The Meeting with the Goddess

Disciplines > Storytelling > Campbell's 'Hero's Journey' > The Meeting with the Goddess

Description | Discussion | See also

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Description

On the road, the hero may meet a powerful female figure with whom he find unity and bonding of some kind.

The goddess may be a mystical or supernatural being or she may be an ordinary woman with whom the hero gains support and synergy.

Example

In Star Wars, Luke finds Leia who is an enigmatic yet dynamic princess figure. When Luke discovers that Leia is his sister, although the love element is lost, it is replaced with an unbreakable kin connection.

In Lord of the Rings, Frodo meets the high elf Galadriel, who gives him a token and shows him a possible future.

Discussion

The goddess represents the female side of the hero (his anima) which, if he can join, will make him whole. Joining with the goddess may indicate unconditional and perfect love.

In combination, the hero and their other half form the syzygy of the 'divine couple' or the sacred marriage of a joining of souls and hence the hero gains greater power.

In mythological history, one of the earliest representations is in the Greek story of the earth mother Rhea, who saves the baby Zeus from his Titan father, Kronos. The earth mother also appears across many cultures and represents the living embodiment of the planet.

The mother figure symbolizes creation, birth and nurture and in Christian religion, Mary has special a position.

When the hero is female, then this may be a reversal, with her meeting a God who represents her animus.