In this clinical study, the archetypal figures of the Wise Man and the Enchantress are seen as representative of conflicting tendencies in the individual which are intensified during the psychotherapeutic process. The struggle is perceived as the opposition of the maturing sense of reality (represented by the process of treatment itself) and the regressive pull of seductive unconscious wishes. Four case illustrations are given, showing the reluctance of the patients described to achieve a stronger sense of reality because of an unconscious longing for an exclusive reunion with an idealized mother. Aggressive and erotic wishes were defended against by this idealization, which also blocked a mature internalization of the father-figure. Through recognition of avoided feelings, these patients began to experience a sense of 'disenchantment' and the beginning of a sense of increased personal reality. There is the implication that the treatment process, to some extent, compensates for the influence of the father, which was desired but missed in the case studies described.