With this month’s focus on the prostitute, we arrive at the last of the four “survival” archetypes all of us hold in common, according to Caroline Myss. I focused on another of the four, the saboteur, in last month’s column, and if you haven’t checked out that article yet, you might want to do so as a way of gaining additional insight about the prostitute.
The saboteur is the part of you that would undermine your forward progress by interfering, blocking or tripping you up – or used consciously, it may serve to warn you of the potential to do so. The prostitute, on the other hand, gives away entirely your power to move forward! Under the influence of the prostitute, you may either give away your power, your principles, or your talent to someone or something else, or you might try to gain a false sense of power by taking away someone else’s. If you are working consciously with the archetype, you will be warned of this potential and be able to make the changes called for to maintain your own genuine power.
In numerology, the dynamic of the prostitute might often be associated with the even numbers two, four, six and sometimes eight because, as I explained last month, the even numbers represent more feminine, passive, connecting energy. The contracted or negative approach for working with this energy would include giving away your own comfort, needs, desires, wisdom or ability into someone else’s control – with the perception that this action is needed for your own well-being and safety.
You might also rationalize this tactic by convincing yourself that it is really for another’s well-being or security, but this view really indicates that you under-value your own well-being. Two and four energies in particular focus on the well-being of others with a strong sense of empathy that can be positive and constructive – or misguided when clouded by insecurity.
The imbalance comes from a lack of grounding energy or sense of connection with your own essential nature, and may appear as an over-abundance of even number energy in your chart. If you have prominent twos or sixes in your core numbers (the five major numbers that comprise a numerology chart,) or if the same number pops up in different areas of your chart, or if your name contains several even numbers and is missing some of the odd numbers, you may be susceptible to the negative use of the prostitute energy.
If that describes you, don’t be discouraged! It really means that with conscious focus, you can turn a potentially challenging influence into a great strength, where you maintain clear boundaries and don’t “sell out” your own spirit or place anyone else in the position of doing so. In fact, you may be particularly well-suited to use your sense of empathy and the enlightened aspect of the prostitute in helping other people who struggle to stand up for their own power in the world.
I am a firm believer that we teach best what we ourselves have struggled to learn, because we have walked both the dark and the light side of the path. So if you have struggled to work in a conscious way with the prostitute energy in your life, take heart; you have the capability to be of service in a way that empowers both you and others.
By the numbers, the other possibility for an unconscious use of the prostitute archetype would be that you are willing to control someone else’s power in a misguided attempt to add to your own. This approach is more likely if you have significant odd number energy in the core numbers of your chart, keeping in mind that odd numbers representing more masculine, active, initiative-taking energy.
In fact, one particular odd number might be expected to struggle with this possibility: five, derived from the number fourteen (by adding together the one and the four.) Fourteen, along with the numbers thirteen, sixteen and nineteen, is considered a karmic number. The fourteen may indicate that you are working out and clearing energy and experience from a previous incarnation in this lifetime – a good opportunity, but not always easy!
Fourteen as karmic energy represents “abuse of freedom.” With fourteen energy, especially in the core numbers, you may have abused someone else’s freedom in a previous incarnation. This time around, you have an opportunity to learn more deeply about that action, perhaps by experiencing the opposite role, completing the experience and transforming your sense of power and freedom forever.
Conversely, you may have been the one giving away your own power, lifetime after lifetime after lifetime… and now you are here to stop.
Remember, life is all about transformation, and however it happens is a beautiful thing! So the prostitute archetype, as reflected in the numbers of our soul’s numerological blueprint, is not to be feared, but embraced as a profound vehicle of transformation.
Worked with unconsciously, the archetype might make for rocky going sometimes! Worked with consciously, and with great self-respect and love, the prostitute archetype may be the most powerful tool at your disposal. As always with all the numbers and archetypes, the best part is – you get to choose how to work with them!