Mindful Magician’s of Fire – Alchemy and Magic 

The Innocent one is the (-) passive pole of the Shadow Magician. He wants the status belonging to a true Magician, but he doesn’t want the responsibilities. He doesn’t want to be burdened with helping, of setting up sacred space for others’ learning. His main focus is to learn exactly enough to sabotage those who are trying their utmost to make a difference, so that no other man will achieve that which he is too lazy to strive for. He is envious of the vitality of others, because he is so «flat» himself. Whenever confronted with his elusive and destructive behavior, he responds with the typical “who, me?” response, I didn’t know?

He is a master at manipulating others into thinking that it really wasn’t his doing, a carefully crafted puppet theatre conducted behind the smokescreen of the Manipulator.

The Shadows of the Magician Archetype

The Detached Manipulator (+)

The Magician in his fullness desires to initiate other men into his knowledge, bringing them up from degree to degree so that they can become better and happier men. The Manipulator Shadow poses as the Magician in his fullness–he teases would-be initiates with the prospect of learning his secrets, but he does not give them all his knowledge. He withholds things from them in order to feed both his pride and his pocketbook. Shadow Manipulators charge their seekers a ton of money with the promise that the student can become just like them, but don’t give away the real secrets to doing that, and especially the secret that they often can’t become just like them, because their own success was due to x,y, or z factor that won’t happen to anyone else.

The internet has created an army of Shadow Manipulators. Everywhere you look there are hucksters promising you the secrets to bedding women, losing weight, making money online…if you’ll only buy their $200 eBook.

Shadow manipulators play a prominent role on our cultural stage as well. Wall Street bankers, politicians, ad agencies, and media pundits are all absolute experts in getting a following by sharing some of the story, but not all of it.

Another aspect of the Manipulator is his cynical detachment from other people. I see this Shadow in guys too often. They’re the ones who, when confronted with their inability to commit to anything, be passionate about anything, or enjoy any pleasures in life, will retort with “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Moore summarizes this man’s issues very well:

“This is the man who thinks too much, who stands back from his life and never lives it. He is caught in a web of pros and cons about his decisions and lost in a labyrinth of reflective meanderings from which he cannot extricate himself. He is afraid to live, to ‘leap into battle.’ He can only sit on his rock and think. The years pass. He wonders where the time has gone. And he ends by regretting a life of sterility. He is a voyeur, an armchair adventurer. In the world of academia, he is a hairsplitter. In the fear of making the wrong decision, he makes none. In his fear of living, he also cannot participate in the joy and pleasure that other people experience in their lived lives. If he is withholding from others, and not sharing what he knows, he eventually feels isolated and lonely. To the extent that he has hurt others with his knowledge and technology—in whatever field and in whatever way—by cutting himself off from living relatedness with other human beings, he has cut off his own soul.”

The Innocent One (-)

The Innocent One is the passive pole of the bi-polar shadow. A man possessed by the Innocent One shadow wants all the power, glory, and status that comes with harnessing the Magician archetype in his fullness, but he isn’t willing to put in the work or take on the responsibility that said power, glory, and status requires. They see another man doing something really cool, and decide they want to do it too. These are guys who get super excited about a new hobby, or faith, or career path–their excitement is absolutely coursing through them–but after the easy part has passed (coming up with the name of the band, buying a skateboard, designing the start-up’s logo), they realize how much “mindless work” is required to get really good at the cool thing, and they give up.  Men haunted by the shadow of the Innocent One want to be millionaires, but aren’t willing to toil and work years to achieve it. They want to play guitar like Django Reinhardt, but they give up guitar lessons after just a few weeks. They want to be spiritual, but without all that prayer, meditation, and scripture study business.

But the Innocent One’s shadow behavior doesn’t stop there. Because a man in touch with the Innocent One can never attain or achieve his goals because of laziness, he doesn’t want others to achieve their goals and ambitions either. He becomes a stumbling block to others simply out of envy. A man possessed by the Innocent One begrudges the success of others and does all that he can to diminish it. Theodore Roosevelt despised this type of man. To him, a man possessed by the Innocent One was “one of those cold and timid souls, who know neither victory nor defeat.”

How to Access the Magician Archetype

• Carve out a sacred space in your life. Listen to the meditations provided during this program.  This is, in my opinion, the biggest key to accessing the Magician archetype. In the life of the modern man, there is no line between the sacred and the profane. But if you want access to the insights, energies, and ideas that exist on a plane above that of your ordinary, day-to-day life, then you need an entryway to that higher realm. Sacred space is that gateway. Carve out a ritual for yourself, a time or a physical space where you are not interrupted, where others are not privy to what you think about. Maybe it’s listening to Bach in your study after the kids go to bed. Maybe it’s finding a special, secluded grove in the park where you go to think. Maybe it’s a morning walk in the woods. Maybe it’s going to morning weekday Mass without your family. Whatever it is, draw a line around it and make it sacred in your life.

Assignment At Home:

• Watch the videos below, which outline The Magician Archetype and think about how the Hero’s Journey applies in your life.