Image sourced from https://www.hgi.org.uk/resources/delve-our-extensive-library/interviews/mysterious-jung-his-cult-lies-he-told-and-occult

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An early supporter of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung split from his theories after publicly criticising Freud’s ideas on the Oedipus complex and infantile sexuality. He built upon Freud’s theories and formulated his own, his most famous being the Collective Unconscious. This is the universal version of personal consciousness, of which memory and mental patterns we share with other humans through “ancestral memories.”[2] Jung puts it so; “The form of the world into which [a person] is born is already inborn in him as a virtual image,”[3] meaning that part of each person’s innate characteristics are already formed by our ancestral memories and primitive past.  These influence our behaviour and are presented as universal themes in literature, art and dreams. These shared cultural symbols are called Archetypes.

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The word Archetype comes from the Greek Arcehin (to begin, to rule) or arch (origin, principle, beginning) and typos (type, form, species). Plato discussed archetypes as the ideal forms, of which all else are imitations.

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Jung stated that there were four main shared archetypes.

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1. Shadow – the animal, simultaneously a creative and destructive force that most values survival.

2. Anima/Animus – The opposite of the person’s biological sex, and the traits come from centuries of living side by side one another. These traits are important to embrace, for repressing one’s anima/mus can undermine psychological development. We see this idea in Western patriarchal cultures, where the Persona is promoted above all else.

3. Persona – This is the mask that we present to the world and our community, not our true self, but our cloak of social acceptability. This is the conformity archetype.

4. Self – The true self, which provides a sense of unity. Jung argues that the ultimate aim of each individual is to achieve self-actualisation.

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Although not dissimilar to Freud’s Id, Ego and Super Ego, Jung goes further to examine the impact of culture and community on one’s psyche and mentality, as they reflect predispositions towards values retained and evolved through man’s development.

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Archetypes in Patria

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The idea that characteristics are innate in a person due to cultural and ancestral evolution can be seen clearly in the rebirth of the archetypes in Patria. They develop and change due to interaction with the Dynamic Force (for further character explanation please see Patria). Plato’s philosophy can also be seen in the characters, the rebirth of the characters are versions (or shadow copies) of the ideal, the masculine, feminine, hero, heroine and dynamic force. The archetypes each inhabit each level of Jung’s archetypes throughout the cycle (i.e. hero and heroine start as Shadow in Patria I and II, then reincarnating as various Persona and interacting with the dynamic force, before achieving self in the Epilogue, And the Wolf Shall Inherit the Moon).