The Mythic Blueprint of Transformation
An anatomy of change
Last week I got to understand the arc of transformation at a deeply embodied level. This is also known as Joseph Campbell’s Heroes Journey or what Micheal Meade likes to refer to as the Genius Myth.
It's a mythological framework that serves as a rite of passage. Having led thousands of boys through Rites of Passage myself and conducted hundreds of workshops for men and women using ROP process over the last six years, I am continually amazed at how deeply this work continues to take me, inside and out of my working day.
In the Heroes Journey there are twelve key junctures, which can essentially be whittled down to these six steps:
You are in your known world
You begin to experience some strife
You are called to cross a threshold and leave familiar ways behind (sometimes there is a guide)
There is a descent into the shadow realms in which you face some obstacles
Heavy experiences and emotions come to the surface to be felt and transmuted
You return a better person, integrate and share your lessons
If we strip this down even further to leave just the core tenets of this experience, it’ll go something like this:
We start off happily going about our lives.
We are then thrown into the cosmic washing machine of the unknown world.
We then return with better insight in to how we navigate our lives back in the known world.
This doesn’t always happen in a linear, sequential order. There can be some overlap between stages, you may return to some; some stages can last longer than others, but there is ALWAYS a beginning, middle and end. Separation, challenge, and integration.
You can distill this even further. In its purest essence, the Genius Myth is a journey through the yin and yang of life. An exploration of both the feminine and masculine energies that drive our existence.
The yin element is the descent into chaos and charts the depths of the unknown waters. It is inherently feeling orientated and requires deep surrender to dissolve embedded patterns of our known world. Somatic awareness and emotional tools help navigate through these unfamiliar seas.
For any womb-keepers reading, you may be very familiar with this. Each cycle brings with it it’s own hero's Journey. From ovulation to that bit in the middle where it gets a bit hectic, and then menstruation (sorry, I’m not much of an expert on this process) the same journey is followed.
The yang charge oversees the return with newfound insight and wisdom. It is here we integrate these lessons into everyday life with clarity and purpose. There is a strong will to create structures and a desire to clear anything that stops the hero/ine of the story from making the changes necessary to enact their emboldened vision.
In other words, we need a healthy balance of feminine and masculine energies within us to have real agency. We need both heart and hands. We need to feel, but we also need to act. We need to compost, and we also need to blossom.
You may have read the above and felt a deep resonance with the steps of the Genius Myth. They may even sound strangely reminiscent. And that’s because we have all been on this journey. Not only have we experienced it, we have witnessed it in every great story that has been told…
Neo gets the call from Morpheus. He leaves his comfortable world behind, descending into the shadow realms of the Matrix. He returns with a deep understanding of the Matrix and his role in it, ready to share his gifts and change the world.
Marty Mcfly crosses the threshold at 88 mph into the new world, almost sleeps with his mum and faces the possibility of not being born. He skillfully sidesteps her advancements and ensures his mum and dad get it together before returning to a better world.
From Frodo leaving the Shire, Rey leaving Jakku, you leaving your bed, going to the fridge and making a heroes return, we have observed the blueprint of transformation summoned from the archetypal realms in to our physical stories time and time again.
Stories are simply a series of untruths that point to the greater truth. Pinpricks of eternity.
As there is no connection to the deeper mythical currents in our superficial culture, quite often we are on this journey and have no idea. Even I was caught unawares, until I slipped back out of the birth canal and onto the steady shores of the known world last week.
For me, and many others I’m sure, it has been a pretty brutal time.
Witnessing a genocide unfold in real time with tens of thousands of brown bodies, most of them children, being discarded as collateral damage has been heavy. All the while, the Empire not only provides political cover for mass graves, forced starvation, and bombings of refugee camps but also sends them OUR tax money in support.
Locally, there have been battles, such as the Save Wallum campaign. This grassroots movement has taken on a national construction company intent on destroying an eco-sanctuary for animals on the brink of extinction in place of luxury condos.
On top of this, our poly-crises of climate disaster, mental health epidemics, creeping authoritarianism, World War III, runaway AI, and spiritual alienation all seem to be converging, creating a potent cocktail of existential dread.
It’s been very hard. I’ve cried. A lot.
As someone who always used to struggle to shed tears, I am now ever-grateful for the gifts they bring. Each tear is a friend that I welcome with open arms. They strip away old layers and shift stagnant energy.
Maybe that's why they call it shedding tears - because with each teardrop we are shedding old skin.
Bearing witness to the darkest elements of society and really sitting with my responsibility in all this was my personal descent into the unknown. I’ve had to face my shadow through the stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and ultimately, surrender.
Whether you like it or not. We are in a time of transformation. You can accept this as part of objective reality, or you can opiate yourself with a rejection of what is unfolding.
As Bob Dylan said himself, These Times Are A-changing.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticise
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'
If there is any solace in this, it’s that when things are falling apart, our callings become activated. We are very well insulated from all this in many pockets of the Empire across Australia, the UK, America and Canada.
But if you have been paying attention, you will be feeling an increasing attunement to the frequency of earths intelligence.
The winds of spirit are always blowing, waiting for us to lift our sails.
Whispering messages of adaption. Invitations to imagine. Calls to action.
Through the cracks of the old world, flowers emerge. Flowers that bloom into new stories shared through our art, offerings and creative collective intelligence.
As the saying goes, the deeper the roots go the higher the branches can grow. This is also a reminder that there are those around us who have inadvertently been plunged in to an unknown world which they may not have the required footing for. On the surface things might seem OK, but just beneath there may be oceans of pain. Be kind.
The more adept we can become at facing our own shadows the more we can blossom in to your fullest expression. The better we are at facing the collective shadow, the better we can serve.
Here’s the surefire way to know that you have been on a Journey:
There is legit change in your life.
The more differently you do things, the bigger the Journey has been. If you think you have been on a Journey but haven’t changed diddly squat, you either haven’t learnt the lesson, or you haven’t been on the Journey.
This is a powerful time to come together for those that can see we are in the midst of a collective initiation into the mysteries of the Goddess. This planetary rite of passage has brought us to the precipice. We are all poised to jump aboard the Threshold Rollercoaster and into the unknown.
Buckle up!
As we continue to wake up en masse, we realise we have been gifted this beautiful challenge, that of collective liberation. By connecting with others who are on a resonant frequency and hungry for change, I have no doubt we will be able to overcome the myriad challenges that face us.
Thank you for making it this far! In a world with limitless distractions, your attention is hugely appreciated. If you haven’t already done so, you can stay in the loop with short form content via my Instagram.
Don’t forget to leave a comment with your favourite line.
"We are in the midst of a collective initiation into the mysteries of the goddess."
Thank you for sharing ❤️