The women behind the podcast: Sarah’s perspective
Written by Sarah Selim
WHY THIS, WHY US, WHY NOW?
Some say every good project starts with a twinkle in someone’s eye. In our case, I would say it started with full-on stars… the kind indicating a passionate love affair. That is how I would describe Christine’s discovery of The Heroine’s Journey, love at first sight. From the moment she encountered it during a course on Memoir as Medicine, it called to her. And she joyfully answered the call - sharing the joy of her love with anyone who would listen, me included. I’ll never forget the first time she flipped to a page in one of her always-present notebooks where she had carefully illustrated the journey as she understood it and the excitement as she explained to me why it was so revolutionary. I’ll admit, I was enamored too, although it would be a little while longer before I understood the extent to which stars in her eyes - as friends who had been in her life longer already knew - foretold good things to come in the world, as evidenced by her empathy organization Conversable, her travel organization Wondermore, and a myriad other birthings.
It was during that very first conversation, sitting at an outdoor table at a taverna (a small Greek restaurant) on the sacred island of Patmos, that she mentioned the word “podcast”. Little did I know that 6 months later, we’d be sitting together at a table in Nosara, Costa Rica - much closer to home for her than for me - working out the kinks in her new Calendly account so that she could schedule recording sessions for the guests of the very first season of The Heroine’s Journey podcast.
A few things are different now. The illustrated map of The Heroine’s Journey we are using to structure the content for the podcast is no longer the map Maureen Murdoch drew in her excellent book The Heroine’s Journey (first published in 1990), nor the updated map developed by Victoria Lynn Schmidt based on the work of Maureen and others. It is a map we developed heavily inspired by the work of these thinkers and others, and one that also draws on the understanding of life, death, and rebirth long represented in mythologies from around the world and across time (including the Egyptian mythology that is part of my heritage). We think it is both profound and exceedingly simple (although as one of my teachers says, simply doesn’t mean easy!), and potentially relevant for all human journeys, gender and socialization aside.
We choose to continue calling it The Heroine’s Journey (for now!) to continue to bring attention to the ways in which modern society continues to dismiss or diminish many of the qualities we associate with the feminine - including cooperation, interdependence, and love. And because we have experienced how healing and how generative it is to center and reclaim these qualities. (For those thinking that the use of terms such as masculine and feminine is reductionist and dualistic - we agree. And also - we live in societies shaped by patriarchy, which perpetuates the binary of masculine and feminine, and as part of understanding how that influence shapes us, we think it is important to surface what has been associated with the feminine and therefore cast aside. We are in an ongoing conversation, however, about how to speak about and situate this work in a way that does not further perpetuate the binary, and does not cause harm in a world where many are courageously speaking up to challenge the binary of masculine and feminine which is often mapped to the binary of male and female.)
And who are we? Well, that is another difference between today and 6 months ago - this trip to Costa Rica, which has spanned almost a month spent in conversation, curiosity, and a joyful community, was the first time I was able to meet - in person - the third pillar behind the podcast. The exquisite and increible, Nandi! A soul so luminescent her smile lights up rooms she hasn’t even entered yet. An artist, activist, creatrix, and staunch friend, she is a force of nature. Through late nights, walks on the beach, and laughter over many meals, Christine, Nandi, and I furthered our collective love affair with The Heroine’s Journey. Also, we prepared for the birthing of this podcast, an exploration alongside you, dear friends, of this journey so many of us have been on, or continue to travel. May it bring us all solace to know we walk alongside one another, even when the road is dark and the way seems lost. We love you.
