Transpersonal Tidbits: Joseph Cambell’s The Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Steps & A Large Collection of Monomyths |
14March 27 by The Running Son
Joseph Cambell’s
The Hero’s Journey:
Summary of the Steps
Adapted from Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) Maricopa Community Colleges
URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html
(Scroll to bottom of page for a large collection of Monomyths. Enjoy, –the RFB.)
(artworks by aztlanayne. Visit his gallery at: http://aztlanwayne.deviantart.com)
This page summarizes the brief explanations from every step of the Hero’s Journey.
La Busqueda by aztlanwayne
Departure
1. The Call to Adventure
The call to adventure is the point in a person’s life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.
2. Refusal of the Call
Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.
3. Supernatural Aid
Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.
5. The Belly of the Whale
The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero’s known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person’s lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself.
Interchange by aztlanwayne
Inititation
1. The Road of Trials
The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
The meeting with the goddess represents the point in the adventure when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. It is also known as the “hieros gamos”, or sacred marriage, the union of opposites, and may take place entirely within the person. In other words, the person begins to see him or herself in a non-dualistic way. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely. Although Campbell symbolizes this step as a meeting with a goddess, unconditional love and /or self unification does not have to be represented by a woman.
3. Woman as the Temptress
At one level, this step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which as with the Meeting with the Goddess does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. For Campbell, however, this step is about the revulsion that the usually male hero may feel about his own fleshy/earthy nature, and the subsequent attachment or projection of that revulsion to women. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.
4. Atonement with the Father
In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power. For the transformation to take place, the person as he or she has been must be “killed” so that the new self can come into being. Sometime this killing is literal, and the earthly journey for that character is either over or moves into a different realm.
5. Apotheosis
To apotheosize is to deify. When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. This is a god-like state; the person is in heaven and beyond all strife. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the
6. The Ultimate Boon
The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream by aztlanwayne
Return
1. Refusal of the Return
So why, when all has been achieved, the ambrosia has been drunk, and we have conversed with the gods, why come back to normal life with all its cares and woes?
2. The Magic Flight
Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.
3. Rescue from Without
Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, often times he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience. Or perhaps the person doesn’t realize that it is time to return, that they can return, or that others need their boon.
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.
5. Master of the Two Worlds
In myth, this step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.
6. Freedom to Live
Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.
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A large collection of Hero’s Journey Monomyths (and related):
I’d wanted to visit but I thought I may have turned you away. =) Hope you read my responses to Ar Vhee and saw I hadn’t realized she isn’t a native speaker. This post is sO interesting.
Thank you HW. I remember now you commented recently here. And I did enough reading to know who you are. No problems. As you understand now.. a few things probably take on new light, like Sa’s windy confusing comments. RV is not equp’d for that.. and could use a strong fem presence..
Love J. Cambell… I have referenced this post several times myself (:
She and I continue to support each other. She’s a doll. I think she knew I only meant well. I wish I had your creative mind. =)
You r very creative! I looked. And I think she does know, or certainly will. Bless you, and thank you. Means a lot to me personally. ^ _ ^ Jim
It’s the little things that speak volumes about us, Jim. Something good came of yesterday, also. I realized the post I had been working on — which should be ready in a few days — needed the disclaimer that it’s no slam on non-native speakers of Eng. It’s my first post on grammar. I totally had not thought of that segment of bloggers, and would never speak ill of anyone (well….unless it’s as a ghost writer *chuckle*). Be well…and may creativity light your way. Diana
You know….
very thoughtful and sensitive of you.
And thanks for the ongoing support.
Reblogged this on The RunningFather Blog and commented:
Whether writing, studying symbols or traveling your personal path, This is essential reading. See also the largest collection of Monomyths on the web. Besides Google images…
Very interesting. Which part of this has helped transform you most deeply? I appreciate your support. Diana
It has served to organize experiences, but those steps where help arrives stand out as the most comforting. It is interesting you asked the question assuming a spiritual application, rather than literary or scholastic. (: you were right though.
Jim I love that you wrote this post big fan of Joseph Campbells work. I would like to write a post myself and was wondering if I could use this image. https://runningfather.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/campbells_monomyth_rsoap__006.jpg
Or if you know of a place I can buy it for my own use that would be awesome.
I’m a bit horrified. I did not write the copy. I haven’t visited this article in awhile, and am startled to see I did not reference it…at all! I have no idea how I missed it. I did a quick google and found and edited in the source. As for the pictures, I assembled and offered them to enhance an otherwise “fairly” common article. 😉 I tried to source what I could, so use them under fair use, as I have. Best to you.
Jim
May I add the fine art in the body, are from my friend, Wain Jordan.
I’ve nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. If you go to this link, you’ll find the rules for accepting the award. http://givemeadaisy.com/2013/03/30/accepting-the-very-inspiring-blogger-award/.
Thank you kindly Joycelyn! It took a few days of poking around to get a feel for the blogger award process, but now I’ll take the nomination steps. Peace, and keep up the good work!