Humans live by stories. The stories our religious tradition tells us about the organization of human existence, the stories our nation tells us about how to live collectively, and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are as individuals, are all ways in which narratives provide a model for human actions.

Myths show how humans make meaning with the natural world and society. Myths are then not simply stories that are mimetically retold but rather stories that evoke connection, meaning, and in this way, drive the culture in specific directions.

“Mythology tells us what it’s like to be human.”

Dr. Ginette Paris

Myths are narratives, multi-faceted stories which ask not for simple repetition, but rather for entrance. To step into a myth is to enter an imaginal space. Engaging myth in this way requires interaction, our own act of creation. 

Each of us explores myth with our own life stories as our lens. We are each in a unique lived experience. However, as our memories coagulate into a story, and when we have the courage to tell that story, we can begin to see how the myths mirror our own stories. And this is how coaching and myth intertwine at Soul Story Coaching. Myths help us to see our personal lived experience within the archetypal patterning of the human experience found in mythology. 

“Perhaps our age has gone to analysis not to be loved or get cured, or even to Know Thyself. Perhaps we go to be given a case history, to be told into a soul story…the gift of finding oneself in myth.”

Dr. James Hillman

The images we find in myth point beyond themselves, or perhaps rather, open into themselves, into the mysteries of our own psychology. As we enter these myths together, patterns emerge, a matrix of meaning that is relevant for the current lived experience. My goal at Soul Story Coaching is to engage you in this experience and offer you a lens that you can use for the rest of your life.