Hero’s Journey Vocabulary

Ordinary World The everyday environment of the hero before the adventure begins.

Call to Adventure Something invites the hero into adventure or offers the opportunity to face the unknown and gain something of physical or spiritual value. Also, it can be a realization of imbalance or injustice in life.

Threshold The bottom of a doorway that is crossed in entering or exiting a house or room. The jumping off point for an adventure. The point where the known and the unknown meet.

Tests, Allies, and Enemies Situations that put the hero at risk, emotionally and physically forcing him to change and grow. The hero must learn who to trust.

Abyss A deep, immeasurable space. Often the greatest challenge of the journey, where the hero faces death or his/her greatest fear.

Transformation A moment of death and rebirth; a part of the young person dies so that a new part, the hero, can be born.

Revelation A sudden, dramatic change in the way the hero thinks or views life, an insight or discovery about himself or life.

Atonement Making up for a wrong or injury. The hero is at one with his new self and life, the changes caused by the journey are at an end, and the hero is content with how he has become.

Master of Two Worlds The hero returns to the known and every day life with a new level of skill and awareness.

Talisman A stone, ring, or other object, worn as an amulet or charm.