About Archetypes
Archetypes are a fascinating study of how the unconscious communicates "new" ideas to the conscious in the form of symbols and how these symbols ultimately shape our lives.
The term collective unconscious refers to complex thought forms that can be understood as organizers of ideas ultimately leading to behaviors. A divine archetype is a model that embodies an aspect of the collective unconscious. Everything in the natural world holds the energy of archetypes, including plants, and human beings. Since we are a part of the collective unconscious, we may use a divine archetype to help access a facet of the collective unconscious of which we are currently unaware. We are not attempting to incorporate an aspect outside of ourselves, but rather to awaken to an existing aspect that lies dormant within ourselves.
Human behaviors and our perception of reality are completely shaped by the internal court of Archetypes held in the human unconscious.
What is an Archetype?
The five primordial archetypes are Ether, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. These primordial energies either singularly or in combination give rise to all other archetypes.
Much as crystalline structures are repeatable patterns that occur in nature through the constructive bonding of chemical elements; the energetic templates for archetypal patterns can be found in various organic substances, and also create repeatable outcomes.
A perceptive individual may learn to recognize repetitive, yet uniquely personal dream imagery that emanates from active archetypes in his/her unconscious. In particular, while these archetypes may be invoked using corresponding plants, oils, crystals that are imbued with a shared collective understanding, the images experienced in your life are unique to you.
Investigation of Archetypes is not new, various and many deep thinkers have tried to language this most puzzling of concepts.
Others on Archetypes
The symbols or archetypes put forward in the Divine Archetypes system are Platonic in the sense described by Jung:
It is not too difficult to understand Plato’s conception of the Idea as supraordinate and pre-existent to all phenomena.
"Archetype"…was synonymous with "Ideas" in the Platonic usage. When the Corpus Hermeticum… describes God as…the 'archetypal light,' it expresses the idea that he is the prototype of all light; that is to say, pre-existent and supraordinate to the phenomenon "light." (1990, p. 75)
"It means that there are present in every psyche forms which are unconscious but nonetheless active-living dispositions, ideas in the Platonic sense, that preform and continually influence our thoughts and feelings and actions." (1990, p. 79)
In clarifying the concept of archetype, Jung states:
Again and again I encounter the mistaken notion that an archetype is determined in regard to its content, in other words that it is a kind of unconscious idea… It is necessary to point out… that archetypes are not determined as regards their content, but only as regards to their form and then only to a very limited degree. A primordial image is determined as to its content only when it has become conscious and is therefore filled out with the material of conscious experience. (1990, p.79)
Jung further clarifies (this is where it gets fascinating):
Its form [archetype], however…might perhaps be compared to the axial system of a crystal, which, as it were, preforms the crystalline structure in the mother liquid, although it has no material existence of its own. This first appears according to the specific way in which the ions and molecules aggregate. The archetype in itself is empty and purely formal, nothing but…a possibility of representation. (1990, p. 79)
It should be noted that the symbols/archetypes as presented in the Divine Archetypes model are closer to being a primordial image, in that these symbols and their content have already been made conscious and have been worked on and refined over an incredible span of time. So, in one sense, they have been distilled, as there is general consensus about how to experience their information, due to their use in myth, spiritual practice, and so on. That does not make them less numinous (a mysterious power that suggests the presence of a spirit or god) in the way they affect our deepest Self.
It is important to remember that invoking a known pattern that has been established through recognized channels calls up the tremendous energy contained within its morphic field. At the same time, a variation of this energy may rise up from your depths to communicate to you very specific information that is unique to you and determined by issues with which your conscious self is wrestling.
For example, the Great Mother most often appears to me in dreams as a crocodile (it took me a while to work that one out). In my conscious work, I engage with her energy in her deity form(s), but that is not the form her archetype most often "teaches" me with. The benefit of invoking such an established archetypal pattern is that it offers a very strong, clear blueprint that one can use to reformat one’s etheric template body (Ether) and consciously work with the known outcome of how this form will impact the self (Fire) to impact ones day to day life (Earth). That is a very powerful combination.
It is fascinating to see what emanation of form the symbol/archetype will take and how each aspect expresses the same message; for example Ether’s emanation of forms can be, a black oval, the Dark Moon, the Snake and the Dark Goddess and all of these, tell the same story and, in fact; the unconscious sees all as the same living symbol.
Getting Started
My suggestion for beginning work with archetypal energy is to read over the essential oil profiles and choose the energetic template(s) that will most support your evolutionary impulse. For example, the correct template for developing a talent and using it to bring material gain through right livelihood is Lakshmi the Goddess of Fortune. While if one was studying spiritual truths and wanted to enhance ones meditation practice, the correct template would be Sarasvati the Goddess of Wisdom. They are not interchangeable their specific blue print or energetic patterns produce a very precise outcome. It’s akin to planting a rosebush if one wanted daisies; you must work with the holographic projection of your desired outcome.
Once you have selected your Archetype(s) and start to use them in a practice be mindful to their unique language, they might answer you with – this is a very import part of this practice – staying with the symbols; until the internal communication has been understood and the temporal shift has taken place.
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If you would like a more in-depth study of this topic Essential Oils in Spiritual Practice: Working with the Chakras, Divine Archetypes and the Five Great Elements provides not only theory but instruction on how to harness these powerful energies
Jung, C. G. (1990). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (2nd ed., Bollingen Series XX) (R. F. Hull, Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press