Main Topic: Monomyth-Initiation Defined
- This show covers the second of the three sections of the monomyth as described by Joseph Campbell in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” (ISBN 0-691-01784-0)

Sections of the Monomyth:
- Separation
- Initiation
- Return

Essay References:
- “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” (ISBN 0-691-01784-0)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth
- http://www.monomyth.org/
- http://www.dictionary.com/

Music Provided by Jon Schmidt: http://www.jonschmidt.com/

Next Episode: Monomyth-Return Defined

Listener Links: http://www.andrevanharen.com/

Click “Read the Article” to see the transcript

Transcript

Welcome to the Myth Show, where timeless stories are discussed and brought to life. I am your host, Gregory Lemon and this is episode five. This show is for those who would like to know more about the wide and fascinating field of mythology, folk lore, and fairy tales.

During this episode we’ll discuss the second third of the Monomyth, the Initiation, as described in the book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, written by Joseph Campbell in 1948. Episode Four discussed the the Separation phase of the Monomyth and Episode six will cover the final third of the Monomyth: “the Return”.

The music for this podcast is provided by Jon Schmidt at jonschmidt.com

Main Topic: Initiation

Introduction and Recap of Separation

In Episode four, I introduced the Monomyth as presented by Joseph Campbell in his book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” Often, the term “Hero’s Journey” is also used. I provided a brief summary of the seventeen steps he found common between the many myths from different cultures. These seventeen steps are grouped into three sections. To repeat a quote from episode four, Campbell describes these three phases:

(quote) “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” (end quote – pg. 30)

During the first phase of “Separation”, our hero goes through five steps. In summary, he has (#1) heard the “Call to Adventure” and then (#2) refused the call, but just temporarily. During the first steps of the actual journey, he (#3) receives supernatural aid, (#4) crosses the first threshold, and (#5) finds himself in the belly of the whale. Through these five steps of the monomyth, the hero is now fully separated from his home or the status quo.

The phase of the monomyth we’ll discuss during this essay is that of the Initiation. I’ll describe the list of steps using the same quote by Campbell from episode four. (Now, I have changed the numbering of the steps that Campbell provides in the quote to match an overall numbering scheme):

(quote) “The stage of the trials and victories of initiation will appear…in six subsections: (#6) “The Road of Trials,” or the dangerous aspect of the gods; (#7) “The Meeting with the Goddess”…or the bliss of infancy regained; (#8) “Woman as the Temptress,” the realization and agony of Oedipus; (#9) “Atonement with the Father”; (#10) “Apotheosis”; and (#11) “The Ultimate Boon.” (end quote – pg. 36)

The word “initiation” is often used to describe the process or ritual that a person goes through to join a group or organization. Going through an initiation is more than just applying for membership. It is more like the ordeals a fraternity pledge suffers through to be accepted into the brotherhood of a fraternity. The hero of the monomyth, like the fraternity pledge, must go through this initiation to prove that he is the hero that is worthy of the reward at the end of the initiation.

6. The Road of Trails

For the reader, this is the fun part of the hero’s journey. This is where the hero takes what he has learned during the separation process and applies this learning to get through the trials. For the hero, this is a long road of events, tests, or challenges that help him to prepare for the later steps of meeting with the symbolic or literal gods and goddesses. These trials provide much of the adventure that is found within mythology. These trials may be told as separate stories outside the over-arching monomyth storyline. And while the trails are exciting, outside of the context of the whole monomyth, the events of the Road of Trials may not be fully understood. Because, we don’t know where the hero came from, why he is experiencing the trials, or where he is going once the trial is completed. Watching Luke Skywalker and others rescue Princess Lea is exciting but doesn’t make sense unless you watch the whole movie.

It seems to me that the road of trials could be compared to some adventure video games. Think of Super Mario Brothers or the Legends of Zelda. (I know, I’m old) The video game player controls the hero (Mario or Link) and the road of trials is all of the mini-bosses that need to be defeated at the end of the level before finding and defeating the ultimate boss. For fans of Disney movies, the song sequence “Zero to Hero” in the cartoon “Hercules” shows many of the different trials that Hades placed in Hercules’ path to becoming the hero. If you watch closely, many of these trails come from the twelve labors of Hercules given to him, not be Hades, by the Delphic Oracle. (And just as a side note, the differences between Disney movies and the actual myth, folklore, or fairy tale could fill a year of essays. And as a father of four kids ages 5 and under, I have watched most of these cartoons, many, many times.)

In this section of the book, Campbell provides the story of Psyche and Cupid as an example where the female hero goes through many trials to find her lover Cupid. I agree with Campbell that this is a good example of the Road of Trials, but I felt a little lost because Campbell didn’t include how the mortal Psyche got involved with the immortal Cupid, why she had to do all of these tasks and if she even found him in the end. I do recognize that Campbell’s purpose in this section was not to tell the story of Psyche and Cupid but I used his omission to emphasize the importance of finding the whole story surrounding the road of trials to understand the trials themselves.

The next four steps of the monomyth can be viewed as a part of the Road of Trials. I’m not sure if there is significance to the order they appear in, but what the hero learns through these steps and other trials on the road will prove himself worthy to receive the Ultimate Boon.

7. The Meeting with the Goddess

Campbell describes this step as “the bliss of infancy regained” (pg. 36) The hero must meet with the goddess, and if he passes the challenge associated with her, he will be able to find the bliss of infancy or the joy or a child. As any parent can tell you, there are few joys in the world that can compare to the innocent joy of a child.

But what is the significance of this Goddess? Campbell states:

“Women, in the picture language of mythology, represents the totality of what can be known. The hero is the one who comes to know. As he progresses in the slow initiation which is life, the form of the goddess undergoes for him a series of transfiguration: she can never be greater than himself, though she can always promise more than he is yet capable of comprehending. She lures, she guides, she bids him burst his fetters. And if he can match her import, the two, the knower and the known, will be released from every limitation.” (end quote – pg. 116).

As described here, the Goddess is the source of knowledge and the teacher as well. This isn’t a simple bestowal of knowledge but a process where the hero needs to “burst his fetters” or the restraints of ignorance.

When the hero is able to learn all that the goddess has to teach him, he is able to have the joy of youth, but that is not all. Campbell said “The meeting with the goddess (who is incarnate in every woman) is the final test of the talent of the hero to win the boon of love (charity, amor fati), which is life itself enjoyed as the encasement of eternity. (pg 118) Not only does the hero now have the joy of youth but he now has the charity to share this joy and the ultimate boon with others along the path or at the end of the journey.

Campbell tells the story of the five sons of the Irish King Eochaid. They all went hunting and become very thirsty. As they each searched for water, the eldest son, Fergus, found an old hag of a woman guarding a well of water. For the price of a kiss, access to the well would be given. Fergus refused as did his brothers Olioll, Brian, and Fiachra (please forgive the pronunciation). The youngest brother, Niall, was the last to find the old woman at the well. When the woman asked him for the kiss, he said “I will give it, [and] forby giving thee a kiss, I will even hug thee!” (pg 117)

Surprising to Niall (but not to any reader of tales) the ugliness of the woman melted away and revealed the goddess named “Royal Rule.” She granted him the water as promised but also anointed him heir to the thrown of his father. The four older brothers failed to meet the goddess that Niall found in the old woman. He passed the test and was able to find joy in his life as the new king.

8. Woman as the Temptress

The woman in mythology represents more than the joy of youth and the joy from knowledge. In this step of the Hero’s journey, the woman plays that role of temptress. Often, one of the trails that the hero must face is the temptation associated with the flesh. This may or may not be associated with an actual woman but may come as any physical temptation that the hero must overcome.

In the last episode, we talked how the hero enters into the belly of the whale. That experience teaches the hero selflessness. In meeting with the Goddess, the hero learns charity. If the hero successfully resists the temptations of this step, he will learn of purity and chastity.

An example of a hero who could not resist the temptation was Sir Lancelot of Arthurian legend. His betrayal against King Aurthur with Queen Guenevere tarnished his soul and prevented him from finding the Holy Grail in a later quest.

The step of resisting the temptations of the world or of the flesh are common themes in the legends of the Oriental (or Eastern) stores of the Future Buddha and Occidental (or Western) stories of Christian Saints. Whether it was Buddha on the path to enlightenment, or Christians approaching sainthood, both were successfully in resisting the proverbial “woman as temptress.”

9. Atonement with the Father

The word “atonement” can be defined as being brought as one with another. The first five letters of the word atonement spells the words “at one.” After two steps in the hero’s journey with the feminine, the hero seeks atonement with the father-figure, or through benevolent-grace, brought back into the Father’s presence.

In describing this step, Campbell uses the Freudian terminology of “super-ego” and “id.”

“Atonement (at-one-ment) consists in no more than the abandonment of that self-generated double monster – the dragon thought to be God (superego) and the dragon though to be Sin (repressed id). But this requires an abandonment of the attachment to ego itself, and that is what is difficult. One must have a faith that the father is merciful, and then a reliance on that mercy. (pg. 130)

Through the journey, our hero has had many successes through his difficulties. He may begin to have an over-inflated self-confidence (or in other words, a superego). He may believe that he could be a god himself and be worthy to be with the gods or the Father through his own merit. But our hero is not perfect as he has fallen short and may have succumb to his darker nature (or his repressed id). As he is not worthy to be reconciled with the father through his own merits, he must learn humility to correct his superego. To let go of the darkness of his soul, he must rely on the mercy of the Father.

This mercy is often granted through a test of initiation. Campbell describes it as follows:

“The traditional idea of initiation combines an introduction of the candidate into the techniques, duties, and prerogatives of his vocation with a radical readjustment of his emotional relationship to the parental images. The mystagogue (father or father-substitute) is to entrust the symbols of office only to a son who has been effectually purged of all inappropriate infantile cathexes. [...] Ideally, the invested one has been divested of his mere humanity and is representative of an impersonal cosmic force. He is twice-born; he has become himself the father. And he is competent, consequently, not to enact himself the role of the initiator, the guide, the sun door, through whom one may pass from the infantile illusions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ to an experience of the majesty of cosmic law. purged of hope and fear, and at peace in the understanding of the revelation of being. (pg. 136-7)

Through this process of atonement and initiation, he hero has now proven himself worthy to be with the father since he has successfully acted in his place.

10. Apotheosis (a-poth-E-o-sis)

Dictionary.com defines “apotheosis” as “the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of God.” Another word from apotheosis is deification. In the previous steps the hero has passed the trials associated with the gods and the goddesses. This step is where the hero becomes a god or to a lesser extent, receives the knowledge of a god.

This section in Campbell’s book was the most confusing that I have read so far. While he did provide a lot of examples, he never actually defined the term “apotheosis” during his explanation. The Wikipedia article on the monomyth provides an excellent definition:

“The Hero’s Ego is disintegrated in a breakthrough expansion of consciousness. Quite frequently his idea of reality is changed, he may find himself able to do new things or able to see a larger point of view, allowing him to sacrifice self. “

The examples provided by Campbell read more like a chapter out of a comparative religion book. There were many examples from Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. Different people from these faiths had their reality altered and became like the gods because they received the knowledge of the god or gods. Buddha achieved enlightenment, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the Confucian Scholar sought the “twenty-eight Buddhist patriarch, Bodhidharma, ‘to pacify his soul’” and his wish was granted and he departed in peace.

So whether our hero becomes a god, or like god, he has obtained understanding, knowledge, and enlightenment.

11. The Ultimate Boon

In this step of the Hero’s Journey, our hero has found the treasures that he was seeking. The actual boon could be anything. Sometimes the boon is the treasure of immortality. This boon can take the form of food or elixir that is eaten or drunk by the gods. This food is often in a place that is difficult to reach or is well guarded. Campbell said that (quote) “the greatest tale of the elixir quest in the Mesopotamian, pre-Biblical tradition is that of Gilgamesh, a legendary king of the Sumerian city of Erech, who set forth to attain the watercress of immortality, the plant [named] ‘Never Grow Old’.” (end quote – pg. 185)

Campbell described many hiding places by saying:

“Mt. Olympus rises to the heavens; gods and heroes banquet there on ambrosia. In Wotan’s mountain hall, four hundred and thirty-two thousand heroes consume the undiminished flesh of Sachrimnir, the Cosmic Boar, washing it down with a milk that runs from the udders of the she-goat Heidrun: she feeds on the leaves of Yggdrasil, the World of Ash. Within the fairy hills of Erin, the deathless Tuatha De Danaan consume the self-renewing pigs on Manannan, drinking copiously on Guibne’s ale. In Persia, the gods in the mountain garden on Mt. Hara Berezaiti drink immortal haoma, distilled from the Gaokerna Tree, the tree of life. The Japanese gods drink sake, the Polynesian ave, the Aztec gods drink the blood of men and maids. And the redeemed of Yahweh, in their roof garden, are served the inexhaustible, delicious flesh of the monsters Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz, while drinking the liquors of the four sweet rivers of paradise.” (pg. 176-7)

Other heroes went for a different boon, that is the treasure of fire. This was case for the similar quests of Prometheus of Greek mythology and Maui of Polynesian mythology. In the story of Maui, he went up against the fire god, Mahu-ika, and tricked and slew him to bring fire back from his quest.

It is possible that the boon that the hero started his quest to find was not the one that was found. Often the situation is that hero went to find an object but the ultimate boon he received was the knowledge learned during the journey.

One example of this comes from the story of King Midas and his golden touch. He thought that he received the ultimate boon of wealth when he could turn everything he touched into gold. Soon he realized that he would starve to death as all of his food and drink turned to god before he could eat them. The real tragedy was that his beloved daughter became a statue of gold at his touch. The boon for Midas turned out to be the wisdom he gained when his desired blessing became a curse.

Preview of the Return

With that we will end this essay on the Initiation phase of the monomyth as written by Joseph Campbell. So far our hero has left his home, endured trials and received the boon. In our next essay, I will conclude this series on the monomyth with the final section on “the Return.”

I will also provide some commentary and criticisms about the monomyth. I would like to incorporate your comments and critiques as well. Please stay tune after the short break to hear how your feedback can help with the next essay.

Resources

Resource material for this episode came from:

The book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell. Originally written in 1948 with a second edition in 1973.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth – Retrieved October 12, 2006

http://www.monomyth.org/ - maintained by Rich Schwab.

http://www.dictionary.com/ - Apotheosis

 

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