Episode 180: Indigenous Wisdom Archetypes: The "Bastards"

What if the thing that makes you feel like the odd one out is actually your royalty?

In this month's archetype episode, Julia Carmen sits with the "Bastards" — and she puts the name in quotes on purpose. The dictionary root, she explains, simply means something of a different shape or size than usual for its kind. Different from the mold. That's all it ever meant.

Julia is candid about her own resistance to the word. When this archetype first surfaced, she balked — she didn't want to offend anyone, and she went back to her guides more than once asking to change the name. They told her, plainly: go look it up. So she did, and what she found reframed the whole thing. The Bastards are solid and unmovable, like a warrior. They're the pillars who hold up the king and the queen, and the key to understanding them is this: they take on the frequency and vibration of whoever they support. Made of stones, rocks, meteors — ancient, grounded.

Julia shares a story from a retreat in Montana, when this archetype first came together. Her granddaughter and retreat assistant, Juliana, was identified as one of the group's lead Bastards — and she was upset. Genuinely upset, at first, carrying all the weight the overculture has loaded onto that word. But months later, working through what the archetype actually meant, Juliana made changes in her life she never thought she'd make, including releasing a relationship that no longer fit who she was becoming. Julia points to this as the real teaching: the Bastards think they're the outsiders, the ones set apart. That feeling is an illusion. They are from royalty. Discernment, Julia reminds us, goes both ways. The Bastard's work is learning to turn that clarity inward, and see their own worth, not only hold up everyone else's.

The companion for this episode is the Jasper dragonfly, a rascal, very male, a coyote, the Trickster. His message: go ahead and chase me and see how far you get, you will never catch me — but you can try. Julia can't get through the card without laughing.

If you've ever felt like the different shape, the odd size, the pillar nobody quite notices — this one's for you. The invitation: see the royalty in you. The different shape was never a flaw. It's the blueprint.

"They think they don't belong. It's an illusion. They are from royalty."

Links & Resources

• Enroll in The Magical Papers
• Schedule a free Cafecito y Chisme Call with Julia