A Shaman Has Returned From the Depths…
Zach Tollen—Jungian Mystic
On The First Anniversary of Zach’s Cosmic Return
On October 1st, 2018, Zach Tollen’s soul reunited with his body after 21 years in outer space. An extraordinary journey had ended—a mystical and shamanic initiation of profound proportions. He was 20 years old when he first felt the call to go on this quest, and 41 when the “White Light,” which first came for him, finally let him go.
Almost one year later in September, 2019, Zach, having devoted himself to “integration” for that year, drew a Lion and taped it to his wall:
It was time to put a public face on his personality and his mystical vision. The Lion would be the Advocate that Zach had always needed. At 42 years of age, Zach was finally able to create the ferocious mother who unconditionally loves her child—the perfect “super-fan”—for himself.
Within days, the Advocate had conceived the website ZachTollen.com, and aimed to publish the first version by October 1st, 2019, the one-year Anniversary of Zach’s Cosmic Return.
Jungian Mystic
Zach’s mystical experience absorbed all of his earthly energy for 21 years, and he was unable to climb the normal social ladders which endow someone with credentials. Yet his new Advocate would not settle for a life where Zach merely pretended nothing had happened, and tried to fit in. The Lion demanded Zach believe in and stand up for himself.
But what was he? If only to minimize the sense of chaos others would experience when they encountered him, he needed to give himself a title, to put a name on what he represented.
In ancient days, he would have been a shaman, and a doctor. There were no doctors before there were shamans—shamans were the first doctors. In civilization, ‘mystic’ carries the role of what ‘shaman’ meant to the ancients, but because certain branches of medicine are now entirely unmystical, the prestige of ‘mystic’ has decreased.
That said, ‘mystic’ is the most accurate characterization of Zach. Furthermore, the only discipline capable of fully describing his experiences, he discovered, is the psychology of Carl Jung. Therefore he has selected “Jungian Mystic” as his title, a job description he will have to create, as much as to embody.
Theme Song (play above)
One of Zach’s gifts, the development of which was sacrificed by and large during his long quest, was for music composition. Yet even in his 20s, he knew one day he would have to return to society, and though limited in his output and means, he was able to put together what he now calls his Theme Song. He is working on a new version of the same tune, but you can listen to the existing version above.