Dancing in the Shadows by Laura Bryannan

Chapter 11

MYTH WORK

The writing of Jean Houston, Ph.D., is bursting with valuable exercises and meditations that can be of use to anyone seeking to explore mythology and sacred psychology. One of her most important contributions, as far as survivors are concerned, is an exercise called "The Sacred Wound" from her book The Search for the Beloved (Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1987).*

Ms. Houston discusses the importance of reframing experiences of abuse in more hopeful and meaningful ways. She sees these woundings as necessary to our soul's development. "Our woundings tell us that old forms are ready to die, however reluctant the local self may be to allow this to occur, and that hitherto unsuspected new forms are ready to flower."

She notes that you will find such woundings in all the great myths of heros, heroines, gods and goddesses. "All of these myths of wounding carry with them the uncanny, the mysterious, the announcement that the sacred is entering into time. Each prefigures a journey, a renaissance, a birth or rebirth, a turning point in the lives of gods and mortals."

Houston challenges all who have suffered woundings in their lives to see the great potential for growth and change inherent in these experiences. It is my personal belief that those of us who suffered childhood sexual abuse had souls who decided to take on an important challenge in this life. The destruction of the old self, the penetration of the archetypal "dark" energies, the phenomena of rebuilding one's self from scratch, has set the stage for the attainment of great compassion, creativity, healing, psychic ability, and strength.

"The Sacred Wound" exercise asks survivors to place the story of their abuse into a mythological context. This accomplishes two very worthy goals: First, it encourages you to question the "truth" of your story as you now understand it. It can show you the larger pattern playing itself out in your life. Second, telling your story as a myth is a way to examine the abuse in your life from a safe vantage point. As your myth unfolds it provides a strong container that protects you from being overwhelmed. Personal energies are replaced by larger, archetypal energies, and the abused little girl can become the Maiden-to-be-Rescued or the Magical Child.

Jean Houston provides a thorough and rich discussion of this process in The Search for the Beloved. Anyone choosing to work with this exercise (and I highly recommend it) should seek out the book and read it before beginning. The directions below are a thumbnail sketch of the complete process. As the search for healthy and balanced love (both from others and toward themselves) is a goal of many survivors, this book has many other wonderful exercises that will prove invaluable in healing.

The Sacred Wound

Have everyone in the group choose a partner.
Ask everyone to review silently the woundings in their life and choose an important one.
Each partner takes five minutes to answer these questions:

What happened? How were you wounded?
What did you feel when you were wounded?
What were the full consequences of this wounding in your life, for good or ill?
In the light of this, what do you want?
What does all this mean? What pattern is playing itself out here?

Now ask everyone to re-remember their story as a myth, building upon the answers from the above questions.
When creating a myth of your life, you must keep yourself well away from the mundane--something of a trick to do. Houston provides some insights into the approach: "Each figure and situation in the myth is archetypal. Thus a soldier becomes the Warrior, a young girl is the Maiden-to-Be-Rescued, an animal may be the Ally, and a serpent the Guardian of the Gates. The child is always Holy, if unrecognized, the circumstances of birth extraordinary; the family always poor but honest, or of the highest nobility (there is no bourgeoisie in the land of myth); an elderly person is the Wise One; the one who yearns is the Lover, the one who seeks, the Hero or Heroine."
Everyone has fifteen minutes to tell their story: One partner says to the other, "Tell me your story as a myth, beginning, 'Once upon a time...' and taking the story past the wounding to the place of transformation."
Taking your story to the place of transformation is important. Too often we limit ourselves, even in our own imagination, by saying something like, "Well I can't say that because it's just not realistic; I could never be that brave, smart, rich, etc." This is a myth, it's not supposed to be "The Truth"! So, in other words, don't forget to let yourself live "happily ever after."
After everyone has had their turn telling their myth, ask the group to dance the myth they just told, enacting the stages of their myth in the dance.
Take ten minutes to allow everyone to physically get in contact with their new story.
Remind everyone to take a few minutes to write down their answers to each question, as well as the outline of the myth they created, before too much time goes by and it's forgotten.
*Material from The Search for the Beloved used with permission.
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Last Updated: 1 feb 99
Laura Bryannan
LauraBryannan@hotmail.com