Soul Types: The Heart of Your Individuality
Prior to ensoulment, Homo sapiens understood little of the world around them. They lived in tribes with social structures resembling that of gorillas, in which each day was almost indistinguishable from the one before.
—THE AUTHOR’S CAUSAL GUIDES
People who think babies are born as blank slates can’t ever have met one. They show signs of their individuality as soon as they’re born. Some of them are placid; others turn diaper-changing into a martial art. One will be demanding and clingy, the next will get on just fine without you.
The reason is that each one of us brings a complete personality into this world. The moment we hit the ground, however, everyone tries to change us. Even the most well-meaning parents will want to mold their offspring in some way.
A sensitive boy is told to toughen up. A dominant girl learns that nice girls don’t act that way. Rather than risk losing Mom and Dad’s acceptance, they’ll simply become something they’re not.
Very often, by the time you’re grown up, your soul-level personality will have been buried beneath a personality of your own creation, one based on others’ expectations.
The Door to Acceptance takes you to a place where you can reclaim the personality you were born with by uncovering the source of your individuality: your soul type.
The result will be profound self-acceptance. And that will lead to everything from inner peace to the confidence to make better choices by knowing what’s best for you.
To help you understand the source of your personality, this part of the journey is going to take you back to a time, somewhere around fifty-five thousand years ago, when Homo sapiens first got souls.
Before this event, life for early humans was dull and monotonous. The pace of development was so slow that one generation looked just like the last.
We lived in tribes made up of several hundred individuals, which gave us protection as well as insurance against inbreeding. Infant mortality was high, and the chance of surviving beyond the age of thirty was slim.
Though we’d learned to cook, we suffered from the effects of parasitic disease and other food-borne ailments. The problem was that cooking wasn’t done regularly or effectively, and we often ate carrion and unsafe meat. Then, as now, many of us developed osteoarthritis and heart disease.
The Purpose of the Appendix
Our ancestors had diets that contained everything from gravel to bits of bone and gristle. Fortunately, they had a well-functioning appendix, which helped break down blockages in the large intestine.
Our concerns were simply to do with survival: getting enough to eat, staying warm, and avoiding wild animals. We had fire, which gave us some comfort as well as protection from the elements. And, after many thousands of years, we’d learned to use very simple stone tools.
Then, in the space of a single generation, something radical happened. In a process called ensoulment, every member of our species was given a soul.
We would never be the same again.
• • •
At this point, I’d like to stop and digress. I’m often asked questions like “Does Fluffy have a soul?” and “Are there other species with souls on the planet?”
The answer is yes. But to understand the difference between Fluffy and you, it’s important to know a little about the nature of consciousness.
On the Physical Plane, there are three stages of consciousness. A creature at the first stage will operate almost entirely on an instinctive level. A rat, for example, is conscious enough to know it is alive, yet its ability to make choices is extremely limited. It will always behave in a rat-like way.
A bee functions entirely instinctively, and therefore shows no sign of having creative thought. It will sting without considering the consequences to itself or its unfortunate victim.
The second stage of consciousness is seen in dogs, cats, and other large mammals. Most are able to exercise some degree of choice. They can weigh certain options and reach conclusions. If it’s raining, a cat can decide whether to go out on the prowl or stay indoors. When it makes a choice like this, an animal is displaying signs of elevated consciousness.
The third stage of consciousness is found in humans and cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), and is marked by the ability to make complex choices.
Fluffy, like any animal at stage two, can’t have her consciousness elevated by being brought into a stage three environment. She’s never going to learn to read, no matter how much we help her. Those at stage three, however, can be taught highly complex tasks.
Stage one and two creatures are guided by a collective consciousness that’s specific to their particular species. This consciousness resides on the Astral Plane, making it easily accessible to them.
My spirit guides use the term “ensoulment” to describe elevation from stage two to stage three. Which is precisely what happened to us fifty-five thousand years ago.
• • •
With billions of souls and potential host species in the universe, why did our souls choose us, Homo sapiens? Why not gorillas or our nearest competitors, Neanderthals, who had coexisted alongside us for more than one hundred thousand years?
These are just some of the qualities that first attracted our souls to our species:
• Large numbers to help ensure long-term survival
• Potentially long life expectancy
• Tongues and palates that allowed us to form words
• Large brains with the potential for growth
• The ability to walk on two legs to free up our hands
• Agility to make us good hunters
• Three-dimensional vision
• Opposable thumbs
At the time we were given souls, there was really no other serious contender. Neanderthals were physically strong and shared a lot of our abilities. They could make tools, light a fire, and communicate in a rudimentary way. Resources were plentiful and there was little competition between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. Unfortunately, the Neanderthals were sick with a disease similar to the one we know as chlamydia. Starting around thirty thousand years ago, infertility, a side effect of the disease, eventually caused them to die out completely.
What exactly did having a soul do for our species? Here are some of the most significant developments:
• Abstract thought
• Beliefs
• The ability to understand symbols and metaphors
• Curiosity
• New ways to learn
• Problem-solving skills
• Distinct emotions
• Imagination
• Creativity
• Sense of humor
Once we had souls, we had abstract thought, and that sparked a sudden evolutionary surge forward. We left the other primates in the dust. We learned to cook properly, build shelter, and make better tools using bones, antlers, and wood, instead of just stone. Improved weapons led to more sophisticated hunting techniques, which in turn gave us more to eat.
With better nutrition and protection from the elements, health improved. Longevity increased. And that gave us more reproductive years. Very quickly the population exploded.
This sudden growth in numbers suited our souls. The more of us there were, the higher our chances of survival as a species. The higher our chances of succeeding as a species, the greater the opportunity for our souls to learn about being human.
It was in how we learned that some of the biggest changes could be seen. We began learning from our mistakes, from watching others and from past experience.
And our children began to learn through play. It was a serious business. They did it to learn how to survive, not just for fun.
Imagine watching a child crawling on all fours, grunting like a pig, and another making lunging movements with a stick. We’d figure out almost immediately that one was pretending to be a hunter and the other an animal. But this strange behavior would have made no sense at all to pre-ensoulment humans. All they’d have seen would have been one child waving a stick and another on all fours. That’s because they lacked one of the most striking features of ensoulment: the ability to understand metaphors.
Understanding metaphors gave rise to cave paintings—the means to relate a flat image on a cave wall to a real, live animal somewhere else. And it allowed us to tell our children fables: stories that rely on metaphors.
There was something else the soul brought us: the ability to imagine, anticipate, and predict. We could use these skills to picture an object before we created it, learn to take shelter before it rained, and figure out that spring followed winter.
Humans had never known jealousy before. But with ensoulment, we suddenly had the ability to compare and contrast. And once we could do that, we could see ourselves in relation to others.
Comparing and contrasting led to resentment, envy, feelings of superiority, arrogance, low self-esteem, humility, and a host of other emotions we’d never previously had. But it also helped us develop an enhanced sense of our own individuality and gave us something that helped transform us into who we are today: distinct personality types.
For the first time, jobs were chosen based on ability instead of gender or age. It became obvious that some members of the tribe made excellent hunters while others couldn’t throw a spear to save their lives. So it dawned on us that those with less physical strength might be put to better use carrying water or tending the fire.
In the past, our tribes had been led by the dominant males. Now we expected something more than brute strength in our leaders. Strength was still important, but courage and wisdom were also recognized as worthy qualifications.
We still find individuals among us with natural leadership skills. John F. Kennedy was a tribal chief whose tribe just happened to number almost 200 million.
And though our hunters no longer run around hurling spears at woolly mammoths, they still retain the qualities that made them good at what they did: they’re task-oriented and physically active.
The artists in our modern tribes are still responsible for the creativity that moves us on a soul level. Most visual artists are the spiritual descendants of the creative geniuses who first learned to apply ground pigment and charcoal to the walls of their caves. Steven Spielberg, for example, expresses himself in a medium that’s simply a contemporary equivalent of cave painting.
Creatures of Reason
There are ten soul types, each of which is named after its original purpose in the tribe. Every one of us has a central soul type that is the core of who we are. And then we have the influence of two of the other nine types.
Your soul type may change from one lifetime to the next, but you’ll generally have a favorite—one you tend to stick to. Most of us choose from the three we’re most comfortable with. This is one of the reasons a soul will explore themes, such as teaching or creativity, over many successive lifetimes.
The Ten Soul Types
• The Helper type
• The Caregiver type
• The Educator type
• The Thinker type
• The Creator type
• The Performer type
• The Hunter type
• The Leader type
• The Spiritualist type
• The Transformer type
Though your soul type will always be the most significant part of who you are, the influence will affect how you express your individuality.
Soul-type Influences
• Soul type: behavior plus traits
• Primary influence: behavior
• Secondary influence: traits
Your soul type gives you both the behavior and trait associated with a particular type. If you’re a Creator type, you’ll have creativity, the behavior, and sensitivity and idealism, the strongest traits.
If your primary influence is the Thinker type, you’ll have the behavior but not the traits. You’ll be analytical and want to accumulate knowledge, but you’ll lack the Thinker restraint.
And if your secondary influence is that of a Performer type, you’ll have passion, the trait, but you’re unlikely to have a burning desire to see your name in lights on Broadway.
The advantage associated with your soul type is attained by following your soul’s guidance. It allows you to express who you are positively, and prevents you from slipping into the risk, which, in every case, is the result of ignoring your soul’s influence.
In my sessions with clients, I always look for a soul type and two influences. It helps to create a more complete picture. I realize, however, that this may be asking a lot of you. If you can identify your soul type and one influence, you’ll be doing well. But if you feel adventurous enough, try looking for that second influence as well.
Let’s now start at the beginning and explore the ten basic soul types.
The Helper Type
Advantage: Service
Risk: Submission
When Emma arrived in my office, she was close to tears. “I feel totally overwhelmed,” she told me.
It turned out she’d just agreed to deliver five hundred leaflets door to door, even though her job and her charity work left her with no spare time that month.
“I can’t say no,” she said.
I wasn’t particularly surprised. Emma is a Helper type. The desire to assist others comes directly from her soul. It was clear that she was an old soul, struggling against the effects of the risk, which, in this case, is submission. I told her she wasn’t alone. All over the world there are Helpers who get themselves into this kind of mess.
“I’ve always been this way,” she sighed. “I’m always the one who ends up agreeing to arrange the flowers at church or take care of someone’s dog.”
Helpers like Emma need someone or something to be of service to. And that’s something they can do pretty much anywhere. There are Helpers in the fields of medicine and science, and there are Helpers who are janitors and shop assistants. The entire emergency team at the scene of an accident may be Helper types.
They bring common sense and stability to the world. They are stable, stoic, and will simply get on with their work without fuss.
Their inherent dedication assists them in applying themselves to a task. And their stoicism is the reason they’ll put in forty years of unstinting service in a thankless job, taking pride in never having missed a day’s work due to sickness.
Unfortunately, other people will recognize their desire to help and take advantage of it. Who can you ask to do the job no one else wants to do? The Helper, of course.
But what of Emma? What was the solution to her problem? It was to recognize that by getting pulled in lots of different directions, she wasn’t helping anyone. She had no time for her family or herself, and the jobs she’d taken on couldn’t be done to anyone’s satisfaction, including her own.
By the end of the session, Emma had been guided to set boundaries, and to ask herself whether she was taking on tasks because she wanted to or because she felt pressured into doing so.
As she left, I couldn’t help teasing her a little. “I have two hundred envelopes to address and mail by tomorrow morning,” I said. “Do you think you could help?”
Emma looked at me and stammered, “I . . . uh . . . oh, well, maybe . . .” Then she realized I was joking. “I mean no! Absolutely not! No way!” she said boldly.
I gave her a hug and said, “Good job!”
The Caregiver Type
Advantage: Nurture
Risk: Self-Neglect
This soul type is here to nurture and, as the name suggests, take care of others. Caregivers make committed parents, nurses, nannies, and careworkers, and they may end up looking after an aging or sickly relative as a way of expressing themselves. For Caregivers, such work is rarely a chore—it comes straight from the soul.
I asked Jan, a preschool teacher, if she’d always recognized her nurturing trait. She said, “I was always kind-hearted and good to animals, but it was only in my late twenties, when I began caring for foster children and then had kids of my own, that it really kicked in.
“After that, I totally accepted who I am. I realized that I’m a giving person—I have a lot of empathy and sensitivity.”
“Have you ever found it overwhelming to be taking care of others all the time?” I asked.
“Oh, yes,” she said, “I get so wrapped up in being a caretaker, I tend to lose some of the things I want to do.”
Sometimes, when I’m talking to a person who’s too busy looking after others to take care of themselves, my spirit guides will give me the image of oxygen masks (like the ones they show you on planes during the preflight safety lecture).
When the flight attendant tells you to pull the mask over your face before dealing with your children, the point she’s making is that if you’re not in good shape, you’re no use to those who are relying on you.
My spirit guides use it as a signal that this person needs to take better care of him or herself.
Since loyalty is one of the Caregiver type’s greatest strengths, I asked her how it affected her.
Jan didn’t even have to think. “I’m your best friend,” she said, “I’ll go to the wire for you. I’m very loyal, and I’ve fought a lot of battles for other people over the years.”
“And how has preschool teaching been for you?”
“It’s always felt really good. I’ve never felt I wanted to do anything else.”
I’ve known Jan for five years and I can think of few people who are so suited for the job they’re in. She’s fortunate to have found her niche in the world. Equally fortunate are those who have been her students. Her influence on them will last a lifetime.
Most Caregivers are women because in most cultures women have a greater opportunity than men to embrace the advantage and nurture others. The risk that Caregivers run is that they’ll neglect their own interests while putting others’ needs ahead of their own. It’s hard to avoid when the desire to nurture others comes from the soul and therefore feels so fulfilling.
Advantage: Teaching
Risk: Verbosity
Many Educators are teachers and professors who are drawn to schools and places of learning where they can mix with other Educators. They tend to stick to subjects they know well, and use their natural aptitude for passing on information to get their message across to their students.
Since the advantage, teaching, is their focus, Educators are good communicators. The saying, “Those who can’t, teach,” is a slur against the Educator type, whose purpose is not to become an “expert,” but to impart their wisdom, often learned over many lifetimes.
Brian is nearing the end of a four-year design course. In his parents’ view, he has huge opportunities ahead of him. They want him to find an exciting job in a television company or working on movies. But is that also Brian’s ambition?
Not at all. What Brian wants to do is teach. To him, it’s a noble profession. To his parents, it’s like settling for second best. To my spirit guides, it’s totally consistent with his soul’s plan for this lifetime.
Throughout our session, Brian did most of the talking, at one point borrowing my pen to draw a diagram to illustrate some point or other.
After a while I joked, “You really need to get yourself some students!”
Brian agreed. “Ever since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to teach. I used to watch my teachers and imagine I was them. I loved being in the classroom. I was the only student who didn’t want to leave school.”
The risk Educators run is verbosity, and they’ll sometimes talk with no clear purpose. When they have a classroom to focus on (and it may not be a formal setup), they have an outlet for their love of communication. Without it, they may end up turning whoever’s nearby into a student, which is exactly what happened in my office.
The Thinker Type
Advantage: Knowledge
Risk: Theory
Have you ever sat at a dinner table with someone who seems to be quietly sizing everyone up? That’s either a Thinker or someone with a strong Thinker influence. Thinker types observe the world and learn from their analysis of it. As a result, they tend to be very much “in their heads.”
One of the traits found in Thinkers is skepticism. They’re rarely sold snake oil; they’re far too cautious and would be careful to read the label first.
Often they analyze every last detail of something to the point where they can’t make up their minds. They might spend more time planning their summer vacation than actually being there.
Thinker Restraint
Do you think of the classic academic as an emotional person who’s given to dramatic, passionate outbursts? Probably not. The typical academic is a Thinker type, who feels more comfortable keeping his or her emotions within narrow limits.
Whenever someone sits down in my office and asks, “Can I take notes?” I can be almost certain they’re a Thinker.
Most Thinkers are academically inclined. (The advantage is, after all, the accumulation of knowledge.) Kim, however, is a landscape gardener and because of a strong Performer influence, she doesn’t look or act like a typical Thinker. Not only that, but she arrived in my office without a notebook. When my spirit guides told me she was a Thinker, I thought they might be wrong. Since a sure sign of a Thinker is a love of books, I asked her if she read much.
“Oh, yes,” she said, “about 350 to 400 books a year!”
“That’s more than one a day!” I said. “How on earth do you do it?”
“I don’t sleep much,” she joked. Then she thought about it and said, “I absorb them quickly. I look at whole sections, not single lines. I love opening a book and smelling and touching it,” she said. “For me, reading is a very sensual experience.”
Thinkers and Books
A love of reading is a characteristic most Thinkers share, yet every so often I’ll meet one who’s the exception to the rule. After two sessions in a week with Thinkers who didn’t read, my spirit guides pointed out that “not every Thinker reads, but every Thinker thinks.”
All Thinkers have to be careful not to substitute theory, the risk, for practice and become armchair experts. It’s easy to be fooled into believing that reading about volcanoes is the same as seeing one for real.
Advantage: Creativity
Risk: Distraction
Creator types have one foot on this plane and one in the next, which can give them a sense of not quite belonging to this world. They’re often told they’re not practical, like it’s some kind of fault. In fact, it’s just one of the qualities that makes them who they are.
Creators are found in abundance in art schools, dance academies, rock bands, and other places where they can surround themselves with creativity (the advantage). They make great engineers and builders, and often seek out professions where they can make things from scratch.
Creative Logic
Mathematician Andrew Wiles used his logical Thinker mind to figure out Fermat’s last theorem: a problem that had baffled great minds for almost three hundred years. He had a secret power that helped him achieve this phenomenal feat: a Creator influence that gave him the ability to think visually.
A Creator influence also allows Thinkers to make huge leaps of imagination, and contributed to the success of such great scientists as Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, Carl Sagan, and Richard Feynman.
James, an executive with a software company, came to me complaining that his career was no longer working for him. One of the first things my spirit guides revealed was that he’s a Creator type, with a remarkable talent for drawing and painting as a result of having been a talented artist in a past life.
When I told him this, he said, “I love to draw. I try to draw something every day.”
My guides added that he lacked confidence in himself, but others could see how good he was. He said, “Just yesterday, my wife told me that if she could draw like me, she’d be selling her work in galleries.”
The sense of smell helps connect many people, particularly highly sensitive Creator types, to past lives. It’s one of the reasons the smell of spices or flowers can trigger an emotional response. My spirit guides told me James painted in oils, which gave him a comforting connection with his past life as a painter. The moment I told him it was the smell, as much as anything else, that drew him to that particular medium, he said, “Absolutely! That’s so right.”
James is being guided to devote more time to his art in this lifetime. Creativity, according to my guides, is something his soul is “crying out for.” And if he can find a job that offers more opportunity to express his creativity, he’s going to be a lot happier in the future.
Many athletes and dancers are Creator types who use their bodies to express who they are. Sometimes mathematicians and scientists will choose—prior to incarnation—a Creator influence to help connect them to the Soul World and the inspiration it offers.
Creator Idealism
Idealism is often regarded as a failing, but the Creator uses this trait to observe a need or a potential, and works to fill the gap. Creators are visionaries and artists who excel at seeing the big picture. For that reason, they usually avoid getting caught up in minutiae, which they find boring.
The words Creators hear most as they’re growing up are: “You’re too sensitive.” If parents and teachers could only say, “You’re highly sensitive, and that’s great,” creators would end up with a lot more confidence than they so often do.
The risk associated with these highly imaginative souls is that they’re easily distracted. Older-soul Creators will wander about in mismatched socks or with the price label still attached to their jacket. The stereotypical absent-minded professor is a Creator (or sometimes a Thinker with a Creator influence). A little preoccupation is fine (creative people have to dream), but it’s important to check in with the Physical Plane from time to time.
The Performer Type
Advantage: Communication
Risk: Pretension
A caricature of the Performer type can be seen in people like Jim Carrey, Bette Midler, Eddie Murphy, and Robin Williams. It’s hard to imagine what any of them would do without an audience.
Performers are comfortable being in the spotlight, and they often go out of their way to get the attention they crave. One of my Performer clients told me that when she was seven years old, she stepped up on a chair, held out her arms, and declared, “I’m going to be the greatest actress the world has ever known!”
If you have a Performer child who won’t do what they’re asked, try turning it into a game. Performers are playful, and always far more motivated to do things if they’re fun.
More than any other soul type, they need applause, both literally and in the form of hugs and demonstrative words of appreciation. They’re often generous with their praise, in the hope that it will be reciprocated. If you’ve ever been backstage after a play, you’ll know what I mean. It’s there, too, that you might have witnessed individuals who display the risk: pretentiousness, or acting a part instead of being themselves.
In this young-soul world, Performers, like Creators, are undervalued. We may think the public has a fascination with them, given how many of them make the covers of supermarket tabloids, but what we’re seeing is more a young-soul obsession with celebrity.
In reality, Performers have a lot of difficulty making a living in their traditional roles as communicators and entertainers, so they often have to bring their talents to other arenas. Being a trial lawyer, for example, is a terrific career for someone who needs an audience. Yet Performers turn up pretty much everywhere.
Cheryl works for a major bookseller. During our session, when I discovered she was a Performer type, I said, “You should have been an actress.”
She burst into tears and wailed, “It’s all I ever wanted!”
The problem was that her parents discouraged it. They felt she was setting herself up for disappointment by even thinking of such a precarious career.
With my spirit guides’ encouragement, Cheryl has begun taking acting classes while she continues in the job for which she’s well suited, thanks to her strong Thinker influence.
The Christmas Present
During our session, my spirit guides asked Cheryl what she wanted for Christmas. She laughed and said, “My girlfriends and I were asking each other that question the other night. I told them I wanted a boyfriend.”
My spirit guides assured her that her wish would come true. It was early February when I received an email from Cheryl telling me she’d met someone at the office Christmas party, and they hadn’t been apart since.
Performer types sometimes forget they’re not on stage. You might share an intimate secret with them, and they’ll repeat it at full volume just to ensure a wider audience.
Performers are passionate people who are generally more open with their emotions than other types. Communication, the advantage, is fundamentally important to them. If you have a Performer child, you can drive them nuts if you don’t pay attention when they’re trying to tell you something.
The Hunter Type
Advantage: Activity
Risk: Inflexibility
They say a Mountie always gets his man. If he’s a Hunter type, whose determination is one of his strongest traits, it’s not at all surprising. This soul type is active, task-oriented, and immensely practical.
When a woman is a Hunter type—or has that influence—she’ll have an aggressive edge that will help her thrive in a male-dominated world.
Elaine is a Level 10 soul who worked until recently in the gritty world of law and order as a public defender. Her soul type is that of a Thinker, and, as with a lot of Thinkers, when I asked her a question there would be a momentary delay as she processed the information and decided on her response.
She’s analytical, gentle, and humorous, yet under her unassuming exterior lurks a secret weapon: a very strong Hunter influence.
When I saw she had this, I said, “You’re tougher than you look! I bet when you get your teeth into something you don’t let go. You must have intimidated the prosecutors you went up against.”
Elaine grinned. “They called me the Bulldog,” she said. “In the municipal court, I went months without being defeated. I always argued with integrity. I felt a huge responsibility to my clients.
“I could identify with most of them. Prosecutors would joke that I loved my clients. You know, I really think that was true. I had more respect for my clients than I had for most judges and prosecutors.”
Thanks to her Hunter influence and old-soul sensibilities, Elaine is a tenacious champion of the underdog. Though now retired, her social consciousness is leading her to Georgia next where, like the Hennessey sisters, she plans to protest the teaching of torture at the School of the Americas.
Hunters are comfortable working both individually and in teams, and are drawn to sports like football. On the field, they can join with other Hunters and enjoy the thrill of the chase in a game with clear rules and objectives. Hunters are highly competitive and like to win.
They’ll work hard to put food on their family’s table, as they did fifty thousand years ago when the survival of the tribe depended on their skills. Back then, discipline and loyalty were essential for those whose success, and even survival, depended on their comrades. Modern Hunters still carry this trait.
Being so goal-oriented, all Hunter types run the risk of being inflexible: “I’ve done it like this all my life—I’m not going to change now.”
The advantage for Hunters is activity. In a movie, we can all instinctively relate to the Hunter-type cop when his boss yells, “You’re off the case!” and gives him a desk job.
Advantage: Authority
Risk: Intransigence
Leader types are relatively rare. A little goes a long way, however. They tend to choose tall bodies as part of their life plan. This helps them to stand out from the crowd, even though their natural charisma and air of authority (the advantage) will tend to do that, regardless of what they look like.
When Leader types are children, they often show a marker, a sign of things to come. They’ll surround themselves with a court of their friends. Their peers will clearly see them as leaders, not followers, and that’s something that will continue throughout adulthood.
Leaders are not used to taking instructions from others, or being in anything but a position of authority. Not surprisingly, the risk most often seen in them is intransigence: the inability to take others’ advice.
Many Leader parents also have Leader children. The reason for this is so that Mom or Dad can model appropriate ways to use the power—something they’ll do with varying degrees of success.
One evening in 1975, Michael’s father sat him down and told him he was leaving for good. “As he spoke, time seemed to slow down and I had a kind of out-of-body experience,” Michael said. “I knew my life was changing in a very big way.”
That night, eleven-year-old Michael looked in the mirror and said, “That’s it. Your childhood is over.”
From that point on, he was thrown into the role of leader—just like his father, and his father before him.
Younger-soul Leaders are more frequently drawn to the corporate world. (Since Leaders often choose tall bodies, it’s one of the reasons CEOs are often taller than average.) As their souls age, Leaders no longer have the same need to exert their power quite so overtly.
“What happened to me was exactly what happened to Dad,” Michael said. “Grandpa was severely alcoholic, and left the family. Dad was pushed into a leadership role at age eight. He had to take care of a sickly brother and a younger sister.
“I had my mom and two sisters to look after. My mom was in shambles. I knew they were relying on me and I couldn’t let them down,” he said.
Like many Leader types, Michael is well over six feet tall. And like many Leaders, he had a Leader father to follow. Jack, his dad, was an AFL champion quarterback and stood six feet four inches.
Michael also excelled at sports. “I believe what got me through it all was basketball and church,” he said. But there was something else: “Sometime after Dad left, I remember hearing a voice telling me to stay the course. I don’t know why, but I trusted that through thick and thin—and there was a lot more thin than thick. We faced some huge challenges.”
Things between Michael and his dad have changed a lot over the years. “I never felt resentful. I knew if I did, I’d never get beyond that. Now Dad’s dying of cancer, and I see how his childhood affected him. I visited him recently and we got to talk about stuff. He’s got a lot of regrets about the past, and particularly about the opportunities he lost because he couldn’t trust anyone. I said, ‘Dad, you always had to be in command. It was way too much responsibility on a little boy’s shoulders.’ He just gripped my hand and wept.”
Many Leaders find it impossible to be subservient to anyone. (Imagine Sean Connery or Elvis flipping burgers at McDonald’s.) I asked Michael what it’s like for him being a Leader type in the workplace.
“Power comes from everyone getting together for a common goal,” he said. “I enjoy collaborating, but once we clap hands and come out of the huddle—let me run!”
When Michael said that, it was clearer than ever that the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree.
The Spiritualist Type
Advantage: Improvement
Risk: Obsession
My Spiritualist type clients are some of the most compassionate people you could meet. They tend to have an air of otherworldliness about them. Like Creator types, they find themselves with one foot in this world and one in the Soul World.
As younger souls, they’re drawn to the priesthood, but once they get to be old souls, they become less religious and more spiritual. The problem then becomes finding an outlet for their spirituality.
The advantage associated with Spiritualist types is improvement. They want to help others fulfill their potential and, though they don’t consciously know it, complete their life plans. And that’s why they can make a huge impact on others—even after they’re gone.
When Lois, an elderly Spiritualist type, died, the family invited me to the funeral, followed by a reception at the care center where she’d spent her last years.
Not only was Lois a Spiritualist type, but so was her daughter-in-law, Sheila, and her four-year-old granddaughter, Lucy. All three generations had one thing in common: a strong connection to the Soul World. Lucy, particularly, is highly psychic.
It wasn’t until Lucy saw the empty room at the care center that she finally realized Grandma wasn’t coming home. She broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
Then, a few days later, I got a call from her mother, who wanted to tell me what happened when they got home.
Lucy was still very upset at bedtime, so she slept with Mom and Dad. In the early hours of the morning, Sheila was awakened by what she thought was a voice in the room. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dark, she could see that Lucy was still lying in bed beside her. The room was silent for a minute, and Sheila began to think she’d been mistaken. Then, suddenly, Lucy spoke. “I think I understand,” she said. Sheila hardly recognized her daughter’s voice. It sounded grown-up, and quite “matter-of-fact.”
Sheila slowly became aware of her mother-in-law’s presence in the room. “It was like a shadow,” she told me, “but I could see exactly where she was standing at the side of the bed.”
Sheila knew Lois was communicating with her too, but she didn’t seem to be using words. Sheila can only express whatever message she got as “Love-love-love-love-love . . .”
Lucy, however, was obviously hearing and understanding much more. She spoke with Grandma for several minutes. From Lucy’s responses, Sheila could tell Grandma was explaining why she had to leave her body, but how she’d still always be there in spirit. Lucy ended her part of the conversation with these words: “Oh, now I see . . . you had to go home.”
“Then Lois started to rise up and over the bed,” Sheila said. “I looked at Lucy and saw that her eyes were open and they were following her as she floated over us and left through the door.”
The next day, Lucy was brighter. Whatever had passed between her and Grandma had left her in a happier frame of mind. Grandma had returned to reassure the fellow Spiritualists in the family that she was still with them.
Spiritualist Values
Spiritualist types want to make the world a better place and bring healing to humanity. As a result, they’ll often apply their compassion and inspirational qualities to seemingly unrelated areas of life.
John Lennon, for example, expressed himself through his music. The lyrics to “Imagine” are the heartfelt sentiments of an old-soul Spiritualist.
The risk seen most often in Spiritualists is that they may slip from wanting to change people for the better into becoming obsessive. Like the proverbial Boy Scout, they may help you across the road—even if you don’t want to go.
The Transformer Type
Advantage: Unity
Risk: Unworldliness
Transformer types are very few and far between. Though you’re unlikely to actually meet a Transformer in your lifetime, their influence can reach you over great distances.
They’re always Level 10 souls, and are a combination of Spiritualist and Leader types. As a result, they have charisma, compassion wisdom, and the ability to lead and inspire. The awareness that all of us are connected is at its strongest in Transformers.
Transformers always manage to transcend the Illusion. That’s one reason why they’re never materialistic.
Their purpose is to incite change. They bring their unique qualities to earth at times when our consciousness needs raising a notch. In fact, one sign of Transformers is that they and their followers (they always develop a following) create huge social, political, or spiritual shifts.
Since Transformers have Spiritualist traits, they tend to express themselves in spiritual terms. And being old souls, their message is always one of peace, unity (the advantage), love, and equality.
Transformers and Younger Souls
Transformers threaten the status quo. And that’s not something young-soul politicians and leaders want to encourage. That’s why it’s not unusual to hear of Transformers being imprisoned or assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi were both imprisoned and killed.
Every Transformer throughout history has been highly inspirational. Even those whose soul age and type come close to making them Transformers can inspire others in profound ways. Nelson Mandela and John Lennon, both Level 10 Spiritualists with Leader influences (not true Transformers) have left lasting impressions on the world.
The risk associated with Transformers is a disregard for their own safety. They turn down the offer of bodyguards or leave safe areas and put themselves at risk. Being such old souls means they have no fear of death.
As you can see, each soul type has its strengths and weaknesses. If your house goes up in flames, you’re going to want a bunch of burly Hunter types to come to the rescue. And if you need a good accountant, you might be best off with a Thinker or someone with that influence.
In this society, certain personality traits are more appreciated than others. We overvalue stoicism and practicality, and undervalue sensitivity and spirituality. Yet every trait has its purpose. If everyone was stoic and practical, where would we find our artists and poets?
If someone puts you down because you can’t do something they can, remember that you have abilities they don’t. The important thing is to recognize your natural strengths and weaknesses.
So, next, let’s determine who you are, and what particular qualities you brought into the world.
Discover Your Soul Type
Begin by entering a meditative state, and calling in your spirit guides. Ask them for their help in determining your soul type. Use the list below to remind you of the focus and trails associated with each type. As before, use your intuition. Remember, the purpose of this exercise, and the reason spirit guides play such an important part in it, is to find out who you really are, not just who you’ve always assumed you are.
Soul Type:____________________________________________
Now, go through the list once more, looking first for the focus that has the second strongest resonance with you. The soul type associated with that focus is your primary influence.
Primary Influence:______________________________________
Now do the same for the traits that have the third strongest resonance with you. The soul type associated with those traits will be your secondary influence.
Secondary Influence:_____________________________________
Ask your spirit guides to support you in manifesting your soul type. Repeat the following:
“I call upon my spirit guides, acting in my highest interest, to help me manifest my soul type and allow me to live the life my soul intended.”
When you’ve finished, thank your spirit guides, and tell them, “Session over.”
If you have difficulty deciding on your soul type, you may find it helpful to ask yourself what you wanted to be as a child, what you want to do in the future, and what’s missing in your life now. Try to look beyond simply what you do to make a living. And if you’re still having problems after doing that, ask yourself if the advantage or risk associated with a particular soul type resonates with you.
• • •
Popeye was given to proudly declaring, “I yam what I yam,” and it’s my hope that you’ll learn to do the same.
Understanding your soul type will help you develop true self-acceptance. So, when someone criticizes you for simply being yourself, you can turn around and tell them, “That’s just the way I am,” not as an excuse, but as a self-assured statement of your individuality.
At this point you should have a clear idea of who you are. But does that explain what you’re doing here? That will be answered in the next chapter when we look at your soul’s Missions. Understanding that is the key to discovering your life’s purpose.