In the heart of the Mongolian grasslands wolves and sheep herders once lived in harmony with each other. Nomadic herders regarded their fiercest enemy as their sacred teacher, weaving wolf-wisdom into myth, ritual, and the rhythms of daily life. Their folklore—part gospel, part guide—taught them the ways of wolves: resilience, loyalty, and reverence for the wild, helping human communities endure the unforgiving land. Wolf Totem captures this vanishing world, where enemy became ancestor, and folklore fed both body and soul.
Read MorePlants, Magic and Power: Folklore's Storied Plants Wield Their Quiet Power
Whether it is a giant beanstalk, benevolent flowers, wise herbs, sacred birch goddesses or mossy coats, many ancient folktales remind us how our ancestors lived in harmony with plants, relying on them not only for sustenance but also for healing, protection, wisdom, empowerment and inspiration. Ancient plant folktales encapsulate wisdom and teachings passed down through generations, reflecting the roles that flora and fauna have played for our survival, cultural identity and in the mythic imagination, often intersecting all three.
Read MoreYuletide: The Vital and Soulful Wisdom of Bothness
These twelve days between the Winter Solstice and the beginning of the next solar year are referred to as Yule or Yuletide in ancient Medieval Nordic folklore. What gifts does this sacred time belonging neither to the old year nor the new year offer us? How can we harness the transformative power of this bothness? Ancient folktales reveal that the past is not set-in-stone, but is continuously being reinvented, reimagined, and reweaved back into the upcycled tapestry of the present tense. This sacred time gives rise to the beautiful question: how can we cultivate new ways of relating to the past so we can move with wisdom into the future?
Read MoreOwl and Raven: A Folktale of Beauty and Reciprocity
Must beauty always be something unattainable and unachievable, something we relentlessly pursue only to have whatever small gains we have made swept out from beneath or feet by the latest new seasonal trends? . . . Or can we hear the ruffled feathers of an ancient folktale perched on the branched edges of the tree of modernity, just waiting for us to notice it and hear its song? An ancient Inuit folktale about two charming friends, Snowy Owl and Raven, weaves beauty and belonging back together again with old world enchantment. . .
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