Episode 11

My Life As a Prayer with Elizabeth Cunningham | S4 Ep11

Write With Us in 2024

Do you want to write your own memoir or simply make more space for self-expression in the new year? Join Marisa in the Writers' Knot, our online writing community.

Please Support Our Show: Join us on Substack

Love KnotWork Storytelling? Support the show, find the in-depth show notes, get special supporter-only podcast episodes, and stay connected between seasons on our Substack, Myth Is Medicine.

Our Story

Elizabeth Cunningham reads to us from her new memoir, My Life as a Prayer. For Elizabeth, "A prayer is one who prays." This excerpt brings us to the start of her journey as a writer because, for this author, writing and prayer are always interwoven.

Our Guest

Elizabeth Cunningham is a novelist, poet, musician, and counselor based in New York’s Hudson Valley.  She’ll be reading to us from her multifaith memoir, My Life as a Prayer. She is the author and illustrator of The Book of Madge, a graphic novel, and the source of her best known work, the four books in The Maeve Chronicles. Her earlier novels include The Wild Mother, The Return of the Goddess, and How to Spin Gold, all of which have been recently reprinted by Monkfish Book Publishing. 

Our Conversation

  • This excerpt from My Life as a Prayer is a request for help, and a prayer of gratitude
  • Elizabeth chose to write through the lens of prayer because it enabled her to write a memoir without writing about certain things at the core of her life - love affairs, children, her marriage
  • Scripture as sacred storytelling
  • The pressure from Elizabeth’s father to be a social worker, not to be a writer; this tension is alive for many writers who fear they should be more devoted to activism
  • Elizabeth’s “best imaginary friend forever” BIFF, Maeve, the unrepentant Celtic Magdalene, heroine of The Passion of Mary Magdalene and three other books
  • The need for an incarnate goddess, and a desire for a relationship with Jesus
  • The invitation to all people be in a uniquely passionate love affair with “God” (or whatever you call the great spirit) 
  • Prayer and the troublesome idea that “only god can help” when we think of suffering mothers and children in Gaza
  • Fite fuaite, the Irish phrase for interwoven; the idea that something can be woven, then torn, then mended, as the Hebrew word tikkun
  • “A way out of no way, way will open”

Our Music

Music at the start of the show is by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com

Work With Marisa

Follow the show on SubstackInstagram, and Facebook.

About the Podcast

Show artwork for KnotWork Storytelling
KnotWork Storytelling
Myths Retold, from Ireland and Beyond

About your host

Profile picture for Marisa Goudy

Marisa Goudy

Marisa Goudy is a story healer, a writing coach, and a word witch. Her book, The Sovereignty Knot: A Woman’s Way to Freedom, Power, Love, and Magic, was released in 2020.
Marisa nurtures writers and storytellers in her long-running online writing community, the Sovereign Writers’ Knot.
On this show, Marisa combines her passion for story with her love of Irish literature, culture, and folklore and her fascination with the Celtic world. She has a particular love of stories of heroines, goddess, and women whose tales were forgotten by history.

Keep KnotWork Storytelling Independent & Ad-Free!

It takes a team of three hardworking women to produce the podcast season after season. Your financial support makes it possible to create the magical, high quality show you love. Thank you!
Support the Show
A
We haven’t had any Tips yet :( Maybe you could be the first!