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Camilla Sanderson's avatar

Hi Priya, as you know, I love your writing, and I'm so enjoying how deep you're digging into Joseph Campbell's work. However, I'm still not convinced that the Hero's Journey is helpful for women. I have a sense that it's part of the old patriarchal hierarchies that are crumbling around us as we ease into this new era of Conscious Balancing of the divine feminine and sacred masculine energies within us all.

When Campbell talks about the father being "the initiating priest through whom the young being passes on into the larger world," I can see how this is applicable to the *father-son* relationship - as with Luke in Star Wars. And as you have probably read too, George Lucas was apparently good friends with Joseph Campbell.

But don't you think the *father-daughter* relationship is different? I often wonder if perhaps with the father-daughter relationship, behind the idealized image of a personal father stands the divine father... which also makes me wonder how the Rising of the Divine Feminine plays into the Hero's Journey...

Do you know of Sharon Blackie's work? You may find this interesting too: The Post-Heroic Journey, An antidote to the all-conquering Hero https://sharonblackie.substack.com/p/the-post-heroic-journey

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Michael Edward's avatar

Priya, this was so interesting!

The story of your dream and the dragon and what it represented for you in the real world tied in so well to Campbell’s idea about transcending the shadow of our father/father-figure.

It really got me thinking about my experiences with my dad in my 20s and how we butted up against each other in a less than healthy way sometimes and how I both sought his approval and also wanted to do my own thing. It’s powerful to have concepts like this to help make sense of these experiences.

Thanks for sharing :)

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