archetypal awareness

As you become aware of the patterns and rhythms in your life and world, that awareness helps you make better choices, more centered on your values and goals.

… Sun … Mother … Child … Tree … Warrior … Trickster … Archetypal patterns repeat across human experience, on every level from personal dreams to world mythology, in nature and in culture, in physical and in imaginal forms. These essential human principles find unique form in each person’s life.

They are universal (we all relate to the idea of Mother) and personal (we each have our own unique experience of Mother). There are systems of archetypes, too, such as the 12 signs of the zodiac, the gods of any mythology, or Tarot figures. For example: the Empress, the Hermit, the Lovers, the Fool — each of these carries its own archetypal pattern. As they interact in combination, they form endless permutations.

Archetypal images aren’t finite, absolute things; but we know and recognize them. We each see and experience them in our own way, and also in a shared way; as common experiences, they help us to relate to one another.

Increasing archetypal awareness helps you engage with your own life patterns in a deep, transformative way; and it also forms the basis for a common social understanding.

the depth psych approach

Carl Jung developed the concept of psychological archetypes. Jung borrows Schopenhauer’s words for an apt definition of the archetypal image as “the unity that falls into multiplicity on account of the temporal and spatial form of our intuitive apprehension. … It is like a living, self-developing organism endowed with generative power, constantly bringing forth something that was not put into it.”

James Hillman, a Jungian psychoanalyst, developed the field of Archetypal Psychology. In his book of the same name, he says, “An archetypal image operates like the original meaning of idea (from Greek eidos and eidolon): not only ‘that which’ one sees but also that ‘by means of which’ one sees.”

There is no set list of archetypes. Rather, it’s a way of seeing and understanding. Once you start to see them, you see them everywhere, in everything. Hillman referred to this as “seeing through” archetypes: they frame our understanding. If we can step back to see the frame as well as the subject, we increase the potential for transformation.

explore archetypes in your life

Here’s a free worksheet to get you started. Are you interested in further exploration? Keep an eye on upcoming courses… Sign up for the Sphere newsletter for updates.