Archetypes

= Archetypes: = Jung received his first sense of impersonal layers of the unconscious during a dream he had in 1909 while on his trip to America with Freud. In this dream Jung comes upon a house that had many levels, throughout the course of the dream he describes exploring the many stories of this house, stating the main floor as being the ‘present age’, the basement as being the ‘recent historical past’ and the several sub-basements as forming the ‘ancient historical past’ down to the ‘Paleolithic past’. This dream image went on to become for Jung a ‘guiding image’ for the conception of the psychic structure. Jung termed the deepest level of the human psyche as the “collective unconscious” and stated that this consisted of two ‘forces’ named archetypes and instincts.“In Jung’s view archetypes and instincts are profoundly related (Stein, M. 1998 p. 86)”.

Although Jung stated that there are no fixed number of archetypes that can be listed or memorized, there are an evident five main archetypes prevalent in Jung's theory, these are:

This is seen as “a central nucleus, responsible for integrating the whole personality” (Stevens, A. 1994 p.48).
 * The Self : **

This represents the ‘dark side’ of the ego and every bad or evil thing a person has the ability to do is stored there (Boeree, C. G. 2006).
 * The Shadow: **

This is also called the “mask”, this is represents your public image. The ‘you’ that you show to others.
 * The Persona: **

This describes the “female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men, it is likely to be associated with deep emotionality and the force of life itself” (Boeree, C. G. 2006).
 * The Anima: **

This describes the male aspect of the collective unconscious in women; this tends to be seen as the logical, rationale and even argumentative side of the woman.
 * The Animus: **

There are many other archetypes mentioned throughout Jung's theory, although these overlap and mould into one another as necessary. Many of them are linked to the main archetypes and can represent aspects of them (Jung's Archetypes, 2002). There are the family archetypes which include the mother which is seen as soft, soothing and nurturing, the father which is the stern, controlling and powerful archetype and child which represents the beginning, birth and salvation. There is also the archetype of family which represents the notion of a close blood relationship/bond. There are also archetypes that represent story characters these include the hero archetype which is seen to represent the ego, he is seen as a strong champion battling the shadow. There is also the maiden archetype who the hero is often out to rescue, she represents innocence, purity and in some instances naivete. The wise old man represents knowledge and guidance. There are also the archetypes of the magician (mystery, intrigue and power), the earth mother (the forces of nature) and the trickster (deceptive).

=Ten Archetypes by Jung = @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtXo7KqjqA8&feature=player_detailpage = Carl Jung talking about the Feminine Archetype = @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m12soJiCPcc&feature=player_detailpage

= Website to an article in relation to Carl Jung's Archetypes = []

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