Walking the Soulful Path to a Meaningful Life
In Fully Alive, Elizabeth Oldfield invites us to reimagine the good life – not as productivity or performance, but as rootedness, connection, and wholeness. Through personal story, spiritual insight, and cultural reflection, she tends to the soul’s quiet longings amid noisy times. A hopeful, grounded book for those yearning to live with more depth, grace, and integrity.
What if your life isn’t a problem to be solved- but a story to be lived?
In a culture that prizes clarity, logic, and step-by-step plans, it can feel almost radical to speak in metaphor, to think in symbols, or to make meaning through poetry. Yet for many of us on a soulful path to life purpose, imagination isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity.
Welcome to the realm of mythopoetic imagination -the soul’s native language.
The term “mythopoetic” joins two powerful forces: mythos, the deep stories and symbols that shape cultures and individuals, and poiesis, the creative act of making. Mythopoetic imagination is the capacity to see your life not in terms of tasks and timelines, but in terms of story, metaphor, and soulful meaning.
It’s a way of seeing the world symbolically. A way of listening inwardly for the myth that is trying to live through you. Not the myth society hands you, but the one that fits the shape of your soul.
Many of us have been trained to dismiss this kind of imagination. It’s been filed under “childish,” “unrealistic,” or “unproductive.” But this disconnection from imagination comes at a cost. Without it, we lose our ability to:
We flatten our lives into lists and labels, forgetting that we are storied beings. And as psychologist James Hillman reminds us, the soul doesn’t speak in bullet points. It speaks in image, mood, symbol, dream, and story.
To live mythopoetically is not to escape reality – it is to deepen into it.
It’s to ask:
When we shift into this mode of perception, challenges become initiations. Despair becomes descent. Breakdowns become thresholds.
This is not magical thinking. It is symbolic thinking – an older, wilder way of understanding ourselves and the world.
So how does this connect with life purpose?
Purpose is often framed as a career goal or long-term plan. But the soul rarely moves in straight lines. It curves, circles, and spirals. Purpose, in this deeper sense, is not something you achieve but something you live into – by listening to what is unfolding and allowing it to change you.
Mythopoetic imagination helps us:
Alternative Archetypes often show up as guides within our personal myths. The Seeker, The Mystic, The Wounded Healer, The Visionary – these are more than concepts. They’re living energies that call us into new chapters of ourselves.
Not all of the Alternative Archetypes I’ve developed have been released yet, but each one is designed to act as a mirror, a mythic figure that helps you recognize an inner pattern trying to emerge.
When you resonate with one, it’s often a sign that your soul is speaking: This is the story I’m trying to live.
And that story deserves to be heard.
Practices for Awakening the Mythopoetic Imagination
You don’t need to be a poet or a mystic to work this way. You only need to be willing to listen differently.
Here are a few simple ways to reconnect with the soul’s language:
1. Keep a Symbol Journal
Write down images or themes that appear in your dreams, art, or passing thoughts. Look for patterns or figures that return.
2. Rewrite Your Biography as a Myth
Imagine your life as a mythic tale. What were your thresholds? Who were the helpers and adversaries? What powers have you been learning to claim?
3. Dialogue with an Archetype
Choose one that intrigues or unsettles you. Ask it what it wants you to know. What chapter of your life might it be calling you into?
4. Make Soul Collage or Visual Maps
Gather images intuitively. Don’t aim for logic. Let the symbolic and aesthetic lead the way. Later, reflect on what story is emerging.
5. Walk with a Question
Take a question for a walk in nature or your neighbourhood. Let metaphors find you: a bird on a wire, a winding path, a broken gate. Ask yourself what the image is saying about your life.
A Different Kind of Knowing
Mythopoetic imagination doesn’t replace logic or action. But it complements them with depth.
It’s the kind of knowing that doesn’t arrive through thinking harder—but through sensing, dreaming, creating, and listening differently. It reminds us that the soul speaks in symbol, that purpose is poetic, and that imagination is not an escape – but a way home.
An Invitation
If something within you stirs at the sound of these words, pay attention. That stirring is the soul’s language.
You are not here to live someone else’s story. You are here to honour the myth that lives in you – and to live it with courage, creativity, and care.
Let imagination lead you.
Let symbol accompany you.
And trust that the story you are living… is sacred.
🔍 Explore the Alternative Archetypes
If you’re drawn to these ideas, I invite you to visit the Alternative Archetypes page which is the portal into the whole project. These mythic figures are companions for the inner journey – reflecting back the deeper truths and patterns of your evolving self.
Thomas Moore’s A Religion of One’s Own invites us to rediscover spirituality as a personal, soulful practice beyond formal religion. Blending poetry, psychology, and sacred traditions, Moore offers a rich, contemplative guide for crafting a spiritual life rooted in ritual, beauty, and imagination. Ideal for seekers, creatives, and quiet rebels, this is a book that speaks to the sacredness of everyday living.
Have you ever felt like there are patterns within you – recurring themes, images, or roles – that keep showing up throughout your life, even if you can’t always name them?
Archetypal psychology invites us to see these inner patterns not as flaws or quirks to fix, but as deeply meaningful expressions of soul. At its heart, this approach asks a profound question: What if your inner life has a symbolic shape? And what if that shape isn’t random – but is trying to tell you something essential about who you are?
In this post, we’ll explore how archetypal psychology offers a soulful lens for understanding your inner landscape – and how it connects to the idea of walking a purposeful path.
Prefer to watch or listen? This short video brings the ideas in this post to life.
Much of modern psychology focuses on problem-solving. Archetypal psychology, first named by James Hillman, turns that on its head. It doesn’t ask, “How do we fix the self?” but instead, “How do we listen to the soul’s imagery?”
This approach draws on the legacy of Carl Jung, who believed we are shaped not just by family and society, but by archetypes – universal symbolic patterns that live in the collective unconscious. The Lover, the Warrior, the Sage, the Trickster- these are not just characters in stories. They’re active within us, colouring how we see the world and how we live our lives.
But Hillman took it further. He said we should stay close to image. To metaphor. To the poetry of the psyche. Rather than reducing our experiences to neat categories, we’re invited to let them remain rich, ambiguous, and mysterious. Because that’s how the soul speaks.
In response to the world we find ourselves in today, I’ve developed a series of Alternative Archetypes – soulful companions for those walking the path to purpose. These aren’t fixed roles you must grow into. They’re invitations. Mirrors. Patterns that help illuminate your unique way of moving through the world.
You might resonate with The Seeker, always drawn toward what lies beyond the horizon. Or The Truthteller, compelled to speak what others are afraid to say. You might feel a pull toward The Gardener – tending life quietly, persistently, in your corner of the world.
Not all of these archetypes have been made public yet. But even if you’ve only seen a few, you might already sense the power in having names for the deep inner energies that shape you.
These archetypes aren’t prescriptions. They’re descriptive: they help give language to the forces that already live within you.
One of the most powerful ideas in archetypal psychology is that your inner life is a landscape. Not a blank slate to be organized – but a wild, symbolic place to be explored.
In this terrain, you might meet:
These are just some of the soul figures who may walk alongside you. And the terrain itself is shaped by your longings, wounds, patterns, and gifts.
When we begin to map this inner terrain, we stop asking “What’s wrong with me?” and begin asking “What story am I in?” or “Which archetype is stirring now?”
Understanding your life through the lens of archetypes changes everything. It brings a deeper layer of meaning to your experiences. It helps you see the cyclical nature of growth – not as linear progress, but as a spiral path. And it allows you to meet yourself with more curiosity, compassion, and creativity.
You are not a machine to be optimized. You are a soul with a symbolic life.
If you’re curious, here are a few simple ways to begin exploring your own inner landscape:
The soul doesn’t usually speak in bullet points or deadlines. It speaks in images, patterns, and longings. Archetypal psychology helps us translate those whispers into meaning.
And in that meaning, we often find our next step.
🌿 Explore the Alternative Archetypes
If this idea resonates with you, I invite you to visit the – a growing collection of symbolic guides designed to help you connect with your inner landscape. Each archetype offers a unique lens on purpose, depth, and soulful living. New archetypes are being added regularly, so feel free to return and explore what’s unfolding.
Because your soul has many faces. And each one may hold a key to who you’re becoming.
What makes life interesting – and why does it matter? In The Art of the Interesting, philosopher Lorraine Besser explores this overlooked but vital question, suggesting that cultivating “interestingness” is not just pleasurable, but meaningful. Drawing on psychology, aesthetics, and moral philosophy, Besser argues that developing our capacity for curiosity, depth, and engagement enriches both personal wellbeing and our relationships with others. In a culture preoccupied with productivity and performance, her invitation is a refreshing one: to live reflectively, creatively, and with greater emotional awareness. While the tone leans philosophical, the ideas are rich and rewarding for anyone drawn to soulful living and inner growth. In the full review, I offer a reflective review of Besser’s thought-provoking book – and explore how it aligns with a deeper search for purpose, imagination, and a life that feels truly alive.
Have you ever felt there’s a deeper presence within you- something wiser, quieter, more enduring than your everyday self?
In the mythic imagination, this presence is sometimes called the soul guide. You might know it as your intuition, inner knowing, or even a daimon, to borrow the ancient Greek word for the personal spirit that accompanies each of us. It’s not loud or commanding. It doesn’t push or demand. But if you listen closely, it whispers a path.
In this second article in the Soulful Path series, I want to explore the idea of this inner guide – not as a fixed entity, but as a companion who evolves alongside us, helping us to live in greater alignment with who we really are.
Prefer to watch rather than read? Check out the video below.
The soul guide is not a guru or external authority. It’s an inner archetype – a symbol of the part of you that seeks wholeness, wisdom, and authenticity. In many traditions, this guide has appeared in different forms: a spirit animal, an ancestral presence, a wise elder, or even a future version of yourself calling you forward.
Psychologist James Hillman described the daimon as the unique pattern that shapes a person’s calling. It’s the inner thread that weaves meaning through our life, even when we can’t see it clearly.
In coaching, I sometimes notice when someone begins to shift from searching outside themselves to listening inward. They move from “What should I do?” to “What is life asking of me?” That’s the moment when the soul guide begins to stir.
We don’t usually “meet” the soul guide in dramatic moments. More often, it’s in the pauses – the quiet walks, the journals filled with questions, the dreams we almost forget. It might speak in images, metaphors, or persistent longings. It shows up when something inside says, This matters. This feels true.
In a noisy world full of expert advice and five-step plans, it can feel radical to say: You already have a guide. But this is at the heart of a soulful approach to life purpose. The soul guide doesn’t hand us a masterplan. Instead, it asks us to walk with presence, to live the questions, and to honour what is most alive in us.
When we learn to listen, we stop chasing clarity and start cultivating connection. We begin to trust that there’s a deeper intelligence in the unfolding of our lives.
And we realise: we were never walking alone.
The soul guide doesn’t always speak in words. Often, it speaks in images, longings, and symbolic patterns– what we might call archetypes.
I’ve developed a set of Alternative Archetypes to reflect the kinds of deep, soulful roles that often emerge on the path to purpose. These aren’t fixed labels or boxes – they’re invitations. They represent the many ways the soul guide might show up in your life: as the Mentor, the Seeker, the Artist, or the Wounded Healer.
You might think of the soul guide as an inner companion – and the archetypes as the many faces it wears to help you hear its call.
When one of these archetypes resonates deeply with you, it may be your soul’s way of saying: Pay attention. There’s something here for you.
You may have noticed that I’ve been sharing both blog posts and videos about the Alternative Archetypes, often a few weeks apart. To keep things clearer and more enjoyable for you, I’m pausing new blog posts for a few weeks while the videos catch up.
Once we’re aligned, I’ll move to a simpler rhythm: one post a week on a Wednesday that includes both the written reflections and the video together in one place. This way, each archetype gets the full space it deserves – and your reading and viewing experience becomes more seamless.
Thank you for being here and walking this path with me. The pause is just a breath in… and we’ll continue exploring the archetypes- together – in a clearer, deeper way very soon.
In Living Between Worlds, James Hollis invites us into the soulful terrain of transition – where old maps no longer guide us and new ones have yet to appear. Drawing on Jungian depth psychology, myth, and lived experience, he explores how uncertainty can become a path to inner authority and meaning. This is a book for those navigating life’s in-between spaces, seeking not easy answers but a deeper, more authentic way of being.
Read the full review here
This book is one of the reviews from the Archetypes, Soul and Depth Psychology theme – click here for more reviews on this theme.
What if the path to purpose wasn’t something to chase, but something to remember?
Not a to-do list or a job title, but a deep homecoming to the self beneath the surface?
So many people arrive at the threshold of life purpose coaching hoping to find direction. And that’s understandable. But what I’ve found is that what we’re really searching for is not a new map – but a new relationship with the terrain of our inner world.
In this series, I want to take a step back and explore the deeper foundations that quietly underpin a more soulful path to self-discovery: soul, archetypes, mythopoetic imagination, and the idea of a soul guide. These concepts speak to those of us who sense that the dominant narratives about success and meaning don’t quite mirror to the full truth of our lives.
Prefer to watch rather than read? Check out the video below
The word soul has fallen out of favour in some circles. It can seem nebulous or overly poetic in a world that prizes productivity and clarity. But soul points us toward something essential. Something slow, rooted, and quietly knowing. It reminds us that we are more than roles, routines, or even personalities – we are stories unfolding, mysteries living themselves through time.
To speak of soul is to honour the part of us that longs for beauty, truth, and belonging. It’s the part that aches when life feels out of alignment, and sighs with relief when something finally clicks – this is who I am. This is what matters.
In the posts that follow, I’ll explore:
This isn’t about abstract theory. It’s about reclaiming a deeper way of seeing ourselves—one that embraces mystery, listens inward, and dares to ask different questions. Who am I really, beneath the masks? What is life asking of me now? What hidden thread has been quietly weaving through my experiences all along?
If you’ve ever felt like modern life asks you to move too fast, skim the surface, or fit yourself into a mould that doesn’t quite fit- this series is for you. My hope is to offer not answers, but invitations. To help you reconnect with your own inner knowing. To walk a little more slowly. To listen a little more deeply.
Because the soul doesn’t shout.
But it is always whispering.
The first of the Alternative Archetypes on the Healing & Service path, the Wounded Healer archetype channels personal pain into compassionate service. Their lived experience becomes a powerful source of connection, validation, and quiet transformation.