Archetypes
Terms
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- Numbers: 3
- Light spiritual awareness, unity; male principle
- Circle
- Unity, harmony, completeness.
- Wise Old Man
- Savior, redeemer, guru, representing knowledge, reflection, insight, wisdom, intuition, and morality.
- Tavern/Pub
- Located on the edge or outlying spaces, a jumping off point, visited by the hero before beginning the actual adventure, where rumors and travelers from abroad.
- Blue
- highly positive, secure, tranquil; spiritual purity; truth, intellect, calmness
- Forest/Wilderness
- A dangerous place, a place of mystery and the unknown, a place of trials. Place of evil.
- Quest/Journey
- search for origins, identity, perfection, fulfillment, love, treasure, fame, wisdom, or salvation. This sends the hero in search for some truth or information necessary to restore fertility, justice, and/or harmony to a troubled land.
- Earth Mother
- Feminine provider who offers spiritual and emotional nourishment.
- Hero
- A character who embodies the ideals of his or her society, and exhibits outstanding qualities and abilities.
- Sun
- Creative energy; thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision.
- Creation
- All cultures believe some supernatural Being or Beings brought the cosmos into existence.
- The Seasons
- Spring=Birth/rebirth; Summer=life; Fall=death/dying; Winter=without life/death
- Day
- Represents safety, knowledge, and order.
- Caves
- A descent into the unconscious or inner self; a place to face innermost fears.
- Humanity vs. the Mechanistic World
- Simply stated, this is another version of the battle of good vs. evil in which humanity or nature represents good whereas the forces of technology represent evil.
- Trickster
- Character who through superior wit or cunning can deceive and manipulate those who seemingly have greater strength and authority, enjoys playing tricks on the stupid, pompous, arrogant, and greedy.
- Yellow
- enlightenment, wisdom
- Helpful Animals
- These animals assist the hero and reflect that nature is on the side of the hero.
- The Task
- This is a piece of the quest/journey in which the hero must accomplish some feat, often superhuman, in order to achieve the ultimate goal.
- Scapegoat
- A sacrificial victim, a character who suffers or is blamed unjustly in order that others may escape blame or punishment.
- Supernatural Intervention
- Gods intervene on the side of the hero or sometimes against him.
- Loyal Retainers
- Individuals are like the noble sidekicks to the hero.
- The Great Fish
- Divine Creation and life.
- Unhealable Wound
- Physical or psychological, can never be healed fully. Indicates a loss of innocence and purity.
- Father/Son Conflict
- Tensions exist between father and son brought on by a separation during childhood or from some external source.
- Sky
- Heaven, fate
- Haven
- Place of safety where the hero may be sheltered for a time while he or she regains health or strength.
- Gold
- Color: illumination, perfection
- Shadow
- Alter ego or double, represents the hidden or repressed parts of the character.
- Sea/Ocean
- Mother of all life; spiritual mystery; death and or rebirth; timelessness and eternity.
- The Unfaithful Wife
- Woman married to a man she sees as dull or distant, is attracted to a more virile and interesting man.
- The Bridge
- Link between worlds
- White
- light, purity, innocence; timelessness, the supernatural
- Night
- Represents danger, lack of knowledge, and disorder.
- Numbers: 12
- 3 x 4; the complete large cycle.
- Innocent or Initiate
- Young heroes who, prior to the quest of journey must endure some training or initiation.
- Red
- passion, blood, sacrifice, disorder, energy
- The Initiation
- Situation refers to a moment, usually psychological, in which an individual comes into maturity.
- Fatal Woman/Temptress
- Characterized by physical beauty, she is one whose physical attractions and or powers of persuasion may bring about a hero's downfall.
- Transformation
- Character experiences a change from one form to another, physical or mental.
- Mountains
- Personal achievement; meeting place of earth and heaven; a spiritual peak.
- Light vs. Darkness
- Usually suggest hope renewal, or intellectual illumination; good. Implies the unknown, ignorance or desperation; evil.
- Trees
- Denotes life and growth
- Star-Crossed Lovers
- Two characters are engaged in a love affair that is fated to end in tragedy for one or both due to disapproval of family and friends.
- Islands and Ships at Sea
- Spiritual, mental, and physical isolation or exile.
- Villain or Devil Figure
- An evil character who attempts to destroy the hero.
- Outcast
- This character is banished or exiled from a community for some crime committed against his fellow man, wandering from place to place.
- Magic Weapon
- Sometimes connected with the task, this refers to a skilled individual hero's ability to use a piece of technology in order to complete a task.
- The Ritual
- This refers to an organized ceremony which involves honored members of society who officially bring the young man or woman into the realm of the community's adult world.
- Green
- Growth, hope, nature, fertility, renewal; also envy, jealousy, decay
- Purple
- royalty, regal, wisdom
- One Forbidden Thing
- Something that a character is instructed to leave alone and ignore, but the character's lack of self-control and curiosity gets the best of him/her and "evil" is permitted to enter his or her world.
- Ice
- Like the desert, this represents ignorance, darkness, sterility, and death.
- Rivers
- Death and rebirth; the flowing of time into eternity; transitional phases of the life cycle.
- Damsel in Distress
- The vulnerable woman who must be rescued by the hero, often used to trap or ensnare the unsuspecting hero.
- Fire
- Represents knowledge, light, life, and rebirth. Can also represent hell, lust, and evil.
- Maze
- represents a difficult, confusing, or challenging task; in order to get out, the hero must discover something about his reality.
- The Battle between Good and Evil
- Situation pits obvious forces which represent good and evil against one another.
- Serpent/Snake
- Symbol of energy and pure force; evil, corruption, sensuality, destruction.
- Water
- Birth death, resurrection; creation; purification and redemption; fertility and growth.
- The Garden
- Paradise, innocence, unspoiled beauty. An ordered and controlled place that is usually safe, happy and nurturing.
- Desert
- Spiritual aridity; death; hopelessness; isolation; wasteland.
- Creatures of Nightmare
- Monster, physical or abstract is summoned from the deepest darkest parts of the human psyche to threaten the living.
- Numbers: 7
- The most potent of all symbolic numbers signifying the union of three and four, the completion of a cycle, perfect order, perfect number; religious symbol; luck.
- Numbers: 4
- Associated with the circle, life cycle, four seasons,; female principle, earth, nature, elements.
- Black
- Color: Darkness, chaos, mystery, unknown, death, wisdom, evil, melancholy
- The Fall
- The hero experiences some kind of downfall, descent in action.