Archetypes

Not one of Caroline Myss's most teachable moments

What disappointed you about Archetypes?

Listening to Caroline Myss's previous series on this subject entitled "Sacred Contracts" awakened my soul. I earnestly studied most of her works. I can't help but notice, however, that she has become increasingly cynical and condescending of human nature. I feel that I spend more time listening to her lecture those of us willing to learn and seeking growth about how little we know or can accomplish because of our inadequate courage. I realize that in all of her years as an intuitive and teacher she has encountered many individuals unwilling to act on the information she's offered, but I wish that she would have rather focused her energy on those ready and willing to learn and follow through. Although she still possesses the ability to stir her compassion and surprise us with insightful gems of her expansively wide perspective, far too often she pairs that surprise with a handful of cynical, rigid, and harsh opinions. I love her dearly as a fellow spirit and wish her well, but I think I'm done following her new work.

What could Caroline Myss have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Taking a step back from the fire of her own experiences and resting a bit longer in the lovely compassion that has guided her work since her earliest days in intuitive energy would have allowed the message to come across with love rather than superiority and anger.

Any additional comments?

I wholeheartedly recommend her earlier recordings on archetypes. In this work, Caroline Myss contradicts many of her own earlier stated conclusions, but this time she offers no anecdotal or observed reasoning behind the complete contradictions. In "Sacred Contracts," for instance, she discussed archetypes existing in cycles of time and being replaced by new groups of archetypes. In this workshop, however she directly states that once you identify an archetype no effort or circumstance will alter the experience of that archetype for the duration of your lifetime. Whereas she previously offered a plethora of information to explain how she arrived at her theories on "Sacred Contacts," I'm inclined to believe she is frequently venting her anger and frustration at unfulfilled potential among many who've followed her work; or, more realistically, I believe she is railing against her frustration at her own unfulfilled desires.I can not state emphatically enough how much I adore and recommend the breadth of Ms. Myss's work. Since I first heard her in 1998, I've been blessed and pleasantly surprised by the turns she takes in translating her findings into living actions. The applications of her ideas and thoughts on using our energy creatively have literally transformed my life. For that reason, I can not recommend this seminar. I wouldn't want someone to expect this heavy-handed approach to sum up her talent, although she has always been notorious for her snarky style of wit. Please don't let the sentiment that pervades this seminar color your impression of her work as a whole.

16 of 17 people found this review helpful

Not the book. Unpleasant 4 hour lecture.

Any additional comments?

I am very disappointed in this recording. I bought it as it is listed as an unabridged recording of the book "Archetypes" by Caroline Myss and I wanted to do a read/listen approach to this book. It is NOT a reading of this book at all. Myss riffs off the concepts in her book, but it is in NO WAY a recording of the book itself. This was disappointing to me once I realized it.

Additionally, Myss was disappointing to me. She is impassioned and engaged in her presentation, which I enjoyed, but she is also often judgmental, occasionally righteous, and sometimes downright offensive. She belittles some religious beliefs and/or practices of both Christianity and what she calls "Paganism" (worshipping the Egyptian goddess Isis), neither of which sat well with me. Additionally, she comes across several times as angry and aggressive and I could almost hear her pointing her finger at the listener as she uses "YOU!" frequently and rarely includes herself in anything she is suggesting making it sound as though she has figured life out and we are just the poor sots who are still attempting to do something with our lives.

I kept listening thinking it might improve. I was excited when after two hours we got to the archetypes part, thinking she would talk about...archetypes. Instead, she talked about how she was or wasn't this archetypes and tell random non-related stories where I would listen forgetting which archetype she was even still discussing. It was so all over the place. When she finished one archetype, I thought to myself, "did she even talk about that one at all?"

I have been interested in archetypes for almost two decades and have spent a significant amount of time studying them as well, so I was very excited to see this listed in Audible's library. Sadly, it did not measure up. While there are moments of good content, for the most part, it felt like 4 hours of being lectured AT by an angry teacher who knows best and doesn't respect what the student might already know as well.

I will be returning the other recording of Myss' that I purchased at the same time I bought this one. I will read her work in book form, but I won't put myself through another listening experience of this sort again.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Archetypes

I love Caroline and everything she has to offer, but her frequent bitching, humiliating, and screaming at us listeners of late has gotten out of hand. "Go put your head in the toilet ...." Really?! Walk the talk, lady! I don't think you are making the point you think you are...

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Very disappointed

I had expected something totally different.... like the actual text of a book being read, not a lecture. Especially, by a woman that appears to be angry, condescending and inflated by her own sense of importance. I would not recommend this audio book to others, although I may invest in the written text and give it another try.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Just a Recap - Nothing New

This book is just a rehash of Caroline's older work in archetypes. It's nice, but there's nothing new in this book and it's not even that detailed. If you really want to delve into all the archetypes you should get the Language of Archetypes. It's much more detailed in its descriptions and it covers all the bases. And if you're interested in how to use archetypes to help you find your path in life, you should go for Sacred Contracts rather than this book.

6 of 9 people found this review helpful

Glad I finally got this one

Had this on my wishlist forever and glad I finally listened. I think the negative reviews and comments on the author are a little off. Granted, she sometimes does sound like she's yelling at you :) but to me it has the quality of an impassioned preacher. I think when spiritual teachers take this stance it's because they are trying to get you to disidentify from what is false in you. Anyway, my two cents. The recording is a series of talks rather than a book literally being read, but I liked that.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Angry regurgitated information

It was like I was listening to my neighbor tell the same story, which she has told 20 times, waiting for the new information. The new gems of wisdom never came. All the information is great if this is your very first introduction to Caroline Myss. Certainly, I must have listened to this out of sequence! Nope.

The delivery was jarring. A section would start off so soft that I needed to turn up the volume, but then suddenly, the angry shouting would commence and leave me startled. I am from Chicago, so I am desensitized to the accent, but not sudden bursts of shouting accompanied with a constant gurgle (as if the throat needed to be cleared) was painful to absorb. I enjoy listening to audio books while working in my office, but this one had to be saved for the solitary car ride.

Thank God it was only 4 hours.

The self-righteous vitriol was over the top!

This could have been good but for Myss’s almost out of control moral lecturing and scolding.

She does have a tendency to get on her high horse - perhaps losing site of the level of psych-spiritual development of her audience, but in this presentation she went over the top.

Unnecessary tangential commentary full of almost finger-wagging moralizing on points which absolutely did not move the teaching forward.

She claims to be a great teacher. I beg to differ. A great teacher does not convolute the material with personal moral judgementalism, nor rant at her students from a self-righteous high horse.

As the years go by I watch as Myss’s considerable knowledge and insights get increasingly drowned out by her almost screeching vitriol over issues many of us sorted out a couple of decades ago.

Very unfortunate.

This is not the book it is a lecture

I found the lecture interesting and useful, but it is misrepresented as the book. Be well.

All in Archetypes

I marveled over this speech. Caroline's description and explanation of the archetypes is amazing. However I still feel like they all were a little lumped together. This may be my own challenge to conquer. All in all its just like everything else she's written or spoke upon. Repeat seems to be her pattern but with any great visionary.... That I guess is needed. For we are only 1st floor humans.