Monomyth Defined

Monomyth:

From the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell wrote:[4]"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."

Wikipedia says - (often referred to as the hero's journey) In the monomyth, the hero begins in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unknown world of strange powers and events. If the hero accepts the call to enter this strange world, the hero must face tasks and trials, either alone or with assistance. At its most intense, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help earned along the journey. If the hero survives, the hero may achieve a great gift or "boon." The hero must then decide whether to return to the ordinary world with this boon. If the hero does decide to return, the hero often faces challenges on the return journey. If the hero is successful in returning, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world. The stories of Osiris, Prometheus, Moses, Buddha, and Christ, for example, follow this structure very closely.[2]

Campbell describes some seventeen stages or steps along this journey. Very few myths contain all seventeen stages — some myths contain many of the stages, while others contain only a few; some myths may have as a focus only one of the stages, while other myths may deal with the stages in a somewhat different order. These seventeen stages may be organized in a number of ways, including division into three sections: Departure (sometimes called Separation), Initiation and Return. "Departure" deals with the hero venturing forth on the quest; "Initiation" deals with the hero's various adventures along the way; and "Return" deals with the hero's return home with knowledge and powers acquired on the journey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Wookchuck Farms

So last week a woodchuck got in to my garden and to say the least I was furious. Here this thing was raiding my winter squash, the portion of my produce that was doing better than everything else, my biggest source of garden pride. My dog Max had him cornered and I went after the thing with a shovel, the next thing I know it rushes Max and almost gets away. Max takes a few nips at him, the woodchuck hisses back and turns tail and runs back under my shed. Sheer and utter anger, unabashed frustration and raw emotions are all I had. I spent the night mad and frustrated destined to kill the woodchuck. So then I was faced with the dilemma do I fume and do nothing or take some action. The next morning I decided to go out and make a change to the garden, I put down chicken wire at the bottom of the fence so the woodchuck could not go under. This is where the lesson began. I sat back for a second and realized that all of the anger I had inside was really at myself. I had known that we had a woodchuck issue in years past, after all what self respecting animal would not want to eat our vegetables, free easy lunch with no chemical additives. I realized that the frustration was with myself, for not taking action earlier and putting in the extra fence like I knew I should. I knew the anger was because I had not prepped the rest of the garden with good compost, I had taken half measures and expected a bountiful harvest every where. To paraphrase Covey, I had expected to cram for the exam with out studying all term, to reap the harvest with out taking the time to tend to my crop. So I concentrated on my breathing, put in the fence and even added some nice lattice to give the squash a place to trellis and to add some more recycled beauty to my garden. (perhaps my wonderful wifey will take a picture of my handy work for me and I can paste in it here, she takes amazing photos). So from this practice of my Yoga in the day to day has been born Woodchuck Farms. An organic farm, dairy and aviary (planning or future expansion here). Where we take a proactive approach concentrating on prevention, preparation and preservation to produce high quality food that is nutritional and worth eating.

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