What do you think?
Rate this book
The Mythic Journey: The Meaning of Myth as a Guide for Life
The author of The Mythic Tarot offers readers a colorful, compelling tour of Western mythology, showing how classic stories can help people navigate vital passages in their lives. Original.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
52 people are currently reading
943 people want to read
About the author
Liz Greene
76 books458 followersLiz Greene is held in high esteem by astrologers all over the world, professional and non-professional alike. She is a prolific author of books and various publications and has been instrumental in shaping modern psychological astrology.
She holds doctorate degrees in psychology and (as of 2010) in history and is a qualified Jungian analyst. She also holds a diploma in counselling from the Centre for Transpersonal Psychology in London, and a diploma from the Faculty of Astrological Studies, of which she is a lifetime Patron.
She holds doctorate degrees in psychology and (as of 2010) in history and is a qualified Jungian analyst. She also holds a diploma in counselling from the Centre for Transpersonal Psychology in London, and a diploma from the Faculty of Astrological Studies, of which she is a lifetime Patron.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 12, 2009
If a collection of mythological tales and a self-help book mated and let Joseph Campbell raise the resulting offspring I get the feeling that you'd wind up with a book just like this one. And actually, I have to admit, it's pretty cool! I was hesitant at first, thinking this might be a bit more New Age then what I usually get into but I was pleased to find that that was not the case at all.
First off, in presentation alone, this book scores high. Nearly every myth in this book is accompanied by amazing classical art that derived from it and the high gloss pages only heighten the effect. After reading one of the myths I often at times just stopped reading to stare at the rendered paintings. The way the myths are laid out also makes it an easy read. Each myth is presented as it was told and then immediately after, there is italicized text that focuses on the interpretation of the myth and how the meaning behind it can be applied in each of our lives. It's sort of an explanation on how you can use these traditional stories and beliefs to better yourself. A very good undertaking!
The chapters group the myths together in such a way that it follows the life of a universal human being and all of the challenges someone might face from birth to death. There are stories about sibling rivalry, unrequited love, how to cope with suffering and death, etc...The stories come from nearly all classical sources...Greek, Biblical, Norse, Arthurian Legend, Indian, you name it. Anything that can take a passionate interest of mine (mythology) and use it in a modern way to help others or make them reflect upon their lives is a phenomenal achievement. I hope to run across another book like this some time.
First off, in presentation alone, this book scores high. Nearly every myth in this book is accompanied by amazing classical art that derived from it and the high gloss pages only heighten the effect. After reading one of the myths I often at times just stopped reading to stare at the rendered paintings. The way the myths are laid out also makes it an easy read. Each myth is presented as it was told and then immediately after, there is italicized text that focuses on the interpretation of the myth and how the meaning behind it can be applied in each of our lives. It's sort of an explanation on how you can use these traditional stories and beliefs to better yourself. A very good undertaking!
The chapters group the myths together in such a way that it follows the life of a universal human being and all of the challenges someone might face from birth to death. There are stories about sibling rivalry, unrequited love, how to cope with suffering and death, etc...The stories come from nearly all classical sources...Greek, Biblical, Norse, Arthurian Legend, Indian, you name it. Anything that can take a passionate interest of mine (mythology) and use it in a modern way to help others or make them reflect upon their lives is a phenomenal achievement. I hope to run across another book like this some time.
December 9, 2014
I absolutely loved it. Rich with stories from many different religious traditions and mythological systems, it forced me to suck the very marrow of life. The interpretations of each story were so layered, and brought the truth sleeping underneath each story, to the conscious surface. I disagreed with a few interpretations or aspects of them (which still made it interesting), but overall, I felt like I fully realized things I had half-sensed in a story before, or was left pondering new thoughts I still do not know where to take. Such an experience was like hours of the very best therapy. In fact, I would say this book IS pure therapy, of the truest kind. It was grounding, disturbing, and soothing as I was urged to own my place in the universe.
March 12, 2016
what makes this book a bit different than other mythology books is that it is organized based on life's path. myths from various cultures are explained and interpreted psycologically for incorporation into everyday life. the book is beautifully illustrated. this is an excellent reference book for anyone interested in mythology.
February 25, 2026
Este libro que no es un ensayo, ni siquiera un diccionario, ni un compendio simplista de las diferentes mitologías que lleva consigo. Es un arma, realmente, de doble filo. Una: porque es un libro y un libro es conocimiento y virtud dada. Y dos: porque estos mitos, leyendas y relatos no son ni más ni menos que diferentes arquetipos que vamos adquiriendo con nuestro tiempo y en el tiempo que llevamos en la tierra. No es de extrañar que cada cual que lea este libro se vea interpelado por algún que otro mito o leyenda, pues todos tienen que ver con nosotros como seres humanos que somos. Ellos nos nutren y nos dan vida psicológicamente. Es, de hecho, este libro, una manera de entender los mitos y las leyendas desde los diferentes ámbitos psicológicos y sociológicos que vemos en la vida.
Los mitos y las leyendas nos hablan de nuestros padres, de nuestros hermanos, de nuestros amigos y nuestros enemigos. Todos están ahí fuera, pero también están dentro de nosotros. Y somos nosotros los que a través de este libro nos vemos interpelados de una manera u otra. Entre deidades y ninfas, entre enanos y Dioses del mar y del inframundo y de las diferentes religiones y mitologías que se ven expuestas. Algunos los conoceremos más de cerca, por la forma en que se han visto representados en nuestro tiempo (cine, literatura, teatro... ¡incluso óperas!), y otros los desconoceremos pues no todo es sabido por una sola persona.
Pero sin duda, lo que han sabido traernos Liz Greene y Juliet Sharman-Burke en esta edición que es una maravilla de Errata Naturae, disfrutamos enormemente de la belleza, la bondad y el conocimiento que nos es dado. Con un profundo sentido y conocimiento de la psique humana, estas psicólogas ahondan en los mitos y las leyendas para traernos de manera exhausta y nítida lo que éstas dos cosas nos traen a la vida actual. Podemos aprender de los mitos como una manera de alimentar nuestra parte más involutiva, más desmaterializada, para abogar por una espiritualidad más elocuente y sabia de lo que el ser humano vino a hacer al mundo.
Los mitos y las leyendas están para conocernos, y de ahí nacieron los arquetipos, que no son ni más ni menos que los diferentes patrones que conlleva el ser humano desde nace hasta que muere. Pero todos, en realidad, buscamos el mismo arquetipo, el der sí-mismo, el de la individuación y el de la de hallarse completo frente al mundo. No es una cuestión de ser más poderoso, ni ser más rico, ni tan siquiera tener muchos amigos o ganar batallas o perderlas, es una cuestión de mantenerse en la tierra lo más digno posible. Todos estos mitos buscan cierta conexión con esa parte más irresoluble que lleva el ser humano consigo. Buscamos en la mitología algo que nos explique no solo como personas, sino también como creadores, como deudores de unos dones que nos hacen, realmente, especiales ante el resto de seres que habitan el planeta Tierra. Y es por ello que debemos ser compasivos, debemos hallar un aprendizaje de cada mito como si fuera un símbolo que debe ser visto a tiempo y con el tiempo en el que se halla inmerso. Las diferentes mitologías buscan una energía que las complete, que las haga dignas de ser ejecutadas y evidenciadas ante la impasible humanidad. Ya hallemos mal o hallemos el bien, lo que realmente se busca es una sabiduría de las cosas, y esto va más allá de la propia dualidad que el ser humano lleva consigo. Esto era lo que debíamos aprender de este libro, que el mal y el bien existen, pero para hallar una completud debemos transcenderlos. Debemos ver y mirar más allá, ir hacia donde nuestro corazón nos indica.
Los mitos y las leyendas nos hablan de nuestros padres, de nuestros hermanos, de nuestros amigos y nuestros enemigos. Todos están ahí fuera, pero también están dentro de nosotros. Y somos nosotros los que a través de este libro nos vemos interpelados de una manera u otra. Entre deidades y ninfas, entre enanos y Dioses del mar y del inframundo y de las diferentes religiones y mitologías que se ven expuestas. Algunos los conoceremos más de cerca, por la forma en que se han visto representados en nuestro tiempo (cine, literatura, teatro... ¡incluso óperas!), y otros los desconoceremos pues no todo es sabido por una sola persona.
Pero sin duda, lo que han sabido traernos Liz Greene y Juliet Sharman-Burke en esta edición que es una maravilla de Errata Naturae, disfrutamos enormemente de la belleza, la bondad y el conocimiento que nos es dado. Con un profundo sentido y conocimiento de la psique humana, estas psicólogas ahondan en los mitos y las leyendas para traernos de manera exhausta y nítida lo que éstas dos cosas nos traen a la vida actual. Podemos aprender de los mitos como una manera de alimentar nuestra parte más involutiva, más desmaterializada, para abogar por una espiritualidad más elocuente y sabia de lo que el ser humano vino a hacer al mundo.
Los mitos y las leyendas están para conocernos, y de ahí nacieron los arquetipos, que no son ni más ni menos que los diferentes patrones que conlleva el ser humano desde nace hasta que muere. Pero todos, en realidad, buscamos el mismo arquetipo, el der sí-mismo, el de la individuación y el de la de hallarse completo frente al mundo. No es una cuestión de ser más poderoso, ni ser más rico, ni tan siquiera tener muchos amigos o ganar batallas o perderlas, es una cuestión de mantenerse en la tierra lo más digno posible. Todos estos mitos buscan cierta conexión con esa parte más irresoluble que lleva el ser humano consigo. Buscamos en la mitología algo que nos explique no solo como personas, sino también como creadores, como deudores de unos dones que nos hacen, realmente, especiales ante el resto de seres que habitan el planeta Tierra. Y es por ello que debemos ser compasivos, debemos hallar un aprendizaje de cada mito como si fuera un símbolo que debe ser visto a tiempo y con el tiempo en el que se halla inmerso. Las diferentes mitologías buscan una energía que las complete, que las haga dignas de ser ejecutadas y evidenciadas ante la impasible humanidad. Ya hallemos mal o hallemos el bien, lo que realmente se busca es una sabiduría de las cosas, y esto va más allá de la propia dualidad que el ser humano lleva consigo. Esto era lo que debíamos aprender de este libro, que el mal y el bien existen, pero para hallar una completud debemos transcenderlos. Debemos ver y mirar más allá, ir hacia donde nuestro corazón nos indica.
October 13, 2011
Beautiful color plates. Some interesting myths, but nothing particularly insightful.
March 16, 2024
Easily accessible lay-man's self-help meets story-telling book.
Let's start with the good: I loved the design of the book, which is delightful, as is the art that decorates the pages throughout the book. Reading about the stories themselves is entertaining and wholesome.
However, there are a couple jarring things that blocked me: I found this book way too mainstream for my liking, and simply had no patience for the tone of the authors. It felt too simplified and New Age-y, and very American, in a pop-y way. It's a book you'd expect from a very famous and popular tarot master and astrologist that has pumped out a lot of books for the masses. And that, Liz Greene has done: she's a major voice in the field. I somehow have the feeling that she's not such a rigorous Jungian analyst and scholar as I expected, which is caused by the fluffy approach, while promising weight and meaning. It feels rather... pretentious. I feel bad ripping into Liz like that, since she's a big name and has done a lot of impressive things.
As a Jungian analyst myself and specialist in symbolism and mythology for meaning, I thought this book was a must. But, I was wrong, it is more like a beginner's book for the lay-person who is just venturing into the world of myth and meaning, and hopes to find (some) solace and consolation, or, in short, a deeper meaning in their own life struggles.
The stories are summarized, which is fine, but tedious when familiar with the material and I found the commentary (unfortunately) rather exasperating and dull. From each story is extracted a single motif (such as parental bonds, love, betrayal, etc), and taken as an analogy to exemplify a certain point of view that may be of comfort to the reader in those situations.
The upside from this approach is that you can just flip open the book and read about the topics you're struggling with right now, and expect at least some resonancy in that particular story, which often works relieving and even a bit 'healing'. It gave me a sigh of relief and recognition myself reading it.
But, the downside, is that when you're not actually living a struggle described in the book, the lack of depth with its summarized style and linear explanations will grind you to a halt, in disconnection and boredom (like me). Furthermore, the biggest loss is that the symbols and characters are not individually amplified (elaborated upon), and only that single motif is described. That way, only that one motif is mentioned, and those are pretty much open doors for everyone, and hence not particularly insightful.
It feels sadly and symbolically, like a collection of moral-implicating fairytales (like Grimm's moral and virtue 'lessons'), which here, in this case, give that one piece of hope and meaning through the analogy in the story. It almost has this sort of berating quality, as it's so dumbed down from what it could have been, if this was a rigorous contribution to the field. Unfortunately, this is a book for the masses, who cannot satisfactorily interpret stories.
That is why I recommend everyone who wants to enricht his or her life with the beauty and power of the symbolism of mythology and fairytales to familiarize themselves with that 'symbolic language', so you can have your own personal experience. If you have no idea how to do that, you may find some practice and sense of meaning in this book as an entry into this field, and that purpose is well fulfilled with this book.
So, recommended for people who want a flip-through once in a while, or to beginners/amateurs, completionists and/or collectors. I would recommend Thomas Moore for material about finding peace and consolation. Joseph Campbell is the man to go to when you want more symbolism, anthropology and history (who is, as a result, more academic). And, I also recommend reading the classics yourself to get a personal taste and feeling for them.
However, it's still a nice little book that you can easily pull out and read a story and its commentary in 10 minutes, potentially fuelling you with some new hope and connection with your heart, which is nice. It's just not rigorous and as in-depth as I want it to be.
Let's start with the good: I loved the design of the book, which is delightful, as is the art that decorates the pages throughout the book. Reading about the stories themselves is entertaining and wholesome.
However, there are a couple jarring things that blocked me: I found this book way too mainstream for my liking, and simply had no patience for the tone of the authors. It felt too simplified and New Age-y, and very American, in a pop-y way. It's a book you'd expect from a very famous and popular tarot master and astrologist that has pumped out a lot of books for the masses. And that, Liz Greene has done: she's a major voice in the field. I somehow have the feeling that she's not such a rigorous Jungian analyst and scholar as I expected, which is caused by the fluffy approach, while promising weight and meaning. It feels rather... pretentious. I feel bad ripping into Liz like that, since she's a big name and has done a lot of impressive things.
As a Jungian analyst myself and specialist in symbolism and mythology for meaning, I thought this book was a must. But, I was wrong, it is more like a beginner's book for the lay-person who is just venturing into the world of myth and meaning, and hopes to find (some) solace and consolation, or, in short, a deeper meaning in their own life struggles.
The stories are summarized, which is fine, but tedious when familiar with the material and I found the commentary (unfortunately) rather exasperating and dull. From each story is extracted a single motif (such as parental bonds, love, betrayal, etc), and taken as an analogy to exemplify a certain point of view that may be of comfort to the reader in those situations.
The upside from this approach is that you can just flip open the book and read about the topics you're struggling with right now, and expect at least some resonancy in that particular story, which often works relieving and even a bit 'healing'. It gave me a sigh of relief and recognition myself reading it.
But, the downside, is that when you're not actually living a struggle described in the book, the lack of depth with its summarized style and linear explanations will grind you to a halt, in disconnection and boredom (like me). Furthermore, the biggest loss is that the symbols and characters are not individually amplified (elaborated upon), and only that single motif is described. That way, only that one motif is mentioned, and those are pretty much open doors for everyone, and hence not particularly insightful.
It feels sadly and symbolically, like a collection of moral-implicating fairytales (like Grimm's moral and virtue 'lessons'), which here, in this case, give that one piece of hope and meaning through the analogy in the story. It almost has this sort of berating quality, as it's so dumbed down from what it could have been, if this was a rigorous contribution to the field. Unfortunately, this is a book for the masses, who cannot satisfactorily interpret stories.
That is why I recommend everyone who wants to enricht his or her life with the beauty and power of the symbolism of mythology and fairytales to familiarize themselves with that 'symbolic language', so you can have your own personal experience. If you have no idea how to do that, you may find some practice and sense of meaning in this book as an entry into this field, and that purpose is well fulfilled with this book.
So, recommended for people who want a flip-through once in a while, or to beginners/amateurs, completionists and/or collectors. I would recommend Thomas Moore for material about finding peace and consolation. Joseph Campbell is the man to go to when you want more symbolism, anthropology and history (who is, as a result, more academic). And, I also recommend reading the classics yourself to get a personal taste and feeling for them.
However, it's still a nice little book that you can easily pull out and read a story and its commentary in 10 minutes, potentially fuelling you with some new hope and connection with your heart, which is nice. It's just not rigorous and as in-depth as I want it to be.
April 5, 2021
What's unique about The Mythic Journey: Use Myths, Fairy Tales, and Folklore to Explain Life's Mysteries is how the authors have set out the ancient myths according to life areas applicable to the modern world. Each myth - gathered from different cultures and times - is explained in easy-to-understand language. This is then followed by the authors' interpretation of the myth in terms of the modern psyche. Despite the everyday language, these interpretations offer profound and thought-provoking ideas that make it clear why the ancient myths still resonate so deeply in our collective unconscious.
A valuable addition to any library.
A valuable addition to any library.
October 16, 2022
A must read for those who love reading myths. This book is not only focused on Greek mythology, others myths like Egyptian, Christian, and Norse myths are included. The stories are sorted based on the lessons that you can learn from them, and the author gave a good commentary for each of the stories.
February 3, 2024
Histórias míticas de tradições do mundo inteiro. Vale a pena pelas histórias em si. Nem sempre os comentários São tão impactantes quanto a autora imagina, mas no geral é um livro muito bom. Recomendo.
December 12, 2019
Green and Burke did a fantastic job in helping paint their commentary of legends from many countries and religions. I highly enjoyed this book and recommend it.
May 25, 2023
A good retelling of myths but I wouldve appreciated a better understanding of how they relate to one's modern life.
August 22, 2024
DNF at 42%.
Weirdly obsessed with the relationship between fathers and daughters, and how fathers are inherently envious of their son's sexual prowess.
Weirdly obsessed with the relationship between fathers and daughters, and how fathers are inherently envious of their son's sexual prowess.
July 16, 2009
Enjoyable read, takes some of the myths of the world and breaks them down into how each myth covers the meaning of humans and what we need to learn, like life, death, marriage, self-identity, breaking away from our families and becoming individuals.
March 4, 2008
A great read and a great reference for writers. Akin to the work of Joseph Campbell in ways. I really like the interpretations and the inclusion of myths from many cultures. This would be a great textbook in a number of disciplines, too.
April 1, 2018
Easy read, very accessible. A bit more shallow than I thought it would be, both in describing the myths and in discussing them.
December 31, 2018
Un trabajo prometedor, pero que termina resultado sencillo y con conclusiones obvia. Buenas intensiones pero aporta poco.
April 12, 2017
Although the myths and legends were, okay, mostly well known and 'old', many actually I hadn't read and were quite interesting. It was also interesting reading the 'interpretations' of the 'morals' and 'life meanings' of the stories too, many being linked to modern life as well. Being an English teacher and librarian, the 'disassemble' of the stories was okay for me, but someone might just like to read the stories rather than the explanations. It would be a really good book for someone studying or teaching myths as there can be plenty of discussion points about the conclusions and the stories themselves. A longer book than I anticipated, but good. (I read the e-version and always find it hard to tell the real thickness of a book)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews