Activity Five – The Clown

 

Personally speaking, I don’t associate the clown archetype
with the fool. At the same time, I hadn’t considered the clown
one of archetypes.

My associations came about unexpectedly while working on an
altered book project in 2005. I also had joined an on-line
yahoo group called ‘SoulCollage’ and started making the cards
based upon Seena B. Frost’s book, ‘SoulCollage’ – An Intuitive
Collage Process for Individuals and Groups. I enrolled in an
on-line course called, ‘Transformative Doll Making’, the author
and instructor being Pamela Hastings. Last but not least this
journey of discovery started in about 2002 with another altered
book project based upon Caroline Myss’s book, ‘Sacred Contracts’.

***  all links are located in the sidebar of this blog

While working on the project in 2005 extraordinary insights
started to occur for me.

1- the same images, symbols, and numbers repeated themselves
through my artwork
2- archetypes I had not used in the altered book project of
2005 coincided with those I did use.
*** example – the lonely child and the clown
3- I found each type could not exist without the other
4- combined, clearly they make up the whole person in a conjoined
manner

The lonely child could not exist without the clown. The clown
would not have come into being without the lonely child.

The clown allows me freedom and yet is vital to my existence.
One of the gifts the clown gives is the freedom of speech. I
can be sarcastic – its okay – she is so…ooo funny. She is never
serious or deep. The clown residing in me uses humor to manage
an apartment complex with deeply, anxious tenants. The clown,
through humor can defuse anxious situations. I am not taken seriously,
not liked and not disliked. I maintain a neutral position. I am in
reality a very serious person. This is my way of coping and
this is my bread and butter.

In ‘Sacred Contracts’ the clown archetype is described as having
three major characteristics – making people laugh, making them
cry and wearing a mask that covers one’s real emotions.

Perhaps and more often than not we all have found ourselves
in situations where the archetype of the clown has surfaced.
If you have had such a time create a card or collage representing
the clown.

~ by Patricia Hine Stewart on April 9, 2007.