You Know You are an Enchanter When...

So, the Big Life archetypes, I am assuming you have taken the free quiz and know yours, if not, here it is___. Let’s talk about them. I’m starting with the Enchanter because that is mine. It was obvious this was my type since I was an infant. My mom said that when I was a baby, I would be so happy to lay in her lap and play with the buttons on her dresses. My first word was button. I was entranced by these little pieces of magic on people’s clothes—all different colors, shapes and textures, little shiny treasures in the every day.

Me being my baby Enchanter self at the Botanical Gardens when I was a wee thing.

Some of my earliest memories are standing by the screen door as a very small child because when the sun hit it just right, teeny tiny rainbows appeared in the scratches in the plexiglass. I loved when my parents read to me. The words felt like spells and everything felt magical. I loved to listen and imagine while I looked at all the colors and patterns in their homemade patchwork quilt. I can remember the day we had an ice storm and I went out in the morning and the whole forest that backed up to our apartment was a wonderland. Each branch was covered in ice like the woods were diamond coated and when the breeze played with them, they made a clinking sound that seemed otherworldly.

Me as a teenager playing my guitar--the one I still have in my room right this minute. I decorated my room ceiling to floor and on every surface with things I loved--mostly The Beatles back then. Haha.

When I got older, my friends in high school said that going to my room was always interesting because I had so many quirky tiny treasures, and that you had to look closely or you would miss something. They said that hanging out with me felt like being in a movie. I never knew what they meant by that. I was a pretty miserable kid at the time, but I think it was my romantic nature and how when you are an Enchanter, life is just romantic around you and you aren’t even doing a thing, you are it. Fast forward to today. I live in a little apartment with my cat Fio. My place is decorated with a couch that I bought off Facebook marketplace because it reminded me of the couches in those coffeeshops in Kyoto and in Tokyo where I visited last year. I have large scale pictures on my walls of photos I took in Rome last year (it was a BIG year last year for me). Every piece in my place, down to the tiniest details is something I like because it is quirky, beautiful, interesting or meaningful in some way or other. Even the cup I keep my toothbrush in is a little sake glass I got at the Japanese market one day when I was feeling homesick for Kyoto, and the little prayer card pinned to my bedroom wall that I bought at a neighborhood cathedral in Rome, even though I am not religious.

I love to take photos of things that people might not normally see as beautiful, like this time I was driving in the middle of the night on a little Texas back road, pulled over and took this picture.

The deal with the Enchanter is that EVERYTHING is magic. It’s not about the Instagram-ish perfection, influencer show, it’s about just having a feel for the beauty in the moment that isn’t necessarily created, just discovered and felt into. Even when it is created and curated, it comes from a way of seeing things, like it comes from the inside. Beauty is like food to the Enchanter. It’s not frivolous, or superficial, it is a soul need. The problem arises when those not of that archetype sometimes mistake it for superficiality or just some fluff that who has time for. I would all the time have people say, that because I do what I do and feel what I feel and experience life the way I do, I must be bored, or that they want to do those things, too, but they don’t have time and need to wait until they retire, etc. The thing is, the Enchanter doesn’t have time for it either. They just live it and do it anyways—just like eating and sleeping. It is not a want. It is a need. Who has time to devote to hours and hours of sleep a night or hours to cook and eat every day? No one. Who does it anyways? Most everyone. An Enchanter enchants their world because they must, and not doing it is a kind of spiritual dormancy—or at worst an energetic death. If you or someone you love is an Enchanter, you must make time or encourage them to make time for beauty daily.

I love to go to Galveston and take photos of the beauties I find. Even in places as gritty and industrial as the ship channel there, if you look at it the right way, there is romance in it all.

What that looks like is taking time for quietly looking around and noticing the beauties around you, the street art, the trees, your tattoos, your clothing, the clouds, your music, the way the light is hitting the coffee shop floor, the sparkles in your eye shadow, etc. times most everything in your life. That is your regular way of seeing. That is your baseline. That is your gift. Not everyone has that. It is a treasure--a treasure you were probably shamed out of at some point, because those who are blind to this way of seeing and living think their reality is the only way, and we are gaslit so much because of the nature of our gift, we often believe them. They are mistaken—not us.

My favorite place to take photos around here is the Vietnamese Buddhist Center. I am not religious, but this is my spiritual home in Houston. It is so easy to look through my camera and see magic here.

You also might be a creator. If so, you need to make time to write in your journal, write your books, do your paintings, sculpt, cook, etc. When your Big Life is set up in a supportive way for you, doing the Enchanter’s work and embodying this brand of Big Life it isn’t something you do after all the other stuff is done and you have taken care of everyone else’s needs. It is what you need to live first and foremost. Of course I don’t mean neglect your children to do your art, or anything like that, but you know what I mean. Many of us who are Enchanters have been told and gaslit that our life purposes are frivolous and of no real value and that other people’s dreams are more important. We are told that it is our job to make sure they get their needs met so they can do their “real” jobs and purposes, and then if we get to ours at all, we are living our archetype on scraps of energy and time and resources. If we are doing this, we need to stop it now. No one will break this pattern for us we need to do it ourselves by respecting our gifts and purposes and needs and setting solid boundaries around them.

I sometimes give myself Enchanter dates like going to Asian Town and getting something fun to eat and taking photos of the art.

When an Enchanter’s nervous system is regulated, life feels like a film, but real, not in an escapist, spiritual bypassing or disassociating way, but the actual state of their energetic reality. It feels safe to notice beauty, to create lore and myth and charm out of the everyday. Unsafety for an Enchanter is to feel like it is silly to dream and see the magic in things, and that the five senses reality and the practical sides of the real world are the only thing that matter, or that they are the only things that are real. The Enchanter’s view of reality is real, too. It is a spiritual and emotional vision that is unique to them.

Most creators are Enchanters and if the great artists, writers and makers of this world were told it was silly to sculpt marble, and to get a “real” job, or to tend to your spouse’s dreams instead of yours of writing your novel, or to make sure you do your civic duties instead of creating a safe space for yourself and your family to feel regulated and well so you can break generational patterns of familial unsafety, then we would lack some of the most important contributions to humanity. What you create, your vision in this world, and how you feel into your life matter and are important and are one of your reasons for existing. Consider this your permission. Do your art. Feel into the beauty of your life. Decorate your spaces. Enjoy the feeling of being alive. Don’t deprive humanity of your magic. Don’t gaslight yourself into thinking that you must do the practical stuff before you smell the flowers—smell the flowers, then do the dishes—actually, smell the flowers, pick them, and put them in a vase so you can enjoy them while you do the dishes. You are a responsible adult and won’t shirk your other duties, so don’t shirk your enjoyment of this world. It is what you were meant for.

Here are some questions to help you lean into your Enchanter life. If you aren’t of this archetype, it can’t hurt you to add a little bit of this to your life as well. We are all a combination of ALL the archetypes and everyone deserves magic in their life.

Some places are literal heaven for Enchanters. One of my places like that is Rome. Here I am in a palace practically floating in the air with pleasure at being in a place that looks and feels like that.

1.)     When was the last time you felt like life was magic? What were you doing? Where were you? What did that magic feel like to you?

2.)     What in your life right now reflects your Enchanter nature? Your home? Your job? Your friends? What doesn’t? Are there steps you can put in place to make some small changes to the things that don’t so they are more in line with your Enchanter nature?

3.)     What excuses are you using to avoid stepping into your power? Caring for others so they can live their archetypes? Being over-busy when it is not technically necessary? Being over busy because it is necessary because of the life you have created for yourself because you were gaslit or robbed of the knowledge that your romantic nature is your power? What is one truth you can tell yourself about your magic to alter the gaslighting and excuses?

What can you do today to honor your Enchanter nature:

1.)     1 minute:

Stop and look around you. Take in the details of where you are. What feels magical about where you are this very second. It doesn’t even have to be beautiful. There is romance and magic about gritty places, dull places, lovely places and everything in between. Feel into it and let your senses and awareness inner and outer open. Breathe it in and be part of the scene.

2.)     10 minutes:

Move your body, wiggle your fingers and toes, feel your arms and legs and all the parts of you. Feel how you are present in the space where you are. Put your hands on your heart and think about a time when you felt fully in your magical life. Let yourself remember the felt sense of it. Let that felt sense wash over your body. It will teach your nervous system how to be in that space again, by letting yourself be there for these few minutes.

3.)     1 hour:

Do something you want to do, but that might feel frivolous, taking a bath, reading a book, writing, painting, laying in the grass feeling the earth beneath you, taking a walk and taking photos of the beauties you see. No one has time to do this, but people who are serious about their Big Lives don’t make excuses and do this anyways. It may not be every single day, but it can still be a regular thing until you are inhabiting your Big Life enough to have it be daily.

My coffee at my favorite local place in Rome. The heart just made it all a hundred times more magical.

One of the most important parts of embodying your Big Life is to learn to not make excuses to avoid your archetype’s needs. There are always excellent, valid, responsible adult reasons for not embodying what you are here to embody. It is imparitive to learn the difference between being a healthy, responsible adult who takes full responsibility for their life, and making excuses, because they can sometimes look very similar. Doing small Enchanter practices daily is a great start, and trains your nervous system that it is safe to live as you were meant to live. For some this is easy and natural and no big deal. For others with trauma and abuse history, it might only be a few minutes a day and be quite a stretch. Both are fine. Start where you are. You are where you are, and that is where your Big Life practice is.

To my fellow Enchanters, let’s get up, get going and feel into this beautiful day as it is, and start experiencing and creating the magic we need that will in turn bless the world.