The Hidden Storytellers: The Cast of Characters Living in Your Head

Part One in a new series based on Carl Jung's archetypes. (This is Jung without the jargon.)

The Voices Inside Your Head

You think you’re writing your life story.

But here’s the twist: you’re also being written.

That’s what Carl Jung believed. Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist who broke away from Freud in the early 1900s. Freud wanted to explain everything in terms of sex and suppressed desire. Jung agreed childhood experiences matter—but he thought something deeper was at play.

He noticed his patients kept dreaming the same kinds of dreams. Not the same events, but the same characters: wise guides, tricksters, monsters, radiant children. And here’s the kicker—he saw the same characters showing up in myths from cultures that had never even met.

Jung’s conclusion? We don’t just have a personal unconscious (our own repressed memories). We share a collective unconscious—a deep well of symbols, stories, and images every human draws from.

And at the heart of that collective unconscious live the archetypes.

---

What’s an Archetype?

Think of archetypes as the recurring cast of characters inside the human story.

• The Shadow — the monster in the basement.

• The Persona — the mask we wear for the world.

• The Child — playfulness, wonder, renewal.

• The Wise Old Man — the mentor who shows up just in time.

• The Self — the integrated you, the wholeness you’re chasing.

They’re not hallucinations or woo-woo energy beings. They’re patterns of meaning. Your psyche needs a way to process fear, so it gives you a shadow. It needs a way to integrate wisdom, so it invents a mentor.

That’s why Yoda, Gandalf, and Dumbledore feel so familiar: they were in your head long before you met them on screen.

Why This Matters for You

Jung wasn’t just cataloging myths. He believed these archetypes are alive inside each of us, shaping our choices, fears, and possibilities.

• Ever sabotage yourself for no reason? That’s your shadow at work.

• Ever feel like you’re playing a role and wondering who you really are? Persona.

• Ever rediscover joy in something you thought you’d outgrown? Child.

These inner figures don’t just show up in therapy—they show up in boardrooms, marriages, midlife crises, and late-night journaling sessions. They’re the cast of your current story whether you know it or not.

---

The Journey Ahead

Over the next several posts, we’re going to meet them one by one.

• In Part 2, we’ll walk down to the basement and face the Shadow.

• Then we’ll talk about the Persona (the mask you forgot you were wearing).

• After that, the Anima/Animus (your inner opposite), the Child, the Mentor… until finally, we arrive at the Self.

If Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is the plotline of your story, Jung’s archetypes are the inner cast of characters that keep the story going.

The adventure isn’t out there somewhere. It’s in you already.

Your subconscious already knows where your story wants to go.

And the first step is realizing that those “voices” in your head aren’t you being crazy or paranoid or overimaginative.

They are actually the characters you’ve cast in your story who want to show you the way to your next adventure.

In this series, we will find them, name them, and listen to what they are trying to tell us.

Feeling stuck?

I offer one-on-one coaching to help you understand your life story and map out your next chapter. I’d love to work with you. Email me for details.