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during the last several years, i've been using The Hero's Journey as a framework for the story that i pretend to be writing about my recovery from "adverse childhood experiences"
during all that time, it never occurred to me that "I" am the hero in the story
i am in Nova Scotia for the next few days. my father had a strong attraction to this area, but aside from mentioning it in passing he didn't explain why. i believe that some of his (my) (our) ancestors lived here
on Friday, i am meeting six other men, male survivors, as we call ourselves, to undergo a group healing ritual, based on The Hero's Journey. we will be doing this in a remote area, far from civilization, and close to the sea, which is as important to me as any imaginable deity. the only entities i worship in this realm are the earth and the sun (lesser deities are acknowledged and appreciated, even if not devoutly)
this experience was conceived and initiated by a friend named Malachi (until now, i've been misspelling it, sorry M). the name means "messenger
the gist is that the trauma that we experienced as children is akin to the trials endured by someone going through a rite of passage, with a key difference being that we never completed the circle (ritual) of The Hero's Journey. specifically, we never experienced a Return from the nether world of our trauma, nor did we receive the recognition from, or acknowledgement of, our respective communities, for having walked this difficult path
we may have been victimized while young and powerless, but we are today survivors who carry within us the seeds of power and liberation from the pain of suffering. seeds that some of us, speaking for myself, have been afraid to release. i still don't understand all of the why of that resistance (fear), but i am finally ready to let go, and to let "it" go
since leaving Oakland early Tuesday morning, i have been under a deluge of signs and signals that all is as it was meant to be (1), and that my journey, as it is now playing out, is magical and wondrous, despite the pain, the confusion, the not 'knowing,' and the fear
i will follow up in a couple weeks with whatever insights are to be gained from undertaking this journey...
(1) to be clear, "all is as it was meant to be" does not, in any way, imply that what happened to me (us) was ordained, or destiny, or any such bullshit
