It is not only humans that tell stories. . . In the voice of bright white feathers and a charming black cap, a story darts its way through gusts of wind off the coast of Massachusetts hatching out of makeshift nests of pebbles and dry grasses. during the months of April and May. It is a seasonal story with themes of reciprocity and interdependence between the arctic tern, a migrating bird, and local coastal cloudberry flowers suggesting that even temporary guest can still contribute to a landscape’s thriving.
Read MoreOwl and Raven: A Folktale of Beauty and Reciprocity
There is an ancient Inuit folktale featuring two friends: a snowy owl and a raven and how they came to have two strikingly different colors and decorative patterns. The story reveals how beauty is not attributable to an individual, but arises as a result of reciprocity, and mutual respect. In contrast to the ways we understand beauty in the dominant culture of today, this folktale offers us deep wisdom about how how beauty ought to be a celebration of those who create the objects of adornment, as well as the one adorned. . .and how beauty arises as a result of their collaborative effort.
Read MoreAutumn's Gifts: Beauty and Bereavement
Autumn gifts us with the beauty of dying leaves, or, in the words of Rebecca Solnit, the reminder that beauty and bereavement can sometimes intertwine. What the autumn reminds us of is how feelings of grief and loss (and the dying of the leaves) can be felt at the same times as we experience something beautiful and joyful (the vibrant golden colors of the leaves) and how this complex combination of opposites is often at the heart of our human experience and weaves its way into many ancient folktales.
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