Archetypes are present all around us through symbols, imagery, mythology, astrology, and legends. Modern Psychologist, Carl Jung, referred to the Archetypes as primordial images that reflect basic patterns that are common to us all, and which have existed universally since the beginning of time.
You could also think of the Archetypes as your psyche’s ever expanding pictionary that serves as a subconscious set of reference points to translate your abstract human experiences into crystallized form. This way, the external world can be better assimilated by your conscious mind.
Not only do the Archetypes bring rich meaning into this physical reality, but they’re also the underlying psychological motivators of both the individual psyche and the collective consciousness.
A well-known Marriage/Family Counselor and Astrologer, Stephen Arroyo, emphasized that “people have always needed a pattern of growth and order to guide their collective lives and to infuse their individual experience with meaning.”
Since the beginning of human civilization, mythology has illustrated the undeniable unity and relationship between humanity and a Higher intelligence, the fact that we’re all part of something larger than life and share the same basic needs, wishes, experiences, adversities, emotions, etc.
The mythological gods and the planets in astrology (which also have deep roots in mythology) symbolize universal archetypal principles both on a microcosmic and macrocosmic level.
As humanity’s collective consciousness has continued to evolve throughout history, so has its archetypal energies to reflect the growth that has occurred. Stephen Arroyo validates this by stating that “as man’s needs undergo periodic transformations, so his myths must change to suit his new dimension of being.”
Another example of the Archetypes is their depiction in Tarot cards. Each card carries symbolism and imagery that reflects an energy pattern that is currently active in the querent’s (the person receiving a Tarot reading) life. Archetypes are essentially a language of energy.
Sometimes, you meet a person who instantly reminds you of someone you know. Your subconscious picks up on the energetic similarities between these two individuals and stores these intuitive findings in your psyche to be used as a potential reference later on.
It’s possible that they’re both strongly attuned with an archetypal role that is meant to propel their Soul growth as well as yours, since Soul contracts always go both ways. We’re all learning from each other.
The archetypes’ underlying foundational meanings never change, but they can manifest in infinite ways. This is partly due to humanity’s participatory role in co-creating with the Universe from a place of unpredictable free will.
Learning about the Archetypes that your Soul has chosen to embody in this lifetime can illustrate the bigger picture of the universal principles that have been present throughout your entire life. This new level of awareness brings the opportunity to accelerate your Soul evolution.
“The collective unconscious surrounds us on all sides…It is more like an atmosphere in which we live than something that is found in us…Also, it does not by any means behave merely psychologically, in the case of so-called synchronicity it proves to be a universal substrate present in the environment rather than a psychological premise. Wherever we come into contact with an archetype we enter into relationship with transconscious, metapsychic factors.” – Carl Gustav Jung
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