Archetypes•Hero

•Villain

•Shadow

•Mother (Good and Terrible)

•Father

•Child

•Persona

•Helpers and Mentors

•Shapeshifters and Tricksters

•Self

Archetypal Patterns:The Hero’s Journey

The Departure

Overcoming Obstacles (Initiation and Transformation )

The Return

The Departure

Step 1: The Call to Adventure

•Invites the Hero into the adventure

•May be a sudden traumatic change

•May be a vague sense of discontent.

Can take many forms

•Something is taken

•Something is lacking in life

•Desire to restore honor or to win rights for our people

The Hero may initially refuse the call.

The Call

The Threshold

When called to adventure, we must cross the Threshold.

The Threshold is the “jumping off point,” The gateway to the unknown

Threshold GuardiansWhen the Hero reaches the Threshold, he will not be permitted to pass easily; he must earn his passage across.  To help him to do that (and to turn  less worthy individuals away from the path) is the Threshold Guardian. 

The job of the Threshold Guardian is to get the hero to rethink whether or not he wishes to proceed on this adventure. To get further on the adventure the hero must somehow overcome.  

Threshold Guardians are not necessarily good or evil, but their role can be said to always be adversarial to that of the Hero.    

Threshold Guardians also show up when the hero is trying to get back safely. 

Helpers

At the threshold, we will encounter helpers.

Often they bring a talisman to help us through the ordeal.

The most important of these helpers is the Mentor.

Helpers and guides appear throughout the journey

Once past the Threshold, we begin the journey into the unknown.

•The journey can be outward into a physical unknown.

•The journey can be inward to a psychological unknown.

The Belly of the Whale

Named after the story of Jonah and the Whale, this represents the Hero’s first real brush with danger or death.

Overcoming Obstacles:The Road of Trials

Any and all of the obstacles and conflicts.

The Magic Flight

In myth, this usually does take the form of magical or supernatural

power. However, modern works, this aid can be represented by a

seemingly mundane means of travel from one place to another,

which nevertheless holds great symbolic importance in the work.

Tempters

Tempters try to pull us away from our path.

They may pretend to be a friend or helper.

They use fear, doubt, or distraction.

The Abyss

The Abyss represents the greatest challenge in the journey. Here the hero must “slay the dragon,” which often takes the shape of something he dreads, or has repressed, or needs to resolve.

In the Abyss the hero faces his worst fear…alone.

Refusal of the Return• Sometimes, at the end, the task of

returning seems almost too much to bear. The Hero has gone through so much, that he feels he cannot go back to where he began.

• At this point, the Hero needs Rescue from Without.

Rescue from Without

• A Helper or Guardian who assists the Hero in returning to the path and completing his journey.

Transformation

As the hero conquers the Abyss, his transformation is complete.

Like the Phoenix, a part of the hero must die so that a new part can be reborn.

Fear must die to make way for courage, Ignorance for enlightenment, dependency for independence

The RevelationPart of the Transformation is a Revelation, a sudden, dramatic change in the way the hero thinks or views life.

This change makes him truly a different person.

The Atonement

After the Transformation the hero achieves Atonement, that is he is “at one” with his new self.

The hero has incorporated the changes caused by the Journey and is “reborn”

The “Om” the Hindu symbol of “oneness”

The Apotheosis

• Hero becomes god-like.

The ReturnHere, the Hero faces the final stage of his journey: The Return to everyday life.*

Upon the return, the Hero discovers his gift. Sometimes he receives a personal reward, but this is not as relevant as the reward he communicates to the community, be it enlightenment, sacrifice, or riches.

*Note: Sometimes, the Hero’s return is symbolic, as the Hero himself is dead. However, his example remains and alters society in some positive way.