The Enchantress Female Archetype
Femme fatal, seductress, siren.
The Enchantress is one of the most stigmatized female archetypes.
She represents the woman who owns her sexuality and creative power, and at her highest expression is a force to be reckoned with because she doesn’t give a damn and doesn’t tolerate BS.
Part of why this archetype is misunderstood or feared is because the Enchantress embodies the feminine mystique and trusts her intuition, which from the outside can see like witchcraft. She also embodies her female sexuality beyond motherhood. She is the sacred prostitute. She has sex for pleasure and knows what she wants and how to ask for that. Gasp!
Our modern Puritan society doesn’t know how to handle women like this.
She is an independent lady who has blazed her own path, owns her life’s decisions and bravely pursues her goals.
Interestingly this archetype is associated with the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, which is post ovulatory meaning women can no longer conceive in this phase of their cycle. Women during this phase often have a high libido and therefore have sex for pleasure.
However, when this archetype is dominant and out of balance, the woman often experiences PMS, heavy periods and mood swings before her period. This can also experience horrible hormonal fluctuations during perimenopause, which are the years leading up to menopause when hormones can be a rollercoaster akin to a reverse puberty.
For this reason the Enchantress is often depicted as the Wild Woman or Evil Villian when in reality what’s really happening is this woman is suffering from living an inathentic life due to societal or familial pressures, is burnt out from pleasing others and giving away her creative energy and feels unfulfilled as a woman.
Unfortunately, society doesn’t know how to deal with these issues and instead casts them as “crazy” or “bitchy” while the conventional medical system offers them antidepressants or the birth control pill as band-aids for their deeper unmet spiritual and emotional needs.
Another challenging aspect for this archetype is for women who are no longer in their childbearing years who have not had children. Although the woman may be mentally, emotionally and spiritually happy with her decision to not have children, her body grieves the fact that she will never be a biological mother. I talk a bit more about this in my Mother archetype blog post.
When this woman truly steps into her power when this archetype is dominant, she is like Oprah, Charlotte from Sex in the City, a diva, Madonna, and Beyonce.
When the Enchantress is out of balance, what she needs most is self love, to slow down, ask for help, and become introspective and to reclaim her female creativity.
ENCHANTRESS ARCHETYPE CHARACTERISTICS
Keywords: Intuitive, independent, brave, female sexuality, persuasive, fulfilled, confident
Moon phase: Waxing moon
Season: Autumn
Menstrual cycle: Luteal phase
Goddesses: Lilith, Aphrodite, Eve, Medea
When in balance: She is powerful, self-reliant, brings into the world her creative ideas, independent, confident, goes after what she wants and is fulfilled with or without children, trusts her intuition, in control of her life
When out of balance: Can be emotionally harsh, jealous and resentful, insecure, not in touch with her sexuality, lets others take credit for her intellectual property or creative ideas, doesn’t trust her intuition, feels as though she hasn’t lived life to the fullest, doesn’t feel like she’s in the driver’s seat in her life, untrustworthy
Similar archetypes: femme fatal, seductress, sacred prostitute, witch
If the Enchantress archetype is dominant for you and you’re experiencing many of the imbalances that I mentioned, consider signing up for my Female Wellness Healing program here.
Read my blog posts about the Mother, Maiden and Crone archetypes.
If you’re interested in working with female archetypes in your everyday life, read my blog post Working with your menstrual cycle for improved creativity and productivity here.
