An excerpt from the book, "Essays in Contemporary Paganism".

"Archetype: the original pattern or model from which a thing is made or copied: prototype."- Webster

As we read about Pagan beliefs and traditions we consistently come across the word "archetype". It is used in reference to the Elementals, the Green Man, the Gods and Goddesses which we worship. The archetype is the original pattern of the fabric of our ancient religious past. The archetypes, as defined by Carl Jung (Man and His Symbols), are "mental forms whose presence cannot be explained by anything in the individual's own life and which seem to be aboriginal, innate, and inherited shapes of the human mind"(1). These figures have appeared throughout humankind's history and represent a collective unconsciousness of what was and what is, even though the majority of people do not currently recognize them as such.

This collective unconsciousness is the root cause for a mass change in our beliefs. The nature awareness movements, the desire to participate directly with the divine rather than going through a "middle man", the intense feeling in many of us that "something" is missing or wrong with our world and our spirits--all reflect the universal motifs found in mythology, the "oneness" that all humankind has experienced and yearns for again.

Until the succession of invasions (2) of patriarchal-centered peoples crushed the matrifocal, Goddess worshiping tribes and civilizations, these images reflected the very real relationship that the people and the gods had. A time when true democracy, when women were as equal as men, when art and history and the oral records were maintained and embellished. Our myths of today are a small relic of the record of our past. A record of our primal religions and our communications with the gods. Only with the advent of the Holy Roman Empire and the state sanctioning of the Christian religion were people forced to abandon the Great Mother and the universal unconsciousness. The people drifted away from the Goddess, not the other way around. However, the archetype remained and the people hungered to commune with it. Today there appears to be a rapid increase in the numbers of people who, both consciously and unconsciously, are choosing the Old Path, turning back to their Pagan beginnings.

The majority of Christian sacred sites and shrines are, in the words of Joan E. Taylor (Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins), Pagan places of worship which were "redeemed" by the Christians. Taylor goes on to state hat these Christian sites were chosen "not because of their known connections with Jesus, but because Constantine wished to promote Christianity...by replacing pagan shrines with Christian ones"(3). In addition, most of the Christian teachings and mythology are deeply rooted in Pagan origins.

Jung noted that the archetype is "a memory deposit, an engram, derived from a condensation of innumerable similar experiences...the psychic expression of an anatomically, physiologically determined natural tendency"(4).

The archetypal figures of the Green Man and the Goddess are reappearing again after long centuries of repression of Pagan belief systems. William Anderson wrote in The Green Man: The Archetype of our Oneness with the Earth:

"When archetypes return, they bring back the memory of all their past...the mystery of the northern woods, the ecstatic joy and release of the Dionysiac festivities, the gratitude for the return of spring and the fullness of harvest..."(5).

The archetypes have returned in full strength. Their likenesses can be purchased in garden shops, craft and book stores and museum shops. These creations are of the modern age, their origins are from the beginning of time. New representations are being created and sold everyday...to those who seek them consciously as well as to those who are newly confronted with the ancient past of the images and feel the need to become closer to them and what they represent.

The archetypes have returned after a dormant period. The Goddess and the Horned God and their many representatives, such as the Green Man, are here as witnessed by the resurgence in humankind's longing to rejoin the Earth spirits, of our acknowledgement that nature and man/womankind are inexorably linked. We have come to realize that the benevolent matrifocal cultures that once existed, and still do in some areas of the world, are the aspects of our lives that we need and which afford us the opportunity to continue to exist without destroying the Earth and ourselves along with it.

Conan Kennedy summarized the present resurgence in interest around Paganism and the ancient, universal myths:

"...modern western man has not been given this opportunity to learn about his mythology. Different machine-made Gods have occupied his attentions. Now, these Gods rusting, decrepit, running out of fuel, man is digging around in what remnains of his spirit, searching.

"This search frequently leads to an awakening of interest in the old Gods and Goddesses, and to attempts to understand just what it was the ancients believed, what made them tick. We find that though early man knew nothing of our sciences and systems, he was very far from being ignorant. Knowledge obscures, just as it reveals. Modern man has an immense store of knowledge...and little or no understanding of what it means."(6)

Jung noted that the archetypes "are not in any sense lifeless or meaningless 'remnants'. They still function, and they are especially valuable..."(7).

Vivianne Crowley wrote in Phoenix From The Flame: Pagan Spirituality in the Western World that "the archetypes of the Gods are mysteries which reveal layers of meaning and wonderment which take us many lifetimes to understand and unravel. In their mysteriousness, lies some of their power. ...The archetypes are of service to us, because true reality is beyond the comprehension of the human mind. ...the archetypes of the Gods originate in that repository of images which is the collective unconscious of humanity"(8).

The archetypes are still there, still meaningful, still providing a means to linkup with and to understand the Other World and our place within it.

NOTES
1. Carl G. Jung, ed. Man and His Symbols. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1964, 67

2. For excellent accounts of the historical basis of the patriarchal (Kurgan) invasions which resulted in the eradication of matrifocal civilization and the present day decay of the earth and society, see Riane Eisler's The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future, Rosemary Radford Ruether's Gaia and God, Nicholas R. Mann's His Story: Masculinity in the Post Patriarchal World and Merlin Stone's treatise, When God Was A Woman.

3. Joan E. Taylor, Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins. NY: Clarendon Press of Oxford University Press, 1993 as reviewed by William H. Stiebing, Jr. in The American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No.3, June 1994, 873-874

4. Jung, Man and His Symbols, 68

5. William Anderson, The Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness With The Earth. London and San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1990, 162

6. Conan Kennedy, Ancient Ireland: The Users Guide, An Exploration of Ireland's Pre-Christian Monuments, Mythology and Magic, Ritual and Folklore. Killala: Morrigan Books, 1997, 31

7. Jung, Man and His Symbols, 47

8. Vivianne Crowley, Phoenix From the Flame: Pagan Spirituality in the Western World. London/San Francisco: The Aquarian Press/Harper Collins Publishers, 1994, 39