Supernatural Aid - Meeting A Mentor Along Our Hero's Journey - Taileaters PDF

9/15/2019 Supernatural Aid - Meeting a mentor along our Hero's Journey | Taileaters

Supernatural Aid
Internally or externally, the Hero receives their call to adventure. Often, the Hero must
rst be stuck in refusal of the call, or otherwise have started their journey, refused to
continue at some point thereafter, and then opted to continue the call onward. Perhaps
the call to adventure is an idea from without or an acceptance from within that it’s time for
change, time to improve one’s Self, time to move on from the old and begin the new. Once
that call has been accepted, even through a simple mindset shift, the Hero is ready to
meet their supernatural aid, their mentor.
The supernatural aid is a mentor, God or gods, teacher, guide, Spirit, dream, lingering
feeling, reassurance from within, or even fantasy which guides the Hero onward on their
quest. In some sense the supernatural aid is the Hero’s initiator into the journey. They
appear when the time is right, and often only after having a willingness to undertake the
adventure can the Hero commence their journey of Self-discovery. As initiator, the
supernatural aid can be the rst indicator that the Hero is even on a journey, and they are
every bit as mysterious as they ubiquitously appear throughout stories and myths.
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Purpose
In the world of myths and stories, the supernatural aid o ers magical tokens, amulets,
symbols, weapons, or blessings through which the Hero is better prepared to face the rst
monsters of their story. In the waking conscious world, the supernatural aid is a
mysterious gure who o ers tools for the journey, such as symbols, psychedelics, spiritual
techniques or meditation or yoga, advice in general, or other spiritual keys that will give
the Hero protection as they journey onward. With the Hero’s Journey consisting initially of
an inward journey into the unconscious, the supernatural aid o ers protection against the
monsters soon to be discovered within.
These monsters of the psyche, unconscious depths, often scare the uninitiated. And so
tools are essential if the Hero is to have any chance of venturing onward. These rst
monsters are dragons, the trolls, ogres, Medusas and Harpies, Cylcopses; the resentments
and anger and jealousy and greed and any dark part of ourselves which happens to rst
appear. To face the monster within is to face one’s Shadow, and our personal Shadow is
the most frightening thing we can face. The Shadow is so frightening because facing it
requires one to accept that we aren’t the grand, great person we once imagined ourselves
to be; but instead a human as awed as any other, capable of manifesting great harm into
the world through egocentric desires.
The supernatural aid, in whatever form it comes, gives us con dence in taking the journey,
knowing that it’s even possible, that some light within the dark corridors of our mind’s
labyrinth awaits us at the end.
Tools of the Supernatural Aid

As mentor the supernatural aid’s primary purpose is to prepare us for the journey, not
constantly carry us onwards or even accompany us the entire way. Consider Gandalf, the
mentor to both Bilbo and Frodo. He appears at the beginning o ering advice and hope,
and then only at seemingly random but convenient intervals to save the day or o er
further guidance. The preparation o ered are tools: con dence, songs, or symbols placed
upon his door. These symbols are representative of the mystical side of humanity which,
for the uninitiated, can appear as hidden, magical knowledge that nobody could possibly
know.
Consider Jordan Peterson as a real life example of o ering tools, who started teaching
myths and stories and symbolism to young men through YouTube. He served as one of
many mentors along my Hero’s Journey and when I came across him, the information
shared and lessons taught rang as uncertainly certain: true. Another real life version of
Gandalf would have been Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein, who were more like alchemists
of arcane knowledge, philosophers even, creative geniuses more than conventional
laboratory scientists.
Symbols
Symbolic understanding is perhaps the greatest tool to have along the Hero’s Journey, but
is also one of the most abstract tools to think about. When talking about symbols to
others, I am met frequently with looks of confusion, to which a similar confusion also
results in me. This sometimes leads me to question whether I truly have learned anything
at all, or speak mostly nonsense.
Confusion is understandable because the world of symbolic understanding seems a lost

art, a distant relic before Western Civilization was subsumed by a rapidly advancing
cultural machine leading us further into the material world. The symbolic world,
representative of the emotional, creative side of humanity in the right brain, can only be
properly understand when interpreted and related using the analytical, logical side of the
brain, the left hemisphere. Given that modern humans have been pushed further and
further into the logical and analytical brain through education, addictions, consumerism
and work, we can see why the symbolic side has been lost.
Only in combining the two can these two worlds be bridged. This is what the supernatural
aid o ers, an understanding of some deeper side of humanity, consciousness, a pattern
underlying a shared human psychology represented in myths and stories and Heroes and
monsters. In this way, the supernatural aid prepares us for the Hero’s Journey by giving us
the symbolic tools to defeat the monsters we encounter within and without, else we run
back to the safety and comfort of home at the rst sign of challenge or distress. Instead,
we recognize the internal and external monsters for what they symbolically are as dark
sides of ourselves, integrate them, and continue along.
Symbols can be predicting what the Hero will encounter, advice on how to defeat a
monster the Hero hasn’t even met. In facing a monster the Hero generally uses their wits,
not shear strength, and so symbols give the Hero an ability to go within their unconscious,
facing the Shadows within. The symbols are as armor and weapons for the inner work. In
some other sense the supernatural aid checks the Hero and their constant reversion to
sel sh egocentrism through the symbolic world, keeping them from going too far astray,
like a shepherd does his sheep. In another light, their guidance is what keeps the Hero
journeying onward in the face of utter uncertainty faced at every turn, a kind of propeller
or wind pushing their boat further ahead into the unknown.
Psychedelics
One potent tool not often openly discussed in myths are a supernatural aid’s o ering of
psychedelics. Morpheus is o ering this to Neo, likely in the form of mescaline. Jesus, too, if
he was indeed a mushroom, may have been o ering the same via teachings to apostles.
The Shaman of indigenous tribes, prior to being integrated into civilization, may have used
psychedelics with young men as well. Used by either the mentor, the mentee, or both,
psychedelics send messages of meaning that the initiand undergoing initiation can build
upon.
While the supernatural aid may explicitly o er psychedelics, to some of us the initiator can
be another kind of psychedelic. Psychedelics, in this way, can serve as someone’s
supernatural aid guiding them further along whatever journey they are on or heading
towards. This is because psychedelics, in some sense, teach us the world of symbols:
particularly psychedelics like psilocybin, mescaline, LSD, or ayahuasca. How this teaching
occurs is not exactly clear, but it seems to be related to some dampening of the ego,
default mode network, and rebuilding of the bridge between the two brain hemispheres,
the corpus callosum.
Psilocybin, for example, can show one the story of their life and then create a future story
based on the past, upon which someone can live in the present. In seeing one’s past, the
symbolic understanding of why certain events occurred the way they did leading to the
present becomes immediately clear. Increased use seems to further build this
understanding, though it can also get out of hand if it creates an attachment to an
imagined future. Regardless, the personally profound experiences which occur with
psychedelics are not to be discounted and can lead to both the call to adventure and
supernatural aid through their use. It can also lead to a continued and ongoing
relationship with one’s God.

A Higher Power
Giving up control of my life to something else beyond myself or comprehension has been
the hardest but most important part of the supernatural aid. God has always seemed an
abstract idea to me, and for Western Civilization it is an idea that has been quickly dying
over the past two hundred years. But without this higher power, however we de ne that,
the Hero’s Journey would not be been possible.
In the common pattern seen throughout myths, God is some form higher power beyond
human understanding residing in the unconscious or spiritual worlds, related to our
subjective experiences. This higher power, it would seem throughout time and history in
the forms of Heroes small and large, guides each of us on something that feels like destiny,
fate. These are all illusive terms for something imperfectly inexplicable in words, but it is
each of our individual paths. As a kind of destiny, the higher power we nd leads us ever
onwards until death or our nal transformation, the cosmic winds of the Hero.
The higher power equivalently resides in our conscience. Morality in some objective sense
may not be universal at its roots, or perhaps it could be. However, when you follow
dreams, feelings, God, subjective signs and messages and emotions or pulls, the
conscience does take each of us somewhere. There would seem to be few who might say
their conscience has led them astray.
A higher power a rms that we all have our own part to play in actualizing our becoming
closer to consciousness or further from consciousness, God, Self. Coming closer depends
on this ability to give in to losing our own egocentrism, too. Facing and integrating the
Shadow, how it manifests in form of ego, requires we must give up control and
attachment to what we grip weakly on to, stubbornly clinging to a false version of who we
imagine ourselves to be. This imagined person is never based on following our personal
meaning and internal callings. There is an illusion humans hold onto, that we dictate all or
perhaps any terms of the outcomes of our individual lives. Releasing this illusion is
required in some sense for the supernatural aid to enter our lives.
Lee has demonstrated in his dream work that delving further into dream consciousness
allows access to further places, keys, messages, images, teachers. From how he relates it,
going further seems to be improving his life as told to me through his fascinating story;
but is o ered only through regular giving in to something indescribable. I might call giving
in control to our Shadow, our sel sh nature, taking responsibility.
Generally, with the supernatural aid’s teachings, there is always an element of learning to
let go, becoming one with the force. Thus, as we progress on our Hero’s Journey, we
gradually move beyond the outer supernatural aid and start to ow with Dao Way, the
Middle Path, the Force, operating on a pendulum swing, following the supernatural aid
from within, alone.

Trust
Many times, the signs of what to do or where to go on my Path have been quite frequently
relearning or being reminded of giving up hidden parts of my ego. This involves no longer
trying to control outcomes and instead going with the ow. Going with the ow requires
trust. As the supernatural aid starts to develop from within, we are trusting fate to
wherever it takes us, guided from within.
As well, we must learn to trust others. This trust is essential and perhaps easy to miss,
since trust may not come easily to the Hero. For men much distrust results from a
frequent kind of disconnection between fathers and sons, because fathers almost rarely
ever raise their sons and instead work all day outside of the home. The supernatural aid
as a mentor in the conscious world is someone we must trust regardless of what they do,
because some feeling tells us to. The issue of trust can be particularly relevant for anyone
who is extremely isolated. When someone just pops into our life, our own kind of
supernatural aid or Gandalf, nothing else further can happen without trust.
Dreams
Perhaps the most important source of supernatural aid comes from dreaming
consciousness. Dreams have profound meaning as messages of what we are supposed to
do in waking reality. Perhaps dreams are as drama which hides symbols as proxies for
events and people in our daily lives. Perhaps deeper dreams act out more of the process
visually in some than others. Regardless, within dreams are encoded signi cant symbolic
meaning of what we are supposed to be doing with our lives, the changes or actions
needing to be taken. Ignoring dream symbols, our gut instinctual association as they relate
to our present lives, is to ignore the supernatural aid.
For some taking the dreaming Hero’s Journey, the supernatural aid could be found entirely
within dream contents. This type of unconscious-focused Hero’s Journey is di erent from
mine, in which supernatural aids are often the people I encounter in waking conscious
awareness. As I continue along, my supernatural aid has started to reside more within the
unconscious, which manifests in my life through ideas, feelings, or nagging thoughts.
Advice
In other ways, the supernatural aid o ers advice. However, the advice is often not explicit
and is as often coded in symbolic language. The Hero’s Journey can only be taken and
continued by those ready for whatever lies ahead. Those who are not ready, the
unintitated, will eventually face things they are not ready to face. This is as if the
supernatural aid has given someone the keys to the front door, behind which some
hidden monster stands ready to strike at door’s rst cracking. While this advice can also be
explicit, as a process of initiating the advice comes as metaphor, symbols to be decoded
by the respective Hero. Most often, the Hero is only given access to symbols for which they
are ready.
Imagine a psychotherapist telling a patient that their problem is X Y or Z. While the patient
may believe the therapist, there is a signi cant level of work afterwards and self-
satisfaction that is essential if the Hero’s Journey is to successfully continue onwards. The
supernatural aid is a kind of psychoanalyst, and the challenges lie in us accepting and
taking advice when we know it rings true.
Bringing out Monsters

As teacher the supernatural aid pushes buttons, triggers our emotions. Sometimes they
can bring out our internal monsters in this way, which is why they are the initiator. These
internal monsters are emotional triggers; in bringing them out, such as occurs to Carlos
Castaneda constantly with don Juan and other teachers, the mentor helps the Hero
redirect energy otherwise wasted on emotional attachments. In other ways the mentor
propels us onward, not remaining constantly by our side but appearing just when we are
about to throw our hands into the air and surrender, or be consumed by monsters within
or without. As such the supernatural aid o ers us just enough, not more than we can
handle yet also not nearly enough such that the Hero’s Journey becomes too easy. The
adventure is ours, after all.
Attachment to childish emotions, irritation, wasted time thinking rather than doing, then,
is indelible to the mentor’s assistance. In some sense we are being taught resentments,
anger and other intense negative emotions towards others or ourselves. This is part of
facing the Shadow. Consider Yoda’s annoyance of Luke through the training regimen he is
put through. Luke considers the journey to Dagoba as merely a stopover at rst and is
extremely impatient to move onward. The story makes clear, however, that he is not ready
to do so and is far too eager. In foolishly heading onwards too soon, Luke loses one arm in
a battle with Darth Vader that he is woefully unprepared for.
Psychoanalyst Supernatural Aid

A psychotherapist is essentially a supernatural aid for many, but the challenge is
completing a course of treatment long enough. This is a challenge because, as Carl Jung
relates in his writings, and from personal experience working with a psychologist, a patient
can frequently feel as though they have been cured and seek to convince the analyst of
such. A good psychoanalyst continually pushes back by nding the weaknesses and aws
in the patients’ arguments and claims of being healed. In helping a patient break down
their ego, dig deeper into their onion of consciousness, the patient has the ability to better
do so on their own in the future.
Someone pushing back on us to improve, to change, is like Yoda. This causes emotional
reactions within us, which are often psychic projections. Psychic projections are the
monsters we are seeking to battle through the Hero’s Journey, which is at once also a kind
of personal psychoanalysis. Projections are the Shadow aspect of ourselves we put onto
others which we are often blind to.
Appearance
One of the primary reasons the supernatural aid appears as they do is that they have
already taken the Hero’s Journey in their own way. Thus, the supernatural aid appears
extremely wise beyond their years, having hidden knowledge, and displaying the various
outcomes of the Hero’s Journey. One of these outcomes is a diminishment of the ego,
which is the sel sh adherence to an illusory mask we wear around others, at work, or in
social circles. In being less egocentric, the supernatural aid o ers a strange kind of
unconditional Love and trust not commonly found in strangers. For men, this loving aspect
can be the most di cult to accept and requires trust which may have been long lost; a
great part of the Hero’s Journey for men is healing the spiritual disconnection and love
between father and son.
Another important aspect is that the supernatural aid is frequently found to have both
masculine and feminine features and characteristics. These characteristics can be in
physical appearance, for example, through hair, clothing, tattoos or paint. Or, in contrast,
since one outcome of the Hero’s Journey is becoming the master of two worlds, the
supernatural aid can appear as androgynous, neither masculine nor feminine. Although
they still embody both the feminine and masculine within, they have total command over
both. Buddha and Morpheus come to mind in this way.
The supernatural aid is uncommonly eccentric since they have lost much of their
egocentrism, their cares for material desires. As an uninitiated, imagine seeing someone
disheveled yet speaking truths one would not expect to hear from someone of such
appearance. Humans tend to shy away from others with di ering opinions, particularly
when they press upon us in some manner. Stranger persons may say strange things, or
look strange and wear robes, walk barefoot, have patchy or colorful garments, or dress
simply.
Proteus
Proteus is a Greek god of rivers, capable of changing forms endlessly. The supernatural
aid represents in another sense the Hero continually transformed. The supernatural aid
takes on so many di erent identities or roles that he or she is at one moment some thing
and another time an entirely di erent person. Proteus, like the Hero, de es understanding
and is complex beyond comprehension. Right when Proteus is pegged as one form, he is
instantly another. Thus, the appearance of the supernatural aid inherently de es

explanation.
The idea of Proteus is like what happens to our identity in taking the Hero’s Journey. Our
human identity becomes slippery, inde nable, regularly shifting, just as Proteus does. The
supernatural aid takes on numerous roles in the story of the Hero. If we were to hear the
story of the supernatural aid becoming a Hero, the hats they wear may be even more
limitless. Imagine everything Gandalf might have done over the course of his life, walking
and traveling all over the land.
“That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the
waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere,
and that the present only exists for it, not the past, nor the shadow of the future?” –
Vasudeva in Siddhartha

Examples of the Supernatural Aid

The Rogue
Rogues are at once thieves, fools, singers and poets, takers from the rich and givers to the
poor. The rogue is a trickster playing tricks, someone who moves on to future and brighter
horizons, some personal dream in mind though manifests as sel shness at times. A rogue
is like the Court Jester or Bard of Medieval times: the Jester served to remind the King and
his Court of their humility, their foolish egos and dark Shadows. Wise Kings would listen,
Tyrant Kings would chop the Jester’s head o , or banish them. Bards are storytellers,
Troubadours sing songs of romance long-lost.
Like all supernatural aids, the rogue plays life’s game very well and shares symbols and
lessons from myth, causing comedy, drama, and o ense wherever they go. Such as Han
Solo.
Han is a Roguish Pilot who teaches and frequently angers Luke, perhaps representing
some masculine version of Luke in the story, with Leia a feminine version. Han thus plays
an occasional role as Luke’s mentor throughout the original trilogy.
The Genie
The genie from Aladdin is one example of the supernatural aid; the genie is derived from
the jinn, which are supernatural spirits in Arabic and early Islamic mythology. The jinn is
neither good nor evil, just as Heroes, are neither good nor evil; one major outcome of the
Hero’s Journey is that we lay down our childish notions of morality, which result from
categorizations and dualities. In Aladdin, the same-named protagonist descends into the
Cave, which represents his willingness to descend into his own unconscious depths and
face whatever lies within.
The genie o ers Aladdin three wishes and is generally a companion and advisor along the
journey; however, like all supernatural aids, their assistance is shrouded in mystery, as
seen through the uncertain gifts given to Aladdin through each of his wishes. This
represents that which we ask for aloud. While we may get some similar version to what we
asked for, it may not be exactly how, when, or what we desired, but what we needed to
progress on our journey.

Gandalf
Gandalf is a kind of prototypical example of the supernatural aid since he appears as both
a real person but also someone holding secret, magical powers. Frodo especially seems to
have some internal willingness, longing, curiosity for what lies beyond Hobbiton, perhaps
because he is seen an outcast as byproduct of Bilbo’s adventures. For Bilbo, he seems
quite unwilling and uninterested, yet the coaxing comes quite easily once he hears a
mystical song:
Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.

Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold; where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves.

The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The re was red, it aming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale
And men looked up with faces pale;
The dragon’s ire more erce than re

Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They ed their hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him!
And Gandalf appears at the perfect time in the story, as the mentor often does, bearing
gifts and beckoning each respective hobbit onwards to uncertainty and adventure.
Gandalf is much like a real life supernatural aid, since he appears only sporadically
throughout the movies and books, o ering advice and assistance here and there, before
heading o to provide help elsewhere in the troubled lands of Middle Earth. Gandalf too
serves a unique role in the sense that he is both the supernatural aid guiding our hobbits
on there adventures, but also serves the call to adventure for each.
Internal Voice
Jiminy Cricket appears to Pinocchio as a literal form of Pinocchio’s conscience. The fairy
spirit, initiating the call to adventure, reminds him: “Now remember Pinocchio, be a good
boy; and always let your conscience be your guide.” Although Jiminy Cricket actually
appears in the story, our conscience is in some other sense a real form of supernatural aid
guiding us along. Our conscience can be conceived as being that part of us which leads us
onward through a feeling only known within, living our own truth. As a mentor of mine
taught me, a more accurate de nition of morality is be true to one’s Self.
The voice of our conscience is what steers us towards our truth, away from the many
distractions to doing so. Jiminy Cricket, unlike some supernatural aids like Gandalf,
remains frequently by Pinocchio’s side until Pinocchio loses his conscience through
various distractions. Pinocchio’s conscience guides him back to his path towards becoming
an individual, his journey of individuation.
Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket - Always Let Your Conscience Be …
For others, the internal voice can be a kind of nagging pull, feeling, or drive towards
something. This quote inspired me, particularly, given his Napoleon’s sudden downfall at
the Battle of Waterloo. From then he was done, shattered, but until that point he seemed
invincible.
“I feel myself driven towards an end that I do not know. As soon as I shall have
reached it, as soon as I shall become unnecessary, an atom will su ce to shatter me.
Till then, not all the forces of mankind can do anything against me.” – Napoleon cited
in The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Gods and Angels
Crom is the agent leading Conan through his journey in the movie Conan the Barbarian,
based very roughly o of Robert Howard’s Conan novels. Crom is the God of the Earth and
serves as an internal guide for Conan along his journey, beginning with the movie’s
opening scenes in which his father teaches him the Riddle of Steel; the Riddle can be
likened to a symbol he is unprepared to fully understand: that true steel lies within a
man’s heart, in his beliefs in himself and his God.
Throughout the story Conan derives great strength and power from Crom, rst by working
the Wheel of Pain for years on end, and then shortly after his escape diving into a cave.
The cave, a common symbol already discussed, represents Conan reaching into his
unconscious willingly, and nding a God within who grants him actual Steel in the form of
a sword. The supernatural aid appears as a kind of hidden power, and from then on
Conan holds rm belief in Crom.
Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon religion, was searching for a true church his
entire life. On Cumorah Hill in New York State, he prayed and saw a vision from an angel,
Moroni. He claimed to nd and then translate a set of golden plates, which turned into the
Book of Mormon. The Book, on its own, is an inspired work, and Joseph Smith seemed to
have channeled it from somewhere. Inspired wisdom, such as that, is not unknown
throughout history. Regardless of our natural modern logical predilection towards not
believing visions of angels, it seems hard to consider where the text came from, if not
some kind of divine inspiration.
Jedi Masters
For Luke, his supernatural aids are two Jedi, with Han as another form, teaching him other
lessons. Each of the original trilogy can be seen as a Hero’s Journey in themselves, with
each movie resulting in Luke starting as one person and becoming some version of the
Hero by the end. This is emblematic of our lives, as we also take on various incarnations
through letting go of control and attachment towards a past way of being or identity, and
pick a new one when the time is right. In A New Hope, Luke starts from simple beginnings
like so many heroes do until he meets the supernatural aid in Obi Wan Kenobi. Although
Obi Wan soon perishes, he stays with Luke throughout the lm as a kind of internal force
guiding him along.
Later, in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke meets Yoda, the supernatural aid for his next
incarnation of the Hero. Although Luke learns much from Yoda, he leaves too soon before
being adequately prepared. The result is that he faces his father, Darth Vader, far too soon
and loses an arm as a result. In The Return of the Jedi, Luke takes on yet another
incarnation with his egocentrism and brash belief in himself, to continue learning from
Yoda.
Game of Thrones
From Game of Thrones there are numerous examples of the supernatural aid. Each
character of the show is in e ect becoming their own version of the Hero. By contrast,
some become monsters, the anti-hero. Daenerys and Jon Snow both follow some internal
feeling, calling: for Daenerys, it is the Dragon’s Fire, her ancestors and birthright; for Jon
Snow it is a constant moral feeling of right and wrong. Bran Stark follows visionary
experiences leading him north. Arya has Jaqen H’ghar as her supernatural aid.
Varys is another example of the supernatural aid, appearing throughout as a kind of

mentor wandering from cause to cause. Melisandre, as well, functions this way, attaching
herself from King to King.
Supernatural Aids From My Life

My mentors have all have been a kind of initiator into the worlds of symbolic, spiritual
understanding, and psychedelics. One friend and I met in the Navy, and from the onset of
our very rst interaction we noticed that each was unlike almost any others in the unit. It’s
like saying: “Yeah, this dude gets it.” Mentors are those close friends and memorable
acquaintances I gravitated towards, the people I had lasting, meaningful conversations
with. Such meaningful conversations and shared experiences, some frequent, others a
one-o encounter, change who I am. The Navy time was an unhappy time and place in my
life, and I lived a hermetic existence when not required to engage with training activities.
This friend helped was a bright spot in challenging times.
As we stayed friends years later, I gradually learned that my friend had been using
psychedelics during his time in the Navy, and he eventually helped me take my rst
journey with psilocybin. A couple years back, with the Oklavueha Native American Church,
we also undertook a ceremony using peyote. Furthermore, beyond psychedelics, I found
that my friend had hidden wisdom, knowledge, which I often ignored out of egocentrism,
believing I was too smart to need to listen. Another barrier to bringing in the supernatural
aid can be an inability or unwillingness to trust others.
Some examples of other supernatural aids at various points were numerous veterans, a
Shaman, kindred spirit pilgrims, or some magical pull onwards, with every decision a
pendulum swing.
In other ways, my primary supernatural aid from within has been a feeling I’ve been
following. This feeling has led me into and out of numerous situations and resulted in
what others might interpret as “good luck.” I view luck as something which seems to occur
when we start to recognize unconscious symbols and synchronicities and are guided by
them. My feeling and experience suggests that, when we listen to what God, the universe,
or our gut tells us we should do, rather than what the world of desire or passions or
emotions tells us we should do, things just work out.
The Mentor’s Appearance

While one primary supernatural aid may continue reappearing on our journey of personal
meaning and Self-discovery, often we will encounter many more than one. As mentioned
repeatedly already, the Hero’s Journey is a process of constant death and rebirth, of
attachment to egocentrism and our identity. Thus, as we take up various calls and then set
them down at various points for various reasons, the supernatural aid, our mentor, is
likely to change. Perhaps there is a nal outcome to be found on this journey, but until
then we have ever changing mentors.
Consider the calling to practice yoga, use psychedelics, be a painter or writer or musician,
a farmer or storyteller; these vocations are not likely to have be the same people helping
guide us on our varying spiritual journeys. They may not be of one vocation or meaning or
path, but may lead us on diverse paths throughout our lives. For others, the supernatural
aid can be a wounded healer of our souls, someone who brings out whatever it is within
us which keeps us following our truth.
Our journey is likely to have many helpers appearing throughout, all of whom are in some
sense supernatural aids. However, in the totality of our journey, the aid remains primarily
an internal one that the Hero is guided by in the end, alone. The mentor, supernatural aid,
friend, whomever it is, is rarely present in the nal battle, the culmination. What is present,
however, is belief in something greater than ourselves that keeps guiding the Hero
onwards, alone.
The supernatural aid’s appearance in waking conscious reality and dream imagery may be
feminine or masculine, but often has strong elements of both or a general ambiguity, like
Buddha or Morpheus. The Wild Man, Shaman, Jesus, Greek Heroes and some Knights
often have both. They are often close with nature, yet capable of living within civilization.
Robert Bly suggests that the supernatural aid for the male’s Hero’s Journey is also a male,
generally older. The supernatural aid is someone who has integrated their masculine and
feminine earlier in life through their own Hero’s Journey.
In tribal hunter gatherer cultures, this was almost always the case, older men rearing
young men and older women rearing young women. Yet it appears we cannot learn the
keys to the symbolic world from the opposite gender, since the symbolic keys males and
females tend to lack, are di erent. Where the contrast lies, most often, is the absence of
mother/daughter love and father/son love, for females and male, respectively. Older men
or those wise beyond their years almost always used to initiate men on their adventures,
with similar opposite patterns appearing for women: the older woman, the Crone or Wise
Woman initiating daughters.
Finding The Supernatural Aid

There are a number of ideas for nding one’s supernatural aid. If you are isolated in life
and tend to spend much time alone, there may be few people who t this category right
now. If you have numerous friends, perhaps one of them may be your mentor in disguise.
In all likelihood, whether you are on the journey or stuck in refusal, the supernatural aid is
already in your life; you just may not know it. Look for someone aloof, complex,
representing both masculine/feminine, deceptively simple but able to change forms.
For others wishing to undertake their Hero’s Journey who have not started, however, the
supernatural aid is likely someone we are not yet aware of. For others, the time may be
right to progress to another part of your journey, which can sometimes include new
mentors. Perhaps you rely too much on one friend or on family members. The Hero must
leave behind our old lives as we set out upon the new life, whenever the time for death
and rebirth has come. Sometimes this means moving on, change, and in others this is
simply pivoting.

Prayer, Belief
Prayer can be a convoluted idea for many people, and perhaps the reason is simply the
religious and Christian connotation associated with the word prayer for many people. An
equivalent idea might be intention, conscience, or gut instinct. Regardless of what we call
it, prayer is an essential part to taking the Hero’s Journey. A relationship with some power
beyond ourselves or understanding is essential, whether one take the journey based
solely on that feeling or internal guide, or whether the supernatural aid starts as a person
from without. Regardless, as we continue along towards later parts of our journey, the
Hero is almost always guided primarily or entirely by this internal feeling. how to live our
truth.
Contrast the situation of Joan of Arc with Bilbo. Joan’s adventure came entirely from within
as a peasant girl who had visions from an angelic Saint Michael telling her to save France,
and so she did. These visions recurred throughout her brief, bright existence. Consider
Joan of Arc’s early childhood interactions with her supernatural aid through prayer: “And,
among other things he told me to come to the help of the King of France.”
Bilbo, by contrast, is frequently goaded onwards by Gandalf and the dwarves, helping him
stay on the path when he starts to lose it at various points. Yet, Bilbo has to ultimately nd
the way forward through his own ingenuity, belief in himself, some magic within; eventually
guiding him through Gollum’s cavern and overcoming the dragon Smaug. Gandalf gives
Frodo the impetus at the beginning, but the means and will to throw the ring at the end,
symbolizing Frodo shedding his internal evil, comes from only from within.
To pray, simply ask aloud what you wish to manifest before sleep or at the beginning of
the day. Or, giving up control, ask what it is you are meant to see or do. After doing so, take
events and circumstances as entirely serendipitous, with meaning and purpose behind
them. The people who you seem to randomly encounter, then, are actually teachers,
mentors, aids in disguise, helping push us further along our Hero’s Journey. In asking a
question or seeking meaning, go with your gut, see the answer in the most immediate
fashion once you make a connection; keep an open mind.
Patience, Hesitation
Often the supernatural aid, coming from without, can be someone right in front of our
eyes. In other cases, the timing is at issue, such that the mentor often appears exactly
when the Hero is ready. In both cases, patience is essential for when we are waiting or
stuck in a refusal of the call pattern. Or, if we are making a shift in our Hero’s Journey as
part of a later step, the mentor almost always changes. Eventually, the guide comes
entirely from within. If you are on a spiritual path, and the same mentor has been in your
life awhile, then perhaps it is time to move on to a new mentor or path if life seems
stagnant. Perhaps also start to consider that you have all the answers, within, and follow
your feeling rather than wait for advice from without.
Joseph Campbell found a frequent pattern of a second mentor occurring somewhere

around the Belly of the Whale, yet teachers appear at all steps. Monsters within or
without, the people we meet are all teachers in disguise through forms of advice, lessons
shared, or emotions stirred. Going ahead in the Hero’s Journey does not mean there is not
a need to revisit something in the past; perhaps some new mode of change is in order.
Starting the Hero’s Journey anew, undertaking our next identity, will almost certainly have
another mentor associated with it until whenever it is we reach the story’s conclusion.
Patience has been another challenge for me related to the supernatural aid. Often I have
an idea and am unwilling to wait to get started, even though the signs all seem to resist
me doing so. We don’t have ideas, ideas have us, as Jung said, and so sometimes the idea
is a form of over-attachment, something I’m not ready for or some version of me in an
alternate universe. Or, stuck in the refusal, I may not see a way out of my refusal and onto
the next calling. In either case, patience is often called for.
Myths

Practically, the supernatural aid can also be found from an example in a story or myth. At
one extreme this is the example of Jesus or Buddha, who show the path of the Hero’s
Journey through each of Jesus’ and Buddha’s respective Middle Paths. And we can take
examples from the Hero in every other story, as well. The Hero gives lessons through their
deeds of how to live our lives. From Pinocchio it is the dangers of lying, from Percival and
the Quest for the Holy Grail it is taking o his mother’s homespun tunic. With numerous
Heroes it is the dangers of lust, addiction, pleasure, and desires of the material world.
From every Hero and myth we can nd the answers we seek for ourselves; we have only to
read the story, integrate parts of each Hero into our life, and continue along the path. The
patterns of the Hero’s Journey are the same keys contained within every legend.
Summary
The supernatural aid is a mentor, appearing both within and without. For me, oriented
towards the conscious Hero’s Journey, the mentor appears as teachers of all kinds; people
who share wisdom, advice, press my emotional buttons, or teach tools. At rst, being
oriented towards the conscious world, the mentor would be a friend or trusted con dant.
Gradually, as I have progressed, my supernatural aid comes further and further from
within, as it does for all Heroes. The aid from within is the closer connection to the
symbolic world, with one’s personal relationship with God. Eventually, this internal feeling
is all that remains and it continues to guide us towards the end of our adventure.
Questions about your Supernatural Aid

Are your dreams telling you anything in symbolic imagery as a kind of supernatural aid or
mentor o ering advice? Is there a recurring dream character you might listen to?
Is there a mentor in your waking life o ering to lead you away from something that
relates to personal su ering, making a change, starting a new adventure?
Have you ever had some nagging idea to nd or follow a more meaningful, creative, or
spiritual kind of path? An idea that keeps returning, time after time?
Are there any teachers in your life who, like Yoda, cause irritation or frustration, yet might
have much wisdom to impart if listened to?
Can you pray, start to practice honest conversations, talking to some internal part of
ourselves or God about what you want to manifest? “I want to manifest ______ dream or
meaningful pursuit, can you help show me a path towards that?”
As you get further along, like Luke with the Force, can you get closer to following that
internal feeling, energy, implementing it more into your life without assistance from
without?
Can you follow a moral truth, a feeling of being comfortable going alone, like Frodo does
to Mt. Doom?
What about letting go, giving in to something greater? Does the idea of giving up control,
allowing a higher power in, challenge you? What would it take to open up to this asking
this, letting go of your expectations of what the morrow should bring: “What is it I am
meant to see or do tomorrow?”
References
Campbell, J. (2008). The hero with a thousand faces. Novato, CA: New World Publications.
Kopacz, D. (2015). The hero’s journey. Self-published.
Andrew Haacke is a lifelong spiritual seeker who researches and writes about th
Hero's Journey, symbolism, mythology, and psychedelics. He studied
anthropology at the University of Utah and social work and public administratio
at the University of Southern California.
Andrew Haacke
Spiritual Seeker, Taileaters
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Related Posts:
1. Step 1: The Call to Adventure
2. Step 2: Refusal of the Call
3. The Hero’s Journey
4. Symbolism: Good and Evil’s Battle
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Tools of the Supernatural Aid

Confusion is understandable because the world of symbolic understanding seems a lost

Bringing out Monsters

Psychoanalyst Supernatural Aid

instantly another. Thus, the appearance of the supernatural aid inherently de es

Far over the misty mountains cold

The dragon’s ire more erce than re

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Supernatural Aids From My Life

The Mentor’s Appearance

Finding The Supernatural Aid

Joseph Campbell found a frequent pattern of a second mentor occurring somewhere

Questions about your Supernatural Aid

Kopacz, D. (2015). The hero’s journey. Self-published.

Join the Discussion

SHARE YOUR OPINIONS

The Fountain: A Depth Psychology Perspective June 25, 2019

Re ection Papers Q1 June 24, 2019

The Meaning of Life June 5, 2019

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Hubris and Modern Myth May 27, 2019

Coming Together May 19, 2019

Bringing out which is within May 19, 2019

Depth Psychology Diving In May 19, 2019

Depth Psychology Getting Started May 19, 2019

Jordan Peterson Biblical Series May 9, 2019

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