Rising Rooted

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I used to think something was wrong with me for being so… layered.

Some days I was bold and clear. Other days I’d spiral into a tender fog. Sometimes I wanted to write poetry in a field of wildflowers and other times I wanted to burn everything down and start again. And sometimes? I just wanted to disappear into a cave of books and snacks and never come out.

For a long time, I called it inconsistency. Too much. Not enough. Unstable.

But then I met the work of Bill Plotkin, and something inside me exhaled. Here was a model of the psyche that didn’t ask me to simplify myself. It asked me to listen.

The Problem with Most Maps of the Mind

Mainstream psychology tends to treat the mind like a machine. Tweak the parts, fix the behaviors, manage the symptoms. And parts work—while powerful—can sometimes get… muddy. You name a part. Then a part of that part. Then a protector of that part. And suddenly you’re drowning in a crowd of inner voices with no sense of direction.

What I needed was not a label. I needed a landscape. I needed to feel the texture of my psyche—to walk it like a forest. To see the terrain of my wholeness and my fragmentation. To stop pathologizing my complexity and start getting curious.

Plotkin’s model gave me that. And eventually, it helped me build A Map of One’s Own.

The Psyche Has a Shape

In Wild Mind, Plotkin lays out a 3-dimensional model of the psyche that changed everything for me.

Imagine two intersecting axes: a horizontal compass (North, South, East, West) and a vertical tether (Soul ↔ Self ↔ Spirit).

It’s not a diagnosis. It’s not a box. It’s a way to understand the patterns, the archetypes, the energies that move through us.

The Horizontal Compass: Inner Selves

Each direction on the compass represents both a mature aspect of the self and a wounded or protective counterpart.

• North – The Nurturing Generative Adult / The Loyal Soldier
• South – The Wild Indigenous Self / The Wounded Child
• East – The Innocent Sage / The Escapist or Dissociated Seeker
• West – The Muse / The Shadow Holder or Inner Critic

These aren’t rigid roles. They’re archetypal patterns of energy, of presence, of protection. And just like the seasons, we cycle through them.

The Vertical Axis: Spirit, Self & Soul

Here’s the part that sings to me.

Spirit is our connectedness. To people, to Earth, to the cosmos. It’s the energy that reminds us we’re never alone. I think of it as Father Sky.

Soul, on the other hand, is our unique song. Our earthy, gritty, buried longing. Our calling. It speaks in symbols. It lives in the roots. For me, that’s Mother Earth.

And right in the center of it all? Self—the conscious, present seat of awareness that can hold it all. The one who walks the map.

This model doesn’t ask you to flatten or spiritualize your suffering. It gives you a structure spacious enough to contain your full humanity. Without shame. Without fixing. Without bypassing.

Why It Mattered to Me

When I found this map, I was already trained as a therapist. I had tools. Models. Manuals. But they all fell short when it came to soul.

I needed something that could hold eco-spirituality. Something that included symbol, story, body, and myth. Something that didn’t erase my bigness, my sadness, my contradictions.

This model felt like myth turned inward. It helped me move from “what’s wrong with me?” to “where am I on the map right now?”

And more than that—it gave me a way to return to myself.

🎨 Mapping the Psyche

So I built something from it.

A Map of One’s Own is a self-paced workshop that invites you to literally draw your psyche.

You’ll create a personal, symbolic map of your inner terrain—one that looks like it came out of a fantasy novel, but holds the very real topography of you.

We use:

• Guided inner journeys (imagination meets depth psychology)
• Parts-based reflection prompts
• Art-making (watercolour fantasy map—no skill required!)
• Soul-centered ritual & reclamation

It’s creative. It’s psychological. It’s spiritual. It’s playful.

It’s for neurodivergent deep-feelers, symbolic thinkers, soul-searchers, witches, skeptics, and seekers alike.

But whether or not that interests you—just know this:

You are allowed to be complex.

You are allowed to change every day.

You are not a mess. You are a map.

And the path home to yourself is already under your feet.

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If this spoke to something in you, there are a few paths you can follow from here:

Each door leads somewhere different. It is my hope that all of them lead back to you.

<3 Rachel