| Status Quo | The new king Odysseus is on Ithaca, enjoying his new baby Telemachus with his wife Penelope |
| Call to Adventure | Odysseus pretends to be crazy when he is called to go to the Trojan War. Odysseus wants to stay with his new family so he pretends to be insane; he ploughs the salty beach, but the warrior sent to take him to Troy puts the baby Telemachus in his path and Odysseus swerves around him, thus revealing he is sane… so he must leave for Troy. In the 10 long years of battle, Odysseus gains fame for his strength as a warrior and also for his ingenious battle strategy: the Trojan Horse |
| Assistance from a mentor | Athena watches over Odysseus and aids him in the Trojan War and beyond |
| Crossing the Threshold to the special world | Odysseus leaves Troy on the boat for Ithaca |
| Trials | Odysseus faces the Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops Polyphemus, the man-eating Laestrygonians, the enchantress Circe, the perils of the Underworld, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the possessiveness of Calypso, not to mention the greed and fickleness of his crew (the cattle of the sun) and the contrast antipathy of Poseidon |
| Approach | Circe prepares him for facing the Underworld, the Land of the Dead |
| Ordeal/ Crisis | Odysseus must travel to the Underworld where he must meet with the blind prophet Tiresias to find out how he can get home. This is the greatest challenge because mortals do not enter the underworld and return. succeeding here symbolizes mastery over life and death |
| Treasure | Tiresias gives Odysseus the instructions he needs to get home to Ithaca |
| Result | after he is stalled on Calypso’s island for 7 years, Athena wins the approval of Zeus to speed odysseus homeward and Hermes is sent to tell Calypso, “Time to let Odysseus go.” On his way to Ithaca, Poseidon wreaks his boat, Ino aids him with her magic scarf, and Odysseus lands on Scheria |
| The road back | King Alcinous , after hearing of Odysseus’s story, sends him home to Ithaca on one of his famous black Phaeacian ships, He also loads him up with Phaeacian treasure |
| Resurrection/ New life | At the climax of Odysseus’s journey, he must defeat the suitors to gain back his home. His disguise as a beggar teaches him forbearance, suffering humiliation at the hands of the suitors, but it also gives him a unique position to judge the loyalty of those at home. Penelope offers the contest of the bow. Wielding his bow, Odysseus is reborn from the beggar to the Once and Future King, reclaiming his own |
| Return with Elixir | Odysseus purifies his home, reestablishes his love with Penelope, and pacifies the families of the suitors who were killed. |
| New Status Quo | the hero is back where he began but his view of the world has changed |
odysseus and the 12-step Hero’s Journey
April 19, 2020