13 Metaphors about the Hero's Journey

13 Metaphor's About The Hero's Journey 1. Caterpillar changes to butterfly. is one of the many variations on the theme of self-transformation. We change organically, in ways beyond our control, with wisdom and esthetic improvement, trusting simply and enjoying the process of our unfoldment. 2. Sleeper awakens from the dream. We become aware that our ordinary awareness has dreamlike qualities, and we try on other dreams, other realities, some of which serve us better than the first ones. 3. Uncoveringthe veils of illusion. The world is really just maya. We unmask ourselves as we unmask our world and the vision transforms. 4. From captivity to liberation We see our body and form as a prison. Knotted and netted, locked up, tied and bonded in our relationships. We pursue strategies of escape and liberation. 5. Inner fire purifies We come to recognize the power of the spirit as fire, and willingly pass through purgatory of the alchemical fire of purification. Kundalini rises as we practice the yoga of fire, and mystically unite in the mystical fire. 6. Fom darkness to light The body becomes illuminated as does the mind become illuminated. The self is perceived as light and we move away from the unsure darkness to the clear light spaces. 7. From fragmentationto wholeness. We perceive fragmentation in everyday consciousness, the dissociation and splintering in madness and illness. Images of dismemberment, splitting and stabbing occurs in shamanism and yoga, in Greek myths, in alchemy, meditation and psychotherapy. We find approaches to wholeness, holism, integration and synthesis of the parts and pieces of the self. The gestalt of the will strengthens as split parts of the self align. 8. Journey to a place of vision and power. We experience the myth of the wanderer, the Gypsy, and the wandering Jew in exile, •.Based on ·'Openingto tlieLig{it''6y 'l{_a[pli:Metznu departing and crossing thresholds, descending into the depths of life and creation, flying into the higher realms, taking journeys with the shaman into non-ordinary reality. 9. Returning to the source We perceive ourselves as strangers, not at home in an unf arniliar world. Life itself is perceived as exile from our true home. We come to recognize the path of return and the outgoing path which leads from there. We joyously begin our journey to our true home, the homeward journey. We contact our true parents and return to our true home. 1O. Dying, being reborn Having come to value the nearness to death as a transformative experience, we come to value intentional dying and the small deaths that occur to us day by day. We seek to emerge from the emotional "deadening· which numbs us and we become willing to die out of our present form so that we come to the new birth of the eternal child. 11. Contacting the eternal child We drop our guilt as we reconnect with our innocence and our mind eases as we regain the trust and enthusiasm of the child within. We explore everything from our child's fresh point of view, feeling ourselves as good, knowing our own purity and faith. 12. Unfolding the Tree of our Life We get to know the pattern of our own unfoldment as a process akin to the growing of a tree, which assumes clearer and clearer symbolism as the symbol of our own unfoldment. We come to recognize our place on the collective tree, and we might perceive the whole planet (or universe. as an inverted tree. We learn the shadows around the tree of knowledge and the smell around the tree of life and the illumination by the truth tree. 13. Surrenderingto the river. As we coast, sail, swim through or surf the waters of our lives, we inevitably flow down the path of least resistance to the sea which is before us and draws us to recycle as mist, dew, fog or rain.