"And so Galahad decided that it would be a disgrace to set off on a quest with the other knights. Alone he would enter the dark forest where there was no path. This is the myth of the Hero's Journey."

Elsewhere, Campbell says:
"Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human manifestation..." (Hero with a Thousand Faces)

Thusly, each of us can choose to be a hero! The adventure is within. It does not matter so much what the circumstances of our lives are, but rather how we deal with them.

I've placed other symbols within this piece. The sun and moon suggest the importance of both light side and dark side. Each must exist in balance to each other. The "X X X" is for the Egyptian phrase "Xepera Xeper Xeperu" which means "I have come into being, and by the process of coming into being, the process of coming into being is established." The arrows there help augment that meaning, the backwards pointing arrow stressing the PAST actions which have gone into the "I have come into being", and the forward pointing arrow suggests that this is an ongoing process.

The person in the meditating pose has muscular arms. This suggests it takes both physical rest and action to achieve our ends. Also, the person exhibits a bit of androgeny, with a feminine face and a masculine body. The evolved person is in touch with both aspects within themself.

The hero here with one hand is grasping a question mark to express ever seeking the Mysteries, and the paint brush denotes the role of Creativity on the Hero's path. If we are on a quest by ourselves, not following 'the other knights', creativity will be required to handle the challenges that life presents to us.

This piece is available in a high quality photo lustre print!

scarab, sacred symbol of evolution, regeneration and transformation . . .

© Joan Lansberry
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