The old stories are not old.
Today is not young.
You think you are yourself alone:
I look at you and see bears and giants
And strange birds of heaven;
One hundred thousand years
Is being lived in you, right now.There, behind your left eye,
Is the cave where you dream, alone.
There, in that corner of your smile,
Is the mouth of all the worlds.You are not old;
You are not young;
I’ll tell you this story now,
So that you can remember
All the Gods you are. ~ Tom Hirons
Thanks to Kiva Rose, from Anima Herbal School*, for sharing this wonderful guest post from Tom Hirons on the site for the Dark Mountain Festival (I’ve never heard of it either til now, but it sounds amazing). The article, which includes the above poem, is an intro to his tale-telling at this festival — but it is so damn lyrical and moving, read it just because you can. (Pretty please?)
I have always adored storytelling, which I experience as a healing tool unsurpassed in many ways. It transcends time, culture, color and creed. For as Hirons says,
“Who here has not been transported at least once or twice by the storyteller’s spell? Whether it was from a costumed bard in a forest glade or a 3am drunk when you were one toe’s-width from the gutter, stories have power. … A good story awakes sleeping senses, reminds us of what we forgot. Something changes in us, though we may barely be aware. A good story initiates us into the deeper mystery of Being, not through telling us, but by making some part of us sing.”
At the core of shamanic healing is this, right here: singing all your parts home, into wholeness. Celebrating Who You Are, singing out loud the stories of our lifetimes in some grand one-world garage band that keeps us up all night gazing at the stars and tending the fire for one another.
*(Do check Kiva Rose out and her fantastic tribe out, she’s an amazing herbalist and Wild Wise Woman. She is also in creative cahoots to bring you the Plant Healer Magazine)
