The Empath, or highly sensitive, artistic, intuitive person, wants bonded, happy family relationships, a soul mate partnership, and a career involving her creativity. Yet many times the Empath becomes caught in an unhealthy family system or group and is unable to have enough energy for herself to achieve her dreams. This book describes the Empath as the Enneagram Type Four in relationship to the Fan, the Enneagram Type Six, and the Hero, the Enneagram Type Three.
The Fan-Hero Family System is a common, stable dynamic. However, Empaths can lose themselves within such a system when the Fans and Heroes concentrate on the image of Family rather than the reality of relationships within the Family. Empaths attempting to break free of such families can become confused and disillusioned. Included are examples of interactions between Types and their typical Shadows in such families. The author, Elaine La Joie, has spent more than ten years as a shaman and certified life coach specificall .