Jean Houston is a principal founder of the Human Potential Movement and is the author of twenty-six books. She teaches Mystery School wisdom and shamanic practices of self-evolution.
     Most of her work has helped indigenous peoples preserve their cultures, and so her latest book, which focuses on the spiritual pathway hidden within the original epic poem by Homer, comes as an ancient echo of Western primordial truth.
     In The Hero and the Goddess, Jean Houston mines the gold of myth and makes it relevant to each of us.
     For many of us forced to read The Odyssey at school when we were far too young, and inexperienced to appreciate its soulful truth, Jean Houston’s book will make you re-evaluate and probably return to reading the original.
     For those of you who have never read Homer, you will discover a new gem of literature you thought would be dull, dry and dusty, but has riches beyond value.
     On the surface, Homer’s Odyssey is a great adventure. King Odysseus struggles for ten years to return home from the Trojan War, longing to make his way back to Ithaca, his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. Yet his journey is full of challenges and despair.
     The word Odyssey means “trouble” and indeed horrors and deceptions of all kinds dog his path as he faces savages, seducers and Gods who threaten to keep him from returning home.
     Of course, within this tale are the hidden mysteries of the psyche that are the deeper challenges keeping us from our eternal or spiritual home. The mythological and archetypical significance of those troubles compel us as we each recognise Odysseus’ journey as our own internal quest.
     “Odysseus’ voyage, with all its physical dangers and thrills may be perceived as a progressive journey into the chilling cartography of inner space,” writes the author.
     Therefore using the pathway set out by Homer, as a template for our own inner exploration, we can discover the inner gold of the awakened soul.
     We could all safely say that each of us is on our own personal Odyssey, and Jean Houston becomes a priestess as she guides you through the initiatory rites of passage.
     Each chapter is set out to explain the segment of the journey that Odysseus must traverse, and then offer a series of exercises and meditations to allow you to delve into that area of your psyche. As we look into our patterns, fears and drives, we discover who we are on our own road to Ithaca.
     Of course, whilst Odysseus struggled through all manner of hardships, the internal mystery of his odyssey lay in who he became in the process. Like Odysseus we do not grow strong or heroic only for ourselves, but to make the world right again. At the beginning of the story Ithaca was degraded and neglected, and so too with our current civilisation.
     Jean Houston writes that, “heroes always emerge in the time of the dying of self, of social sanctions, of society’s form of standard-brand religions, governments, economics, psychologies and relationships. In answering the call of the eternal, they discover the courage to perform the first great task of the hero or heroine, to undergo all the gestations, growth and trauma required for a new birth.”
     The book is divided into working chapters that follow the major exploits of The Odyssey. Experiential processes that allow the reader to participate in the story follow each of these adventures.
     There are recommendations for those who journey alone as well as for those who wish to participate as a group. There are many adaptations and suggestions offered by the author to stretch the imagination and creativity as well as offering new insights.
     The author reminds the reader that “the ancient parts of your brain are not fond of change, they do like and need rituals.” She suggests the reader prepare a special notebook for journaling along with coloured pens and paper for drawing. She suggests you create a sacred space to do the work, and includes music, particularly Greek music to dance “into that Mediterranean mind-body space.”
     Jean Houston’s processes are very physical and holistic. She suggests chanting and singing portions of each chapter, because the story was written as an epic poem and would have been recited by Homer.
     “One of the potencies of The Odyssey lies in its origins: It is Bardic. People spoke and sang this great poem on celebratory occasions over many centuries,” she writes.
     She also suggests the reader prerecord scripts that allow for greater freedom and spontaneity in doing the exercises.
     The book offers fourteen chapters of exercises and spiritual reflection, which guide the reader through the journey of The Odyssey.
     The first step along the pathway of your personal Odyssey, as outlined by Jean Houston, is to begin to achieve balance between the inner and outer experience, and of course, masculine and feminine experiences of the brain.
     The first of the exercises, or processes, is an attempt to tap into the symbolic or archetypical expression of the entelechy principle operating within. The entelechy is the unlived potential living sleeping within, just as the oak tree lies sleeping within the acorn.
     The author offers several processes including shamanic practices using prayer, chant, song, dance drumming and meditation. A script is also offered to be used in a group and therefore a ritualistic experience that can awaken certain wisdom within, but most particularly an experience of a spirit guide, or Goddess who will work with you just as Athena guided the hero Odysseus.
     The following chapters guide the reader through every step of Odysseus’s journey from the beginning of the hero’s journey to the return to Ithaca.
     The hidden gold within these ancient myths lies in allowing them to become a template of our own inner journey.
     There is still a fascination with the Greek myths because they speak at a deep primordial level within the Western mind. We are indeed children of Greek culture, and our thinking is still based on the wisdom of these ancient ones.
     For so long the myths were seen as mere stories of mighty heroes and the variances of the Greek Gods and Goddesses, but thanks to the work of Jean Houston we can see and experience their inner wisdom and their power to transform.
     There is a collective, worldwide, longing to return to a healed state, a balanced state where the subtle, gentle, Goddess energies are once again celebrated. We can only do this holistically, and Jean Houston’s methods offer us a tangible way.
     A life unexamined is a life unlived, and without the deep psychological and mythological processes offered in this book, we cannot fully understand the Western mind. All across the world, indigenous people, whose ancestors were never traumatised as were ours, ask us to return to oneness with nature and the natural rhythm of the cosmos. How can this occur without a deep and heartfelt self-examination?
     The Hero and the Goddess offers a practical guide to self-examination, but also offers a deep look into the mind of our ancient ancestors. Jean Houston offers insights from other authors such as Joseph Campbell, Rupert Sheldrake and Mircea Eliade that expand on this and offer many insights and much wisdom.
     The endnotes are extensive and she includes a pronunciation guide to some of the confusing Greek names and words. Perhaps most importantly, she offers a practical guide to make this book so much more than information and so includes a list of music she recommends to create the right mood for the personal work.
     This book contains a million precious gems that will make you look at your life with new eyes. The marvels and mysteries of The Odyssey have never been explained as Jean Houston describes them, and in the end you simply realise that you are Odysseus, and just like him, you are far away from home!
     I highly recommend this book to anyone with the courage to find his or her way home to Ithaca.