Natural Passages

The Magician: Sage/Shaman or Innocent/Trickster

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Herb Stevenson

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  Natural Passages Newsletter

JULY 2016

 

Gentlemen,

We are fast approaching the reunion weekend for prior program participants. Details are below for the September 22-25 weekend. Presently; 10 have committed to coming. In preparation, I've included a revised article on the Magician Sage energies. I think you will find the article insightful.

Choosing to Live Consciously
Herb Stevenson


The Magician:
Sage/Shaman or Innocent/Trickster

The magician is the keeper of wisdom and transformative processes. At an early age, men learn to assess, analyze, and contain so that they can create with their minds and their hands. Reading, writing and arithmetic are magical processes that unravel and reveal the magic of life. In time, the man matures sufficiently to not only assess, analyze and contain, but to do so in such a way that enables him to be able to "say what is so, when it is so without blame or judgment." A healthy magician allows us to live our lives as mature men, consciously and intentionally, with deep reflection.

The mature magician is like a shaman...a holy man. Through deep reflection (assessing), he understands himself and his place in the world. He is able to reflect deeply (analyzing) in the inner sanctums of himself and bring wisdom to the day-to-day world. He learns to balance inner forces so that instead of dancing with shadows, he is able to bring conscious awareness (containment) by creating a container for making meaning based on self-awareness and the ability to determine what is real or mental memories so that he can learn from the depths of himself. He learns to be an expert at containment-—for himself, his shadows and phantoms, and of his inner journey of life-—by learning how to observe and witness himself, moment to moment and then choosing how to be in the world. The mature magician is always seeking ways to implement the moral application of his insights into the world. "He is the kind of man who is committed to an inclusive community, joining and leading" others in their efforts to make the world a better place. He heals others by stewarding his knowledge in support of self and others.

The mature magician looks inward often and reflects widely and deeply upon himself and the affairs of others. He makes time to be alone to ensure that he is comfortable with himself. "By doing so, he maintains communication with his own unconscious. Others gravitate to him, because of his inner order and calm. He sees the shadows and phantoms in himself and others and faces the reality of death." At the same time, he lives out of a deep sense of contentment and occasionally deep inner joy, knowing that ultimately life triumphs over death by staying fully present and choosing how to live each moment.

The mature magician connects with his Center, the source of his authenticity and internal authority. He tends to have an aura of great depth that creates a large presence and sense of unusual insight within his eyes. Some feels he knows things he is not sharing about them and often have the unsettling experience of being “seen right through”. Yet, because of his own indepth experiences, this man values the psychological space of other people. By honoring their inner worlds of thought, fantasy, feeling, and symbol, he supports them to value these dimensions of their own being more fully. As such, the very act of beholding a person helps to heal, mirror, and contain him.

The male magician supports us to feel worthwhile and self-validated by listening to us, and empathizing with our position, even when he does not agree with our interpretation. He will be devoted to supporting himself and others to arrive at the true in any given situation; however, he will be careful in making decisions about how much truth to reveal and how best to reveal it.

This man is an important facilitator in the initiatory processes of the individuals in his life. He works to integrate various perspectives and levels of reality, hoping to support those around him find their true centers.

When he needs to be, this man is self-sacrificial. He will supports others, so that they may develop without harm, even when it will be so to himself. Nonetheless, he will invoke another's shadows and phantoms when necessary so that it is brought out into the open where it can be viewed, struggled with, and overcome.

He conserves and transmits the norms and values of his particular specialty and culture. He brings forth the founding principles of his work from which he innovates and encourages others to do the same. Often, these principles and innovations are brought forth in particular rituals that can support others to grow into themselves more fully.

Unfortunately, often, we are NOT supported as men to fully embrace and grow into our mature magicians. Often, we are under-supported internally and from others which results in creative adjustments that lead to shadow and phantom behavior. These creative adjustments attest to the skill from which every man is able to survive in a difficult world. As we age, these creative adjustments can become habitualized and rigid behaviors that no longer serve us. The shadow (and phantom) behaviors of an under-supported magician are the Innocent and the Trickster.

Shadows and Phantoms

Traditionally, we've referred all inappropriate, often unconscious, behavior as shadow behavior. A better distinction is to recognize that we have three forms of behavior: Spirit (consciously being), Shadow (hiding and unclaimed) and Phantom (stealth and destructive).

Spirit (Consciously Being)

By definition, spirit is a person's non-physical being, composed of their character and emotions that is often regarded as surviving after the death of the body. It, often, is manifested as a ghost or a supernatural being. In other contexts, it is referred to as the prevailing or typical character, quality, or mood of a person or even an organization, country, or world. When spirit is applied to action, it can connote courage, energy, and determination as in "spirit overcame him resulting in an heroic act." It also has a sense of truth where the real meaning or intention of something as opposed to its strict verbal interpretation is expressed. Long standing correlation to spirit is the association to liquor or alcohol. Often, alcohol bypasses inhibitions revealing hidden dreams and just as easily it can be used to extinguish one’s pain leading to alcoholism. Finally, spirit is also used to describe a volatile liquid, especially a fuel, prepared by distillation.

If we apply these generally accepted definitions to behavior, we begin to see that our spirit is our true self, an ethereal consciousness, that is comprised of our character, emotions, and moods that when clearly developed through disciplined practices and directed in accordance with the power of the present moment can trigger courage, energy, and determination. When not practiced through conscious awareness, it can become hidden or unclaimed aspects of our self and/or it can easily become volatile and thereby resembles a stealth and destructive capacity.

Phantom (stealth and destructive)

By definition, a phantom is a ghost, an apparition, something illusory. Often it is referred to as a figment of the imagination and not really existing. However, its Greek origin offers an interesting connotative dynamic: derived from phantazein, it means make visible. When we apply this definition to our human way of acting and being, we can see that the phantom is a contrived, creative adaptation that is both stealth and potentially destructive. Stealth is derived from the tendency that it is unconscious and resembles the volatility of one’s spirit when highly distilled through socialization processes. Rage is a classic example. It is frequently hidden until a sudden eruptions occurs. Once the energy explodes, the energy completely dissipates like a dragon returning to its lair, often acting as if the explosive energy and destructive behavior never occurred.

Shadow (Hidden and Unclaimed)

The definition of shadow is a partially or completely dark area or shape produced by an object coming between light rays (one’s spirit) and a surface (one’s conscious awareness). Interestingly, it is also considered a position of relative inferiority or obscurity, such as being a mere shadow of one’s former self. In such cases, there is an association that one lacks presence and may have been inflicted with sadness or gloom like an inseparable attendant or companion that secretly follows and observes others to determine whether or not the encounter is safe (enough to come out of the shadows). Finally, it is often expressed as without the slightest trace such as the expression "without a shadow of a doubt."

When applied to our behavior, shadow connotes, when we are not fully in spirit (consciously aware and present), it is like we've had a shadow cast over us that follows us and observe others secretly.

Generally, the shadow prevents the individual from fully claiming his or her place in the world (in spirit). He prefers to remain hidden and avoid claiming any vestige of power or light upon onself. Often, it is an act of learned and habitualized behavior peceived as self-preservation instead of as limiting and preventing a full expression of one’s human spirit.

The Innocent—The Deflated Pole

The shadow of the Magician is the ability to seamlessly move into a childish naivete, where an act of innocence is feigned to hide a clever, cunning and refined manipulator. The innocent acts ignorant, naive, and with little drive or motivation, when it truth he is much like the old cliche of being "dumb like a fox," and is only hiding his true identity. When pushed, pressed, or cornered, the innocent will often respond with petulance, evasiveness, or veiled irritation that surface in various forms of "I don't know." When further pressed, he will resort to acting surprised or become indignant as a means to manipulate the situations back to his favor. "But, just below the surface, his Shadow knows perfectly well what is happening and what he is doing. The man possessed by the Innocent claims not to understand himself, his relationship dynamics, or the consequences or his behavior." (Moore & Gillette, 1993, 156)

Two examples of this personality are the Dependent person and the Passive-Aggressive Person.

Dependent Male (shadow)

The dependent person cannot claim, let alone see, that he has any actual power to manifest or create. He is so afraid to claim his power to manifest or create, that he believes that everyone else has the power and knowledge to shift the world. To ensure that he does not have to claim his rightful place in the world, he claims that it is his purpose in life to serve others. Hence, he is able to feign the need to establish clear boundaries between himself and others. "He avoids asserting himself, because unconsciously he thinks that if he asserts himself he will be abandoned." (158) Therefore, he will denigrate himself and his accomplishments through self-effacing acts and deflection of any compliments. "Often ingratiating, he sugarcoats the veiled demands he makes on powerful others, lest they withdraw their good will from him. He falls all over himself in an attempt to present himself as completely harmless. Generally, untrustworthy, sooner or later, we know he will knife us in the back out of his envy for real or imagined power we hold over him (thereby invoking his phantom)."

Dependent men are very threatened by their repressed feelings of hostility, and their manipulative motives. As the repression barrier begins to break down under pressure from this unwanted, hidden hostility, the dependent experiences a rapid rise in anxiety. They ultimately fear being abandoned.

Moreover, the dependent man dreads responsibility and will try anything to avoid assuming it; especially, responsibility for his own life. Asking him to assume new responsibilities regardless of the amount, leads to extreme acts of manipulation. In basic terms, "he does not want to move into the adult realm of making worlds." He prefers to sit on the sidelines, criticizing and denigrating the efforts of other, while professing the hopelessness of it all. Unable to own his disowned behavioral parts, he projects them onto others as people that are overly demanding, overly unreasonable, and attempting to manipulate him. Because the dependent man is constantly withdrawing from the world, more specifically, withdrawing from the responsibility for the creation of his world, he can experience bouts of depression.

Passive Aggressive (shadow-phantom)

The passive-aggressive man rears his ugly head when the innocent can no longer repress the hostility of feeling powerless. The aggression is palpable, clever, and secretive and strikes like a phantom, deadly and invisible. When the repression barrier fails, an underlying rage surfaces in intellectual and verbal attacks. Denial of manipulative motives will permeate the ruse as the passive aggression is against his own disowned parts being projected onto another person. In the extreme, when he has behaved badly and been seen by others, he will deny the presence of his manipulation by professing that "everyone is basically good" which enables a shift of focus away from him to a bland, group level statement that is difficult to discuss let alone refute.

Because the Innocent (shadow) refutes his manipulation and his inability to assume responsibility for his life, he is often naive or incapable of accepting his sexual motives of women. He can be easily implicated in sexual harassment, even though he will consider his actions as "friendly", "misread" or "misunderstood" as sexual advances, even though those receiving his advance will know better.

The Innocent actually believes that someone else holds his point of power and that he does not have a "tree of life" within himself. Unwilling to access and claim his own power, he projects it onto others. Through his passivity, he allows others to locate, define, and steward his life. He relies on others to provide the "compass of life."

To fully claim the magician’s power within, the man must be willing to create his own inner world and to accept responsibility for the creation of his outer world. In doing so, "he would come to know and be comfortable with himself in his vital, life-giving depths. He would know and steward his own psychological boundaries. He would feel strong, safe, and contained, rather than lost in the definition of other’s views of who and what he should be."

The Trickster-—The Inflated Pole (phantom)

The Trickster is the inflated magician that tends to be the detached manipulator. Similar to the Innocent, the trickster does not assume responsibility for his actions. He is the power shadow that builds atomic bombs and can only see the genius in the creation and cannot ever accept responsibility for the destruction caused by his creation. In more modern times, the trickster is responsible for the "careless pouring of toxic materials of all kinds into our ecosystem."

The trickster is a man that has the capacity to lie, cheat, and steal in the "unbridled scramble to acquire materials goods and personal wealth, at the expense of millions of powerless people." In many ways, he is the sociopathic pole of the Phantom Magician, aggressive, volatile, and destructive.

The trickster is controlled by a mixture of fear, hate, and envy. He is derived from the pro-social use of humiliation to drive people to perform against the nature of their own soul at any cost in school and within some family, religious, and social structures. This fear, hate, and envy manifests in whatever it takes to avoid feeling the sense of "not having the right to exist." The moral tones, for example, of some teachers is indicative of the subtle emotional sadism used by the trickster to instill subordination and imprint the behavior of the trickster onto the child.

Men possessed by the trickster are detached from the common concern for the welfare of others. They tend to make intimate contact not with other people but with their work or their learning or their materials possessions. Because other people are objects to be manipulated, the trickster feels justified to withhold information and to be secretive in ways that can be cruel and sadistic. Trickster can be exploitative, deceitful, and untrustworthy as they destroy the worlds we are trying to build.

Narcissistic Trickster-—Full of Himself

Trickster differs from the Innocent in that he generally recognizes his manipulative skills, and revels in them. Often the trickster in his worst case scenario can be Narcissistic, Schizoid, and/or Antisocial. The narcissistic trickster is an exaggerated compensation for his feared, hated, and repressed dependency on others to mirror the world as he wants it to appear.

Often men who crave and seize power do so because of their desperate fear of their own unclaimed weaknesses which they cannot face. Hence, they project these weaknesses on others and sadistically belittle them for their deficiencies. The narcissistic trickster’s self esteem is based on a blind and naive assumption of personal worth and superiority, which he then uses to justify belittling other’s inferiority. In other words, he often tricks others into believing lies about his effectiveness and power. He knows no truth but his own. Hence, he displays pretentious self-assurance and exaggerates achievements ad talents. He is seen by others as "egotistic, haughty, and arrogant." He often displays interpersonal exploitiveness, takes others for granted, uses others to enhance his self and to indulge his desires, and expects special favors and status without assuming reciprocal responsibilities. The narcissistic trickster has no social conscience and lacks any personal integrity.

Schizoid Trickster—-Void of Intimacy

The Schizoid Trickster is emotional and cognitively deficient in his capacity to develop warm or close relations. He prefers to concentrate on hobbies, work, things, and not people. They are often cut-off from the intimacy of life. While trying to deprive others of joy and enthusiasm, they destroy their own capacity for a rich life. Every facet of life becomes reduced to the avoidance of intimacy and mutuality required to be part of a community. Instinctual energies are not coordinated for community and relationship building. They typically isolate and alienate and therefore dehumanize themselves and anyone in relationship with them.

Antisocial Trickster-—Void of Humanity

The antisocial trickster is a sociopath willing to exploit and cannibalize all others with extreme prejudice. He is morally immature and incapable of accepting responsibility for his thoughts or actions. He can only see the pleasure of the pain that he has created by exploiting or cannibalizing their lives.

Alchemical Response

The trickster’s role is to find who is willing to be taken advantage of and to exploit him till nothing is left. The trickster energy is designed to force us to claim our right to fully exist as the person that we have always been but has gotten lost in our creative adjustments to the pro-social enculturation practices of family, friends, school, religion, ethnicity, nationality, and overall society. Each creative adjustment is designed to support our being part of the defined community as it has taken free will and choice from our being who we are. Self determination has been sacrificed. The trickster represents all of the pro-social enculturation practices often in the form of phantom and shadow behaviors. In essence, we have creatively developed both the shadow and the phantom behaviors as mechanisms toward our psychological safety and our perceived survival.

If we are centered fully in our self and in particular in our Warrior and Magician energies, we will realize that we have been tricked and will begin to reclaim our power to negate the tentacles of the phantom and shadow behaviors that suck the breadth of life from us. We begin to fully accept responsibility for the creation of our own life and therefore free our selves. We accept that no one has the right to create our lives or can choose how we should live, but ourselves. At this point our fate becomes sealed as we embrace the person we were always meant to be, not the fabricated one we have been. This freedom when done with conscious awareness and complete presence leads to a well lived life.

Adapted from Robert Moore & Douglas Gillette, (1993) The Magician within: Accessing the Shaman in the Male Psyche. New York: William Morrow & Co.

The Magician/Sage—Deep Knowing

The inner self-respect and the sense of responsibility to Assess, Analyze and Consciously make meaning consistent with my true integrity, while saying what is so when it is so, without blame or judgment

The Spirit of the Magician/Sage

  • Insightful
  • Able to see quickly to the heart of problems
  • Can hold and process many dimensions of information at the same time
  • Stays calm and detached during crises
  • Good at assessing options and offering advice
  • Keenly sensitive to the truth. Not easily fooled or manipulated
  • Able to adapt his/her perspective so as to be understood by other people
  • Able to hold impressions of situations without making quick judgments
  • Able to hold impressions of people without judging them or labeling them
  • Sees meaning in symbolism and ritual
  • Thoughtful, reflective, objective, detached
  • Comfortable dealing with abstractions
  • Comfortable exploring mysteries or paradox
  • Faces and goes through his/her fears
  • Recognizes cycles and patterns
  • High degree of self-awareness
  • Willing to keep learning
  • Open to ideas
  • Good intuition and imagination

The Shadow of the Magician/Sage

  • Has trouble thinking clearly when under pressure
  • Has to have all the data when making a recommendation
  • Fearful of making a mistake
  • Set in his/her ways; once a view is developed of something, he/she seldom changes
  • Views situations and assesses people in black and white
  • Quick to judge
  • Has trouble organizing his/her schedule
  • Can be confused or misled easily by others
  • Tends to think that others are smarter
  • Has a disorganized mind

The Phantom of the Magician/Sage

  • Likes the idea of manipulating others to get what he/she wants
  • Does not like to disclose information about himself/herself
  • Does not want others to know what he/she is thinking
  • Likes to control a situation from a distance
  • Likes to win by outwitting others
  • Does not share the full truth about a situation, an issue or a person
  • Believes he/she knows what is the best idea in any situation
  • Suspicious of others
  • Uses humor to hurt other people
  • Uses knowledge as a weapon ("I know something you don’t know.")
  • May come across as prejudiced, aloof, devious, secretive, slippery, illusive

Comments/Reflections

( List your comments/reflections/reactions to the Magician/Sage)

  • List areas for you to explore how to do yourself different in your day-to-day life
  • List who you will ask to support these changes?
  • Describe how you will know you’ve been successful

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MoMen Return

September 22-25, 2016

MoMen Return

We shall not cease from our exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time. —T. S. Eliot

The MoMen Return weekend is for those who have completed the year-long program. It is a return to where we started. It is an exploration into the four principles of presence. The focus is to delve deeply into the relational next steps of the four chambered heart, the four phantoms of fear and the resulting shadow behavior. Dynamic exercises will be provided to support an inward journey and then the opportunity to share these private stories with each other.

The intention of the weekend is to take advantage of the wooded area of the Pebble Ledges. Living in tents, we will have the magic of solitude, the comfort of the surrounding forest, and the support of the community of other MoMen. Woven into the fabric of the weekend are experiences that support personal and interpersonal explorations of whom are you as a man in today’s world.

When

MoMen Return will occur September 22-25, 2016. Start-up is 9:00 AM on Thursday, September 22nd with a brief hello and get to know each other before we build our village and homes for the weekend. One or two small villages will be created depending on how many MoMen Return.

Costs

The MoMen Return workshop is $600 per person. Mail checks to: Cleveland Consulting Group, Inc. at 9796 Cedar Road, Novelty, Ohio 44072-9747.

Supplies

Food and tents are provided for the weekend. However, all sleeping gear, eating utensils, and personal items must be brought to the weekend. In addition, we are asking that each MoMan bring 2-3 gallons of water that will be used for drinking and washing stations.

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Learn more at www.natural-passages.com

Download the Brochure (Includes printable enrollment form)