Holly Bellebuono
Empowering Natural & Organic Brands,
Herbalists, & Authors
Holly Bellebuono's Newest Book:
Once Upon A Place: Forests, Caverns, & Other Places of Transformation in Myths, Fairy Tales, and Film
By Holly Bellebuono
Foreword by Dr. Jack Zipes
Illustrations by Sveta Dorosheva
Author Holly Bellebuono's 8th book is a transcendent look at philosophy and adventure that digs for answers to descent-and-resurrection, epiphany, and the secrets of personal transformation hidden deep within fairy tales and myths from around the world.
Searching for the darkest and most dangerous places where heroes and heroines go in mythic quests and epic adventures, Holly identifies five life-changing locations that influence every life's journey.
Once Upon A Place: Forests, Caverns, and Other Places of Transformation in Myths, Fairy Tales and Film invites you to dive headlong into the symbolic Cavern, Deep, Vessel, Forest, and Labyrinth where obstacles seem insurmountable and personal growth almost takes a backseat to survival. Holly does not shy away from either the ugliness nor the beauty of personal change as she walks you through rich stories that will unlock next steps in your own real-life adventure. (read more below!)
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Release date: March 8, 2025
Llewellyn Worldwide Publishers
Once Upon A Place: Forests, Caverns and Other Places of Transformation in Myths, Fairy Tales, and Film
When we watch films or read tales that leave us breathless as a hero faces insurmountable odds, we root for that character to climb out of the dark hole and rise again.
Personal growth happens in real life, too, and we rely on fantastical imagery in myth, fairy tale, and film to shine a light on how to rise successfully. In the 1980s, Joseph Campbell described a process that helps a “hero” succeed; now, author Holly Bellebuono raises the bar for understanding transformation by introducing the story’s extraordinary locations.
The location is where the action happens and where the hero finds their grit. Inspired by the descent-and-resurrection journey of the humble seed, Bellebuono searched for the deepest, darkest places where heroes go in their quest for enlightenment, the most frightening locations that form the backbone of every quest or adventure story ever written. She discovered that their impacts ripple out from fiction to real-life and daily personal journeys.
Despite thousands of quests and adventures told over time, only five locations serve as the pivotal places for transformation. Here, we’ll dive into the Cavern, Deep, Vessel, Forest, and Labyrinth, and especially uncover the mighty symbols of change such as Chaos, Void, Beast, and Guide in what Holly calls the “World Journey.”
Once Upon a Place unpacks dozens of colorful world stories to see how imagery and location drive the adventure and position the Hero to become a stronger person. We’ll jump into the well with Madchen, descend to the underworld with Inanna, and traverse the Forest with Snow White.
We’ll explore tales from Persephone’s plunge into the Earth to Beowulf; films from Shawshank Redemption to Life of Pi; stories from MazeRunner, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, from Egyptian fire myths to Irish goddesses stirring cauldrons, from wolves to witches, from the tumbling to earth of a seed…
As reader, you will reflect on and appreciate the ups-and-downs of your own life's journey; take a playful and whimsical look at core themes that are truly meaningful, such as mentorship, sacrifice, and perseverance; and understand that no one is alone and we collectively share triumphs and challenges on the World Journey.
Ultimately, all are stories of rebirth, renewal, and revolutionary self-growth.
"Holly Bellebuono‘s book is a real adventure, which offers hope that storytelling can do more than amuse us but also indicate ways to live with compassion and courage."
-Dr. Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota
"A truly transcendent experience!"
-Ember Grant, Mythology for a Magical Life
Who is this book for?
You'll love this book if:
or you appreciate history, literature, mythology, stories, film, or theater, or you're a writer or author
or you enjoy plants, gardening, and the natural world
or you're a student of fairy tales, imagery, fantasy, epics, journeys, or film
or you're interested in personal growth and transformation, overcoming challenges, and becoming your best self
15 adaptations of world stories
Once Upon a Place features adaptations of 15 quest/adventure/transformation stories from around the world, including Ireland, Germany, Wales, Switzerland, Russia, Ethiopia, Greece, Britain, Pueblo/Creek, as well as Ancient Sumer, Babylon, and Norse.
The book features dozens of modern films, showcasing that cinema is the newest form of storytelling that harkens back to ancient rites of passage and quests for personal growth.
Core Concepts of Change
To truly dive into the locations of transformation in myth, fairy tale and film, we must explore the core dualities without which we would be lost:
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Descent & Resurrection
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Chaos & Void
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The Beast & The Guide
This book does not shy away from both the ugliness and the beauty of personal change. Once Upon A Place explores the effects of each of these dualities and how they shape our future paths.
Failure & Success on the World Journey
A quest is all about survival. In this book, stories inform us about what it means to find one's self and return home a stronger person. But what about when it doesn't work? Once Upon A Place explores the rare stories that show how failure in myths, tales and film are lessons that help us understand how our own choices affect our real lives.
Book Group Ready
Once Upon A Place includes a comprehensive list of suggested questions and provocative topics to guide discussion in book groups. Explore ideas of epiphany and creativity, the natural world, guides and mentorship, art and symbolism, as well as helping readers move the needle on personal goals, challenges, and aspirations.
"A must for any college library."
-Susanne Evens, Indiana University
"Personal, transformative, and genuine. Recommended."
-Anne Newkirk Niven, SageWoman Magazine
Foreword by Jack Zipes
The Foreword
Holly is honored that esteemed literary scholar, author, and fairy tale professor Jack Zipes, PhD contributed the foreword to Once Upon A Place. Dr. Zipes is Professor Emeritus in the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic and Dutch at the University of Minnesota, and is a world renowned expert on the Brothers Grimm, the cultural significance of stories and literature, and author of 69 books. He is a fellow of the American Folklore Society, a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship awardee, with many other honors.
In his foreword, Dr. Zipes writes, "Holly Bellebuono’s remarkable book, Once Upon a Place, rediscovers the essence of myths, fairy tales, and films by connecting them to our basic wishes, needs, and struggles ... Her book is not just a work to read and enjoy, but to act upon in our daily lives. In short, Holly Bellebuono‘s book is a real adventure, which offers hope that storytelling can do more than amuse us but also indicate ways to live with compassion and courage."
"Elaborate and refreshing."
-Lata Chettri-Kennedy, Flower Power Herbs
"Mystical and marvelous."
-Carol Bedrosian, Spirit of Change Magazine
Excerpt from Once Upon a Place featured in Spirit of Change Magazine:
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​Two ideas feature at the core of all quest stories: these are the Abyss and the World Journey.
The Abyss is one of humanity’s oldest and most tenacious ideas that has been used for millennia to describe a place that is deep, inaccessible, extremely dangerous, and somehow at the core of understanding. In some ancient texts, it is synonymous with the deep ocean and is often portrayed as the sea in films today. But its broader meaning encompasses all the dark, deep places we go when we embark on an adventure to find answers. It’s where the obstacles lie and the challenges are found, often in the form of a beast or monster that must be overcome. The Abyss shapes the idea of what a challenge means.
The World Journey is a much newer term, adapted from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. You may be familiar with the storyline, or plot, of the Hero’s Journey, as it was coined by the Sarah Lawrence College professor of literature in the twentieth century. In it, the hero goes through a sequence of experiences designed to help them face and overcome the many challenges of life, often in the context of a quest or adventure. Campbell presented a structure for this process, and it has become a reliable plot outline for the stages of character development in modern film and stories, such as J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings or George Lucas’s Star Wars. Campbell’s process leads toward self-actualization with deliberate stages that create a plot which leads a man (or sometimes a woman) through each step in specific order to experience certain hardships and, ultimately, achieve epiphany or personal growth.
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...And I would argue that while those original stories, especially those collected and recorded hundreds of years ago by Charles Perrault and the Grimm brothers, were indeed dark, frightening, and often overtly violent or callous, they should not be sugared over simply because they are scary, depressing, or harsh. They served a much needed purpose by symbolically painting a reality that most people experienced and still do experience in their lives: namely, challenging situations that push us to our limits and are, in fact, our very best opportunities for change and growth. Those storytellers and parents long ago knew that persistence allows us to become strong and resilient adults. That facing our fears can make us compassionate, forgiving, and joyful. That making difficult decisions instills in us a feeling of accomplishment and maturity. And, that experiences of confusion and uncertainty can open our minds to new ideas and creative expression that allow us as individuals, and as societies, to flourish.
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Book Holly to Speak
Themes for Once Upon A Place include personal transformation, growth, storytelling, literature, history, writing, mythic imagery, creativity, enlightenment, the hero's journey, feminism through stories and the heroine, the natural world, failure and success, spirituality, and mentorship
Release date: March 8, 2025
For university courses and use as a textbook: contact: Liz Stewart, lizs@llewellyn.com
For book groups, clubs, and associations, contact: Liz Stewart, lizs@llewellyn.com
Product details
Publisher : Llewellyn Publications (March 8, 2025)
Language : English
Paperback : 264 pages
ISBN-10 : 0738779377
ISBN-13 : 978-0738779379
Item Weight : 1.11 pounds