Maureen Murdock

Maureen Murdock

Maureen Murdock, PhD, has always been interested in mythology and memoir, so she teaches and writes books on both topics. Her book The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness, which explores the rich territory of the feminine psyche, was translated into a dozen languages, and she has led workshops on the topic for women throughout the United States and Europe. Murdock was Chair and Core Faculty of the MA Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute and teaches memoir writing for the International Women’s Writing Guild. Her other books include Fathers’ Daughters: Breaking the Ties that Bind; Unreliable Truth: On Memoir and Memory; Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children for Learning, Creativity & Relaxation; and The Heroine’s Journey Workbook. Maureen lives in California.

Maureen Murdock

Maureen Murdock, PhD, has always been interested in mythology and memoir, so she teaches and writes books on both topics. Her book The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness, which explores the rich territory of the feminine psyche, was translated into a dozen languages, and she has led workshops on the topic for women throughout the United States and Europe. Murdock was Chair and Core Faculty of the MA Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute and teaches memoir writing for the International Women’s Writing Guild. Her other books include Fathers’ Daughters: Breaking the Ties that Bind; Unreliable Truth: On Memoir and Memory; Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children for Learning, Creativity & Relaxation; and The Heroine’s Journey Workbook. Maureen lives in California.

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GUIDES

30 Years After

group of women

I wrote The Heroine’s Journey 30 years ago when women of my generation sought validation from patriarchal systems and found them not only lacking but terribly destructive to the feminine psyche. We were the children of the post-Sputnik era who were encouraged to excel in this competitive race in order to recover Western supremacy.

Unfortunately, the historical cycle is repeating itself. My granddaughters, children of the post-911 generation, are implored to “Make America Great Again” in a 1950s desire for American supremacy. In our capitalist society, everything is geared toward getting the job done, climbing the academic or corporate ladder, achieving prestige, position, and financial equity, and feeling powerful in the world. We continue to focus on individual success rather than structural change.

When I wrote the book, there had been no recognizable archetypal pattern that fit women’s experience. Throughout my life and my work as a psychotherapist, I noticed that women were quick to blame their feelings of inadequacy on their own shortcomings. I wanted women to understand that the widespread prejudice against the feminine emanates from the larger society. The continuing devaluation of women on the societal level affects how a woman feels about herself inwardly and how she perceives the feminine. It was what I called, at the time, the “Myth of Female Inferiority,” or “Deficit Thinking.”

Women’s lives have a mythology that differs from men’s, so we deny who we are when we measure our success, fulfillment or satisfaction by the milestones of the hero’s journey. When a woman focuses on the process of her inner journey, she receives little recognition and less applause from the outer world. The questions she asks about life values make those who are committed to the quest for the outer trappings of success uncomfortable. And social media, which rewards superficiality, reinforces the denigration of introspection and the inner journey.

Since 1990, there has been a dramatic shift in focus for women. Women are making a huge difference in society by showing what can be done when we step forward together in a spirit of collaboration rather than competition.

Aside from the record-breaking number of female candidates for president of the United States, almost 25 percent of Congress is female. As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi is second in line of succession to the president after the vice-president. Three women serve on the Supreme Court. The worldwide phenomenon of the #Me Too Movement has exposed the insidious sexual abuse and harassment of women and young girls throughout all industries, sports, and religions. Across the world, nations and states led by women are handling the scourge of the Covid-19 virus better than male leaders, enacting measures to bring their caseload down to zero.

In the entertainment industry, Wonder Woman was the first big budget movie directed by a woman; Ava DuVernay was nominated for an Academy Award for her film 13th, about the disproportionate criminalization and incarceration of African-Americans from the end of slavery until today; and Gina Prince-Bythewood became the first Black woman to direct a big-budget comic-book film. In publishing, women now hold the top positions at Simon and Schuster, Knopf, Henry Holt, and Pantheon and Schocken Books. This is an exciting step forward for women; the stories they champion will shape our worldview for decades to come.

These milestones indicate a dramatic shift. And yet.

Little did I imagine that we would face the same archetypal gender stereotype we faced three decades ago. Because we still live in a society which sees the world from a masculine perspective, many women continue to internalize the patriarchal voice that tells them they are less than or not “good enough.” As a result, many girls feel invisible, inferior, and discouraged from developing their full potential. And in the current political climate, there is still an undeniable attack on women’s health and reproductive rights.

So yes, we have made great strides in the outer world but we continue to battle a narrative embedded in our patriarchal culture for the last five thousand years. Hate arises as women’s power emerges and there is no end to backlash against women who speak truth to power.

Yet women today are acquiring the courage to express their vision, the strength to set limits, and the willingness to take responsibility for themselves and others in a new way. They are reminding humans of their origins, the necessity to live mindfully, and their obligation to preserve all life on Earth.

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The Heroine's Journey

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Maureen MurdockMaureen Murdock, PhD, has always been interested in mythology and memoir, so she teaches and writes books on both topics. Her book The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness, which explores the rich territory of the feminine psyche, was translated into a dozen languages, and she has led workshops on the topic for women throughout the United States and Europe. Murdock was Chair and Core Faculty of the MA Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute and teaches memoir writing for the International Women’s Writing Guild. Her other books include Fathers’ Daughters: Breaking the Ties that Bind; Unreliable Truth: On Memoir and Memory; Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children for Learning, Creativity & Relaxation; and The Heroine’s Journey Workbook.

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An Urgent Yearning for Women’s Leadership

The Heroine's Journey
“We are a community in which every life and every person counts.”
—Angela Merkel

Across the world, nations led by women are handling the scourge of the Covid-19 virus better than male leaders. The above quote by German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to the mindset behind this success—many successful women leaders have emphasized collaboration with experts in the scientific community, decisive action, clear and consistent communication, and empathy for the fear, anger, and death of their citizens.

One of the stages in The Heroine’s Journey is an urgent yearning to reconnect with the feminine after a period of descent and deconstruction. The first couple of months after the outbreak of the virus were indeed a time of descent and destruction: anger and fear of the unknown, loss of jobs, loss of life, and utter loss of control over one’s life. Women leaders took a no-nonsense approach to the crisis that stood in stark contrast to the bombastic response of several of the world’s most prominent male leaders, who approached the crisis with denial, confusion, incompetence, and refusal to take responsibility.

The stark difference between a feminine style of leadership and a distorted masculine style of leadership comes down to the difference between collaboration and competition. As I wrote in The Heroine’s Journey, women leaders value life over material success; they listen to and honor the expertise of others, act decisively, take responsibility, attain power not for self-aggrandizement but for the good of others, strive for authenticity, not perfection, and have courage. Gretchen Whitmer, the first-term governor of Michigan, stood her ground when men armed with AK-47s protested her stay-at-home order. She refused to capitulate to pressure and bullying.

In the case of Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, her clear messaging, regular news briefings alongside top health officials, empathy in her remarks on social media and determination to “Go Hard, Go Early” demonstrates that one can lead with both resolve and kindness. She told the children of the country that she counts the tooth fairy and Easter Bunny as essential workers, letting the children know their concerns are taken seriously in a crisis. She and her cabinet set strong boundaries and have eliminated the virus from her country.

Unlike Ardern, Merkel and Whitmer, several male leaders throughout the globe have denied science, refused to lead by example, flouted medical guidelines, blamed other countries, gave confusing contradictory messages, and spread fear and hate rather than the calm and empathy their citizens so desperately need.

Because of the successful examples of women like Merkel, Ardern, Whitmer, Erna Solberg of Norway, Katrin Jakobsdottire of Iceland, Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, and so many others, we have seen a more balanced version of leadership and have become aware of global and racial inequalities. We are now being tasked with creating global change. As I wrote in The Heroine’s Journey thirty years ago:

“We live in a dualistic culture which values, creates, and sustains polarities—an either/or stratified mentality which identifies and locates ideas and people at opposite ends of a spectrum. We see the other as the enemy, and we rationalize our criticism, judgment, and the polarization we create by arrogantly saying that we are ‘correct’ or have God on our side.

“This type of polarization has kept some people poor, ignorant, or infirm while enabling others to be rich, well-tended, and powerful. It has allowed nationalities to assert their supremacy over people whose religious beliefs or view of reality they disdain. It has allowed feminists to blame men for the imbalance on the planet without taking responsibility for their own desire for control and power. It has given men freedom from the excruciating self-examination required for change, while they demand that women do all of their emotional work for them. It has supplied the powerful with permission to suppress and distort truth, censor speech, sterilize the ‘unfit’, and cause incredible suffering over all the planet. Human arrogance fails to see that we are all one and coexist along a continuum of life.”

Share

Related Books

The Heroine's Journey

$18.95 - Paperback

By: Maureen Murdock

The Heroine's Journey Workbook

$22.95 - Paperback

By: Maureen Murdock

Spinning Inward

$29.95 - Paperback

By: Maureen Murdock

Maureen MurdockMaureen Murdock, PhD, has always been interested in mythology and memoir, so she teaches and writes books on both topics. Her book The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness, which explores the rich territory of the feminine psyche, was translated into a dozen languages, and she has led workshops on the topic for women throughout the United States and Europe. Murdock was Chair and Core Faculty of the MA Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute and teaches memoir writing for the International Women’s Writing Guild. Her other books include Fathers’ Daughters: Breaking the Ties that Bind; Unreliable Truth: On Memoir and Memory; Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children for Learning, Creativity & Relaxation; and The Heroine’s Journey Workbook.

...
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