by Judith Stafford | Dec 3, 2023 | Away with the Fairies, Becoming a Wise Woman
Egos, Shadows and the Collective Unconscious I have always enjoyed a great story, whatever format it takes, whether it is a book, film, or TV series. Something about living a different life in another world for an hour or two is fantastic. I always loved reading myths and fairy tales as a child. My favourite kinds of stories have always been fantasy types. I loved the dark forests and ancient landscapes. Even though they were far removed from my life, the characters and situations still spoke to me. Later, when I re-read these stories as an adult, I saw they worked not only as entertainment and escapism. But they also allowed us to explore our often unconscious relationship with ourselves and the world. The more folktales and myths I read, the more I realised that the underlying ideas behind these stories were the same. Whether you read tales from Europe, Asia, Australia or the Americas, the same concepts crop up repeatedly. Grand ideas of death and resurrection Epic heroic journeys Heroes overcoming great odds to seek justice Innocents risk everything to rescue a loved one Curious to discover more, I started reading about the psychology of storytelling. There I came across Carl Jung’s theories on archetypes. I found them so fascinating that I delved deeper into them. Now, 30 years later, I am still learning new things about them. What is an archetype? The simplest definition of an archetype is that it is a universal stereotype or prototype of specific patterns of behaviour. In Jung’s view, archetypes represented inherited unconscious thought patterns common to all people. Every culture in...
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