Our world, across civilizations and throughout history, has always needed its tales of holy creatures and ferocious monsters, demonic beasts, saviours and heroes, sirens and witches, kings and gods, war and peace, love and honour, order and chaos. Before the written word, these were oral traditions of story- telling, passed on for generations. In oral narratives, cultural nuances were captured and combined with the wisdom of each of its generations. These tales reflected our inner demons, our imperfect lives, our weaknesses, strengths, virtues and most importantly they reflected our unexplained and somewhat irrational desire to follow conventions. These tales became mythology and within that, its multi layered myths.

Myths and Mythology tell us about our values, and are embedded in our social psyche – how we treat strangers, how we behave in society, how we relate to family, how we worship our gods, and what happens if we don’t.

A fascinating feature across the globe and through time between Mythologies was a similarity- the construction of good and evil. An American mythologist, Joseph Campbell (1904- 1987) in his groundbreaking 1949 publication, ‘ A Hero with a Thousand Faces’, drew on pioneering work of Sigmund Freud ( founder of psychoanalysis) and Carl Jung (the founder of analytical psychology), he outlined the recurring stages in stories and cultures and called it ‘ The Hero’s Journey’.  This took Hollywood by storm. It opened the door for Hollywood producers of big blockbusters like Star Wars, authors of best sellers, playwrights to follow his eleven stages of a model:

• Status Quo – when everything is normal
• Call to Adventure – the issue is raised
• Supernatural Aid – heroes cannot do it alone and in today’s narrative the supporting helpers are as important as the hero
• Crossing the Threshold – the hero steps into unknown territory
• Road of Trials – a series of dangerous tests and perilous encounters await the skill of the hero
• The Approach – creates a story about our fears and our longing.
• The Ordeal – once the hero has survived these fires, (s)he comes out victorious of this one last ordeal. The hero tackles demons and gods in love and battle. In many patriarchal cultures, male prowess is celebrated and enormous adventures are undertaken. Evil, dragons, giants are found in stories across the globe and from ancient Indian, Egyptian and Chinese texts to those of the of Middle East and into the West.
• The Reward – is won in a state of enlightenment
• Magic Flight – brings the hero home
• Return – is symbolised with new found wisdom or the desired object
• Resurrection – a new world is erected
• Resolution- the hero’s journey comes to an end.

Despite similar elements, different societies developed mythologies for different purposes, like teaching lessons of cultural norms and morality. The wonder and belief in a Hero’s Journey, the threads that connect humanity across cultural and geographic boundaries, is probably a necessary one in today’s divided world. And when all else fails, it is this relevance of mythology that keeps it alive. In a state of abyss of positive thoughts of our collective consciousness, it is our mythologies of wonder and magic, of valour and bravery, of love and loyalty – that make us get through the harshness, the ruthlessness and cruelty of today’s world.