Customer Reviews

Archetype Design: House as a Vehicle for Spirit

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A stunning vision of what a home can be -- far more than a simple utilitarian habitation. Do you cross the bridge from the external world to an expressions of your personal archetypal strength when you pass through your front door? Is your kitchen a place for creating health? Your bath a place for ritual purification -- is not brushing one's teeth a ritual? Does your livingroom invite community and foster interdependence? I could not put the book down. Vishu Magee clearly meditates and has studied the great spiritual practices of the world - it flows through his book like the Jungian collective unconsciousness that is his springboard for rethinking the meanings inherent in `home.'

Being the printer of Archetype Design, I have shared this wonderful book with prospective clients for its style and quality. To my delight I am finding they are not just reviewing its physical appearance but reading it for the spiritual content. Vishu is a spiritual guide leading us back to the days of a "Happy Home" and directing us into the future of a home for uplifting the spirit.

Vishu Magee has presented the mystical achetypes of Carl Jung in a most readable and understandable fashion. His presentation develops the archetype themes inherent in us all as spiritual beings and demonstrates how we can incorporate those archtypes in the design of our living spaces. Magee explains how we can make our house a vehicle for spiritual growth. He goes beyond simply explaining how these archetypes operate in our lives and everyday experiences. He explains how we and those around us are driven by the archtypes in everyday life and why it is important that we become aware of their existence and influence in our psyche, especially how they manifest in our lives - both outer and inner. Magee includes in the book a comprehensive planning guide that covers every aspect of creating a total environment for interfacing individual, family and community. This is truly a great contribution to spiritual, peronsal and architectural literature.

If there was a Bible on Architecture, "A Pattern Language" would be the Old Testament and "Archetype Design" would be the New Testament.

That said, this book is only pointing you in the direction you need to go to discover what your dream house is. It does offer a few insights into what works and what doesn't but it did leave me wanting.

Attend a Holotropic Breathwork workshop, learn meditation, take a Shamanic journey etc. Do what you must to discover what drives you, so you do not design a dysfunctional house.

That said, I would still recommend buying the book. I do hope the author puts out a second edition in the future, with more examples of what works and what doesn't, and with lots of colour photos.

As I began reading this book, I was struck immediately by what it told me about my own search for my home, both physically and spiritually. If the reader applies Vishu's philosophy of Archetype Design to her spiritual practice as well as building the perfect home, what a wonderful life would be guaranteed.