama community card. Using the “I am the one who” process, the card communicated the following: “Follow your joy. Remember who guides the work. It’s not you! You are not the weaver, so just feel the support of the web. . . . Show up and remember to chuckle.” I’m trying my best to follow the advice!

% ��&�� Please check my website! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me: � Call 503-762-7612 or email [email protected]

� Or checkout my website www.suziewolfer.com

� The SoulCollage® website at www.soulcollage.com

I also work as a psychotherapist and enjoy using SoulCollage cards with clients. To inquire about an appointment simply call me at 503-762-7612. Your health insurance will usually cover 50 – 80% of my fee as long as there is a diagnosis. For out of town clients I offer telephone consultations. I hope you’ve enjoyed your workshop today! Thanks so much for joining me in the Journey!

Fondly,

� �!��

Documents

Fool Archetype Handout v2 - · PDF fileArchetypes are like invisible magnets. Their ... The Fool in King Lear Feste in Twelfth Night Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice