Monday, August 25, 2014

Four Major Archetypes Jung Introduced

By Rhea Frazier


Well-known Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was Freud's student, but he developed his own theories. This versatile scientist was interested in some other areas as well, including sociology, astrology and philosophy. He introduced the concepts of extroverted and introverted personalities, among other things. He was mainly interested in unlocking human personalities, and here are four major archetypes Jung introduced.

Four major ones are The Shadow, The Self, The Anima or Animus and The Persona. Jung says that there are numerous other archetypes, and many of them overlap and can be easily linked to the main ones. There are, for example, animal archetypes such as the faithful dog, and this one represents unquestionable loyalty.

The Self unifies human and divine, consciousness and unconsciousness. It exists in your moment of birth, and it is the real, unspoiled harmony. After that, people start to split. They are the whole in this perfect moment, and then they begin to split into parts.

The Shadow is the part of every person as well. Everyone has this dark side, even if it is perfectly hidden. It represents everything mysterious and dark, chaotic, the wildness in someone's character. These dark elements are mostly denied, and can take over if this person is in particularly dangerous situation, for example. Otherwise, some of these elements mostly appear in dreams or hallucinations only.

The Animus and the Anima represent male and female, or masculine and feminine sides of human personalities. They also stand as a mean for communicate with collective unconscious. Every person has feminine and masculine side, both men and women. Also, men usually have only one dominant female figure in their life, while women are usually more complex.

The Syzygy represents the divine couple, or the perfect combination and unity between the Anima and The Animus. These elements should be perfectly balanced. The perfect combination stands for complete wholeness. This can be related to a search for a soul-mate. The word is also used to denote the alignment of planets.

The Persona represents not who you really are, but how you are presenting yourself to other people. This term actually means the mask. People are not really wearing masks, but they do need to protect themselves from negative influences. It is quite similar to acting, and these roles have their purpose. They choose their masks depending on particular situations.

Family archetypes are well known today and easy to recognize. Father, for example, represents control, authority, security and power, while Mother stands for soothing, nurturing and comforting, even protecting elements. Child is related to birth, innocence, in short, beginnings and all other things that can be related to this term.

You will find numerous story archetypes used in literature, for example. The Wise Old Man is there to offer his wisdom. Life experience and knowledge. The Maiden is in trouble, fragile, innocent and pure, while The Hero comes to rescue, brave and strong. The Earth Mother is really the nature, and this particular archetype is also recognizable.




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