“A
hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural
wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won:
the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow
boons on his fellow man.” – Joseph Campbell, from The Hero with a Thousand Faces
In our everyday lives, it looks more like this: You’re
plodding along, following the societal norms. You set up a nice average life,
make sure you have all the proper insurance policies and WHAM - life smacks you
upside the head with either tragedy or slow quiet suffocation, and you are
faced with a darkness that threatens to take you down. Campbell said the lives
of Buddha, Moses, and Christ followed this basic pattern, as do many other
stories from around the world. You can even find the mythic Hero’s Journey in
Star Wars. (Remember when Luke faces his nemesis in the cave?) The Hero’s
journey crosses countries, cultures and religions, but what’s missing from this
narrative are women’s stories. Recently on Super Soul Sunday, Elizabeth Gilbert
(author of Eat, Pray, Love) talked with
Oprah about this very issue, saying how important it is that women rise up and
tell their own stories.
Playwright, educator and speaker Lyena Strelkoff, always
thinking ahead of the curve, had already been long at work on this issue. This
year, Lyena had been gathering women’s stories she dubbed The Shero Summit,
and has put them together in a free telesummit that anyone can join. Seven
women tell their stories of transformation, finding medicine in the poison life
has dealt them. I am proud and honored to be one of those seven women, and will
be sharing the story from my new memoir Fire Season: My Journey from Ruin to Redemption.
The Shero Summit is a collection of real life stories, lived
by women challenged by circumstance to lay down or rise. Funny, heartbreaking,
inspiring, uplifting…. These shero stories shine powerful light into the
journey of human transformation and, in so doing, light the way for you no
matter what stage of the journey you’re on.
Because Lyena wanted this journey to be available to every
woman (and man), it is a free telesummit.
I so hope you will join me, Lyena and the other brave women
who have so courageously shared the good the bad and the ugly of their
journeys. I know you will find pieces of yourself in each woman, and am sure
you will walk away lifted and inspired.
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women, risen from the ashes! Click here to register for your week of free video
interviews: http://sherosummit.com/