Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist, was interested in many different things, not only in psychiatry. He was the first one to talk about extroverted and introverted types of personality, among other things. He was mostly interested in unlocking all mysteries of different personalities. Four main archetypes Jung introduced are to be used as keys for unlocking human personalities.
The Shadow, The Self, The Anima or Animus and The Persona are the most important ones, but Jung recognized many other human archetypes. They are usually overlapped and all can be somehow linked to major ones. Animal archetypes are often used in everyday life, for example the faithful dog. It stands for loyalty without question.
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 represents deeper elements of the psyche, the ones people usually are aware of at some point, but rarely want to admit, even to themselves. It embodies dark, mysterious, wild and chaotic. You can also describe them as dark elements of someone's nature. These elements may appear in dreams, in hallucinations or in some specific life situations, when they can even take over.
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 perfect unity between The Anima and The Animus is called Syzygy. This term is used to denote the planets alignment as well. Everyone wants to be whole again. That's why people are trying to find their perfect soul-mate, just because they want to achieve the perfect wholeness. Only very few people are lucky enough to actually succeed in this quest.
Another archetype, the Persona, is named by one Latin word that actually means the mask. This mask is actually a shield between person and different negative influences. People wear masks because they want other people to see them clever, brave or self-conscious, for example. They wear different masks, depending on their goals, as well as their fears.
There are also very popular family archetypes, and it is quite easy to guess their meanings. Father, for example, is authoritative figure, and represents control and power. On the other side is Mother, standing for soothing and comforting elements. Another Family archetype, the Child, represents all sorts of beginnings, birth and innocence.
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.
The Shadow, The Self, The Anima or Animus and The Persona are the most important ones, but Jung recognized many other human archetypes. They are usually overlapped and all can be somehow linked to major ones. Animal archetypes are often used in everyday life, for example the faithful dog. It stands for loyalty without question.
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 represents deeper elements of the psyche, the ones people usually are aware of at some point, but rarely want to admit, even to themselves. It embodies dark, mysterious, wild and chaotic. You can also describe them as dark elements of someone's nature. These elements may appear in dreams, in hallucinations or in some specific life situations, when they can even take over.
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 perfect unity between The Anima and The Animus is called Syzygy. This term is used to denote the planets alignment as well. Everyone wants to be whole again. That's why people are trying to find their perfect soul-mate, just because they want to achieve the perfect wholeness. Only very few people are lucky enough to actually succeed in this quest.
Another archetype, the Persona, is named by one Latin word that actually means the mask. This mask is actually a shield between person and different negative influences. People wear masks because they want other people to see them clever, brave or self-conscious, for example. They wear different masks, depending on their goals, as well as their fears.
There are also very popular family archetypes, and it is quite easy to guess their meanings. Father, for example, is authoritative figure, and represents control and power. On the other side is Mother, standing for soothing and comforting elements. Another Family archetype, the Child, represents all sorts of beginnings, birth and innocence.
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.