that is no more. Or it may be a relationship, ended by death or dis-
tance, that leaves us grieving.
Will the heroine in the woman emerge or survive the loss? Can
she grieve and go on? Or will she give up, become bitter, or overcome
by depression, will she stop her journey at this point? If she goes
on, she will be choosing the path of the heroine.
GETTING THROUGH THE DARK AND
NARROW PASSAGE
Most heroic journeys involve going through a dark place—through
mountain caverns, the underworld, or labyrinthine passages to
emerge, finally, into the light. Or they may involve traveling through
a desolate wasteland or desert to a green land. This journey is ana-
logous to passing through a depression. In the myths as in life, the
traveler needs to keep on moving, to keep on functioning, to do what
has to be done, to stay in touch with her companions or manage
alone, to not stop and give up (even when she feels lost), to maintain
hope in darkness.
The darkness may represent those dark, repressed feelings (of
anger, despair, resentment, blame, vengeance, betrayal, fear, and
guilt) through which people must pass if they are to get out of a
depression. It is a dark night of the soul, when in the absence of light
or love life seems meaningless, a cosmic joke. Grieving and forgiving
is usually the way out. Thereafter, vitality and light may return
It helps to realize that death and rebirth, in myth and dreams, are
metaphors for loss, depression, and recovery. In retrospect, many
such dark periods turn out to be rites of passage, a time of suffering
through which a woman has learned something of value, and has
grown. Or she may have been, for a while, like Persephone in the
underworld, a temporary captive who later becomes a guide for
others.
EVOKING THE TRANSCENDENT FUNCTION
In standard heroic myths, after setting out on the quest, encoun-
tering and overcoming dangers, dragons, and darkness, the protag-
onist invariably gets stuck, unable to go for-
The Heroine in Everywoman