From ‘The Hero with a thousand faces’

The mythological hero, setting forth from his commondary hut or castle, is lured, carried away, or else voluntarily proceeds, to the threshold of adventure. There he encounters a shadow presence that guards the passage. The hero may defeat or conciliate this power and go alive into into the kingdom of the dark (brother battle, dragon-battle; offering, charm), or be slain by the opponent and descend in death(dismemberment, crucifixion). Beyond the threshold, then , the hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten him (tests),some of which give magical aid(helpers).When he arrives at the nadir of the mythological round, he undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward. The triumph may be represented as the hero’s sexual union with the goddess mother of the world (sacred marriage), his recognition by the father-creator(father atonement), his own divinization(apotheosis), or again- if the powers have remained unfriendly to him- his theft of the boon he came to gain(bride-theft, fire-theft); intrinsically it is an expansion of consciousness and therewith of being(illumination, transfiguration, freedom). The final work is that of return. If the powers have blessed the hero, he now sets forth under their protection (emissary); if not, he flees and is pursued (transofromation fllight, obstacle filght). At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind; the hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread(return, resurrection). The boon that brings restores the world(elixir) .

SEPERATION OR THE DEPARTURE
1)”The Call to Adventure” or the signs of vocation of the hero: Ex: Buddha 2) “Refusal of the Call”, or the folly of the flight from the god 3) “Supernatural Aid”, the unsuspected assistance that comes to one who undertakes his proper adventure 4) “The crossing of the First Threshold” 5) “The Belly of the Whale” or the passage into the realm of night.

THE TRIALS AND VICTORIES OF INITIATION
1) “The Road of Trials”, or the dangerous aspects of the gods 2) “The meeting with the Goddess” (Magna Matter) or the bliss of infancy regained 3) “Woman as the Temptress” the realization and agony of Oedipus 4) “The Atonement with the Father” 5) “Apotheosis” 6) “The Ultimate Boon”

THE RETURN AND THE INTEGRATION WITH THE SOCIETY
1) “The refusal to Return” or the world denied 2) “The magic flight”, or the escape of Promotheus 3) “Rescue from Without” 4) “The Crossing of the Return Threshold”, or the return to the world of the common day 5) “Master of the Two worlds” 6) “The Freedom to Live,” the nature and function of the ultimate boon.