About

My doctorate is in mythological studies and depth (or archetypal) psychology. My research focus is on home and our connection to place, while my writing focuses largely on the heroic and sacred experience and the stores that shape our lives and provide us with meaning.

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Home, Sacred Stories, and The Hero’s Journey

I’ve moved around a bit. Not a rolling stone, not an intrepid traveler, not lost and searching… rather, life unfolds and has called me to various places. I’ve been moving since I was eighteen. The longest I lived in one place was in a very small town in Idaho. I loved it. I really loved it. And, eventually, I knew I couldn’t stay. But before I could leave, I needed to understand what drew me there in the first place: why did that place feel like home? So I spent a number of years researching home from various perspectives, wrote a dissertation, earned my PhD, and… went in search of my next home. I moved to Oklahoma, loved Tulsa, and lived there five years. Now I’m moving back to Idaho. Oh, and I purchased a home in Sicily!

I’ve learned a lot. I understand specific things that were imprinted on me as a child, things that trigger a home response for me, provide me with that “ahhh! yes, this feels right!” sense of comfort and belonging. You know, the thing we are each always looking for. What we need to feel grounded, settled, safe, and secure.

Finding home, having home, allows the freedom to explore in other ways. And I am not done with my exploring. This is where the hero journey comes in – another one of my favorite topics.

Ultimately – here’s the big secret: we are, each of us, always, on some sort of hero journey. We each need to leave home (quite literally, symbolically, or metaphorically), in some way, at some time, or maybe many times. The key is to learn what home is for you – you, individually – so you can create it anywhere you are, and wherever your journey leads you.

The journey is always solitary. There’s no way around that. Maybe, just maybe, my musings will help.

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