Archetypes

1. Archetypes

2. Archetypes defined • Archetypes are often represented in literature and in art by SYMBOLS. • Some common archetypes include the following: ARCHETYPES Water Sun Colors Circle Women Wind / Breath Ship Garden Desert

3. WATER • Water represents several ideas: the mystery of creation; birth-death-resurrection; purification and/or redemption; fertility and growth. • The SEA = the Mother of Life; spiritual mystery and infinity; death and rebirth; timelessness; eternity; the unconscious. • RIVERS = death and rebirth; baptism; the flowing of time; transitional phases in the life cycle; incarnation of deities.

4. Water – What do these images represent? What emotions/connotations do they evoke?

5. SUN (Fire and sky are closely related) • The sun represents creative energy; law in nature; consciousness (thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision); father principle; passage of time and life. • Rising Sun = birth, creation, enlightenment. • Setting Sun = death

6. SUN – What do these images represent? What emotions/connotations do they evoke?

7. COLORS • Black = darkness, chaos, mystery, the unknown, death, the unconscious, melancholy (sadness) • Red = blood, sacrifice, violent passion, disorder, beauty • Green = growth, sensations, hope, nature • Blue = calm, the sea, water, peace, cold • Purple = royalty • Yellow = light, the sun, hope • White = good, peace, spiritualness

8. Colors – What do these images represent? What emotions/connotations do they evoke?

9. Circle • Circle represents wholeness; unity; God as infinite; life in primitive form; union of conscious and unconscious. • The circle is also a form associated with the female.

10. Archetypical WOMEN • The Great Mother, Good Mother, or Earth Mother = associated with birth, protection, warmth, fertility, growth, abundance, the unconscious. • The Terrible Mother = the witch, the sorceress, the siren; associated with fear, danger, death, evil power. • The Soul Mate = the princess or beautiful lady, incarnation of inspiration (the muse) and spiritual fulfillment. • The Temptress = alluring woman who impedes the hero; distraction, diversion, evil power.

11. Women – What do these images represent? What emotions/connotations do they evoke?

12. Wind and Breath • Wind and breath = inspiration, conception, soul or spirit.

13. Ship • Ship = a microcosm of mankind’s voyage through space and time.

14. Garden • Garden = paradise, Eden, innocence, unspoiled beauty, fertility.

15. Desert • Desert = lack of spirituality, death, hopelessness.

16. Archetypal Motifs: Patterns of symbols Creation Immortality Hero Archetype Seasons / Life Cycles

17. 1. Creation • Perhaps the most fundamental of all archetypal patterns. Almost every mythology is built on some account of how the Cosmos, Nature, and Man were brought into existence by some supernatural Being/Beings. • Example: Ancient Babylonian Myth – Marduk OR Creation story from Genesis.

18. 2. Immortality • Another fundamental archetype, generally taking one or two narrative forms. • A. Escape from time: the return to Paradise (state of perfect timeless bliss enjoyed by man before his tragic flaw into corruption/mortality) • B. Endless Death and Regeneration: man achieves a kind of immortality by submitting to the vast, mysterious rhythm of Nature’s eternal cycle, particularly the cycle of the seasons.

19. 3. The Hero Archetype • The Quest – The hero (savior or deliverer) undertakes some long journey during which he must perform impossible tasks, battle with monsters, solve unanswerable riddles, and overcome insurmountable obstacles in order to save the kingdom and, perhaps, marry the princess.

20. 3. The Hero Archetype cont’d. • Initiation – The hero undergoes a series of excruciating ordeals in passing from ignorance and immaturity to social and spiritual adulthood (achieving maturity and becoming a full-fledged member of his social group). The initiation most commonly consists of three stages: • Separation • Transformation • Return – Like the Quest, the transformation is a variation of the Death and Rebirth archetype.

21. 3. The Hero Archetype cont’d. • The Sacrificial Scapegoat: The hero, with whom the welfare of the tribe or nation is identified, must die to atone for the people’s sins and to restore the land to fruitfulness.

22. 4. Seasons (Cycles/phases of life) • The Dawn, Spring, and Birth Phase • The Zenith, Summer, and Marriage or Triumph Phase • The Sunset, Autumn, and Death Phase • The Darkness, Winter, and Dissolution Phase

23. 4-1. The Dawn, Spring, and Birth Phase • Myths of the birth of the hero, of revival and resurrection, of creation and of the defeat of the posers of darkness, winter, and death. Subordinate characters include the mother and father.

24. 4-2. The Zenith, Summer, and Marriage or Triumph Phase • Myths of the second marriage, of entering into paradise. Subordinate characters include the companion and the bride. This is the archetypal pattern connected with the comedy, the pastoral, and the idyll.

25. 4-3. The Sunset, Autumn, and Death Phase Myths of fall, of dying God, of violent death and sacrifice, and of the isolation of the hero. Subordinate characters include the traitor and the siren. This is the archetypal pattern of tragedy and elegy.

26. 4-4. The Darkness, Winter, and Dissolution Phase • Myths of the triumph, of these power myths, of floods and the return of chaos, and of the defeat of the hero. Subordinate characters include the ogre and the witch. This pattern is associated with satire.