The Hero and the Goddess: The Odyssey as Mystery and Initiation

The Hero and the Goddess explores the transformational power of one of the world's greatest stories--The Odyssey. This classic tale of adventures and exploits is the supreme metaphor in the Western mind for spiritual initiation. Jean Houston interprets each episode from the epic--including Odysseus's confrontation with the Cyclops, his temptation by the Sirens, his descent into the Underworld, and his ultimate reunion with the subtle and brilliant Penelope--and explores with us the universal themes of wounding and betrayal, suffering and loss, terrifying triumph and the search for the Divine Beloved.
The Odyssey's most important lesson is the recognition of the powerful union created by the Hero and the Goddess within each of us. Like Odysseus, we are all heroes confronting our own temptations and descent into the Underworld as we forge our destiny. Houston also believes that The Odyssey contains the power to help humanity reinvent itself through harnessing the potent force of the Divine Feminine--for it is through Odysseus's deep and committed relationship with the Goddess Athena that he is ushered to the climax of self-transformation.
Through detailed exercises and dramatic enactments that can be done in groups or alone, The Hero and the Goddess guides us to our journey's end--renewed, reborn, and rededicated to the possibilities our lives offer.