Archetypes Symbolism Quiz

Light vs. Darkness

Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair.

Innate Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity

Some characters exhibit wisdom and understanding of situations instinctively as opposed to those supposedly in charge. Loyal retainers often exhibit this wisdom as they accompany the hero on the journey.

Supernatural Intervention

Spiritual beings intervene on the side of the hero or sometimes against him.

Fire and Ice

Fire represents knowledge, light, life, and rebirth, while ice, like the desert, represents ignorance, darkness, sterility, and death.

Nature vs. Mechanistic World

Nature is good while technology is evil.

The Threshold

Gateway to a new world which the hero must enter to change and grow

The Underworld

A place of death or metaphorically an encounter with the dark side of the

self. Entering an underworld is a form of facing a fear of death.

Haven vs. Wilderness

Places of safety contrast sharply against the dangerous wilderness. Heroes are often sheltered for a time to regain health and resources.

Water vs. Desert

The mystery of creation; birth-death-resurrection; purification and redemption; fertility and growth. Jung says water is also the common symbol for the unconscious (The sea - the mother of all life; spiritual mystery and infinity; death and rebirth; timelessness and eternity; the unconscious. And Rivers - death and rebirth [baptism]; the flowing of time into eternity; transitional phases of the life cycle.) Because Water is necessary to life and growth, it commonly appears as a birth symbol, as baptism symbolizes a spiritual birth. Rain, rivers, oceans,

etc. also function the same way. The Desert suggests the opposite.

Heaven vs. Hell

Man has traditionally associated parts of the universe not accessible to him with the dwelling places of the primordial forces that govern his

world. The skies and mountaintops house his gods, the bowels of the earth contain diabolic forces.

The Crossroads

A place or time of decision when a realization is made and change or penance results

The Maze

A puzzling dilemma or great uncertainty, search for the dangerous monster inside of oneself, or a journey into the heart of darkness

The Castle

A strong place of safety which holds treasure or princess, may be enchanted or bewitched

The Tower

A strong place of evil, represents the isolation of self

The Magic Weapon

The weapon the hero needs in order to complete his quest.

The Whirlpool

Symbolizes the destructive power of nature or fate.

fog

Symbolizes uncertainty.

sun

Creative energy. Law in nature; consciousness (thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision; passage of time and life.

circle

Wholeness and unity. In ancient tradition, the symbol united with the triangle and the square showed the union of the numbers 3, 4, and 7 in perfection. the mystery of life & forces of generation. a Chinese symbol representing the union of the opposite forces of the Yang (masculine principle, light, activity, the unconscious mind) and the Yin (female principal, darkness, passivity, the unconscious)

Serpent

symbol of energy and pure force; evil, corruption,

destruction; sensuality; mystery; the unconscious

Garden

Paradise, innocence, unspoiled beauty

Tree

denotes life of the cosmos. It stands for inexhaustible life, and is therefore a symbol of immortality.

3

light, spiritual awareness, unity (holy trinity), male principle.

4

associated with the circle, life cycle, four seasons, female principle, earth, nature, elements.

7

the most potent of all symbolic numbers signifying the union of three

and four, the completion of a cycle, perfect order, perfect number, religious symbol

red

blood, sacrifice, passion disorder.

green

growths, sensation, hope, fertility

blue

security, tranquility, truth. Etc.