Story Paths

Oral storytelling is book, film, theater and more, all rolled into one. Join us today as storyteller Jessie Wild tells the story of Jack and his Golden Snuffbox. For the full visual effect, you can watch this one on here on youtube. Jessie Wild is a mum, drama teacher, apprentice storyteller and lifelong enthusiast of learning (everything and anything). She became obsessed with both Shakespeare an...

We live in a time of colliding worldviews. So what is a worldview anyway, in storytelling terms? Perhaps a filter to experience reality, a naming of things, an interpretation, a personal story. These days we inhabit multiple stories simultaneously, and perhaps we're being invited/initiated into hot-composting some of those stories so we can find news ways build bridges between each other and...

Like many of us, my relationship with computers and the internet has been rewarding and challenging. I'm setting some healthy boundaries, and perhaps my thought process will aid your own.  To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here .  Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and a free month...

This song is inspired by ancient Polynesian sailors who traversed the sea, guided by refractions of currents against their hulls, which told them the position of islands beyond the watery horizon. They were also helped in their journeys by the stars overhead, by their excellent memories and inherited knowledge, and by the presence of birds, who like to return to land, just as we humans do. I'...

I had a powerful dream recently which I'd like to tell you about.  To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here .  Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epis...

A little late to the party, I watched the movie Avatar, and was both pleased and horrified. Pleased with the theme of connecting to a living planet. Horrified that the planet's native people became secondary to the saviour outsider. Today I get together with my friends Elisa and Blair to discuss the victories and downfalls of this film, and to make some suggestions for improving the sequels....

Blair Francis is a songwriter friend who I've only recently met. In this conversation we speak about the place of songs in growing culture. You can find the music of Blair and his partner Elisa on bandcamp and youtube, on these links: https://elisaandblair.bandcamp.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/%C3%89lisaandBlair Share this podcast with a friend by copying this link: https://storypaths.buzzs...

A spoken word piece.  To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here .  Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Here's simple a song I've been working for a while.  To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here .  Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vis...

For this episode I'm sharing a song that my lovely wife wrote as a poem, and which I adapted to music. I hope you like it. You can find more of her poetry, as well as her earthy artwork, on @seedsofspells on instagram. Words:  How did we lose our way of walking hand-in-hand with this world?  I can remember the ocean sang me to sleep, as I cried salty sorrow on her sands.  I can remember her h...

Tom Hirons is an oral storyteller, poet, acupuncturist, wilderness vigil guide and storytelling teacher, to name a few roles. I've taken three of his classes, and found him to be a wise and warm guide into stories and storytelling. Something he said piqued my interest, the idea that stories exist in layers, from primeaval myths to everyday gossip. He unpacks this concept, and we consider diff...

Have you ever had an argument where you feel like your opponent has a glaring gaps in their world-view, but they refuse to look at it? How about whole groups of people who defend their gaps? How about a particular species that both you and I may be part of? In this episode I explore how this phenomenon shows up in fiction and fact.  To be notified about our own upcoming creative writing and art wo...

This is a  fascinating conversation. Jessie Wild guides her young drama students into building empathy through enacting powerful real-life stories. Have a listen, you won't regret it. Jessie Wild is a mum, drama teacher, apprentice storyteller and lifelong enthusiast of learning (everything and anything). She became obsessed with both Shakespeare and Greek myth and tragedy at around 12 years...

Here's a story that me and my good buddy Jaya made up on the fly. He was having some troubles with time hiccups, you see, abberations in his experience of time, so I took him to see an alien time specialist to help with the problem. The solution wasn't what he hoped for...  To be notified about our own upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list...

I interview my sister Phoebe, who is a practicing Nasarean Essene. Some might call the Essenes alternative Christians, but they would say that Christianity wed to empire is the alternative religion. Alternative, that is, to the radically peaceful and loving teachings of Jesus. My sister actually prefers to call him Yeshua. The Essenes have their own bible, the Holy Megillah, and within this lies a...

Recently I visited the place where my family spread my father's ashes. I met my friend from another world again there, and he told me a story about fathers and death. Here is what he said...  To be notified about our own upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here .   Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and...

We live in a time where our cultural myths are breaking down, myths like the lone hero saving the day. The problems we face as a species now are far too great for any one person to tackle, and our stories need to speak to collective effort and deep change. In this solo episode, I attempt to find overlaps between the world-stories of two very different thinkers, Joseph Campbell and Joanna Macy. Cam...

Today I'm very glad to be speaking with my friend and mentor Michael Geary, who is an expert Vedic astrologer and life coach. He speaks about astrology as a symbol system to understand one's physche. He employs it, along with life-coaching, to help his clients make empowered choices. On a personal level, Michael helped me through a difficult transition, from the life of a monk to the lif...

What do we mean when we say, 'The story of our time?' Why do we use the same word, story, when talking about the story of a culture, and the story of a fantasy film? In this solo episode, I draw connections between the stories we live in and the stories we tell. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public epi...

When even the alfalfa tells the Plant Whisperer that the water is getting strange, the Plant Whisperer knows she'll need help. She and her good friend the Water Whisperer set off on a quest through the wasteland, trying to find a well whose water has not been discombobulated by industrial civilization. This story was a collective effort, a choose your own adventure style collaboration up unti...

Enter into a guided meditation about wonderful water, how she flows and where she comes from. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

 My mother has lived a long and storied life, and has written about much of it. Born after WWII, she entered a healing world full of new possibilities, some of which distanced her from her parents. She's seen tremendous gains and also losses, and to hear her reflect on her life so far is illuminating and heart warming. Share this podcast with a friend by copying this link: https://storypaths....

The other day while I was waiting for the bus, I met a most unusual young man from another world. He lives in a land with no cars, trucks, computers, or even horses, and he's a messenger who runs great distances to give messages. He told me about his very first journey, and the conundrum he faced. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and a free month on S...

Everything is symbolic, even cardboard boxes and chairs, what to speak of rings, masks and flags. In this episode I get into how this is, and how you can make and remake symbols yourself. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story Ideas Link to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epi...

Welcome to Storypaths, a podcast about the stories we tell, and the stories we live in. I’ll share tools to spot myths playing out in the day-to-day, and to mythologize your life to gain fresh perspective. Leaving the logical aside, we’ll play with archetypes, pathways and symbols to recraft the stories that contain us, starting from the realm of the imagination on out to the hands on.  I’ll be te...