Now that we’re in retrospective mode, seeing 2020 in the rearview mirror while integrating all of the many experiences and perspective-shifters (or at least, perspective challengers) that the last year included, The Hero/Heroine’s Journey yet again renews its relevance. The wisdom of myth and story can be evergreen.
In this post, The Return, the Underworld Journeyer or Dark Night Experiencer emerges from her or his or their experiences with a changed or transformed perspective and “gifts” to share with a world in need of them (but which may not, yet, be aware of their need for them!).
This is why The Return can be one of the most challenging aspects of The Hero/Heroine’s Journey. Refresh with the evergreen wisdom in The Return story. ~ Jamie (6-18-2021)
“With the great quest complete, the Seeker has become the Knower, the student a sage, the pupil a potential teacher.
But there is one more phase before the journey is complete: return and contribution.
With one’s own questions answered, the world’s confusion begs for clarification; with one’s own suffering relieved, the pain and sorry of the world cry for healing. The desire to contribute becomes compelling, and the direction of the journey now reverses.
Whereas one had formerly turned away from society and into one’s self, now the hero turns back to society and into the world.”
~ Roger Walsh, The World of Shamanism: New Views on an Ancient Tradition
You may have heard of The Hero’s Journey – or perhaps you’re actually eyeball-deep in it?
It’s a familiar phrase to some, but as Morpheus tells Neo in The Matrix, there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking it. Uh-yup. That’d be affirmative.
The actual phases of The Journey may be lesser known — including to those very ones who find themselves, inexplicably, off the familiar path, having inadvertently answered a soul-call that plunged them into a journey in which they know not where they are.
Sound familiar? To me as well; it’s where I spent a fair amount of time. But fear not…
One key point of The Journey is to reclaim Lost Heart — our own, and the World’s — and, I’d wager, some degree of the lost empathy, compassion, and humanity that went (and returns) with it.
A lovely notion, and a worthy and even vital mission now, but not for the faint of heart or those who prefer a nice picnic at the chasm’s edge (and most of us really would!).
Though a sugar-pill journey it may not be, it is a great adventure at what the poet David Whyte calls the fierce edges of Life.
Like it or not, for some, one’s purpose or dharma includes The Hero’s Journey, its tour of the Underworld, and the Return to tell about it and share the gained insights and reclaimed Heart Bits.
In navigating the fierce edges of Life by way of The Hero’s Journey, we reawaken our own fierce heartedness, and with it, a bit of the World’s.
And then, as Walsh notes, the Seeker becomes the Knower (including the wisdom that in some of Life’s Mysteries, one can actually know very little); the seasoned Journeyer becomes the way-shower.
The Return is one of the various phases of The Journey, and one of the most challenging (though little is said of it).
Knowing that it is a stage of The Journey, and that it can often be the most challenging, helps — at least for the returning Hero or Heroine Journeyer who comes stumbling or squinting out of the Dark Forest (or the Dark Night) with a new perspective and insight to share in a world that needs it but doesn’t yet know that!
In the current times of transformation, with the very potent and dynamic archetypal energies in play (like the Uranus-Pluto and Pals dance that’s been underway), more people have found themselves, or will find themselves, cast into a Hero’s Journey of their own.
As always, those who’ve walked that path, journeyed the Underworld (and maybe even mapped some of it, and lit a few lanterns here and there), and returned to tell the tale and share the found-insights, make the best guides and lantern-holders for those being initiated via The Hero’s Journey now.
Light your lanterns (and if you’re in The Journey, or in the Dark Night, look for those lights!).
Big Love (and Bright Lanterns for the Journey),
July 2, 2014 at 9:51 pm
Jamie,
I absolutely loved this post. It really resonated with me. It was a delightful synchronicity to read your post after a coaching session I had this weekend, where we discussed the importance of this return stage. I too believe that this re-entry process can be the most challenging, and often less spoken about. Much is said about the call to adventure, the belly of the whale, the atonement with our ghosts…but the re-entry… it’s often just dismissed as ‘and the hero returns home’. Oh but what challenges may still surface in this last bit.
Great post and important reminder.
July 2, 2014 at 9:55 pm
Thanks so much, Vanessa. I’m glad it resonated. And as you know, those who know know! “…and the hero returns home.” Pretty funny. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Blessings, Jamie
July 7, 2014 at 8:21 pm
Reblogged this on Love Earth Visionary and commented:
Very Beautiful
July 7, 2014 at 8:21 pm
My husband and I loved this post Dear Jamie! Much love
July 7, 2014 at 8:24 pm
I’m so glad that’s the case; thanks for letting me know. Big Love to you, too.
August 10, 2015 at 8:23 pm
Thank you. <3 Needless to say, it has been a hell of an enlightening ride for several years now. The words, "this phase is going to be the hardest" have come to mind on more than one occasion over the last few months. I haven't been able to put my finger on it, due to this strange void I have been feeling. A feeling of trying to gain footing and not knowing where I fit in. A sense of being very alone, yet not lonely.
August 12, 2015 at 3:48 pm
You’re welcome, Marcie. 🙂 Yep, it has surely been a hell of an enlightening ride. 🙂 And challenging, too, as such paths can be. And nicely worded, as you shared about ‘the strange void’ … ‘trying to gain footing and not knowing where I fit in. A sense of being very alone, yet not lonely.’ True enough. The wisdom-message of ‘learning to see with your other eyes’ and ‘the abyss (or void) becomes the foundation’ come to mind … messages I received from guides before I fully understood them, and yet I had a sense of their truth anyway at the time. Be well as you navigate the way, Marcie (there are clues, notes, and wee candles lit by others who’ve traveled the path, and that’s a very cool thing. 🙂 xoxo and lots of love, Jamie
August 12, 2015 at 8:04 pm
Thank you. Yes, challenging and in unfathomable ways at times, yet I am oddly grateful for this. It’s conflicting, in that there is the referenced return, yet at the same time, there is no return. The words, “there is no going back” come to mind quite often. For me, personally, this is. 😉
Again, thank you. Big Big hug and much love to you. <3
August 13, 2015 at 4:33 pm
You’ve got it … “there is no going back.” I’ve noted previous musings that if it’s just ‘change’ (which doesn’t mean it’s always easy), you can go back. With transformation, there is no ‘back there’ to return to. And transformation is afoot. 😉
There is also the Withdrawal phase of the journey, followed by a Return. And I found that they overlap a bit, and we sometimes revisit … withdraw, gather and integrate, return and share (whether by ‘presence’ or by more overtly sharing).
It’s really a whole new way of navigating, though … a new language that we’re becoming fluent in (or remembering).
Big hug returned. 🙂 Love,
Jamie
August 23, 2015 at 11:23 pm
Hi Jamie,
So glad I found your blog by google search on Sophia and synchronicity. I love what I’m reading here and have worked with the Hero/ine’s Journey personally and professionally throughout my adult life after reading Hero with a 1000 Faces). David Whyte’s Self-Portrait has been my heroine’s credo while the Return as you say has been the most challenging for me, lasting the longest time. Finally, now I am preparing my elixir. You offer such sage words, thank you, Lee from Canada
August 24, 2015 at 4:16 pm
Thank you, Lee, for the kind words and taking the time to visit, read, and comment. I appreciate it. And I’m delighted, too, that you resonate with and are enjoying what you’ve found.
It’s amazing that The Return is so little talked about (as are a few other of the Hero/ine’s Journey phases!), which made me want to write about it all the more.
There are several from David Whyte that were among the bits of wisdom and inspiration that were flickers of light for me while I was mapping the Dark Night. Thanks for sharing that his Self-Portrait has been your credo. 🙂
(For other readers, you’ll find David Whyte’s Self-Portrait poem here: http://www.davidwhyte.com/english_self.html).
How’s the elixir-alchemy coming along, Lee?
xoxo Big Love,
Jamie
August 24, 2015 at 8:28 pm
Thank you, Jamie, for your lovely reply! So, great to connect with others about the Hero’s Journey in this way! From reading some of your posts I was reminded that creating the Elixir is a part of the Return, not apart from it, which is a exciting reminder and insight. Part of my elixir in creation right now is formulating a plan for a business focusing on integrative wellness facilitation/ coaching while using a holographic approach and the hero’s journey as the metaphor of transformation. For me, this journey is not gender specific and years ago built my own process I have used with clients to embody that experience: it is about hearing the archetypal call and embracing the collective experience of what it means to each of us individually to be alive and follow our bliss. I look forward to reading more of your articles and if you would like to point me toward any specifically about the Return, please do. Thank you, Lee P.S. I agree for me too there are several of David Whyte’s poems that have moved me forward on my journey: he’s a favorite and definitely creatively heroic!