Archetype Carriers

You don't understand why, but you always seem to attract the worst people in your life. You were abused as a child and it seems like there's no way out for you. Abusive people just follow you around.

Your friends and your therapist tell you "Think positive!" So, you think "Okay, this time he's going to be someone who respects me, loves me, takes care of me." You don't anticipate bad things. You look for the good. 

When the first incident happens, you ask yourself what you did to cause it. You know you must have done something. Your friends say you should look at yourself and not blame others.

But nothing fixes the problem.

This person is enacting the victim archetype. Along with the victim archetype, she is "carrying" the perpetrator archetype. In this particular combination, it's easy to see the pair: where there's a victim, there's an abuser/perpetrator. But even in this case, it is not easy to find the point of origin, to see where the dance begins. And in most other archetype pairs, it is not as easy to identify the pair.

Despite the fact that victim and abuser are on opposite poles, archetypes pairs are not opposites, per se. They are simply tongue and groove. They fit together.

Can you think of any examples from you life? (Post in comments.)