Symbolic Intelligence
Archetype
Definition
A universal, recurring symbol or pattern of meaning that appears across cultures — in Carl Jung's psychology, an image arising from the collective unconscious, such as the shadow, the hero, the mother, or the threshold.
An archetype is a universal, recurring symbol or pattern of meaning that shows up across cultures and eras. In Carl Jung’s psychology, archetypes are images from the collective unconscious — the shadow, the hero, the mother, the threshold — patterns deep enough that they feel legible even to strangers.
Archetypes are why symbolic systems work at all. A tarot card, a mythic figure, a placement in a birth chart — each gives a recognisable shape to something you’re living through. This is the raw material of symbolic intelligence: the human capacity to read meaning in these shared images and use them for reflection.