I wasn't sure if I needed this archetype or not, but as the number of archetypes I was working through passed ten, I realized it was essential.
First of all, some archetypes blew me away so much with the states they let you experience that I wanted to be in several of them at once. But I understood that this isn't some fixed kind of work. The reality is, you do sports - you need Mars. Half an hour later, you're doing mental work - you can activate Mercury. Then comes some inner work - and you tap into Pluto. Right now I'm working through two archetypes, Venus and the Moon, and they are unbelievably enjoyable.
After almost an entire lifetime in the archetypes of Pluto and Saturn, I'm experiencing incredible lightness and a really powerful inner emotional transformation. The Venus archetype is just amazing. Seriously, calculate your natal chart and check what state Venus is in. If it's in a problematic position or in detriment, you're 100% missing out on lightness, joy, and all of that. This is especially true for women.
So, with the Shapeshifter archetype, your state becomes fluid and adapts to whatever you're doing. For example, you can enter a conversation confidently, using Saturnian energy, and then leave it feeling relaxed, having switched on joy, lightness, and comfort.
With this archetype, switching roles is incredibly easy: one moment you're learning, the next you're teaching someone else. This archetype adds flexibility. And honestly, one of my biggest problem areas has always been mental and physical flexibility, because I've always been rigid and solid. My views, my worldview, even my body were incredibly stiff. To be honest, I was comfortable with that: you have a point of view and you stick to it. But I was only comfortable because I didn't know any other way existed.
Another huge plus of this archetype is that I can quickly change my identity. It feels like it adapts fluidly to the situation. There are core identities I'm working on - entrepreneur, husband, millionaire, and others. But then there are identities that can shift within a single day. It's like you step into a role incredibly fast, and your state, your views, your mindsets change right along with it.
You're being rigid like Saturn, handling business, and then your wife comes over and hugs you - and suddenly you're soft, like a caring husband.
There's such a thing as mental flexibility, but now I've discovered what I'd call inner-state flexibility. It's incredibly fluid - you can be whoever and whatever you want.
I've also noticed I'm way less attached to past versions of myself. After working through old aspects of myself, like those tied to past relationships, I try to tune into those former parts of me, those old identities, and there's just no real effect. It's like the information has been lost. You know when you pick up a notebook full of writing, but water has spilled on it, and the notes have become unreadable? That's what it feels like - like my past self has been somewhat erased, and I can't connect with who I used to be.
Of course, it's also because I put a lot of work into my current identity, using other fields that help me avoid slipping back into old ones. But still, I think the Shapeshifter really helps with this.
Also, change has stopped feeling like a crisis. It used to be something really hard for me - I'm a very slow-moving, conservative person. But now it's become so much easier to let new things into my life. Not just easier, but it feels like I've always lived in this state, and I genuinely enjoy it.
By the way, it's become really easy to tap into whatever state I want. For example, after working on the topic of money using a large number of fields, it became so simple to shift my identity around money. Even if I picture myself as someone I'm not, there's absolutely no resistance to it.
My Virgo and Capricorn placements always made my work feel heavy, tied to duty and guilt. But now I realize I don't want to experience it that way. I want to play with it more. I want to see my work as a game, my creativity as a game, my relationships as a game. That's probably the Venus archetype coming through, but it's so easy for me to enter this state - one I basically never knew before because duty, control, and discipline were always there. I even remember when I used to play football, I didn't actually see it as a game. It all felt like an obligation and a duty because, as I later understood, my father had wanted to be a footballer but his father didn't allow it, and I became the vessel for his unfulfilled dream.
I now have this feeling that I've stopped clinging to one "correct" version of myself. I allow myself to be anything: vulnerable, weak, confused. And it doesn't destroy me or my personality - it adds flexibility and becomes just another facet of who I am.
