As always seems to be the case when I write non-fiction, it ended up taking a lot longer than I thought to finish, but I have finally dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s on the introductory volume to what has unexpectedly ended up becoming a framework of human growth and development. Long-term readers would know that this all began with my foray into Jungian archetypes, which produced the Devouring Mother concept. Archetypology represents the distillation of that idea into its core components. It borrows a bit from Jungian psychology, a bit from humanist psychology (Maslow), a bit from Jean Gebser, Jan Smuts, Ken Wilber, and a number of others.
For the introductory volume, I tried to strike a balance between presenting the model in itself and also showing to what purposes it can be used. Thus, the book contains an extended case study of the early life of Martin Luther, the rise of modern feminism, and the loss of the Elder archetype in the 20th century. These may seem like unrelated topics, yet viewed within the archetypology framework, they all revolve around problems during the Orphan phase of life (adolescence). Accordingly, the book does feature the Orphan and Elder archetypes most heavily as these are the most problematic ones for us in the modern West. In short, Volume 1 is both an introduction to archetypology and an analysis of modern Western culture.
The book should now be available at most online retailers, including Booktopia (AUS), Barnes and Noble (USA), AbeBooks, Amazon, Amazon Kindle (ebook), Kobo (ebook), Everand (ebook), and more.
For Australian readers, Booktopia actually has the book available at a non-gouging price of $25. This is a nice change from past books of mine which opened at double the listed price. I assume the $25 is exclusive of postage. If any Australian readers would like to buy a copy direct from me, I can do it for $25 including postage. Shoot me an email if you’d like to do it that way and cut out the middlemen (my email address is on the home page of this website).
For those who’d like to read more on archetypology, I’ve given a more detailed introduction to the concept here. You can also read the sample chapter of the book on the Amazon page here. These are the main themes of the book:-
Now that I have finally presented the model in full, I’ll be moving on to Volume 2 which applies the idea of the Orphan-Elder relationship to the relationship between the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the composer Richard Wagner. Working title is Archetypology, Volume 2: The Initiation of Nietzsche.
Hi Simon,
Got an early copy of your book, and began reading it yesterday. It’s a fascinating and insightful read.
I was curious about your observation of the uni sector initiation rite and the um, hope I don’t misrepresent your words (and please feel free to correct me), but lack of a meaningful outcome in anything other than a bureaucratic sense. Bear in mind I’m only 20 pages in, but such exoteric practices which lack the deeper esoteric elements must surely create havoc in society?
The word ‘polished’ and possibly also ‘smooth’ comes to mind when reading the book. Nice work.
Cheers
Chris
Chris – there’s a fun story there. You know the outfits worn at the uni graduation ceremonies? They are actually the costumes of medieval monks. We have to remember that universities were created by the Catholic Church and students were once upon a time always monks. Of course, nobody remembers that any more and so the ceremonial outfit has lost its meaning, just like the rest of ritual. I suspect that’s part of the reason why graduation has become entirely exoteric and bureaucratic.
Meaningless exoteric ceremonies don’t normally create “havoc”. Rather, I think they cause introverted psychological problems like depression. Having to sit through meaningless rituals tends to suck the life out of anything. Just ask any bureaucrat 🙂