Archetypes

Carl Jung

Joseph Campbell

Man as a Symbol-Making Person

Are these pictures signs or symbols?

Symbols help us express what we cannot fully understand

Such as images of divinity

Dreams and Symbols

We spontaneously produce symbols in dreams.

Freud v. Jung

Freud, 1856-1939 Jung, 1875-1961

Ritual in Society

In primitive society, rituals were used to help people through rites of passage – birth, naming, puberty, marriage, burial.

In Modern Society…

We lack many of these rituals.

Or the rituals we have seem empty.

Mythology and stories help us make these transitions.

Archetypes

• Just as our body has an evolutionary history, so too does our mind.

• Archetypes = “primordial images”

• Symbols and images connect with instincts and stages of development.

Collective Unconscious

The inherited part of unconscious thought, memories, and instinct, which, according to Jungian principles, is common to members of a people and is observable through dreams and behavior

The Self

Most important archetype.

Center between consciousness and the unconscious.

The ultimate unity of the personality.

The Persona

From a Latin word for mask. It may reveal or conceal our real nature.

The persona is a compromise between what we wish to be and what the surrounding world will allow us to be.

The Shadow

Dark side of our personality.

Criticism from our unconscious.

Shadow prevails when we live out our worst nature and repress our better side.

Anima/Animus

Anima represents the feminine in men; Animus represents the masculine in women.

Our “other half”—what we need to be fully human (vs. socially determined gender roles)

The Trickster

A figure whose physical appetites dominate his behavior.

Mentality of an infant.

Cynical, cruel, and unfeeling.

Puck is one example.

The Twins

Two aspects of man’s nature.

Often introvert/extrovert.

They belong together, yet at the same time are often dangerous when together.

Symbols of the Unconscious

Caves, bodies of water, the forest, night, and the moon can symbolize the unconscious.

                                                                           

The Hero’s Journey

DEPARTURE

The Call to Adventure.

The Refusal of the Call

Daphne and Apollo Syrinx and Pan

Supernatural Aid

Theseus and Ariadne

Crossing of the First Threshold

Pan

Belly of the Whale

INITIATION: Road of Trials

Psyche and Cupid

The Atonement

“boon” such as more able fighter.

RETURN: Refusal of Return and the Magic Flight

Odysseus and the Sirens