Archaic

1. Etymology

Archaic means primal or original. Related: participation mystique; undifferentiated fantasy; mythological parallels; “archaic man.”

2. Plain summary

However “civilized” consciousness looks, deeper psyche remains archaic. Jung uses the word for thoughts, fantasies, and feelings not yet consciously differentiated—and for images that carry unmistakable mythological parallels.

Archaism shows in unconscious fantasy’s associations-by-analogy and symbolism; in identity with an object (participation mystique); in concretism of thought and feeling; in compulsion and loss of control (trance, possession); and in fusion of the psychological functions with one another. Related to abaissement-du-niveau-mental as a lowered, myth-near state—without collapsing the terms.

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common archaic motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
primal / original; archaic man at depth; undifferentiated thoughts/fantasies/feelings; mythological parallel images; associations-by-analogy; symbolism of unconscious fantasy; participation mystique; concretism; compulsion / trance / possession; function-fusion; Definitions ¶684 neighborhood with ambivalence; CW 10 Archaic Man.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology archaic names undifferentiated depth—anthropological “primitive” psychology transposed into psychic structure. Descent Press keeps Sharp in §4; Samuels has no dedicated archaic head. §5 holds sample CW stamps. Prefer CW 10 / 6. CW 6 ¶684 also stamps the ambivalence leaf.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Archaic. Primal or original. (See also participation mystique.) Every civilized human being, however high his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche. … An image has an archaic quality when it possesses unmistakable mythological parallels. … The relation of identity with an object, or participation mystique, is likewise archaic. … Fusion of the psychological functions… is archaic…

(Sharp, 1991)

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

… every civilized human being, however high his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche. Just as the human body connects us with the mammals and displays numerous vestiges of earlier evolutionary stages going back even to the reptilian age, so the human psyche is a product of evolution which, when followed back to its origins, shows countless archaic traits.
(Jung, 1931/1970, CW 10, ¶105)

ARCHAISM is a term by which I designate the “oldness” of psychic contents or functions… We may describe as archaic all psychological traits that exhibit the qualities of the primitive mentality. … An image has an archaic quality when it possesses unmistakable mythological parallels. … The relation of identity with an object, or participation mystique, is likewise archaic. Concretism of thought and feeling is archaic; also compulsion and inability to control oneself… Fusion of the psychological functions… is archaic…
(Jung, 1921/1971, CW 6, pp. 575–576, ¶684)

See also: participation mystique; archetype; archetypal-image; function; ambivalence; abaissement-du-niveau-mental.

References

Jung, C. G. (1970). Archaic man. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 10, ¶105). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1931)

Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types [Definitions]. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 6, pp. 575–576, ¶684). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts. Inner City Books.