The Lover (Feeling Body)

An article by Marianne Hill – Founder and Director of Healing The Shadow

This post gives an introduction to the Lover archetype. The Lover is an aspect of ourselves that we all have inside us. However, as shadows form in our early life, many of us lose touch with the sensitivity, spontaneity and vulnerability of this side of ourselves which drives – either consciously or unconsciously – many of our decisions and actions. Continue Reading

The Warrior Archetype – Interview

With Marianne Hill – Founder and Director of Healing The Shadow 

This is the transcript of an interview by Carolyn Clitheroe, a psychotherapy student who has developed an interest in shadow work and the archetypes. In relation to her studies she interviewed Marianne about the Warrior archetype.

The discussions are wide-ranging and a variety of topics relating to the Warrior are discussed –  power, boundaries, commitment, protection, trustworthiness, integrity, trauma and more. Inevitably the other three archetypes – the Lover, the Sovereign and the Magician – are also spoken about, since all four archetypes are intimately related. Continue Reading

The Lover Archetype – Interview

With Marianne Hill – Founder and Director of Healing The Shadow 

This is the transcript of an interview by Carolyn Clitheroe, a psychotherapy student who has developed an interest in shadow work and the archetypes. In relation to her studies she interviewed Marianne about the Lover archetype. This is the fourth in a series of interviews, the first was the Sovereign archetype interview, the second was the Warrior archetype interview and the third was the Magician archetype interview. Before the Sovereign interview transcript there is a simple overview of all four archetypes. If you’re not familiar with the four archetypes you may wish to take a look at this summary to help put this Lover interview in to context.

This interview took place in The Green Room in Frome, Somerset in May 2018 and focuses on our inner Lover. The discussions are wide-ranging and a variety of topics relating to the Lover are discussed – Intimacy and attachment, grief and loss, the inner child, body wisdom, addictions, sex and more… Inevitably the other three archetypes – the Magician, the Warrior and the Sovereign – are also discussed, since all four archetypes are interwoven and interdependent.

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The Shadow

With Marianne Hill – Founder and Director of Healing The Shadow 

When exploring the shadow we work with the idea that we are all made up of many different parts. Some of these parts we are aware of and happy with, others we are aware of, but we’re not happy with them, and we’d rather they weren’t there.

In addition to this there are yet other parts of ourselves of which we have almost no awareness at all. They are missing from our conscious knowledge of ourselves and, as a result of these ‘missing’ parts, our experience of life is limited. Furthermore we can suffer much pain and confusion as these hidden aspects run things from behind the scenes.  Continue Reading

What’s in our Shadow?

With Marianne Hill – Founder and Director of Healing The Shadow 

Our shadow contains all the parts of ourselves we have cut off, repressed or denied. These are usually aspects of ourselves that were disapproved of during childhood, or that we needed to hide in order to gain affection. They are characteristics that it might have been counterproductive or dangerous for us to express. In childhood our psychological and physical survival depends on getting along with those around us and being accepted, so we very naturally hide sides of ourselves that may not serve us in this process.  Continue Reading