Crows and Crones appear frequently together in myths and folktales around the world. In recent history they been negatively associated with evil and darkness, however, looking more closely at the roles they played in ancient folktales and myths, we discover that they are imbued with divinity, prophetic power and omniscience during times of great change.
Read MoreThe White Stag: The Hunt to Become Whole
The White Stag appears in both ancient and contemporary folktales in both East and West. Discover how the White Stag continues to be a symbol of transformation, an apparition that enters the picture when we leave one world and enter another, and a benign being that heals and leads us to a state of wholeness.
Read MoreRabbits and the Moon Goddess: Traveling the Silk Road
Growing up in Asia, I always believed there was a rabbit on the moon assisting the Goddess who passed the time grinding dried medicinal herbs into an elixir of immortality. However, only recently did I discover that this trio of associations (rabbits, the moon and divine feminine) is an ancient archetype, stretching across a diverse array of cultures, landscapes and centuries by way of the Silk Road.
Read MoreAthena the Goddess of Wisdom
The "Owl of Athena" or the "Owl of Minerva"—has often been used as a symbol of wisdom throughout the Western world. According to myth, Athena saved a princess and transformed her into an owl who would sit on Athena’s shoulder, and from then on, together, they could see the whole Truth. . . .suggesting that wisdom requires more than just one perspective, multiple orientations, two different vantage points, and a collaboration and deep relationship between human and more-than-human worlds.
Read MoreThe Morrigan: Holding the Tension of Opposites
The Morrígan is an Irish Celtic goddess of war and peace, destruction and fertility: a captivating symbol of contradiction, filled with magic and prophecy inviting us to similarly hold the tension of opposites. The folktale asks us: can we allow space for brokenness and beauty to sometimes intertwine?
Read MorePolar Bear Son: in Kinship with the Wild
Polar Bear Son is a deeply moving Inuit folktale with themes of reciprocity and interdependence. An elderly woman who raises an abandoned baby polar bear as her son. When she grows too old to care for herself, he hunts for food for her.
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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