[jamesn.]

Greetings and a hearty welcome to the forums Sidian. Stephen Gerringer our chief moderator should stop by at some point to give you a few pointers; (alas the site is undergoing a few modifications concerning topical arrangements); but nothing to be concerned about; just reorganizing some things. He will be able to advise you in more depth concerning your question about Personal Myth; but I’ll offer a few things that might be of help in the meantime.

Actually there is quite a bit of information concerning your query that dives deep into this subject because; yes; as your have suspected it is definitely a major theme of Joseph’s; but I’ll let Stephen address this aspect in more detail when he can stop by for a friendly chat.

One way to think about this term if I may offer is: “your story”. Well you probably figured that out by now; huh! But in Jungian parlance; which is a somewhat different approach than that of mythical themes and a somewhat of different way to approach this; I’m going to suggest a couple of places to help get you started in the meantime.

In the above section called Creative Mythology there is a short topic thread that has some conversations you might like; plus a very good clip of Joseph explaining the Jungian approach of what he called: “the Left Hand Path” of the hero quest; and the topic about your story is discussed in the bottom thread of this category. I think you’ll like this one a lot because it’s quick and jumps right into it. But for a couple of deeper dives up in the MythBlast section there are two different threads with Dennis Patrick Slattery that explore this theme in much more depth. (These are at the top of the forum page with his name on them so you should have no problem finding them.)

One word of caution should be mentioned for first time users of these forums is “discussion navigation” if the topic has several participants engaged; and that is pay special attention to which person you are reading because the entries will follow that particular individual concerning what is being addressed and “who is talking to who”. (Sounds confusing but actually you will get the hang of it shortly; just watch the entry number and sequence as you scroll up and down the page; and the indention of the particular person being addressed.) Stephen can help you with this once he comes by. I would start with the Story thread just to get the hang of things; and then as your interest and familiarity with the format increases you’ll probably begin to feel more comfortable with everything.

One last suggestion if you feel adventurous is on the border to your left you will see a red button that says: “Visit the COAHO Archives”. Click on that and it will take you to the older version of the original forums; which are now archived; (but not available to post in); these contain a wealth of older material; and yes; contain an entire category devoted especially to “Personal Mythology”. These forums contain literally thousands of entries so you can wander them to your hearts content; (you just can’t enter anything because they are now retired and out of commission). Enjoy.

So kick your shoes off and get relaxed and have spin around the place. You are among friends; and we’re glad to have you here.