The path we all must blaze.

WHAT IS A SYMBOL?

An archetype is an imaginative experience-an image, a character, a type of event, a theme, or a story-that keeps recurring, in life as well as in literature, in auniversally recognizable form

ARCHETYPES

WATER

Possible Meanings

Birth-Death-Resurrection;

creation; purification and

redemption; fertility

and growth; the mystery of creation

Sea/ocean: the mother of all life; spiritual

mystery and infinity

Rivers: death and rebirth (baptism); the flowing of time into

eternity

Larger Concepts

SUN

Possible Meanings

Creative energy; law in nature;

consciousness (thinking wisdom,

Enlightenment, wisdom,

spiritual vision)

Rising sun: birth; creation;

enlightenment.

Setting sun: death.

Larger Concepts

OTHER ARCHETYPES

ColorsRed: blood, sacrifice,

disorder, passion

Green: growth; sensation, hope, fertility

Black: darkness, chaos, mystery, death

White: positive, purity, innocence

Yellow: enlightenment, wisdom

SerpentNumbers

Wise old ManSeasonsCircles

Women archetypes

Classics

THE HEROIC JOURNEY

Life, Journey, Quest, or adventureContinues on, and the Hero eventually

Faces what all heroes do, adversity

Why study the Hero’s Journey?

We should study it because it is the pattern of human experience, of our experience, and we will live it for the rest of our lives.

Every challenge or change we face inlife is a Journey: every birth or death,every move to a new town or school-every situation which confronts uswith something new.

Some are longer than others, andsome are more confusingand painful than others.

“Growing Pains”

1. The Call (Separation from the known)2. The Threshold (w/guardians,

helpers/mentor3. The Challenges (initiation and

transformation)4. The Abyss

5. The Transformation6. The Revelation7. The Atonement

8. The Return (to the known world)

EIGHT-STEP TRANSFORMATION

A journey is an individual process of growth and transformation.

The Hero’s Journey Still Exists Today…

Think about a movie or two you’ve seen.

Maybe a book?

Even music…

CAN YOU THINK OF ANY HERO’S JOURNEYS YOU

ALREADY KNOW?!?

Find a Hero’s Journey and defend your choice by stating specifically each step of the hero’s

journey.

Also, find a modern example of an archetype. Be ready to defend your

choice in class!

1. The Call 2. The Threshold 3. The Challenges

4. The Abyss5. The

Transformation6. The Revelation7. The Atonement

8. The Return

YOUR MISSION SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT…