The Danger & Unseen Energetics of Changing A Story [illustrated]
Plus a free master intro class to STORY AS CEREMONY at 10am + invite to Subscribers for Live Tea at 4pm
There is a story I don’t want tell,
because it reveals a bit more than I feel comfortable sharing
and yet
I had an interaction the other days with a young woman who is mixing and melding all of these old stories…
and it is clear
it is time to tell this story.
So here we go.
[psst… at the bottom of this post are invitations:
Subscribers invitation to a live conversation with energy healer Kim L Vincent today at 4pm
So I met this young filmmaker,
who shared she was taking all these old myths,
and mixing them up together.
And so I asked, “Do you know what you’re playing with?”
As one might imagine,
she took great offense.
I got it– she heard the word play as belittling,
so I tried to explain
That PLAY
in my lexicon
is a sacred term.
PLAY is how we learn,
how we create
How we iterate.
But it was too late
she was deeply offended.
And I had offered something
That wasn’t asked for.
But it got me thinking —
what I would have done
for someone to ask me that question
when I was just starting off in the business of
changing old stories
You see when I started out
I didn’t have a clue
that stories
are actually energetic bodies
And just like any body….
If you try to change it,
it will have it’s own opinions about the change you want.
A DIGRESSION…
The nature of the energetics of stories:
It’s a common understanding that
Our body…. is a vehicle for the SOUL..
And what if STORY—- is a vehicle for SPIRIT?
And as we tell stories…
we bring the energy bodies of story into ourselves…
Because in order to tell a story,
we must know the story from the inside and out.
So – with the story… the SPIRIT of the story comes into us as well.
If you are telling a story that is sad, then the spirit of GRIEF may live through you.
If you are telling a funny story then the spirit of JOY may live through you.
If you are telling a story of your first love… then perhaps LOVE lives through you.
The energy of the story is emitted into the room as we speak it
and these energies…
are transmitted from one being to another…
In this way– storytellers are constantly consciously and unconsciously conducting the energy in the room.
(and we are all storytellers)
Old stories are tricky things. Sometimes we get stuck carrying them.
Sometimes we inherit big old heavy stories from our family, culture, or country.
Sometimes, we make unconscious agreements to carry another person’s really heavy story. (this can be all too easy for empathetic people to do.)
BACK TO THIS IDEA OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE CHANGE AN OLD STORY
What if you were walking down the street and you saw a really old man.
And you thought, “My, how dated you are – wearing those clothes from the 1930’s! It’s 2023! I no longer want to hear you say [insert which outdated immature patriarchal teaching has been carried down through bastardized fairytales]. I’m not taking that on in the retelling of this story! ”
And so you rip off his old grimy coat!
So you can dress him up in that spiffy integrated-feminine-new-blazer you saw Brad Pitt wearing the other day.
And you yank off his old knitted cap!
And replace it with a trendy new cowboy hat.
Imagine this old story as an old man…
and what might happen if you accosted this stranger on the street, and treated them this way…
he’d probably defend himself,
might even punch you in the face.
I believe stories can do that too.
The older the story– the stronger the energy that lives within it.
The stronger the resistance to change.
So when you go in to change an old story, a relationship must be developed. You must appraoch with respect, reverence, consideration, and curiosity. You must be willing to learn about how it got to be so strong that the old curmudgeon that is still walking among us.
You need to be, as Stephen Jenkinson says, willing to make a forensic audit of the history, culture, origin of the story; as you research who the original storyteller was, what cultural confines they were living in, what they were, and weren’t able to say in those times. That is how to make an approach, how to begin to get to know and build a respectful relationship with an old story.
Because when you change a story: you must be respectful of its original bones — or the change you want to make… won’t stand through the test of time.
“The change and the meaning in language lines up the way kelp does—kelp grows the distance from the ocean floor up to the surface, and then a little bit more. That little bit more is what lies on the surface—it is how kelp announces the shifts in the current.
“By the same token, the shift in time, and the change of meaning in the English language, lines up like kelp on the surface. When you track down the change in syntax and consequence of speech, it probably signals immense subliminal changes in the culture that is changing the words. From that point of view, language is at the heart of the … forensic audit, which is about how to smell from a great distance for something that happened a long time ago.
“If you can break the habits of language, you can break the habits of perception and feeling.”
So— I was going to tell you the story of what happened when I took on healing The Story of The Witch through story ceremonies that traveled across the country.
But I believe this post is long enough.
Weren’t those illustrations cool? Did they help you visualize your relationship to stories? Did it spark your imagination?
I’ll be telling that story of how I learned about the dangers of Changing Old Stories in today’s intro class at 10AM PST
Register here: Story As Ceremony: Tools for Turbulent Times.
This is going to be a different kind of class as it will be an introduction to a the 3 day training.
We will be diving into the esoteric nature and energetics of storytelling—
and what we are really doing when we work with storytelling as a tool for healing.
Then! Join me for tea time at 4pm for a love conversation with one of the guest mentors in this upcoming training: Kim L Vincent:
Kim L Vincent: is a certified hypnotherapist, NLP master practitioner, TPM (Thought Pattern Management) master practitioner and Reiki master. She is also an internationally accredited Energy Healing Practitioner and co-founder of the “Healing in America” a nationally renowned school of Holistic Energy Healing. Kim has practiced Energy Healing in hospitals, with clients and taught thousands how to access their inner healing gift.
Subscribers can attend live and Kim is excited for the Q&A part of our conversation from our community.
Subscriber’s receive… 10% off courses, live conversations with guest mentors, and a few more goodies.
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