The Tale That Is The Most Important Thing

Everyone has a favourite story. A story or a nursery rhyme that when heard or read whisks them back to the time of safety and security a nostalgia of sleepy time stories or the perhaps one time in school we all paid attention as one unit. What is it about stories? What is it we love so much? We connect through time and space with stories. We keep ourselves secure inside, with the knowledge that all will be well as long as the story is told and retold. Strangely though, often these stories are not how they began - they change with each generation - with each telling. We have many stories that we tell but one brings us to the path of curiousity again and again. It has changed and grown and become its own being from the time I read it as a little girl (I don't remember it being read to me)to the present day. There was a point in between where I had that wonderful Eureka moment, what some might call an epiphany, when I thought for the firs time consciously, 'What if...? That question is the adventurer question, the Quester's question, the heroes question. It is the begining of a journey of pure delight and curiosity. My 'What if...' was to do with the little girl in the red hooded cloak and how perhaps if we looked at it from a different perspective we might see things in a totally new way. As with all of these 'What if...?" questions I began a journey of discovery, wonder and magic. A path of initiation and rites of passage and I realised that if this was so then...'What if...' Thereby hung the tail of the Shamanic Faerie Tale events at Ladywell where we have revisited, Goldilocks, and The Selkie Wife and we have peeked into the life of Morag and her shenannigans with the Water Horse and even danced a little with Karen in her Red Shoes. Most recently we have enjoyed the company of Rumplestiltskin and the next on our journey is the Puss with the penchant for boots! The most interesting thing is who comes to hear, and not just to hear but to tell their story, by journeying into the tale. There are some who come every month, but there are those who come only once or twice, they love it but they have no need to come back, and there are some who are regular participants but will not fancy a particular story, and that is where the magic is, for it is all ways the people who will get the most out of the story who come to hear whichever is right for them at that time. Serendipity aside, we find ourselves wondering what the next story will be and oft times it is just as we are about to say goodnight to everyone that it will come forward and introduce itself. Sometimes I find myself wondering how on earth it will flow I have a long time since learned to let it be what it is and trust it will bring what it has to for whomever arrives to hear it. So if you have young children and you want them to learn in wonder and curiosity begin with a Faerie Tale, and then teach them the joy of 'What if...' and see where their imagination takes them. Tis the stuff that dreams are made of that we make real in time.