"An important motif in the dream is the guide, who instructs the dreamer. … Hermes, the soul guide of the alchemists, called himself 'the friend of every solitary' (cuiusque segregati - each one who is separated from the herd)." - Marie-Louise von Franz

Two years had passed since his divorce and still Aulden Schlief had her on his mind almost every moment. This was obsession, and Aulden reasoned that the cause was archetypal. He was certain that he was no longer thinking about her, but that an archetype was projecting itself onto the woman and if he, Aulden, could find this archetype he could be cured of his obsession.

Through all his journeys Aulden watched for this archetypal figure, and he believed he had found her when he saw the Sorceress in his Rapunzel dream. King Skandi warned Aulden, "Only a sorcerer can handle a sorceress."

What could Aulden do? If the Sorceress had Aulden under a spell of obsession, he had to confront her. That's why he took the bus to visit the Wizard Herman.

Aulden, Poseidon, Janice and The Wind stepped up to Herman's front door and knocked. The Wizard opened the door. He was wearing that black conical hat of his, with the moon and stars pattern. He greeted them, "Well, what is it?"

Aulden told him, "I want to learn to be a sorcerer." The Wizard laughed, and said, "Now tell me why you want such a thing."

Aulden explained his need to confront the Sorceress, and he also said to Herman, "I've seen you with your wife, Mitzi, and how the two of you fight with each other, and if I can learn to be like you I know I can handle the Sorceress."

Mitzi was nearby and she laughed at Aulden's statement, answering him, "Herman doesn't handle me! I handle him!"

Herman agreed with her for once, saying, "It's true. She's a miserable bitch!" Then he called to her, "Come over here." Mitzi stood beside him and he put his arm around her. He said to Aulden, "Read your journal about our first encounter and then we'll talk.

Here is a part of Aulden's journal from his first meeting with Herman, when Aulden was trying to find the key to a book:

"The door opened and before us stood a man in a conical hat and the black robes of a scholar. He looked us over and mumbled to himself, 'Bunch of rednecks living in the town next door.'

"I assumed he was the Wizard, and I said to him, 'We'd like to talk to you.' That's when I noticed a woman standing inside the building with her back to us. Her back was bare and she was pulling on a sweater. Even more interesting than seeing her in the process of dressing herself was that she had a tattoo of a bat wing covering one of her shoulders. I said to the Wizard, 'That woman has an amazing tattoo.'

"The Wizard answered, 'Her? Oh, she comes and goes.' She turned to face us and her long black hair swung with her movement and covered half her face.

"I felt a little awkward, because I hadn't introduced myself and there I was looking into his house at this woman. I said, 'My name is Aulden. These are my friends, Poseidon, Janice and The Wind.'

"The Wizard had a sullen tone, 'I know who you are.'

"I wasn't intimidated, and I pressed, 'I don't know your name.' He responded,
'Are you asking?' and I affirmed, 'Please tell me.' He looked over his shoulder to the woman behind him and said, 'Lock the gate.'

"I should have waited for him to tell me his name, but I was so interested in his robes, I said to him, 'The pattern on your robe - moons and stars. I've seen others wearing robes like that.'

"He responded, 'Proper night world apparel,' and he turned again to the woman who was still standing in the middle of the room, and said, 'Hmm, frosting.' The side comments were confusing to me and I asked, 'Am I interrupting an experiment?'

"The Wizard assured me, 'Oh, no. No, not at all.'

"I asked again, 'Your name?' The Wizard responded, 'I'll tell you when I'm good and ready.' I then motioned to the dark-haired woman, and asked, 'Who is she?'

"The Wizard called to her roughly, 'Nightcrawler, get over here!' I asked, 'Her name is Nightcrawler?' He answered, 'Yes, Nightcrawler.'

"I asked him, 'What does she do here?' He said, 'She serves me,' and he barked at her, 'Get us some tea!'

"Nightcrawler shot back at him, 'I'm not doing that!'

"Without a pause, the Wizard said to me, 'She's good for nothing!'"

This portion of Aulden's journal continued for some time until Aulden realized that the woman with the bat-wing tattoo on her back and long dark hair covering half her face was, in fact, the moon. "Nightcrawler… She comes and goes," the Wizard had said.

The section of the journal that Aulden needed now was this part about the key to the book and about a boy:

"I asked, 'Would you…? Can you…? I want you to show me how to put the key in the book.'

"The Wizard agreed, 'Very well, lay down on this table and put your book beside you.' He mumbled to himself, 'Thinks I'm a doctor.'

"A voice from somewhere in the room said, 'He's going to raise the baby!' I wondered what on Earth that was about but, before I could ask, the Wizard continued, saying, 'Will I take it out of your stomach, or your heart or your brain?' He reached down toward my stomach and pulled an infant, about six or seven years of age in appearance, off of the table. Where did this come from? I could make no sense of it. Is this a homunculus? I didn't know, and I asked, 'Is this my kid?'

"The Wizard answered, 'No, he's just a boy.'

"I asked him, 'Why did you pull him out of me?'

"The Wizard said, 'He blocked the sunlight.'

"I asked, 'Where will he go?' and the Wizard was unconcerned, answering, 'We'll keep him around here a while and he'll make his way back to you.'"

That was from Aulden's journal.

Aulden returned to the Wizard Herman and said, "I studied my journal." Herman had Aulden and his companions sit in meditation. The Wizard and Mitzi also meditated, facing each other and holding hands. They counted their breaths as they did this until they reached the fortieth breath. Then he looked at Aulden and said, "Okay, stop. Ask me."

Aulden asked, "Who was the boy you pulled out of me?"

Herman answered, "Blocking the sun."

Aulden said, "Yes, who was he?"

Herman laughed and told him, "He's the other you." Aulden replied, "I don't understand. How does he block the sun?"

The Wizard yelled at Aulden, "How does anything block the sun?"

Aulden answered too quickly, "Is he the shadow me?"

The Wizard shouted, "No! No! No! No! Shadows don't block the sun!"

Aulden thought for a moment, and asked, "Is he confused, double-minded, indecisive?"

Then Herman smiled, and responded, "Ah! Ah ha! And other things, too. But he's not a bad boy." The boy made an appearance then. Aulden saw that he'd been hiding behind the Wizard's chair.

Herman told Aulden, "You want to handle the Sorceress? Put him aside!" Aulden asked the boy, "What's your name?"

The boy answered, "Other You." Aulden asked, "Can I call you 'Other Me'?" The boy rolled his eyes and replied, "Duh."

Aulden studied the boy and said to himself, "Other Me is confused, double-minded, indecisive," and he asked Herman, "What else can you tell me about him?"

Herman answered, "He's uncertain. He causes a shadow. He doesn't mean to. He's a good boy."

Aulden said, "I understand about him, but it'll be hard for me to change those things."

Herman demanded, "Take him out! Take him out of your body!"

Aulden changed the subject, saying, "Tell me about your love relationship, Mitzi and Herman. Tell me everything. How did you meet?"

Herman reminisced, "We met one night under a full moon." Mitzi interrupted, "I was the full moon." Herman continued, "And I said, 'You're beautiful,' and I danced." Mitzi added, "And I came down and danced with him."

Aulden asked them, "How soon did you know you were in love?" Herman answered, "We just always were."

Mitzi disagreed, "Just always were? When you tried to come to me I took your breath away. I had to go to him." Herman nodded and said, "She comes and goes - I told you."

Aulden begged, "Tell me about your first fight."

Herman recalled, "She was fighting since the first day. She's always been a bitch."

Mitzi countered, "I didn't start anything. You didn't listen! You couldn't listen. He will not listen!"

The Wizard shrugged his shoulders and said, "I stand convicted."

Aulden asked the question he'd been working toward, "Wizard Herman, how do you handle her?" The Wizard answered, "I give her the boot and tell her to go someplace else if she has to act like that!"

Mitzi added this about Herman, "He acts grouchy."

"But how…" Aulden asked, "How do you stay in love?"

"We just do," Herman told him, and Mitzi agreed, "We just do."

Now Aulden laid his cards on the table, explaining, "Herman, I believe I have to confront the Sorceress, but I was told I have to be a sorcerer to handle her. Can you teach me?"

Herman answered, "It's a long process. Do you think you can learn to fight her in a day?"

Aulden asked, "Can you teach me a minimum of what I need - like, the main thing?"

Herman said, "Yes, the main thing." Without any discussion, he and Mitzi arranged items from a box onto a table. Aulden could see that they were setting up a chemical lab, and he asked, "What is this?" Herman answered, "Nothing you would recognize!"

Aulden did recognize that they were cooking a mixture of chemicals in a pot and then distilling it through a series of beakers. Mitzi and Herman spoke in hushed tones between each other. Aulden heard the word "distilling" as well as the phrase, "It needs to be concentrated." He asked, "Is there something I can help with?"

Mitzi and Herman laughed when Aulden asked this, and Herman told him, "Go sit over there with your friends!"

Aulden persisted, "No, I want to help. What's in it?"

Herman yelled at him, "Courage, decisiveness, you little worm!"

Aulden responded timidly, saying, "There's no need to be rude." The Wizard and his assistant continued their work. Aulden speculated that by being rude Herman was trying to draw him out, to compel him to be more emotionally responsive.

Aulden gathered the will to match him, shouting, "Don't talk to me like that! I deserve respect, because… I'm a human being! If you talk to me like that again I'll…" He hesitated, not certain what he would threaten to do, and then he grabbed a glass object from the table and yelled, "I'll shove this beaker up your ass!"

Mitzi and Herman laughed, and Herman said, "Very good, but remember two things: You knew what we wanted so it wasn't a risk; and two, remember who you're talking to. Now get some sleep. We have work to do on this potion."

Aulden slept and the pair continued to process the potion of strength and decisiveness. When Aulden returned in the morning he asked the Wizard, "When you said 'remember who you're talking to,' I thought you meant I was talking to you, but you meant whoever it is, didn't you?"

Herman answered, "Yes, be just and kind and direct."

Aulden asked, "How is it kind to talk so gruff?"

Herman responded, "Speak 'in-kind' - in similarity to her." The Wizard Herman apparently could read Aulden's thoughts, because he looked at Aulden and said, "How interesting!"

Aulden said, "Yes! How interesting that just yesterday I heard a conversation where a Boy Scout was asked, 'What does it mean to be kind?' Part of the Boy Scout Law is, 'A Boy Scout is kind,' and he said to be kind means to be 'nice.' It's not 'nice' is it?"

Herman laughed, and said, "Kind is 'kin.'"

Mitzi interrupted, "It's almost ready."

The Wizard's eyes moistened, and he appeared sentimental as he fiddled with the objects on the lab table. Then he pointed his finger in Aulden's face and said, "Watch."

Mitzi held a beaker of liquid and said, "See how clear it looks? Crystal clear." Herman observed, "A good batch of courage and decisiveness," and he asked Aulden, "Are you ready to drink this?"

Aulden nodded, and Herman filled a shot glass with the liquid. Aulden took the glass, but his mind wandered to other things: the clock and how soon he'd have to leave for work. The Wizard noted, "You're very distracted, aren't you?"

Aulden confessed, "I am, and I want to be more present when I drink this."

Herman's demeanor suddenly changed, and he yelled, "Just drink it!"

Aulden responded in-kind, "I'll drink it when I'm good and ready! And maybe I'm ready now!" Then he shot the potion down his throat.

Aulden stood silently for a moment, and then Herman said, "You have what you wanted. On your way now." Aulden said, "Thank you, Herman. Thank you, Mitzi." The Wizard called out before the left, "Tell us how it goes!" The training was complete, and Aulden had learned "the main thing."

As they walked to the bus, The Wind asked Aulden, "Do you feel stronger?"

Aulden took stock of himself, and said, "I don't know what I feel. I don't feel any different. I'm aware of things."

The Wind rephrased his question, "Do you think you are stronger?"

Aulden answered, "I know what I need to do to be stronger."

They boarded the bus and Aulden asked, "Can you take us to the Sorceress?"

The Bus Driver announced, "Next stop, the Sorceress."

Aulden said, "This is so easy."

As the bus carried them, Aulden said, "Let's practice answering in-kind. Say something to me!"

Poseidon shouted, "Aulden! Tuck your shirt in!"

Aulden shouted back, "It's already tucked in!" His shirt was tucked in, by the way, and Aulden said, "I imagined it that way." Being inside his own head had that advantage.

The group laughed, and Poseidon ordered him, "Aulden! Eat your vegetables!"

Aulden barked back, "I don't have any vegetables!"

Poseidon responded, "Yes you do!" and a large squash appeared on Aulden's lap.

Again the group laughed, and The Wind said, "I'll try," but he spoke softly, "Aulden, blow like the North Wind."

Aulden said to him, "I am the wind."

Janice said, excitedly, "Aulden! Don't touch me there!"

Aulden answered back, "I'll touch you where I want!" and although he felt slightly embarrassed with that response, he said, "I think I've got this."

The bus stopped in front of a stone tower. They stepped out of the bus and faced the entrance. Aulden didn't appear enthusiastic. His face was grim. He said in a serious tone, "Janice, let's practice again."

Janice said, "You left the door open! You left the door open on the bus!"

Aulden responded, "It's not my job to close the door!"

Janice shot back, "Why won't you take responsibility?"

Aulden growled, "Why won't you face reality?"

They didn't laugh. Aulden said to himself, "Don't shrink back."

Poseidon agreed, "Don't shrink," and he continued, "My turn. You are not able to match up! You are not able to match up! You are not able to match up!"

Aulden was surprised at how those words hit him, and he whispered, "Wow." Then he gathered his resolve and answered, "Match up to what, your expectations?"

The Wind put a stop to it. "That's enough. You're going to be fine in there."

Unable to stop, Aulden said to The Wind, "Thank you for your encouragement but I don't need your gladhanding. Let's just knock on the door."

Aulden whispered to himself as he approached the tower door, "In-kind, strong, decisive. Decisive is to be not double-minded. A focused, individuated mind. What is the literal meaning of decise? Cise and cide mean kill as in suicide and homicide."

That's how Aulden was trained by Herman and Mitzi so that he could face the Sorceress.