The victim archetype is an interesting one. We often have no idea how much we default to this archetype because we think being the "victim" is most often about playing up our wounds to gain sympathy, and many of us would never cop to that. However, this is only one aspect of this complex pattern.
The victim archetype is one of our 4 survival archetypes that exists in all human beings aimed at allowing us to work out our karmic debt as we learn how to be the victim, perpetrator, and victor. All three are core aspects of this powerful thread.
Karma is all about how the soul strives for balance, not "punishment" we receive from evil deeds at the hands of the abusive "Father" God Almighty in the sky. Pure Love doesn't punish, folks.
If you were a strong leader in your last lifetime, you may need to learn to be the victim in this one. This is how the timeless soul achieves balance through it's evolution of the many lives it will incarnate into.
Sayings things like "I didn't deserve to be treated like that," "This isn't fair," and "Listen to what happened to me again" all indicate that the fierce victim archetype has been activated within.
It also comes alive when we live in the "shoulds" of how we think our life was supposed to be. Cue the entitlement of the victim, and the things we believe we are owed because how dare someone teach us the value of suffering...
Inherent in the victim is the perpetrator. If you have been a victim, you have surely been a perpetrator also. It may be when you victimize others by using them to enable and validate your pain, chewing their ear off with your complaining or toxic gossip, or worse, unleashing your pent up rage onto them that is truly felt for yourself and your inability to have boundaries, now making them responsible for your hooks.
We know we are in the victim when we are left feeling powerless because of our own poor personal boundaries. When we hand our power away because we fear being truthful with ourselves, we often become blinded by this victim pattern that corrupts our judgment.
While we may have had experiences of being victimized, and we may also encounter times when anyone else would have felt victimized by the circumstance, but we did not.
The victim archetype teaches us how to take 100% responsibility for the role we play in co-creating our reality with the Other, owning that our perception of the situation is our responsibility only, and deciding how we want to respond.
The higher side of the victim is the victor: using your experience of powerlessness to shift into still and subtle personal power that can only come from firm personal boundaries, all of which can't exist without grounded self-respect. The victor knows the precise message in the suffering and uses Divine wisdom, not knowledge, to transform.
Don't forget, the people who swoop into your life and adopt the role as the victimizer is someone whose soul you signed a sacred contract with. YOU assigned them the role of the villian, and some play the part beautifully.
In fact, they may have been your best friend on the other side who was willing to sacrifice themselves in this lifetime to offer you the biggest lesson one could ever receive.
And when you end this physical existence and your soul's reunite, you will high five each other for an academy award winning performance. It truly was a play for the gods.
The experience of being a victim is nothing short of a gift, a true Divine miracle...It's your call as to what you want to do with it 🎁.