An archetype is a generic, idealized model of a person, object or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, or patterned. The psychological definition of an archetype is a model of a person, personality or behavior pattern.  The use of psychological archetypes was advanced by Carl Jung in around 1919, and generally adopted into the social sciences soon after. Jung defined 'Archetype' as the first original model of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned, or emulated. These patterns derive from a universal collective unconscious which creates our interpretation of reality.

In a strict linguistic sense, however, an archetype is merely a defining example of a personality type. Thus the accepted use of archetype today is to refer to a generic version of a given personality type. In this sense "mother figure" can be considered an archetype and instances can be found in various female characters with distinct (non-generic) personalities.

Archetypes have been present in mythology and literature for at least hundreds of years. The value in using archetypal characters in fiction derives from the fact that a large group of people are able to unconsciously recognize the archetype, and thus the motivations, behind the character's behavior.

Archetypes are visual symbols or energetic imprints that we all share. Some are obvious while others bring subliminal messages that are there to help you trigger your memory of why you are here and the nature behind the illusion of reality. Archetypes can often convey messages that verbal and written information cannot.

Archetypes are found everywhere - as their symbols are a language of the mind - taken to different frequencies of thought and connected to each other by the collective unconsciousness. There are individual and universal archetypes. You become aware of them in meditation - dreamtime - remote viewing or other out of-body experiences - when you doodle on a pad - crop circles or landscape art, other art forms, jewelry, hieroglyphs, a logo, on a billboard - anywhere at all.

William Shakespeare is known for popularizing many archetypal characters that hold great social import such as Hamlet, the self-doubting hero; Falstaff, the bawdy, rotund comic knight; Romeo and Juliet, the ill-fated ("star-crossed") lovers; Richard II, the hero who dies with honor; and many others. Although Shakespeare based many of his characters on existing archetypes from fables and myths (i.e. Romeo and Juliet on Tristan and Isolde), Shakespeare's characters stand out as original by their contrast against a complex, social literary landscape. For instance, for The Tempest, Shakespeare borrowed from a manuscript by William Strachey that detailed an actual shipwreck of the Virginia-bound 17th-century English sailing vessel Sea Venture in 1609 on the islands of Bermuda. Shakespeare also borrowed heavily from a speech by Medea in Ovid's Metamorphoses in writing Prospero's renunciative speech; nevertheless, the unique combination of these elements in the character of Prospero created a new archetype, that of the sage magician as a carefully plotting hero, quite distinct from the wizard-as-advisor archetype of Merlin or Gandalf (both of which may be derived from priesthood authority archetypes from the Bible such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Elijah, etc.).

Certain common methods of character depiction employed in dramatic performance rely on the pre-existence of literary archetypes. Stock characters used in theatre or film are based on highly generic literary archetypes. A pastiche is an imitation of an archetype or prototype in order to pay homage to the original creator.

As Archetypes, Animal Guides represent the essence of the energetic concept of the animal and its nature, which helps us to better understand and connect with our own nature. In the language of the mind, they are part of us and how we work and while they can communicate with us as separate entities, they are still part of who we are. For the most part, we will experience them as the animal form that we know them to be. Once in a while, however, they will take on a human form, but the essence of their energetic imprint remains the same.  Archetypes bring us messages about ourselves that verbal and written information cannot. As we learn to work with and open up to our Animal Guides, we learn to connect with and work with our own inner nature, to walk the paths of our inner realms and communicate with the many and varied characters we find within ourselves.