Meet the wild self: a journey through the gathering months
Walking with the Alchemist, the Weaver and the Enchantress
In this series of four posts, we’ll meet the 12 wild archetypes of the Rewilding Wheel that each offer support to guide you back to your wild self - that instinctual, rooted part of you that belongs to and emerges from the earth. We’ve explored the question ‘what is the wild self?’ previously, but in this series you’ll discover that this part of our identity isn’t fixed or singular; it shapeshifts with the seasons.
Read the first post of the series and meet the winter archetypes.
Read the second post of the series and meet the spring archetypes.
Read the third post of the series and meet the summer archetypes.
As we move through the gathering months of the year, three archetypes emerge with quiet power: the Alchemist, the Weaver and the Enchantress. These autumnal guides of the Wheel offer wisdom in release, remembrance and mystery. While their presence feels most tangible in the turning leaves and lengthening shadows, they dwell within us always - ready to walk beside us when life calls for integration, intuition and soulful transformation.
As the Wheel turns and the light begins to wane, we enter a time of harvest and letting go. Autumn is the season of earth’s exhale - the slow, spiralling return inward. Throughout August, September and October, these three wild archetypes guide this sacred descent, showing us the potency and beauty of endings, thresholds, and what lies beyond the visible.
The Alchemist - August
As summer’s fire gives way to the waters of autumn, the season shifts and softens, inviting us to slow and mellow along with it. Shimmering fields ripple in the wind like liquid gold, before the grain is harvested and the cycle of the year moves into a phase of sifting, sorting and preparation for the darker months to come.
The Alchemist lights the way through August, encouraging us to ‘melt’ into the waning days of summer by flowing with the hazy blurring of time that can occur in the liminal period before autumn truly arrives. This archetype asks us what we want to cherish, release or transform ahead of the fresh start feeling of September.
The Weaver - September
After the drifting days of August, the Weaver appears to help us reintegrate: to gather up the threads of our lives, and intertwine them once more in a way that makes us feel rooted and whole.
Connected to the symbolism of the dewy spider’s webs we might see in autumn hedgerows, or the baskets used to collect juicy berries, the Weaver is concerned with the strands of self and story, and the craft of braiding together the many facets of who we are.
The Enchantress - October
Finally, as the year comes full circle, we are greeted by Enchantress: the ephemeral soul guide who will usher us across the veiled threshold of Samhain and into the new cycle beyond. As our inner witch and magic-maker, this archetype helps us access the deep intuition that allows us to meaningfully reflect on our journey through the year and cast spells of intention for what’s to come.
Powerful, complex and unafraid of the dark, the Enchantress envelops us in her velvet cloak of ancestral wisdom and walks with us into the unknown. Fully alive to the whisper of the wild, this part of self heeds the call and illuminates the winding, spiral path of untamed authenticity.
These archetypes dance in the mists of autumn, guiding us toward the truth beneath the surface. They help us gather the harvest of our becoming and offer it back to the soul.
To explore these archetypes - and nine others - in greater depth, you’re invited to journey through The Rewilding Yearbook, a soul-led companion to the seasonal cycle and your inner rhythms. Pre-orders are now open ahead of its 7th October release - read more here!
And if you’re longing to rewild more fully, The Wild Within companion course opens for enrolment this Wednesday, 25th June - designed to bring the archetypal aspects of the book to life with rich, immersive content to guide you in embodying your wildness through the year. Find all the details, including bonus offers for early registration, here.