The Innocent Child archetype

Deep dive on the archetype of the innocent child for The Book of Love oracle deck - WIP

Hello reader, 

Happy October, how are you doing? 

We are going to move straight into this month’s inner child archetype - if you’re not sure what I’m talking about - see last month’s post which has a bit more info on what the inner child is and what this project is about.

Today we are exploring The Innocent inner child archetype:

The innocent child is connected to the fool and the strength card in tarot and in common archetypes she is a close relation to the hero or ‘child’. 

Let’s begin by considering the word innocent, what arises in you when you hear this word? There may be associations of weakness, vulnerability, naiveté. I want to draw attention to the wise courage of innocence. The one who hasn’t needed a thousand warning messages to tangle themselves up and unfurl before a movement is made. In it’s wisdom, innocent is what we might wish all children could be, and we might cherish the aspects of innocence we still hold in adulthood too. 

The innocent is unbroken, she has true confidence which comes from a lack of artifice, a lack of suspicion or hesitation. She is able to commune with the world easily because of this almost animal relationship to nature. She attracts rather than chases, but not as a mechanism - instead as a state of being. There is a rightful purity to the innocent, and a strength is derived from this. 

When the innocent child archetype appears in its wounding, it is a protection, which is a completely human and understandable form of artifice. It is a wing drawn up over the face to stop a perceived blow. It deserves our absolute warmth. So, this is perhaps not true innocence but a mimic of innocence, and this can appear naive or vulnerable it can be unprepared or unprotected. A question to feel into this is - where might I be holding a belief that not knowing, or not protecting myself might somehow keep me safe? These beliefs may sound irrational, but they can originate if we receive the message that we need to be soft, quiet, ‘nice’, ‘good’ or overly kind in order to be worthy or avoid conflict. 

This archetype turns up as an important guide for those who feel their innocence has been tampered with. She helps us to reclaim our innate innocence and compassionately re assemble stories about our essential unbreakable and strong nature and connect to vulnerability in the world as deep strength.

The innocent child in her light aspect:

• is curious, interested, open to multiplicity

• able to connect with natural rhythms, animals easily 

• She is confident and brave

• She treats all beings as equals

• She has a sense of her own wisdom, without being overly attached to being ‘right’

• She feels an inner sense of belonging

• She is optimistic and trusting without being naive 

• She is able to speak her needs with ease

• She trusts her own and the worlds capacity to be inherently good 

• She is connected to awe and wonder 

This archetype in shadow (read these with compassion, these are logical reactions to being a new being in a world that doesn’t make sense and/or being hurt):

• Fear of abandonment, a sense of not belonging

• A need to be ‘looked after’ manifesting in either seeking or repelling this from others

• Seeking safety 

• Uses an artifice of innocence to endear others to help them

• A sense of being ‘broken’

• fearful + mistrustful 

• Can resist ‘growing up’ 

• May find it difficult to meet needs

• un-boundaried 

As with each of these archetypes we want to get curious: what is obscuring your connection to innocence in its lightest form? A belief it’s weak, not for you, lazy, frivolous, whiny, or …..? 

And can we identify ways in which we are leaning into mechanisms formed from the wounding of the innocent? Can we identify how we might be dislodged from possibility, overly serious, afraid of being seen as vulnerable, leaning into appearing inoffensive or…..?

A question I have been working with personally with this archetype is: where am I holding onto a belief that I need to be tough - and how is this affecting my ability to connect with ease?