Perhaps it’s worth mentioning here if only as evidence that an incredible story like Mickey’s is neither inconceivable nor unprecedented. ​ In eleventh- and twelfth-century Tibet, some three hundred years after Buddhism was originally brought to that mountain kingdom by a master teacher and magician from India called Padma Sambhava, a man named Milarepa was born into a prosperous family. He was apparently destined for a comfortable, conventional life, but when he was seven, his father became gravely ill. Realizing he would not recover, the patriarch gathered his family for a last meeting. After getting his relatives to promise they would manage his estate until Milarepa and his sister came of age, he died. An evil aunt and uncle nonetheless seized the land and money entrusted to them, forcing Milarepa, his sister, and his mother to work as servants—where relatives treated them cruelly and often beat them. ​ At his mother’s urging, Milarepa mastered black magic, studying with a lama skilled in mantra and learning to cast spells that could summon hailstorms. He used this power to direct a storm at his aunt and uncle’s house during a large family gathering. The house collapsed, killing thirty-five people, and the hail destroyed the village’s harvest. Though his mother celebrated his magical feats, Milarepa was tormented by guilt. Fearing that such violence would condemn him and his mother to hellish rebirths, he resolved to counteract his negative acts by becoming a Buddha. He spent long, grueling years studying and practicing under the great Tibetan master Marpa. With the same determination and skill that had made him a master of black magic, Milarepa ultimately became the greatest yogi in Tibet’s history. ​ In recognition of his transformation, Marpa gave him a new name: the Gentleman of Great Magic. The parallels between this legend—accepted as gospel truth by millions of Buddhists—and Mickey’s life will become clear. ​ I first met Mickey at a workshop in Mexico, where he had been imprisoned some twenty years earlier on drug-smuggling charges. He had since turned his life around and become a successful professional magician. In addition to the Prostitute, Victim, Saboteur, and Wounded Child, Mickey’s archetypal companions include the Magician, Rebel, Thief (Robin Hood), Knight, Storyteller, Actor, Hermit, and Healer. After working with him for some time, I found it difficult to separate Mickey’s archetypes, because they operated so closely as a team. He first encountered each archetypal pattern in its shadow form, only to receive a spiritual epiphany uniting them while he was being beaten in prison. Rather than examine each archetype in isolation, as I’ve done with others, I’ll simply tell Mickey’s story. Growing up in Chicago, Mickey endured constant abuse from his father, who beat him until he bled. His Wounded Child archetype in the tenth house signaled that, given the severe environment of his youth, his psyche was almost entirely shaped by pain. Yet this same archetype represented his highest potential: Mickey now dedicates himself to helping “wounded children” through magic, teaching them that hope and self-esteem are among the highest forms of divine magic. ​ To survive, Mickey left home when his family moved to the West Coast and by nineteen was deeply immersed in Santa Cruz’s drug culture. He spoke of his life through two primary voices: the Thief and the Magician/Trickster. As a drug dealer and budding magician, the Thief embodied his ego. Meanwhile, the Magician in his house of spirituality fueled both his illicit tricks and, ultimately, his transformation into an entertainer and healer for children in need. His parents drank and smoked, so Mickey turned to marijuana—and occasionally cocaine—joking that he needed “an addiction of his own.” While hustling drugs, he met a locally famous magician and clown named Hocus Pocus (Carl Hansen), who took Mickey on as an apprentice for five years after witnessing his sleight-of-hand skill and discretion. Simultaneously, Mickey apprenticed as a drug smuggler, first as a dealer, then overseeing cultivation on the Mexican side for prime crops. ​ His shadow Magician archetype, aligned with his Prostitute archetype in the fifth house of creativity and luck, proved invaluable. In Oaxaca’s mountain villages, no one had seen a magician before, and Mickey’s feats—mistaken for the work of a brujo—earned him both awe and local cooperation in drug trafficking. Locals even began bringing him their sick for healing; instructed by his partners to mimic TV evangelists, Mickey laid hands on them, and inexplicably, they recovered. This unplanned healing was a rehearsal for his later work: his Healer archetype resting in his twelfth house. In his late twenties, Mickey was caught and imprisoned in Mexico for drug running. There, he turned to prayer, began practicing yoga, and discovered his Hermit archetype in the second house of values. Alone for the first time, he embraced solitude, became vegetarian, and experienced a profound spiritual shift. Guards intrigued by his magic demanded performances, sometimes in the middle of the night. In response, Mickey and an accomplice staged a shocking illusion—disappearing a safety pin only to have it reappear through the accomplice’s flesh—terrifying the guards into respecting him. ​ A riot erupted in his third year—Mexico’s largest prison riot at the time—and Mickey witnessed unimaginable horror. He and other Americans planned to escape on Cinco de Mayo. He was the last to leave and the first caught, subjected to brutal torture that broke his ribs and nearly killed him. Amid the agony, Mickey experienced a near-death vision: he traveled through a tunnel into radiant light, greeted by an angelic presence who comforted him and revealed that his mission was not yet complete. He awoke, miraculously healed, and forgiven his persecutors even as he lay bleeding and naked. ​ Released in 1977, Mickey did not immediately heed his inner Saboteur archetype’s call to change, continuing substance use. By 1984, however, he left drug dealing behind, started a family, and nearly lost everything in a betrayal that tested his newfound values. Convicted again in California, he befriended guards, earned a college degree in prison, and used his Actor and Storyteller archetypes to inspire incarcerated youth, organizing magic classes and touching hearts rather than frightening them. Over time, every one of Mickey’s archetypes transformed. His Thief became a Robin Hood figure—sometimes dropping envelopes of money for those in need. As a Knight in his eleventh house, he pledged service to God, believing that karma unfolds for our growth. In recent years, he founded Magic Pack, entertaining and teaching magic to children with life-threatening illnesses. Though his home-remodeling business now brings less income, he finds himself “a hundred million times happier” and “rich” in purpose. His Sacred Contract: “In this lifetime I am here to show people the magic of compassion. I learned this by needing to survive, and I do everything in my life with this intention in mind.” ​