On our journeys of awakening, it is crucial to find where we’re situated on the path so that we know how to navigate the road ahead.
Traveling without knowing how to orient ourselves is kind of like craving to go to your favorite cookie store, but having no map, no direction, and no car. Pretty damn frustrating, am I right?!
If you’ve ever felt lost, stuck, confused, disoriented, and alone on your journey, you’ll know that this frustration is not only common but also profoundly demoralizing.
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Most of us know that we’ve got to practice self-love and do shadow work, and perhaps we do as much inner work as we can … but, um, what next?
Other than this sense of lostness and rootlessness on our paths, we also often tend to come across the same old inner blockages and barriers over and over again, without having a clue why.
One of the core elements I love the most about our work here on lonerwolf is that we focus on the spiritual wanderer’s journey as symbolized by the lone wolf– something that we’ve crystallized and clarified across the 10+ years that we’ve been devoted to this work.
What Mateo and I have found through our own journeys as wanderers and guides is that there are five main archetypes of awakening – and all of them are parts contained within the spiritual wanderer, aka., you, the protagonist on this path.
These five main archetypes of awakening are:
- The Seeker (also known as The Hermit)
- The Apprentice (also known as The Witch or Warlock)
- The Shaman
- The Mystic
- The Sage
We’ve written about the empath (or deep feeler), the old soul, the spiritual warrior, and the deep thinker in the past – and all of these traits are aspects of the five archetypes of awakening contained within the spiritual wanderer.
Why Finding Where You’re Situated On the Path (& What Archetype You Embody) is So Valuable
As the saying goes, ‘The map isn’t the territory.’ However, having some kind of map is also a vital and necessary tool to help you gain some kind of perspective on your path.
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We’ve clarified the map of the spiritual wanderer’s journey and its stages here, but right now I want to discuss why finding what archetype you embody on this journey is essential.
Archetypes are universal patterns of energy or as psychoanalyst and originator of this idea, Carl Jung writes,
Archetypes are images in the soul that represent the course of one’s life.
Finding which of the five archetypes of awakening you’re currently embodying on your path provides a doorway into discovering your deeper needs and Soul’s wisdom.
It also helps you orient yourself and find where on earth you’re currently at in your journey (because this is where we’re often most confused and lost).
Furthermore, by learning how to understand, embody, and integrate each aspect of the journey ruled by the Seeker, Apprentice, Shaman, Mystic, and Sage, you can find more inner freedom, expansion, and spiritual Illumination.
You can find your path, place, and purpose.
The Seeker, Apprentice, Shaman, Mystic, and Sage – A Summary
Here’s a little breakdown of each archetype of awakening, which we’ll be going into more in-depth in our Spiritual Wanderer Course released next week (so excited and proud to be finally offering this after a decade of synthesis!):
The Seeker (Hermit)
The Seeker or Hermit archetype occupies levels one and two of the spiritual wanderer’s journey of awakening.
This is the part within us that yearns for a new path and a new way of being, yet may feel stuck and resistant to change, not knowing how to move forward.
Yearning for silence, stillness, and solitude, and well as seeking answers and being drawn irresistibly into the ‘dark forest’ of the unknown are typical features of this archetype within us.
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The main demon that The Seeker/Hermit faces is self-gaslighting, and the elixir to overcoming that inner darkness is cultivating self-trust.
The Apprentice (Witch/Warlock)
The Apprentice, also defined as the Witch or Warlock archetype, comes afterward and occupies levels three and four of the awakening journey.
This is the part within us that has accepted what mythologist Joseph Campbell refers to as “the call to adventure” by metaphorically journeying into that dark, unknown forest to see what they can find.
Learning, growing in knowledge and self-understanding, as well as dabbling in many different spiritual modalities are all features of The Apprentice archetype.
Discovering how to access our inner power and ‘magic’ (which is why this stage is also known as the Witch or Warlock phase), is also a defining feature.
The main demon that The Apprentice/Witch/Warlock faces is self-disempowerment, and the elixir to overcoming that inner shadow is cultivating self-sovereignty.
The Shaman
The Shaman occupies levels five and six of the awakening journey, and it’s the part within us that feels called to dive into the unconscious on our awakening paths.
In the previous archetype of the Apprentice, we were focusing on reclaiming a sense of self-knowledge and empowerment. But the Shaman archetype takes this desire deeper into wanting to heal deep and old wounds.
Shadow work, trauma healing, and working to shine a light in the darkness of our innermost selves are all motivations of the Shaman archetype, who is a spiritual warrior at heart.
The main demon that the Shaman faces is self-victimization, and the elixir to overcoming that inner shadow is cultivating self-compassion.
The Mystic
After facing our inner darkness, whether through confronting our unconscious shadows or entering a dark night of the soul of some kind (or both), we eventually find the light. That is what the Mystic is all about.
The Mystic occupies levels seven and eight of the awakening journey, and it’s the part of us that may have experiences of Divine Love, profound spiritual revelations, and enlightened awareness.
But the Mystic isn’t without its shadows and within this archetype we often face traps and pitfalls such as spiritual bypassing and dissociation, causing us to favor higher consciousness and lose touch with our grounded humanity.
The main demon that the Mystic faces is self-delusion, and the elixir to overcoming that inner shadow is cultivating self-inquiry.
The Sage
Finally, we come to the Sage archetype, which occupies the final two phases of our cyclical journey, stages nine and ten.
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Unlike the Mystic archetype that tends to experience temporary but dazzling shifts in awareness, the Sage, through their commitment to the awakening path, undergoes more permanent and deep ‘uplevelings’ in awareness.
In this phase of the journey, the Sage feels motivated to purge the old, make way for new aligned ways of being, and integrate their hard-earned wisdom into their everyday lives.
The Sage feels called to give back to others, to be a mentor and guide. However, the biggest obstacle they often face is letting go of old ingrained patterns of self-involvement that may keep them attached to focusing only on themselves and their paths.
As such, the main demon that the Sage faces is self-involvement, and the elixir to overcoming that inner shadow is developing self-transcendence.
How to Test Yourself to Figure Out Which Archetype You’re Embodying
You can find out which archetype of awakening you’re embodying right now in our free What Type of Spiritual Wanderer Are You? test.
You can also figure out which archetype you may be occupying right now simply by noticing which of the above stages resonates with you the most on an intuitive level.
Keep in mind that these five archetypes within the spiritual wanderer’s journey are all aspects within us.
We’ll occupy them all at different stages of our life’s path because the journey of awakening isn’t linear, but is instead cyclical.
Let me know in the comments which of the five archetypes of awakening you think you may be embodying right now. What are the biggest challenges you’re facing?
If you need more help, we offer 3 powerful ways to guide you on your inner journey:
1. The Spiritual Wanderer Course: Feeling lost or uncertain about your path and purpose in life? Gain clarity and focus by learning about the five archetypes of awakening within you. Discover your deeper path and purpose using our in-depth psychospiritual map. Includes 3+ hours of audio-visual content, workbooks, meditations, and a premium test.
2. Shadow & Light Membership: Seeking ongoing support for your spiritual journey? Receive weekly intuitive guidance and learn to embrace your whole self, including your shadow side. Deepen your self-love and receive personal support from us.
3. Spiritual Awakening Bundle: Ready to soul search and dive deep? Access our complete "essentials" collection of beloved journals and eBooks. Includes five enlightening eBooks and seven guided journals, plus two special bonuses to further illuminate your path.
If you’re a spiritual wanderer, you’re a sensitive and deep-thinking person who yearns to awaken to a greater sense of purpose and freedom in this life. You may have lost your sense of home due to an existential crisis, dark night of the soul, or painful trauma that makes you feel like an outsider who feels alone and struggles to fit into the world. As a result, you may be like a lone wolf, aimlessly wandering in search of your true path and place in this life. But you don’t need to feel lost any longer. Once again, you have described me perfectly– As a Hermit. I have been a lone wolf for many years and feeling very misunderstood. But I am finding solace in what you and Sol write. It gives me many good things to consider and gives me the understanding how to confront the the things that often hold me back. As always, I thank both of you for your wisdom and insight.
I feel like I’m stuck in the first three archetypes/first 6 stages, going in a loop that I can’t transcend. Is that normal? I have so much more to learn…!
Funny thought: These 5 archetypes could possibly in some way line up with the 5 elements. With the last archetype, the Sage, being quintessence…the fifth element.
I feel as though I am a Seeker/Hermit at this point in my journey. I am trying to find my way within myself as my parents transition to independent living/assisted care. I am wondering if it’s possible to change into different archetypes as my journey and path changes.
I feel I am a bit of all five, not yet perfected the 10 levels in the order mentioned. I feel the cyclical path isn’t a linear growth curve but a nonhierarchical ‘is all, yet not full of each’ combination
I feel as though all.
I relate to so many of them. I feel like I am bouncing about between them rather than taking a linear path through. Is that normal? Am I just doing several mini circuits in a bigger spiral? It’s intriguing!
I would change Apprentice to Sorceror and Mystic to Seer, so they could all have names that start with “S”, but that’s just me because I prefer that sort of symmetry.
Thank you to John Steele and all those who replied. It was a wonderful trigger to think about my own journey. Frankly, I feel like I’m all over the place, lol! John’s comment and the replies allowed me to explore my own experiences in a new way. Some of the thoughts I had : As a child we usually experience whatever comes our way with an emotional response – happy, delighted, anger, sadness, curiosity, neutrality, and so on. I can’t recall having a lot of thoughts about my life until I was about 8 or 9 years old. Gradually I found myself having questions in my mind – usually curiosity about why someone did something. I remember having thoughts about my reaction to various events and exploring that a bit. Nothing too involved. Then I started asking my mom about events that I was puzzled about and that’s when I started having more complex ideas in my mind. That seemed to open doors to an awareness of ideas that were outside of my personal realm and I had lots more random thoughts and ideas floating about in my head. I developed an interest in reading and noticed my dad read… Read more »