Episode 7
Myths Are a Blueprint for Balance, A Cailleach Story for the Spring Equinox by Nicole Marie | S6 Ep7
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OUR STORY
In time for the spring equinox, a story of the gods and goddess of Ireland, Tuatha De Danann and their land of eternal youth, Tír na nÓg. We meet the Cailleach who is marked by curiosity and a craving for change. For a time, she finds herself in a world where there is cold and death and grief.
Looking for a story of Saint Patrick on March 17? Check out S1 Ep8, The Unlikely Friendship of St Patrick and Oisín.
OUR GUEST
Nicole Marie is a ritual storyteller and facilitator in the United States and Europe. She learned the art of storytelling through her years in film and theatre and spending time on the mythic landscapes of Ireland and Norway. She was part of the ritual team of Lucid Dance in Berlin Germany where they curated ritual performances for the Wheel of the Year and led ceremonies for collective and personal transformations. Nicole is currently working at the Wilderness Awareness School where they teach nature connection to both youth and adults and she offers many rites of passage storytelling circles for the programs and community.
Check out Nicole’s Embodied Storytellers Podcast
OUR CONVERSATION
- The power of relating myth to our own individual journey.
- What it means to feel your own internal Samhain (autumn/winter) even when the rest of the world might be wrapped in spring or summer. Nicole’s story of being in Ireland for the first Brigid’s holiday, surrounded by fiery, vivacious women, but she was in a different place, physically and energetically.
- Storytellers get their inspiration from everywhere - the land, personal story, the season of the year, academic sources, translations of the manuscripts, and contemporary creative work. Nicole’s story was inspired by Ellen Ryan’s Girls Who Slay Monsters Daring Tales of Ireland's Forgotten Goddesses
- The complicated figure that is Patrick - he outlawed imbas forosnai, the druidic practice of connecting with the “inspiration that illuminates” and, he also gave us the beautiful nature poem, “The Deer’s Cry” (also known as St Patrick’s Breastplate)
- Looking at masculine myths that need to be healed.
- The yearning to belong, and seeking cultural identity as a white American.
- Martin Shaw episode of Jawbone, HOW A STORYTELLER’S MADE: The Salmon, The Crocodile & The Selkie
- Sophie Strand’s new book, The Body Is a Doorway, a memoir about her own chronic illness
- A closing ritual, and an invocation of the season, rooted in this story, calling on the elements of water and fire
Music at the start of the show is by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com
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