Archetype: The (Spiritual) Guide

The (Spiritual) Guide acquires a prominent position as the ultimate (spiritual) guide of humanity or The Hero in fictional stories. The (Spiritual) Guide continuously or at one key moment gives potent advice or attempts to steer the person into a specific direction, usually through strong emotional expression and vibrancy, or subdued somber intensity. At the same time, whilst the Guide does give advice and wants to steer the person, they often leave it open what the person’s true destiny really is supposed to be. They like to give the person several different options and viewpoints to choose from, often in a humorous or “biting” manner, teasing. They gain in pride and happiness as they see others succeed thanks to their guidance, but it also brings them despair if they see them fail.

The (Spiritual) Guide is often dressed in bright, almost ostentatious colors – if not, they still like to include a certain gravitas in their appearance, catching the attention of The Hero or humanity at large, like a beam of light that shows the way.

The typological profile of The (Spiritual) Guide is:

TVT: The Inspirer
Socionics: EIE(-Ni)
Enneagram: 2(w1)

Interestingly, Western culture (especially American culture) typically presents and popularizes this archetype as a middle-aged female African-American ENFJ woman. One could go so far as to suggest that Western culture favors this archetype for Black (wo)men. It might be partly connected to the fact that this archetype turns most negative stereotypes of Black people on its head.

Notable celebrity examples are: Oprah Winfrey, Iyanla Vanzant, Lisa Nichols.

Notable fictional examples are: The Oracle (The Matrix), Amanda (Detroit: Become Human).

Once in a while, the (Spiritual) Guide archetype appears in the form of a male African-American, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Morpheus (The Matrix).

The (Spiritual) Guide can easily be mistaken with The Sage archetype (stay tuned).


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