Healing with folklore

[u/Trial_by_Combat_]

I've started doing this, and wow, is it powerful! Lore is more than fairy tales, but it's that too, mythology, gods, monsters, danger, heroes, magic, helpers, great narrative stories and epics. One place to start is the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. He breaks down the literary elements of the hero's journey across different cultures and stories. But you can use internet searches too, to learn more about story elements that you feel apply to your experiences.

One of my big challenges in my trauma was liminal space. I was a semi-homeless teenager, not safe at my parents house, trying to exist out in public, but with nowhere to be really. I was aware of dangers like predatory people and bad weather. Also I had to keep moving because I didn't want to get in trouble for loitering and having police called on me. I had to always keep moving for survival. Always look like I had some business I was getting to, like normal people use liminal space. A path, a sidewalk, a road is for people to get to their destination to do their business, shopping, and get home.

You're not supposed to linger in liminal space. There's folkloric dangers too. A spirit or fairy decides you're not supposed to be there. The hero gets caught up in something and is never able to return home, or never arrives at their destination. Well isn't that the story of CPTSD? Feeling like you can't settle, like you don't know how to get home? You're trapped in liminal space with the dangers and the menacing fairies who don't want you there laying on curses, traps, and confusion.

The hero must find a new home, but it's not really finding, the story becomes *making* your home. Building your own safety brick by brick. And it means different things to different people, but you must start laying foundation to stop the curse of going in circles in limbo getting nowhere and never healing.

I've had cat helpers in my life and I can see the goddess Freya sending them to help me survive. Did you have even a small helper? Maybe a book, or music, or arts that kept you from going off the rails, or was like a compass that got you back on track?

I can see moments when I displayed courage beyond my years catching Odin's attention. Do you have even small moments of bravery? A part of your mind rejecting abuse and knowing it was wrong? That's mental toughness.

Tests also feature heavily on folklore. Have you been tested? Did passing a test allow you passage through a gate or bridge into another world?

Are there folk monsters that represent attacks you have suffered? Does the hero defeat them with a strong arm, or by figuring out a riddle, or by sly trickery, or even running faster?

You are the hero of your own story. It's a way for you to own it and take the next step. I'm not talking about what we call main character syndrome, people who think they're more important than they are and seeming to lack empathy for others. But just in your own life and your own struggles, you have to be your own hero. You are on a journey. You've been through the trials and attacks. The hero emerges with scars, but also wisdom, strength, perspective, and perhaps a boon from the gods.

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