Rebel, Mother, Mystic: Sinéad O’Connor - the Complete Christ Archetype

#repost @brianjames.soulwork 

"I came away from watching the new documentary about Sinéad O’Connor last night thinking about how she, more than any other artist of her generation, embodied the Christ archetype.

According to Jung, Christ is the archetype of the human capacity for wholeness. However, in the Christian tradition it is split from the dark side of humanity, manifesting in Christ’s adversary Lucifer, who is associated with primal desires and instincts, the body and matter.

When the Christ archetype manifests through Sinéad, a woman and mother, it comes into true wholeness. She expresses not only the spiritual side of the archetype but also the “dark side” — through her sensuality, sexuality, gender play, dancing and primal scream.

Robert Moore’s model of the King, Warrior, Magician, Lover offers us insight into the parts that make up the whole Self. In all cultures throughout time, the quaternio has been a symbol of wholeness. One need only think of the four seasons, the four directions, the four elements and so on. For Jung, this is why the Christian trinity remained incomplete until the assumption of Mary by the Catholic Church in 1950.

The incarnation of Christ in a female figure completes the picture. In Sinéad we can see a full expression of the King/Queen, Warrior, Magician and Lover archetypes in both their shadow and light forms.

Like Christ, she fiercely stands up for what she believes in, refusing to let organized religion get in the way of her direct connection to the divine, and refusing to let the music business get in the way of her mothering and artistic expression. She is a rebel, mother, lover, mystic and artist.

When Sinéad tore up a picture of the Pope on live television in protest of the Catholic Church’s abuse of children it was akin to Jesus ransacking the temple. In doing so she sacrificed her reputation and career, and paved the way for female artists in the future to follow their own path and express themselves more fully and freely.

As Jung said, to imitate Christ is to live true to one’s own calling and destiny, accepting the conflict and suffering that comes along with a rejection of familial and societal expectations. Thank God for Sinéad."