Archetype of the Mentor

The mentor, guide or teacher can appear in many forms such as an unseen figure behind you who advises or instructs; a guru, witch doctor or shaman; a dead person appearing and advising; an animal that in the dream we recognise as having great insight and wisdom; an angel or spiritual being, or perhaps a disembodied being of some sort. In whatever form the mentor appears we will know from their sense of sure knowledge and our response to it. The voice that speaks to the dreamer in the example at the beginning of the description of archetypes is such a guide. Meeting such a mentor is usually life changing in some degree.

The positive aspect of this archetype is the giving of insight enabling you to move on to greater independence and ability. The negative is when we feel from the mentor that we can never attain their power of wisdom, and so remain dependent upon them in one way or another.

As with what has been said about Christ, another mentor figure, the wonder and wisdom we meet is a glimpse of our own potential. The relationship we have with the figure shows how we are relating to our own immense potential.

Wilderness Youth Project Mentor

The mentor lives in many of us as a daily impulse, as when we are caring parents guiding our children, or working in a mentor role in the community.

In a certain sense the relationship is in some degree sexual. This is not because there is any genital relationship, simple that one person is receptive and open to what is planted in them by another. But such a relationship is never one way. As the old saying points out, “When you become a teacher, by your pupil you’ll be taught.”

The archetype of the mentor holds in it a form of channelling or acting as a conduit. The conduit of ones being connects at one end to the emptiness, the void that although formless holds all in it as potential. From this is drawn into form that which is sought in the relationship. The mentor lives in many of us as a daily impulse, as when we are caring parents guiding our children, or working in a mentor role in the community.

In a certain sense the relationship is in some degree sexual. This is not because there is any genital relationship, simple that one person is receptive and open to what is planted in them by another. But such a relationship is never one way. As the old saying points out, “When you become a teacher, by your pupil you’ll be taught.”

The archetype of the mentor holds in it a form of channelling or acting as a conduit. The conduit of ones being connects at one end to the emptiness, the void that although formless holds all in it as potential. From this is drawn into form that which is sought in the relationship.

Useful questions are:

What has my mentor told me, and what have I usefully learned from it?

Is there a change of attitude involved in what is being presented?

What happens if I ask important questions of my mentor ? can I get answers?