The Queen’s Path and Becoming Sovereign: An ancient archetype for a new understanding of women’s narratives
September 4 & 11, 2025
2 online sessions | 0 CECs | Offered Live via Zoom
Program Description
From psychotherapy to blockbuster movies, we have been schooled on the myth of the hero as THE monomyth of human experience. For more than 80 years we have sought out the hero’s mythic journey as a map to our own experience, hoping to find our own path to greatness in the process. But the hero’s story isn’t written with women in mind. In fact, most women are denied access to the Hero’s Journey as soon as they set foot on the road. Women have sought to correct this by looking at our own mythic trajectories, but often these come up short as well. Despite brilliant and deep work by writers like Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Maureen Murdoch, and Jill Carriger, the Heroine’s Journey fails to fully describe what women experience on their own path to achieve their goals and become the protagonist in their own story.
In research that took almost ten years, Dr Stacey Simmons uncovered a pattern of women’s narrative that has been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years. In this path, a woman learns early that the world will keep her pulling between her roles as either a demure, passive, wife and mother, or a brazen magical temptress. Women are taught that these are the poles of our existence, and we are entreated to work out a complex dance where we weave between them depending on the needs of others and the pull of the moment. But both these archetypes are a trap. Whether a woman is placed on the path of the obedient trad wife, or the powerful witch, she is trapped in a role that society makes for her. A woman cannot take a hero or heroine’s journey until she first becomes sovereign over her life and experience.
The journey to sovereignty is very different from the journey of the hero. The goal of sovereignty is to uncover all the places where a woman has become a captive to the roles placed on her by culture and reunite her deepest Self to her true nature. In doing so she can choose which (if any) of the roles or their behaviors are true to her identity. Along the Queen’s Path an individual woman will endure trials and difficulty. But the most important transformation comes from claiming the territory of her embodiment. When the power and joy of her full embodied self is finally realized, she is ready to claim her throne and don her crown.
What You Will Receive:
- 2 Live Webinar Sessions with Q &A
- 2 Links to the Recordings
Program Description:
The session on September 4th, 12-1pm PT, will cover the discovery of the archetypal structure of The Queen’s Path and how you can recognize it in your life and in cultural products (from scripture to movies) around you, presented by Dr. Stacey Simmons, followed by Q&A.
Join us on September 11th, 12-1pm PT for an engaging and interactive mentoring circle led by Dr. Simmons, following her thought-provoking presentation. This session offers current students and others an opportunity to apply the steps of the Queen’s Path to their own lives, writing, or to the narratives of their patients.
The same zoom link will be used for both sessions.
Program Details
Dates
September 4 & 11, 2025, 12-1pm PT
Two Online sessions with Dr. Stacey Simmons
Prices
- Free
General Information
Location: Hosted Online
Cancellations
For additional information, including travel, cancellation policy, and disability services please visit our general information section.
The same zoom link will be used for both sessions.
The presentations will be recorded and shared after each session for those unable to attend live.
About the Teacher
Stacey Simmons, MA, PhD, LMFT received her PhD in social psychology from the University of New Orleans, and her Masters in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is the author of two books: The Queen’s Path: A Revolutionary Guide to Women’s Empowerment and Sovereignty, and Mushroom Pharmacy: A Practical Guide to Psychedelic Mushrooms. Stacey is a clinical supervisor and psychotherapist at Hope Therapy Center in Burbank, California. Her practice specializes in working with creative professionals and people with chronic illness. Stacey is also an expert in therapy practices utilizing non-ordinary states of consciousness. She is a certified psychedelic therapist and the first American to be trained in Auto-Induced Cognitive Trance at the Trance Science Research Institute in Paris, France. Stacey is also on the research team in UCLA’s Integrative Psychiatry Program. You can learn more about her work and writing at staceysimmonsphd.com.
Registration Details
September 4 & 11, 2025
Number of Sessions: 2
Class Length: 1 hour
Class Time: 12:00 – 1:00 PM PT
CECs: 0