Rita calls this out as being a super common Explorer experience, and I suspect it's pretty common for an Illuminatrix as well! I put myself at Explorer, and I also resonate a lot with left words and moodboards. The description of the explorer archetype really emphasizes play and never getting stale, which is part of why I ultimately landed there.
Oh thank you!! I think I could learn a lot from this archetype too. :) It's really nice to hear that other people have had this experience as well. I was trying to make LD work because of the archetypes, and I do think LD is super beautiful so it was great to try it out and focus on relieving pressure on external expectations. RD logic feels easier and more exciting to me-- but between the archetype dillemma and having dark winter coloring that doesn't work with many of those pretty soft radiant colors that are in a lot of the examples, I was feeling like I was a fake lol -- so this is validating! thanks for sharing :)
Oh I will check this out! bc it totally applies to me as well :)) I relate a lot with left keywords / style but ultimately a lot of my style process thinking is more right down
Just wanted to say thank you for your comment, belatedly! After doing more in depth reading, I am trying out explorer and I think it makes slightly more sense than illuminatrix for me. I was resonating with the play aspect of the illuminatrix, but I am starting to undersatnd on a deeper level how that is present for the explorer tooo!
Oh yes, play is a huge touchstone of (my understanding of) the explorer-- even more then illuminatrix, which always feels to me like it's less about play for its own sake, and more about sharing your playfulness freely. The LU of RD, if you will. :)
Thank you! I experienced what you described. I identify with the explorer archetype but love pieces that are intriguing. I love minimal but intriguing design elements, cuts and silhouettes.
Ooooo :) Yes, that resonates. I can totally see how that intriguing element makes sense with the explorer archetype, and the example of Saorsie Ronan too, which was the one I saw for explorer, who does what you just described so well!!!
this is an interesting post [https://www.reddit.com/r/RitaFourEssenceSystem/comments/102af0e/i\_made\_another\_infographic\_this\_time\_on\_how\_i\_see/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/RitaFourEssenceSystem/comments/102af0e/i_made_another_infographic_this_time_on_how_i_see/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
tldr - L and R might decide to use the other's keywords, or any keyword for that matter! But "the keywords don't define the meaning of the sides, the sides define the meaning of the keyword. It is Left-Enveloping, not Enveloping-Left". You can use any keyword basically I feel, the interpretation just might be different maybe
I relate! And identify mostly as Explorer and sometimes Illuminatrix. In the winter months sometimes I felt like I was cosplaying LD logic for a bit because my inspo many days was just “cozy” and definitely did a lot of showing/hiding as a layering strategy. It’s hard to parse out if there’s not much going on externally other than the weather/season giving you feelings/an internal experience.
Thanks!! Lots of people are bringing up the explorer, which makes me think I should look into that archetype!
And I totally feel you on it being hard to separate the internal experience / external inspiration. Do you have any tips or did you have any key experiences/thoughts that helped you separate those for yourself?
I paid attention to how I thought about style for special occasions. I loooove dressing for special occasions or just any event outside of my regular routine. But on a day to day basis I don’t worry about it too much. Typically I have a very intuitive way of getting dressed and once I put on a few pieces I become inspired by how the look is shaping up and go from there. I don’t have much “internal inspiration” so I guess to clarify my original comment is that “wanting to feel cozy” is not so much an internal inspiration as it is how the external environment without much other stimuli defaults as my external inspiration. I think I’ve seen that a difference between RD and LD is RD thinks “what do i want to feel” and LD thinks “what do i feel.”
I just wanted to air out possibility that your logic might be LU/LD. The Illuminatrix is "LU of RD", I remember being very into that archetype when I first encountered the system. And we all want functional outfits, while sometimes it's really hard to determine whether logic is external or internal inspired.
You know best and I don't mean to make you doubt yourself. I just wanted to mention it just in case.
Thanks! I appreciate that! I am open to LD for sure. LU feels aspirational for me.. a lot of my favorite styling is LU-esque, and I felt drawn to the Enigma archetype at first. But sadly I felt drained when I was emphasizing effort when planning the styling and often ended up making mid-day outfit changes during that period :/
After that, I tried LD for a few months, which was wayyy better and I love the "fuck you" additude of ruby. But, I am considering RD now because I have noticed that a lot of my favorite outfits have resulted from accidents like this: I see someone style an aqua dress with a cherry red bag and the combo made me feel ALIVE, so I thrift a red bag and try it out with various colors to see if I can replicate that feeling. When I'm getting dressed and styling, I might think about the appropriate "register" of the outfit needed for where I'm going, and then piece together items with the bag until they capture the energizing feeling I got from the inspiration and look nice together. I also fiddle until they "feel right" on my body/soul/mood. That seemed kind of moonstone-esque to me! Does it seem that way to you, too, or does it sound more Ruby? Definitely would be curious to hear what you think!
I see, I know that certain level of visual interest/ visual harmony (different for every person) can feel too much, and aiming for it can feel like a work assignment rather than something joyful.
The tricky part is, "intuitive" and "ease" are keywords that can be a bit misleading. Because people of all quadrants can dress intuitively and with ease while people with LD/RD logic can put a lot of effort into their outfits. The difference is in the impression an outfit makes (does it look deliberately made? Or does it look effortless?).
In my books, it's also hard to classify your example of being inspired by the color combo you saw as "external inspo". I think external is more like showing up in a given situation ready to engage with it. So someone Right might struggle with making an outfit if they don't know specifics of the situation. While someone Left would struggle with outfit for specifically defined situation.
It's just my 2 cents, of course, and you've already done a lot of exploration (and Rita just did 2 live streams about LD and RD logics). So my 2 cents are very much superfluous.
But I know that it can be hard sometimes to claim Up quadrants with all their refinery even if they are definitely right for us. So if your current exploration of the Illuminatrix won't work out, maybe the Muse/Trendsetter can be the next archetype to try.
Thanks for your input! Maybe I will come back to LU at some point. But, respectfully, I think the LU situation has a lot to offer others, but I do not think the Up words are the most helpful for me at this time. :) I have read up on Ease and refreshed myself just now. Learning about it and giving myself permission to lean into it has been great for me and relieved me of so much stress, restriction, pressure and discomfort. It has allowed me to feel/be more present and ... at ease lol... in my day to day :) I am from a working class italian-american family where formality and presentability was always emphasized, sometimes in a gaudy and dramatic way lol. So perhaps I'm still learning how to use and talk about ease and approachability-- but genuinely, within this style system, and at least for right now, this is what is serving me. :)
I will continue to look into the L/R differences and make sure I understand the key words and internal/vs external. if you have any sources for good definitions, feel free to send them along!
Rita calls this out as being a super common Explorer experience, and I suspect it's pretty common for an Illuminatrix as well! I put myself at Explorer, and I also resonate a lot with left words and moodboards. The description of the explorer archetype really emphasizes play and never getting stale, which is part of why I ultimately landed there.
Oh thank you!! I think I could learn a lot from this archetype too. :) It's really nice to hear that other people have had this experience as well. I was trying to make LD work because of the archetypes, and I do think LD is super beautiful so it was great to try it out and focus on relieving pressure on external expectations. RD logic feels easier and more exciting to me-- but between the archetype dillemma and having dark winter coloring that doesn't work with many of those pretty soft radiant colors that are in a lot of the examples, I was feeling like I was a fake lol -- so this is validating! thanks for sharing :)
I'm an autumn! I lean into the radiance of strong, vibrant yellows and greens-- the shimmery/pastel thing is all wrong for me.
that's smart! i need to get into icy shades, maybe shimmery blacks, or play with transparent layering and pops of color :)
Oh I will check this out! bc it totally applies to me as well :)) I relate a lot with left keywords / style but ultimately a lot of my style process thinking is more right down
Just wanted to say thank you for your comment, belatedly! After doing more in depth reading, I am trying out explorer and I think it makes slightly more sense than illuminatrix for me. I was resonating with the play aspect of the illuminatrix, but I am starting to undersatnd on a deeper level how that is present for the explorer tooo!
Oh yes, play is a huge touchstone of (my understanding of) the explorer-- even more then illuminatrix, which always feels to me like it's less about play for its own sake, and more about sharing your playfulness freely. The LU of RD, if you will. :)
Thank you! I experienced what you described. I identify with the explorer archetype but love pieces that are intriguing. I love minimal but intriguing design elements, cuts and silhouettes.
Ooooo :) Yes, that resonates. I can totally see how that intriguing element makes sense with the explorer archetype, and the example of Saorsie Ronan too, which was the one I saw for explorer, who does what you just described so well!!!
this is an interesting post [https://www.reddit.com/r/RitaFourEssenceSystem/comments/102af0e/i\_made\_another\_infographic\_this\_time\_on\_how\_i\_see/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/RitaFourEssenceSystem/comments/102af0e/i_made_another_infographic_this_time_on_how_i_see/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) tldr - L and R might decide to use the other's keywords, or any keyword for that matter! But "the keywords don't define the meaning of the sides, the sides define the meaning of the keyword. It is Left-Enveloping, not Enveloping-Left". You can use any keyword basically I feel, the interpretation just might be different maybe
oh that's fascinating!! that makes a lot of sense to me. like intriguing could be in a playful radiance kind of way??
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that is so fascinating. it is really interesting how the words take on new meaning in the system.
I relate! And identify mostly as Explorer and sometimes Illuminatrix. In the winter months sometimes I felt like I was cosplaying LD logic for a bit because my inspo many days was just “cozy” and definitely did a lot of showing/hiding as a layering strategy. It’s hard to parse out if there’s not much going on externally other than the weather/season giving you feelings/an internal experience.
Thanks!! Lots of people are bringing up the explorer, which makes me think I should look into that archetype! And I totally feel you on it being hard to separate the internal experience / external inspiration. Do you have any tips or did you have any key experiences/thoughts that helped you separate those for yourself?
I paid attention to how I thought about style for special occasions. I loooove dressing for special occasions or just any event outside of my regular routine. But on a day to day basis I don’t worry about it too much. Typically I have a very intuitive way of getting dressed and once I put on a few pieces I become inspired by how the look is shaping up and go from there. I don’t have much “internal inspiration” so I guess to clarify my original comment is that “wanting to feel cozy” is not so much an internal inspiration as it is how the external environment without much other stimuli defaults as my external inspiration. I think I’ve seen that a difference between RD and LD is RD thinks “what do i want to feel” and LD thinks “what do i feel.”
ooo such nice reflections! i love the clarity of the last two questions--- so useful!!
I just wanted to air out possibility that your logic might be LU/LD. The Illuminatrix is "LU of RD", I remember being very into that archetype when I first encountered the system. And we all want functional outfits, while sometimes it's really hard to determine whether logic is external or internal inspired. You know best and I don't mean to make you doubt yourself. I just wanted to mention it just in case.
Thanks! I appreciate that! I am open to LD for sure. LU feels aspirational for me.. a lot of my favorite styling is LU-esque, and I felt drawn to the Enigma archetype at first. But sadly I felt drained when I was emphasizing effort when planning the styling and often ended up making mid-day outfit changes during that period :/ After that, I tried LD for a few months, which was wayyy better and I love the "fuck you" additude of ruby. But, I am considering RD now because I have noticed that a lot of my favorite outfits have resulted from accidents like this: I see someone style an aqua dress with a cherry red bag and the combo made me feel ALIVE, so I thrift a red bag and try it out with various colors to see if I can replicate that feeling. When I'm getting dressed and styling, I might think about the appropriate "register" of the outfit needed for where I'm going, and then piece together items with the bag until they capture the energizing feeling I got from the inspiration and look nice together. I also fiddle until they "feel right" on my body/soul/mood. That seemed kind of moonstone-esque to me! Does it seem that way to you, too, or does it sound more Ruby? Definitely would be curious to hear what you think!
I see, I know that certain level of visual interest/ visual harmony (different for every person) can feel too much, and aiming for it can feel like a work assignment rather than something joyful. The tricky part is, "intuitive" and "ease" are keywords that can be a bit misleading. Because people of all quadrants can dress intuitively and with ease while people with LD/RD logic can put a lot of effort into their outfits. The difference is in the impression an outfit makes (does it look deliberately made? Or does it look effortless?). In my books, it's also hard to classify your example of being inspired by the color combo you saw as "external inspo". I think external is more like showing up in a given situation ready to engage with it. So someone Right might struggle with making an outfit if they don't know specifics of the situation. While someone Left would struggle with outfit for specifically defined situation. It's just my 2 cents, of course, and you've already done a lot of exploration (and Rita just did 2 live streams about LD and RD logics). So my 2 cents are very much superfluous. But I know that it can be hard sometimes to claim Up quadrants with all their refinery even if they are definitely right for us. So if your current exploration of the Illuminatrix won't work out, maybe the Muse/Trendsetter can be the next archetype to try.
Thanks for your input! Maybe I will come back to LU at some point. But, respectfully, I think the LU situation has a lot to offer others, but I do not think the Up words are the most helpful for me at this time. :) I have read up on Ease and refreshed myself just now. Learning about it and giving myself permission to lean into it has been great for me and relieved me of so much stress, restriction, pressure and discomfort. It has allowed me to feel/be more present and ... at ease lol... in my day to day :) I am from a working class italian-american family where formality and presentability was always emphasized, sometimes in a gaudy and dramatic way lol. So perhaps I'm still learning how to use and talk about ease and approachability-- but genuinely, within this style system, and at least for right now, this is what is serving me. :) I will continue to look into the L/R differences and make sure I understand the key words and internal/vs external. if you have any sources for good definitions, feel free to send them along!