Shed the Unwanted and be Reborn

It’s Easter; the time of death and of rebirth. I love symbolism. I love myths, legends, fables, and metaphors because stories from the Bible to children’s books to Greek mythology to movies become part of our archetypal consciousness.

I’m a big believer that we all play out archetypal stories in our lives. Think about the stories that we have all grown up with – Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan, the list goes on. Take Harry Potter for example – he is a male Cinderella story. Drew Barrymore played Cinderella in Ever After. Once Upon A Time, a TV show, is based around all the Walt Disney movies and the characters are living as real people showing us how the archetypal stories play out in everyday life.

If I could have a wish granted it would be to have an opportunity to ask someone like JK Rowling’s if she knew she was writing her characters to reflect archetypes. Even her storyline for Harry is about the archetypes of a mother’s love for her child, the love of friends, a sense of family and the value of connection and belonging to a community.

Yes, you guessed it; I’m a Harry Potter fan. Mostly because I love the archetypal messages, especially since good always wins over evil and love conquers fear and insecurity. But it’s also filled with morals based in love, honour, courage, justice, and a sense of not just personal responsibility but a commitment to care and protect others by acting with a conscious awareness of our responsibility to them.

How many children’s movies are filled with these positive and optimistic themes? All of them, right!! That’s why as adults we love watching them with our kids (or other people’s kids) – we still hope for life to be this wonderful.

Enmeshed within each story are lessons to be learnt.

Easter is filled with archetypes that form the lessons we each have to learn. 

Jesus dying on the cross – have you ever made the comment that you were crucified by someone? Have you been in a situation where you thought ‘this is my cross to bear?’ This is the archetype playing out in your life.

‘And I’m here to remind you of the mess you left when you went away. It’s not fair to deny me of the cross I bear that you gave to me. You, you, you oughta know’

You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette

Jesus on the cross is also about sacrifice, specifically sacrificing something for the greater good. Understanding the bigger picture and knowing that we have to give up something that we love right now to allow for something better can relate to so many life experiences. Relationships, parenting, work, personally…each time we give up what is for something more, we are living out this archetype.

Judas represents the story of betrayal – who has betrayed you? Who have you trusted to only find they sold you out to the enemy?

The last super and Jesus’s ability to know what would happen and allow it to unfold as it was destined to be, is an enormous lesson for us all. We have all had experiences in our lives where we had an inner knowing that we just had to go through something. Or have we? Do you resist surrendering to the unfolding of events? Do you try to control them, even if that makes the process harder, more intense, and sometimes just downright impossible?

The story of Christ’s death is one about surrendering our desire for a different outcome. It is the lesson of giving up our innocence to be reborn with awareness and consciousness, the ultimate experience of acceptance.

The archetype of the resurrection of Christ represents our opportunity to transform ourselves. The energy is present for us to let it go and be reborn into a newer version of ourselves at Easter. What patterns would you want to let go of? What habits would you want to give up?  What ways of thinking do you wish to free yourself from? What styles of communicating are no longer working for you? What does your self-critic say to you that you want to quieten? What would you like to surrender? What relationships have become unhealthy and need to be transformed?

Easter also has the archetype of gratefulness – a message of love and hope, of service and compassion. The light is at the end of the tunnel; the freedom that comes through surrendering the ego and being transformed. Are you grateful for who you have become?

The full moon represents the fullness of opportunity and potential. Christ was crucified on the full moon. In amongst the chocolate and the busyness of family and friends gathering, take a moment to contemplate the bigger meaning available to you right now. What transformation presents itself to you? Will you take it? Will you make the most of it? What choices will you make as you transformed yourself?