What is Your Money Archetype?
Knowing who you are reveals the clearest path to who you want to be. So, what
is your money archetype?
Your money archetypes are not your personality or “who you are”, but are
symbolic metaphors that help us to understand our patterns and behaviors.
Simply stated, they show us “where we are” so that we can become aware of, and
change our unconscious behaviors. Archetypes are powerful “teachers” and
“allies” since they inform us of where we need to grow.
By becoming aware of your beliefs about money, and the personal story behind
your unique combination of archetypes, you will become aware of patterns and
behaviours that may hinder you. As you move forward, you will understand money
issues differently, look at them from a different perspective and behave in
way that works better for you.
Author Deborah Price presents Money Archetype as such:
The Innocent: We all begin our life with the candor of an Innocent.
However, as we grow over time, most of us develop trust in ourselves and
others, based on experience rather than naivety.The Innocent takes the ostrich
approach to money matters. Innocents often live in denial, burying their heads
in the sand so they won’t have to see what is going on around them. The
Innocent is easily overwhelmed by financial information and relies heavily on
the advice and opinions of others. Innocents are perhaps the most trusting of
all the money archetypes because they do not see people or situations for what
they are.
They are not unlike small children in the sense that they have not yet
learned to judge or discern other’s motives or behavior. While this trait
can be very endearing, it is also precarious for an adult trying to cope in
the real world.
The Victim: Victims are prone to living in the past and blaming their
financial woes on external factors. Passive-aggressive (prone to acting out
their feelings in passive ways rather than through direct action) in nature,
Victims often appear disguised as Innocents, because they seem so powerless
and appear to want others to take care of them. However, this appearance is
often either a conscious or subconscious ploy to get others to do for them
what they refuse to do for themselves. Victims generally have a litany of
excuses for why they are not more successful, and they are all based on their
historical mythology. That is not to say that bad things haven’t actually
happened to the Victim.
More often than not, Victims have been abused, betrayed, or have suffered some
great loss. The problem is that they have never processed faced their pain,
and so it has turned on them. Victims are always looking for someone to rescue
them, because they believe they have suffered enough. They carry a sense of
entitlement: “I paid my dues, look at my battle scars, where’s my due”?
The Warrior: The Warrior sets out to conquer the money world and is
generally seen as successful in the business and financial worlds. Warriors
are adept investors, focused, decisive, and in control. Although Warriors
will listen to advisors, they make their own decisions and rely on their own
instincts and resources to guide them. Warriors often have difficulty
recognizing the difference between what appears to be an adversary and a
worthy opponent. A worthy opponent should be embraced as an opportunity to
put down the sword and recognize the potential for growth and transformation
being offered in disguise.
Worthy opponents are most easily recognized as the person with whom you have
the greatest conflict. When we are willing to step back and recognize the
lesson and truth this person has to teach, even when it is disguised as
conflict, their presence is worthy of our attention. When we recognize the
conflict as an opportunity for growth, our “opponent” has, in fact, served
us. The world is filled with Warrior types, who run the gamut from enjoying
the sport of business and the skillful art of negotiating to those whose
single-minded intent is simply to win at any cost.
The Martyr: Martyrs are so busy taking care of others’ needs that
they often neglect their own. Financially speaking, Martyrs generally do
more for others than they do for themselves. They often rescue others (a
child, spouse, friend, partner) from some circumstance or other. However,
Martyrs do not always let go of what they give and are repeatedly let down
when others fail to meet up to their expectations. They have formed an
unconscious attachment to their own suffering.
The Martyr moves between two distinctly different energies: one that seeks
to be in control and control others and the other being the wounded, often
very needy, child. Martyrs tend to be perfectionists and have high
expectations of themselves and of others, which makes them quite capable of
realizing their dreams because they put so much energy into needing to be
right.
Like Victims, Martyrs often live in high drama, experience a lot of highs
and lows, and struggle with their attachment to negative experience. They
see the glass as half empty instead of half full. Their focus on the
negative often keeps them from realizing the deep wisdom that lies within
their experience. Martyrs who are willing to do their own work to heal their
woundedness have the capacity to become gifted healers and powerful
manifestors — money Magicians.
The Fool: The Fool plays by a different set of rules altogether. A
gambler by nature, the Fool is always looking for a windfall of money by
taking financial shortcuts. Even though the familiar adage “a fool and his
money are soon parted” often comes true, Fools often win because they are
willing to throw the dice; they are willing to take chances.
The Fool is really a combination of the Innocent and the Warrior. Like the
Innocent, the Fool is often judgment impaired and has difficulty seeing the
truth about things. An adventurer, the Fool gets caught up in the enthusiasm
of the moment, caring little for the details.
The primary difference between Fools and Innocents is that Fools are
relatively fearless in their endeavors and remain eternal optimists
regardless of the circumstances. In this manner, Fools are like Warriors in
that they seem to always land on their feet and are not easily defeated. The
Fool also sets out to conquer the world but is easily distracted and lacks
the discipline of the Warrior. The Fool is much more interested in money
making as a sport or form of recreation than as a serious endeavor. Fools
would happily give the shirt off their backs only to realize later that it
wasn’t their shirt or that it was their last.
The Fool does possess some rather remarkable qualities that if mastered make
her quite capable of becoming a Magician. The Fool lives very much in the
moment and is quite unattached to future outcome. Most of what Fools pursue
is for the simple pleasure of doing it. Most of us could learn from this
characteristic of the Fool.
However, until the Fool becomes enlightened he will continue to attract
money easily, only to have it quickly slip through his fingers because he’s
simply not paying attention.
Creator/Artist: Creator/Artists are on a spiritual or artistic path.
They often find living in the material world difficult and frequently have a
conflicted love/hate relationship with money. They love money for the
freedom it buys them but have little or no desire to participate in the
material world. The Creator/Artist often overly identifies with the interior
world and may even despise those who live in the material world. Their
negative beliefs about materialism only create a block to the very key to
the freedom they so desire.
Creator/artists most fear being inauthentic or not being true to themselves.
The Creator/Artist is constantly struggling for financial survival. This is
not because they lack talent or ambition. Rather, they are stuck in a belief
system that disempowers their ability to manifest money. Too many people on
the creative or artistic path feel that money is bad or lacking in
spirituality. This is only true to the extent that one believes it is true.
And to the extent that Creator/Artists maintain this belief system, they are
limiting themselves and creating a block to the flow of money.
The Creators/Artists who work to integrate the spiritual with the material
world will find an end their struggles. Since they have often spent much of
their time and paid much attention to their inner journeys and creative
potential, Creators/Artists already possesses many of the qualities
necessary to become Magicians. This type most needs to accept the world she
lives in and embrace in all its many dimensions.
To stop suffering from the tension we feel between the spiritual and
material worlds, we must learn to embrace both worlds as part of our own
duality.
The Tyrant: Tyrants use money to control people, events, and circumstances.
The Tyrant hoards money, using it to manipulate and control others. Although
Tyrants may have everything they need or desire, they never feel complete,
comfortable, or at peace.
The Tyrant’s greatest fear is loss of control. Tyrants are often
overdeveloped Warriors who have become highly invested in their need for
control and dominance. While Warriors are often heroic in their true concern
for others’ welfare, Tyrants are purely self interested. This type is
interested in power and control for its own sake and will forsake other
people if necessary to gain more of it. Throughout history, the Tyrant has
emerged as the ruler who dominates and destroys with no sign of remorse.
Today Tyrants are the political leaders, businesspeople, or family
figureheads who use whatever means necessary to win at all costs. The Tyrant
is a master manipulator of both people and money. Perhaps it’s because the
Tyrant type is often the most financially successful image we have in our
society that so many of us believe that money is the root of all evil.
Television and the media do their part to further convince us that although
we may think we want more money, we just need to look at what’s become of
those who actually have it. It’s enough to make anyone hesitate. Tyrants,
however, are not as rich as they appear. Sure, they have everything money
can buy (which often does include beautiful people) and never have to worry
about paying the phone bill, but they lack many things that money cannot
buy. They are often, in spite of their apparent success, very fearful and
rarely feel any sense of fulfillment. The Tyrant suffers from a condition I
call “chronic-not-enoughness.”
The Magician: The Magician is the ideal money type. Using a new and
ever-changing set of dynamics both in the material world and in the world of
the Spirit, Magicians know how to transform and manifest their own financial
reality. At our best, when we are willing to claim our own power, we are all
Magicians. The archetype that is active in your life now is the place you
need to grow from. By understanding your own personal mythology and the
history behind your current money type, you will become conscious of
patterns and behavior that are preventing you from having the relationship
with money you desire.
When you have reached the point of understanding and have become aware of
all that you need to know at this point on your journey, you will be ready
to transform your newly acquired consciousness into the reality of your
life.
The Magician is fully awake and aware of herself and the world around her.
The Magician is armed with the knowledge of the past, has made peace with
his personal history, and understands that his source of power exists within
in his ability to see and live the truth of who he is. Magicians know the
source of power to manifest lies in their ability to tap into their Higher
Power. With faith, love, and patience, the Magician simply waits in
certainty with the knowledge that all our needs are met all the time.
Magicians embrace the inner life as the place of spiritual wealth and the
outer life as the expression of enlightenment in the material world. They
are infinitely connected.
The Eight Money Types are excerpted from the book “Money Magic: Unleashing
Your Potential for True Prosperity” by Deborah Price © 2001
I hope that the description of these archetypes has aroused your curiosity.
Before concluding, I would like to clarify one point that may cause some
confusion. Archetypes do not describe a personality types. Archetypes rather
describe trends, attitudes and habits that we adopt in a totally unconscious
way, without thinking about it.
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