prizes at the end of the hero's journey and had to stay home to wait for him, to give him something to fight for...wait, wait, wait...What?!! I love Joseph Campbell's work, but seriously?! Thankfully, both Mureen Murdock and Jean Houston disputed that and said not only YES, the woman does have her own journey very different from the Hero's journey but then went on to write many books, most notably for me, Mureen Murdock’s, The Heroine’s Journey. I am so grateful for the women who came before me that disputed the fact that women don't have their own journey and who took the time to research just what that is. While we don't need research to validate our experience, it can help to lanuguage and give voice to what may have been difficult to express. There are similarities between the hero and heroine’s journey like the road of trials, the ultimate award, etc. but the orientation of the Heroines journey is the redemption and repossession of the sacred feminine. It begins with the separation from the feminine and ends with wholeness (instead of a human male prize). And once she finds that wholeness, she then invites others to discover it within themselves, both male and female. She doesn’t hold wholeness as the sole right to one sex. The hero's journey is an extroverted journey, a going out into the world to prove oneself and come home with a prize (often the prizes in myths are women). The heroine's journey involves going within, finding, and winning the battle with the dark feminine, reclaiming her numinous expression of womanhood that is the Sacred/Divine Feminine. This mysterious numinous quality of divinity is found in her wholeness and is expressed very individually. It, her divinity, is fluid, strong, soft, vicious when tested, sensual and inexpressibly mysterious. I know some really incredible men who are redefining the Hero’s journey and are honoring their feminine nature by exploring their inner life in an attempt to reclaim their wholeness. Sacred femininity doesn’t have to be about which sex you are or the shape of your body. As a matter of fact, the awakening of our higher consciousness at some point dictates we surrender our identity. We may still function as the typical expression of male and female, but the internal experience of Self becomes more and more genderless as we enter into the mystery of Self.
Northeast Nebraska, surrounded by snow-covered landscapes that fueled my childhood adventures, the idea of this trip filled me with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. After all, I have been living in Lubbock, Texas for over 40 years and hadn’t faced a real winter in a long time and lacked proper winter gear. So I armed myself with my trusty water-resistant hiking boots and a few layers of warm clothing hastily assembled for the occasion. With my puffy jacket vacuum-sealed to maximize space, I set off for Japan, hoping I would not fall on my ass and embarrass myself or my daughter. My apprehension didn't melt away when I arrived in Hokkaido, Japan. Though I fell in love with the breathtaking beauty of the landscape, I still worried about the physical demands of the activities that awaited. The turning point came during a ski hiking tour. While I found it physically demanding, I also felt a surge of pride for even taking on the challenge. It was a realization that I could still tackle difficult tasks and find enjoyment in the experience. And yes, I fell three times and didn't die. But the real thrill, the real tidal wave arrived while driving a snowmobile! Wow!! I had no idea I loved winter sports and that I love speed! WowWee!! While I found parts of it downright scary going down the mountain on a narrow trail, most of the time I was ecstatic! It was SO fun driving that machine through the snow! I felt ALIVE! I realized I had to make a big change in life when I got back home. I’ve been working too hard and not playing enough. And who knows…maybe someday I’ll move where there is snow in the winter and come back and enjoy the heat of the Texas summer. A reverse snow-bird! When I got back home, I noticed the waves of Love were increasing. My intuition increased. My sense of smell increased. The energy moving through my body increased. A new level of Kundalini journey had begun. One day the ecstasy was so strong that I couldn’t stop laughing at how silly I had been. How silly my fear and lack of trust was. The little wave had turned into a tidal wave. And then I had to teach in an hour from the time it began! I was able to ground and release the experience to the transitory nature of life and knew that I was being prepared to touch a deeper wound to release to Love, and I was ready. The day passed in a grounded state of ecstasy. Present. Grounded. Expanded. And I awaited the new revelation of shadow that was asking to be embraced...which came and went pretty quickly.
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