Molly McCord - The Modern Heroines Journey of Consciousness

The Modern Heroines Journeyof Consciousness
by Molly McCord

Copyright 2013Spirituality University Press

All rightsreserved.

SmashwordsEdition

This book or any portionthereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoeverwithout the express written permission of the publisher except forthe use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover designand interior formatting by Starfield Press
www.StarfieldPress.com

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DEDICATION

To every ModernHeroine
who is bravely answering
the Call of her Soul
and consciously following
the energy
of her dreams.

Youve gotthis.

THE SOUL GROWTH ADVENTUREcontinues with The Modern HeroinesJourney of Consciousness , the second bookin The Awakening Consciousness Series. This guidebook is designedto support you on your spiritual path by providing insights anddefinitions for your personal consideration and soulreflection. The Art of Trapeze is referenced as an ongoing example, but thedriving intention is for you to consciously understand your ownlife experiences more. The main points from this book will bereferenced in The Unlimited Sparks of aBonfire a travel adventure like nothingelse!

If youcan see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you knowit's not your path.

Your own path you makewith every step you take.

That's why it's yourpath.

~ Joseph Campbell

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

E VERYTHING THESEDAYS IS about the journey. Ask any entrepreneur, life coach,author, artist, teacher, or traveler how many times theyve heardthat phrase, and if they dont roll their eyes, or cut you offmid-sentence with I KNOW, or energetically flip you off, thenconsider yourself spared because on some level, shes probablyreached a place of inner peace about the fact that shes on ajourney. Or else she was just ignoring you and then flipped youoff when you turned your back.

Why has the journey become so popular inour modern lives? Why does it resonate with millions of people andeasily relate to a variety of life circumstances? I believe theshorthand answer is because acknowledging that something is ajourney offers the dual potentials of removing any fears about apresent situation and adding more peace to potential outcomes.

Clients arent showing up? Thats part ofthe journey. Not sure what to do next in your life? Oh, a veryvaluable phase of the journey. Want to get started on a newprofessional direction, a new dream, a fresh project? Oh, youreat the beginning of a journey! Moving through a tough patch inyour marriage? Every relationship is a journey.

And really, its true. The journey is anabsolutely accurate and valid and appropriate descriptor of whatwere all doing in our lives. Were journeying through lessons,relationships, goals, personal growth, and the supermarket. Werenavigating and stumbling and learning and meditating as we go.Were living at a time in human history where we have more tools,resources, books, experts, classes, and free webinars than we knowwhere to click a mouse at. And wherever you are on your journey,theres probably even an app for that, too.

Experiencing the journey is not a newconcept. Raise your hand if youve heard of Joseph Campbell. He isstill arguably one of the most influential people in the world onthe topics of mythology, stories, and archetypes. For those who didnot raise their hand, Mr. Campbell was a writer, lecturer, andprofessor known for his expertise in mythology, folklore, andcomparative religion. Admired for his great depths of intelligence,storytelling, and insights, Campbell is also known for being thegodfather of the heros journey as described in his book, TheHero With A Thousand Faces.

Campbell used the term monomyth to conveyhow, across multiple cultures and religions, the stories,adventures, and growth of the heros journey are all connected to asimilar pattern of growth. The archetypal heros journey isrecognized as holding common narrative elements, as Campbellreferences the 12 stages an archetypal hero goes through to obtainhis ultimate goal, reward, and mastery. The 12 stages occur underthree main segments: the Departure, when he leaves the known world;the Initiation, when he experiences trials, tribulations, andgrowth; and the Return, when he comes back to the world as adifferent version of himself.

Screenwriters study the 12 phases of thejourney thoroughly for story development and guidance; editors lookfor it in published adventures, novels, and storytelling; artistsreference it for creative inspiration. The archetypal herosjourney is well-documented in modern culture through some of themost popular films of our time, including the Star Wars movies,The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Matrix series, and numerousDisney stories. Men becoming heroes is referenced continuallybecause we see the journey physically, visually, unfoldingin front of our eyes (and oh, what a surprise, it typicallyinvolves a sword/lightsaber/crazy-cool weapon).

But what about the ladies? Dont getme wrong, lightsabers ARE amazing for a solid three seconds. ThenIm ready for another way to interpret a journey. After anextensive search that involved carefully typing the heroine...into Amazons search box, I discovered a highly-revered book byMaureen Murdock called The Heroines Journey: Womans Quest forWholeness. I ordered it, read it, resonated with it, loved it.Referencing mythology, goddesses, and gender, Murdock details tenstages of the feminine healing process that brings her back to herwhole authentic energy as the goal, reward, and mastery. Herexplanation of the journey starts with women identifying with theMasculine as their Fathers Daughter, continues on to an urgentyearning to reconnect with the Feminine, then healing theMother-Daughter split, and finally, whole integration of Masculineand Feminine energies.

Notably, Murdock had a personal conversationwith Joseph Campbell about the differences between the herosjourney and the heroines journey. One of Mr. Campbells remarkswas rather startling. Women dont need to make the journeybecause in the mythological tradition, the woman isthere.

Saywhat, Joe?

With all due respect, Mr. Campbell, womendont live in the mindset of mythological times, and I doubt manyof us assume were already there in our lives. Granted, thatquote was from 1981, and it is probably fair to say that maybe we