What is Masculinity? What is Brotherhood? What is it to be a Mature Man?
When you really get to know your Divine Masculine, your life changes. This is the inner masculine journey married to your outer journey ~ one that is heartfelt and heart-shared.
Once a Man begins to discover who he is, know himself, be his authentic self, live with grace and ease and in the flow of life, he will find and discover his purposes and the joy that comes from fully being himself.
For a Man to get to know himself it begins with him becoming familiar with the archetypes that inhabit his inner world. Archetypes are like inner landscapes waiting to be explored, experienced and expressed. Archetypes are the living spaces inside your masculine temple. They welcome being visited, embraced, and creatively played with. Embodying your archetypes is an essential inner process toward self-understanding and self-realisation.
Here is a personal perspective for maturing your masculinity. I begin with the primary sacred arcana archetypes that govern a Man’s masculinity. I then go on to describe a few of the essential Masculine Qualities that are an intrinsic way of being, an embodied state, and a felt sense of being. The qualities that help a Man walk in his Masculine boots. I then add Masculine Traits that foster healthy behaviour, an active way of being with people that is life-enhancing. If you want to learn about the full range of Archetypes, Qualities, and Traits that contribute toward maturing your masculinity, consider buying my Divine Masculine Card Deck. 54 Cards that will change your life. Also, consider coming to my next Men’s workshop.
Key Masculine Archetypes
The Divine Masculine embraces its Divine Feminine
He embraces his beloved’s courageously, unequivocally, with ardour and sensitively. Both his inner and outer Divine Masculine embraces the feminine – his polarity, his sacred friend with adoration. He celebrates the presence and beauty of the Divine Feminine in all its magnificent manifestations. This is the beginning of the masculine journey to fulfill your reason for being. Everything else in your life radiates from this archetypal core sun seed.
Celebrator
He celebrates his life from birth to death, every moment is an opportunity for celebration. He has fun and enjoys his life. He celebrates all forms of life, especially his successes and accomplishments, and especially those of other people.
Kind Hearted (Kin-d-gly Man)
The kind-hearted man speaks kindly. His masculine presence is sensitive, sensuous, and affectionate. He practices empathy and compassion at every opportunity. In all his relationships he is an emotional listener who is receptive and responsive in kind-hearted ways. He seeks intimacy with kindred spirits. The Kind Hearted man has an open heart, and a passionate lover of people, nature, and animals.
The Authentic Man
The art of living is for a Man to be his true self. This requires ongoing reflection about self-honesty. Only then can he disclose who he is and how he feels. Authenticity thrives in the fertile ground of vulnerability and transparency. A Man develops intimacy with himself and with others in all his relationships by being authentic.
Autonomous Man
One of the fundamental needs for living a well-balanced and celebratory life is for a man to enjoy his autonomy. He chooses where he goes, what he does, and enjoys his free-flowing expressions. His inner wisdom guides his footsteps and play steps. He sees his life as an unfolding kaleidoscope of infinite possibilities. He has discovered the freedom and delight of flying like a bird.
Man on Purpose
A man who is on his purpose, or purposes, feels empowered. His sun is shining bright. He knows why he incarnated, the what, where, when, how, and why he exists, his raison d’être, his reason to be. A Man on purpose knows who are his fellow travelers on the journey of his life. He wisely chooses both Men and Women whether it be in the home, at work, or in his friendships. He longingly identifies and clarifies his purposes so his divine masculine can step forward. A purposeful Man embodies the empowered masculine, celebrates life and experiences bliss. Wow!!!! Best to become familiar with this Archetype!
Man with Life Generating Values
Values are not typically thought of as being archetypal and yet they are at the core of our very existence. Our fundamental values and beliefs set the tone for all of life's relationships. The mature Man has values that are life-enhancing. His values create, generate, and co-create wholeness. He spends time recognising, formulating, and embracing the values that are important to him. These values make life a more beautiful experience, like a field of wild flowers.
Brotherhood
Brotherhood is the connection one man has with another Man. We are at the beginning of a paradigm shift. One in which Men are moving away from being competitive with one another and moving toward being cooperative and collaborative. The wise Man learns about his masculinity from his brothers. Sometimes a man has been blessed to have a mature father or mentor, but most men have missed having wise and resourceful masculine guidance. Quite often a Man goes in search of his masculinity through engagement with his mother, lover, partner or the Feminine. The source of masculinity cannot be discovered within the womb of the Feminine. A Man can only learn about his masculinity from his Brothers, Masculine Mentors, and Teachers. When he appreciates and values other Men, his Divine Masculine blossoms and bears fruit. The ‘he’ I’m talking about in describing these archetypal overarching forms is the Divine masculine inside you. Cultivating and honoring these archetypes, inwardly and outwardly, helps you to grow and mature your masculinity. This is a pleasurable adventure, a journey every Man needs to take!
Key Masculine Archetypes
The Divine Masculine embraces its Divine Feminine
He embraces his beloved’s courageously, unequivocally, with ardour and sensitively. Both his inner and outer Divine Masculine embraces the feminine – his polarity, his sacred friend with adoration. He celebrates the presence and beauty of the Divine Feminine in all its magnificent manifestations. This is the beginning of the masculine journey to fulfill your reason for being. Everything else in your life radiates from this archetypal core sun seed.
Celebrator
He celebrates his life from birth to death, every moment is an opportunity for celebration. He has fun and enjoys his life. He celebrates all forms of life, especially his successes and accomplishments, and especially those of other people.
Kind Hearted (Kin-d-gly Man)
The kind-hearted man speaks kindly. His masculine presence is sensitive, sensuous, and affectionate. He practices empathy and compassion at every opportunity. In all his relationships he is an emotional listener who is receptive and responsive in kind-hearted ways. He seeks intimacy with kindred spirits. The Kind Hearted man has an open heart, and a passionate lover of people, nature, and animals.
The Authentic Man
The art of living is for a Man to be his true self. This requires ongoing reflection about self-honesty. Only then can he disclose who he is and how he feels. Authenticity thrives in the fertile ground of vulnerability and transparency. A Man develops intimacy with himself and with others in all his relationships by being authentic.
Autonomous Man
One of the fundamental needs for living a well-balanced and celebratory life is for a man to enjoy his autonomy. He chooses where he goes, what he does, and enjoys his free-flowing expressions. His inner wisdom guides his footsteps and play steps. He sees his life as an unfolding kaleidoscope of infinite possibilities. He has discovered the freedom and delight of flying like a bird.
Man on Purpose
A man who is on his purpose, or purposes, feels empowered. His sun is shining bright. He knows why he incarnated, the what, where, when, how, and why he exists, his raison d’être, his reason to be. A Man on purpose knows who are his fellow travelers on the journey of his life. He wisely chooses both Men and Women whether it be in the home, at work, or in his friendships. He longingly identifies and clarifies his purposes so his divine masculine can step forward. A purposeful Man embodies the empowered masculine, celebrates life and experiences bliss. Wow!!!! Best to become familiar with this Archetype!
Man with Life Generating Values
Values are not typically thought of as being archetypal and yet they are at the core of our very existence. Our fundamental values and beliefs set the tone for all of life's relationships. The mature Man has values that are life-enhancing. His values create, generate, and co-create wholeness. He spends time recognising, formulating, and embracing the values that are important to him. These values make life a more beautiful experience, like a field of wild flowers.
Brotherhood
Brotherhood is the connection one man has with another Man. We are at the beginning of a paradigm shift. One in which Men are moving away from being competitive with one another and moving toward being cooperative and collaborative. The wise Man learns about his masculinity from his brothers. Sometimes a man has been blessed to have a mature father or mentor, but most men have missed having wise and resourceful masculine guidance. Quite often a Man goes in search of his masculinity through engagement with his mother, lover, partner or the Feminine. The source of masculinity cannot be discovered within the womb of the Feminine. A Man can only learn about his masculinity from his Brothers, Masculine Mentors, and Teachers. When he appreciates and values other Men, his Divine Masculine blossoms and bears fruit. The ‘he’ I’m talking about in describing these archetypal overarching forms is the Divine masculine inside you. Cultivating and honoring these archetypes, inwardly and outwardly, helps you to grow and mature your masculinity. This is a pleasurable adventure, a journey every Man needs to take!
Key Masculine Qualities of Being
Here are four qualities of being, inner states that determine and define the mature man. The path that you walk in life is radically influenced by the degree to which you embrace and embody these ways of being. Make them a more important part of your daily life.
Feelings
Feelings define the life pathway by which we live our lives. They are guides and compass readings for the next steps we take at any moment in time. Feelings are grounded in reality. Thoughts have the potential to support our feelings. Thoughts act as the wise administrator to support a man to be his authentic self and help him operate in his best interests. By deeply feeling his feelings, a man learns to recognise his feelings from moment to moment, and then to express his feelings openly and generously. In all his communications he wants other people to know how he feels! So he transparently divulges how he is feeling. In relationships with others, he owns his feelings and takes personal responsibility for them. He does this by making ‘I’ statements such as “I feel…….”, in his everyday communications. Expand your feeling vocabulary and experience and become an exceptional communicator. Listen carefully to your feelings and respect other people’s feelings.
Repetition
The mature man recognises that self-mastery comes from daily practices that hone his skill sets and artistry. He becomes an experienced gardener by spending sustained and focused time in his daily garden of living. He learns from repeated experiences that take him deeper and deeper on his journey. The mature man pays attention to the iterative processes of life. He plans, designs, thinks out of the box, explores and experiments, implements and evaluates, observes, and reviews his progress in the never-ending cycles of life. Through repetition, he searches and explores the veins of gold that are inside him.
Self-Care
The first step on any Man’s journey is self-care. When a Man takes care of himself he can take care of others. We live in a work-orientated society and it behooves Men to take more time to honor their well-being. There is more to life than work.
Commitment
Commitment is a precursor to manifestation. When a Man walks his talk he can be relied upon. He becomes a valued co-partner or team member. A committed Man honors his agreements. He keeps all the commitments he makes to himself and with others. The masculine Man is focused, intentional, and seeks a meaningful and purposeful life.
Key Masculine Behavioural Traits
There is more to your inner masculine journey! Get to know the wide range of traits that inhabit you. These traits, are ways of being you can self-cultivate, develop, grow and mature.
Masculine Healer
Over the centuries masculine behavior toward people and nature has left wounds inside people and the environment. These energetic scars, both internally and externally, need to be healed. The Masculine Healer consciously and intentionally is committed to healing himself. He heals the traumas and wounds that inhabit his being and offers support to the healing of those around him. Then his divine masculine can coexist with his divine feminine, and together they can co-create in union, communion, and celebrate their wholeness. This requires a healing process of full accountability that is openly expressed, reconciliation, apology, acceptance, amends, gratitude towards self and thankfulness to others.
Practitioner
The Practitioner is a beautiful masculine trait. This is the man who does his daily practice(s) so he can embody his masculinity. Then he can serve in diverse ways for the greater good of humanity and life itself. He learns and grows from his daily practices. Everything he does is an opportunity to evolve, to feel the magnificence of life. He makes self-development a daily priority. He develops an embodied spiritual Practice.
Impeccable Integrity
Honesty builds trustful relationships. A man needs to be consistent like the great sun in the sky. His actions, feelings and behaviors are aligned with and foster the well-being of life on planet Earth. He shows up 100% in everything he does. By being this way he serves the greater good. He is rooted, you can count on him like an ancient tree. In this article, I have given my viewpoint about the archetypes, qualities of being, and traits of behavior that I feel are essential to a Man growing his Masculinity. You might have a different perspective, order of importance, or an alternative deep-felt sense of what is important to you. What is important is that you listen to your heartbeat, your intuitive knowing, your instinctual compass, and pay attention to cultivating and honoring your masculinity. I offer this article as a beginning. Through brotherhood, and through Men sharing, we can deepen our understanding and living practice of our masculinity. Men mature their masculinity through self-reflection, experience, and practice. Together we create a more beautiful, peaceful, and harmonious world, both inside ourselves and in the World at large. Be an active participant in your life, change your life, and you will change the world around you
Love Yourself
Love your Brothers
Celebrate your Masculinity
Walk the Path of a Mature Man
