The King is one of the seven soul types or ‘roles in essence’. A King soul is a natural-born leader with an innate sense of power and personal authority.
“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.” — Queen Elizabeth I of England
“Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred.” — Donald Trump (describing himself)
“I believe in benevolent dictatorship … provided I am the dictator.” — Richard Branson
Contents
“Make It So”
Like Warriors, Kings are action-oriented souls. But whereas Warriors are attracted to action on the front line, as it were, King souls prefer to be in a commanding position from which they can oversee and run the entire operation.
The name “King” reflects the fact that such souls have a commanding presence, an innate power and even a regal air about them. King souls are born leaders and others will tend to automatically look to them for leadership and direction. Their raison d’être is to assume command and take charge, not just being the ultimate decision-maker but also the one who takes ultimate responsibility.
King souls tend to see the world around them as their personal chess-board — and others are pieces to be moved about. They have a knack for orchestration and tactical manoeuvring, and are happy making far-reaching decisions that affect many people.
As an example of a King soul in action, here is a clip of Katherine Hepburn arriving at a TV studio for an interview. Note how quickly she is able to take charge:
Positive and Negative Poles
[As a reminder, any manifestation of consciousness has both a positive pole and a negative pole. The positive pole is an expression of the true self or soul; the negative pole is an expression of the false self or ego.]
In the positive pole of their essence, mastery, King souls are completely autonomous, powerful and responsible, in charge of both themselves and their surroundings to good effect. They can achieve unity of effort and synergy of action, empowering others to achieve great things. They give power to others rather than take it from them. A great leader, it is said, is one who creates more leaders, not followers.
In the negative pole, tyranny, they are more like puppet masters, merely “playing” people as pawns for their own selfish ends. At times they can be callous, imperious, tyrannical, despotic.
King Soul Characteristics
Unlike any other Role, King souls appear to be in full possession of themselves. Internal conflict is not something they struggle with very often. Self-assuredness is part of their very nature. Self-doubt is almost unknown.
This might sound great, but it means that King souls have little insight into the inner struggles of others. They can be terribly insensitive to things that make most people feel uncomfortable. Simon Cowell is a perfect example of this.
As a prime example from fiction, think of the James Bond character: highly autonomous and masterful in himself, but at times cruel and heartless in his use of other people. This was aptly demonstrated by Sean Connery, himself a King soul.*
*(Daniel Craig currently plays Bond more like a Warrior than a King, IMHO.)
King souls are naturally dominant in life and therefore not happy in submissive roles — even as the youngest member of the family, a child King will want to rule the roost.
Throughout life, King souls will tend to assume leadership and responsibility with little effort on their part. Nevertheless, they are not always in actual positions of power. Like all other souls, Kings will experience life from every possible angle — this is important for the sake of balance. They can be beggars as well as presidents.
Wherever they are, however, they will still emanate Kingly qualities: assertiveness, directness, self-assuredness, and an aura of certainty, power and authority.
Numerous movie and theatre directors are King souls, such as Sir David Lean and James Cameron. As actors, King souls such as Tommy Lee Jones excel of course at playing dominant, autocratic characters.
Facially, Kings tend to be distinguished by
- very solid features — meaty or even stone-like;
- a very muscular, well-defined jaw (think of the classic square-jawed hero);
- a no-nonsense, all-knowing, commanding expression;
- a kind of fearless, “king of the jungle” stare.
Like Warriors, their head shape tends to be quite angular.
King Soul Evolution
As a reminder, all souls progress through five cycles of self-evolution in physical form (see: Reincarnation: the 35 Steps.)
| In the second cycle, Baby Kings tend to be ultra-conservative leaders in small communities — the town mayor, the chief of police, the mafia boss. There are exceptions, of course. Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini was in charge of a nation. The same may become true of the former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. |  |
| Young Kings are natural empire builders capable of grand achievement. Some famous examples include Alexander the Great, Mark Antony, Catherine the Great, John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, John Paul Getty, William Randolph Hearst, Billy Graham, Donald Trump, Alan Sugar, Simon Cowell and Mitt Romney. Many tycoons are Young Kings. |  |
| Mature Kings like Queen Elizabeth I, Katherine Hepburn, James Garner, Sam Neill, Madeleine Albright, Kiri Te Kanawa and Richard Branson seek to use their leadership and commanding presence more thoughtfully and creatively, such as in the arts. |  |
| Old Kings seek to become masters of their own power for the good of society or the world at large. Examples include Alice Miller, Lorenzo de’Medici, Richard Feynman and Neem Karoli Baba. Worldly power becomes less important. Towards the end of the cycle, quite a few become homeless wanderers — “kings of the road”. |  |
Very rarely, an Old King who has finished reincarnating will return to physical life to serve as a spiritual master, an avatar, the Truth made flesh. Examples include Buddha and Jesus.
A gallery of King souls
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SERVER | ARTISAN | WARRIOR | SCHOLAR | SAGE | PRIEST | KING
Up to: Soul Types: The Seven Roles in Essence