The Hidden Language of Symbols: Why Archetypes Show Up in Our Lives

Why do certain symbols keep appearing in our lives?

Why do some images, stories, or dream figures follow us through different seasons—shifting shape, but never fully leaving? Perhaps it’s a recurring animal in your dreams, a mythic moment that feels strangely familiar, or a character in a film who awakens something ancient inside you.

These are more than passing fascinations. They’re messages. Invitations.They are the hidden language of the unconscious—spoken in symbol, metaphor, and myth.

Carl Jung called this deeper psychic layer the collective unconscious: a shared, ancestral reservoir of images and psychological patterns that live within all of us. These patterns, which he named archetypes, are the universal energies and figures that shape how we perceive the world, relate to others, and make meaning of our experiences.

What Are Archetypes?

Jung believed that just as our bodies carry inherited traits, our psyches carry inherited images. These are not literal memories, but primordial patterns—like the Hero, the Shadow, the Wise Elder, the Trickster. They show up in ancient myths and modern movies, in childhood dreams and midlife awakenings. They live in our collective stories—and in our private ones.

Archetypes aren’t just characters; they are energetic blueprints. They reflect core psychological processes we all move through. The Hero’s Journey, for example, isn’t only a narrative arc—it’s a psychic map of transformation. Each time we confront fear, take a risk, endure loss, or step into the unknown, the Hero archetype rises in us.

Even tools like the tarot mirror this archetypal terrain. The Major Arcana cards follow the soul’s evolution—the Fool, the Lovers, the Death card, the Star—all reflecting timeless inner processes. Far from fortune-telling gimmicks, these cards are symbolic mirrors. They help us see ourselves more clearly, and tap into the wisdom of the unconscious.

The Archetypes That Live Within

While the number of archetypes is infinite, a few appear universally:

• The Hero reminds us of our courage—the choice to act in the face of fear.

• The Shadow holds the parts of ourselves we deny—our envy, our rage, our shame—and asks us to integrate them rather than exile them.

• The Wise Elder shows up when we need clarity, offering insight that transcends logic.

• The Anima and Animus, our inner feminine and masculine energies, call us toward balance—between receptivity and action, intuition and reason.

• The Trickster disrupts, shakes, and unsettles us so that we can evolve. This archetype appears in mischief and chaos but often carries the key to liberation.

These patterns surface in different ways throughout our lives. Sometimes, they emerge symbolically—through dreams or meditative imagery. Other times, they show up as people, situations, or synchronicities that demand our attention.

A Personal Encounter with the Archetypal

During a period of deep introspection, I had a meditation in which the Wise Old Man appeared. Cloaked in robes, with a long white beard and pointed hat, he led me down a spiral staircase. And strangely, as we descended, I also felt that we were ascending. That paradox stayed with me.

To go deeper into the unconscious is also to rise—to expand.To feel more sorrow is to unlock more joy.To acknowledge the shadow is to reclaim our power.

In that spiral, I glimpsed a truth: the symbolic path isn’t linear. It folds, deepens, reflects. The unconscious doesn’t speak in straight lines—it speaks in symbols.

Another time, I dreamt of an alligator in lipstick, locked in a sterile white room with me. It attacked the laundry basket I was holding—an image so absurd it was almost laughable. But I knew exactly what it meant. That alligator was my Wild Woman—the fierce, sensual, untamed part of myself I had buried beneath motherhood and domestic perfection.

The lipstick wasn’t glamour—it was theater, rage, reclamation.The laundry basket? Control. Containment. And I was the one standing in front of the only exit.

That dream was a confrontation—and a call back to instinct, embodiment, power.

Why Archetypes Show Up in Our Lives

Archetypes tend to surface during thresholds—when something is ending or beginning.

They show up when we’re lost, grieving, transforming. They show up in relationships, where we repeat ancient dynamics: parent and child, guide and student, lover and beloved.

Sometimes, we’re cast into the role of the Initiate—like I was during my psychoanalytic training. It wasn’t just academic. It was a sacred dismantling. A descent into uncertainty. A passage. That’s what archetypes do. They don’t just symbolize change—they initiate it.

There is deep comfort in knowing that others have walked this path before. That the patterns we’re experiencing are ancient. We’re not alone in our transformation—there’s a map. A myth. A lineage.

How to Recognize Archetypes in Your Own Life

So how do we begin to work with archetypes more consciously?

• Listen to the whispers. They don’t yell. They appear as recurring dreams, symbols, songs, or moments of déjà vu.

• Track synchronicities. The brain’s Reticular Activating System filters what we notice. When something symbolic rises into awareness, the RAS helps you attune to it. Suddenly, the same image shows up again and again—not because it’s new, but because you’re listening.

• Notice your roles. Are you in a Hero’s journey? Are you being visited by the Shadow? Are you becoming the Guide?

• Pay attention to what moves you. The stories that haunt you. The artwork that brings tears. The myth that makes your bones hum. These are not random. They are keys.

• Journal. Reflect. Ask. Speak to the dream figure. Write a letter to the trickster energy that keeps showing up. Archetypes often answer when engaged with sincerity.

A Living Myth

What if your life isn’t a series of disconnected events, but a living myth?

What if your heartbreak is not just pain, but initiation?

What if your confusion is not failure, but transformation?

What if your dream is not strange—but sacred?

Archetypes are not abstract. They are embodied. They are woven into our days, our relationships, our choices. They ask us to pay attention, to honor the symbolic, and to live with reverence.

You don’t need to decode every symbol right away. You only need to start listening.

Ask: Who am I being right now? What story am I inside of? What is this moment asking me to become?

This is the power of symbolic life. It doesn’t promise ease. But it does offer depth.

Meaning. Wholeness.

And perhaps, a way home.

🎧 Prefer to listen instead?

If you’d rather experience this conversation in audio form, you can listen to the full episode on my podcast, Reverence for Rêverie. In the episode, I share even more personal reflections, dream imagery, and ways to recognize the archetypes shaping your story.

You can find Reverence for Rêverie on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen.