I'm Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD, a SoulCollage® Facilitator & Trainer, writer, translator and creativity catalyst with a particular passion for bringing words and images together to fire our imagination and enhance our lives. This column explores  how you can use SoulCollage® to deepen your experience of the summertime.


The Warrior

What a great moment in time this is for reconsidering our relationship to the Warrior archetype. 2016 will surely go down in history as a year of seismic social and political shifts. Whatever our own personal views of recent world events may be, we are all aware of major changes happening, and alongside this perhaps, an urge to realign ourselves, to dig into our reservoirs of strength and even perhaps to access qualities as yet undiscovered.

I find that this moment in time is awakening in me a strong desire to reconnect with my core values. If this resonates with you, you might find it useful and fun to consciously engage with the energy of action and leadership implicit in the Warrior archetype. Get out your whole SoulCollage® deck now and lay your cards all around you. Maybe read this article quite slowly, looking in a relaxed way at your cards as you do so. What I’m offering here is a sort of “fingers in the dough” approach to exploring an important archetype in your deck. So let yourself mull over the words below, linking up with your cards in a relaxed yet attentive way, keeping watch for new insights into your Neters.

As an archetype, the Warrior is a version of the Hero, one of Jung’s 12 primary types symbolizing basic human motivations. Among the capacities of the Warrior in all cultures are decisiveness, clarity of thought, ability to say “yes” and “no,” strength of experiential “knowing,” leadership capacity, loyalty to a greater good beyond personal gain, and the ability to do what’s right even when huge personal challenges might be involved.

The Warrior’s core quality is courage. The word “courage” comes from the Latin for “heart.” The Warrior comes primarily from the heart.

In her in-depth consideration of the Warrior in “The Four-Fold Way,” Angeles Arrien says that “The main principle guiding the Warrior is showing up and choosing to be present.” I find this illuminating because it evokes the inner as well as the outer life of the Warrior. The energy of this archetype is mainly one of action in the outer world. At the same time, the capacity to lead effectively in the outside world rests on cultivating an inner set of attitudes.

Implicit in the Warrior attitude is the capacity to confer respect on another individual. The word “respect” comes from the Latin respicere, “the willingness to look again.” If we want fully to activate the Warrior in ourselves, we must be prepared to look at the current state of our real abilities, not at just one or two parts of who we assume we are. SoulCollage®, as a process designed to help us see all the parts of ourselves, can help us cultivate an awareness of any hidden talents or gifts that until now we might have kept concealed, even from ourselves.

Above all, perhaps, the Warrior has a sense of responsibility. The essence of this quality is to be willing and able to respond. This gets to the heart of who the Warrior is: someone who responds rather than reacting. As animals with parts of our brains going back many millennia, we know how being on automatic pilot can propel us into a “flight/flight,” fear-based mode of being: we react automatically rather than standing back momentarily to bear witness before responding to a situation. This is where the Warrior archetype can be most useful to us: in helping us to develop responsibility.

In shamanic societies “it is the Warrior’s task to become visible.” This means no hiding! The Warrior is all about claiming personal power. Part of the shadow of this archetype can be a tendency to hold back, perhaps by forming alliances with people perceived as more powerful than ourselves and hiding behind their authority. This the Warrior will not do! If you know you have a tendency to hide or hold back, make sure you create a SoulCollage® card which expresses your most forthright side.

As someone who loves to write, one important aspect of my personal Warrior (above) is to speak out.

I am one who speaks out. I see with laser-like clarity. No one can stand in my way. When I see something important I am compelled to speak out, with a fiery dragon-tongue when required.

I pull this card out of my deck and keep it visible beside me whenever I know I’m going to have to speak out, possibly against strong opposition. Warrior is one of my Neters which most directly and frequently empowers me.

To support my Warrior energy I also have a Bodyguard- a fierce, loyal foot-soldier always “watching my back” as I raise the battle-cry. She too is a frequent feature on my desk and in my handbag! She is quieter and stealthier than my Warrior, yet no one messes with her:

I am one who protects what I love and respect. I watch out. I am as aware of what’s behind me as I am of what’s ahead. My instincts keep me aligned, strong as a tree yet flexible.

I hope that reading about my Warrior has helped you to tune into your own personal Warrior and that you’ve also found fresh inspiration to create more SoulCollage® cards around this powerful archetype.


Linda Woolfson, MA, PhD is a SoulCollage® Facilitator and Trainer, writer, translator and creativity catalyst. Of South African origin, she now enjoys living a dual-based life between the United Kingdom and Portugal, running SoulCollage® and creativity workshops, retreats & Facilitator Trainings in both countries. Linda has been exploring the creative process for many years and working with SoulCollage® since 2009. You can find out more about her activities on her SoulCollage® website and on her Facebook page.