Why are we Pathologizing What Gives the Soul Wings

I’ve noticed in some therapeutic circles there is a tendency to casually discard the puer/puella archetype—to flatten it into a “stage” to grow out of, a pathology to be corrected, a phase to mature beyond.

The puer/puella refers to the “eternal youth” within the psyche—spirited, untamed, imaginative, mercurial.

This figure lives close to the gods, close to the spirit of imagination.

It resists conformity, not out of immaturity, but out of deep allegiance to the soul’s creative call.

I feel that this archetype is often confined to psychology’s dominant lens—the developmental one.

The puer/puella is then offered up as a symptom of some failure to mature and grow beyond a particular stage.

The stereotypical “Peter Pan” who needs to grow up and “get grounded.”

The usual prescriptions?

They say these folks need initiation.

To evolve toward the mother, crone, father, or senex.

As if those are the only valid destinations for the soul’s unfolding.

But what if the puer/puella is not a problem to be fixed, but a unique image to be honored?

I work with a handful of young artists—actors, storytellers, filmmakers, and writers—I see the puer/puella alive and radiant in their souls.

To reduce their inspiring vitality, which defies the culturally acceptable limits and structure, and tell them they need to be different is to betray the imaginal life that fuels their unique artistry and vision.

Soul murder.

As Hillman reminds us, the image that claims us is not asking us to fit into society’s acceptable personas—it’s asking for devotion. Intimacy. Attention.

Maturity is not always about adapting out of what is into something else.

It is not always about outgrowing the image that seizes your soul.

It’s about staying true to it.

Devotion to the puer/puella is staying true to its vision.

Deepening and “developing” your relationship with it.

Letting it ripen you from the inside out.

This is staying true to an inherent part of our own innate structure.

When we turn away from it—when we force “development”-we subtly abandon this figure; we don’t evolve, we sicken, at least from the soul's perspective.

Let the puer/puella create.

Let them fly.

Let them dance at the edge of things.

Not because it’s practical.

But because it’s enlivening and soulful.

It is not immaturity—it is imagination.

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Inspired by:

Hillman, J. (2005). Senex and Puer: James Hillman uniform edition Vol. 3. Spring Publications.