the maiden’s method

The Maiden's Method is a storytelling framework that describes the Feminine Story using archetypes. In contrast to the Hero's Journey, which depicts an external masculine quest, the Maiden's Method portrays the internal Feminine growth and discovery.

Why are female characters locked in towers? Why is there a Wicked Step-Mother? How do these mysterious tropes reveal insights into the Feminine Story?

Inspired by ancient alchemical maxims, Jungian psychology, and literary story development, The Maiden's Method can be applied to women's stories across time and culture, from ancient lore to literature to modern pop culture.

The Maiden's Method

What is the Maiden’s Method? Creating the Philosopher’s Stone

The Blackening Phase

The Maiden is Abandoned, Threatened, and Hidden

The Whitening Phase

The Maiden encounters Manufactured Companions and Confronts the Mirror

The Yellowing Phase

The Maiden is Made to Sit and Wait, The Feminine Threat Rears More Severely, and Help is On Its Way

The Reddening Phase

The Maiden’s Feminine Threat is Neutralized and she is Freed to Create a Happily Ever After

The Blackening

  • Often at the start of the story, right in the premise of the narrative, a character is abandoned in some way. This might come about through a parent’s passing, a major loss, or even experiencing a divorce. There is often a major upheaval that ignites the driving force of her story.

    Compared to The Hero’s Journey which starts with the Call to Adventure, being Abandoned to Subpar care is better characterized as the event that locks a character into her position. It’s less about going somewhere, and more like feeling stuck. The hero’s Call might beckon him higher. The Maiden’s Abandonment will drive her lower.

  • Feminine Threats within the Maiden’s Method fall into three archetypal categories: The Hag, The Snow Queen, and The Dragon.

    Each of these are characterized by their own progression through The Maiden’s Method.

    The Hag is stuck in the Blackening Phase, perpetually feeling abandoned, threatened, and hidden. Think: The Witch in Hansel and Gretel. She is animalistic, cannibalistic, draws in an easy prey with a rudimentary bait — giving into one’s base instincts for desperate attempts and self-preservation are characteristic of The Hag.

    The Snow Queen is stuck in the Whitening Phase, perhaps self-aware enough to have Manufactured Companions, but so deliberately closed-eyed when it counts, she refuses to Confront the Mirror. Elsa from Frozen is loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s, The Snow Queen, which also inspired CS Lewis’ Jadis, The White Witch; each of these inform the archetype of The Snow Queen as used by The Maiden’s Method. The Snow Queen will be keen to live in a world of her own design, often with utter disregard for those around her, perpetuating a cold, wintery world so that her vision can persist.

    The Dragon is stuck in the Yellowing Phase. She feels the entrapment more than anyone because she is retained within the stages of Being Made to Sit and Wait, The Feminine Threat Rearing More Severely, and Help is On Its Way. Like mythologized dragons of old, she guards a treasure. But out of bitterness and poison, she refuses to let the world experience it. Characters who embody The Dragon include the more obvious Maleficent, down to the subtler manifestations in Scarlett O’Hara.

    The Maiden’s encounters with each Feminine Threat will require different things in order to either tame or slay them.

  • Being Hidden Away either results from The Maiden’s Abandonment and Threat, or it could be the cause of them. These three components often underly the very premise of a story. And they may all occur simultaneously. The Maiden might be Hidden Away by loved ones for her own protection, thereby Abandoning her from their care. She might need to Hide herself from the world in costume or an assumed identity because of The Feminine Threat that surrounds her.

    This stage will often be what leads to the Doppelganger form of the Manufactured Companions which will be explained next.

The Whitening

  • Manufactured Companions also tend to fall in one of three categories:

    Creatures, Dreams, and Doppelgangers.

    Creatures can refer to the animal companions we see so often alongside a Disney character. But they can also encompass any sentient being, human or otherwise, on which The Maiden is projecting her own thoughts and perceptions. Sometimes this is healthy, like an imaginary friend. But it can be hurtful when The Maiden struggles to see those around her as real, autonomous beings.

    Dreams are the Manufactured Companions that make the audience question whether they were “real” or not. Did Dorothy really go to Oz, or was it a Dream? Just how “real” is The Matrix?

    Doppelgangers occur within The Maiden’s Method when The Maiden is making herself into a Manufactured Companion. This might be a part of her Hidden Away stage, in that she might be very justified in taking on a different persona. Like Mulan or Gracie Hart from Miss Congeniality, there might be a duty behind her choice to display herself as something she’s not. But this can get tricky for The Maiden if she starts to forget who she really is.

  • Previously referred to as Woman, Know Thyself, this step is the point at which The Maiden will need to confront reality. Up until this point, she has had to act out of desperation just to have friends or to fit in. But if she’s not willing to Confront the Mirror and know on which side she stands, she runs the risk of perpetuating her lies to the detriment of everyone around her.

    Though we do see literal mirrors in many fairytales, this stage does not require a mirror. Wreck It Ralph 2 called it “important water”, but what the character actually needs is a strong moment of self-reflection.

    The circumstances of how The Maiden confronts the mirror often dictate whether the response will be well-received. When The Maiden peers at herself voluntarily, she has a breakthrough, like when Moana stares into the ocean or when Alice goes back through the Looking Glass. However, when The Maiden is abruptly confronted with the Mirror, it can be catastrophic, such as when Don Quixote confronts the Knight of Mirrors, or the Lady of Shalott looks down upon Camelot and the mirror shatters. The point being that, at this stage, The Maiden must confront reality in order to continue. And yet, if her reality is largely false, continuing can be scarier than staying.

    This is a purification moment that will strip away from her everything that is not part of who she is. That can be cleansing, but often leaves The Maiden feeling raw. Still, it’s necessary and beneficial in the long run.

The Yellowing

  • Once the Maiden has Confronted the Mirror, she may think that she’s “done”.

    In the process of self-discovery, she has accomplished great things. But the acknowledgement of one’s worth and potential must be applied to the outside world if it is to be of any value.

    In The Maiden’s Method, the Made to Sit and Wait stage is the point at which her character is tested. In the Maiden’s development, this is a time of maturation. She might be self-aware, but she still needs to grow and strengthen. In storytelling, this stage is often depicted through a "montage” or a time jump of some sort. Cinderella could have gone to the ball with the Fairy Godmother’s help, met the Prince and stayed there, happily ever after; right? But that’s only true if the story is about escaping. If the story is about a character’s growth and self-discovery, she still needs to confront the threats around her, utilizing her new-found fortitude.

  • Previously referred to as Woman, Know Thyself, this step is the point at which The Maiden will need to confront reality. Up until this point, she has had to act out of desperation just to have friends or to fit in. But if she’s not willing to Confront the Mirror and know on which side she stands, she runs the risk of perpetuating her lies to the detriment of everyone around her.

    Though we do see literal mirrors in many fairytales, this stage does not require a mirror. Wreck It Ralph 2 called it “important water”, but what the character actually needs is a strong moment of self-reflection.

    The circumstances of how The Maiden confronts the mirror often dictate whether the response will be well-received. When The Maiden peers at herself voluntarily, she has a breakthrough, like when Moana stares into the ocean or when Alice goes back through the Looking Glass. However, when The Maiden is abruptly confronted with the Mirror, it can be catastrophic, such as when Don Quixote confronts the Knight of Mirrors, or the Lady of Shalott looks down upon Camelot and the mirror shatters. The point being that, at this stage, The Maiden must confront reality in order to continue. And yet, if her reality is largely false, continuing can be scarier than staying.

    This is a purification moment that will strip away from her everything that is not part of who she is. That can be cleansing, but often leaves The Maiden feeling raw. Still, it’s necessary and beneficial in the long run.

  • When The Feminine Threat finds herself threatened, she will lash out more severely against the Maiden.

    To be satisfied that she is the fairest in the land, it is not enough that the Queen simply banish Snow White, but she must be eliminated completely. Lady Gothel doesn’t simply cut Rapunzel’s hair and banish her, she tricks and blinds the Prince as well.

    This is the ultimate test of the growth and discoveries that the Maiden has made throughout her story.

  • By far the most criticized trope of any Maiden’s story, the Help is On Its Way stage is vital to her development.

    Removing this stage is a fallacy of pigeon-holing our modern sentiments that women don’t need a man’s help. But what we fail to recognize are the key parts of a character that allow help to come to her and make her willing to accept it.

    Those who refuse help rarely lift a finger to help others. Persisting in such bitterness is antithetical to the goal of adding worth and value to others. Secondly, when it comes to recognizing this trope, many focus too heavily on the Hero. And yet, more often than not, the help comes from other women, particularly in the form of the Fairy Godmother.

    Another vital distinction is that the Maiden can only receive the help if she has come as far as she can on her own and positioned herself to become receptive to it. The Fairy Godmother figure in the Maiden’s Method is the one who steps in with wisdom at the time and place that the Maiden is most receptive to hearing it. It can feel to the audience like the Fairy Godmother should have given her wisdom to the Maiden earlier in the story, but the Fairy Godmother retains the prudence to know how to time her influence. And the Yellowing Phase is all about timing.

The Blue Glint

  • The Maiden's Method is ultimately concerned with the internal struggle. For the archetypal feminine, this means that self-reflection is also a window to the world.

    The Maiden, as a paragon of femininity, will perceive the meaning of Femininity in the world and she will measure it against herself. Bolstering this discovery with the process of the Blackening, Whitening, and Yellowing stages will give her discernment about the True Feminine: what must be shown, what must be hidden? What is real, what is fake? What is mine, what is ours?

    Her journey to discover the True Feminine within herself will be affirmed by the women who have come before her.

    The Fairy Godmother comes as a Helper, yes, but a particularly special one at that. She has been through the Maiden's Method many times. She has confronted her worth and value. She is now able to reveal it in others. She has mastered the art of timing.

    Often appearing in an ethereal form: Fairy Godmother, Blue Fairy, or even the quasi-magical Mary Poppins. She is there to help. And she offers her assistance when the Maiden is most ready to hear it and accept her wisdom.

The Reddening

  • The Feminine Threat is Neutralized when she can’t keep the Maiden under her heel any longer.

    She tried to threaten the Maiden, but has lost all power. She tried to Hide the Maiden, but the Maiden’s nature and character have permeated the world and others are looking for her. One may slay the dragon, blind the witch, or melt the Ice Queen, and yet, the “Neutralized” language is purposeful.

    The Maiden, at this point in her story, may simply be able to say to her Feminine Threat, “I’m not afraid of you anymore.” .

  • Much like the Help is On Its Way Stage, modern audiences fight back against this trope. And yet, in the context of The Maiden’s Method, the symbolism of the Happily Ever After becomes more clear.

    The fact is, Happily Ever After is not inevitable. Yet, by progressing through The Maiden’s Method, the Maiden achieves the archetypal status of The Philosopher’s Stone. The ultimate goal of The Hero’s Journey is to Return with the Elixir.

    The Elixir is synonymous with the Philosopher’s Stone, which was said to have the power to turn lead into gold and grant eternal life. For the Maiden, reaching the final stage gives her the power to discover worth and value in others and to renew the world around her. This is the point at which she is Freed to Create a Happily Ever After. The story doesn’t have to end here, it could keep going and show her accomplishing this. It could even show her in a recycling of abandonment, threats, and hiding.

    The Maiden can re-enter the Method more than once. But each time, she will be better equipped to face what lies ahead because of all the lessons she learned in the past. This refinement produces the wisdom of the Fairy Godmother. Women in the midst of the process run the risk of threatening other women.

    A Maiden in the Black, White, or Yellowing phase has to take care to move through each and not get trapped within them. When she finds herself equipped to recognize her own worth and value, she will be able to expound those qualities in others.