Boudoir… and The 7 Feminine Archetypes
I love the idea of approaching your boudoir shoot with the 7 Feminine Archetypes in mind.
Every woman who comes in for a boudoir photoshoot session brings her very own own unique energy and vibe into the Silk & Lace studio. That’s inevitable. As their photographer and guide through the experience, it’s my job to pick up on this energy – to see it, respect it, love it, help it shine, and celebrate the hell out of it.
And I usually can’t help myself but try to figure out which of the 7 Feminine Archetypes my clients end up channeling most dominantly during their shoot.
The Feminine Archetypes are universal… they connect us to each other
What I love most about the concept of the 7 Feminine Archetypes is that it’s universal – women from all over the world and throughout all time have embodied the varying traits and characteristics of the different archetypes. It makes me feel connected to the women around me.
And while elements of each archetype reside within all of us, there is usually one that is most dominant in every woman.
In case you’re not familiar, the 7 Archetypes are a range of feminine energies that every woman embodies to some degree. They are:
The Maiden
She embodies youthfulness, a sincere and trusting nature, and a romanticism without cynicism.
The Mother
A natural caregiver. Nurturing, resilient, protective, and down-to-earth. She’s often the one people go to for advice and comfort.
The Sage
She is practical, wise, and organized. Often independent and motivated by the pursuit of knowledge.
The Lover
Secure in her body and self, she is sensuous, present, and magnetic to others.
The Queen
She is confident. She knows what she wants and makes it happen. With or without a powerful partner, she can build empires. Extroverted, a born leader, the Queen is someone people unite around.
The Mystic
She is introspective, intuitive, and often referred to as an old soul. She values home, spirituality, and connection. Often drawn to less conventional paths.
The Huntress
Naturally independent and unconcerned with what others think of her, she is goal-driven and doesn’t give up. An advocate for justice, she feels called to fix the wrongs of the world.
Tapping into your feminine archetypes can be transformative
Another thing I love about the 7 Feminine Archetypes is the fact that, very much like boudoir, the process of identifying which ones are at work within yourself can be transformative. They build on your understanding of what makes you YOU, which is easy fuel for positive action and change.
Assuming my clients are familiar with The 7 Feminine Archetypes, a question I love to ask them in the lead-up to their shoot is: Which Archetype would you most like to connect with and capture during your boudoir shoot?
Keep in mind, our dominant archetype can change depending on what stage of life we find ourselves in. And if we’re lucky, we can eventually tap into and activate traits from all of them.
So for your boudoir shoot, you might choose to tap into an older archetype that you embodied in a previous stage of life. Or maybe you want to dig deep for characteristics of an archetype you know is there, but that hasn’t seen much daylight yet.
Or perhaps it’s thrilling enough to simply lean further into the archetype you currently embody most dominantly, and really let it have its moment.
Some of the archetypes I see most often at the studio…
A common archetype I see in the studio is that of the Maiden. A lot of my clients are young brides-to-be, freshly bloomed into that exhilarating phase of womanhood, and it’s very much the energy they bring.
The Mother is another common one, and one of my favorites. I love doing maternity shoots. But I also see The Mother’s energy being embodied by women who have older children. Or no children at all. It’s a full-on vibe for any age!
And of course there’s always at least some Lover energy floating around. It is a boudoir studio, after all.
One of my favorite clients brought in some of the strongest Queen vibes I’ve ever felt. She had both survived a lot and achieved a lot, and was doing her shoot entirely for herself as a reward for what she’d recently been through.
In her case, all of her poses were dynamic and beautiful. And while I did get a range of expressions from her, they were all more on the intense/serious side of life. But it totally worked!
I love seeing which feminine archetypes show up for my clients
Sometimes my clients come in with an intentional energy and attitude that they’re bringing to their session, and other times they simply show up as themselves.
Either way, there is always a most-dominant archetype that presents itself, and I LOVE to see it.
Have I piqued your curiosity about yourself? If you had to pick right now, which archetype would you choose to embody during your boudoir shoot? Or which one do you think would show up on its own?
I’d love to know. xo
