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IIn celebration of the 30th anniversary of its original publication, Shambhala Publications is reissuing Maureen’s groundbreaking book, The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness. The new edition of the book will include an updated preface from Maureen reflecting on the last 30 years of women’s experiences and a new foreword by Christine Downing, PhD.

The Heroine’s Journey was written as a response to Joseph Campbell’s book on the hero’s journey. Maureen, who was a student of Campbell’s work, felt his model did not address the specific psycho-spiritual journey of contemporary women. She developed a model of the feminine journey based on her work with women in therapy and showed it to him in 1983. Campbell’s response was, “Women don’t need to make the journey. In the whole mythological journey, the woman is there. All she has to do is realize that she’s the place that people are trying to get to.”

Knowing that women were indeed involved in their own deep psycho-spiritual journey, Maureen developed a model of the heroine’s journey which has become a template for novelists, screenwriters, and those who desire to understand the deep wounding of the feminine on both a personal and cultural level. Maureen received thousands of letters from women throughout the world, particularly from fathers’ daughters, relating to the wisdom in The Heroine’s Journey. It has been published in French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Serbo-Croatian, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Polish and Farsi.

• Separation from the Feminine, in which a woman searches for an identity in a masculine-defined culture
• The Road of Trials, in which she challenges the myths of female inferiority, dependency, and romantic love
• Spiritual Aridity, a feeling of having lost herself in her struggle for achievement
• Initiation and Descent, a period of drawing inward and looking for the lost pieces of herself
• Urgent yearning to reconnect with the Feminine and heal the Mother-Daughter Split
• Integrating and healing the wounded parts of her inner Masculine
• The Sacred Marriage, which occurs as she learns to integrate and balance all aspects of herself.

The chapters include questions for reflection as well as exercises in guided imagery, writing, art, and dreamwork to bring clarity and understanding to the quest. Finally, the skills learned on this archetypal journey prepare a woman to work toward the larger quest of bringing consciousness to others and preserving the balance of life on earth.

It started as an essay about the similarities between myth and memoir but took on a more personal meaning as Maureen’s mother struggled with Alzheimer’s disease. Maureen began to look at the relationship of memory to identity as the loss of her mother’s memory affected her sense of herself. It also brokered a healing in the relationship between mother and daughter. As Maureen wrote, the book became more and more about the relationship with her mother and less and less about myth.

It is used in college writing courses throughout the country.

Through myth, fairy tale, case studies, and Jungian psychology, best-selling author Maureen Murdock explores the unique relationship between a “father’s daughter” and her father, its rewards and pitfalls, and how this idealized relationship affects the mother daughter bond. This rich and thoughtful analysis examines Beauty and the Beast, Donkeyskin, The Wizard of Oz, King Lear, and The Handless Maiden to empower the father’s daughter to untangle the ties that bind her to her father and redeem a female vision that is truly powerful and nurturing.

If you have ever wished you could show children and teenagers how to enrich their lives with meditation and visualization, this book will delight you. It presents simple exercises in guided imagery designed to help young people aged three through eighteen to:
• Relax into learning
• Focus attention and increase concentration
• Develop good listening skills
• Stimulate creativity
• Build a strong self-image
• Improve academic, artistic, and athletic skills
• Cultivate inner peace and group harmony

The use of guided imagery has been internationally recognized as an effective method of “whole brain” learning. The author’s approach will have special appeal to parents and teachers who are frustrated by an educational system that seems to reward only those children who excel at verbal, linear learning. With the exercises in this book, young people can discover the learning styles that are effective and enjoyable for them. These techniques of guided imagery offer adults as well as children a unique way to tap the wealth of creativity and wisdom within.

As a mother and a psychotherapist, it was difficult for Maureen to find adequate resources when her son was first diagnosed so she offers tools to navigate these turbulent waters. Included are suggestions about Mental Health First Aid, personal recommendations for links to TED Talks by two young people talking about living with bipolar disorder and community resources a family can access for support before, during, and after a mental health crisis. Like the award-winning movie “Silver Linings Playbook,” The Emergence of Bipolar Disorder: A Mother’s Perspective gives the reader a glimpse into the challenges a family experiences when a child is struck with a mood disorder.