The Middle of the Forest

Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey:  A Summary

(Adapted from The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell)

 

Hero stories generally follow an “archetypal” pattern.  (Heroes in this sense, can be male or female.  The pronouns “him” and “her” are interchangeable.)

 

The steps in brief:

 

Separation

The Call to Adventure

Crossing the First Threshold

         The Belly of the Whale

 

Initiation

The Road of Trials

The Meeting with the Goddess

The Atonement with the Father

The Apotheosis

The Granting of the Boon

Return

 Sharing the boon

And a more detailed outline:

I.    SEPARATION

A.  The Call to Adventure  The “tug” to leave home, or move, or change jobs,   restlessness.

          1.  Refusal of the Call
The sense that,  “I can’t do that.”  Fear of risk, of losing family, of failing.

2.  Supernatural Aid
The appearance of guides and “magical” helpers: wise old men or women, friendly animals, serendipitous happenings.

B.  The Crossing of the First Threshold
The leave-taking.  Gathering courage, and stepping out into the unknown.  Taking the first step toward change.

C.  The Belly of the Whale
Best metaphor:  The Biblical story of Jonah.  Entering, or being swallowed up by the darkness of the unknown way.

 

II.   INITIATION

A.  The Road of Trials
The series of ordeals or tests the hero must undergo.  They often grow increasingly dangerous or fearful, and frequently occur in threes.

B.   The Meeting with the Goddess
Or for a woman, the God, perhaps.  Carl Jung calls our contrasexual selves anima (the feminine element in men) and/or animus (the masculine element in women).  This is the step where we fall in love.  Men tend to be drawn to women who represent their anima projections, women, their own animus. 

C.  Atonement with the Father
 The turning point of the journey, when the hero comes to realize that he has projected his own shadow onto the “evil” he confronts.  The “Father” may represent a personal parent, or “parental” institutions – whatever is the force or ultimate in the individual’s life that has been controling his destiny.

D.  Apotheosis
The hero is “deified,” or becomes an “exalted example” for others to follow.  In modern day language, he becomes his own boss, so to speak, in control of his own destiny.

E.   The Ultimate Boon
The gift of the journey, an elixer, jewel, grail, or simply a message concerning the lessons learned on the journey, which must be taken back and shared with the hero’s community.

 

III.   RETURN

A.  The Crossing of the Return Threshold
A surprisingly difficult step.  The community the hero returns to may not be willing to listen to the message, or accept the boon.

1.   Refusal of the Return
For some, the journey becomes important in itself.  The hero doesn’t want to go home.

2   The Magic Flight
Sometimes, if the enemy or dragon has not been destroyed or assimilated, the hero must steal the boon and take another dangerous journey to get home, e. g. “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

3.  Rescue from Without
For those who refuse the return, or who have been wounded and/or weakened during the journey, the helpers may return to guide him home.

E.  Master of the Two Worlds
The hero learns to be comfortable with both the dangers of taking journeys, and the relative peacefulness of staying home.

F.  Freedom to Live
The hero has earned the right, has been given permission (perhaps by his own internal censor) to live the life he chooses.

G.  Departure

Acceptance of death.  The hero who has taken his journeys has no regrets when it is time to leave his current existence.

 

For more details, see the Joseph Campbell page on this site and click on the Hero with a Thousand Faces link, or go to:

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/index.html