The Wood Person

Personality and characteristics of the Wood archetype person

Personality

Wood people are creative, expressive, inspired individuals with a clear vision for the future based on a deeply held belief that a better world is possible. They also have seemingly endless ideas of how to bridge the gap between this world and the one that they can see in their minds eye. Guided by an intense need for justice and a sense of responsibility to the future, they almost can’t help themselves but to imagine more for every expression of life that crosses their path. 

Dynamic and deeply imaginative, they carry a profound personal gift of visualization which allows them to see the possibilities of future with absolute clarity, and this vision provides the topography needed to chart the path forward towards that end. Wood people tend to move through life with a compelling energy; they are hopeful, inspiring, and optimistic; yet intent, resolute, and full of grit. They are not afraid of hard work, nor to go up against the odds in their approach. Though the energy that they hold is expanding outwardly on the surface, wood people are also deeply rooted individuals who hold a pronounced connection to both heaven and earth, making them skilled at manifestation in the material world. They are often tall and thin with long limbs and might seem to have a rhythmic sway to the way that they move, back and forth like the long branches of a willow

These individuals will instinctively seek out the people, experiences, and emotions that make them feel alive and will use these inspirations to propel their expansion, stretching towards the light with resourcefulness and flexibility in both movement and mind. They are often busy, public facing people with many obligations and responsibilities and a tendency to naturally find themselves in leadership roles due to their visionary capacity. In their private lives, however, they direct this same energy of improvement and growth to their inner world, making them highly introspective and perfectly content to be left alone with their internal processes, projects, and creative pursuits. 

People governed by the Wood element are artistic people in their own right, though not always with paint and a brush. These people innovators who show up as an artist in nearly everything they do, as if their life were an orchestra and they are the conductor. They’re inventors, business people, designers, and healers. They can be found anywhere that something is being built with purpose, direction, and intention; they’re the people developing new programming for computers, designing infrastructure for communities, and initiating movements towards culture and political shifts. Wood people love to broaden their perspective and thrive in relationships and careers that challenge what they know to be true about themselves and the world.

Balanced Expressions

When in balance, wood people are ambitious, outgoing, cheerful, welcoming, and inspiring. They have vision for the future they want to create and the drive to execute the plan. They are best expressed as direct strategic action, determination, and justice; and the lengths they dare to reach provide protection and sustenance for countless other beings. They are full of new ideas, unafraid to chart new beginnings, and they move towards the future fearlessly armed with the vision, insight, and wisdom to make good decisions and navigate around any obstacles that might arise.

Imbalanced Expressions

Though their adaptability and flexibility are prominent characteristics of their personality, a Wood person who is out of balance or overextended is prone to snapping, and with this comes the potential for collateral damage. They can at times sprout more ideas than they are able to nurture to completion causing them to neglect their own needs as they reach. Out of desperation to sustain and abject fear of failure, they will stretch their life force as thin as they are able, causing them to become competitive, controlling, or even aggressive. Irritability, frustration, resentment, and anger are indicative of a wood personality aspect in need of balancing. This will most often come either from outside support which allows the Wood person time to slow down and fill in the thin areas, or by pruning a project back to make it more manageable. If they are not able to find the support or relief that they need, they will find their gift of sight obstructed and struggle to make good decisions for themselves. They have the potential to become clouded and incapacitated by delusion or senseless ambition, patterns which can lead them to display manipulative, exploitative, or transactional behaviors and have the potential to cause fatal damage to working or personal relationships. Conversely, they must be allowed to move freely in all interpersonal associations; controlling dynamics that inhibit or sabotage their growth will cause them to demonstrate harmful or destructive behaviors towards themselves or others. 

Advice

The ability to fearlessly reach for the light is a gift with the potential to change the landscape and ecosystem of the entire world, and so Wood people must remember to stay in integrity in all that they do. In doing so, they mature into the pillars who walk amongst us, upon whom we depend on in countless often unseen ways. If they can learn to pace themselves such that they are able to cultivate strength in proportion to the span of their reach, their patience and wisdom will provide the shelter and shade needed to survive these challenging times.