King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering Masculinity Through the Lens of Archetypal Psychology - A Journey into the Male Psyche and Its Four Essential Aspects Paperback – August 16, 1991

This is one of the best books on the human mind that I have ever read. Dr. Moore and Mr. Gillette absolutely created an amazing framework. They brought Carl Jung's concept to life and then ran with it so as to give a brilliant, tangible understanding.Though each of the archetypes are then further defined in separate books, The King Within, The Warrior Within, The Magician Within, and The Lover Within, the publisher, William Morrow, has neglected these treasures. Now they are only found on the secondary market at multiples their original cost.

I read this book when it first came out over 20 years ago as a young woman and it changed my life. The authors coined the term "puerarchy" which means "rule of the sons" as a more accurate way to describe the distribution of power in our society, because "patriarchy" means "rule of the fathers" and what we actually have is "rule of the immature males" or "boys." After reading this book, I realized that bullying and immature behavior is not typical of "men" it's typical of adult males expressing the "boy" archetype. The book is still relevant today, sadly, as we can see in Donald Trump's presidential campaign, which is a classic example of the "boy" archetypes. The large following of supporters Trump has shows the need for this book today.One caveat: The title says "archetypes of the mature masculine," but even the authors admit that these archetypes can apply to all humans, women included. In fact, I've used this book as a guide for developing the mature human archetypes in myself. The difference between men and women lies in the fact that biologically, women have a "built-in" initiation rite for going from "girl" to "woman," namely menstruation and childbirth. But males do not, so they require societal initiation rights to go psychologically from "boy" to "man." It's these initiations rites that have not only been lost, they've been perverted (by fraternities, gangs and the military, for example) to reinforce the "boy" archetypes .Over the years, I have suggested this book to many men, who have thanked me after reading it, finding it very valuable. I was even requested by a group of men in the Pick Up community to lead a book circle of men on this book, which I did. Since the archetypes apply to women as well as males, I was able to offer the young men concrete examples of how I developed each of the archetypes in myself.Some of the book is dated today, such as the pop culture examples. And I believe if the book were written today, the authors would have to change some of the language as the terms "masculine" and "feminine" are, by definition, obsolete words today. All the qualities we formerly termed "masculine" or "feminine" are clearly manifesting in all humans today, which makes them "human" qualities that are not attached to biological sex.The reviewers giving this book a low rating are either 1) taking issue with the cultural and religious examples which they feel are misrepresented 2) don't like the supposed "new-agey" tone (what does that even mean?) or 3) have the "boy" world view described in the book and, therefore, violently oppose it's thesis, which is to be expected. The book is critiquing them, after all.As to the cultural and religious examples, the authors are Jungians, and therefore they are speaking to the right brain in symbols and archetypes. Doing a left brain analysis of the book misses the point. And, even if they don't get the references right all the time, this book still represents a huge leap forward in thinking in the field of Men's Studies.Regarding the description of the tone as "new-agey" I think that's more about the reviewers' biases towards anything that seems "feminine" or "spiritual," which I think the authors would say is another manifestation of the boy archetype.A relevant, must-read even today, for all people, male and female.

I've often repeated to my children that the most pertinent and memorable thing (i.e. legacy) about them is their character; specifically, how they treat others. It's easy to tell them that but getting them to actually practice what I preach is tantamount to a Herculean effort, especially with regard to their siblings. However, perhaps my strategy should fall along the lines of helping them identify behaviors and their source. This book is a great start in that direction.I originally learned about this book from Stephen Pressfield who recommended it as essential reading in the study of the Warrior Archetype, which is a video series he produces that's nearly 50 (at time of this writing), 5-10 minute episodes on that subject. If you don't know who Pressfield is, then simply understand that he is the preeminent author of warrior literature (e.g., Gates of Fire, Virtues of War, Killing Rommel) so he knows what he's talking about.This work was so insightful and impactful on me. I had to keep from highlighting everything because "if everything is special, nothing is special". But right from the get go this book slaps you upside the head:"We have written this book in order to answer this question, which is on the minds of both men and women. In the late twentieth century, we face a crisis in masculine identity of vast proportions. Increasingly, observers of the contemporary scene—sociologists, anthropologists, and depth psychologists—are discovering the devastating dimensions of this phenomenon, which affects each of us personally as much as it affects our society as a whole.""We need to learn to love and be loved by the mature masculine. We need to learn to celebrate authentic masculine power and potency, not only for the sake of our personal well-being as men and for our relationships with others, but also because the crisis in mature masculinity feeds into the global crisis of survival we face as a species. Our dangerous and unstable world urgently needs mature men and mature women if our race is going to go on at all into the future."And Those are merely two from the introduction, with so much more when actually discussing each archetype and it's shadow side. This book is primarily based off of the work of Carl Jung the Swedish Psychiatrist and his ardent followers and practitioners. It's also a good companion to previously reviewed works such as: The Boy Crisis, Strong Fathers Strong Daughters, Grossman's Assassination Generation (as well as both On Combat, and On Killing), and Jordan Peterson's Maps of Meaning.I originally looked for this work on audible, but it is not available in that format. Kindle had it and I'm grateful for this as I was able to take note of so many passages I want to refer to in the future.