Your Sacred Quest: Three Archetypal Phases of an Awakening Journey

Whether you recognize it or not, you’re currently on a journey — we all are.

6 min readMay 2, 2021

Why Awareness of Your Journey Matters

Yes, it’s true — we’re all on a journey; not the least of which is the journey we call life. But within that macro view, there are also micro-journeys.

Micro-journeys happen in all stages of life, in all cultures, and to all people. They can be recognizable, like coming-of-age, or highly personal. And while they all promise change, that change can bring about a wide range of emotions from exciting, scary, boring, interesting, and life-changing.

Not recognizing you are on a journey can feel straight-up terrifying, since you’re likely experiencing constant change without any context. Think about times when you asked yourself, “why is this happening to me?”, or just felt completely lost. We’ve all been there. Not a good time.

So it’s clear why knowing you’re on a journey is useful — but recognizing where you are on a journey changes everything. Determining where we are in the journey means figuring out which of three phases of the journey we are in: separation, initiation, and return.

Phase 1: Separation

The separation phase oftentimes happens without us even knowing. During separation, we slowly become separate from what Campbell calls the Ordinary World. Our environment as we know (knew) it changes. We no longer feel at home, comfortable, or at peace with the status quo.

What the separation phase feels like

Being in the separation phase can feel like vague longing. There is a sense that something is amiss, but you can’t quite put your finger on what it is. Even though there are signs that something needs to change, sometimes we are so invested in keeping things just how they are, we don’t see what we need to do to feel at peace. And that can feel really shitty.

Knowing consciously that a change needs to happen is absolutely a possibility in the separation phase, too. Think about relationships you stayed in past their time, or avoiding getting your finances together. The acute pain that comes from knowing it’s time for a change, but avoiding it all costs, can really damage a person’s spirit.

How to navigate the separation phase: answer the call

As you could guess, because we are humans and resist change, in this phase, we try to avoid the uncomfortable reality that we are not happy with the way things are anymore. We get the call — from our higher selves, dreams, loved ones, your spiritual team — that we need to make moves. But usually, we ignore this for as long as possible, because that feels safer.

Eventually, we reach a tipping point where we must take action. So we dip our toe into the change that’s been calling us. And once we do, we are met with a powerful realization that we cannot turn back. We are officially on the journey.

Phase 2: Initiation

Once we are in the initiation phase, we’ve crossed the threshold from the “ordinary world” to the “special world”. Now, in the myths that Campbell studied, the special world was oftentimes supernatural — a mortal embarking on a quest where he had to venture to the land of the gods, for example.

In the context of modern society, I take the special world to be anywhere that isn’t what was ordinary for you prior to the journey. For example, someone embarking on a journey to quit caffeine may join a ex-coffee drinker support group. In this context, the group is the special world — it is new and will offer the journeyer advice and support on her quest.

What the initiation phase feels like

As you can tell, it’s not just sunshine and rainbows in the special world. This phase of the journey can feel the most challenging, as it’s where we’re faced with lessons we must learn in order to emerge victoriously.

Let’s think about this with our coffee example: if you’re a coffee drinker, I’m sure you know that it’s an ~experience~. We drink coffee not because it tastes good (well, some of us do!), but there’s always something deeper — the reason behind the reason. In this case, that may be because coffee part of our morning; we treat ourselves with it; we “need it to get through the day”.

How we navigate the initiation phase: find the reason behind the reason

In order to successfully navigate the initiation phase, we must come to terms with what it was that brought us here in the first place: that is, we have to name and face the reason behind the reason.

So, when our coffee-quitter enters the special world, she will need to come to terms with her reason behind the reason — why she drinks coffee — in order to stop drinking it. Because she’s not just quitting caffeine. She may be quitting using coffee as a coping mechanism, the idea that her life is so hard that she has to have a coffee in the morning to get through it, or any number of deeper reasons why someone drinks coffee.

To summarize, the MO of the initiation phase + the special world is to learn lessons, get to the root of the issue at hand, and to restore the self. It can be scary. It can be hard. But it is always worth it.

Phase 3: The Return

Once we learn and integrate the lessons of the special world, we will have to return to life as usual. However, we initially don’t want to return.

What the return phase feels like

As we return back to ordinary reality, there is a part of us that wants to stay in the special world. Now, I know I just said the initiation phase can feel scary and hard.

But, for as challenging as the initiation phase can be, the restoration of the self that it brings is 100X more powerful than the pain you would feel having stayed stuck in the separation phase.

Once we get to the return phase, we have the gift of perspective. We can look back at the separation phase and see exactly why it was so hard for us to listen to the call, since we’ve learned the lessons of the special world. The insight we gain from this perspective is incredibly healing, because we are able to fully see ourselves, as opposed to the one-dimensional ego view we got in the separation phase.

How to navigate the return phase: Return with the elixir you found + share the wealth

By the time we’re ready to return, we are in a place of deep healing, so returning to the ordinary world does not sound appealing. We will naturally want to bask in the glory of restoration from our journey.

But ultimately, we do have to return. Not just to get back to our lives, but to help others on the journey, too. As “master of two worlds”, it is our responsibility to share our knowledge with others who need to embark on this journey, to mentor those who now stand where we once stood.

And help others we must. One of the most profound realizations of this hero’s journey is that there is no such thing as a personal transformation. We recognize that we did not get to where we are alone; we had help, guidance, and support. As successful journeyers, it is our duty to pay it forward — and doing so will simultaneously give us medicine for our own journey back to ordinary reality.

TLDR:

We’re all on the macro-journey of life, but knowing which phase of the journey we’re on in our micro-journeys will give us a roadmap for how to proceed.
In the separation phase, we slowly become separated from life as we know it, and eventually, listen to the call to journey into unknown territory.
In the initiation phase, we come to terms with the reason-behind-the-reason for our journey. We are forced to learn tough lessons, but ultimately, gain the healing insight to see ourselves more fully.
Because the healing experience in the initiation phase is so profound, we many not want to return to the ordinary world. Yet, we must, both to return to our lives and to support others going on the very same quest we just completed.

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