Anatomy of an Archetype

There is a Self, which is sacred, in everyone. The same can be applied to archetypes. At the core of each archetype is a Sacred Self. I tend to refer to this part of an archetype as its highest potential.

“Recognising the Sacred Self, or the highest potential, in your personal archetypes is an act of healing that triggers integration. It allows you to absorb what you’ve learnt from the archetype, into the source of your Sacred Self, to expand your inner wisdom and intuitive skills”

Gail Goodwin 2025

An archetype is a universally recognised pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving. Archetypes are roles we play. Our personal archetypes represent the recurring themes, challenges, and successes in our personal history to date. They influence the way we respond to life’s experiences. At their best, our personal archetypes can help us to move beyond the past, be more present, and discover future possibilities. Everyone has a unique combination of 12 personal archetypes.¹

While some have speculated that we choose our personal archetypes before we’re born (Myss, 2001²), we can say that we’re born into a particular family, and a social and cultural environment where certain archetypes exist that will in turn shape our character, personality, behaviours, and our experience of life as a whole. 

Every archetype is made up of an infinite number of parts. Some parts are undeveloped, broken or wounded. Other parts are healthier or highly developed. Ignored or neglected for too long, the wounded parts of your archetypes tend to behave badly, inciting similar behaviour in the exterior world. They’re trying to get your attention, waiting impatiently for you to heal and integrate them.

You can count on the wounded parts of each archetype to tell you what you don’t need to do. Meanwhile, the healthier parts of each archetype will sign post your way forward. This means there are no bad archetypes, since they are all helpful in their own way. Every archetype is valuable. Each one has message for you. Wounded or not, each one will inform your inner wisdom and build on your intuitive skills.

A healing dialogue with your personal archetypes³ begins after you enter the energy of your Sacred Self. In this state of compassionate presence, you’re able to recognise the Sacred Self in your personal archetypes. From there, you can easily identify and connect with the archetypes that most accurately reflect your personal history.

The process sparks a dialogue between your Sacred Self and your archetypes. This dialogue allows you to go on to the next step, which is to Self-Author your personal archetypes, and as you do, you will learn to Self-author your life.

1. Everyone has 12 personal archetypes, each with a pair of archetypal wings, that make up a total of 36 archetypes in their personal repertoire. The wings of your personal archetypes are temporary. These 24 archetypes are your fit-for-purpose archetypes. You can recruit your choice of archetypes when seeking insights, guidance, inspiration or options to tackle any out-of-the-box situation. But more on this another day. ↩︎
2. Myss, C. (2001), Sacred contracts: awakening your divine potential, Harmony Books, New York. ↩︎
3. See my workshop book “A dialogue with the soul: using personality archetypes to access inner wisdom (2010). I can send you a free pdf version. Or you can request a separate copy of the Self-authoring process. Just contact me here ↩︎