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 MoreShe Wore The Forest: Moss, Magic and the Making of a Sovereign Self
Mossy Coat is an Old English fairytale about the ingenuity and creativity of a wild forager and weaver who sews her daughter a coat of wild mosses so she can disguise herself, escape poverty, avoid an unwanted marriage and determine her own destiny. It is how even a small diminutive plant like moss can be protective, nurturing, empowering and magical, and how a coat of moss gives the heroine a sense of wildness, freedom, and sovereignty over her own life. An enduring folktale that lives on like wild moss, wielding its quiet power. . .
Read MoreBraiding Sweetgrass and the Goddess of Creation
SkyWoman, a Haudenosaunee Creation story about the first woman who falls from the sky clutching seeds and plants which she plants on Turtle’s back where they grow and blossom. . . Sky Woman is a story about an outsider, an immigrant, a celestial stranger who falls from the sky into the world of earthly creatures who help her. Sky Woman shows us the power of reciprocity to bridge differences, and the abundance everyone receives when two worlds meet.
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