If we do not accept the existence of archetypes,
Reading ancient myths and fairy tales can be very helpful because these stories came spontaneously from people who had not studied psychology.
The stories came straight out of their unconscious and, therefore, show us how the unconscious works unimpeded by conscious intervention.
The images are clear and stark.
For those of us who are interested in why we do what we do when we want to do the opposite, the stories are gold mines of information.
If we accept, as Jung believed, that there are what he called “archetypes” in our unconscious, then we can read myths and fairy tales with an open mind.
If we do not accept the existence of archetypes, then we have no way of explaining the superhuman surges of energy that magnetize us toward someone or something—or repel us.
The word does not matter. What matters is our recognition of the power of these energy fields in our unconscious; they can dictate our destruction (if our ego is weak) or they can be our greatest gift in life.
If we cannot tell the difference between human and super¬ human (or subhuman) energy, we identify with gods and goddesses, devils and enchantresses, and eventually walk into self-destruction.
We project images onto these energy fields. The god for one generation is Elvis, for another, Michael Jackson.
The goddess may be the Virgin Mary, eclipsed by Lilith, eclipsed by Julia Roberts.
The task of the media promoters is to find the right image for what¬ ever energy field is floating up from the unconscious mass at that moment.
Stars pass by like meteors and are gone. — Marion Woodman, Dancing in the Flames, Page 126
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