Deep within all of us live archetypes. You may call them character patterns or the symbolic operating system. You contain all of them in a certain balance and those balances change and evolve given your age, your environment, your lineage, your social circle. At times, they are controlled by outside forces but for the most part you have greater control over them than you are conscious of. You probably aren’t aware of them and even if you are, you don’t understand how they work and the power and permission they hold.

There are four root categories or missions: structure, connection, legacy and awakening. Those connected to structure are the ruler (king), the artist (creator) and the caregiver (saint). Those connected to connection are the everyman (orphan), the jester (trickster) and the lover (partner). Those connected to legacy are the hero (knight), the magician (visionary) and the outlaw (rebel). Those connected to awakening are the innocent (child), the sage (teacher) and the explorer (seeker)

Your personality, beliefs and behaviors are expressions of these archetypes. Once you understand these archetypes you see them in every single person. Knowing them gives you a deeper understanding of why each person does what they do. You begin to see how predictable their choices and beliefs are. It’s like everyone is suddenly naked. They can’t hide anymore. But you are naked too. You can’t hide from yourself anymore. The archetypes are not just a power they are a confrontation, a mirror that refuses to let you look away. Why? Because it has handed you the control – the power to change in a very real way. You now know that if you want greater structure in your life you focus on the ruler, the caregiver and the artist, integrating their sensibilities and choices of service, discipline and innovation. If you want better connection in your life then you turn to your everyman, jester and lover integrating sharing, play and intimacy

This class will not blow your mind… it will reveal everything. You will gain a sight and control that will feel scary and powerful. You’ll get it… you really get it.

This is not a lecture series. The framework is taught quickly so that the rest of your time can be spent inside the work. The class moves through four activities, layered across each session.

Identification. You’ll map your own dominant and shadow archetypes through guided self- inventory, partnered observation, and reflective writing. By the end of the first day you will know which two or three archetypes are driving most of your choices… and which ones have been starving.

Embodiment. Each archetype has a physical signature, a posture, a breath, a relationship to space and to other people. You work them in the body. You’ll move through each one until you can feel the difference between standing as the King and standing as the Outlaw.

Integration. You’ll do scene work with a partner where the archetypal stakes are made explicit, a Hero being asked to live as a Caregiver, a Lover whose Magician has been buried, a Ruler retreating to the Jester. The text doesn’t change, but what’s underneath your choices does.

Application. You’ll bring in material from your own life, auditions, day job, roles you are circling, relationships, ambitions, blocks and we apply the framework directly. This is the part of the work that stays inside you.

Zoom - Wednesdays, June 3 through July 1

Week 1. Framework and self-mapping. The four missions. The twelve archetypes. Locating
yourself on the map. Where you live now, where you were raised, where you are pretending to be, where you want to go.
Week 2. Structure: Ruler, Artist, Caregiver. Service, discipline, innovation. The archetypes that
build something. You work the ones that are dormant in you and dial back the ones that are running the show.
Week 3. Connection: Everyman, Jester, Lover. Sharing, play, intimacy. The archetypes that bring
you into other people. These are often the ones actors have buried under the work… you excavate them.
Week 4. Legacy: Hero, Magician, Outlaw. Courage, vision, refusal. The archetypes that make you
readable on screen and in the room, and the ones that get blocked when you are trying to be liked.
Week 5. Awakening: Innocent, Sage, Explorer. Faith, wisdom, the journey out. Integration. You
leave with a design, not a wish list, a design for what comes next.

Acting: Once you can name the archetype driving a character, you stop chasing a feeling and start playing a relatable structure. A Hero being asked to live as a Caregiver isn’t a mood you have to manufacture, it’s a tension you know and can build on. Character choices land faster. They read more clearly to the camera and to the room. They stop blurring into each other from role to role… you don’t just feel like you trying to be someone else.

Directors, casting directors, and audiences track archetypes whether they can name them or not. This makes you recognizable in the way that gets you remembered.

Who’s it for…

Actors at any stage. Any artist. Directors. Producers. Casting Directors. There are no prerequisites. You do not need to have studied Jung, mythology, or psychology, the framework is built to be used. If you are already in another Markland class, this work strengthens everything else. If this is your first class with me, it stands on its own.
ARCHETYPES

zoom - wednesdays, june 3rd - july 1st