Our Lady of Sorrows: Archetype of the Soul in Initiation

Our Lady of Sorrows: Archetype of the Soul in Initiation

Christian Ortíz.

"Stabat Mater dolorosa,

juxta crucem lacrimosa,

dum pendebat Filius."

("The sorrowful Mother stood weeping beside the Cross while her Son hung there.")

— Stabat Mater, Jacopone da Todi

The image of Our Lady of Sorrows, venerated with special devotion during Holy Week, transcends its religious context to emerge as a deeply rooted archetypal figure within the collective unconscious. Her heart, pierced by seven swords, not only evokes the most painful moments in Mary’s life as the mother of Jesus, but also symbolizes a spiritual map of the soul’s transformation—particularly the feminine soul. From the perspective of Carl Gustav Jung’s analytical psychology, she embodies a process of individuation marked by suffering, loss, and the integration of mystery. In dialogue with comparative religion and traditional iconography, Our Lady of Sorrows becomes a universal symbol of spiritual maturation.

The Sorrowful Mother as an Archetypal Symbol

In Jungian terms, Our Lady of Sorrows can be understood as a manifestation of the Mother archetype in its dark, transformative aspect. Unlike the nurturing “good mother,” the Dolorosa represents the mother who accompanies grief, who suffers with the incarnated soul, and who integrates pain as a necessary part of spiritual growth. She is not an idealized mother, but one shaped by sorrow—thus more human, more accessible to the soul.

This archetype finds parallels in other spiritual traditions: Isis mourning Osiris, Demeter searching for Persephone, Kuan Yin embracing the world’s suffering. The Dolorosa resonates with a constellation of feminine symbols marked by compassion, strength, and resilience—feminine figures who do not avoid pain, but embrace it as an initiatory threshold.

Holy Week and the Collective Psychic Drama

During Holy Week, the image of Our Lady of Sorrows is not merely an object of devotion but a living presence within the collective drama enacted in processions and rituals. In these ceremonies, where the Sorrowful Mother follows her son bearing the cross or holds him lifeless in her arms, a symbolic ritual unfolds in which the community projects its own pain, loss, and hope for redemption.

From an analytical lens, this sacred drama can be seen as an alchemical process: the soul (Mary) witnesses the crucifixion of the ego (Jesus) and prepares for the mystery of transformation (the resurrection). Holy Week thus becomes a psychospiritual dramatization of the soul’s journey from darkness toward light.

The Seven Swords as Stages in the Feminine Soul’s Initiation

The image of the heart pierced by seven swords can be interpreted as an initiatory map of the feminine soul—a path of descent, dispossession, integration, and rebirth. These stages are not linear, nor exclusive to women, but they resonate profoundly with the deep feminine, as explored by authors such as Clarissa Pinkola Estés (1992), Marion Woodman (1990), and Jean Shinoda Bolen (1994).

• The Prophecy of Simeon

Stage: Revelation of the soul’s destiny

A forewarning of inevitable pain. As in myth, the soul’s journey begins with a dark calling—an initiation marked by the rupture of innocence.

• The Flight into Egypt

Stage: Exile from the former self

Uprooting, loss of security, the inner desert begins. A symbolic descent into the unknown.

• The Loss of the Child in the Temple

Stage: Spiritual disorientation and loss of meaning

A fall into the void—a crisis of faith or identity. Necessary for the emergence of a deeper self.

• The Encounter with Jesus on the Way to Calvary

Stage: Confrontation with others' suffering

Acknowledging one’s powerlessness, bearing witness to the pain of others. Learning to love without rescuing.

• The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus

Stage: Symbolic death of the ego

The ultimate crisis: loss of meaning, collapse of ideals. Like the alchemical nigredo, everything dissolves.

• The Descent from the Cross

Stage: Conscious mourning and acceptance of sorrow

Contact with raw truth. The birth of mature compassion and radical empathy.

• The Burial of Jesus

Stage: Surrender and the seed of rebirth

The soul surrenders to the mystery. A new cycle begins—though not yet visible.

Iconography and the Art of Our Lady of Sorrows

Throughout the history of art, the Dolorosa has been portrayed with striking emotional force. From Baroque sculptures that process through the streets of Spain and Latin America, to Renaissance and contemporary paintings, her serene yet anguished face conveys a kind of tragic wisdom.

In many depictions, seven swords visibly pierce her heart, while her hands rest crossed in her lap in a gesture of surrender. The number seven symbolizes the wholeness of the initiatory cycle and connects to the traditional planets, evoking a cosmology of the soul in transit.

Our Lady of Sorrows is not only a figure of Catholic devotion but a symbol of the soul that passes through pain and transforms it into wisdom. Her pierced heart is not a sign of defeat but of initiation—a living image of the feminine that dares to descend, grieve, and be reborn.

For those walking the path of healing and consciousness, the Dolorosa offers a silent yet powerful guide: do not fear pain, for behind it lies the mystery of the soul.

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References

Bolen, J. S. (1994). Goddesses in Everywoman. Kairós Publishing.

Estés, C. P. (1992). Women Who Run with the Wolves. Grijalbo.

Jung, C. G. (1959). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Trotta Publishing.

Pinkola Estés, C. (1993). The Wild Garden of the Soul. Random House.

von Franz, M.-L. (1996). Psychotherapy. Paidós.

Woodman, M. (1990). The Ravaged Bridegroom: Masculinity in Women. Kairós Publishing.

Original post here.