Queering the Hero’s Journey
It is Time to Write Yourself In
This article was co-written with Aryn, the Alchemist. Samar and Aryn are collaborating on a project that marries personal lore, queer praxis, and sovereignty.
What is the Hero’s Journey?
Joseph Campbell defined the Hero’s Journey in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, published in 1949. The Hero’s Journey is a roadmap that documents the recurring structure of narrative myth. Campbell was heavily influenced by the work of Carl Jung, who explored the relationship between mythology, psychology and how they affected our relationship with the self and the world.
All good stories feature transformations.
The Hero’s Journey is a 17-step process that begins with the call to adventure and concludes with some kind of transformation and renewed sense of purpose. A satisfying story features a hero who is imperfect, flawed or missing some key perspective about themselves and the world they live within. Through external challenges, they’re inevitably forced to contend with what they really need.
The Hero’s Journey speaks to this tension between external events and internal experience. Campbell didn’t invent this narrative structure–he articulated it. If you’re ever studied narrative form and structure, you’ll see similarities between the steps of the Hero’s Journey and the “beats” of traditional storytelling.
Joseph Campbell’s ideas have been criticized by folklore experts as being too general about the complexity of cross-cultural mythology. Yes, there are patterns in myths that are reflected in the Hero’s Journey. But to assume that all myths fit into this “monomyth” would be incorrect and oversimplified.
One (white, cis, het) man to save us all
There are a few reasons why the hero’s journey is in desperate need of a decolonial lens. Probably one of the more important reasons is the idea that there is a savior to save us. This idea that a man will come and save us from despair, ruin, and strife is literally in just about every major book/story/film. If you were socialized to perform womanhood in this society, Prince Charming was the go-to. Abrahamic religion follower? A Messiah/Prophet/Savior. Socialized to be a man? Welp, you had to fit the narrow view of the Hero. Hyper masculine, strong, fair skinned, and very heterosexual. Seeing this broken down in this way, it’s easy to see how the “monomyth” has wreaked havoc in our societies. This is because as it stands, the Hero’s Journey further supports supremacist, colonial ideals.
Well, damn. Now what?
We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The overall concept of the Hero’s Journey is not tainted. It is incomplete. Instead of scrapping it altogether, we need to do as our transcestors taught us. We need to queer tf outta this shit. Write our bodies in. Include our stories. Allow ourselves to own our own myths, our own lore. What would happen if you were the Archetype? What would life be like if you were the hero that saves your Self?
In Samar’s work, they have an offer called Ensouling. The Act of Ensouling is essentially a decolonial journey of imbuing the soul with the self and retrieving your power; it utilizes a framework called the Ensouling Quintessence1. In the Ensouling Quintessence there’s a pillar - Crafting Your Personal Lore. During this part of their journeys folx are invited to mythologize TF out of their stories, and include the parts where they are their own heroes, whatever that looks like. It is just an introduction and it is only one part of a person’s journey. But, what folx have found is:
Hooking into their creative power is empowering.
They’ve had the key all along.
The somatic act of writing furthers the integration of their decolonial journey.
We love that it is a practice they can return to again and again. There’s always a place to meet themselves within the deep of the Underworld, or the lush Taurean gardens of Spring cycles. The participants can utilize the Hero’s Journey, but in it, they get to explore what that would look like in their bodies. They get to see all of the spirals that unwind back to themselves and that they are always coming back to their power, engaging with it, and allowing it to be redefined by their evolution.
We just threw a lot at you. It might be time to check in with your body and feel into what is emerging. How does it feel to know you can queer expectations and become your own hero? Where do you feel a desire to create and share your story?
If you’re feeling excited, activated or maybe wondering what a process like that might look like, Aryn and Samar will co-facilitate a workshop Queering the Hero’s Journey on April 26th, 2026 from 2-4PM EST. Tickets will be available soon, so sign up for the waitlist! You’ll get to hear more information about the colonial process, how it is connected to real shadow work, and how you can join the juicy workshop.
The Ensouling Quintessence is a framework created by the Ensoulment Doula that provides structure for a conscious dive into the Underworld.
 | A guest post by
|