Presenter: Denise Grobbelaar

The hero’s journey always begins with ‘a call to adventure’ – an illness, a catastrophe or other life event that disturbs our everyday reality. Join us as we journey through the three phases of the Hero’s journey as mapped by Joseph Campbell: Departure, Initiation, and Return.

Joseph Campbell’s description of the hero’s journey as a monomyth has been equated with Carl Jung’s process of individuation. The journey as a metaphor for the archetypal pattern of the transformation of consciousness – the maturing of the human being through tests, trials and ordeals – is a deeply human narrative reflected in mythologies around the world.

Campbell suggested that The Hero’s Journey as depicted in the outer journeys of life and mythology is indeed a deep inner journey of transformation and growth. Jung suggests that ‘the treasure hard to attain’ lies hidden in the deep waters of the unconscious. The hero’s Journey begins with the individual’s departure from their conscious personality, descending into the unknown uncharted regions of their psyche in search of the ‘ultimate boon’, while being confronted by their shadow aspects along the way.  Campbell suggests that consciously or unconsciously, we are in search of the innermost Self, what Jung called the Archetype of the Self, or the God image within.

Join us as we journey through the three phases of the Hero’s journey as mapped by Joseph Campbell: Departure, Initiation, and Return.  The hero’s journey always begins with ‘a call to adventure’ – an illness, a catastrophe or other life event that disturbs our everyday reality – and involves crossing important thresholds, meeting mentors and allies, and facing tests.

Denise Grobbelaar is a Jungian Analyst and Clinical psychologist working in private practice in Cape Town. She is affiliated with the South African Association of Jungian Analysts (SAAJA) and the International Association of Jungian Analysts (IAAP). Denise has a long-standing interest in dream work, shadow work, consciousness, shamanism, mysticism and mythology.  Her paper “The White Lion as Symbol of the Archetype of the Self and the Cannibalization of the Self in Canned Hunting” was published in the 2020 Spring Issue of the Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche.

Denise has been in private practice since November 2011. Prior to commencing private practice, she gained eight years’ experience working in the field of adult mental health. This includes having worked at state facilities such as Groote Schuur and Valkenberg hospitals as well as managing a center for people with chronic and disabling mental illnesses in Observatory, Cape Town, called Fountain House, a program of Cape Mental Health Society.