The Magician

Oh, the Name Rater. In the Pokemon video games he helped you to name and re-name the Pokemon you caught. If you gave one of your Pokemon a name you didn’t like later on down the road you could take it to this guy to have it re-named. In that regard, he shares some qualities with the Magician archetype. While the Name Rater only has the ability to give your Pokemon names, the Magician brings so much more to the table.

The power of the Magician is the ability to take your inner feelings, desires, and attitudes, then synchronize them with the universe and make them a reality. Simply by acting out and believing in what we want to happen can cause the change we want. We even have the ability to mold the paths of others by what we tell them, how we react to them, and how we act around them. It is a very powerful ability, and with great power comes great responsibility:

Pearson notes that this ability to shape our surroundings by first internalizing our vision and then breathing it into the world is quite an awesome capability, “At best, Magicians learn to use their power to empower others and transform limiting, dispiriting situations into opportunities…[and] every time we name a reality in such a way that we diminish people or possibilities, we are… acting out a bit of evil sorcery. … How we name something determines our experience of life” (Pearson 198).

But what is this power of “naming something”? Pearson says that naming your experiences is a “powerful way to change your life” (Pearson 198). To do this you simply change your attitude and the way your internal voice speaks. Instead of talking in negatives and uncertainties you simply “think positive”. As long as issues and problems are not being avoided and repressed, this is a great way to improve your life and the life those around you. Having studied psychology for a while I can attribute the archetype of the Magician to what is called a “self-fulfilling prophecy”. Basically that means if you believe something will happen you will consciously and/or subconsciously take steps to assure what you believed comes true, positive or negative.

One of my favorite quotes embodies that:

“If you think you will use, then you’ve already lost”.

The Creator

Lately I have felt the archetype of The Creator acting very strongly in my life, so strongly that I feel like I may be possessed by The Shadow Creator. It all started about a year ago when I picked up the card game I’ve talked about in at least one of my previous posts, Yu-Gi-Oh. It’s a great game and I’ve met a lot of nice and cool people and learned some good things from it, but ever since then I’ve felt a need to be original and expressive of my “true self”.

Even before then, about the first year or two of college, I could feel The Creator starting to emerge. I always wanted to be myself and for people to take me as I am. I would look around the campus and see all of the sororities, fraternities, and other college kids that just looked all the same, as if they were clones. I hated it, and I vowed never to become like them and to stay true to who I was and am. This song by Enclave really exemplifies my emotions and how I felt at that time:

Enclave – Clones:

Throughout my life I have always been involved in some sort of creative activity or another, in fact my dad is an artist, so I could say it runs in the blood. From a very young age I was always told I was good at drawing, and even enjoyed it for a short period of time, but grew out of it eventually. I played the violin and cello in grade school, took art classes in junior high and high school, and picked up the guitar. However, I wasn’t really aware of my creations, in fact I feel my creations are somewhat random and mostly without purpose; creating simply to create.

Pearson says “We create as an expression of who we are, and as a way to discover who we are and what we think and know” (174). I feel like I’m trying to be myself, creating as an expression of who I am. All my creations are “me”, but due to a few life circumstances, I feel like a lot of my self expression is blocked.

This song also holds a lot of my feelings and emotions about being original, which is very important to me:

Dream Theater – As I am: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muiNqF_XJJc

The Destroyer

My whole life death danced around me unawares. When my grandparents died, I felt relatively unchanged even though it affected the lives of the people around me. I did feel sorrow, but I felt like my life had not moved and everything went back to normal. Before, that was fine. But now I long for something different, for change. It feels like I’ve been denying the Destroyer for as long as I can remember, be it consciously or subconsciously. Or perhaps it’s just my Ego repressing my painful experiences so that I may deal with them when I am stronger. I feel ready to change, long for it, seek it, but don’t know how to find it. I don’t know what to let go of, or even how to let go.

This song by Dark Tranquillity, titled “At the Point of Ignition” perfectly exemplifies the archetype of the Destroyer, found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n2xIdQWPDU. “What are we? The Fuel or the Flame?” is the perfect question to ask oneself. Are we being consumed by what he have not let go of, or are we burning brightly? The song has many meaningful lyrics. I encourage you to view the link. Even if you don’t like the music you can mute it and read the lyrics provided in the video.

“At some point in our lives the Destroyer within or without strikes and hollows us out. It “wounds” us, and through that opening we are able to experience new realities.” (Pearson 142). From the transition from Seeker to Destroyer my life has started to lose meaning. I want to look, to search. The Seeker feels dominant, but the Destroyer needs to play its part as well. Even though events have struck the lives of those around me, I’ve stayed the same. To me, the process of the Destroyer feels slow and delayed. A steady hollowing out, more like a torture than an execution.

Even though the Destroyer feels lacking in my life at the moment I can see why this archetype is important. Being able to break out of your shell and face the world as who you really are is important to spiritual and personal growth. “The Destroyer is central to metamorphosis” (Pearson 139). Leaving behind the old and stale, things that no longer serve our goals or define who we are. In fact, I believe that people change naturally, physically, emotionally, but are mentally unable to let go of the past, even though it may hurt them. An old saying along the lines of “If you love it, you must set it free” is often the case with the destroyer. Sometimes you have to let something that you really love go in order to grow and mature, otherwise it will consume you.

In a popular anime, Pokemon, the main character Ash must let his beloved Pokemon free so that they can lead better lives, and he often matures and grows from his experiences of setting them free. Episode 21, Bye Bye Butterfree is one of the more famous episodes for this, which can be watched here: http://pokemonepisode.org/episode-21-bye-bye-butterfree/.

Letting things go and moving on, learning and growing in the process is the essential essence of the Destroyer archetype.

My Vision: Prezi

Check out the Prezi I made on my Vision:

http://prezi.com/mleaohuirxpn/my-vision/

The Forerunners of My Vision

To get an idea of what my journey and vision would look like I did some research. Since I want to get a career in music I decided to research two of my favorite bands.

Mastodon

What I learned from this bands history and growth is that I need to follow my instincts. Letting things come naturally while being creative and innovative and pushing the boundaries, but not overdoing it is the key to success.

Scar Symmetry

What I learned from this bands growth and history is that a lot of hard work is needed. Mastodon may have said to let things come naturally, but intense and hard work are an important part of achieving my dreams. I can’t just sit back and let things come to me (although sometimes this is a good strategy), I need to be out there pushing for what I want. When Scar Symmetry was getting together, they didn’t want to have any boundaries on their musical style. This means being flexible, which is always a good thing. Sometimes things won’t work out exactly as I plan, so I need to be flexible to work around it. With their album Symmetric in Design the band wanted to inspire imagination and awe by delving into the workings of the human mind. Keeping that imagination and awe goes hand in hand with the creativity and innovation Mastodon advocates. By being open and keeping a sense of awe, the world will never get dull, and inspiration and opportunities will arise, which is very important in the music industry, and any business in general. When a job gets dull, so does your life and sense of being. The last thing I got from Scar Symmetry is that their songs are complex, but catchy. Material can be as complex as it wants, but if people don’t remember it then it’s no good. This also means that their songs make lasting impressions, which is good in any situations. When I get interviewed and intern I want to make a lasting impression on my employers so that I can continue my future.

Envisioning My Goal

At first, I had a very hard time trying to find my vision. I have not put much thought into it before this exercise, so it was very frustrating for my to come up with goals to form a path that led to my vision. The over all thought process took quite a while, and I meandered around the house for some time trying to figure out what I knew I would accomplish in the next 12 months, what I hoped I would accomplish, and what I would love to accomplish. I wasn’t even sure I had a solid grasp on what my vision even was!

Then my mind started to wander and I started goofing off, checking Facebook and Youtube trying to find outs to this project and keep my mind occupied on something else. While I was watching videos I had “favorited” on Youtube, I saw a music video of an obscure band that I had become interested in a while back. Watching the drummer, the guitarists, and everything left me in awe. I wanted to do that. I wished I could shred and sweep the way the lead guitarist could, I wanted to smash those drums with the same enthusiasm the drummer did. The effects, the stances, I wanted to be a part of it. And here my path started to open a little.

I know I want to get into music, either the playing side (in a band) or the recording and producing side (in the studio). But the question is “How do I get there from here?” Luckily, the BIS program provides a great opportunity with it’s internships. But, before that I needed to find motivation and inspiration, two things that are hard for me to come by, to get what needs to be done.

One of my first steps, to be done by June 1st, 2012, is to do some research on various studios. Right now, I know almost nothing on how a music studio operates or what kind of equipment and technology the average studio uses. I know a few people, Dave, Carlos, and Jordan, who are either in bands or know people in a band. Carlos and Jordan even do their own recording. Talking to these people and doing research on the internet would be invaluable.

Once I get some research done, I need to get together my resume and business profile (which I’ve already started on LinkedIn), to be done by June 1st, 2012, as well. I need to me marketable to businesses and companies that may be interested in me. Even if I can’t meet my vision, there will always be opportunities for me elsewhere until I can try again.

Next, I need to actually look for the internship, to be done by July 1, 2012. By then I should have some experience working with bands, knowledge of recording companies, and completed my resume, so I should be all set to start looking for an internship and marketing myself. I’ve also set the goal to have the internship by the time the Fall semester starts, August 23rd, 2012, however I’m sure that the application is due some time before that.

In the end, on December 24th 2012, I want to walk away from the internship with the promise of a job and a future in the music industry.

The Warrior

In today’s culture we live in what the book calls a “Warrior society”. The world is becoming an increasingly competitive place to live in, whether or not people are striving to be the best they have goals and aspirations they are reaching for. But so many people have these dreams that we must compete with each other to take our “rightful” spots in the world. “The Warrior is both a dominant and unpopular archetype today” (Awakening the Heroes Within 98) because while the world is filled with competition, people have the wrong view of the Warrior. They see mainly the aspects of the Shadow Warrior: the greed of politicians, the ruthlessness of markets and the business world, and the obsessive need to win seen in nearly every business and sport. However, like the book says, “we need a higher level of the Warrior” that doesn’t fight simply to win and throw others down in the process.

The Warrior has many positive aspects as well. Courage and bravery come from the Warrior. Morals, the need to protect and fight for what we believe is right also come from the Warrior. Without the true form of the highest level of the Warrior the world would fall into decay and corruption.

The Warrior has not always been active in my life. When I was young, in grade school I loved competition. When I played soccer during recess I would always join the smaller team (there was no team-picking and people joined sides at will, often ending up in lopsided teams) because I liked the challenge of fighting for the “little guys”. However I was a rough player. Since I was outnumbered I often played hard in order to win. I also didn’t do well with bullies. One time a kid made fun of me and started pushing me around, so I tackled him to the ground and we fought. Over the next few days we actually ended up becoming friends. Since then, until now, the Warrior has been pretty dormant in my life and I can feel the Warrior starting to act in my life again, but this time at a less crude and more high level. Instead of just seeking competition and fights, there is more strategy in my tactics and whenever I “defeat” someone I try to make sure that we both come out with our heads held high.

Recently I have picked up a card game called Yu-Gi-Oh. More and more I notice my concentration areas (Psychology and Business) in this “simple” card game. After reading the chapter on the Warrior I can see that this game fits perfectly with this archetype. Yu-Gi-Oh is a card game about strategy. You need to manage your resources, bluff, and make the correct plays in order to defeat your opponent. Each game is called a “duel” and like many games the objective is simple: to defeat your opponent. The game caters to the Warriors at mid-high level, but like the rest of the world, low-level Warriors (who seek only to fight and destroy their opponent) and Shadow Warriors (corruption, cheating, and obsessive need to win) are ever present.

“Clever Warriors try to control the battle zone and do not fight until they are prepared enough to have a good chance of winning” (Awakening the Heroes Within 102) is something that all good players know. Let me explain a bit of the game mechanics to clarify. There are three basic cards in the game. There are Spell cards, which at their most basic level are support cards. They aid the player by letting them draw cards, increase their Life Points (the “health” of each player. When it hits zero that player loses), or destroy an opponent’s card. Trap cards are usually for defense or to interrupt your opponent. Monster cards are used to battle with your opponent’s monsters and to attack their Life Points. There are two “zones” on the field of play, Monster Zones where Monster cards can be played or “summoned” and Spell/Trap Zones where Spell and Trap cards can be played or “set” (meaning played face-down so your opponent can’t see it. This is the only way that Trap cards are allowed to be used). If someone has a card set in their Spell/Trap Zone, a good player will not use a Spell card like “Mystical Space Typhoon” (which destroys an opponent’s Spell or Trap) unless they have a Monster card they wish to play and attack with. There is no need to waste resources for nothing.

Already the competition and strategy of the game is calling out to the Warrior archetype, but how can Psychology and Business be applied to this? Well, remember the previous example of a player having a card set in their Spell/Trap Zone? Well, that player could have set his own “Mystical Space Typhoon” as a bluff in order to make his opponent think that he has a powerful trap like “Solemn Warning” which can negate the summon of any Monster card. Figuring out how the mind works is a big part of Psychology. How people think and how they react to situations they expect or don’t expect. Not just in general, but the psychology of the Warrior is easy to observe in a game of Yu-Gi-Oh. If you observe and get a glimpse of the cards in each players hand you can analyse their plays and thought patterns. Continuing with the previous examples: Player A summoned a monster and set a card in the Spell/Trap Zone. Player B set a Monster card and a card in the Spell/Trap Zone. If you had seen what cards both players had face-down you would be able to know what they were thinking based on how each player played their cards.

Like I said earlier, in every form of competition there are Shadow Warriors. Even in Yu-Gi-Oh there are people who’s only desire is to win via any means necessary. People will “stack” their decks so that they draw all their good cards, or stack their opponent’s deck so that their opponent draws poorly. To help prevent this during a tournament there are “judges” who walk around the room and respond to players when called. However, not all cheating gets caught, so some players have made YouTube videos on anti-cheating and how to catch your opponent if they’re cheating.

Of course, Yu-Gi-Oh is not only a playing card game, but it got it’s start as a trading card game. Because of this you also have business-like negotiations when trading cards with another person. You need to know what your card is worth and what the other person’s card is worth in order to assure that you are making a fair trade or getting a good deal.

Like in any business there are Shadow Warriors who seek only to profit, no matter what the cost. Even when trading cards there are those constantly trying to rip people off, especially the more inexperienced and younger players. Luckily there are a decent amount of higher level Warriors who are fair and let the more inexperienced player know what’s going on.

On a whole, most of the Yu-Gi-Oh community are fair and try to play by the rules so that everyone can enjoy either aspect of the competition, whether it be playing or trading.

Here is a site I found to be relevant. It’s a link to one of the biggest Yu-Gi-Oh communities on the internet. The link below is to the Strategy Forum. You can see all the different kinds of decks that people play, strategies to use with them and how to improve.

http://www.pojo.biz/board/forumdisplay.php?f=104

The Orphan

While I may not be influenced by it all the time, the Orphan is an archetype I see, or see hidden I should say, all the time in my life. Working in retail everyone hides their problems. When I talk to my fellow employees we always say that we’re alright, doing good, or that we’re well. No one is allowed to be anything other than positive. You can’t have problems. You have to hide them and be happy, cheerful, and welcoming. If you’re anything else, you’re looked down upon. I also see and feel some of the other aspects of the Orphan as well. Sometimes, when I’m working and see other people working on a task that’s a bit out of their league, they won’t ask for help because they know they won’t get any or they believe they are expected to get the task done by themselves. Often this is true because other c0-workers have their own work loads that need to get done, so they don’t have time to help someone else with theirs.

I think that the Orphan can be an easy archetype to get stuck in. We wallow in our self-pity, and shifting blame to others is easy. This archetype is also easy to fall into and be possessed by. Losing someone important, being or feeling betrayed, and being left behind are all too common occurrences in our world. The biggest problem is that people are too afraid to admit their weakness, let go of their grudges, and trust others that they lock themselves in cages within themselves. One of my favorite lines from the book went something like this: “We not ask for freedom, but only increasingly larger and more comfortable cages”. I think that if we could find it in ourselves to unlock our cages and extend our hands, even just a little, and except our weakness and the weakness of others, we could all become stronger and make the world a better place.

The Innocent

After reading more into the Innocent, I could see that some of my initial expectations of the archetype were spot on, namely the child-like trust. However there were facets of the Innocent that I did not expect at first. The denial of reality and problems and being happy and up-beat when you really shouldn’t be are also characteristics of the Innocent. These characteristics come from a darker side of the Innocent, called the Shadow Innocent, and also include manipulation and childish anger.

When I first read about the Innocent, I had thoughts that I may be possessed by this archetype or the Shadow version of the archetype. There were often times in my life where I had un-reasoned trust in people, or where I was happy when I should probably not have been. I’ve been told that I’m very calm and well-mannered, I’ve kept my cool even when confronted with issues people would have gotten upset over, and people have told me that they like for that. I started to think that maybe it was my Shadow Innocent possessing me to manipulate people into giving me what I want. I could even remember recent times of spurts of childish anger. The more I looked into my life, the more it looked like I was possessed by my Shadow Innocent.

Then I looked at it from another perspective.

I like it when I’m liked, however I don’t do it for the attention. I try to keep calm in the face of adversary because getting angry is often pointless and regressive, it doesn’t help or get things done. I’m well-mannered and calm, as people would say, because that’s my personality. I do get angry, frustrated, and flustered. I’m human, I mess up and things happen. But if I take a deep breath and a step back, I believe I can handle what’s being thrown at me.

Hero’s Journey: Heroic Myth Index

HMI

The Heroic Myth Index, or HMI is a short test that shows you what archetypes are prominent in your life at the moment. The results of this test can, and most likely will change as your life and environment change around you. The twelve archetypes are: Innocent, Orphan, Warrior, Caregiver, Seeker, Lover, Destroyer, Creator, Magician, Ruler, Sage, and Fool. Each of these archetypes have different meanings and associations. Since I haven’t read too much on them myself, these are my own meanings that I have given to each archetype, as well as insight as to how they’re playing their roles in my life.

Innocent – 17

I believe this archetype focuses around what I would like to call “innocence of a child” where the world is wonderful and new. Nothing is really wrong or bad, just different. I think it’s almost like an “ignorance is bliss” type of scenario.

This archetype, I feel, used to take a large role in my life, especially during high school and my early college years. I’m not sure why it has taken a back seat this time around, but it could have something to do with the responsibilities of growing up and more exposure to the world.

Orphan – 13

This archetype I feel focuses around the feeling of being abandoned, left alone, being deserted, and sadness. I think it also has something to do with love and being lonely.

This archetype seems to surge occasionally as I’ve been single for quite some time. Feelings of loneliness and sadness will seem to grow for a while, but die down pretty quickly. It’s almost like a weekly or monthly cycle, but then it passes and I get over it. Right now though, I cannot afford a girlfriend since I’m in a bit of a financial and timely bind. I work and go to school so my schedule is pretty busy, and honestly, I’m not even trying or looking for a girl friend right now. However, if the right girl does come along, I’m not going to pass that up.

Warrior – 21

Oh, the thrill of the fight! Standing up for what you believe in. Respect, honor, and bravery! Overcoming your fears, and fighting in spite of them.

This archetype is one of the more prominent in my life at the moment. Although I’ve felt this way inside for a long time, I have only recently been starting to act it out.

Caregiver – 17

This archetype is pretty simple, in my opinion. Caring for others, meeting their needs, almost like a mother-figure.

I”m not too sure what to say on this archetype. It’s always seemed to be around here and there. A few people, especially my family, tell me that I’m good with kids and animals.

Seeker – 25

Looking for truth and new things, experiences, and ideas. Hunting for what is and what is not.

This archetype is playing a HUGE, and I mean, MASSIVE role in my life right now. I really enjoy trying new things and finding new ways to do things. Experimenting, exploring, learning, and adventure are all very important to me right now. I believe it all started when I picked up the card game “Yu-Gi-Oh” again. I am always searching for new ways to improve my deck, new techniques I can use, and interesting combos. If something doesn’t work, I try something else. If something does work, I accept it, leave it, and find new things that work.

Lover – 20

Love, sex, desire. I think that these are the focus of this archetype.

This archetype is probably the most awkward one for me to discuss as speaking publicly about “Love” and all the activities that come along with it is a bit odd for me to handle. However, I do feel like I’m a bit of a romantic and fantasize about how I would ask someone out or ask them to marry me.

Destroyer – 17

Destruction, desecration, oblivion. Whether it’s evil, or childish fun, blowing things up and breaking things are what I consider to be the focal points of this archetype.

Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t score higher in this archetype. In every videogame I’ve played, I’ve had the compulsory need to defeat every enemy and destroy nearly everything that I can. It could be that I haven’t played many videogames recently, or that other archetypes, such as Creator are simply dominating it.

Creator – 24

Simply making things, building things, and bringing things to life are what create this archetype. The pride of seeing what you built succeed and be finished. Or, even if what was built was a total failure, at least you found how not to create. I think this archetype goes hand-in-hand with both Destruction and Seeker. Some create to destroy, and by creating you learn new information.

Since this archetype meshes so well with Seeker, I think that is the reason I scored so high in both archetypes. Ever since I was a kid, I loved building things and Legos were one of my favorite toys. I really find joy in creation and I can spend a lot of time on minute details or just mass-create. One time, when my friend got a new Wii I spent the night at his house. I ended up waking up before he did, by about an hour or two. By the time he had gotten up, his Wii was filled with tons of random and unique Miis (the little character, person-like avatars you can make for your Wii).

Magician – 20

Magic, illusion, entertainment, and awe are what I think this archetype amounts to. I don’t really have much insight into this archetype, but I think it may be related to the Fool archetype in some way.

I like to entertain, I really do. I also like hiding things from people, moving things when they aren’t looking or playing “mind games” with people. It’s really hard to give a solid example but the way this archetype influence me, I feel like it should be called “Trickster” instead, if I’m even understanding this right.

Ruler – 21

I think this has to do with being a leader and all the qualities that come with that. There can be good and bad rulers, tyrants, peaceful rulers trustworthy ones, and untrustworthy ones. Settling disputes and making decisions I feel are a big part of this archetype. Bartering and resource management are also important.

With my understanding of this archetype I can se why it’s so strong in my life at the moment. When I go out with friends when we’re deciding on something do to, like what to eat, I usually mediate what we’re doing, trying to get votes from everyone.

Sage – 23

A library of knowledge.

I don’t have a whole lot of insight on this archetype, but I think it also goes along with the Seeker archetype. Seeking knowledge leads to accumulating knowledge, which leads to becoming knowledgeable, or in other words, a “Sage”.

Fool – 22

I picture this archetype to be a mix between a jester and an idiot. They can get annoying at times or be the “lovable idiot”, as I like to call it. Always looking to make people happy.

I really feel that this archetype is big in my life right now simply because I love to laugh and I love to make people laugh. Sometimes I try too hard and I feel like I get on people’s nerves, and sometimes when I make people laugh it’s unintentional because of how I understand things and act.