“Sharing the ancient art of storytelling as a way to educate, entertain and offer healing to individuals, community and the living world.”
As a Storyteller/bard/wanderer, I share the old stories – the Myths, Folk Tales, Fairy Tales – often using the drum to help create a rhythmic trance state, so the listener can more easily move away from rational listening to listening with the heart. To do this in a good way, one of the first things my teacher taught me was to become, what he calls, a story-carrier. This means knowing how to live with the stories, letting them grow inside and inform one how to be a human being, i.e. learning through the ways of the oral tradition. The purpose was to learn what it means to have a relationship with the stories and what an important responsibility that relationship is.
Through this learning, I have come to respect the energies the stories and the oral tradition carry. While performing, my intention is to allow my heart to remember these teachings and to come from the place that these stories are sacred. More than just a career or a particular talent as an entertainer, I see Storytelling as an integral part of my spiritual practice, one that continually calls me to be honest with my self and my intentions, asking me to be deeply connected to my roots, my passions and my integrity. This allows me to stand before an audience and see how, like the beings in the stories, we are all traveling our ‘Wyrd’ – our unique life path – and celebrate the journeys we are on. As the magic of the story moves through me, I know that the listeners and I are communicating on a level beyond just the verbal telling, that the holding and allowing of this communication and magic to flow is also an immensely important part of the storyteller’s path.
Additionally, while many people think about young children when they think of storytelling, my tellings recall an earlier time when the whole community was involved in the listening. My specialties are bringing story to adult, elder and teen audiences. It is relevant for adults as I like to explore the deeper complexities and paradoxes inherent in these ancient tales.