A New Era of The Hero[ine]'s Journeys

Less separation, more expansion and a joined way forward.

One day I might propose an Avalonian inspired Heroine’s Journey, following the mythic threads of women in a quest to follow step by step for future creating and new world building. But today I wish to propose something a little more open. Something for men, women and those that don’t subscribe to either. Something less dogmatic and more expansive.

Something that doesn’t stay on the surface and follows structure but an exploration that supports you in weaving several story threads together and/or diving deeper into the unconscious with specific issues in your life.

I am personally most interested in transformation on a practical level: breaking the toxic relationship pattern, alchemising insecurity into confidence or stepping out of your draining routine to feel enchanted by life again. My goal for everyone I work with is for them to become a little more aware of their own sovereignty and ability to make real changes in their lives that move the needle toward a world we not only enjoy to live in but also (re-)learn to thrive in! And my favourite way of doing so is through mythopoetic inner work, drawing meaning and practical application out of myths whilst de-conditioning from the layers of distortion and millennia worth of suppression, violence and power abuse.

Mythology, fairy and folk tales are full of portals into the deeper layers of the unconscious and help us to uncover the wisdom that is not taught in school and has been buried underneath indoctrination.

“The collective unconscious - so far we can say anything about it at all - appears to consist of mythological motifs or primordial images, for which reason the myths of all nations are its real exponents. In fact, the whole of mythology could be taken as a sort of projection of the collective unconscious … We can therefore study the collective unconscious in two ways, either in mythology or in the analysis of he individual.”
C.G. Jung, The Structure of the Psyche

To give you an idea of how little we consciously know I took the liberty to illustrate the concept of consciousness and unconscious using the image of the Glastonbury Tor. It lends itself perfectly to this idea as the Tor is a sacred faery and burial mound, known to be the entrance to the Otherworld. In Welsh myth known as Annwfn, realm of Faery King Gwyn ap Nudd. In Arthurian Literature it is the home to Morgan Le Fey, Queen of Avalon. Both psychopomps who ferry the dying souls into the afterlife. Both realms combining underworld themes with nature spiritualism and individual vision journeys on a microcosmic level. Both perfect examples of the Unconscious.

We can see on the picture how little we actually know although we think we are always conscious when we walk through our days. However the unconscious is steering most of our actions, reactions and even thoughts.

CONSCIOUSNESS: What is known, the ego, the rational and what we identify with.

PERSONAL UNCONSCIOUS: When we are willing to look below the surface, we begin to face the unknown, the irrational and the hidden but not resolved. This is where our personal struggles, triggers, patterns and beliefs are rooted. Jung described the personal unconscious as “comprising all the acquisitions of personal life, everything forgotten, repressed, subliminally perceived, thought, [and] felt” (Jung 1921/1989: 485)

COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS: And even further down we have something more primordial and connected, our psychological nature which Jung calls the collective unconscious.

One can pierce through the surface of the consciousness with mythology, archetypes and symbols that speak to our collective unconscious. Astrology, Tarot, Alchemy, all those work with images, archetypal material and stories that are produced in the collective consciousness.

This is why I love mythopoetic work! It essentially draws meaning from mythology for our lives and personal exploration. When we connect with myths, we connect our consciousness with the collective consciousness and build a bridge that can help us to access deeper layers of Self and bring suppressed issues or forgotten powers to light.

Mythology depicts archetypal patterns and we are indeed all of the characters in every myth.

Even though we might identify with one particular figure, as the consciousness likes to classify and streamline, simplify. We are actually much more nuanced and complex and in order to reach deep into our unconscious we need not look far, but simply open our minds to the possibility of inhabiting ALL characters of a story instead of just one. Depending on our situation one might be at play specifically and repeatedly. Once we step back and observe, we are capable to ignite different dynamics, be it from the same character or by inviting in the embodiment of others.

Through mythology we are working with a primordial part of the collective. Because symbols, metaphors and archetypal structures repeat themselves and despite their evolution throughout the ages and changing tides of culture, they still connect us to stories and images from thousands of years ago. This enables us to better understand psychological dynamics within our own life. And further more empowers us to discover our multidimensionality and expansive potential.

Combine this with unlocking original meanings and clearing distortions that altered stories over time, you have a powerful tool for your personal development.

A little background on the Hero’s Journey and why I choose to tackle it from a different angle

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heros-journey-how-applies-personal-development-coaching-andy-smith-ji5ye

HERO’S JOURNEY by Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell found similarities in myths and stories which he concluded into his Hero’s Journey. I want to point out that all theses stories he collected and uses as templates are already changed if not distorted versions of much older material moving from matrifocal matrilinear culture into patriarchal and later Christian culture. This makes The Hero’s Journey a modern man tale, an adventure that became men’s stories embedded into power-over structures. When originally many of these tales were taken from women and altered to fit the new times. Books were burned and wise women demonised, apart from such strong patterns that they couldn’t erase and we still have traces particularly in the Arthurian legends were women act as guides and bestowers of rulership as well as keepers of gifts such as the legendary sword Excalibur and the Holy Grail.

As you can imagine Campbell got questioned by his female student what he would suggest as a journey for contemporary women. His answer did not satisfy her and she developed her own model, The Heroine’s Journey. And rightfully so, as Campbell didn’t look further than the male centred versions of myth and therefore couldn’t present her with a journey - because women in the stories he researched simply didn’t have one.

Maureen Murdock’s Model, source: https://maureenmurdock.com/articles/articles-the-heroines-journey/

But his answer non the less presents an incredibly potent truth:

“Women don’t need to make the journey. In the whole mythological tradition the woman is there. All she has to do is to realize that she’s the place that people are trying to get to”
Campbell, 1981

I get goosebumps with this answer, every time I read it. It implies that the only journey we need to take is to uncover our true self. Of course that’s easier said than done and requires us to take our own journeys still because how do we realise that we are “the place that people are trying to get to”?

Many contemporary scholars disregarded his viewpoint out of valid reasons.
First of course: we are not these women anymore mainly because we haven’t been regarded as such honoured parts of a man’s life nor have we been reminded of our inherent worth and power like Campbell clearly did. It seemed to have been clear to him that we just have to see this again ourselves. But women have endured millennia of suppression and were made to believe they are unworthy, less than a man and only valuable as either innocent virgin or dutiful wife. The only power we possessed was as seductress or demonised sorceress. This makes it not an easy task to realise yourself as “the place that people are trying to get to”.
Second, we need to remember the origins of theses stories and tell tales that survived thanks to oral tradition passed on from grandmother to grandchild and are woven into the tapestry of women’s craft which so often get disregarded as simple housewife’s work when truly it was the only way women could continue to hold on to the threads of their mighty past.

Dr Sharon Blackie

does a marvellous job at this and presented her follow up version of the Eco-Heroine’s journey and Post-Heroic Journey. But still the Heroine is limited to one character per tale, this time disregarding men and therefore further contributing to separation and dismemberment of our inner masculine and feminine if we don’t start to address this split.

I want to highlight Campbells statement because it speaks of a matriarchal time, a time where the wisdom of women was revered and described initiation mysteries for men. Women had a much stronger connection with their intuition and powers as they were brought up in environments where they were not conditioned to forget or dismiss them.

So how about we create and re-member a cultural environment where this is given? Without disregarding our past and generational trauma but working alongside it?

As I mentioned before we are not only one character in a myth but contain ALL archetypes of the story within us. A powerful way of understanding this is to think about the Drama Triangle of victim, persecutor and saviour (also known as *drumroll* hero!). We often identify with one of the three, depending on our situation.

I’ll give you an example (true story, literally happened today):

I don’t have access to my email account after changing the password and can’t reach a human being because every support nowadays consists of a chatbot. I feel like a total victim. The persecutor of course is the mail program and I wish for an IT guy to tap on my shoulder to help me out, my hero. Turns out no IT guy is coming to my rescue and it’s all in german anyway and I live in the UK, so I breathe through it and write to the chatbot, get suggested a way to reach email support and eventually receive a phone number. I finally talk to a human and get told I need to go through an identification process. And no, she can’t stay on the phone to lead me through it, I’ve got to do that myself. So no hero for me, but I get the chance to become my own saviour. As I am looking through my documents for the identification, I find my password list and see *shock* that I typed in the newly chosen password wrong every single time I tried to log in because *baby brain* I forgot that I added two numbers. Oh hello, persecutor. End of story: I got access again without needing any identification process or complicated IT help and spent three full days unnecessarily worrying and blaming the internet.

This is why I think it is much more powerful to connect to all characters in a story rather than choosing the protagonist only. It enables us to find strength, resilience and embrace life’s lessons whilst simultaneously develop more compassion for what other’s go through and that they are not black and white bad or good either.

Of course we still need to reclaim women as protagonist of stories, too, but as I mentioned above plenty others are doing this already.

Instead of a Hero’s or Heroine’s Journey then I suggest an archetypal journey which draws on a mythopoetic approach and expands our perception. As well as supporting us in detaching from fixed identities to ignite the full potential of Self.

Because we create culture.

And the one we currently live in simply doesn’t cut it. I am a big fan of researching into mother cultures, goddess traditions and pre-patriarchal partnership societies (as Riane Eisler proposed the term in opposition to dominant societies which we are still living in today). To draw upon their wisdom and practices for inspiration but never would I say we should return to them because we simply can’t - our DNA got literally altered by Indo-European Steppe riders conquering those old European peaceful societies, killing their men and mingling with their women. That means we still have the matriarchal DNA in our mother lines, all of us, brothers, fathers, sons as well as sisters, mothers, daughters. However the male DNA has forever changed. And so now we are the descendants of the both matriarchal and patriarchal societies. To put it bluntly: we have both good and bad within us.

I always highlight this in my retellings and teachings of the Well Maiden story, the Elucidation: we are the descendants of the otherworldly women and their rapists. We carry both within us and it is up to us which part we nurture and which we suppress. I believe it is about bringing both to light, becoming aware of when each is at play and beginning to consciously relate to each aspect of ourselves that presents itself.

I will be writing more about the mythic and archetypal patterns of the Well Maidens in my paid member offering the Archetypes of Avalon:

Archetypes of Avalon

I long for remembering of interdependence, of true sovereignty which roots in relationship and mutual empowerment. And this is to be found in the reminiscence of Arthurian Literature, European fairy tales and Celtic mythology, all of which I draw upon for the Archetypes of Avalon series this year.

But what if the Heroic archetypal prevalence was necessary for our evolution and autonomy from previous connection and undistinguishable bond with nature?

What if in order to enter into true sovereignty we needed to experience separation?

What if we needed to differentiate in order to re-unite?

Like it is with the mother-child relationship. First the child is omnipotent and doesn’t differentiate between themself and the external. Until the development of interdependence begins and the child grasps its individual power. Let me tell you as a mother of a 2-year old who is going through exactly this stage now: It is tough! Especially if you yourself haven’t learned how to respect your own power. It leads to a lack of boundaries which we think benefit the child and allow it to do what it wants (because we mainly grew up with authoritarian parenting styles that undermined a child’s power) when what the child actually needs is boundaries in order to feel connection and closeness to a person who also wields power. This is the psychological dynamic of interdependence. Hence why the child naturally disconnects from the mother but only to return to her free willingly, despite differences. Same applies to the father of course (given that both learn to deal with their triggers and can hold space for the child’s emotions as they navigate the discomfort of not being able to get everything they want). I am using this mother example particularly as she was the one who carried the child in her womb and literally was one body with it.

As humans swung from one extreme to the other, it resulted in exploitation of nature and suppression of the feminine. What is needed therefore is a conscious remembering which stems out of the knowledge of separation. We have to first imagine that positive change is possible, by dreaming it into being for ourselves. And a fantastic way to do so is by finding the powers within to lift ourselves out of rotten foundations and into empowerment of co-creating with life through finding meaning in it. The early Greek considered the quest for wisdom (wisdom = Sophia, the feminine principle of God, bridge between spirit and matter) a quest for meaning. And this closes the loop which I opened above.

In my monthly archetype series I will guide you on your mythopoetic quest for meaning for a whole year. I will introduce archetypal structures and characters from our western lands, old European heritage and Celtic mythology. All tied to Avalon and therefore with a much older, pre-patriarchal tradition which still vibrates vividly in our bones. A remembrance and longing for home, belonging, peace and harmony. Especially in the tradition of Avalon we find a path that connects us to our ancient ancestry and supports us in remembering ourselves as an embodiment of the divine.

I write primarily for women but not out of choice, simply out of my own perspective which seems to relate mostly to female readers, although I must say that it applies for all. I have a few male readers. My partner for example is familiar with my approaches and drawn into my world despite having had no interest whatsoever in mythology before meeting me. Would you believe, he even read The Flowering Wand by

Sophie Strand

- which dare I say is hard work without ANY mythological context! He still doesn’t know who Dionysus is but he was all enchanted after every chapter.

So instead of focusing on the fact that I write mainly about female mythic characters as well as tracing it back to goddess traditions and matrifocal, matrilineal culture, I want to highlight our shared multidimensionality, not our differences.

They sure are there, as in say I don’t strive to function like a man in the world, I have a womb, am pregnant, bear children, have fluctuating hormonal patterns and would run the world in cooperation rather competition. But I know enough men that would, too. Biological factors aside, there are of course differences in societal and cultural upbringing and about 4000 years of division and power struggles between men and women. So of course, each has their own right to discuss their own matters with their same sex peers. But apart from our own responsibility of de-conditioning from generational trauma and identity, we also have a shared responsibility to look beyond the past and build our future. Hence why I suggest a journey which is applicable to both men and women and beyond. A journey that reminds us of the various aspects of Self, helps us to detach from identities which trap us in harmful patterns and breaks us open to an expansive mindset and healthy relating with ourselves and our environment. And yes, you will encounter more female characters than male but this does serve the purpose of integrating these aspects within oneself, and you will soon understand how archetypal patterns are applicable to anyone, no matter which gender they are associated with.

Now, back to the hero…

Next week I will start with the archetype of the hero but through the lens of the fool, which enables us to relate to the hero no matter our gender because of their undeniable human flaws and psychological growth journey. This serves the purpose that we start the archetypal quest as the imperfectly perfect person we are now, and realise that despite our huge amount of healing work still left to be done, we are equipped with everything we need, already. We simply need to be ok to make mistakes, to stumble, to be held accountable and even scolded in order to slowly, steadily climb the mountain. You might guess the astrological zodiac sign we will draw upon here as well: Capricorn, the mountain goat.

After this we will encounter another archetype and one to three characters each month. Which don’t stay mere encounters but become companions and soon parts of ourselves will bloom in remembrance and others will wither in rebirth.

Why not just use the hero archetype? Because it is born out of a patriarchal power-over dynamic, either excludes women altogether or makes them strive to be more like men and for men themselves it creates an idealistic role model, which simply can’t be obtained.

So here’s the hero we all have in mind:

Illustration from the book Tales of the Round Table (1908 CE), based on the tales in the Book of Romance (1902 CE).

LANCELOT
The archetypal knight in shining armour and flawed hero

Lancelot du Lac (“Lancelot of the Lake”) is a foster child of the Lady of the Lake (which we will look at in detail as one of her aspects in October and the other, more in-depth in December) and the most skilled sword fighter Camelot has ever seen.

Lancelot’s popularity stems out of sheer admiration for a powerful fighter and man of honour, yet also relatability due to his love affair with his best friend’s wife (well, not relatable in my case but just think about the countless songs and movies about such forms of forbidden romances). By women he is mainly adored as this strong and handsome man who sweeps every lady off her feet and saves Guinevere several times from her abductors. The passionate love between them is stirring dreams alongside the subtle promise of everything will be taken care of when he is around.

Now to the shadow aspects:

First of all, as I mention repeatedly, we have all archetypes within us but that doesn’t mean that they have to define us. It is important to also consider which part of you wants to be defined by an archetype. That’s the actual juicy bit.

In Lancelot I see a development so clearly formed to promote the honourable image of a fighter as well as to keep women wanting to be saved by one. He is invincible and torn by his duty and his love. He is A+ propaganda material for war and the stern uncommunicative male (makes me think of Die Hard Bruce Willis or James Bond). He is the loyal servant of the state and those institutions that benefit from us giving up our sovereign rights and feel dependent on them to the degree that we end up giving our lives to them.

But of course, Lancelot has a far wider and more complex background before medieval literature wove him into the Arthurian Tales. Which we will cover in May to clear up the love triangle story and reveal its much more ancient and profound meaning, alongside several other such romances including Erec and Enid, Tristan and Isolde, Gwyn and Creiddylad. And he will make an appearance again in October as Lancelot of the Lake, foster son of the Lady of the Lake, when we shed a light on possible otherworldly and divine connections.

As for the Arthurian Legend: When Lancelot was added to the story in the 12th century, he took much of Gawain’s glory, including his fighting skills. And though Gawain didn’t rise in fame as did Lancelot, he holds a special place in my heart as the humble hero who was initiated by Morgan le Fey, bowed his head to nature and more importantly devoted his life to the shapeshifting embodiment of sovereignty, Ragnelle. You will hear their story in February and activate the Wild Woman archetype alongside the Devotee within yourself.