Carving Memory, Gathering Bones, Singing Her

La Huesera, the ancient folktale of the mythical Bone Woman of the desert southwest, wanders the arroyos gathering scattered bones of wolves, singing over them until they reassemble and return to life. What if Bone Woman’s song is also ours to sing—the mythic medicine, the nourishing bone broth we can heal from if we dare to gather what’s been forgotten and scattered together at the same table, into the same circle of honoring? Bone Woman is the sacred feminine, known by many names, in many tongues. Her task is not to forge new connections, but to uncover what’s always been there. This is Old Story Medicine, the elixir She offers from her sacred cauldron when the world seems starved of connection, and in need of healing and repair.

Read More

Selkie & Dragon: Reclaiming The Pelt For Our Times

What wild and precious part of ourselves have we lost and forgotten in the ocean between and betwixt our domesticated divisions, that finding and reclaiming will bring us to a deeper sense belonging? Exploring the synchronicities between two oceanic folktales, the Irish Selkie and Vietnamese Dragon & Crane, is a journey of self-discovery and a form of maritime medicine. Reconnecting these folktales requires that we swim fluidly with the restorative tides of underworld love magic and surrender to the cross cultural currents that transcend our modern national and cultural categories, shifting the way we think of people, place and belonging. . .gifting us with wisdom to weather the stormy seas of our times.

Read More

Múcaro: The Winged Wanderer of the Earthly and Enchanted Worlds

Who sits unseen watching over us in the shadowy branches of the forest of life? Perhaps nothing stirs the human soul more deeply than to be caught in the spell of a screech owl’s timeless trill. . .In Japan, the screech owl is known as a yōkai, a class of magical creature with paranormal powers known as iso sange kanji (“the deity who bestows success in hunting”). In Puerto Rico, the screech owl is known as múcaro (“eagle of the night”). This feathered and fabled creature shows up time and time again in folktales when the enchanted and the earthly are interwoven in an ineffable cosmic dance, begging the question: What is sacred? What needs to be remembered?

Read More

In the Belly of a Whale: The Wisdom of Whales for Times of Upheaval & Chaos

In ancient maritime folklore from around the world, being confronted by a whale serves as a symbol for life’s greatest challenges. Ancient seafaring stories about whales invite us back into a mythical relationship with what overwhelms us, and we discover what the experience is asking of us. In so doing, we discover whales have not just served our physical survival needs throughout the ages, but they have helped us to psychologically grow. Learning the wisdom of whales we enter back into right relationship with the wild, a timeless and enduring shared human value that weaves us back into belonging with the world.

Read More

The Sky Goddess: Generously Weaving Together Worlds

Bridging continents and cultures, the Eswatini folktale of Cloud Princess from Africa and the Haudenosaunee folktale of Sky Woman from North America, offer us their shared and relevant wisdom enriching, deepening and expanding our understanding of the meaning of “generosity” in unexpected ways. We learn generosity is the vital and sacred choice that can weave us back into relationship with each other, draw us into closer kinship with the wild, and open ourselves up to belonging to a larger whole.

Read More

Magical Turtles and Mystical Swords: Twin Legendary Kings from East and West

Remarkably, Great Britain and Vietnam have a shared mythology surrounding a mythical King, a mystical lake, and a magical sword. The mythologies surrounding King Arthur and King Lê Lợi are so astonishingly similar, it is as though they are woven together with a silk thread into belonging with each other. In our disenchanted and divisive world, a synchronicity like this - if we allow it to be our guide - invites us to consider the mystery and interconnectedness of the world. These twin mythologies weave us back into relationship with the Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World.

.

Read More

Singibis: Ancient Wisdom on Confronting the Bully

Singebis is an ancient Ojibwe winter folktale about a beloved folk hero and wild grebe whose perseverance, courage, resilience, and loyalty in the face of Kabibona'kan, Winter Maker, shows us we can do the same in the face of adversity. This story asks us to reflect on what kinds of Kabibona'kans do we face in our lives today that threaten to divide us from others who might be our friends? This folktale reminds us we all have the capacity to tap into our inner Singebis, find our inner trickster, and remind ourselves that even a little wild bird can outsmart the Winter Maker!

Read More