Father

As a general, archetypal image, the father represents traditional mentality, general worldview, prevailing order; "masculine" intellectualism and rationalism, and so forth—the collective consciousness; while the mother, as an archetypal image, correspondingly represents the collective unconscious.

The masculinity that the father can represent is active, outward-going energy—what we do or fail to do in life (whereas the feminine "mother energy" often pertains to the passive, receptive, and inclusive).

On a more personal level, one's father can represent one's worldview, general attitude, habits, and dispositions. Like the old king in fairy tales, we can become rigid in these respects.

When we step out into the world, we in a sense step into the father's world, and our inner father—or father complex—is reflected in what we experience and our attitude toward it.

Spirituality

The archetypal father image possesses a spiritual quality (sometimes referred to as "the spirit of life") and can represent the archetypal image of "the wise old man," who teaches the dreamer "the teachings of the ancients." A typical initiation rite describes how "the fathers" take boys from the safety of the family, subject them to more or less painful trials, and then initiate them into the old traditions. Since this archetypal guidance rarely occurs in modern society, it is not an uncommon element in dreams. Ancestors in dreams sometimes represent the collective unconscious.

The spiritual quality of the father recurs in the connection to wind, just as the Mother is associated with water.

The Negative Father

The negative quality of the father archetype is illustrated by Saturn/Cronus, the old tyrant who suppresses the feminine, eros, even life itself, and keeps humanity in a kind of prison. Life has stagnated; the old man has become bitter and angry, striving to control his environment; he tolerates neither laughter nor the cries of children; the dark one is an expression of nigredo. A modern variant of this archetypal image is Denethor in The Lord of the Rings—tyrannical, bitter, in a house without women, in a war without hope.

The Self

An authoritative male figure—from historical characters to, for example, one's grandfather—can be an expression of the Self. (Cf. Old Man and King.)

The Personal Father

Dreams about one’s own father may have the aforementioned archetypal core but are typically more related to one’s own father complex. One's relationship with one's father—or the father complex—affects one’s relationship with the external world in general. It is as if the father represents the outside world, and vice versa. Both a negative or positive father image can become an obstacle in the dreamer’s ambition to live his or her own life. A negative father complex can, for instance, give rise to a hostile environment (which means that dreams of the father's death often indicate positive development).

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