The Heroine’s Journey — Step 4

Today’s post is Week 4 of 12-wk series, exploring the different stages of Joseph Campbell, Maureen Murdock, and Victoria Lynn Schmidt in relation to how a woman finds her voice, learns to be content, and shares joy. If you missed the previous posts, please visit: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3

Step 4

• Campbell: Crossing the Threshold
• Murdock: Experiencing the boon of success
• Schmidt: The descent — passing the gates of judgment

What the experts say

Campbell: When the adventurer crosses the first threshold, he faces ogres, trolls, and seductresses that try to scare him into not continuing his journey into a more magnificent world. “The usual person is more than content, he is even proud, to remain within the indicated bounds, and popular belief gives him every reason to fear so much as the first step into the unexplored” (78).

“One had better not challenge the watcher of the established bounds. And yet — it is only by advancing beyond those bounds, provoking the destructive other aspect of the same power, that the individual passes, either alive or in death, into a new zone of experience” (82).

The adventurer uses weapons and familiar tactics to try to overcome these creatures, but he must recognize the power within him, a…