OET (OurEpicTales)

What does your heart say?  Do each beat of the heart whispers a tale in itself that reverberate in dreams as you sleep?  (I’m going to hear a lot of nay’s from my bio friends).  Being a master of the art of the psych, my curious wanderings have led me into searching into the meaning of dreams.  It is part of what it means to be human since we all dream one time or another (and at times when we least expect it!).

Did you ever woke up from a dream that you thought was so real that you had to pinch yourself?  Your heart was beating fast or skipped a beat completely.  You might have been lucky enough to remember enough of it to write it down later in the day or maybe you have a dream journal next to your bed that you jot down ideas, figures, and themes.

One very famous psychologists, Carl Jung, had believed in archetypes.  He also believed that humans as a specie we are connected together from our ancient roots and that we still have this connection to each other through the unconscious.  This connection allows us to see symbolic meaning, realize myths, and much more.  From this theoretical viewpoint, we can express these symbols understandably among our fellow human beings and thus give power to any tale that make use of this.

What are archetypes?

Think of the stories that you have hear in your childhood.  You knew who were the “bad guys”, the “good guys”, and the “weird” (not always, but sometimes).  You knew what the “bad guys” and “good guys” were suppose to do and you knew how they would act towards anything.  ANY child could point out in the story which side each of these “guys” were taking.  Congratulations, archetypes work almost the same way.  They are inherent to every human beings and they are identifiable, universal, and great for tales!

Jung had proposed several universal types and there are more that rose from these concepts:

The archetypes pertaining to the self

1. The Self - this is the unadulterated self that we are not fully conscious about, it is the center of us and the one that influence the other self-archetypes
2. Animus/Anima – for girls, you have an Animus; for guys, the Anima.  It is the image that is projected from within us of the opposite sex
3. The Shadow - the untamed side of us, the wilderness, and the side of us that we try to deny
4. The Ego – your “I” identity and similar in some ways to Freud’s Ego concept and it is the wholly conscious side of the “I”
5. The Persona – the projected YOU.  It is the symbolic “mask” you wear that identify you in the outside world (e.g., “I am a student”, “I am Buddhist”, “I am a man”)

The archetypes seen within storytelling and tales (not complete, but some of the more popular archetypes):

1. The Hero - the representative of the ego and an ideal one, and we tend to identify ourselves with the heroes of story (e.g., Neo from The Matrix)
2. The Child – represents any infant, child, or small creature in the story that represents youth, hope/rebirth, and curiosity (e.g., Ofelia from Pan’s Labyrinth)
3. The Maiden – in most classic tales, there is a maiden or anima-figure that represents purity, innocence, and naivety (e.g., Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride)
4. The Wise Man – in most classic tales, there is an ancient or animus-figure that represents knowledge/wisdom, something ancient, and discipline or order (e.g., Yoda from Star Wars)
5. The Trickster – represents the trouble-maker of the story and one that tries to mislead the hero (e.g., Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland)
6. The God – represents the divine figure(s) that give meaning to the universe, fate, and why things happen in the world that cannot be explained through conventional means (e.g., take your pick of any of the Greek or Roman gods or goddesses)
7. The Family – represents the individuals of a bloodline or those close enough to represent brother/sister/mother/father to the individual

So, now you have a bit of background in archetypical psychology.  Take a look back to your dream journal or whatever dreams you can remember.  Do you see any running themes?  Archetypes? Maybe your psyche is trying to tell you start writing a tale of your own and you can be sure that others can identify with you through these archetypical representations.  Good luck!

Tags: archetypes, Carl Jung, dreams, Jungian, symbols
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