5 Jungian Archetypes

    Shadow Growth Journal

Many cultures and philosophies abide by the rules of archetypes. Carl Jung developed twelve archetypes that can apply to people. Here are the five of them that apply to me most accurately. I encourage you to go look up the archetypes and find which ones apply to you. 

My First Archetype: The Creator

Traits/ Key Words: Artistic, poet, imagination, good ideas, collages, innovation

I wrote my first book of stories when I was four years old. Well, I didn’t write it. I couldn’t write. I dictated the stories to my aunt who wrote them down. Stories included “The Priest Who Skipped Mass” “The Magic Magic Snowflake” and (my favorite) “The Gluestick That Grew Too HIgh” Growing up I just assumed everyone liked writing. It really confused me in school that people didn’t enjoy free writes as much as I did. My fourth grade teacher was especially impressed with my writing, reading it aloud to the class. I got bullied for it but hey, small price to pay for a lifelong gift. Some people are just jealous.

My Second Archetype: The Lover

Traits/ Key Words: girlfriend/boyfriend, friendship, acts of love, cuddling, sex/ intimacy, “I love you”

Yes, I have dated alot and yes I have alot of relationships in my life- friendships, casual relationships, serious relationships. It’s really important for me to feel connected to someone else who actually cares about me and isn’t just using me for sex. I am almost thirty now so I know now that I belong in a monogamous romantic relationship. I can’t do the whole FWB thing without catching feelings and I am way too jealous to be in a polyamorous relationship. I also know that I like having alot of friends. I’m very much an extrovert and making new friends makes me really happy.

My Third Archetype: The Innocent

Traits/ Key Words: happiness, naivete, open-minded, virgin, safety, protection, simple

The one is hard to explain but even though I am relatively experienced in certain areas of my life (like dark spells of mental health, serious mental  illness and sexual trauma) I really like to focus on the bright side (except maybe in my poetry). I’m one of the youngest in my friend group. I also live at home and  I’m protected alot by Justin and my parents. I am aware that eventually I will have to venture out more on my own but that hasn’t happened yet.

My Fourth Archetype: Everyman

Traits/ Key Words: Belonging, realistic, hard working, cynical

The goal of Everyman is to primarily belong. I’ve always wanted to belong. As a kid, I had trouble making friends because my mental illnesses separated me from  the other students. Now that I’m able to understand myself better I am able to fit in better. Being a kid was really confusing. The first time I really felt understood was college but that was only a precursor for the lifelong friends I have now. I do still feel bad I felt out of touch with almost all of my college friends but it was hard since I completed less than two years and didn’t graduate with them. Most of the time I was there I was either partying or in the hospital anyway so I don’t think those were great groundworks for laying a foundation. However, I  will never forget them.

My Fifth Archetype: Caregiver

Traits/ Key Words: helping others, healing others, compassion, being used, service

I always wanted to help others. When I was sixteen I got that opportunity. For a few summers I worked at a camp for children with cancer. The children I worked with were three and four years old. When I went to college, I assumed I wanted to work with children and majored in primary education but as I began to experience serious mental health issues I switched majors to counseling which I never completed because of aforementioned mental health issues. To this day I still look for ways to  help people. Right now I’m actually helping out an assisted living facility where I might actually get employment (which is a big deal but nothing is official yet).

It’s very interesting to browse the archetypes to find the ones that most suit you. Are you a Caregiver? Lover? Neither? Both? See for yourself.