Power of Storytelling

Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By, Stillpoint Digital Press, Joseph Campbell Foundation.

—– with Phil Cousineau, The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, New World Library.

Jonah Sachs, Winning the Story Wars, Harvard Business Review Press.

Meditative Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm, HarperOne.

—–, How to Love, Parallax Press.

—–, How to Walk, Parallax Press.

Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love, A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom, Doubleday.

David Whyte, River Flow, Many Rivers Press (book of collected poems).

Spiritual Practice

Jack Kornfield, After the Ecstasy, The Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path, Bantam. Audible, audio edition.

—–, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life, Bantam.

Matt Licata, The Path is Everywhere, Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You, Wandering Yogi Press. High recommendation-the chapter on the union of light and dark.

Seena B. Frost, Soulcollage Evolving: An Intuitive Collage Process for Self-Discovery and Community, Hanford Mead Publishers, Inc. *No eBook edition.

Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, The Crossroad Publishing Company.

Pilgrimage/Camino

Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgrimage, Conari Press.

Nancy Louise Frey, Pilgrim Stories: On and Off the Road to Santiago, University of California Press.

China Galland, Longing for Darkness: Tara and the Black Madonna, Penguin books, 2007. *No eBook edition.

Gina Marie Mammano, Camino Divina, Walking the Divine Way, Skylight Paths Publishing.

David Whyte, Pilgrim, Many Rivers Press (poems about pilgrimage and the Camino).

Sarah York, Pilgrim Heart: The Inner Journey Home, Jossey-Bass. *No eBook edition.

Dreams

Robert Bosnak, A Little Course in Dreams, Penguin Random House.

Rites of Initiation

These are the classic anthropology texts on rites of Passage.

Arnold van Gennep, Rites of Passage, University of Chicago Press.

Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation, The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth, Spring Publications, 1964, Kindle edition 2012.

Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. (Rites of Passage: Separation, Liminality, Reincorporation), Routledge, UK. *No eBook edition.

—–, From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play. *No eBook edition.

Mythic Journeys

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 1949. *No eBook edition.

—–, with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, 1988. *No eBook edition. Book is based on the Public Broadcast Stations (USA) interviews of the same name.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of The Wild Woman Archetype, River Wolf Press.

Maureen Murdock, The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness, Shambhala, 2013.

Richard Rohr, Adam’s Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation, Audible Audio Edition. (The first half of this book is an excellent description of an initiatory process regardless of gender.)

Alexander John Shaia with Michelle L. Gaugy, Heart and Mind: The Four-Gospel Journey for Radical Transformation, Third Edition (2021, 2025), Amazon Paperback and Kindle.

Betty DeShong Meador, Uncursing the Dark: Treasures from the Underworld, The Myth of Inanna, Chiron Publications. *No eBook edition. (High recommendation-an in-depth look at a woman’s rite of passage seen through the oldest known written western myth,from Sumaria, 5,000 BCE.)

Paul G. Zolbrod, Dine Bahane, Navajo Creation Myth, University of New Mexico Press. “No eBook edition.

Films/Documentaries

Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago, Lydia B.Smith producer/director, 2014. www.caminodocumentary.org

(An inspiring and visually stunning documentary, telling of six pilgrims’ journey to Santiago.Of all Camino films, this one best captures its soul, inner experience and the likely individuals that one meets along the way.)

The Way, with Mark Shea, OverlanderTV.com, or YouTube, 2008.

(Mid 30s Australian walks the Camino Frances,making a video-journal as he walks. Mark’s reflections cut deeper than most. A close look will reveal the four paths of Quadratos in his pilgrimage.)

Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis, director-producer, with Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt, 2000.

(Story of the sole survivor of a plane crash, marooned on an island for years, eventually rescued, and the adjustments he faces upon returning home. Remarkable storytelling, including the gift and challenges in returning home from a transformative experience.)

Pilgrimage: The Way to Santiago, BBC Documentary, 2018.

(Three episodes, each one hour, following seven well-known British individuals as they become pilgrims and walk the Camino Frances from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago, then to Finisterre. Powerful dialogue, true to the feelings, thoughts and conversations found on the Camino. The aerial cinematography is breathtaking.)

The Journey of Quadratos

Quadratos Schema – both Northern & Southern Hemisphere

Quadratos Map

The Hero and Heroine’s Journey

Joseph Campbell

As a university student in 1973, I stumbled into a seminar with a passionate and erudite professor teaching an advanced seminar on Sacred Scripture and Great Myth, offered through the theology department.

That professor was Joseph Campbell, arguably the world’s pre-eminent mythologist. His impact on my life and work has been enormous.

Campbell names the human quest as the Hero and Heroine’s Journey. This quest he calls a “monomyth,” and divides it into four stages, comprising seventeen steps:
I. Hearing the Summons
1. The Call to Journey/Quest
2. Refusing The Call
3. Gifts/Mentor & Magical Aid Arrive
4. Crossing the First Threshold

II. Enduring Tests and Obstacles
5. Belly of the Whale
6. Road of Tests
7. Meeting with a Helpful Figure-Counsel Given
8. Meeting with Tempter-Temptress

III. Receiving the Boon
9. Encounter with Ultimate Power
10. Apotheosis—Receiving Greater Understanding
11. Ultimate Boon-Receiving a Taste, Sighting of the Quest’s Goal

IV. Returning to Community
12.Refusing the Return
13. Magic Flight-Magical Help to Return
14. Rescue from Without-Outer Life Presents Trials
15. Crossing of The Return Threshold-Many

Tests and Errors
16. Skill in Two Worlds-Inner and Outer
17. Freedom to Live in the Moment-Neither Anticipating the Future, Nor Regretting the Past

Joseph Campbell from The Hero with a Thousand Faces