THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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experience, and we turn now to a definition ofthe key concepts ofJungian psychology,
before using these to formulate a theory of voluntary and involuntary demonic
possession. A comprehensive overview ofJungian psychology is beyond the scope of
this chapter. The two concepts central to Jung's understanding of psychopathology
are those ofthe archetypes and complexes (Redfearn, 1985), and these will provide the
focus ofthe discussion.
11.4 Archetypes of the collective unconscious
The collective unconscious, or objective psyche, refers to the human species'
evolutionary psychic inheritance, thus establishing the transpersonal foundation for
universally shared behavioural and experiential patterns. The contents ofthe collective
unconscious include the instincts and archetypes. Jung uses the term instinct
somewhat loosely to refer to "uniform and regularly recurring modes of action"
(1948a, p. 135), which are not the result of conscious will. Their universal and
transhistorical status identifies them as components ofthe collective unconscious. The
ubiquity ofcertain psychic phenomena - despite the differing experience ofindividuals ­
convinced Jung ofthe existence of a phylogenetically shared, archaic psychic substrate,
underlying the personal unconscious. Because the collective unconscious is prepersonal,
its contents have never been repressed. It comprises the instinctual drives,
complexes, and archetypes which identify all individuals as human, despite their
cultural, historical, racial, and individual differences.
lung referred to the archetypes as the structural "dominants" of the unconscIOUS
(1948, p. 148), and elsewhere as "the ruling powers, the gods" (1953a, p. 95).
Archetypes typically manifest psychically as feelings, thoughts and images:
"Archetypes are systems of readiness for action, and at the same time images and
emotions" (lung, 1927, p. 31). In essence, archetypes are phylogenetically inherited,
transindividual predispositions to structure, perceive, and respond to the world in
typical ways. They are thus the source of the typical actions and experiences that
characterise the human species. As formative potentialities, archetypes cannot be
apprehended directly, but only represented indirectly as archetypal images and motifs