Episode 185: Indigenous Wisdom Archetypes: The Artist

You may know their work long before you ever really meet them. The Artist is often seen, but not seen: the painting is on every wall, and the person who made it is somewhere in the back of the room.

Julia Carmen returns to the Archetype series with the Artist, paired with Emerald Dragonfly. She describes them as the creators of their own universe, close kin to the Alchemist and the Wizard, and filled with more emotion in motion than most. They typically lead with emotion when it comes to Self, and they move like chameleons, changing their own colors and seeing the colors in other people, for the good, the bad, and the indifferent. That makes them very hard to fool. Julia's other image for them is an octopus, ranging in every direction, and ready to release its ink when it needs to.

An Artist doesn't have to paint. Julia says this archetype shows up through poetry, through mothering or fathering, through a person's work and word. What they share is the ability to hide things as well as open them up, the way a painting gets covered over and covered over before it opens into something. Julia also names the caution for those who lead with the Artist. Because emotion runs ahead, being near an Artist can be intense. 

The Artist is born with the knowing within, and their stories come from other worlds of being. This is also an archetype that can be cultivated: in the stillness of you, you can create what you want through the Artist within.

Their companion is Emerald Dragonfly, whose card reads, in part: "Walking through the darkness of the emerald forest is like searching for one's love. Have you ever felt lost? Know this. You can never be lost."