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”.
mkraynik 