Episode 28
Torn Between Two Worlds with Erica O'Reilly | S6 Ep28
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Our Story
The sea has its own way of speaking - not in words, but tides, dreams, and memory. Not all who feel lost are meant to be found; some of us are simply remembering where we came from.
Erica O'Reilly's The Call of the Sea and a Lost Sealskin emerged when she returned to Ottawa, after two weeks at an artists' residency on the coast of Kerry. In this piece, she explores the layered, cascading grief of returning to a land that doesn’t feel of “home.”
This piece was first as part of her Substack series The Creative Process of De thír mo Mháithreacha: Of the Land of My Mothers. Be sure to subscribe to her amazing newsletter, Weavings of the Wise & Embodied.
Our Guest
As KnotWork’s 2025 resident storyteller, Erica’s heart-centered work is devoted to facilitating experiences where souls feel seen, held, and heard.
Through her Into the Circle Theatre project, Erica weaves together Irish culture, history, folklore, and mythology.
As an Irish-Canadian, Erica is profoundly grateful to the traditional spirits and keepers of the land—past, present, and future—of the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation where she was born and currently resides.
In this episode:
- Diasporic grief and what it is to feel at home in two worlds
- The selkie myth, that classic tale from Irish mythology of the seal woman who is torn between land and sea
- Creative residencies: making plans vs. letting go of expectations
- Storytelling is medicine and sharing stories out loud matters
- What it means to live between worlds and living the question: do you have to choose?
- Planting seeds in the water, hoping for future adventures and new stories together
Music at the start of the show is by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com
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