The Evolution and Many Archetypes of Spiritual Communities

Here I will discuss the many "types" of spiritual people and how these traits evolve/ devolve and intertwine. This may trigger you, this may make you laugh, but pre-warning these observations were made from people I've met through time and since we are complicated, complex people we can fit in all of these boxes or none of them. Let this be fun and if you resonate with one of these definitions, it is healthy to look in the mirror every now and then. The Levels don't actually represent a hierarchy honestly they are more just a way to list.

Level 1: The Awakened: The first step would be what spiritual people call "an awakening" for some it is when their interest in spiritual things like meditation, yoga and psychedelics brought them into an expansive space where they not only became aware or conscious of not only the co-mingling aspects of the brain, but the ways in which people, governments, families and religions are constructed. At this point the Awakened one becomes aware that there is so much more to this complex world than what meets the eye... we all think, feel, have family history, childhoods and ancestral history. During this time experimentation with psychedelics and self-help books become an expansive experience of self discovery. Some may experience psychic experiences, some may go down the rabbit hole of reading into various conspiracy theories, some begin to learn about occultist topics like astrology and tarot. The more people explore these topics the closer they feel to themselves. The Awakening is a private experience that each individual experiences uniquely. Some people simply get a birds eye views in how they view themselves and society, some simply become immersed in discovering new things about themselves and others. Some continue on an upward journey through other personalities and experiences, some even go on to become a part of spiritual community. Most people who call themselves spiritual in the new age context, have experienced an awakening of some sort.

Level 2: The Bubblegum people: For starters these people make me cringe so prepare for this to get a little insulting and become more of a rant. Bubblegum people may have been on a spiritual journey for sometime but they are the type of person that may say "I'm so glad I found this community, I just don't resonate with normal people anymore." These people may get so involved in using psychedelics or plant medicines (acid, ayuahasca, mushrooms, peyote, kembo, etc.) or plant medicines for healing as a means to bypass level 3 of the spiritual experience "The Deep Ones". You look these people in the eye and they seem more spirit than human, which is not a bad thing. Still, it is hard to get past the surface level with one. If you bring up a trauma or some sort of dark experience they may say "Wow that is so valid. Mmmmmmmm. It is important to exist between the dark and the light, because there is no right and no wrong. That is just your experience." They will avoid validating anything that is not love and light simply because they fear the darkness inside them to the point of complete avoidance. I call them bubblegum people because they exist inside a bubble where the atrocities of daily life or the outside world mean nothing to them because they refuse to look at it. They will legit not watch the news because somebody on Youtube told them it was demonic. All is peaceful and beautiful in the land of avoidance. You may see these people go on instagram as mediation teachers, life coaches or selling some sort of program to help you with something they have never actually helped themselves with or have a certification/ degree in. They come on a live video holding their heart, taking a deep inhale listening to some sort of culturally appropriated song from India or Tibet that they don't know the words to and say "to heal we need to feel" in a calmingly annoying tone. The word bubblegum stems from corny bubblegum pop music that you hear on the radio that only skims the surface of music, yet it is the most listened to. People listen to the bubblegum people sometimes before thinking for themselves, because these people seem so peaceful and blissful but it is only an illusion, a facade, as they have not experienced the true deep depths of the human experience. In the yin yang they speak of they are the white blob that doesn't acknowledge any of the black parts representing darkness.

Level 3: The Deep Ones: The deep ones may have never been Bubblegum people or maybe they were surrounded by them and began to see through their bullshit. Often the Bubblegum people disguise themselves as Deep Ones but you can definitely feel the difference, the Deep Ones have a certain old soul vibe where you know they've seen some shit yet they're still out here trying their best. The Deep Ones are experiencing a deep catharsis where a lot of their darkness is being purged and exposed on a daily basis. They are in a place of self-development where they are beginning to resurface trauma. The reason why some Bubblegum people may avoid this phase/ archetype is due to their beliefs around darkness when really by bi-passing this there dark deep phase may happen abruptly where all the unresolved, avoided emotion floods on them all at once, From reading books like "The Secret" and "The Power of Now" the beginning phases of archetypes learn that thoughts have power and create our reality. But this belief also creates a sort of OCD like fear where every negative thought is shamed and combatted with a mantra, a yoga pose, some sage, a magic mushroom capsule or a festival outing. The issue with fearing that a thought will create your reality is that it disregards the idea that sometimes we just have negative thoughts, it is when we simply look at them head on that we learn they have no meaning til you give the thought power. With a past of fearing the negative thought or belief, the belief becomes a big demon in our heads that we have to battle head on, which the Deep Ones do because they choose to acknowledge their shadow self and imperfections. When have the monsters you imagine in your head actually come to life? In this Hermit-like phase The Deep Ones may step away from community all together due to its lack of solid foundations and their ability to see through peoples masks and shine their own light without needing an external source of validation. The Deep Ones can become lonesome and resentful of people's disillusionment so they may actually start taking a liking to non-spiritual people and realize that everyone is a witch, a psychic, a sage, an angel, a guide, even if they don't believe in that type of thing.

Level 4: The Q Shaman: The reason why the Q Shaman is high on the levels is cause they think they are, so let's feed their ego. The Q Shaman may say they've had an ego death or some sort of mind blowing spiritual experience. They may have some sort of charming quality or spiritual gift where people flock to them for advice and guidance. People give their power away to them. They are the spiritual leaders you watch on Youtube who utter some outlandish belief that they read on a website that some lonely guy made up to fuck with people that can't think for themselves. These Q Shamans may give you drugs and say it's medicine so you become dependent on them. They may use their fame or recognition to benefit themselves and hurt people. They may make false claims about spiritual things, the truth or the state of the world causing it to spread to suggestible Bubblegum or Awakened people. They may say things that defy science all together and make you no longer belief your previous life as a person who learned about science, history and math in school. They may say things like "the earth is flat," "celebrities drink the blood of children" or other baseless claims that have zero evidence but spread like wildfire. Keep in mind this is all inspired by the actual Q-Anon-Shaman and Q-Anon conspiracy theories because Q-Anon very much capitalizes on spreading lies by using spiritual jargon. But I will tell you I have seen normal people of power believe and spread this nonsense in the name of love and light, meanwhile they were just spreading the same fear they detest. Keep in mind the Q Shaman is only a Shaman because they call themselves that. This person is usually a white man or maybe their ancestors really do carry spiritual ancestral gifts in their bloodline. Would ancestors approve of their spiritual biology to be used for evil? Doubt it. Still the self proclaimed Shaman never went through the process true Shamans go through in Latin America which is grueling, strenuous and often leads to the person experiencing psychosis to the point of no return. The Q Shaman may use the spiritual beliefs of their followers to enable their own manipulation by saying things like "the fact that you accuse me of this horrible thing I did is because I am your mirror, so therefore, you did it." The manipulative tactics follow in suit of abusers, narcissists and yes... CULT LEADERS. This is the darkest spiritual archetype because they use those who are good and faithful to spread fear in the name of conspiracy that cannot be backed.

Level 5: The Jester: The Jester is a fun archetype. They are the festival goer, the community builder, the fire spinner. They may be Bubblegum or they may be Awakened, but what differentiates them is their circus like other worldly attributes. They legit just want to be silly or have some fun, but they are not afraid to be a dark Deep One too. Some may use their giddiness and humor to mask the hard stuff, but the dark and deep expression felt through their movement is beautiful. The Jesters are often extremely deep and aware of the reality they bridge a gap between. If you have ever seen these fire performers they have tools lit with fire that they spin and dance with as they flow with movement. This archetype is much broader and far reaching but it is certainly necessary to mention. I would say the jesters are all encompassing of the elemental archetypes like that of the fae realm. Have you ever seen somebody who reminds you of an elf, a fairy, a gnome, a mermaid or even a sprite? That's them.

Level 6: The Star Seed: This group of people believe they are from another planet. I could list them all but that would be useless cause there are millions of planets in our solar systems that could be occupied at some point by extraterrestrials. The Ananaki, Arturians, Orion, Piledes and there are more. These people believe they were reincarnated on this earth because as a Star Seed they know something about humanity, equality, empathy or conscious economy that the earth needs to heal. I do believe that people can have incarnations in many dimensions, whether it be earth, other planets or whatnot the options are endless when life itself is an existential whirlwind of possibilities. Some people believe the Lost City of Atlantis and Lemuria were real and that they may have been on Earth during that time. If you believe in Ancient Aliens or love the TV Show this archetype might speak to you. A lot of people who resonate with this alien archetype may have been deeply intrigued by Egypt and other ancient societies as kids.

Level 7: The Business Spiritualist: This person uses the practicalities of everyday life mixed with their spiritual interests to become a full blown entrepreneur. Astrology mixed with knowledge of finances means you know when the stars align as a good time to invest or to work super hard, or whether to manifest and let things flow in naturally. The Business Spiritualist can communicate with all archetypes and may use their subjective knowledge to read tarot cards, create jewelery, music or some other craft they master for a living and use spiritual gatherings to promote their business. The business oriented spiritualist knows that a person has to set a goal, act on it and keep acting on it for it manifest it into this reality. Yes prayer helps the process and humbles us, but to make shit happen we got to be the go-getters. Some may desire conscious economies that are egalitarian and that money is evil, but the Business Spiritualist knows that right now we live in a capitalist world, so may as well make the most of it!!! As Madonna says "we are living in a material world and I am a material girl."

Level 8: The Lone Wolf: The Lone Wolf may have never been to a spiritual gathering or a festival, or maybe they have and just refuse to put themself in a box. The Lone Wolf probably wouldn't even like this label due the fact that they don't want to be in a box at all. The Lone Wolves know that when they are a part of a group, they lose a bit of their sovereignty or individuality. Even calling themselves spiritual may nauseate them. These Lone Wolves are often Deep Ones too because they question everything and everyone. They see, they observe, the perceive and they learn. They may have grown up in a conservative mold they had to break from or they simply rebelled against the very idea of rebellion. Freedom is important to them and spirituality in the right context can be incredibly freeing without the labels, expectations and boxes that public forums and people create by making a unique personal experience cliche and sensationalized (I am contradicting myself a bit aye?).

Level 9: The Medicine Man: The Medicine Man is much different than the Q Shaman because they do not market themselves as healers and shamans, other people gave them that title because they earned it. The Medicine Man knows when it is wise to be silent and when it is wise to speak. They bridge the gap between the spiritual and the physical due to years of practice and initiation from their elders and the spirit realm. Medicine Men study the cultures and honor the cultures from which they learn folk healing, alternative medicine and shamanism. Truthfully I have never met a medicine man or woman in America that learned their practice in such a way but I'm sure it exists somewhere. Maybe this is a good segue to delve into medical tourism and cultural appropriation. Is it okay to do Reiki and use these healing systems from Japan if you've never been to Japan? Do people who learn Reiki actually learn it by learning about Japanese culture? What about ayuahusca? If you travel to Peru to do Ayahusca aren't you stealing/ borrowing/ monopolizing on that cultures healing modality? A lot of practitioners of yoga, reiki, plant medicine, ayurveda and TCM learn these things in America and not from the actual culture in which the modality came from. Many of us are learning water-ed down versions of ancient practices that slaves and indigenous were once condemned and shamed for practicing. Maybe the white man should learn some skills and practices of their own and stop stealing from the people their ancestors treated like property? How can we honor a culture if we make money off of it? Not all cultures have biomedicine, is it okay to use these other cultures means of healing when that's theirs and not ours? Some food for thought.

Can you think of more Archetypes? Comment below and maybe I can add them to the list! Thank you Becca and Ryan for your suggestions.