ARCHETYPES AND SYNCHRONICITY -- THE ENGINES OF DIVINATION
Visionary Networks develops authentic divination systems with a time-honored
pedigree. When we think of divination, we prefer to turn to those
proven systems.
Ours is not the way most people think when they hear the word divination.
Hundreds of years of fundamentalist propaganda (and millions of burnings)
later, divination has been demonized and trivialized as superstitious
fortune-telling. But there is a lot of room between fundamentalist
bible class and psychic readers.
In the first issue of Synchronicity News (originally called Interactive
Divination News), we defined an authentic divination experience as
a type of meditation experience -- focused on the NOW -- that offers
intuitive decision-making utility, and a touch of do-it-yourself psychotherapy.
OK, you say ... even if I buy into your definition of divination,
what is the dynamic of divination? How does it work?
The best way to describe how divination works is to lean on the founder
of depth psychology, Carl Jung, and two concepts he is famous for
articulating: archetypes and synchronicity. In this edition of the
newsletter, we'll look briefly at archetypes and why they are so important
to deal with.
JUNGIAN ARCHETYPES
The word "archetype" is defined by Webster as "original pattern or
model." Jung took this Platonic concept, refined it and applied it
to depth psychology -- specifically to his theories about the "collective
unconscious."
Jungian archetypes presuppose that all people -- even across cultures
-- share a common landscape of attributes, have a similar relationship
to all the primal qualities of human energy and expression. Individuals
may manifest these qualities in different proportions, but the energy
or attitude of every archetype is contained within every human being
to some degree, however imperceptible it may seem. Obviously, some
individuals will be more predisposed towards certain qualities than
others.
Jung positioned the collective unconscious as a psychic reservoir
of accumulated knowledge, culture and conditioning that informs us,
indeed defines us, as a species.
"There but for the grace of God go I," muttered one of the saints.
There certainly is something reassuring in knowing that we all contain
the same stuff -- the same instincts, desires, needs, impulses. Looked
at positively, this means we all share in the same great potentials;
only the proportions of elements are distributed differently.
Archetypes can be viewed as expressions of the different qualities
of consciousness or energy which inform human experience. For instance,
when we think of "queen" as an archetype, we can think in terms of
"queen energy" -- the expression of the feminine in a sovereign position
-- rather than focusing on any specific historical personage. According
to a Jungian understanding of archetypes, queen energy is one element
of every individual's psyche.
The Queen could be referring to an individual's sovereignty -- perhaps
with regard to a completely personal realm or to some social context
(like the nurturing mother, for instance). Factor in the four 'suits'
of a system like Tarot and archetypes become even more highly defined.
Queen of Swords (Spades) energy might point to the quality of highly
developed discernment while Queen of Cups (Hearts) could be about
unconditional love and the pouring out of blessings.
Jung explained that archetypes have a shadow side as well as a positive
side. Modern Jungians have pointed out, for instance, that sovereign
energy out of balance can manifest as a tyrant (positive shadow pole)
or a weakling (negative shadow pole).
The gods of the ancients -- mythological personalities manifesting
some powerful quality or characteristic -- were personifications of
archetypes, often appearing in dreams. Their power over the human
psyche was enormous. The fact that human beings created a mythology
which anthropomorphized archetypal human qualities does not diminish
the effective power those archetypes had over people.
Jung was one of the first to closely examine the phenomenon of projection.
He came to realize that the archetypal qualities that humans project
onto heroes and gods were the powerful sources of energy emanating
from within the human psyche itself. Through his experiments in psychotherapy,
he confirmed that awakened archetypes become sources of useful power
which can be channeled through an individual personality and expressed
in creative ways. When we gaze upon an archetypal quality projected
outward, it almost automatically stimulates the part of ourself that
it exemplifies. When one appreciates the Hero, for instance, she or
he is naturally drawn to heroism.
On the other hand, Jung also acknowledged the tremendous destructive
power of archetypal energies when they are operating out of awareness,
out of control. He outlined the relationship between the kind of inner
chaos that can result and psychological problems of all types.
Let an archetype take over and trouble will invariably follow. We
call this "losing it" or "going over the top." It happens, but it
can only happen when we are not aware of the archetype operating.
Awareness is the key to channeling archetypal energy skillfully. When
we can recognize an awakening archetype, the presence of some energetic
quality within us wanting to express, we have a chance to guide it
and ride it in a direction we choose.
Jung realized that if archetypal forces within the psyche were not
recognized, respected and dealt with skillfully, an individual's wholeness,
if not his life, would be in danger. This realization was one basis
of his psychotherapeutic strategy. For deeper information on Jungian
archetypes, see Carl Jung's collected works, nicely abridged in The
Portable Jung brilliantly edited by Joseph Campbell.
It's no accident that Jung studied both the I Ching and Tarot -- humanity's
most respected and time-honored "archetype systems." An archetype
system is a complete and balanced set of archetypal images. The I-Ching
offers 64 calligraphic images with associated text -- 64 primary archetypes
which represent 64 different types of situations or attitudes related
to the social world of politics, business dealings and love affairs.
Similarly, the Tarot deck contains 78 cards, each one an archetype.
ARCHETYPES OF THE TAROT
Tarot is a powerful Western system for recognizing archetypes that
may be impinging upon a current situation or relationship. With
the help of Visionary's resident Tarot scholar, Christine Payne-Towler,
we will be touching on many of the primary Tarot archetypes in future
issues.
Some Tarot decks in modern times have even named the cards according
to the archetypal qualities they represent, rather than calling them
4 of Wands, the card might be labeled "Prosperity." This label could
be considered as the a sort of shorthand the archetype that card is
supposed to represent. This is how the "street meanings" of the cards
originally came about. Which archetype goes with which card is a function
of a 2000 year old system of correspondences, which coordinates the
Kaballah with numerological, and astrological systems.
When one places a card in Tarot, one generally places it in a certain
'position' in a spread, a certain pattern of cards that represents
the context of the query. Each position in a spread also carries a
meaning that could be considered another archetypal aspect because
the positions represent universal issues of concern to human beings.
TAROT MAGIC CD-ROM NOW SHIPPING
Visionary is now shipping a major new work, the Tarot Magic CD-Rom.
This is the only Tarot system that organizes all the possible meanings
of any card relative to its position in any one of ten spreads (if
such a think existed in book form this would be 500 pages and terribly
inconvenient to use). Computers are good at organization this level
of detail in an easily accessible way and Tarot Magic was designed
to take advantage of this strength to the fullest possible extent.
See details at http://www.iching.com/tarot (in January, we will
unveil a new experiential Tarot website, www.TarotMagic.com).
Tarot Magic is the only Tarot interpretation system of any kind that
delivers 3 levels of interpretation for each card, including the precise
"positional interpretation" depending upon where the card lands in
any one of 10 spreads. The program comes with 10 built-in virtual
decks, 10 spreads, a history of each card back to the 15th century
and much more. Tarot Magic is by far the easiest way to learn how
to master the art of Tarot, or simply to enjoy expert quality readings
right out of the box.
VISIONARY'S INTERACTIVE
WEBSITES
The Oracle of Changes website (http://www.iching.com), which as
far as we know is the only authentic* divination experience on the
Internet, is now delivering over 65,000 complete readings/month.
A typical reading involves a 5 or 10 minute experience, so this
is a much more significant measure of meaningful website activity
than 'hits' or 'page impressions'.
The Tarot Magic website (http://www.TarotMagic.com) contains a full
description of the Tarot Magic CD-Rom, including detailed descriptions
of the ten virtual decks contained in it.
*All of the other 'divination' processes on the Internet we have seen
have the computer cast for you using a random number generator --
and without any personal involvement, energetic input or special timing
on the part of the querant (see definitions of "authentic" in Synchronicity
News Issue #1).
