The archetypes of Jung and the Tarot

The term archetype was introduced by Carl Gustav Jung - psychiatrist, founder of the school of analytical psychology- at the beginning of the last century. He suggested that after the ego (the human mind) and the personal unconscious (repository of repressed emotions, feelings and traumatic memories) in the structure of the human psyche there is a deeper layer - the collective unconscious. It is the same in all people, being the place of the human experience, which is transmitted from generation to generation.

The contents are the archetypes of the collective unconscious (of the Greeks. Arxetypos, "prototype"). Jung wrote about them as models and patterns of instinctive behavior patterns that influence the perception of reality and the reactions, in some way to the events in our life. This is the shape of the main concepts of the world, of life and human relations, which are basic, as the instincts of the animals, and that do not depend on the level of education.

In their studies, very soon, came to the conclusion that the existence of archetypes, through the exploration of dreams, the images and the hallucinations of their patients. They found that ancient symbols, mythological figures and images, there were, even in those who never had seen before, who were not interested in the history of the ancient civilizations and did not know mythology. Suddenly seemed to be an absolutely understand.

Another test of his theory, Jung believed that the fairy tales, legends and religious texts of various peoples of the world were built on the same stories - the history of love, loyalty, betrayal, revenge, the death and the Resurrection. We see in these archetypes characters similar corresponding to God, the devil, The Wise Old Man, Mother, Hero, children, etc. All of them present in the folkloric heritage since remote times and isolated frequently from one culture to another, that also have a similar content, semantics and emotions.

If something happens in life, which corresponds to an archetype, it becomes active, and it reaches an irresistible compulsion that, like the instinctive reaction prevails, despite the reason and free will.

There are archetypes, as many as typical situations of life - explains Jung:

The archetypes do not elect to influence or influence in us, simply can be activated when the circumstances of our life will fit in a recognizable archetypal history. In reality this is the mechanism of action of the archetype. They are therefore in a situation of struggle, when we have to deal with something or someone, we can discover the qualities of an enviable courage, desire or not sacrificed and that appeared in us not as a result of learning . This is the manifestation of "primitive instincts mental" - archetypes.

In this case, we can talk about the impact of the archetype of the hero. Touch the process of life with different archetypes and through this opening to the contents of the unconscious, the man passes through the path of the individualization - the path of self-knowledge and acceptance of itself in all its forms, which leads to the discovery of the real "me" and its potential.
Jung called this the "opening of himself". The archetype of the Be - is the archetype of the entirety of the unity of the conscious and unconscious. It is the achievement of myself, the achievement of the understanding of what you are in reality, is the main task of the individuation."… The Consciousness - Jung writes, - will no longer be vulnerable too selfish all the desires, fears, hopes and ambitions … On the contrary, assumes the role of contact with the world of objects, which leads a man to the absolute communion and indissoluble union with the world in general.

Jung and the archetypes in the Tarot

The Tarot cards have been the subject of various approaches: the most common considers it as a divinatory mancia; the other approach, and to some people more disturbing, consider them as a symbolic language the bearer of a psychological knowledge and philosophical. The first trend has been unfortunately a popularization and it has spread primarily as a means to read the future.

The second, in our present era, considers the Tarot a map of the processes and circumstances before whom we encounter the human beings in the extraordinary journey through life. A language for the expression of psychological ideas.  This current, in our time, was driven mainly by the exceptional psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961).

According to Jung, the model that discovers the Tarot is not another thing that the deployment of the soul life. Jung, who had no prejudice to the time to address the knowledge, also investigated the Alchemy, astrology and the I-Ching. It was he himself who translated ancient knowledge, rediscovering that in the human psyche there is an autonomous process, independent of the time or geographical location, which aspires to a goal which he named process of individualization.

Our psyche is split, split between the conscious and the unconscious, between what we know and what we ignore. Individuation refers to the process through which integrates all the polarities, dualities and internal contradictions. We can access a new balance, through the flavors and troubles of the human experience.

These experiences, of which we are learning, Jung discovered that are archetypical, are repeated in all eras and cultures under different guises. Then, in the Tarot we are with these key experiences or archetypal experiences recounted in a visual language, shocking and by some very deep. These archetypes are among others, the mother, the Father, love, justice, the Transformation, the crisis, the sacrifice, etc.

The philosopher and mathematician Russian Piotr Ouspensky (1878-1947), co-creator of the Fourth Way, classified the Tarot as a philosophical machine. Ouspensky referred to the Tarot as an abacus philosophical, said: "it is an instrument for the exercise of the mind, for getting them used to new concepts and wider, to think in a world of higher dimensions and to the understanding of the symbols".

And even more so the Tarot is a tool for guidance and self-awareness, provided to learn the skills to read its symbology. For example, the card that starts the deck is The Fool. Let us look at some of the characteristics of its complex symbology. The Fool symbolizes the individual that lacks awareness of oneself as a person, i.e. that is in a phase of such immaturity and infantilism that has not yet reached the stage of development of consciousness. It is out of every order and shape, and any law that is compatible with the others. Can be neurotic, always moving in a circle around his problem, without going to any part determined. It is the eternal turn of the individual without objective defined, without a specific target. Means, movement, displacement, travel, changes, but in an unexpected way, improvised and unexpectedly.

Person who lives and enjoys the present, that takes all the juice that can to immediate, unconcerned about the damage that could cause. The Fool represents the spirit of the game, capricious, wanderer, with unlimited energy, walking without fatigue by the universe without goal known. Without worrying about what is to come, even look over your shoulder.

The Fool is that deep impulse of the unconscious that moves us to search. The Fool is lonely; its method, secret is a nomad energetic, immortal and present in all parties. It is the most powerful of all the arcane of the Tarot. It has no fixed number, it is free to travel at whim, disrupting the order in their attacks. In any game (as the jester, or Joker) bursts unexpectedly creating a stir huge. The Fool has a connection with the primary energy of fire and its habit of dancing invisible in the middle of the deck, providing new impetus to each card.

The Fool connects two worlds between them, the everyday and the imagination, he moves freely between them and also get confused from time to time. The Fool represents the idealistic, naive, played that moves guided by their instincts, which sometimes can put you in danger. His curiosity impulsive leads us toward impossible dreams while, at the same time his playful nature will return us to the world easy of our childhood. Assumed that it is a part of ourselves separate from our ego aware, can lie mental traps or at least confuse our language. Sometimes his jokes introduce us in places where our ego would never have dared to go.

The Fool represents a part of us which innocent but knowing what it does, is engaged in the search of self-knowledge. Through the experiences that we look know mad, but that then we will recognize as crucial for the confirmation of our lives.

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