The Eight Steps of the
Epic Hero’s Journey
(with 3stages)
A.K.A.
Your Journey
Why study The Hero’s Journey?
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It is the pattern of human experience
Every challenge we face in life is a journey
It is a process of self discovery
Understanding the Journey pattern can help
us understand the stories we read, the
movies and shows we see, and the
experiences that shape our lives.
The Journey is divided into
three stages and eight steps:
1. Separation (from the known)
•  The Call
•  The Threshold
(with guardians, helpers, and mentor)
The Call: The Invitation Into
The Adventure
The Call:
•  offers us the opportunity to face the
unknown and gain something of physical or
spiritual value
•  may come boldly as a sudden, traumatic
change or in can sneak up on us gradually
Within this range, the Call takes
many forms:
•  We have had something taken away from us (e.g.
our family, or our society) our quest is to reclaim
it
•  We sense that there is something lacking in our
life, and we must find what is missing
• We want to save or restore honor for
ourselves, our family, or our country
• We realize that something is not
permitted to members of our society,
and we must win these rights for our
people
The Threshold: The Jumping
Off Point
•  The Threshold is the interface between the
known and the unknown world
•  In the known world we feel secure because
we know the rules and the landscape
•  Once into the unknown world, we enter a
land filled with challenges and dangers.
Threshold Guardians
•  Often at the Threshold, we encounter
people, beings, or situations which block
our passage.
•  Threshold guardians have two functions:
–  Prepare
–  Step aside
Threshold Helpers
•  Helpers provide assistance or direction
•  Often the bring us a divine gift which helps
us through the ordeal.
Threshold Mentor
•  The most important helper on the journey,
the mentor keeps us focused on our goal and
gives us stability.
2. Initiation (and
transformation)
•  The Challenges
•  The Abyss
•  The Transformation
•  The Revelation
•  The Atonement
The Challenges: journey into
the unknown
•  Once past the Threshold, we begin the
journey into the unknown. The voyage can
be outward into the physical unknown or
inward to a psychological unknown.
Challenges: Temptations
•  The early challenges are simple
•  By meeting them successfully, we build
maturity, skill, and confidence
•  As the journey progresses, the challenges
become more difficult, testing us, forcing us
to change and grow
Challenges: Tempters
•  Try to pull us away from the path
•  They use fear, doubt, or distraction
•  They may pretend to be a friend or
counselor
•  They always strike our greatest weakness
The Abyss: the greatest
challenge
•  When we reach the Abyss, we face the
greatest challenge on the journey
•  We must surrender ourselves completely to
the adventure
•  We must face our fear alone
Transformation: death and
rebirth
•  As we conquer the Abyss and overcome our
fears, our transformation becomes complete
•  It is a moment of death and rebirth: a part of
us dies so that a new part can be born
Revelation: changes
•  A sudden, dramatic change in the way we
view life.
•  This change in thinking is crucial because it
makes us a different person.
•  It usually occurs during or after the Abyss,
but sometimes it may lead us into the Abyss
The Atonement: “oneness”
•  After we have been transformed, we
achieve Atonement, that is we are “at-one”
with our new self
•  We have incorporated the changes caused
by the journey and are “reborn”
•  We have harmony with life and the world
3. The Return (to the known
world)
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The Return (with a gift)
The Return: Welcome Home!
•  Return to everyday life
•  Upon our return, we discover our gift (based
on our new skill or awareness)
•  Essence of the return is to contribute to our
society
•  It may not go smoothly
What have we learned?
•  Journey gives you means for understanding
•  Journey is a pattern that we follow in our
own lives
•  Our adventure opens the doors to
knowledge and understanding
•  Can help us achieve wisdom, growth, and
independence