1. The Heroine’s Journey In World Myth and Popular Fantasy

2. Campbell's Model: The Hero's Journey My Model: The Heroine's Journey World of Common Day Call To Adventure Call To Adventure- A Desire to Reconnect with the Feminine Refusal of The Call Supernatural Aid The Ruthless Mentor & Bladeless Talisman Crossing The First Threshold Belly of the Whale Crossing the First Threshold: Opening One’s Senses Road of Trials Sidekicks, Trials, Adversaries Meeting With The Goddess Woman as Temptress Marriage to the Animus, Confronting the Powerless Father Atonement with The Father Apotheosis Atonement with the Mother. Apotheosis through the Feminine The Ultimate Boon Reward: Winning the Family The Magic Flight Magic Flight Reinstating the Family Master of the Two Worlds Power over Life and Death

4. Common Day The tale begins in the humdrum world of kitchen chores and powerlessness. The heroine lives with an absent mother and brutal stepmother. The father figure, if there is one, is equally obstructive. More than anything, the girl longs for an escape, an adventure. Here the story begins.

5. Call to Adventure Without a catalyst, Cinderella might remain in her kitchen forever. Some event, either a chance at freedom and happiness or a devastating act of destruction propels the heroine from her place of safety and into the frightening world of the spirit.

6. Call to Adventure When her father saw her, he was much shocked, and declared she was not his daughter… Then poor Eliza wept, and thought of her eleven brothers, who were all away. Sorrowfully, she stole away from the palace, and walked, the whole day, over fields and moors, till she came to the great forest. She knew not in what direction to go; but she was so unhappy, and longed so for her brothers, who had been, like herself, driven out into the world, that she was determined to seek them. From the great heaven Inana set her mind on the great below. My mistress abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld. In the oldest forms of the tale, Persephone descends without Hades’ brutality. When she, as innocent flower maid, discovers the wandering spirits of the dead, she voluntarily descends to succor them.

7. Refusing the Call Here, the hero is faced with the unknown. By contrast, home represents safety and security, a place the child is loathe to leave.

8. Refusing the Call Sleeping Beauty “During puberty, sleep is the refuge in which an adolescent girl can absorb the new sense of herself that she gains from the prick of the spindle, and changes from girl to woman: a transformation more radical than from boy to man.” –Joan Gould, Spinning Straw into Gold Brunhilda Rapunzel Dreamer of Malta

9. Hero Heroes quest to defeat the Dark Lord and rule as the High King

10. …and Heroine The heroine quests to save loved ones, a quest as dangerous as any journey of the hero.

11. Modern Questors

12. Ruthless Mentor, Bladeless Talisman While heroes almost always receive a sword (wand, lightsaber…) from their kindly old mentor, girls walk away with household objects. All of the heroines accomplish their quests without violence, needing cleverness and fortitude more than Excalibur. Actions in the so- called “women’s domain” frequently save the men and allow the heroines to accomplish their goals.

13. The Heroine’s Treasures Feminine symbols: amulet, apple, bag, ball, bird, cauldron, cave, circle, cloak, clothing, comb, crown, cup, egg, eye, flowers, forest, girdle, grail, helmet, home, hoop, jewelry, keys, mirror, moon, night, oven, ring, rose, serpent, slippers, spindle, spiral, thread, tree, vase, veil, voice, water, web, well.

14. Threshold The heroine must surrender her reliance on logic and willingly enter the world of emotion and fantasy.

15. Sidekicks, Trials, Adversaries Animal helpers and advisers generally represent part of the heroine’s psyche, pointing out things she doesn’t notice and teaching her how to outwit her adversary. They guide her along her path, bolstering her courage when the quest seems daunting.

16. Prince Charming: The World of Eros In the game of love, the hero and heroine each view their partner as a shapeshifter. This “other half” they must cleave to like themselves has frightening mood swings and unpredictable desires. Physically, the two people are opposites, with contrasting desires and emotions. Hence, many tales appear about enticing swan maidens from the sea or taming beastly monsters into Prince Charmings.

17. Prince Charming: The World of Eros Shimchong, The Blindman's Daughter (Korea) The Brahman Girl who Married a Tiger (India) Bull-of-all-the-Land (Jamaica) Pretty Polly (Appalachian America) Egle, Queen of Serpents (Lithuania) Eros and Psyche (Greece) The Lizard Husband (Indonesia). Monkey Son-in-Law (Japan) The Princess and the Pig (Turkey) The Frog Prince (Germany) Bluebeard (France) The Green Serpent (Italy) The Frog Prince (Sri Lanka)

18. Beauty and the Beast Retold

19. Prince Charming: The Helpless Father At some point, the heroine returns home to discover the prince, or father-figure, cannot save her. She must leave the patriarchy and rely on herself.

20. Descent into Death The heroine descends into the realm of darkness toward initiation and wisdom, seeking her own elusive dark side. There she will find her greatest challenge…herself.

21. Atonement with the Mother Like the witch-queen of Snow White, the Terrible Mother is enraged that she is no longer fairest in the kingdom. Therefore, she plots the destruction of the heroine. Our heroine descends to the darkest place of all, and there, confronts her.

22. Villains: The Child-Killer The witch is anti-life, killer of children. She freezes the world into sterility, forbidding growth or change. Frequently, she is the Jungian shadow for the young questor. Llorona, Mexico Condenado, South America Medea, Greece Houmea, Maori Lilith, Jewish (pictured) Baba Yaga, Russia (pictured)

23. Villains: The Child-Killer

24. Reward Triumphant, the heroine wins what she has sought for so long. She snatches her lover from the Fairie Queen’s horse, or saves her child from certain death. She may find the brief romance she’s sought for so long. Still, the quest has not ended, until she returns safely home.

25. Mastering Life and Death To achieve the greatest success, the heroine becomes a queen or “goddess” herself. In this way she achieves enormous power and becomes a guardian for the next generation. Even if their ascension isn’t to royalty or goddesshood, all train successors, passing on the wisdom they’ve learned.

26. Ascension Still, the other side of the benevolent mother goddess is the destroyer: Medea turns murderous and Gaia can destroy as well as create. For the heroine as goddess ascended, it’s a short distance to her own shadow: the Terrible Mother.

27. The Destroyer’s Wisdom Kali is the great goddess whose stomach is a void and so can never be filled and whose womb is giving birth forever to all things. Though the Destroyer may be the enemy, destruction allows space for creation.

30. Learn more at www.vefrankel.com More on the journey