The Quest for the Holy Grail: A Journey in Four Years
"Look, it's not just about a missing mug. It's a metaphor. We must all look for the Grail within us." - King Arthur, Monty Python's Spamalot
I’m a sucker for storytelling, for legend, for all things mythical. King Arthur’s quests, The Odyssey and even the Star Wars saga follow the Hero’s Journey (thank you Joseph Campbell), something that seems pretty lofty and distant from our day to day lives but really is our story as well. These epic tales remind me of truths that are universal, they provide perspective, and give greater meaning to life. Have you heard the one about the little ensemble lady that performed in Monty Python’s Spamalot twice in four years at the same theater? It’s my favorite.
Let’s go back shall we? The picture presented here shows the same person in the Find Your Grail costume taken in the same hallway, four years apart. The girl on the left was fresh (ok 8 months) off of moving herself back to Colorado from NYC, dreams shattered and heart broken. She hadn’t performed in a musical in the four years that she was away, and this show was an opportunity to remember who she was, to rediscover her passion and connection to source. The tiny shell of a person that was left had just begun coming back to life through this production.
The photo on the right is me (cat's out of the bag...this story is about me) last month, giving you all this “look at how much I am acting” face, and my energy when this photo was taken was completely different from the photo on the left. This is a gal that has made a decision to answer the call. According to Campbell, this would be step four out of the seventeen steps of the Hero’s Journey, Crossing the Threshold. Guys...I am LITERALLY crossing the threshold in this picture. But, of course, I mean it in the very most metaphorical sense as well.
The hallway I am posing in for the photos looks different, but it is the same backstage of the same theater, in almost the same exact place with a slightly different angle. Although the hallways occupy the same dimensions in space, the theater was completely renovated during the four years I was away. The walls torn down, re-done and ready for a new era. You could say I experienced something similar (there she goes with the metaphors again, #EyeRollEmoji).
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my soul’s calling came to a head doing a show about going on a quest and searching for meaning in life. I think I was meant to take the last four years to collect my mental resources, gather information, reconnect with my intuition and build myself up again, shedding the old skin and renovating the same foundation to create an upgraded me. It took me all of this time to get ready and I finally am now. I hear the call and I will answer.
If someone told me in 2014 it would take four years to come full circle and find myself again, I would have cried, stomped my feet and pounded my fists, saying there was no way I would waste another four years of my life just floating in space. That I wanted to know my exact path and I wanted to know NOW. Sad to say it doesn’t work that way folks. Patience has been a recurring theme for me and a hallmark lesson in this school of life. I must trust that everything has its own divine timing and that I will receive the next steps at the perfect moment. I am so grateful for the gift of time and the lessons along the way. I look back and see the value and now look ahead to the unknown. Through the threshold I go!
Here are the stages of the Hero's Journey. Can you identify where you are?