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The purifiers – the exorcist, destroyer, and liberator archetypes – all work in their unique ways to purify our being. The energy of these archetypes brings an inherent upheaval of the status quo and shift in our live’s power structure. They free us from the constraints and toxins of fear, anger, jealousy, greed, depression, dependency, and more.

These archetypes are commonly seen together in spiritual teachings and mythology. Enlightened masters exemplify them. In this class on “The Purifiers,” Stacey Couch offers examples of these teachings so you can know the archetypes fully, see their similarities, and tell them apart.

Stories including “destroyer goddesses,” such as the Buddhist goddess Kali, involve battling demon armies. In this case, we see an overlap between the destroyer and exorcist archetypes.

During an exorcism, a demon is cast out of a person. The healed person is said to be  “liberated” or “freed” from possession. Here, the exorcist and liberator walk hand-in-hand.

Enlightenment or true liberation is understood as the annihilation or death of the false self so that we can merge with the One. Here the liberator and destroyer work together.

The purifiers, by nature, confront frightening and powerful forces. Overwhelm, fear, and despair are significant obstacles for all of the purifiers. Whether it is the exorcist combatting the darkness, the destroyer weathering a storm, or the liberator fighting to break out of a cage, every one of the purifiers faces a daunting uphill challenge. She risks getting lost, stuck in polarization, and forfeiting all hope.

Each purifier archetype has her unique journey to the other side of the abyss. Initially, she may think she is battling a real enemy, apparent to the five senses. Her challenge is to shift from focusing on the external demon, disaster, or oppressor and find the adversary within. Once she sees that there is as much work to do in her interior, she crosses the bridge onto the healing path.

The purifiers bring us inward to fight our demons, reconcile with our destructive capacity and overthrow the oppressive busy mind. Once we follow the path inward, we find we have more power than we thought. We can calm the tyrannical, raging storm of darkness within.

The fullest expression of the purifier archetype’s light brings us toward Divine union. Here we go beyond our inner landscape to the cosmic field where each archetype has a critical role in preparing us for ultimate surrender. This is where we cross the bridge onto the spiritual path. We become agents of grace, ready to assist the healing and freedom of others.

The exorcist, destroyer, and liberator prepare and purify us in their particular way. Stacey details each archetype’s themes, challenges, and gifts in this course and describes the differences between them.

Included:

In this online class, “The Purifiers: Exorcist, Destroyer, Liberator,” Stacey Couch gives an in-depth definition of the light and the shadow of the exorcist, destroyer, and liberator archetypes. Stacey describes the main themes of each archetype so you can recognize and tell them apart. Through story and myth, you get concrete examples of each archetype’s expression, teaching you to identify these archetypes in yourself and others.

You receive a course workbook which includes journal questions and summaries of key points. This deepens your knowledge and understanding of which archetypes you are working with at any given time.

NEW IN THIS COURSE! A discussion on spirit animals related to the archetypes, and prayers for each archetype.

Stacey draws from fairytale, mythology, history, movie and TV, and spiritual teachings, old and new. The good news is that you don’t need to read or watch it all. Stacey synthesizes, extracts, and adds to the content, making it easily accessible. For those of you who want to study more, she provides an extensive list of references.

This course opens the door to these archetype’s vast universe. By outlining the key themes and showing how they play out, Stacey makes the material accessible and engaging.

The Exorcist

The exorcist is the light in the darkness. She goes to the ends of the earth to hunt, kill, and cast out demons. Her wish is to free the universe of evil and clear us all of the toxins of hate, greed, addiction, illness, etc. She is fierce and fearless. When all seems lost in the darkest of times, she is that spark of hope that never goes out. No matter how many times the demon horde re-sprouts, the exorcist is there to neutralize the world’s evil.

In the shadow, the exorcist archetype can be overwhelmed by the never-ending torrent of demons. She succumbs to the darkness herself. Or, she becomes intoxicated with a bloodlust for demon hunting and risks becoming that which she loathes.

In this course, we look at the origin of the term “demon” and the kinds of demons we face. The exorcist archetype is just as well versed in the realm of angels, so we also explore the fierce guardian spirits that aid the exorcist.

The exorcist knows how to work with the Mystical Law that light attracts darkness and darkness attracts light. She builds her light up intentionally, so she doesn’t attract darkness beyond what she can manage. This class is not meant as professional exorcist instruction (that takes many years of study), but as a detailed overview of the exorcist archetype’s themes and patterns.

Whether an exorcism is conducted in a traditional ritual or in a modern-day, unconventional way, there are specific steps the exorcism follows. Stacey Couch outlines this process and provides critical resources for learning how to transmute a personal demon into an ally.

This transmutation brings the exorcist beyond the duality of light and dark to the field of all is One. She takes us beyond separation and into union. Here she meets whatever comes, good or evil, with equanimity.

The Destroyer

To best understand the destroyer archetype, one must know that destruction is as much a force of nature as is creation. The destroyer archetype is impersonal and chaotic. Humans, however, can’t help but try to explain destructive forces and natural disasters. We think understanding why a flood demolished someone’s house can help us avoid the same thing.

We get in trouble with the shadow destroyer when we try to control the archetype’s action in our lives. We repress and fight our destructive nature in the same way we, as a society, battle forest fires. This sets up catastrophic events that can cause our inner ecosystem to collapse.

Nature’s destructive forces are unpredictable in both timing and consequences. They do, however,  follow a cyclical pattern that begins with forewarning and evacuation. When the storm comes, we seek shelter.  Afterward, we survey the wreckage and ride out aftershocks. At the end of the cycle, we rebuild and recolonize. By learning to work with this cycle, we have an opportunity to benefit from the destroyer’s gifts.

In the light, the destroyer archetype clears out space for new growth and breaks open hidden potential. Her floodwaters carry new resources to us. She helps us cultivate a diverse interior and, thus, a brilliant resiliency to change.

The destroyer’s fullest gifts aid us on the spiritual path. Knowing her cycles helps us participate in the death of the small, false self and prepare us for surrender to the Divine. When we unite with the Beloved, we drown in her ocean, annihilate the small self, and are reborn into the One.

The Liberator

The liberator archetype is evident in human history. In this class, we look at former presidents of Zimbabwe, Tunisia, and South Africa and the leaders of global women’s rights movements such as Malala Yousafzai. By following their biographies, Stacey identifies key, universal themes of the liberator archetype.

Examining the struggle for outer freedom and equality brings us to the discussion of inner freedom.  We see how the liberator frees the individual mind. Stacey outlines the obstacles to inner freedom and how the shadow liberator locks us into the cycle of oppression.

The liberator is dedicated to freedom, sometimes at all costs. She can force the cage door open and drag prisoners out by their hair. She risks becoming the tyrant she is trying to overthrow. The liberator in the light knows the art of working with comfort zones and thresholds.  She knows when to nudge the captive towards the door and when to sit with her in the cage a bit longer.

Many fairytales tell of songbirds that lose their voice while trapped in a cage. In this class, Stacey tells the story “The Nightingale,” which explores the liberator archetype and the obstacles to inner freedom.

The fullest expression of the liberator’s light is synonymous with spiritual liberation, otherwise known as enlightenment. To be liberated is to be educated, to cultivate wisdom. The liberator has clear vision. She can rest in naked awareness and see things exactly as they are. Seeing clearly increases our degree of inner freedom exponentially so that we are free to help cast off the chains of others.

Course Outline:

This four-part pre-recorded audio course covers the following:

Introduction to the Definition of Archetypes (for beginners)

Session 1: The Exorcist Archetype

• Origin of the term demon
• The extreme shadow of the exorcist
• Telling the difference between good and evil
• Inner and outer demons
• Helpers that show up in terrifying forms
• The exorcist’s spirit animal
• Difference between the exorcist and shaman archetypes
• Mystical Law: Light attracts Darkness
• Story of Kali and the Demons
• Stages of an exorcism
• The hydra phenomenon
• Feeding your demons

Session 2: The Destroyer

• Destruction as a force of nature
• Destruction is chaotic
• Attaching meaning to destruction: Odysseus and Poseidon
• Deluge stories: Noah, Gilgamesh, and Manu
• Stages of the cycle of destruction
• Creation, destruction, and preservation
• Shadow of the destroyer
• The destroyer always finds a way in
• Benefits of destruction
• Destroyer in the light
• Working with the elements in your Sacred Contract
• The mystical destroyer on the spiritual path

Session 3: The Liberator

• The physical fight for freedom
• Historical liberators: Robert Mugabe, Habib Bourguiba, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Nadia Murad, Dali Lama
• Key themes of the liberator’s story
• Outer versus inner freedom
• Obstacles to inner freedom
• The shadow liberator
• Working with thresholds
• The liberator’s spirit animals
• Story of “The Nightingale”
• Importance of knowledge and wisdom as naked awareness
• Enlightenment as liberation
• Practices to strengthen naked awareness

Session 4: Discerning Between the Purifiers

• Five things the purifiers have in common
• Teachings where the purifiers overlap
• Ways to differentiate the purifiers
• Summary of Caroline Myss’s three-column model
• Walking each archetype through the three columns
• Prayers for each archetype

What are Archetypes?
Archetypes are universal patterns of power that coordinate how we think and feel. All we have to do is say “angel” or “hermit”, and instantly, others know what kind of person we are talking about. This is indicative of the amount of power that each archetype contains. The Greek origin of the word “archetype” comes from the words archē, meaning “beginning or original” and typos, meaning “pattern, model or type”. Thus, an archetype is the original or first pattern from which all others are made. On the other hand, each survivor has a light, positive side that unlocks the power of our soul. Learning to co-create with the light side of the survivor archetypes is the key to living an authentic, empowered life.