What is an Archetype?
When you look at her what archetypes do you think of?
(HINT: See bottom of page for answers)
The easiest way to answer the question is to give you examples: Mother, Father, Child, Fool, Queen, King, Prince, Warrior, Destroyer, Angel, Bully, Victim, Gambler, Rescuer, Thief, Goddess, Monk, Hermit, and so on…
Archetypes are names for a certain types of people. These names are easily recognizable by anyone anywhere around the world.
You know you are referring to an archetype when all you have to do is say the name of the archetype and nothing else. Instantly, anyone you’re talking to gets an image of the type of person you’re referring to, and they often have an entire story around that character. This is indicative of the amount of power that each archetype contains. Archetypes are universal patterns of human nature that coordinate how you think and feel. We all have certain archetypes that are ours to express, and it is often easiest to start with looking at the archetypes other people have.
You might meet someone for the first time and say, “She’s such an angel” or when a friend gets pushy with you, you might exclaim, “Stop being such a bully!”
What is an archetype and where does it come from? The Greek origin of the word “archetype” comes from the roots archē meaning “beginning or original” and typos meaning “pattern, model or type”. Thus an archetype is the original or first pattern from which all others are made of.