Blog
The Woman Who Was Afraid of the Rain
This is an original story told in the form of a folk tale. Below the story I explain background to the folktale motifs and story structure I incorporated. It is written to be told orally because I am a storyteller. In the oral tradition, a tale is honed and enriched,...
The Lismore Lantern Parade: Healing Our Hearts
The second winter solstice event event I was fortunate to attend was The Lismore Lantern Parade. (The first was a private fire event described here.) The theme this year, after the devastating catastrophic floods was 'Healing our Hearts'. Even though I was only mildly...
The Winter Solstice and Sacred Fire
ABOVE: A bower fire by Aunty Pixie Byrnes. I was very fortunate to experience two extremely beautiful, healing events this Winter Solstice. The first gathering was at a private home. When I arrived, the firewood had already been laid and covered in plastic....
The Sea Sprite and the Kelp Gardens: Upwelling and Marine Permaculture
IMAGE CREDIT : Diver in Water ~ John Cahil Rom ~ Pexels This video, 'The Sea Sprite and the Kelp Gardens: Upwelling and Marine Permaculture' is my attempt to use story to explain the natural phenomenon of Upwelling, which is key to understanding how Marine...
Lily, Me and My Strawberries
Lately, as I go to my strawberry bed each morning and gather a little bowl of strawberries, I have been feeling like Lily, the protagonist of my story, 'Lily and the Fig Tree'. This is the first season in years that I’ve managed to grow plump, tasty strawberries. I...
Australian Fairytale Conference 2021
I am fresh with inspiration from my recent trip to Sydney for the live component of the Australian Fairytale Society Conference held on Monday, 14 June. It was absolutely FANTASTIC! The benefits of a live Conference are getting to meet colleagues and aficionados in an...
The Wild Origins of Red Riding Hood
‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is one of the world’s most popular and oft retold folktales. Versions range from the moralistic version by Charles Perrault, the Grimms Brothers, simplistic watered-down picture books for preschoolers, to Disney films to erotic cartoons for...
Listening to the Land at Earth Up!
Both the farmers were curious now. ‘What on earth are you doing?’ they said. ‘Well,’ said the little old lady, getting up and wiping the mud off her hands, ‘I’ve asked the land for its opinion. And the land says that you belong to it.’ From ‘The Field’, from...
Shingebiss and Winter Wind
As globally we go into various stages of lockdown to ‘flatten the curve’ of Covid19, I pondered how much it is like being in hibernation during a severe winter. I recalled ‘Shingebiss and the North Wind’ as told by my storytelling friend and colleague Fran Stallings....
your story care package in the time of covid19
I don't usually post my newsletters to my blog, but this one is special. How are you faring? How are those in your circle? I send you warm (non-infectious) hugs. 🙂 I hope you are managing to find peace, calm and compassion amid the storms of fear-inducing,...
That Virus, Panic Buying and the Sound that Hare Heard
Bizarre hoarding behaviour over toilet paper has developed in Australia, the US, Singapore and possibly other countries in response to the rise of COVID-19, the most serious strain of the novel coronavirus. People are not just buying enough for a few weeks of...
When it Feels Like the Sky is Falling
How can a simple old folktale be useful for activists and changemakers in complex modern crises? In tabloid papers, Chicken Little has at times been used by cartoonists in extremely dismissive and sometimes savage ways to imply that environmentalists warning of...
How a myth helped me shine again
Last year for a long time after our so-called 'climate election' was lost here in Australia to a coal-loving party, I felt extremely deflated. I couldn't find much motivation or desire to shine my storytelling light, when ordinarily that is the very thing I feel...
Stories for a More Beautiful World
Earlier last year, confronted by the news, I regularly struggled with the temptation to go hide under the bed covers. Sometimes I confess I gave in. As I write, the world watches in horror as walls of flame engulf vast tracts of Australia, while our government...
The Fairy at the Top of the Christmas Tree
A story is a gift that lasts a lifetime. The story your child will remember the most will probably be the one you tell them, which is why each year, I repost this sweet Solstice tale and encourage story lovers to have a go at telling it themselves in their own way. It...
Never Give Up
Have you ever felt like giving up? With so much dire news coming at us at the moment, it's easy to want to, even though we know it'll do us no good! Below is VIDEO 5 in the GIFT OF STORY series, I briefly explain 'Never Give Up', a sweet Russian folktale about a...
The Monkey’s Heart: friendship, trust, betrayal, boundaries
Here I explain 'The Monkey's Heart', an ancient Indian folktale from the Panchatantra collection. This delightfully funny, yet suspenseful story explores friendship, trust, betrayal, staying safe, following one's own moral compass and also differentiates between a...
Loving ourselves and celebrating diversity with the tale of ‘Ananse, Ahso and Never Give Up’
What is your super-power and what are your quirks and short-comings? Don't we all have BOTH and isn't it perfectly natural and OK to have BOTH? That is one of the underlying messages in this wonderfully funny and adventurous Ananse tale. Ananse is a trickster...
Why the Sky is Far Away
In the GIFT OF STORY video series, I am briefly explaining various tales I have recorded. Here I describe this delightful and playful Nigerian folktale which encourages respect for nature, respect for boundaries, responsibility, fairness, care for the environment. It...
The Old Lady and the Fig Tree
I explain in this video * how I rewove this story from an old English folktale 'The Old Lady and the Oak Tree'. I changed the setting to Australia, swapped the oak tree to a fig tree and wove in details from a very quirky family member into the main character. This...
