{"id":21237,"date":"2019-12-01T01:10:55","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T05:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/?p=21237"},"modified":"2019-12-01T13:03:53","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T17:03:53","slug":"book-review-the-mythic-journey-juliet-sharman-burke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2019\/12\/01\/book-review-the-mythic-journey-juliet-sharman-burke\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review \u2013 The Mythic Journey: Use Myths, Fairy Tales and Folklore to Explain Life\u2019s Mysteries by Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book Review <\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

The Mythic Journey<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

Use Myths, Fairy Tales and Folklore to Explain Life\u2019s Mysteries<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

b<\/b><\/span>y Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

240 Pages<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

This lovely collection of myths, fairy stories and folklore is brought to us by Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke, who collaborated on The Mythic Tarot. It appears to be a re-working of the book originally published in 2000. The tales included continue to inform our psyches today as the authors see with the eye of the mythic imagination past form into the heart of being. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The stories included in the book come from many cultures and traditions: Buddhism, the Old Testament, ancient Greece, Minoan Crete, Maori New Zealand, the Finnish Kalevala and the Grail stories, among others. The authors have organized the tales into five parts: In the Beginning; Becoming an Individual; Love and Relationships; Position and Power and Rites of Passages. These sections are further structured by aspects of each of those life stages: children and the family inheritance; leaving home and finding autonomy; love and relationship; vocation, ambition and responsibility; and separation, loss, the spiritual quest and the final journey \u2013 facing our mortality. Greene and Sharman-Burke have set out the stages of human life as initiatory rites of passage. They show us how to see our individual lives in the rich context of living principles that are greater than ourselves. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The authors introduce each chapter with an overview of the deeper meaning of each life stage. They then re-tell the myths they have selected in their own words. Each story is followed by a commentary that places the figures in the tale in both mythic and psychological contexts which highlight both the struggles of these stages of life and how they are potentially resolved in a way that feeds the soul. The story of the Buddha discovering a world outside his father\u2019s palace and property is used to illustrate the leaving home life stage, for example; Parsifal\u2019s quest for The Grail is part of the search for meaning section, so we are exploring true archetypal territory. The insights shared in the commentaries provide food for reflection and meditation. The stories take us past our rational minds into imaginal territory and the commentaries are pathways through the territories of our personal stories. We can see ourselves in these mythic tales. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> The book is one to be picked up and opened at random. It does not need to be read cover to cover in order to mine its gems. It is a good addition to any well-rounded library, especially if you appreciate the work of these notable authors. If you haven\u2019t read their other works, this is a great place to start! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n