How to Work with Archetypes
Carl Jung’s archetypes are used widely in both Jungian Analysis, Pop-psychology and marketing. But, how to work with archetypes? This causes confusion as to what archeytpes are and how to work with them. In Jungian Life Coaching, we use archetypes as Jung originally intended with reverence to their power. Archetypes are universal patterns or forces in the psyche that have creative power.
Jung’s theory is that there are two layers to the unconscious mind – the personal and the collective. The personal unconscious contains suppressed or unknown aspects of an individual based on their personal life experience. This includes childhood memories, assumptions, self-concept, talents, gifts and also the “shadow” which are the parts that are rejected that do not fit into the conscious personality.
The collective unconscious is a vast network of patterns that are not personal. This is the space where the archetypes are found. Think of being on a boat on the top of a huge ocean. The boat is the conscious mind, your waking life and conscious experience. The subtle currents that drive the boat just beneath the surface is the personal unconscious and the vast, deep ocean is the collective. Jung said that we all come with a 2-million year man inside of us. The collective experiences of all humanity structured through what he called “archetypes” or universal patterns.
We all have a mother (including all of the natural world) so the mother archetype is not a personality or type of person but a source of life. A human baby has a mother, animals have mothers and even plants and other life forms thrive in the womb of mother earth. “Mother” is a template that we use universally and gives the world structure and patterns.
Archetypes are not ego roles
In pop-psychology and brand marketing, the archetypes have been reduced to ego roles or personalities such as the hero, rebel, sage, king, etc. While technically they are universal patterns, they lose their magic if just reduced to making a shinier ego personality or just to change behavior.
While fun to pull archetypal cards and bring in the “queen” when you need a little confidence on a job interview or on a date, these are only surface changes and you miss out on the amazing potential the archetypes can give you.
Four Types of Archetypal Power
🔹 Structuring Power
Organizes experience around potential, not history. The psyche sees something to be born.
🔹 Numinous Power
Felt as wonder, vulnerability, hope or fragile preciousness. Often appears small yet emotionally-magnetic.
🔹 Transformative Power
Signals the beginning of individuation phases, transformation through growth not destruction.
🔹 Symbol-Producing Power
Symbols of birth, light, treasure, seed, or miraculous survival. They appear as symbols in dreams and waking life as symbolic patterns and messages.
Archetypes Can Create Ego Inflation or Deflation
A crucial task of individuation is protecting the ego from:
- inflation (identifying with archetypal power, “I am special / chosen / enlightened”)
- deflation (collapse, worthlessness, loss of agency)
Ego-inflation occurs when the ego takes on the Archetypal as a role and identifies as it. This happens with teachers and gurus, they believe they are the “hero” and this causes many problems. The ego is no longer able to make decisions. The archetypes are autonomous so they can take over the the conscious will. They can become very destructive and feel better than their students. (We have seen this in every industry when people gain power and ultimately abuse it.)
Ego-inflation can also cause a crash which leads to deflation. A best-selling author believes she/he is the best because of their success but then when they hit hard times, they experience the opposite. Lose fans, lose friends and lose their direction.
How Can You Work with Archetypes in a Powerful Way?
First step is to make sure you undergo shadow work with a guide. Journaling and reading books is not going to cut it. Your ego loves to keep you from growth and you will end up getting lots of insights but not able to go to the uncomfortable places that you need to face to accept your past.
The next step is to approach the Archetypal symbols with reverence without allowing yourself to identify as them. Working with the forces and powers they have without collapsing them into a positive personality trait.
What are the Main Archetypes to Work With?
According to Jung, the ego is an archetype, the shadow, the anima and animus (masculine & feminine archetypes), mother, father, rebirth, child.
Think about the personal framework first like your initial family system, mother-father-child. You can separate your personal experience and access the pure power of the archetype. For example, your personal mother is an internal image in your mind that was fueled by the mother archetype. You didn’t need to be taught you had a mother, you instinctively knew she was the one who would keep you safe, nourish you and keep you warm as a baby. All of your childhood experiences with your mother clouded your perception of the Great Mother and distorted your experience with inconsistent love, being overbearing or absent, critical or mean. You learned how “mother” is and symbolically she represents the world. As an adult you experience the world just like you experienced your mother, through your early life assumptions.
A cold mother would translate and uncaring, cold world. A mistrust of mother’s intentions leads to a world that is not trustworthy. A critical mother transfers into a world where you are constantly feeling not enough.
As you can see, just renaming your persona as an archetype is simple but doesn’t have the power that the real archetype has. You want to avoid ego-inflation and use them as a part of your path of Individuation, expanding your awareness to know your true self.
True power comes from alignment with the archetypes, not using them to develop a new personality.
We created the Archetypal Family Field Practitioner certification training to offer a deeper way to work with clients without pathologizing them, using negative labels for parents or themselves and truly step into the power waiting inside.
