All this summer, I have been working hard on a secret project that combines two of my favorite things: archetypes and guided meditation. Today, I’m thrilled to announce I am releasing six Archetypal Character Guided Meditations!
Based on the six transformational character arcs that I shared in my book Writing Archetypal Character Arcs, these meditations are designed to help you access the deep symbolism of your own imaginations. While it’s true that reading about archetypes in a book or learning the structural beats of their arcs can be transformative, the true magic of archetypes is not found in reading someone else’s definitions, but in tapping the symbolism in your own mind.
These guided meditations will help you:
- “Dreamstorm” new ideas for your stories.
- Evoke the universal symbolism of archetypes.
- Access your own unique relationship to all the archetypal arcs.
- Journey through the structural beats of each archetypal journey.
- Understand your characters at a deeper emotional level.
- Intuitively create intertwined plots, characters, and themes.
In creating these meditations, I wanted to share with all of you what has been one of the most fantastic imaginative tools I’ve ever used. I call it the “dreamzone,” but basically it’s just doing what writers do best: zoning out and daydreaming about our stories. The difference is that we’re doing it consciously, and with the help of these Guided Meditations, you can access all the most important parts of each archetype from deep within your own imagination.
What to Expect in the Archetypal Character Meditations
- 6 audio downloads of between 45–61 minutes in length, allowing you enough time to fully sink into the experience.
- Each download offers one version with gentle background music to help you concentrate.
- And another version without music, so you can listen without distraction or choose your own thematically appropriate playlist for inspiration.
- A transcript of the audio recording, so you can reference the text and/or use its questions as a workbook for further brainstorming.
- Links to free resources for further study on appropriate archetypes.
- A 25% off coupon for the e-book Writing Archetypal Character Arcs (note: it is not necessary to read the book in order to use the meditations).
Each of the six meditations is sold separately, so you can choose which ones are most appropriate for your story. I’m also offering all six in a discounted bundle that gives you one free!
FAQs
What are guided meditations?
Meditation is the practice of clearing your mind and focusing your attention. Some types of meditation focus on visualization with the intention of allowing ideas and images to arise from deep in one’s own mind. A guided meditation is one in which the process is directed by another party. Guided meditations often use a script, in which the narrator encourages the listener to visualize specific images. In this case, the goal is to help the listener (you!) visualize new story ideas within the framework of specific archetypal journeys.
What are archetypal character arcs?
Archetypes are symbols representing specific experiences that are recognized as culturally or even universally potent. Archetypal character arcs explore transformational periods within the human life. Specifically, I teach a cycle of six important archetypal character arcs, alternating between feminine and masculine and chronologically advancing through the human life. These archetypes are Maiden and Hero (the archetypal journeys of youth, concerned with individuation and independence), Queen and King (the archetypal journeys of maturity, concerned with power and responsibility), and Crone and Mage (the archetypal journeys of elderhood, concerned with the mysteries of life and death). Each archetypal journey represents a crucial initiation within the human experience.
Will these meditations be helpful if I’m a discovery writer (aka, pantser)?
Everyone’s mileage will vary, of course. But one of my beta testers, Ed Conway, preferred the discovery approach to writing. He said:
“I’m naturally a pantser or discovery writer. The guided meditations you’re offering are perfect for my writing approach. They have just the right amount of prompting, without demanding precision and nailing things down. I don’t know if you set out to make the perfect brainstorming aid for pantsers and discovery writers, but that is what you’ve accomplished.”
Will these meditations be helpful if I’m an outliner?
If you’re a regular around here, you know I’m a heavy-duty outliner myself, and I love using this meditative approach (obviously!). My process is to dive into the dreamzone for fresh right-brain ideas, then take them with me into the more left-brain space of plotting and piecing them all together into a cohesive whole. For me, a meditative exercise like this helps ensure my planning is never stale or overly mechanical. Ultimately, I want any story I write to be a partnership between my subconscious creativity and my conscious knowledge and logic. The Guided Meditations are designed specifically to help you accomplish this.
What if I’m not a visual thinker?
The meditations do focus on invitations to visualize your characters and story world. However, they also offer many questions that can be used as prompts without any need for visualization. Another of my beta testers was a non-visual thinker who found the experience successful in advancing his story.
Can I take the meditation for myself as well as my characters?
Absolutely! Although I’ve designed the meditations specifically to help writers envision their characters, they can also be used for personal growth work. Just in taking an archetypal journey on behalf of your characters, you are necessarily taking it for yourself at some level too. But you can certainly use the meditation specifically to access your own personal relationship to any of the archetypes. Marya Miller, another of my beta testers, told me:
“I liked the way you invited people to use the archetype meditation for themselves as well as their writing/story. One has to be diligent in improving oneself to do one’s characters justice! Meditation can provide epiphanies and insights that take that quest one step further. I can see it helping book and reader grow together.”
Start Your Archetypal Journey!
Archetypes can help you write stories that tap the depths of the human experience. More than that, any encounter with an archetype has the true potential to catalyze change and growth in your life. Whether you’re listening for your characters or yourself, this potent combination of archetypal wisdom and subconscious imagination can take everything you understand about stories (and life) to the next level.
Ready to start dancing with some archetypes? (Yaassss!) Learn more about each archetype (and the bundle of 6) right here.
Win a reMarkable 2 Tablet!
Of course, what would be a launch without a prize giveaway? Today, I am giving away a reMarkable 2 tablet* (value $279). According to their site:
Replace your notebooks and printouts with the only tablet that feels like paper. All your handwritten notes, to-dos, PDFs, and ebooks, perfectly organized and in one place.
I love this as a giveaway for this launch, since journaling all your brand-new ideas is the perfect next step after listening to the Archetypal Character Guided Meditations!
*The refurbished model, in support of circular economies.
To Enter
Winners will be announced Monday, October 2nd. Enter below! (Note: no purchase is necessary to enter.)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Finally, I must send out a huge thank you to my beta testers: Joseph Nastanski; Ed Hrafnskald Conway; Marya Miller; Cain Gonzales; Usvaldo de Leon, Jr.; Beverly Goldfarb; and Kirstin Proffitt Olson. You were all invaluable in helping me prepare to share these meditations! Thank you for your keen eyes (and ears)!
Good luck to everyone in the drawing, have fun, and thank you for helping me celebrate the launch of the Archetypal Character Guided Meditations! Happy dreaming, happy writing!
