What are archetypes?

I'm curious to see how different people perceive the idea of "archetype". It's a term that is so often used these days, and I think there are quite a few different conceptions of it floating around out there.

So: what, to you, is an archetype? (If this means something to you, I'm asking about archetypes in the Jungian sense, not Platonian or Augustinian or whatever else.)

Also: how does your concept of archetype relate to how you use the Tarot (if it does)? How important is it? Why does it relate to the Tarot in the first place?

I have my own idea of what archetype means, but for the moment, I'd like more to hear what others think. There's no wrong answer (well, not for the purposes of this thread), cross-talk is encouraged, and I'd love for you to be as detailed and explicit as you can. Give examples. Tell me as if I'd never heard of archetypes before.

Thanks.

Hello Cedar Wolf,

Psychology employs a unique terminology. Even their 'definitions' differ from regular. But we all recognize ARCHETYPES in an everyday way: what you've always known that never changes.

When it was you knew what it is you know isn't as important as recognizing the echoes of your own awareness in the memories, your own experience of the vision you sense in your own understanding of each unchanging significance.

KariRoad