The Heroine’s Journey describes contemporary woman’s search for wholeness in a society where she has been defined according to masculine values. Drawing on cultural myths and fairy tales, ancient symbols and goddesses, and the dreams of contemporary women, Murdock illustrates the need for—and the reality of—feminine values in Western culture. This special anniversary edition, with a new foreword by Christine Downing and preface by the author, illuminates that this need is just as relevant today as it was when the book was originally published thirty years ago.
World-renowned folklorist Maria Tatar reveals an astonishing but long-buried history of heroines, taking us from Cassandra and Scheherazade to Nancy Drew and Wonder Woman. The Heroine with 1,001 Faces dismantles the cult of warrior heroes, revealing a secret history of heroinism at the very heart of our collective cultural imagination. Maria Tatar, a leading authority on fairy tales and folklore, explores how heroines, rarely wielding a sword and often deprived of a pen, have flown beneath the radar even as they have been bent on redemptive missions. Deploying the domestic crafts and using words as weapons, they have found ways to survive assaults and rescue others from harm, all while repairing the fraying edges in the fabric of their social worlds. Like the tongueless Philomela, who spins the tale of her rape into a tapestry, or Arachne, who portrays the misdeeds of the gods, they have discovered instruments for securing fairness in the storytelling circles where so-called women’s work—spinning, mending, and weaving—is carried out. Tatar challenges the canonical models of heroism in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, with their male-centric emphases on achieving glory and immortality. Finding the women missing from his account and defining their own heroic trajectories is no easy task, for Campbell created the playbook for Hollywood directors. Audiences around the world have willingly surrendered to the lure of quest narratives and charismatic heroes. Whether in the form of Frodo, Luke Skywalker, or Harry Potter, Campbell’s archetypical hero has dominated more than the box office. In a broad-ranging volume that moves with ease from the local to the global, Tatar demonstrates how our new heroines wear their curiosity as a badge of honor rather than a mark of shame, and how their “mischief making” evidences compassion and concern. From Bluebeard’s wife to Nancy Drew, and from Jane Eyre to Janie Crawford, women have long crafted stories to broadcast offenses in the pursuit of social justice. Girls, too, have now precociously stepped up to the plate, with Hermione Granger, Katniss Everdeen, and Starr Carter as trickster figures enacting their own forms of extrajudicial justice. Their quests may not take the traditional form of a “hero’s journey,” but they reveal the value of courage, defiance, and, above all, care. “By turns dazzling and chilling” (Ruth Franklin), The Heroine with 1,001 Faces creates a luminous arc that takes us from ancient times to the present day. It casts an unusually wide net, expanding the canon and thinking capaciously in global terms, breaking down the boundaries of genre, and displaying a sovereign command of cultural context. This, then, is a historic volume that informs our present and its newfound investment in empathy and social justice like no other work of recent cultural history.
A workbook to guide readers through the different stages of The Heroine’s Journey—healing deep wounds of one’s feminine nature on a personal, cultural, and spiritual level. Maureen Murdock’s modern classic The Heroine’s Journey explores woman’s mythic quest for maintaining feminine values and a sense of wholeness in a society that’s been defined according to masculine values. Womankind undertakes this spiritual and psychological journey by integrating all parts of her nature. This workbook, based on workshops conducted by Murdock herself with women of all ages, can be used individually or in a group to guide readers through The Heroine’s Journey. With exercises and reflection questions for each chapter, readers will embark on profound self-exploration and gain a new sense of clarity and understanding of their own life quests. The skills learned on this archetypal journey prepare women to work toward the larger pursuit of bringing consciousness to others and preserving the balance of life on earth.
What is eros? How does eros relate to sex? How can archetypes guide one on the journey of reclaiming eros? These are just a few of the questions presented in Reclaiming Eros: A Heroine's Journey. Reclaiming Eros is a shamanic initiation into erotic living as told through the lens of six feminine archetypes-Virgin, Whore, Warrior, Queen, Nun, Mother-whose stories are based on the author's descent into her own dormant desires. Using social and scholarly commentary, poetry, and fiction, Reclaiming Eros guides the reader on an inner erotic voyage-a heroine's journey that goes far beyond sex to the very core of that which makes us human.
Many are familiar with Joseph Campbell's theory of the hero's journey, the idea that every man from Moses to Hercules grows to adulthood while battling his alter-ego. This book explores the universal heroine's journey as she quests through world myth. Numerous stories from cultures as varied as Chile and Vietnam reveal heroines who battle for safety and identity, thereby upsetting popular notions of the passive, gentle heroine. Only after she has defeated her dark side and reintegrated can the heroine become the bestower of wisdom, the protecting queen and arch-crone. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Women face many challenging transitions on the pilgrimage from girlhood through womanhood: menses, love and heartbreak, motherhood, menopause. Devoid of a central narrative, these rites of passage too often happen in shame and secrecy, leaving women doubting their personal power and self-worth. Bestselling author and founder of The Way of the Happy Woman®, Sara Avant Stover saw how women erroneously viewed these initiations as “curses” and sought to present a new model that reflected the power and wisdom unique to the feminine path. The Book of SHE celebrates all that it means to be a woman, from mythological underpinnings to the cycles of our day-to-day lives. Drawing on archetypes including Mary Magdalene, the Dark Goddess, and Green Tara, Stover will guide you on a journey home to psychological wholeness, personal empowerment, and, ultimately, full feminine spiritual Awakening. Brimming with mystery and magic, this provocative book makes ancient wisdom and healing practices accessible to every woman who is ready to revel in her full femininity — the dark and the light — through joyfully becoming the heroine of her own life.
In every heroic tale, the heroine is called to fulfill a compelling desire or seek a new adventure. Sometimes she is eager to accept the call. Other times, she refuses out of fear-but the call grows ever louder. For modern-day women, the struggle for self-discovery and the courage to leap into the unknown is no different. Mirroring the heroine's journey, this empowering guide outlines: ¿the power of choice. ¿models for personal development. ¿strategies to combat critics (even yourself).¿tips for dealing with emotional roadblocks. ¿methods to achieve self-acceptance. You may not be Wonder Woman, but you are certainly a heroine. It's time to unleash the power within!For fans of:¿Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"¿Will Craig's "Living the Hero's Journey"¿Maureen Murdock's "The Heroine's Journey"
In this powerful memoir, an identical twin embarks on a heroine's journey to find her lost twin. Along the way, she provides a rare glimpse into the Twin World to all who honor twinship. How does our heroine survive twin loss? The Tao shows her the way. She learns that the dark is the source of the light. The still is the source of all motion. The wise one trusts her Heart above the World. Now a Jiugian analyst, the lone twin shares her hope for spiritual ascent and reunion.
True freedom is found when you lay down your shield and live from a place of your true perfection. You are free to be exactly who you are, trusting that what you do is complete-which is always enough. With these words of peace and possibility, Amanda shares her personal journey-unique, empowering, and much like the stories and emotional baggage we all carry around. Amanda's open-hearted narrative clearly shows the moments when seeds of judgment and ego-confusion were planted by well-meaning parents and mentors. This is a story of courage-that first step into the unknown requiring trust and a deep understanding that after all is said and done, the most perilous pathway is found within all evolving beings. This journey doesn't end at a roadside snack shack with celebratory icy drinks-when you sign onto this adventure, you sign up for life. Like those beautiful Russian Nesting dolls waiting patiently to be free, Amanda uncovers her inherent wholeness one layer at a time, using her expanding awareness and the wise words of pioneers who have walked before her. With truth often seeming like a sharpened corkscrew digging deeper with every twist, the flow of transformation carries Amanda from one breakthrough to the next-the call of her truest self growing louder and more insistent as she paves her own path. Filled with story and rich with depth, Becoming Enough is a powerful opportunity for seekers everywhere to join her movement of change, shed the protective shield of judgment, and live a life of true wholeness.
quirkyalone (kwur.kee.uh.lohn) n. adj. A person who enjoys being single (but is not opposed to being in a relationship) and generally prefers to be alone rather than date for the sake of being in a couple. With unique traits and an optimistic spirit; a sensibility that transcends relationship status. Also adj. Of, relating to, or embodying quirkyalones. See also: romantic, idealist, independent. Are you a quirkyalone? Do you know someone who is? Do you believe life can be prosperous and great with or without a mate? Do you value your friendships as much as your romantic relationships? Do gut instincts guide your most important decisions? Are you often among the first on the dance floor? Coupled or single, man or woman, social butterfly or shrinking violet, quirkyalones have walked among us, invisible until now. Through the coining of a new word, this tribe has been given a voice. Meet the quirkyalones. Read about: The quirkyalone nation: where we live, what we do Quirkytogethers (quirkyalones who have entered long–term relationships) Sex and the single quirkyalone Romantic obsession: the dark side of the quirkyalone's romantic personality Quirkyalones throughout history (profiles in courage)
