The Hero’s JourneyThe Hero’s Journey

Joseph CampbellJoseph CampbellThe Hero with a The Hero with a Thousand Faces Thousand Faces

(1949)(1949)

The Hero’s JourneyThe Hero’s Journey

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Three Stages

Seventeen Steps

Essential Question: What is the nature of man?

Home/Birth• The hero’s home environment is

uncomfortable (as if the hero knows something is not quite right…)

• The nature of the hero’s birth is questionable (as if one or both parents aren’t present)

The StagesThe Stages

•SeparationSeparation

•InitiationInitiation

•ReturnReturn

Stage One:Stage One:SeparationSeparation

1. The Call to Adventure

• The call to adventure is the point in a hero’s life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they understand it or not

2. Refusal to 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 at home, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any range of reasons that work to hold the hero in his current circumstances

2a. Answering the Call

• Ultimately, the hero finds motivation to answer the call.

3. Supernatural Aid

• Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his guide and magical helper appears or becomes known.

3a. Meeting the Mentor

• This guide may be a specific character who helps the hero to understand their situation in life and provides the hero with special training.

3b. Talisman

• This guide may be an item with special significance that is presented to our hero.

3c. Companions

• The hero is aided on this quest by an assortment of individuals whose personalities are often at odds with each other.

4. Crossing of the First 4. Crossing of the First ThresholdThreshold

• This is the point where the hero actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known. Often there is some form of physical transportation.

4a. Threshold GuardiansPeople, beings or situations that block passage across the threshold of adventure They have

two functions:•Protect the

hero from journeys he is unprepared for

•Point the way for the hero to begin his journey

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 the worlds and selves.

5. The Belly of the Whale

• The Hero begins to distinguish between the old world and his old self and the potential for a new world and new self.

• By entering this stage, the hero shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis or to die.

Stage Two: InitiationStage Two: Initiation

6. The Road of Trials

• The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the hero must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails at one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.

• If the hero continuously fails, he will have to start the journey all over, since he is apparently not yet ready to go through the necessary pains to grow into something new.

6a. Brother Battle

• The hero battles, physically or emotionally, with someone who is a relative or close friend.

6b. Abduction

• Our hero is kidnapped or someone close to the hero is taken away.

6c. Night/Sea Journey• The hero’s travels

take him to far-away and unknown lands. Often these journeys take place at night or at sea. These journeys may be forced upon the hero.

6d. Dragon Battle

• The hero is forced to battle some kind of monster. Sometimes, this struggle is with the hero’s inner-demons.

6e. Ritual Death or Dismemberment

• The hero is injured and thought to be dead. Or the hero mistakenly believes that someone close to him is dead.

• The hero suffers an injury in which he loses a limb or the use of another body part.

7. The Meeting with the Goddess

• The meeting with the goddess represents the point in the adventure when the hero experiences an all-powerful, all-encompassing, unconditional love – similar to the love a child may receive from his or her mother.

7a. The Sacred Marriage• The Hero creates a

special emotional bond with another character

• This union may take place entirely within the hero. In the other words, the hero begins to see himself in a non-dualistic way.

8.Temptation Away from the True Path

• At one level, this step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his quest.

• As with the meeting with the Goddess, this step does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman.

9. Atonement with the Father

• In this step the hero must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his life.

• In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has power over life and death.

9. Atonement with the Father

• This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving into this place, all that follows will move out from it.

9. Atonement with the Father

• Although this step is most frequently symbolized as an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or something with incredible power.

9. Atonement with the Father• For the transformation to

take place, the hero (as he previously was) must be “killed” so that the new self can come into being.

• Sometimes this killing is literal, and the earthly journey for that character is either over or moves into a different realm.

10. 10. ApotheosisApotheosis

• The apotheosize is to deify.The apotheosize is to deify.

(or to make into a god) (or to make into a god)

10. Apotheosis• When the hero suffers a physical death, he

moves into a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss.

• If death does not occur during this stage, then the hero is held up as an ideal or worshiped as if they were a god.

10. Apotheosis

• 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 return.

11. The Ultimate Boon• The ultimate boon is

the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the hero went on the journey to get.

• All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the hero for this step.

11. The Ultimate Boon

• In many myths the boon is something like the magic elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, the dragon’s fire or treasure, the damsel in distress, or the holy grail.

Stage Three: The Return

12. Refusal of the Return12. Refusal of the Return

• This is much like the refusal to start the journey, but now the hero wonders if “roots” and “home” are necessary or is concerned how he will now fit in his previous surroundings.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. The Crossing of the Return 15. The Crossing of the Return Threshold 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, especially when others find this new wisdom dangerous to their current lives.

16. Master of Two Worlds

• For a human hero, this step may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

17. Freedom to Live17. Freedom to Live

• Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live.

• This sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

Questions?Questions?