And Your Dominant Archetype is …?

Your dominant archetype is the guiding archetypal force behind personal fulfilment. It’s the pattern of behaviour to implement if you need a direct path to real success.

Your life task isn’t extraordinary until you’ve worked your way through the ordinary. Like everyone else, your path unfolds through the stages of life: from surviving to thriving, from meeting basic needs to fulfilling your soul’s purpose. Think of life stage models like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the Chakra System, the Coaching Wheel of Life, or for my purpose here, the 12 stages of the Archetypal Wheel of Life.

But what exactly is your life task?

Actually, you have more than one.

And that’s where your personal archetypes come in. They’re both precise and expansive. They can provide you with clear direction while remaining open to interpretation and evolution. Archetypes are universally recognised patterns of behaviour. Think: Mother, Sage, Hero, Victim, Child, Magician. You’ll get more of an idea here:

Your life tasks aren’t to be these archetypes. You are not your archetypes. You have archetypes. They serve as teachers, guides on the side pointing you toward the fulfillment of your life tasks. They represent the roles to play in life, based on your personal history. Roles you step in and out of, not identities you mistake for your true, Self, which is sacred. But don’t worry, you’re not boxed in. Every archetype has two sides: empowered and disempowered. Which means there are no bad archetypes. When you’re aware of both sides you can choose which side to beware of and which one to embody. 

Your personal archetypes begin to serve you the moment you operate from the energy of your Sacred Self. It’s from your Sacred Self energy that you are able to recognise the sacred side of your archetypes. This side holds their highest potential. It’s their gift to you, to take, embody, and make your own.

Each archetype is a living reservoir of humanity’s evolving knowledge, skills, experience and wisdom. Each of your 36+ archetypes¹ resonate with a specific domain of life on the Archetypal Wheel of Life. But one archetype stands out: your dominant archetype. This is your top priority archetype. It’s the one that synthesises and clarifies all of your archetypes and therefore, your life tasks.

Identifying your dominant archetype is a life-changing experience. It’s the archetype that lands in the 10th domain of your Archetypal Wheel of Life. When clients and students discover theirs, they often say it feels like finding a missing piece. Sometimes it’s a delightful surprise. Sometimes it’s an ah-ha moment. Sometimes it simply confirms what they’ve always known in their heart. Either way, it delivers the insight, motivation, and confidence they need to go for it.

Your dominant archetype reveals itself during your Archetype Profile Process. It lands alongside the others, exactly where it belongs, in the 10th domain on your Archetypal Wheel of Life.

While all of your archetypes will assist, obstruct, or challenge you in fulfilling your life tasks, it’s your dominant archetype that describes your greatest potential. It completes the puzzle. It defines your life tasks and shows you how to fulfill them.

So, here are some questions for you:

1. What is your greatest potential?
2. Can you describe it?
3. How does it support and sustain your top priority life task?
4. Can you explain the most efficient and effective way to access it, and deliver it into the world?

If you feel stressed, overwhelmed, drained, stuck, or in pain…that’s when you know you’re ready to answer these questions.

1. Everyone has 36+ archetypes. Twelve original, historical archetypes, plus twenty-four temporary archetypes: twelve are current and twelve are your future archetypes. ↩︎