In Jungian depth psychology, the witch archtype is a common portrayal of a woman, usually old and living alone, who practices dark magic. Witches are typically considered to be a dangerous, lurking threat. How the witch archetype is viewed typically depends on the religious and political context as well as the social context and its gender politics. Jean La Fontaine wrote that the "stereotype of evil appears not to have been closely connected to the actions of real people except when it was mobilised against the current enemies of the Church."
The origins of the witch archetype have been connected to antisemitic beliefs: in 1215, the Fourth Council of the Lateran issued an edict that all Jews must wear identifying headgear, a pointed cap known as a . This style of hat then became associated with black magic, Satan worship, and other acts of which the Jews were accused.
Archetypes
In Jungian psychology, archetypes are innate, universal psychic structures that influence human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The witch archetype emerges as a dynamic representation of the collective unconscious, encapsulating both the light and shadow aspects of human existence. The witch symbolizes the repressed, marginalized, and misunderstood facets of the psyche, often associated with the darker aspects of femininity and the mysteries of the unconscious.
According to Jung,
Jung traces the term back to Philo, Irenaeus, and the Corpus Hermeticum, which associate archetypes with divinity and the creation of the world, and notes the close relationship of Platonic ideas.
The archetypal feminine
According to Jungian psychologist, Erich Neumann, the Archetypal Feminine has two major axes: "M", her elementary character with focus on the maternal, and "A", her transformative character with focus on the anima or "soul image". Each axis is a continuum between positive and negative poles.
Figures such as the Archetypal Feminine embrace an "uroboric character" (like a serpent eating its own tail) or bi-valence. Thus the major archetype of the Great Mother has two major aspects, Good Mother (M+) and Terrible Mother (M-), which are in opposition and yet coexist. Neumann gives the example of the witch in the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel whose house (which symbolises the external) is made of gingerbread, but who in reality (internally) "eats little children". The other side of the coin is that the Terrible Mother, which is apparently negative, may exhibit a positive, transformative character, strengthening the ego, for instance, as in the case of Perseus who, in order to win Andromeda, must first kill the Terrible Mother, or witnessed in myths of heroic, masculine, dragon-slaying.
The shadow
Central to Jungian thought is the concept of the "shadow," which encompasses the suppressed and denied aspects of the self, relegated to the shadow in the personal or collective unconscious, or projected onto others. According to Jung: "Unfortunately there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is."
Jungian psychoanalyst James Hollis writes, "As Jung noted, whatever we deny within ourselves will come to us sooner or later and demand payment. Then, we are forced to repair within [...] and seek healing from our own nature and its restorative capacity." Jung provided an example of what can happen, at a seminar he gave where he discussed the Third Reich in pre-war Nazi Germany and the persecution of the Jews. According to author Claire Douglas, Jung suggested that this might be due to "the unconscious power of the suppressed archaic feminine" which had been "rejected, unclaimed, and repressed".
The witch archetype embodies this shadow self, representing the unacknowledged desires, instincts, and fears that are often relegated to the depths of the unconscious. For example, a person who identifies strongly with the witch archetype may struggle with feelings of being an outsider or having unconventional beliefs, resulting in social isolation or self-doubt.
