In the world around us, the Warrior is increasingly in charge. How can or should we deal with this? First of all, by not losing sight of the importance of the power of other archetypes. They can reduce the dominance of the Warrior and bring ourselves and thus the world back into balance.
In the coming period I will publish a series of blogs, in which I highlight ‘counterparts’ of the Warrior. It is my way of expressing a counterpoint to the language of war, which is often used by political leaders and in the media at the moment.
The first ‘counterpart’ of the Warrior is of course the archetypal Heart. An archetype of which everyone knows the meaning: Love. In the blog below I will take a closer look at her meaning and how you can connect with your archetypal Heart, even if your Warrior becomes (too) active.
Your Warrior: Standing Strong for what really matters
The Warrior archetype represents strength, action, perseverance, and the ability to set boundaries. In its light, positive form, the Warrior stands for what really matters to you. Your positive Warrior is courageous, protective and purposefully goes to what really matters to you.
Your Warrior helps you fight for justice. He or she supports you when you defend the less fortunate and he or she is committed so that you can stand up for what matters most to you. In your life, in your work, in a specific situation. Your inner Warrior makes you dare to speak out at times when you seem to go against the mainstream current.
A Warrior in the Shadow side becomes aggressive and dominant
In his shadow side, your Warrior becomes aggressive, dominant, manipulative or even violent. You notice this in your behavior when you no longer fight for a higher goal, but only for (more) power, control or selfishness. In today’s world, we unfortunately often see this dark side in various world leaders.
In general, you can say that the shadow side of the Warrior is visible in people’s conflicts, in polarization, but also, for example, within organizations where there is a culture of “winning at all costs”.
The Heart: Love, Connection and Compassion
The archetypes in us are never active on their own. They always work in clusters, duos, trios or sometimes even as entire groups. A couple of archetypes that I often see acting together in behaviour at the moment is the Warrior and the Heart. This may sound strange, but archetypally wise it isn’t strange at all.
The Heart archetype is the natural counterpart of the Warrior. Where the Warrior stands for action and struggle, the Heart stands for connection, compassion, love and inner wisdom. The Heart reminds us that true strength comes not only from power and strength, but also from vulnerability, empathy, and the ability to feel. The Heart is symbolically the centre of our emotions and our moral compass. It connects us to ourselves, to others and to the greater whole.
The Key to Balance the World
In a world where the Warrior is becoming more and more dominant from his shadow side, on paper (!) our Heart is the key to balance. The Heart ensures that the Warrior does not overshoot in aggression, but uses his strength for the higher goal. Our Warrior protects that higher purpose than from justice and love. Our inner Heart then reminds us why our Warrior fights: not for power, but for what is really important.
I already said ‘on paper’, because if it was really that simple, why doesn’t this happen in practice? For this we have to dive a little deeper into our archetypal Heart.
Your Inner Heart: the symbolic center of all emotions
The Heart is the symbol of love, passion, courage and vulnerability in almost every culture.
In ancient Egypt, the heart was seen as the seat of wisdom, knowledge, and memories. It was the only organ that remained in the body after death. In this way, the god Anubis could weigh it as a measure of virtue during the life of the deceased. In Christianity, the Sacred Heart symbolizes the suffering of Mary, while in the Celtic and Christian tradition, the Heart as a grail represents the center of life and spiritual renewal.
Archetypally, the Heart is also the center of emotions: from deep joy to intense pain.
Please note: energetically, our belly is the center of all emotions. But if we look purely symbolically and metaphorically, our Heart houses all our emotions.
The Light and the Shadow Side of our Inner Heart
Just like any archetype, the archetypal Heart also has a light and a shadow side. And both sides can alternately be active in our lives and therefore visible in our behaviour.
If you are connected to the light, positive side of your archetypal Heart, then
- you can look at situations with openness and sincerity. Without judgment
- you can also look at your greatest enemy from Love
- you will be able to act with integrity
- you can go for something full of passion and fire. In this behaviour, the bond between your Heart and your inner Warrior is already clearly visible.
Just to name a few examples of your behaviour from the light side of your inner Heart.
If you act -often unconsciously- from the Shadow Side of your inner Heart, then
- you lose all sense of rationality and reasonableness
- you generally behave quite impulsively , pure out of emotions
- you can sacrifice yourself completely for someone else, at the expense of yourself
- you often become completely paralyzed by your trauma, pain, (love) grief and you can no longer function normally.
- you are guided by hatred, resentment, or jealousy.
The shadow side of the Heart is therefore the place where our deepest fears, suppressed emotions and unprocessed pain manifest themselves. It is the side that we often hide, but that requires recognition and integration in order to achieve inner, but especially outer balance.
Min times Min is not always Plus…
What we see happening in the world now is that the shadow side of our Heart is taking over more and more and thereby strengthens the shadow side of our inner Warrior. And vice versa. Because in working with archetypes, there is always the chicken-and-egg story. Which of the two came first?
All archetypes actually all work at the same time and then a kind of ‘chemical’ reaction occurs that usually ends positively, but can sometimes also cause a chain reaction towards the shadow sides of different archetypes.
And because every individual is by definition connected -and therefore also influenced- by the people around them, the double shadow side of both the Warrior and the Heart also spreads more and more until you see both shadow sides visible on a global level.
And that’s what we are facing now in the world around us….
Facing our collective pain
The moment people become more aware of the dominant archetypes in themselves and how these influence their behaviour, there is also more space to make a choice in situations.
Your inner Warrior wants to fight, but for a higher purpose. Your Heart wants to connect and act from love. When we open our Heart not only to ourselves (the shadow side), but also to others, we see that our “enemies” are also human beings with their own pain and desires. We will be able to see the Wounded Child in the world leaders of this moment….
This insight prevents us from falling into the trap of polarization and hatred ourselves. Our own archetypal Heart teaches the Warrior in us and around us not to work against, but with others. To resolve conflicts with compassion instead of violence.
This is easier said than done. Because in the end it also requires different behaviour from those world leaders. This approach is ultimately only successful if every person in the world looks for the positive side of his or her inner Warrior. So we all can make the shift from ‘fighting’ to ‘standing up’….
Some people will say: “Oh keep on dreaming! That will never happen. But….
It only takes one snowflake to cause an avalanche… This means that you and I can also be that snowflake… So, let’s start and cause together a positive avalanche.
From Control to Trust
The shadow side of the Warrior wants to control everything. The Heart teaches us to let go and trust. It reminds us that we don’t have to control everything, but that we can also receive, feel and move with life. This is essential in a world where fear and uncertainty often take over and determine the choices we make.
“Fear is a bad counselor,” my grandmother always said. Do you know your fear? And above all , do you recognize him?
We often associate strength and being strong with toughness, but our archetypal Heart teaches us that vulnerability requires strength and courage. Daring to show your fears, sadness and insecurities is an act of true strength. This prevents us from living in an armor of cynicism or aggression.
From Ego to Eco
In the Western patriarchal world, we have labeled ‘having status and power’ for years as ‘being successful’. But we have only highlighted this form of success from the individual perspective. The Ego side…. We turned a blind eye to the fact that status, power and growth of companies, for example, often came at the expense of the well-being of employees or the environment due to the pollution caused by their growth. With all the consequences that entails.
In this way, we have collectively fed the shadow side of our inner Warriors. The shadow side of the Warrior only fights for the ego, for recognition, status, or power.
Because we collectively highlighted success in such a one-sided way, we also did not see a part of ourselves, nor of the people around us. In other words, ‘these parts of us were left in the shadows…’. People’s potential has been lost in this way. Talents remained untapped. People were collectively not given the space to live fully, because we had to meet all kinds of expectations en masse (for example, that we were going to earn more and more money, or live in an increasingly larger house, or have a faster car, etc).
Our archetypal Heart reminds us that we don’t live only for ourselves. From Ego to Eco. Every person – even your greatest enemy – experiences the most satisfaction when he or she can serve something greater than himself out of love and creativity.
Our archetypal Heart thus ensures that our inner Warriors fight not only for themselves, but for the well-being of all of us.
Why this Balance Is So Important Right Now!
We live in a time when the shadow side of the Warrior is visible everywhere: in politics, media, and even in our personal relationships. Polarization, aggression and power struggles are the order of the day.
The archetypal Heart offers a counterbalance. It reminds you and me that true change doesn’t come from fighting alone. That usually degenerates into a power game and selfishness.
Someone who fights a battle out of love, connection and inner wisdom is actually combative in a totally different way. He or she consciously works with the archetype Heart. In this way we can transform the Warrior in ourselves and in the world. We then learn not to fight against something, but to stand up for something and through that we build something new.
We then build a world in which strength and compassion go hand in hand and not only benefit individuals, but also the greater whole.
The Heart as a Compass
The archetypal Heart is therefore not a woke weak counterpart to the Warrior. It is precisely the source of true power. Your Heart ensures that your Warrior does not get lost in his shadow, but that he can support you, so that you can use your potential to the fullest.
In a world that seems to be getting harder and more aggressive, it is important to pay more attention to our inner Heart again. It reminds us that we are not only warriors, but also human beings with a deep desire for connection, love and meaning.
Do you notice that you are in a situation where the shadow side of your Heart and your Warrior are colluding? Ask yourself this question: “What if I look at this from a Love perspective?
And you will notice that your inner archetypes will give different answers. Perhaps there are also other archetypes on it that will help you in this difficult situation. And let that be the goal of working with archetypes.
Frédérique te Dorsthorst – de Muij
Balanced Story
February 2026
