The Heroine’s Healing Journey

The Heroine’s Journey is based in part on the Hero’s Journey coined by Joseph Campbell, with various interpretations including that of Victoria Schmidt, Maureen Murdock, and others. In essence, the Heroine’s Journey is a continuous, non-linear inward cycle of self-discovery and cyclical path to self-actualization, unique to each Heroine/Goddess Archetype. After putting myself in the ‘shoes of the Heroine,’ I came up with my version of the Heroine’s Journey, encompassing four stages and twelve acts, with each act represented by a Goddess Archetype.

Moreover, as in any great story, including that of our personal collective which are molded by the totality of our real-world experiences—the process of character (or psychological) development involves traveling along our Heroine’s Journey, which parallels the continuous inward cycle of the Healing Journey. As we travel along our unique path to individuation, we can begin to connect parts of our identity and integrate them into our brand’s core mission, values, and purpose. These form the foundational heart, soul, & spirit of our passion projects which we hope to manifest into a successful business—not just from a profit standpoint—but one that connects from the heart.

As through great stories—fiction and creative nonfiction—we can relate to the trials and challenges of each Goddess and apply our findings to our lives so as to transform our own narratives into creative works of art, prose, and more.

My Journey Through Each Archetype While Creating this Project

Forming a creative business is an opportunity to enable and activate many, if not all, of the Goddess Archetypes, as they take stage at various points in the process. Throughout the creation of this project, I often felt like I was undergoing my own Heroine’s Healing Journey of sorts— learning lessons through all the personal challenges and setbacks, alongside gratitude for the many joys and synchronicities—including appreciation for the process itself.

Although my path may have been a bit rockier (internally anyways), I am fortunate that it helped me unearth a multitude of dormant archetypes I might not have had the chance to meet otherwise. Some being the unexpected and ‘scary’ shadows I suppressed for decades, while others, their more helpful counterparts. Collectively, each archetype shaped and endowed the entirety of the artistic process itself. Overall, this project probably would not have been born had it not been for my personal struggles of the past two years—much of which shaped pieces I may not have otherwise uncovered.

During the planning, writing, designing, and synthesis of this project, each of the Goddess Archetypes had her say in the process, for better or worse 🙂 Nevertheless, they all endowed me with a lesson or gift worth sharing and integrating into the project, even if their dissonance sometimes resulted in staring at the wall or begrudgingly ending up in the psych ward 🙂 Joking aside, I think my expression of every archetype this year is also reflection of the normal process of having to wear many hats when owning a business—especially when forming a new purpose- driven business which encompasses a multitude of passions in one project. With the added pressures of a product- based (versus service-based) business taking time to develop ahead of time, while also going through personal relationship challenges, an unexpected move, and seemingly never-ending computer issues—well, it makes sense why every archetype decided to come along for the ride. But rather than more self-judgment or external blame—I’d prefer to see it as a coincidental gift from the universe, seeing as how that is what this entire project was about!

Whether I was Persephone as Kore living in my new enchanted neighborhood with smiling faces & doggies galore—or Persephone as Maiden wishing to please everyone while getting lost amidst the outer and inner noise—I learned that I can still keep my sense of wonder and gratitude alive while reframing ‘external judgment’ to appreciation for heartfelt & wise advice. If I was well internally, then I no longer had to succumb to external or internal judgments taking precedence over my trusted inner voice.

Other times, the inward-focused Goddesses made their appearance, such as defensive Artemis who often came out fighting to keep the project alive and integrity intact, despite the personal setbacks. (Thankfully, among the only casualties were a broken coffee pot and the sliding glass door ripped from its tracks). Then other times, it was highly analytical Athena systematically organizing the project from a bird’s eye view to then needing to switch to laser-sharp focus to categorize all the minute details. Competing archetypes also had the chance to show up, such as empowered Hera, angered at the thought of losing control—or idealistic Persephone, open to embracing creative fantasy through her gifts of imagination—helping me write anything from nursery rhymes to Sylvia Plath-esque dark poetry. Then it was onto Aphrodite, harnessing Persephone’s newfound awareness and insights from ‘the Underworld’ and channeling it all into this creative project through the course visuals, written materials, and designs.

Overall, grounded Demeter shows up in this project, through the guidance and wisdoms I hope to give you. I often ended up ‘coming home’ to Demeter in my ‘off’’ hours too, with my nurturing instincts taking over to attend to my sweet Rosy Bear, in combination with free-spirited Kore (albeit, a more mindful version) engaging with Rosy in ‘child’s-play.’ Then in the evenings when the night was still and I felt most at peace with myself and the world, contemplative Hestia would often make her appearance, allowing me to accept my needs of solitude as I opened the window to my room on Galileo Place and retreated into late-night star gazing. The moon would often sit just above the three palm trees in the backyard, shining her light down and sending me a twinkle of hope. All in all, this year had a dizzying array of cast members, in response to not only the many changes and uncertainties—but equally the many joys and positive synchronicities.