The journey of the heroine woman is a dark and difficult descent into the depths of the psyche. A journey that you are not always willing to face and for which you will never be ready enough.
Last update: 12 September, 2019
The journey of the heroine woman, like any archetypal journey, is a journey of individuation. The traveler embarks on an adventure out of her ordinary world to face enemies and dragons. The heroine passes the tests with the help of a mentor, real or supernatural, who prepares him to face the challenges.
Along the way he will face decisive trials, some of life or death. There will be rewards and a way back, which is also not without its difficulties. She will come across her own sirens who will try by all means to make her abandon the road. It is a journey into the human psyche, out of the ordinary, made up of stages, real and symbolic, which passes through the separation from the mother and the acceptance of the father.
This archetypal journey allows you to become who you really are, transforming your vision of the world and of yourself. The journey of the heroine woman is the search for a deeper meaning of life; the desire to manifest one's nature. It was the mythologist and historian Joseph Campbell, in the mid-twentieth century, who popularized this term through his work The Hero of a Thousand Faces.
The journey of the heroine woman: the differences
The Hero's Journey, also known as a monomito, contains models that are valid for both men and women. It is always a difficult path, which for women contains an extra: having to undertake it in a world of men. Women are pushed to search for their own identity in an environment where the feminine is often defined / treated as a dependent construct, inferior and object of temptation.
These are some of the dragons they face as they embark on this journey. In many cases, the heroine woman unconsciously makes the mistake of facing this adventure by taking the male model as a reference. And that's how almost all of them started.
The first break with the ordinary world occurs when the woman seeks her identity in professional success, power and physical "perfection". These values ​​are fundamentally masculine, archetypally linked to the ascending journey to the world of the sun, intellect and power. In short, to the world of the father.
This is a highly destructive stage for women and is often the prelude to a dramatic event in their life, such as an illness, a major loss or the end of a relationship. This aspect presupposes the descent into the unfathomable female psyche. It is a critical phase in which the heroine feels lost and out of control. You find no reference points that can guide you; a feeling that causes confusion and sometimes great suffering.
Integrate the feminine
The next step is reuniting with her feminine nature and strengthening relationships with other women. This phase is usually studded with encounters with wise women, for whom the heroine will feel great admiration. New landmarks; new roads, hitherto hidden.
It will no longer be rationality to explain the events and circumstances in which our heroine woman is involved. Thus, the phase of encounter with the irrational world and the subjective world begins. The traveler understands the importance of the cycles of nature and of her own body. She deeply integrates the intuitive interconnection with the surrounding elements.
Happiness and love are concepts that he begins to see from very different perspectives. It is a tremendously creative time, with a fertile imagination. There may be a reunion and a strengthening of the relationship with the mother or with other women who represent her. When the healing of the relationship with the mother is not possible, there is a harmonious reunion with one's inner mother, with the same maternal nature as her.
Integrate the masculine
The goal of this stage of the journey is the integration of the masculine element. The integration of all that was learned in the first painful phase of the adventure. Sometimes it manifests itself through a change in the difficult relationship with the father or whoever symbolizes him.
A phase of emotional relationships opens in which the heroine does not give up her freedom and male figures appear in her life for which she develops a deep admiration. Ultimately, it is about the harmonious integration of the feminine and masculine aspects which, when it occurs, gives rise to a particular artistic production.
The journey of the heroine woman: the return
For women, returning from this descent also involves reconciliation with their body and sexuality. There is the recognition of the sacredness of the female part of all human beings. The heroine woman carries all the wisdom with her upon returning from her odyssey. She left behind her inner voice judging her. Important values ​​such as success or romantic love are transformed. The heroine returns with a symbiotic view of the world and with a reinforced intuition.
It is a dark and difficult downhill journey into the depths of your own psyche. A journey that you are not always willing to face and for which you are never ready enough. And you? Have you already heard the call?
