The Hero’s Journey

1. The Hero’s Journey • The stages in the journey are not prescriptive; they are manifestations of the essence of the journey. They "unfold" from the story rather than being imposed on it. In a real sense, we are our journeys and the stages are the psychological adjustments we go through.

2. Who figured it out? • Joseph Campbell is the most well-known researcher of the journey pattern, but there were many others. The earliest work was done simply to establish a common pattern for heroic myths, with no intent of analyzing or interpreting them. • For analysis for content and meaning in the journey pattern, four researchers are especially important: Freudian psychologist Otto Rank (1884-1939), ritualist Lord Raglan (1885-1964), psychologist Carl Jung, and Campbell (1904-1987). Each of these theorists approached the journey pattern from a different position.

3. Jung and Campbell • Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell both focused on the archetypes • For Jung, the hero was a projection of the unconscious. The heroic pattern is a manifestation of unconscious activity and can reveal to us the contents of the unconscious. • Campbell viewed the heroic journey in a mythical context. The symbols we encounter in myths are important because they provide clues to discovering the quests we need to take in life.

4. The Hero • Three “basic” types • Epic (Odysseus) • Tragic (Julius Caesar) • Romantic (Romeo Montague)

5. Stages of the Journey DepartureInitiationReturn

6. Departure • The maturing process begins • Some kind of shock makes one aware of the self

7. The Call to Adventure What stage of life is he or she in? What do you see coming next for this person? What would cause the person to leave this stage, to "leave home” What is the person doing when the call comes? Is it an accident, a blunder, something planned, or hoped for? Is it anticipated or dreaded? Who do you know?

8. Refusal of the Call • Does the hero refuse the call? • If so, what motivates the refusal? Obligation and duty, fear, a sense of inadequacy to take on the quest, a dread or dislike of the task to be taken on? • Is the person ready to leave home, to accept adult status? If not, why?

9. Supernatural Aid • What special friends or helpers does the hero have? • Does the hero receive some magical help, advice, or talisman from someone wise and benevolent? • Is their someone who helps them prepare to leave on their journey? • Is it a one time assistance, or will the helper (or helpers) appear throughout the journey? • Is the helper an internal aspect of the hero?

10. The Crossing of the First Threshold • What world is being left; what world is being entered? • What or who is guarding the threshold? • What obstacles must the hero overcome to truly begin the journey? -limits of home or society, limits of personality, limits of perception, physical limits? • What events cause the person to cross the threshold? • What is the threshold and how does the person cross it?

11. The Belly of the Whale • Is the hero ready to transform? Does he or she enter the belly of the whale willingly, or is he or she thrust or captured in that place? • What self is being left? The self of childhood? Of incomplete or unfulfilled adulthood? An outgrown self? • What self is the person moving toward? • What will symbolize this stage in the story?

12. Initiation • Usually takes place during the teen years • Separate from parents • Develop awareness of strengths • Self-awareness

13. The Road of Trials • What does the hero fear and how will this fear be represented to him or her? • What does the person consider to be obstacles to progress or growth? • Does the person have some personality or character traits that will be mirrored back to him or her in a challenging way? • What strategies, skills, insights, known or unknown strengths or talents, etc, does the person use or develop to survive or resolve these trials? • What assistance, seen or unseen does the person have or receive to deal with these trials?

14. The Meeting with the Goddess • Does the hero have a soul mate, an other half? Does an all loving god or goddess, or non-gendered but supremely loving force make itself known to the person? • Can the person accept and/or identify with the ultimate creative/destructive nature of the universe? • Does the person begin to understand or experience the union of opposites, for example spiritual/material, good/bad, male/female, life/death, etc.

15. Woman as the Temptress • Given this person's background and experience, what kinds of temptations make sense for him or her? • Is this person on a spiritual journey, will he or she experience the temptations of the flesh? • Are there habitual patterns of thought or behavior that serve to undermine, or tempt the person from his or her path?

16. Atonement with the Father • How does the person resolve him or herself with the sources of control and power in his or her life? • What experiences mark the person as ready to take on the new roles of his or her transformed self? • What behaviors, attitudes, relationships, dependencies, body parts, must be sacrificed to achieve this?

17. Apotheosis • Given this person's background and experience, what would heaven be for him or her? • What does this person know or experience now that is beyond good and evil, male and female, life and death? • Does the person give him or herself a moment to bask in the glow of what has been achieved?

18. The Ultimate Boon • Given this person's background and experience, what would be the goal of his or her quest? What is the ultimate boon for this person? • Was there a stated goal of the quest? If so has it changed? Has the person learned more or less than he or she expected? • What are the rewards of this person's journey? • What relationship does this person now have to his or her own immortality, gods, or god-like figures?

19. Return • Transition in a person’s life • Realize your full potential as a person

20. Refusal of the Return • Does the person refuse to come back to everyday life? • Is the person concerned that their message won't be heard, or that their gifts will be unappreciated, or that the wisdom gained can not be communicated?

21. The Magic Flight • Are there obstacles to the person's returning to normal life? • Given this person's background and experience, what kink of obstacle would make sense or be especially difficult or suiting to his or her situation? • Will these obstacles further enlighten us about either the person, their quest, or their boon?

22. Rescue from Without • Must the person be rescued from their journey? • Can their original guides and assistants still help them?

23. The Crossing of the Return Threshold • What marks the person's return to normal life? • What challenges does the person face in integrating the experience of the quest into his or her life? • Can/does the person share his or her experiences and the wisdom gained from them with others? • How do others receive the person upon the return?

24. Master of the Two Worlds • Given this person's background and experience, what would represent the two worlds in his or her life? • Does this person demonstrate his or her mastery of both the spiritual and material, the inner and outer worlds?

25. Freedom to Live • Does the person achieve the ability let go of the fear of death, to live in the moment, to neither anticipate the future nor regret the past?

26. Star Wars - Call to Adventure • Luke Skywalker begins his hero’s journey when he sees the Princess Leia hologram, “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi. You’re our only hope.” • When tracing Luke’s journey, the correlations to “Rites of Passage” or “Coming of Age” stories are obvious - Luke is young and over the series he becomes an adult.

27. Rites of Passage • A rite of passage, which marks a time when a person reaches a new and significant change in his/her life, is something that nearly all societies recognize and often hold ceremonies for. These ceremonies are held to observe a person's entry into a new stage of life and can be anything from a high school graduation ceremony or a birthday party, to a funeral. Most rites help people to understand their new roles in society. They can also help others learn to treat people in new ways after they experience certain rites of passage. Most rites of passage fall into three main phases: separation, transition, and incorporation.

28. Star Wars - Refusal of the Call • In Star Wars, what does Luke say when Obiwan asks to him to come along and rescue the princess? He says no! He has responsibilities on the farm and an obligation to his aunt and uncle. Of course, those obstacles are removed when they return to the farm and his aunt and uncle incinerated.

29. Star Wars - Supernatural Aid • In Star Wars, Obi Wan is Luke's supernatural helper throughout all three movies. Obi Wan is the first to teach him about "the force" and begins his training as a Jedi knight. Even after Obi Wan has "died" an image of him or his voice appears at crucial times to help Luke.

30. Star Wars - The Crossing of the First Threshold • In Star Wars, through the death and destruction of everyone and everything he has known, Luke's world has come to an end. After securing Han as a pilot, Luke literally leaves his world to go to the aid of the princess. The famous scene in the bar serves to put Luke on notice that the familiar has come to an end.

31. Star Wars - The Belly of the Whale • In Star Wars, this is the scene in which Luke, Han and Leia are in the trash compactor in the Death Star.

32. Star Wars - The Road of Trials • In Star Wars, Luke's road of trials lasts pretty much through the whole series until he has his atonement with his father. Along the way he suffers a serious wounding, the loss of one of his hands, leaves his training with Yoda too early and has other successes and failures. The point is that the failures are just as important (maybe more) as the successes. Successes and failures shape the hero's destiny.

33. Star Wars -Meeting with the Goddess • In Star Wars, Princess Leia has this role for both Luke and Han: sister to Luke, lover to Han.

34. Star Wars - “Woman” as Temptress • In Star Wars, both Darth Vader and the Emperor try to tempt Luke to the dark side of the force, but he never succumbs to them.

35. Star Wars - Atonement with the Father • In the Star Wars trilogy, Luke has many dangerous encounters with Darth Vader, who, although he doesn't know it for most the series, is his father. He survives these encounters, but usually just barely. In the final encounter, Luke prevails. His father is defeated, and when Luke remove the hideous mask and expresses compassion for his father, the two are atoned.

36. Star Wars - Apotheosis • In the final scenes of The Return of the Jedi, the evil empire has been defeated and a joyous feast is in process. Luke, Leia, and Han all know who they are and their relationships to each other are resolved. Luke looks up to see a vision of his father, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda, who have come in spirit form to join the celebration.

37. Star Wars - The Ultimate Boon • In Star Wars, the ultimate boon for Luke is to know his heritage, his destiny and his power and to be in a relation of harmony with it all. By the end of the series, he appears to be at peace with himself, a boon that many of us would no doubt like to achieve.

38. Star Wars - Master of the Two Worlds • In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are both masters. They can teach the philosophy of the Force just as competently as they can teach swordsmanship. Although we do not know the specifics of their heroic journeys, because they are masters we know that they have been through the cycle.

39. Star Wars - Freedom to Live • Obi-Wan knows that Darth Vader will kill him, and he accepts it without fear, in fact allowing it to happen. Death, however does not prevent him from assisting Luke.