An archetype is a generic, idealized model of a person, object or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned or emulated : a well-known category or type, such as a story pattern (a genre such as the fairy tale, action movie, or romance novel); a familiar kind of character (the heroine, the cowboy, the step-mother); a meaningful image (the dove, the color red, a snake, an apple, King Kong crucified); or a universal experience (the quest). These, when encountered in the arts, resonate because they are laden with meaning already. We know how to respond, maybe even innately.

Where do the archetypes come from? In his earlier work, Jung tried to link the archetypes to heredity and regarded them as instinctual. We are born with these patterns which structure our imagination and make it distinctly human. Archetypes are thus very closely linked to our bodies. In his later work, Jung was convinced that the archetypes are psychoid, that is, "they shape matter (nature) as well as mind (psyche)" (Houston Smith, Forgotten Truth, 40). In other words, archetypes are elemental forces which play a vital role in the creation of the world and of the human mind itself. The ancients called them elemental spirits How do archetypes operate? Jung found the archetypal patterns and images in every culture and in every time period of human history. They behaved according to the same laws in all cases. He postulated the Universal Unconscious to account for this fact. We humans do not have separate, personal unconscious minds. We share a single Universal Unconscious.