the storyteller

The Storyteller draws us in, captivating us until the noise of the outside world is but a faint murmur. With every word, inflection and plot twist, we find our hairs standing on end, hearts expanded ... breath held.

They are the witnesses and curtain-openers to the most intimate corners of life. These folk are not afraid to delve into the ugly, raw, rancid and sour. Equally, they do not take beauty and wonder lightheartedly. They capture it ALL and weave it all into their story.

You cannot teach this shit.

Storytellers are who they are because life happened to them. Hard. They know the smell and taste of sadness + agony. They know what it's like to fuck up, fall down and face-plant in dog shit. They realise that these places are the potent birthing grounds for resilience... and for a bloody good story.

Hang onto your hats. Get read for take off. Prepare to be enthralled.

Storytellers experience life with all senses + translate the richness of life in a way that makes their audience feel like they are THERE. Through their words, we learn what it feels like to give birth on a bathroom floor, rob a bank + shoot heroin. We catapult into the future and regress into history. Storytellers pull us into story feet first: shocking us, leaving us gasping for breath and begging for more.

To tell a story that burns within you is cathartic. It is medicine. It is therapy. The Storyteller attains a kind of self-reflection and introspection that cannot be reached through mere thought. As the words dance over pages or echo into the night, they participate in some kind of magic with the unconscious. Art is conceived and story is born.

In a way, storytellers are the most powerful type of teachers + leaders. They have the ability to change the way we think and how we behave, simply because their method of delivery is so incredibly colourful and creative.

Maya Angelou was capable of silencing an entire room/stadium with story. Her personal stories were saturated in the deepest kind of pain and love. She wasn’t up there, on a pedestal, telling people what do or how to live their lives. Instead, she simply shared her stories in an incredibly honest way. It was not pretty, nor polished, but each and every one of us graced by her words were undoubtedly forever changed.

Story is the bridge between the past and the present. Yes, it is mythology, fables, fairytales, legends, literature + folklore. But we also share story through dance, poetry, songs, comedy and theatre. It is in the hours + grass of our woven basket or the drum we have built with our hands. Stories are everywhere. The work as a storyteller is to locate them, unearth them + birth them, artfully.

Shadow.

Lies and exaggeration ruminate when the Storyteller is challenged in some way: they feel their story lacks, they are creatively or egotistically threatened or perhaps they care more for financial gain and glory than for the sake of the story. They augment their stories to appease their audience or sidestep the truth in order to keep up a façade. They can get power drunk and are tempted to use their platform or voice for the wrong reasons.

In the underbelly of the Storyteller archetype we see cultural appropriation: the dilution of cultures and in some instances, cultural genocide. Stories are wonderful, powerful artful tools that have the ability to uphold and relay cultural messages + traditions. However, every time we tell a story, there needs to be discernment. We need to ask ourselves ...“is this my story to share?”.

The invitation is always present to gloss over ugliness + whitewash truth. Ego desires the world to see us as powerful, successful, brave + beautiful. The soul however wants us to live wholeheartedly. It wants us to capture the moments in-between + on-the-floor.

We are human and we are having a human experience. Yes, we may have moments of success + joy.... but mostly we are surviving stacks-in-the-mud, lost tempers and ugly-cries in front of strangers. We just tend not to keep a record of that anywhere... but maybe we should?

Sacred Art, Sacred Story Heartcraft Workshop on 27 April... a day of creative writing + art therapy deep in nature

So what is it that you want to say? Because, I can assure you, someone needs to hear it. You may believe you know who your audience is. But you would be wrong. Your words, when given wings, will reach the hearts of those who need it most, those who need persuasion, those who will be pissed off, those who will be inspired to be brave + those who will never feel alone again. You do not get to choose where your story will land. The question is, can you be at peace with that?

Please. Breathe life into your words. And then send them off into the ether. Because when we are gone + our bones have turned to dust, it is our stories that live on forever.

x

JOURNAL ENQUIRY:

~ What is it that you want to say?

~ What part of your story are you afraid to speak/write about?

~ Can you discern writing for ego with writing for the soul?

~ Is the story you are telling yours to tell?

~ How can you witness and capture life more acutely + consciously?