Archetypes Explained

28.11.24

No, you can’t “activate archetypes” and “use” their energy to make money, become more attractive, or have more focus and energy. People can’t be archetypes either and there aren’t a definite number like the 12 archetypes. Anyone telling you the opposite is either misinformed or trying to scam you.

That’s why for this article, I’ll explain what archetypes really are and why they DON’T exist concretely.

Archetypes DON’T Exist

Let’s begin with a footnote from Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious, “[…] Critics have contented themselves with asserting that no such archetypes exist. Certainly they do not exist, any more than a botanical system exists in nature! But will anyone deny the existence of natural plant-families on that account? Or will anyone deny the occurrence and continual repetition of certain morphological and functional similarities? It is much the same thing in principle with the typical figures of the unconscious. They are forms existing a priori, or biological norms of psychic activity” (C. G. Jung – V9.1 – p. 646).

The first thing we have to realize is that archetypes don’t physically exist, they’re actually an organizing principle and exist as a potential to experience something psychologically and physiologically in a similar and definite way.

In that sense, archetypes are like a blueprint, a structure, or a pattern, and all four psychological functions are required to apprehend it, as archetypes will evoke a typical thought pattern, a definite set of emotions, typical physical sensations, and symbolic representations.

Archetypes – The Image of Instincts

Archetypes will also elicit patterns of behavior as they are an imagetic representation of instinctual patterns, making archetypes the psychic image of human instincts. In Structures and Dynamics of The Psyche, Jung places both on a spectrum, where instincts are represented by the infra-red part and archetypes by the ultraviolet part.

Using a nerdy analogy, instincts are the hardware of a computer and archetypes are the software, and together they form the “Human Operational System”. This analogy doesn’t perfectly match what Jung meant but it helps to grasp it.

Moreover, being influenced by Kant, Jung disregards the notion that humans are a “tabula rasa to be marked by experience”, and **establishes that archetypes are forms exiting a priori (or beforehand) exactly because they aren’t learned but inherited.

In that sense, archetypes act as a filter to our human experience and that’s why we have similar patterns of behavior, a similar thought structure, a similar way of experiencing emotions, physical sensations, and common symbolic representations.

In summary, instincts are typical modes of action and patterns of behavior, while archetypes are typical modes of apprehension, that is, a symbolic representation of these patterns.

Archetypal Images

Now we have to discuss the difference between archetypes and archetypal images as this is usually where confusion starts and opens precedents for the wildest things. Remember that archetypes don’t exist, their true nature is actually irrepresentable, that’s why Jung refers to them as psychoid. What our conscious mind can perceive is a set of ideas and images that allude to this organizing principle.

A great example is the Tarot cards, as they aren’t archetypes but their symbols can allude to one. Furthermore, archetypes lie in the unconscious realm, which means that they’re not accessible to our conscious mind and aren’t subject to our will, we can simply perceive them. That’s why things like learning to “activate archetypes” or “using their energy” are simply a scam. Also, there aren’t a definite number of archetypes, as they are as infinite as human experience can be.

Archetypes and Religious Experiences

Archetypes are also responsible for religious experiences, which means they have a numinous (compulsive) quality and force themselves upon consciousness when constellated.

Jung understands religion as the “[…] Numinosum, that is, a dynamic agency or effect not caused by an arbitrary act of will. On the contrary, it seizes and controls the human subject, who is always rather its victim than its creator. The numinosum —whatever its cause may be—is an experience of the subject independent of his will […] Religious teaching always and everywhere explain this experience as being due to a cause external to the individual. The numinosum is either a quality belonging to a visible object or the influence of an invisible presence that causes a peculiar alteration of consciousness” (C. G. Jung – V11 – §6).

Whenever we’re experiencing an archetypal situation, a definite set of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and fantasies will arise, all with a compulsive quality, evoking the feeling that we’re hostages to this overwhelming experience.

For instance, the rapturous feeling of falling in love and all the ludicrous displays that come with it, all the arduous challenges we face in the transition from childhood to adulthood, how the first sexual encounter changes someone forever, or even the experience of parenthood or the death of a beloved one.

Moreover, an archetypal situation is also a living thing that places us inside a drama, with certain characters, obstacles, conflicts, and decisions. An archetype is attached to a definite narrative and evokes a storyline, with a beginning, its peripeteia, and a culmination.

Such as the great temptation Jesus had to endure for forty days in the desert, or when we feel tempted by a femme fatale or Don Juan figure, or even when we feel completely torn in the face of a tough decision.

All of these motifs are typically human, and although each person has a unique experience, they’re all encapsulated in a definite structure. Here are a few examples of archetypes:

• The Idea of God or “the first cause” shaped all religions, as every single one of them has a creation myth that seeks to explain the birth of the Universe and all species.
• The Mother, Father, Child, Shaman, Wise old Man and Woman.
• Mythological Motifs: The hero’s journey, the magical escape, descending to hell (Katabasis), helping animals, metamorphosis, the treasure hardly attained, the cave and the dragon, the guardian of the threshold, and psychopomps (usually linked to the animus and anima).

Rafael Krüger – Live an Audacious Life

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