John Collier, In the Forest of Arden, 1892

Even if you have not worked with the concept of archetypes before – I am sure you have seen them, even if you did not know at the time what they were. They are everywhere throughout literature, books, folk stories and movies. Archetypes can be described as an agglomeration of characteristics and energies which are embodied and displayed through a character, or a role. An archetype represents the purest expression of certain characteristics which we all have within us. Carl Jung described archetypes as being a part of our Collective Unconscious, in which we store our memories and beliefs about each archetype.

For example, we’ve all witnessed the hero and the villain archetypes played out in movies. One is deemed as a good citizen, someone who contributes to the wellbeing of society and saves the day – while the other is seen as wicked, atrocious, a bad citizen, someone that needs to be arrested and punished for their behavior.

Doing archetypal work consists of recognizing and integrating the aspects of a character, archetype, role or energy as being a part of ourselves. It is a recognition that our outer world reflects the inner world, and vice versa. The goal of doing archetypal work is to gain awareness to what our light and shadow aspects of ourselves hold. By being aware of our resistance, judgement, beliefs or distortion about an archetype – we begin to clear up the lens through which we see the world. Doing archetypal work can be very healing, enabling us to practice a deeper acceptance and understanding of ourselves and of our relatives. It is a great tool to understand polarity, relationship dynamics or conflicting energies within ourselves that cause suffering.

Tarot is a great tool to do archetypal work - with 78 cards to choose from, to reflect on who we are and our subconscious beliefs around our identity. Being familiar with tarot and its system will definitely help you – but I want to reassure you that you can do this work even if your knowledge of tarot is limited.

While it is possible to do archetypal work with any of the tarot cards – I have personally found that the 16 court cards, as well as the character cards within the Major Arcana of Tarot are the most easy to work with when beginning to do Archetypal Work. Here is a few example of character cards within the major arcana: The Fool, The Magician, The Devil, The Hierophant etc.… Other cards within the major arcana are more descriptive of energies or events, like the judgement, the sun, the justice and the strength cards. I’ve put a list of the main archetype cards of the tarot in the list below (they are the cards that depict mainly one character and that in my own experience, work best with archetypal exploration in tarot… of course, I this is not a definitive system, only a suggestion).

To begin, I invite you to find a card you want to work with. You could simply shuffle your deck of cards, or shuffle the specific character cards I’ve put in the image here. Another way is to lay down the cards, and observe if there is a specific card that you want to explore. You will find that some archetypes will attract you, while others you might reject or feel disgust towards. This is completely normal! If it feels difficult to choose a card – then I recommend simply shuffling with the intention to work with the archetype that needs healing and integration within your subconscious.

Now, bring out a journal or simply a piece of paper. Write down your first impression of the archetype card you have pulled. What characteristics does it have? What role is it fulfilling? What feeling does it evoke within you? Does it remind you of yourself, or of someone else you know that embodies strongly these characteristics? Are there any judgments you have about this archetype? What attracts you to this archetype? What specific energies within this tarot card makes you feel uneasy?

Now I invite you to notice if this archetype is present within your physical reality as well. Is this something you’ve recently felt attracted to? Or are you repulsed by it?

Here is a personal example to help you forward. I just shuffled only the character cards out of tarot and pulled the Lovers card. This card makes me reflect on what it means to be a lover, and to be in union with someone else. What does it mean to be connected and to love? What are my beliefs around love that are driving my relationships? How do the romantic and sexual relationships in my life feel?

The key to doing archetypal work with tarot is to be able to notice where we are having resistance, or where you might have a distorded archetypal imprint. What aspect of this archetype am I suppressing? This resistance could present in many ways in your psyche: from seeing a characteristic in a negative light, to fantasizing and distorting the archetype in a way which puts it on a pedestal which distracts you from your whole spectrum, multi-dimensional self. In each instance – you are seeing the archetype through the influence of conditioning or trauma. Being able to gain awareness into these archetypal imprints and journaling will help you be more fully conscious of your beautiful, multi-dimensional and archetypal self.

Observe what your first reaction is to the card you have drawn: it will tell you a lot about the emotional charge this archetype triggers in you, that might be driven by a subconscious belief which is incorrect. My first reaction to the card of the Lovers I pulled, is that it reminded me of a relationship that was both painful and also full of love. It reminded me to attend to the subconscious belief that it is difficult to create repair in relationships – something which called my attention earlier this week to examine.

Awareness is the first step towards healing, acceptance and a life of more peace. I hope that this practice helps you start your journey of exploration of the archetypes within yourself, and gives you new insights into your own inner world.

If you would like to dive deeper into this practice, I invite you to sign up to my newsletter here to receive 10 Journaling Prompts for Archetypal Work with Tarot. It is a pdf which includes questions that will help you coax out the outdated belief systems and distorded archetypes from your subconscious, to your conscious awareness.

Let me know in the comments below what tarot archetype card you pulled, and how this archetype is currently showing up in your life?

With Love,

Mary Iris Jane

Discover your Current Tarot Archetype + Bonus Journaling Prompts!