Once and Future Myths

The bestselling author of The Art of Pilgrimage examines the connection mythology to contemporary life, and what that means for self-improvement.

Author Phil Cousineau elucidates how myths are the stories of real life whether people are conscious of them as myths or not. He shows readers how, by becoming aware of myths in both their historical and present form, they can read the world better, with a deeper understanding of work, love, creativity, and spirituality. The book retells classic myths such as Eros and Psyche and provides new accounts of more contemporary mythmakers such as Jim Morrison and Vincent van Gogh, illustrating how these legends have affected history, culture, and individuals. The timelessness of myth is conveyed through Cousineau’s discussions of the mythology of travel, mentors, cities, baseball, and vampires.

Praise for Once and Future Myths

“A tantalizing, delightfully personal travelogue through the landscape of some of the modern myths that shape and misshape our lives.” —Sam Keen, author of Learning to Fly and Hymns to an Unknown God

“Cousineau draws on his extensive work with Joseph Campbell to reveal mythic insights for everyday life. He finds openings in the tidy margins of experience to the enveloping intensity of the archetypal dimension.” —Jonathon Young, PhD, founding curator, Joseph Campbell Archives and Library

“Cousineau proves himself to be a meaning-maker par excellence as he delves deeply into some of the major concerns of our age . . . . Cousineau enables us to understand myth as the soulful pulse underlying our deepest yearnings for meaning.” —Spirituality & Practice