THE PUELLA
This archetype has been living in me for a while, and called to explore. It started as an “eternal child”, but today it has finally landed in a clearer image and a name from a Jungian article - PUELLA. And to be honest, I faced part of myself.
(Latin puella aeterna = “eternal girl”) is the feminine soul-pattern of youthfulness, possibility, magic, and becoming. She is not about age or gender - she is about attitude toward life. You can be 18 or 80 and live from Puella energy. As an archetype, Puella can manifest in any person (regardless of gender or biological sex).
In psychology, Puella doesn’t mean a young girl in real life. It means a certain way of being inside - a symbolic pattern in the human psyche. The term Puella comes from Latin and evokes the “young feminine on the brink of becoming… at a crossroads.” Puella represents creativity, imagination, fluidity, and often a sense of potentiality and difference, a challenge to fixed traditional patterns and a call toward innovation and redefinition.
It’s the part of a person that stays open, dreamy, curious, emotional, creative and full of longing. The part that believes life should feel meaningful, beautiful, and alive, not just functional.
Puella energy is connected to imagination, creativity, intuition and the desire for something more. Not necessarily more money or success, but more feeling, more truth, more depth, more magic. It’s the part of us that doesn’t want life to be dry or mechanical.
People with a strong Puella energy usually have rich inner worlds. They feel deeply, notice small details, love beauty, art, atmosphere and emotions. They often sense things rather than analyse them. They care about what life means, not only about what it produces.
When this energy is HEALTHY, it brings creativity, sensitivity, emotional intelligence and a feeling of freshness. It keeps life from becoming empty and robotic. It’s the reason some people paint, write, daydream, fall in love with places, songs, colours, moods. Puella keeps the soul soft.
But Puella has a SHADOW side too.
Chronic incompletion. Projects remain ideas. Potential doesn’t become form. Escape patterns: Fantasy > commitment. Longing > living. Fear of limitation. Anything that asks you to “be here fully” feels like a cage. Romantic inflation. People are ideals, not humans. Love becomes a projection screen. Dependency on rescue. Waiting (often unconsciously) for someone or something to arrive and deliver you into life. Melancholy without cause.
A vague sadness… because life never matches the dream.
Identity fluidity without an anchor. You shape-shift rather than root.
The deeper fear behind Puella is not being young.
It’s being stuck.
Stuck in a boring life.
Stuck in roles that don’t fit.
Stuck in a version of life that feels too small.
Puella doesn’t fear work or responsibility. She fears losing herself.
SO HOW DO YOU WORK WITH THIS ENERGY?
Not by forcing yourself to “grow up” in a cold way. And not by floating forever in dreams.
Puella needs a bridge between imagination and reality.
She becomes healthier when creativity has a place to go: painting, writing, making, or building something slowly. When life has a bit of rhythm. When dreams are turned into small real actions. When beauty is welcomed into everyday life, not waited for in some distant future.
The goal isn’t to get rid of Puella. The goal is to give her a life in the real world. When you do that, she stops running from life and starts feeding it.
In simple words:
Puella is the part of us that wants life to feel real, beautiful and meaningful. And she suffers when life becomes too empty, too rushed or too numb.
1. GIVE HER FORM (this is non-negotiable)
Dreams must become objects.
Creativity time. Finished pieces. Ritual. Structure. Morning practices. Magic survives when it has a container.
“If you don’t give Puella form, she dissolves into sadness.”
2. PRACTICE GENTLE COMMITMENT
Not lifelong vows. But small embodied promises.
• same café• same walk• same work hour• same notebook• same brush
Repetition is what turns a dream into self.
3. DATE REALITY DELIBERATELY
Instead of waiting for “the right life”, romanticise the ugly parts. Adore the awkward phases. Make rituals out of dishes and dust.
That’s how she matures into Magician / Muse / Mother / Queen.
4. SEPARATE LONGING FROM LOVE
If “but something is missing” follows every relationship, it’s probably not the person. It’s Puella looking for paradise through romance. Learn to ask: “Am I loving the human, or worshipping my own dream?”
5. EMBODY HER
Puella is often disconnected from the body.
Work with:• sensual rituals• long showers• dance• scent• touch• slow eating• body-based practices
Presence returns fantasy to flesh.
6. INVITE HER COUNTER-ARCHETYPE: THE ADULT WOMAN
She doesn’t destroy Puella. She stabilises her.
This might look like:• budgeting• scheduling• saying no• caring for your body• choosing sustainability over thrill.
HEALTHY MANTRA FOR PUELLA
“I can love magic without escaping life.”
“I am allowed to belong to the real world.”
“Dreams grow stronger inside form.”
“Beauty doesn’t vanish when I commit — it deepens.”
Artwork for a monograph on female archetypes in poetry and literature. Collected by Ina Vandewijer. (Unfortunately, I coudnt find the name of the artist for these beautiful Puella creations)