The Archetypal Wheel
What is the Difference Between an Astrological Wheel and an Archetypal Wheel?
In this post, I will attempt to answer your questions about what an Archetypal Wheel is, and how it is used in archetypal consulting.
When you think of your Astrological Wheel, you see a wheel (kind of like a blueprint, or map) with twelve sections, called houses, with each section representing a specific area of life, such as love and relationships, family of origin, work, money and resources, etc. The zodiac signs and planets fall into the different houses, depending on what time and where you were born, which can offer great insight and wisdom about your individual life.
An Archetypal Wheel, also called a Chart of Origin (created by Caroline Myss and shared in her book Sacred Contracts), is a similar blueprint, however, the structure of the Archetypal Wheel is the same for everyone. For example, the First House of the Archetypal Wheel is about Ego/Identity, and is always ruled by the zodiac sign of Aries. The Second House is about Resources (including financial resources) and Values, and is always ruled by the zodiac sign of Taurus.
While the structure of the Archetypal Wheel is the same for everyone, everyone’s Archetypal Wheel is different. How can this be? This is where our personal archetypes come in.
According to the system in which I was trained (Caroline Myss’ Sacred Contracts program), we each have 12 archetypes. Four are the same for all of us (they are called the Survivor Archetypes—please see my blog for descriptions of those), and the remaining eight are individual to each of us. Since there are hundreds of archetypes, there are infinite constellations of how an Archetypal Wheel can look.
A trained Archetypal Consultant can help someone determine what their 12 archetypes are, provide instructions for casting their wheel, and then interpret their wheel according to which archetype falls in each of the houses. When we understand the potential for growth and transformation inherent in each of our archetypes, and gain additional insight according to the houses in which they fall, we have tremendous power to consciously create our lives instead of being perpetually frustrated by living in our default patterns.
Knowing your individual Archetypal Wheel, or Chart of Origin, is an amazing tool for anyone wanting to understand themselves on a deeper level and create amazing changes that will lead to greater love, happiness, fulfillment and success.
