stories
within
reading with heART
stories within
reading with heART
Stories Within is a deeply engaging creative process that weaves a love of books, story and the expressive arts.
By blending the power of art and story, we can travel alongside those tales and adventures already written, explore unfamiliar terrain, and learn the language of the soul. We can pick up breadcrumbs along the way that illuminate connections to our own life story. And when portals and doorways to sense- and meaning-making appear, we can seize the opportunity to create possibilities for transformation, healing and re-storying to occur.
Fall 2023 Book Selection:
“There can be a perverse pleasure, as well as a sense of rightness and beauty, in insisting on flowering just when the world expects you to become quiet and diminish.” ~ Sharon Blackie.
From the inside jackett: For any woman over fifty who has ever asked, ‘What now? Who do I want to be?‘ comes a life-changing new book showing how your second half may be your most dynamic yet. Rich with the combination of myth, landscape, and ecofeminism that took her earlier work If Women Rose Rooted to cult status, Hagitude reclaims the mid years as a liberating, alchemical moment – from which to shift into your chosen, authentic and fulfilling future.
Dear Reader, I invite you to join me on this highly anticipated journey of re-storying the second half of our lives. ‘Hagitude’ is the book I wish I’d had to read.
________
Please note that although the books and content discussed can be an opportunity for deep inner work, this is not therapy. Rather, it’s a supportive environment that offers space for participants to listen, create, and witness to others. It is the responsibility of each participant to seek out therapy should the readings or discussion bring up unresolved issues.
What will you do?
- Read each chapter to mine the gold within, diving into the depths of the story to retrieve signs, symbols, and connections;
- Ask questions and engage in juicy conversations about the topics and themes, noticing how the stories relate and intersect with your own and others shared experiences;
- Tap into and engage the imaginal realms to re-write new stories of empowerment, courage, healing, and renewal;
- Express yourself both creatively and playfully;
- Experience this story-walking, soul-tending workshop with a circle of women.
This is FOR you if:
- you enjoy reading a book or story that invites a deeper dive; an opportunity to explore meaning, generate questions and connections to your life story;
- you are curious how art and the creative process can nurture, empower, heal and guide you;
- the idea of combining your love of reading with expressive art making intrigues you;
- you long to do this courageous – and often tender – soul-work with other women who will listen and honour your story.
here are the details:
When:
- 5-weeks, starting October 10 to November 14 (skipping October 31)
- Tuesday, 6:00 to 8:00 pm (Mountain Time)
- Please Note: a minimum of 6 participants is required.
Where:
- In the comfort of your own home, via Zoom
What you need:
- a copy of the current book (paper or audible);
- a computer with good internet connection, webcam and microphone;
- a notebook or art journal for artmaking and written response ;
- basic art materials.
Registration:
- Registration and Payment is required to hold your spot.
- Registration closes Sunday, October 8th.
Cost:
We enter into a story through the door of inner hearing. If a story is seed, then we are its soil.
Just hearing the story allows us to experience it as though we ourselves were the heroine who either falters or wins out in the end.
If we hear a story about a wolf, then afterward we rove about and know like a wolf for a time.
If we hear a story about a dove finding her young at last, then for a time after, something moves behind our own feathered breasts.
If it be a story of wresting the sacred pearl from beneath the claw of the ninth dragon, we feel exhausted afterward, and satisfied.
In a very real way, we are imprinted with knowing just by listening to the tale."
Since the beginning of time, story-telling has been a way to teach, learn, and transform self and others by way of the lessons and wisdom gained through personal experience and the world around us.
“I firmly believe that story is our primary inspiration – an ancient, much-neglected tool which helps us conjure up sharply hones images of who exactly it is that we might want to become if we are lucky enough to grow old. Because stories are spells; they change things. When they hook us and reel us into their magic, they change us. It’s stories that will save us, in the end. Not just the stories we read or tell, or the stories we want to be in, but the ones that live inside us and the ones we live inside. The stories we invite in; those that we choose to inhabit.” ~ Sharon Blackie, Hagitude
I invite you to step IN to story…
Stories Within isn’t just a book group –
it’s so much more!
Books we’ve read in the past and my visual response:
Here’s what past participants have to say:
Stories Within is
story medicine for your Soul.
